I'm rather sick and tired of seeing "pretty girls" that all look the same...waaay too tan, fried straight blonde hair, and who wear more makeup than cloths. They all look the same, take the same kind of photos with the same kind of people who all make the same kind of faces. so why is this desirable? those girls are a dime a dozen
Becuase magazines, TV and public stereotypes tell girls that this is the way to look... Also, surf magazines, Playboy, WWE wrestling and 'locker-room opinion' tell guys that this is to be desired... and to not do so, and have your manhood and sexuality questioned, would strike fear into the heart of many a young teenage boy.
- Johnny Worthington
"Jessica Simpson has a new man - former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. The new couple has been rumored, and has since been photographed together. From People: "She has fallen hard and is smitten," a source tells E! News, which reports that the 29-year-old romantically unlucky singer and Corgan, 42, are "officially dating.""
- cecily
from Bookmarklet
"Rice Krispie Cake (Adapted from Martha Stewart) For the cake 13 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 teaspoon salt 15 cups miniature marshmallows 20 cups Rice Krispies For the filling 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 5 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows 5 1/2 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate For assembly assorted extra cereals for decorating To prepare the cake In a large saucepan, add butter and salt - melt over medium-low. Add marshmallows - stirring until thoroughly melted. Stir in Rice Krispies until combined. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the cereal mixture and place in a small bowl - cover and set aside. Evenly divide the mixture between two 9" round baking pans coated with cooking spray. Press mixture down until level. Set aside and let cool until set, about 30 minutes. To prepare the filling In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low. Add marshmallows and cook, stirring, until just beginning to melt. Add chocolate and stir until smooth. Remove from the heat. Remove cereal mixture...
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- edythe
from Bookmarklet
Went through mine today also. Didn't change much. But the changes I did make locked my profile down just a bit more restricting viewing to only friends for most personal information and photos, and friends of friends for the less personal info.
- Jeff P. Henderson
I pretty much had groups for almost all my different areas. I dont like people to see pics or vids of my nephew or young cousins the adults I don't care but I don't want the kids out there for even ALL my friends to see. I had an issue with an ex boyfriends ex wife (yea we've been broken up for like 10 years and she and he hadn't been together since before he and I were together and she...
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- Angela P.
from IM
"Scientists have ruled out the possibility that methane on Mars was brought there by meteorites, implying that it may be generated by life."
- bcultral
from Bookmarklet
"The first bite was a satisfying mouthful. The bun, while not superior, was a serviceable commercial choice that had the sponginess that contained the burger. It also had a little grilling on it to add that extra layer of texture. The cheese was melted beautifully so as to provide smoothness without turning into a fondue. The onions were near perfection, as they had been grilled just into caramelization without losing their pleasing bite."
- Derrick
from Bookmarklet
"okay so that’s enough cilantro for the first bite. now keep going. DON’T STOP TIL MY TOES CURL UP AND I MAKE A FACE LIKE A CONSTIPATED GARRISON KEILLOR (via sixtyforty)"
- Steven Perez
from Bookmarklet
Don't like! Blech! Cilantro tastes like soap!
- Sarah
It's not nice to tease the Avatar of the Cilantro Gods.
- Steven Perez
Larger girl at the Den: "Does this shirt make me look fat?"...................................................... Bystander (under her breath): "No but that huge tray of food does"
We all face forward. cubicles are right next to each other. total room is about 35' x 25', not including bosses offices in back. The bosses have windows with venetian blinds, which they use to their advantage. cubicle walls are 45" high. Fun stuff.
yep. that's totally me. but i don't have to wear a tie anymore. customers kept getting pissed off that we were wearing ties and they weren't. made them look bad. and i'm all about keeping customers happy.
