This morning we changed the format of FriendFeed subscription email messages to include more information about people who subscribe to you. Please let us know if you see any problems, and keep an eye out for more email improvements in the future.
I'm all for improving the format of notifications, but wonder (aloud) if it is such a smart move to include the Approve/Reject link right at the top (unless it only appears in private feeds to which someone has requested access). Right now we have the option of blocking/ rejecting a subscriber at any time but presumably not at the very outset. This may lead to more of a walled gardens' mentality, already very prevalent at FF.
- ianf ⌘
ianf: approve/reject is only for private feeds. Public feeds just have a link to subscribe back :)
- Benjamin Golub
I noticed this one! Such informations about people who subscribe to me on FriendFeed are useful, and makes it easy to quickly get in the conversation. Thanks for the good job!
- Thierry R. Andriamirado
Gmail automatically showed me the images in a subscription email, even though I never told it to (you know how gmail has the 'display images below' option). further, it doesn't give me the option to hide the images. not that I'd want to, but how are you bypassing gmail's security feature to hide the images?
- chrisofspades
Chris, we don't do anything special. I'm not sure how gmail decides what images to show, you'd have to contact them or check the gmail help.
- Casey Muller
Casey, you sure FriendFeed's founders didn't use some of their "we created Gmail" mojo? ;)
- chrisofspades
Chris, the "show images" only applies to external images hosted on other sites. Gmail doesn't show those by default because doing so would allow people to "bug" email. We include the images with the email so that they can be displayed immediately.
- Paul Buchheit
I'm assuming some kind of music video. This is a popular dance/activity of some kind...I think in Jamaica. There was an epidemic of broken weiners as a result. (this is not a joke)
- Rah-PM 2012
I'm going with an 8. His legs clearly separated during the aerial pelvic thrust and his arm placement was clearly off before the landing.
- Rah-PM 2012
Dude...that video is just...WTF. I thought I'd seen it all, but they're just blatantly miming all types of innapropriate shit to the nth degree
- Rah-PM 2012
That video made my netherbits hurt just watching it. :-/
- Hookuh Tinypants
Probably hasn't been heard of since because you can actually BREAK YOUR WINKY! Which is highly disturbing to me. Hence why I would never even think of doing this. I treasure my winky, along with a relatively small number of other individuals.
- Rah-PM 2012
Also see http://jezebel.com/5234308... - in particular, "Just when you were getting over the horror of daggering, a video of extreme dancing to reggae music shows a man jumping off of an 8 foot column on to the crotch of a woman.Oh yeah: And then he throws a table at her."
- ωαřмaiden ☆TeamOtto☆
This is why my Guyanese half and my Jamaican half have issue with each other. LOL.
- Rah-PM 2012
I actually came over here to see if Kam was okay. And I get an education ... ;-) FF FTW.
- Auntie Buttinsky Botts
from iPhone
This is clearly not my cat. If this was my cat he's have one arm shoved down into the printer trying to tear up all the internal whirling bits with his bare claws.
- Soup in a TARDIS
Too Funny! Reminds me of the San Mateo Cat Shelter where one of the cats loves to sleep on top of the laster printer where the paper comes out...
- Greg Lato
1600+ to beat the FFundercats live chat thread. I think with this real time now on all threads we're going to see some truly epic comment numbers.
- Simon Wicks
Ivan, no the picture speaks for itself. ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Petr, I have no idea what you mean, but thank you. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
@Kol .. :] that, partially, might have been the purpose.... I don't know it exactly either. :] .. was I reflecting on a cat under the fax, and that it is hard to fax that way ... /?:] ... "underfaxing at its worst" ..
- pb:
there ya have me ! :] .... see, to be honest with you, i saw this pic couple days ago, but i let it go, without posting it ..... what does that make me? :]
- pb:
even a flat cat... faxes just can't handle the hair. You'd have to shave the cat first, else the hair will burn and stick to the drum... a mess! (I am extrapolating from transparencies, mind, i don't have access to a cat to test)
- Iphigenie
Hehe, Joelle. This is now tied for the 'likes' top stop. One more then, hehe. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Hehe, Greg. Blimey! Erm, is that not far from 500 likes now? ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Bloody marvelous, Kol. Wish I could like it again... too cute (and help u to 500 likes).
