Lindsay Donaghe

For me it happened right about the time we started invading a country in a preemptive war. And my pride has continued to decline as I've watched our government move away from science and toward religious fundamentalism. I'll be proud once again if all of that turns around and we become a role-model for the world again, but I'm afraid it's too late. - Lindsay Donaghe

It's never too late. - Lindsey Smith

I'll not not proud to be American. I'm embarrassed that we're tearing ourselves apart over politics and religion and that Bush Inc has done such a thorough job of making the rest of the world hate us (or hate our government) and they've attacked our civil liberties "in the name of security" and the American people have done nothing about it. - ·[▪_▪]·

I'm still proud to be an American but ... I think many things which made America great are being lost and I'm embarrassed by our current administration which, sadly, is a reflection of us as a nation. - AJ Kohn

I always have trouble distinguishing between Patriotism and Nationalism. I know (I know I know) that they are very different, just my personal experience is such that I can never align myself with any country, or city, or people. Just seems weird. Maybe that's why I'm not a big sports fan either. - Marko "Bon" Bon

When I realized that this country spent 44 years trying to NOT bomb a country BECAUSE they had WMD's and then 13 years later BOMBED A COUNTRY BECAUSE they had WMD's. - (that)Kenny

+1 Robot and AJ - I am hoping the new administration will turn things around. - Lindsay Donaghe

I'm not "proud" or "embarrassed" to be an American. I just love what this country offers in terms of Natural wonders. (Mexico and Canada are beautiful too...But, what other country in the world has all Desert, Plains, Beautiful Beaches, Mountains, Alpine Mountains, Tundra, and Arctic environments? There's MAYBE two others that come close (Russia and China), but our's is unique. I'm not proud of this nations politics or leadership, and I never have been. But I love the beauty of this nation. - Sean McGee

I'm proud - but I was just overseas, and in discussions with citizens of other nations, I found myself saying 'yes, but I don't agree with it' very often. Funny thing is, the others completely understand in almost all cases. Whats more aggravating is when you then hear another American spouting bushisms and I have to apologize for them - Justin Hart

Lindsay Donaghe bang on. I'm English and I see the US as a microcosm of the whole world. Opinion of America outside of America has plummeted to an all time low (in my life time anyway). To me, as I can't speak for the rest of the world Obama defines exactly what is good about America and McCain the opposite. Your time (as leader and role model for the world) is up now anyway, it's time for China and/or India to setup to the plate. - Toby Graham

I don't look at it as being a leader of the world. As a country we are supposed to help other countries, not compete with them. When you start to look at everything like a competition thats how misunderstandings, inflated egos, and wars break out. - Lindsey Smith

There's nothing wrong with being proud of something in bad shape. I'm very proud to be an American because to me America is the sum of its people: some good, some bad. To me, being proud only when the government is doing what you agree with is like really worrying what the other kids think about you in class. I'm not fairweather proud. I'll take my raps when things go bad and not hide my face and hope Europeans don't equate my geographical birthplace with what the American government might be doing wrong. - Akiva Moskovitz

+1 Akiva -- Fairweather Proud is spot on. Def reminds me of fairweather fans of sports teams. Great analogy - Lindsey Smith

My mom is a naturalized German-American, I was born in this country. She has an ongoing national identity crisis, but I have never felt anything but American. I am not ashamed of it. However, when McCain says we are the greatest force of good in the world, I think about history, of the juntas and rebellions we have seeded, the arms we have sold to rebels that have become our enemies, the countries we loaned billions to that went bankrupt, and that is in the best of times. We could've done so much better. - Phil Glockner

@Akiva: I agree but only within reason. I do not believe this administration is within reason, nor do I believe that the rising tide of instant-gratification culture is within reason. There are limits. I'm certain I don't have to point out other countries in which certain eras are not sources of pride. - AJ Kohn