- Morgan Haley
"A community of ‘candid’ photographers of men in public situations (all of whom have paid for their accounts in good faith) has been displaced and silenced on photo-sharing site Flickr in less than a fortnight. Four prominent photostreams as well as countless photos vanished from July 6th 2009 to July 13th 2009 without warning or right to appeal. At least one site had over a million hits in less than a year. Flickr has stubbornly refused to give a reason for its recent axe-grinding mission against these sites, but one user was given the reason ‘voyeur content’ after more than 8 days of asking for a reason yet that particular site contained pictures of men in public which is legal. Flickr has refused to expand on the reason it gave, but cited its ambiguous and open-ended ‘Don’t be creepy’ clause in its Terms of Service asjustification for terminating at least one photostream. Flickr has also silenced debate about the issue on its Help Forum. When confronted with whether or nor the...
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- Thomas Hawk
Good! Flickr is out of control. They should not be allowed to delete a paying customer's photo or photostream without notifying the customer of the "problem" and giving them a chance to correct/explain the situation. It's just bad business. Flickr is a great site, but the negatives are slowly chipping away at the positives.
- Rob LaRosa
Yeah, Flickr is pretty out of control. I think I'll be letting my membership expire and using only Pbase from now on.
- Todd Walker
Wow. How do I move all of my photos from flickr? I suppose I'll have to find somewhere new to put them.
- joey
I think it sort of sucks that I post a link to blog specifically about account deletions to a Flickr Help forum thread specifically account deletions and get banned from the public forum. The Flickr is Fascist blog is not mine, I was merely reporting on it.
- Thomas Hawk
Looks like it's time to abandon Flickr to Mussolini. And then kick it in the head.
- James (!?)
Uh oh. You've been put on the naughty step.
- Simon Wicks
Seems like the more we rely on web services the more of our rights we inadvertently give up. With web services being bought, sold, discontinued, or the arbitrary rules that they invoke, we are more and more at the mercy of whim of the site owner. It seems like it is time for some sort of universal user bill of rights that defines a minimum level of service we should expect and defines guidelines for disputes between users and service providers.
- Jeff P. Henderson
Well Thomas, as the CEO of a competitor to Flickr, it was only a matter of time before they tired of your "crusades" and troublemaking. (regardless of how worthwhile they are, and they are)
- Robert Kenney
I have kept my photos on Flickr, because that is where my family goes to, but I also have them on Zooomr, really not happy with Flickr
- Kim Landwehr
This is clearly a signal that Flickr is on the move. To be spun-off, sold, etc. As part of preparations for this, they have been given a mandate to clean-up the site of "less desirable" content to make it more marketable to a buyer.
- Robert Kenney
What are the best alternatives to Flickr?
- Johnny
Johnny, that depends on what you want from the site. If you want a community, then Flickr is probably the best. If you just want a place to host your photos or sell your work. there are plenty of other options. Here are several that come to mind. Zooomr, Smugmug, Picassa, Snapfish.
- Jeff P. Henderson
Robert Kenney: Thomas has been a critic of flickr, but he's also an advocate and user of flickr, in addition to being a competitor. The photo sharing biz is funny that way.
- Bruce Lewis
from fftogo
i also don't like the fact that Flickr staff refers to me as "abusive" before kicking me out of the forum. My criticism has always been respectful. Simply because someone criticizes you does not make them "abusive" that's such a loaded almost libelous term. I resent that Flickr would call me abusive and then lock me out of the forum where I can't defend myself against that accusation.
- Thomas Hawk
Flickr is not a democracy, as they remind all of us again and again.
- Robert Kenney
Robert, but users should be able to expect a certain level of civility and recourse that you expect, (and is often required by law) when doing business with a brick and mortar establishment.
- Jeff P. Henderson
the anti flickr blog by the way has moved and I honestly have absolutely zero to do with this new anti flickr blog. I was simply reporting on it after the authors of the blog (who I do not know who they are) pointed it out to me. http://saynotoflickr.blogspot.com
- Thomas Hawk
I've been arguing against arbitrary account deletions and censorship there pretty passionately for a while. Especially lately as the account deletions seem to have escalated (and especially anything associated with or male gay related). I suppose they don't like being criticized for their deletion decisions, but personally I think labeling me as "abusive" for it and censoring me is yet another bad tact for them to take.