- Roberto Bonini
I couldn't believe it when I logged on from the morning over posting it and saw it was at something 200 likes! You all have a strange fetish with cats and fax machines, hehe. ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Am I the only one who saw this and their first thought was - My goodness did someone break that cats neck? It still freaks me out a little
- SteVe C
Steve, it does look a little out of place, but cats are pretty bendy. ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
They fax much better if you flatten them first. What?
- The original Kevin
So we can put this post to rest now. :-) 505 likes final count, wow! :-D Good night all!
- Kol Tregaskes
did 3 people really un-like this? now at 506. wtf (edit: uh, oh, yeah, me and 2 + 506 others makes 509. dammit, jim, i'm an artist, not a mathematician)
- ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ
One of the best funny cat pictures I've seen! :-)
- John Collis
Kristian, it appears to be. Hehe, John.
- Kol Tregaskes
ای بابا این پیشول بی خیال نمی شود، بابا پاشو برو دنبال یه بازی دیگه ، از هفته پیش تا حالا تو فکس ولو شدی حوصله ات سر نرفته، پاشو اقلا بپر رو کیبوردی چیزی
- Maryaminaa
It's really only social convention which regards it as inappropriate, same with Xeroxing it, like one does with their b__tocks. Wait are we still talking about cats cats here or...
- The Real sofarsoShawn
OMGosh 700+ likes now!! LOL. Thank you all 702 of you. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Friendfeed Hacks Group - A place to discuss and share about tweaking Friendfeed with Greasemonkey, UserJS, Stylish, or anything to make the FF experience even better. http://friendfeed.com/friendf...
- Keith - @tsudo
Interesting feature of FriendFeed beta: to view a single entry you click its timestamp but once you're in a single entry view, clicking the timestamp launches an embeddable version of the entry in a pop-up window. This could be embedded in other sites for a real-time discussion.
I'm sorry but this is unbelievable:) I'll give credit to the artist upon more convincing proof! The photogenic look of the tiger and lion really helps the artist's case though:)
- Roney Smith
I'm with Roney... I find this hard to believe... or maybe I'm just jealous that I can't even get stick people right!
- Jasmin Smith
I'm really happy everyone liked these. They're my most liked entry to date, Thanks! There also seems to be some question about whether these are actually Pencil Drawings.I can assure you that they are.When I get home, I should have the links. I have more drawings, too.
- Michael Fidler
from fftogo
Thanks Enrique, I'll post some more soon. They are a little more obvious than these ones. As Luke points out; without being able to look closely it's impossible to tell. He's right; but up close it's more obvious. I'll upload the originals to Picasa later, and then you'll be able to zoom in with any photo viewer and see for yourselves. I can't believe how many people liked these. A few people have reposted them already. Thanks!
- Michael Fidler
Absolutely awesome, Michael. You are extremely talented. Everyone should repost these pix and help to make you famous. You should be doing this full time - you obviously have some passion for this. Bravo.
- Chris Loft
These are really beautiful, Michael. Do you sell them?
- Shannon Jiménez
Chris, I would love to say they're mine, but it's not true. I've had them for a while, but I'll find the artists names. It will just require a little backtracking. Besides, they deserve the credit; all I did was find them:-)
- Michael Fidler
Cut the bullshit! :) Photos are very good.
- Burçak Çubukçu
I draw alot in pencil, but they are amazing, the best for me is the girl, that is the most photo-like one. :o)
- Rob Sellen :o)
I agree Rob, the girl is amazing. My favorite by far! Wait until you see it close up! It's really had to tell, even up close!
- Michael Fidler
Burçak Çubukçu If these were photographs, they would be very good. As Pencil Drawings,(which they are), they're amazing.
- Michael Fidler
@Burçak Çubukçu I can't tell if your serious now or just kidding around. I hope your just having fun! If you are serious, I've never given you a reason to question my integrity, nor do I ever intend to. However, the second set is up now, so judge them for yourself, but don't judge me! http://ff.im/1BJh5 BTW, I messed up and reposted the shot of the women again. Oh well. Hope you like them:-)
- Michael Fidler
@Michael: try deviantART, not Picasa, to submit your artworks
- LouCypher
LouCypher, I know it well, but I don't see why I would want to do that. I hope everyone knows by now that they're not mine? I'm sorry, but I can't say it any clearer than that.
- Michael Fidler
nah, i don't believe it is done in pencil. i am sure it is photoshopped :)
- hasin hayder
I'm finding this both interesting and humorous at the same time. There's a separate message board where this post is being discussed and it has another forty comments on it already. I think its great how this has created some lively discussion, considering that when I posted this I was doubtful if anyone would even like it. When I went to sleep last night there was only had 3 or 4 likes...