When GW stole the election. - Alex "Pew Pew Pew" Scoble

AJ, yep. No country is perfect and they all to through bad times. - Akiva Moskovitz

I agree with AJ and Alex - Lindsey Smith

I'm not embarrassed to be an American but I am embarrassed by many Americans. As Serj Tankian aptly calls them, the "unthinking majority." And I'm also in agreement with AJ and Alex. - Jennifer Leggio

Patriotism always rang hollow to me; it's just another form of indoctrination, and responsible for many of the evils in this world. Birthplace and/or residence is a pretty poor reason to take pride in anything. I believe strongly in a set of ideals. My support for this country - or any country - is dependent upon how well it does or does not represent those ideals and if it behaves accordingly. - Eric

I'm fiercely proud of what this country is SUPPOSED to be - I think our Constitution is one of the finest examples of how to create a country. I think the original ideas of universal acceptance and tolerance is a model for the rest of the world. We still have the best education and technology. I'm embarrassed though at the small-minded, intolerat idiots currently running the country. - Tad - the Fresh Maker

And I'm really sad that one of my heroes (John McCain) has lowered himself all the way down to Sarah Palin's level just for the slight chance of becoming president. That really makes me sad. - Tad - the Fresh Maker

@txsean America isn't all that geologically unique and besides, i'm not sure it's something to be proud of that we raped a civilization to acquire such a beautiful land. The earth shouldn't belong to any country. It belongs to every living thing. And as much beauty can be found all over the world. You're basically saying you're proud that you were lucky enough to be born by a beautiful lake in the spring with the birds chirping. How does that have anything to do with pride in Country? - ·[▪_▪]·

@ Eric, seems like we're in a similar camp. Although I'd say a Country can't really stand for Ideals. It can say it does, you can feel that Indonesia stands for this while Germany stands for that, but that's ultimately pretty thin too. I don't like flag-waving of any kind. I'm nationally agnostic, although happy to pay taxes in the place I live and earn. - Marko "Bon" Bon

It started for me when we said to the world "pre-emptive strikes are ok with us" and when we started using torture. Yeah. Not proud of that. - Matthew Davidson via twhirl

The Consititution is a copy( tongue in check) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M... but your ideals are to be admired. I hear Eric's statement a lot in this country to the point that my next statement is mocked. Fairweather proud is a great expression. I'm proud to be English, the good bits and the bad. Whilst this may be a bad time for America (and the world - thanks for that by the way) if Obama gets in the future looks exciting. - Toby Graham

Fairweather proud isn't accurate. I love our founding documents. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are simply amazing. I reread them often and they continuously awe me. I'm immensely proud to be able to protect them and claim them as my governing principles. Anyone not proud of our founding documents needs to (re)read them. But we as a Country and our government have not protected them. Our recent governments have desecrated them and that is nothing to be proud of. It should disgust all. - ·[▪_▪]·

@Toby Putting your hopes on one man to change everything is a bit optimistic don't you think? It takes more then one person to change the country or the world for that matter. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

I am far from a mindless sheep brainwashed into patriotism but there is still something about our country that makes my heart swell with endless pride. While there are many things to have happened in our country's history to be ashamed of, just like my own personal life, I can't help but be proud of the many wonders this country has produced and continues to inspire in the world. Call me one of those "glass is half full" folks, but we still have a lot to be proud of and to lose it completely for a few bad apples is disheartening and a disservice to those still working to make this a great country. - Lindsey Smith

Jason it's 50/50. One side of the coin excites me greatly, the other depresses me. - Toby Graham

@Alex If that's all it takes for you to stop being proud to be an American then that's pretty pathetic. Crap happens and you might get knocked down. But, instead of crying and crawling into a hole and being emberassed, you get off your butt get back up and get back into the fight. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

@Jason, if the other cat gets elected, there will a collective *emotional* depression that will hit tons of people I know and those in cities like NY. I know that I will have a hard time adjusting to living in this country for four years under a JM/SP white house. - Marko "Bon" Bon