- Thomas Hawk
don't like flickr's problems? put your pix somewhere else. It's a website, not a national government; it's not fascist.
- Chieze Okoye
Most of the time those being deleted have no platform to object and so they turn to the only public avenue that they know the help forum. I like sticking up for the little guy, especially when he/she's in the right. It is frustrating though feeling like you are banging your head against the wall with Flickr who just seem frankly not to care one bit about the criticism or even ever address their censorship choosing to simply lock any thread objecting to it.
- Thomas Hawk
no, Chieze, it's not just a "website," any more than FriendFeed is just a "website." It's a community. That's always been what's made it special. It's just too bad that those overseeing the community don't feel that they need to have respect for it.
- Thomas Hawk
My contention is that Friendfeed *is* just a website, though. It's kinda nice when they get stuff right, and kinda bad when they get stuff wrong, but at the end of the day, it's just a tool. Is your tool breaking or acting up? Try to fix it within your capacity (writing blogs sometimes works when you're not part of the development itself, but bandying about hyperbole like calling a website fascist usually doesn't) or just move to the next tool that will work reliably the way you want.
- Chieze Okoye
There's a huge audience that you only reach through Flickr. There's no "next tool" to reach that many.
- Bruce Lewis
Chieze, I didn't call Flickr fascist. I simply reported on the fact that *somebody else* started a blog called that. I pretty much report on everything that's related to flickr that I come across. I'm not sure why I should have been banned simply for reporting on it. We'll have to disagree on both Flickr and FriendFeed merely being "websites." I hold to my contention that they are far, far, more than just "websites," that they are very significant hubs for communities, both of them in fact.
- Thomas Hawk
The thing that bugs me most about the way Flickr deals with things is that they delete and/or block, giving the accused no avenue for recourse. If they want to accuse me of having photos on the site that aren't mine, that's fine, but don't take down the evidence. They should have to leave the pics up there and prove to me that they are right. How could I do that after my pictures have...
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- Kenton
Oh, Thomas, I realize that you weren't calling it fascist, I didn't mean to make it seem like I was conflating you with this blog's behavior. Sorry about that. We will have to agree to disagree about the tool/website thing, I guess. I'm not an avid Flickr user, so I don't have that passion (but I am an avid Friendfeeder, at least by my personal standards, and I still think the way I do...
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- Chieze Okoye
Also, @Bruce, at this point, no one should be surprised with Flickr's behavior. Yes there's great audience, but it's not like there NO OTHER photo sharing site that has a community of people you can connect with. Continuing my tool metaphor, it would be like if you had the world's best hammer, but that hammer had poisonous spikes on the handle. For some people who need it or really want...
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- Chieze Okoye
Chieze, I'm well aware there are other photo sharing sites. I run one. But for photographers with a professional interest in getting noticed, Flickr is not optional.
- Bruce Lewis
Saying there are options to Flickr is like saying there are options to Windows. Sure, technically there are but not may people use them.
- ChiliMac
Yeah, Flickr isn't optional if you want to build a brand/reputation or just get noticed. Which sucks, because I'd have dumped my account there in protest a while ago if that wasn't the case. What's idiotic is that I can't even fathom a reason for these absurd censorship policies. How difficult can it be to implement an holding pen for violating accounts and a review process before they pull that delete trigger?
- Eric P
posted your blog post separately See-ming. http://friendfeed.com/thomash... Ironicly, posting about this "Flickr is Fascist" blog is what got me indefinitely banned from the Flickr Help forum. I think that they are pretty pissed off about it. At least pissed off enough to ban me over merely mentioning it publicly.
- Thomas Hawk
@TH Thanks! I was not going to post it until I realize recently that it is happening to a lot of my gay friends - including some who cannot post to my groups anymore because they are having the same problem, which is very sad.