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- Michael Fidler
Very interesting. I would like to see them up close and in person...just to make sure. Bill said it's real and possible. Your 2nd set of picts look like pencil. Nice work in finding these!
- LaFern Cusack
Kol, I can't thank you enough! Kol found another post which helps to prove that these are done in pencil. I had my doubts about a few of them because I collected them from several different sites over time, but the site Kol found has done a great job pulling together an impressive collection of these drawings and more. Take a look - http://www.flickzzz.com/2009...
- Michael Fidler
Actually there are more than what this site shows. There's an entire set with the cats(little cats), which I have, and there's a new portrait set.
- Michael Fidler
Found your post here, Michael. :-) I tried my best to find the artists.
- Kol Tregaskes
Amazing and very very very good.... Very impressive ...
- Linda Zeek-Bobinski
Yeah we know, thanks though, James. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Excellent pictures - how long did it take you to scan the photographs into Photoshop and then edit them? The only pencil that has come into contact with these "drawings" is the Photoshop pencil. A tip - stop trying to fool people into thinking you are a "real" artist, because all you are doing is cheapening proper artist's works whom have spent hours creating real pictures as opposed to a few minutes on a graphics editing package.
- The Wimp
A bell does ring here. And I am remembering why I was so attracted to the tiger...and the lion for that matter. These are exact replicas of prints I had in our bedroom when I lived in Dallas. I had bought the prints (in color) at a department store,
- Melanie Reed
Actually, I have learned quite a bit about these drawing since I made this post. Not only have I discovered all of the artists, but I've learned more about how they are created. They are always copied from a photograph or painting, but usually a photograph. It is extremely time consuming and detail orientated work. There are many other artists besides the ones featured here who practice...
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- Michael Fidler
Most of them have portfolio's on deviantart.com and their work is truly amazing even if they are copies of other artists work. I suppose with this level of detail, they have to start with something. Nevertheless, I'm still in awe of their talent. Melanie, the animal prints you refer to are from a very well renowned photographer. The originals are B&W I'll look it up later but I do have...
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- Michael Fidler
Has anyone ever corrected the record and pointed out, with the exception of the Charlize Theron drawing, that these are indeed photos by Alexander Von Reiswitz?
- erik weisz
Erik, thank you for bringing this up again, but I think I already mentioned something about this in my prior comment. However, since it appears that you only signed up to friendfeed to leave a single comment, (ok, why?) I will try to summarize what I wrote previously. In brief, I learned after doing a little research that all photo-realistic drawings like the ones that I shared here,...
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- Michael Fidler
I can assure you that what are claimed to be drawings of animals, in your post here, are photos. I used a website to that allows you to do an comparison of the Von Reiswitz photos and the images you have posted here. There are no differences. Every hair matches up. As a pencil artist myself I can tell you that it's pretty much impossible to get that kind of accuracy and have it look...
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- erik weisz
but... it has to be real, i saw it on the internet
- Iphigenie
Eric, it doesn't matter to me if you just joined, and I apologize if I made you think otherwise. If you have any questions regarding friendfeed, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them. At this point, I would be happy if we could find someone who is an image analysis expert, and finally point this thing to rest. Every time that I look into this, all I find is a...
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- Michael Fidler
the site spammed above must all be done in pencil too, right, thats why you posted it?
- Iphigenie
I'm amazed that people are still posting these photographs of animals and calling them pencil drawings. This is at least the third case I can remember (and there are probably more) of this happening. The myth about them being drawings was debunked long ago. It's also funny that whenever they get posted the person posting them doesn't make it clear that they aren't the artist, exactly as you have done.
- canadianmaple09
@canadianmaple09 I posted these back in March, 2009 when I was beginning to use FF regularly. I ran them through TinEye hoping to find their source, but it returned no results. When I ran through again yesterday, TinEye returned over four pages of results. If I had it to do over again, would I? Yes
- Michael Fidler
The people you refer do don't join "just to slam" someone, they are concerned members of the online art community that want to see real art appreciated and fake art or photos being passed off as drawings revealed for what they really are. Artists such as Brian Duey, Armin Mersmann, Paul Lung, Zindy Nielsen,and many others do not receive the appreciation they deserve because of scams like this.