@Linsday Did you forget about when Clinton started bombing Iran at the begining of the Monica debacle? That didn't affect you in any way or is it because Clinton had a D in front of his name that you ignore that? You see, I've been angry at our gov't for a long time and it started before Congress wasted money and time on Monica. Things have been wrong in this country for a long time but some of you people only have memories that go back 8 years it seems. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

I guess I should say that I'm not proud at all of the actions of our government, particularly in our handling of foreign affairs over the last 60 years. I am, however, proud of all the things that we as Americans have accomplished and continue to accomplish. There are a lot of good people in this country and I think that friendfeed is certainly indicative of that. We shouldn't let the bad apples get in the way of realizing that most of us are responsible citizens working together for the common good. - Alex "Pew Pew Pew" Scoble

@Marko: Sure, a country can. The US can, for example, uphold the ideal of democratic government. It can respect the will of the voters at home as well as support the sovereignty of voters abroad. Those would be actions I could be proud of. If, on the other hand, we allow stuff like Ohio '04 to take place, and install dictators abroad when we don't like the elected government... I cannot support the country that acts like that. - Eric

Stephen Fry said if he had to break down in any country and go and knock on a random door for assitance, he'd choose America everytime. Remember Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry. (Sunday 9pm BBC 1 for anyone with access) - Toby Graham

I still claim this Country is great and to be admired because of our founding documents. Every American citizen should be proud of them and happy they were lucky enough to be born under them. But to not defend them isn't a sign of pride. To allow them to be systematically dismantled over the span of a few years tells me there's little pride in them. Don't blindly vote incumbent. Don't vote party line. Write congress. Vote for who will protect the Constitution! To me, that shows pride. - ·[▪_▪]·

I'm curious about the "bad apples" meme in this thread. How many bad apples does it take before we conclude the whole orchid is bad? 30% of people feel comfortable telling pollsters that Obama's race is an issue affecting their vote. Less than 50% of people that think gay people deserve marriage rights. All around us are the signs of a decadent, ignorant, and sheep-like civilization. - Eric

I think people stopped caring about being American because they're focused on stupid things that they think are important. We shouldn't be embarassed to be american. We should be embarassed for being idiots. - Patricia

I want to think that if we inspired more pride we could actually turn the country around. I won't lose faith in my country so easily - Lindsey Smith

American, British, whatever, sometimes I'm ashamed to be human, although at other times, my fellow man does something that makes me proud to be of the same species! - Slippy Lane

lol too cute! - Carmen

cute :) - Baard Overgaard Hansen

I like the pacifier :) - Lindsey Smith

The shampoo hat is cute and a great idea - BrandyLea Photography

I'd keep my baby in that middle thing all the time. - Kaia is done being sick.

Lindsey, look at this: http://friendfeed.com/e/e6d71e... - Faboo Mama

Those products are ridiculous. High heels? Helmets? Knee pads? Parents get sucked into a lot of stupid things, huh? That middle one is just silly. If your kid is small enough for that thing, chances are you'll also have a stroller with you anyway. - Faboo Mama

The teeth pacifier is cracking me up!!! - Lindsay Donaghe

being a parent means learning all kinds of new skills, including "doing one's business" while holding a baby in one hand if necessary. Really, people, it's not that difficult. - Laura Norvig

congrats! - Faboo Mama

nice camera - Melissa

Thanks. It's a birthday present that got here 3 weeks early, not that I'm complaining. - Kevin Bondelli

pretty! - Mona N.