- canadianmaple09
canadianmaple09, the worthiness of your motives notwithstanding (and they are worthy, definitely) you could definitely have approached Michael completely differently by say, giving him the benefit of the doubt rather than attacking in a highly accusatory tone.
- Chieze Okoye
When you've seen these same pictures posted multiple times by people that just find them on the internet and claim they are pencil drawings, when it has already been established on multiple occasions that they are not, the "benefit of the doubt" approach seems a little too generous. People post these images and claim they're drawings to get views for their own site or blog or page or whatever it is they post it on. It's wrong and it needs to be stopped.
- canadianmaple09
I can understand that, but you should also keep in mind that everyone is not as well-versed in the issue as you are. All I'm saying is that you would probably be more effective in this case if you weren't setting this up as a us-vs.-them, "must destroy with the validity my argument!" attitude when talking to a guy who's been actively having a discussion on the issue in what seems to me (having been around when he first posted the images and the follow up thread and what not) to be good faith.
- Chieze Okoye
Look at his first comment here. People clearly thought he drew them. He doesn't set the record straight. He also claims that they "are actually pencil drawings" and that "I have more drawings too." Later he claims that you need to look at them closer to see they are drawings and that he will "post the originals". Once again, this makes it sound like they are his. This follows the same...
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- canadianmaple09
Greg and Chieze, thanks for your support. I really appreciate it. @canadianmaoles09, for what it’s worth, I share your concerns about giving proper attribution when sharing also. However, I admit that I'm more conscious of it now than I was at the time of this post. Nevertheless, I have never taken credit for anybody's work here other than my own!
- Michael Fidler
BTW, I didn't realize it before, but I just noticed that you're new here too. I hope you like it so far and spend more time here. IMO, friendfeed is still the best thing around!
- Michael Fidler
I would probably qualify as an image analysis expert, but there's no way to prove that online. One thing we can do is look at color. Even though the images are black and white,they're actually RGB images, meaning they contain cyan magenta and yellow. If you look at the image of the rhino you have posted then look at the photo of the rhino at the photographer's site you can see they both...
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- erik weisz
This is great, I can spend a long (too much) time looking at it
- Juan Pablo González
Loved the photo and spirit, didn't love the thread under the photo at the link. Trolls still make me sad n' angry.
- Marko Bon
Didn't notice that, the minority always have to take it too far. There are some great images on pixdaus, my friends at work have got really into the site today as well!
- Joe Dawson
Really wish I didn't read that comment thread
- Melissa
@Melissa, sorry about mentioning it. In some ways it deserves acknowledging, but in most ways it requires disregarding ;)
- Marko Bon
I just checked out that Infinite Cat Project, well funny, going to use that as a punishment for my children. You been hitting your sister again, go through the whole of the Infinite Cat Project now...
- Joe Dawson
Red letters on white perhaps, or picture of the sun.
- LouCypher
Lou, cool idea! I'll speak to the designer. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Dan, check the group's description. Basically it's like Twitter's followfriday but for FriendFeed. Pick someone from FF you want to recommend and follow the guidelines on the group.
- Kol Tregaskes
This is now called FollowFriday (well for the moment anyway). Please recommend a fellow FriendFeeder that we should follow. Mine is Rochelle here: http://friendfeed.com/ff-foll...
- Kol Tregaskes
2 :-) ... but don't worry about the sequence. I've got a little script that looks at the item via the API and I'll keep a unique user count in the body of the itme.
- Ken Sheppardson
Don't worry too much about getting the number sequence right. I've got a little script that just looks at the item via the API and gets the proper count.
- Ken Sheppardson
Caroline: Eventually it could get a good approximation of everybody who wants to be counted, but more importantly I just sorta thought it might be fun, you know?
- Ken Sheppardson
If you could get the Turkish and Persian users in this thread, the count would jump up tremendously.
- Akiva
Well, if we get one or two bilingual folks to notice it, it might have a chance. If it gets rolling, I might have to pull out some of the comment/like timestamp info, dig in with the API and generate a little report. A little weekend science project.
- Ken Sheppardson
Let's be sure to report back to MG and Arrington...
- Thom Kennon
I want buzz to be good but there's still more interesting stuff here than there. I'm trying to use buzz more because that's the most likely end point for the ff experience.
- Hayes Haugen
Interesting, that's more people than I see actively posting in my Buzz feed and I'm following 140 and have 300 following me there most of which are here also.
- Jeff P. Henderson
FRIENDFEED IS DEAD?? BRAAAAAAAIINNNNNNSSSSSS!!!!!
- Joe The Sausage
I wonder if it would be possible to figure this out more efficiently using the FriendFeed API or something?
- Rah-PM 2012
Well, http://www.ffholic.com sorta does that, Rahsheen. For example, it says you're the ~350th or so most active user, and I'm the ~2000th, so one could sort of extrapolate from those sorts of stats.
- Ken Sheppardson
206? That's it? I mean, I understand we're likely not going to get many non-English respondents, but 206?
- Ken Sheppardson
Ken, you'll recall that not everyone with hands participated in Hands Across America.
- Micah
Ken that's about 26% of those who are subscribed to you. What would be interesting to do is go to each of their accounts and see how many of your 785 subscribers are actually active, i.e. have they made a native posting here recently, have they commented on anyone's post recently. I'll bet you that a significant number of those who are following you are not actually active users.
- Jeff P. Henderson
I don't think this method is very scientific, Ken! As you said above, you're the 2000th as far as activity. If you got a more active user, and/or one with lots of followers to post this same question, you would get different numbers. Also, the way you phrased this originally, you didn't ask people to share it, bump it, etc.
- Laura Norvig
You all have made great points about what's wrong with the method, and I'll probably do a little write-up that addresses them and does some analysis of the results... but meanwhile... 209? Come on, if you see this, consider yourself an active FF user, but haven't liked or commented... why not?
- Ken Sheppardson
I don't know if this was already mentioned, but remember that there are lots of non-English-speaking FFers not covered by this survey. There are also probably some people who just aren't in our circle.
- Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)
from fftogo
FriendFeed isn't a monolithic block of users. I think I only subscribe to one user that has commented on this thread.
- Nick Lothian
"In "Alice in Wonderland," actress Anne Hathaway glides across the screen as the White Queen with a pearly grin that becomes a bit unsettling -- it's somewhere between Glinda the Good Witch and "The Stepford Wives." A one point she cheerily cooks up a magic potion that includes plenty of nasty ingredients (including some putrid-looking amputated fingers), and it turns out that was a...
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- RAPatton
from iPhone
"The plot of "Alice" is the quest of Wonderland's strange denizens to return their kingdom's throne to the White Queen -- a quest that requires a champion who may or may not be the returning-visitor Alice. The White Queen is in exile while her shrill sister, the Red Queen, rules the land. The tense relationship between the royal sisters was an intriguing one to Burton."
- RAPatton
from iPhone
Today, I was jogging in Central Park when this lady started screaming for help. Her husband was having a heart attack. I ran over and checked his pulse. He didn't have one. I gave him CPR and got his heart beating before the paramedics arrived. I've done some bad things in my life, but today I saved a life. MMT - http://makesmethink.com/view...
"For this instructable, I will show you how to increase the amount of produce you can grow at your home for free. Cloning may sound like a very complicated scientific process, but for the at-home gardener it is a very simple thing that anyone can do."
- Steven Perez
from Bookmarklet
Oh sure, but once you clone the clone of a clone you end up with one dumb tomato. (Also this is quite awesome!)
- Joe "Brrzzzzzzt" Pierce
"The Spider Plant, or Chlorophytum comosum, is possibly the most popular house plant. They are good at purifying the air in your home and they are very easy to maintain. The purpose of this instructable is to teach you how to make more spider plants from your starter plant."
- Steven Perez
from Bookmarklet
"The next time someone at the office asks where the plastic spoons are the best response is "in landfills." Okay, even if you don't want to be "that guy" there's something to be said for bringing your own, non-communal (ie GROSS) spoon to work. MugStir clips to the side of your favorite mug without any scratches thanks to its rubber handle. Available in a variety of colors, it's guaranteed not to poke you in the eye when you take a drink. $8"
- Steven Perez
from Bookmarklet
Hey, bookworms in front of the screen, there’s something specially prepared for you! It is the Supine Reading Glasses, a unique pair of glasses allowing you to read a book while lying down flat. The magic glasses actually feature two optical-quality glass prisms in them to reflect the light 90°. Simply wear the glasses, place the book on your chest and then you can enjoy an easy reading in bed!
- Alberto Vasquez
from Bookmarklet
Incorporating an ‘accordion-like, honeycomb’ structure, the FlexibleLove Virgin by Chishen Chiu could accommodate a seating for 8 to 16 people at one time.
- Alberto Vasquez
from Bookmarklet