Interesting... Would start to explain the FEMA camps. - Mark VandenBerg

I believe that Halliburton got the FEMA camps contract? Interesting... - Paul "Maverick" Denlinger

Of course they did, Paul. And I suspect some cronyism there because I know my bid was lower... - Mark VandenBerg

for a sec i thought it looked like the "catch of the day" - Cee Bee

LOL, CB. - Melissa

One of the nice compared to say comp.lang.*, is that you can ask any programming question, and usually get an answer. In other words - nothing's off topic - Rajarshi Guha

yes, it has become a daily visit for me - timepilot

*Love* stackoverflow. Hope it stays as developer-y. - /(bb|[^b]{2})/ (Kamath)

checking it out...neat. Reminds me of http://Experts-Exchange.com which I've been using for at leas 5 years - Susan Beebe

I've heard at least one person frustrated that his answers are accepted because of his higher rating even when a better answer has been given. Anyone else seeing that behavior? - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

put in my first answer: http://stackoverflow.com/quest... - a bit long winded. - Capn' "One-Eye" Longman ☠

It is pretty surprising how much faith people put in the reputation score. It is mostly a measure of how long you've had an account, rather than a measure of knowledge or skill. I do think there have been several cases where my mediocre answer was voted up or accepted simply because I had the highest rep, and I felt there were better answers. I left a comment on one of them, but nothing came of it. - Denton Gentry

A lot of the joel on software and coding horror traffic, which is a lot, is shifting over. Not quite as fun though. All the personality was sucked out. - todd

Never been there. Guess I'll check it out. - MiniMage

My Powershell expert friend Hal Rottenberg keeps tweating about all the questions piling up there. I'm not much of a programmer, but there is a ton of activity there. - Eric @ CS Techcast

I still haven't heard anyone answer what's in it for me to answer people's questions. - Jason Carreira

The usual with the internet. The more we help each other the better we all do. - todd

@see also the discussion from earlier this week about how there's no experts on social media, because there's no value in it for them - Jason Carreira

The podcast is excellent, too - Darius Dunlap via twhirl

I posted my first question there today... Apparently it was too tough. Didn't get any answers. :( - Lindsay Donaghe

@Lindsay: possibly. I'd never heard of Punycode before your question. - Denton Gentry

eh, I much prefer www.dzone.com - Grant Gochnauer

I know he's trying to be a contrarian rebel without a cause in re-inventing the social media wheel, but it's really stupid that you either can't participate at all or have to be a power user. Every other social site gets new users participating by allowing them to do low-commitment participatory actions (like voting and rating). With SO, you have to have at least a 15 rating to do that: I guess SO is hoping to God new users never outpace established users? - Mark Trapp

funny, my most finger on the pulse developer friend told me about them a week ago. total instant blow up. - Noah Kravitz

Mark: actually that's a good thing. The #1 killer of developer and early-adopter focused communities is newbies and trolls and noisy people. - Robert Scoble

It kinda sucked building up those first 15 points, but it didn't take long at all. All you need to be is intelligent and not post douche-type answers. - Chris Charabaruk

Robert - it amazes me you can look at that site and understand it. Nice breadth of knowledge. Hacker News is about as close as I want get to those types of stories. - Hutch Carpenter

Wow... I hadn't looked at it before... I now have even less desire to help people with their homework. Yuck. - Jason Carreira

Poor Ron Paul. :( - Lindsay Donaghe

He really is like a bible prophet. He's so humble and meek. He's crazy. And, he speaks the damned truth. HE'S the man that should be leading us. But I don't know if the US is ready for the excrutiatingly painful meds he'd prescribe. - Tad - the Fresh Maker

Hell, let's just put Ron Paul as the Treasury secretary. THAT would throw a monkey wrench into everything. - Tad - the Fresh Maker

We still have a chance to get BJ Lawson in Congress. http://www.lawsonforcongress.c... - Alan Cheslow

that site... it doesn't get lolcaptions. THERY DOIN IT RONG - Chris Hollander

very cool useful tool! - Mathias Pastwa

I know! - Mona N.

url: http://bgpatterns.com/ - Tai

And perhaps the only time I have ever wanted to echo Michelle Malkin's words: “Will he propose a similar plan for those who bought mutual funds at or near the market top?” - Anthony Citrano

He hates Fannie and Freddie, but isn't buying up the mortgages just the same thing, after the fact? - Lindsay Donaghe

He must have been reading Geoff Schultz's friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/e/5f0d76... - Alex "Pew Pew Pew" Scoble

He has the blessings Eris. ALL HAIL DISCORDIA!! - Tad - the Fresh Maker

Sure. - Steven Perez

Dude you aren't charging enough. Even Nike paid $50 for their swoosh. - Alex "Pew Pew Pew" Scoble

that's really cheap. - Cee Bee

Cool. I wasn't totally sure as I'm just really starting to get into the freelance game. I tried to once before, through odesk.com and couple of other sites, but I learned that I wasn't going to get any work, because I was new and I wasn't willing to work for $2. Now, I use Craigslist. - Mathew Ballard

That's very cheap. - Trish R

yeah - anna

Mathew, it seems fair :) Though, it does depend on your skillz ;) - Michael Forian

I am thinking you are getting ripped off - Brian Sullivan

Most designers I know charge $75 per hour, no matter how long it took to do a logo. That's pretty damn reasonable to me. I would venture to to +1 Alex and state that you aren't charging enough. - Mavericks of Troy, NV!

I would say that's on the cheap side, yeah. - Lindsay Donaghe

I'm just starting out. As I build up my portfolio with better work I'll start charging more. Plus this logo may lead to me doing a flash site which is where I would make some bucks. - Mathew Ballard

I'd feel like that was too cheap, and probably assume your work wasn't up to snuff. - Bec

Seems too cheap. - Tad - the Fresh Maker

Seems like a bargain to me too. Even if you do go up a bit, at those kinds of rates, I've got a few projects I'd like to throw your way. - J Wynia

@Bec All you have to do is look at my portfolio site to see the work I can do. - Mathew Ballard

I have no idea about pricing for this stuff, but my opinion is that that seems cheap. - Rochelle

Well, I may charge more then. If that seems cheap, what would seem fair to you all? - Mathew Ballard

Or maybe I'll just go by my hourly rate. - Mathew Ballard

Matthew, depends on experience and skill. If you have both then $75/hour seems reasonable. If you're lacking then lower prices. without experience $25/hour may not be too bad. - Tad - the Fresh Maker

Very underpriced IMO. Charging cheap doesn't always pay off when you are just starting freelancing work, that client will tell his partners "oh this guy does logos for $25" and you'll end up with a 60hr week earning $150/wk. Don't be afraid to charge what YOU think you are worth. Personally, a logo takes time to consider before photoshop is even thought of - and that's £35/hr minimum... - Matt Harwood

We were charge 50 including two revisions by a student just starting her portfolio. We were pleased and felt she could have charged a little more. - Heather

That's extremely cheap, imo. I charge a hell of a lot more than that for logos. If all else fails, go with how long it takes you instead of a set price. It all depends on your experience, education, location and talent level. - Carmen

Agree with Matt and Tad. Not sure I'd do it for less than $75/hr either. A logo is something they want to be quality... it represents their business. People should be willing to pay fairly for it. - Lindsay Donaghe

I just think $25 is cheap because it will take longer than an hour and even $25 an hour is cheap. - Trish R

It sounds good. - Paul W. Swansen

That's not even close to enough money. - Jeremy Brooks

Sorry, I think I came across as rude there :) What I mean is, I don't think that cheap would represent value to me. A bargain is a good thing, but I think that $25 seems *too* cheap. I think a fair, hourly rate is the best idea, perhaps with a cap. - Bec

HAH! - Lindsay Donaghe

He is Putin you on the floor if you mess with him! - Carmen

carmen will be here all week, folks - Cee Bee

It's going to continue getting more real for everybody. - Eric @ CS Techcast

as wrong as it may sound; you'd think alcohol sales would be up with the depressed people. - clarke thomas

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