- See-ming Lee 李思明 SML
As someone who has, quite unfairly, had their name featured several times in the Flickr is Fascist Blog, and who knows who the perpetrator is I can understand why Flickr would want to protect it’s users in this way. The person behind it not only has a malicious personal vendetta against certain people on the site but also promotes the censorship, deletion and suspension of other peoples...
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- david Martyn
I think the last step in most methods involves a trip to Home Depot to buy a new bolt the proper length.
- Ken Sheppardson
Screw a die on before cutting the bolt. Screw the die off to remove the burrs. You should be able to screw things on after that. If you don't have a die set on hand, then it's probably cheaper and easier to follow Ken's suggestion.
- Gary Burd
The problem is I need a 6" or so threaded rod and they only sell them in longer sizes at Home Depot. That would be the easiest solution if I could find one.
- Jesse Stay
Well if you want to experiment, you might grab a few of the largest nuts you can find that'll fit on the rod. You could put a couple on the rod to let you grab it in a vice to hold it, then thread two on with just enough of a gap in between them that they'll guide your hacksaw blade. Taking the nut off once the rod is cut may or may not have the same effect as the die Gary suggested.
- Ken Sheppardson
Another option is to file the burrs off after cutting the rod.
- Gary Burd
I think we got it working. Because we could thread it from both ends I could do with an end that was unthreadable. I think it worked - thanks guys!
- Jesse Stay
Likes suggestion was pretty neat. Don't youhave any lasers lying around, Jesse??;)
- Roberto Bonini
from iPhone
I'd love to know where I could buy high-grade lasers like Luke mentions for cheap
- Jesse Stay
Don't shoot me Santa Claus, I've been a clean living boy, I promise you, did every little thing you asked me to, I can't believe the things I'm going through...
- Otto
It's all part of the Santa reboot. Hollywood should now do a Santa Origins story, directed by Michael Bay of course.
- Jerry Perez
gittii giittii giitttii giiitti santa gitti :D
- ELyaz
Saaantaa!!! Did it smell like cookies? lol
- John Tastad
makes getting down the chimney a lot easier.
- Morgan Haley
On Dasher! On Donner! On Cupi.....Oh SHIT! On Fire!!! On Fire!!!!
- Morgan Haley
I found out today that NO ONE has gotten the illustration certificate that my school offers. BECAUSE (dun dun dun) they have never offered one of the required classes at either campus. WHAT
I know. I talked to my illustration teacher about it - Illustrative Techniques 2 has never had 9 students it requires to be made a class, so they've never taught it. She finally got enough students for it for this semester, but since the full time professor who also (theoretically) teachers it didn't get enough, he is taking over her class. Well, most people who signed up to take it signed up because she was the teacher, and dropped it when it was taken from her. So it's not going to be a class, again.
- Andrizzle Gizzle
I think that /should/ get them in certification trouble with their state, should anyone complain. I think they're required to offer some sort of equivalency credits from another class if they can't meet their own requirements.
- Jennifer Dittrich
Yeah, at this point it doesn't affect me but I am hoping they can pull it together soon. I was thinking about writing the department head asking for confirmation that what I was told was accurate. They shouldn't even advertise the certificate if it is not possible to complete it. The classes it uses though are completely outside the normal degree program.
- Andrizzle Gizzle
Facebook FAIL Whale: "This content is currently unavailable. The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page."
- Jeff P. Henderson
Most likely you don't have permission, Jeff. Not a huge surprise.
- Louis Gray
I do remember Anthrax the band and you're post just reminded me that a decade is almost over! Wow. What is this decade called? I guess the next one is the 10s (tens).
- Kurt Kringle
Until otherwise notified, I'm calling it the Aughts.
- Steven Perez
from IM
Well, it kicked off with the Y2K Bug.
- Kurt Kringle
This decade is the Aughts. The next is the Teens.
- Spidra Webster
My building had anthrax (my post office too!) Ah, the memories.
- Jennifer Dittrich
holy crap, did the 00s really suck that bad?
- Joe Pierce
Practically from the get-go, Joe.
- Steven Perez
from IM
that is a really depressing list. Surly there were at least a few good things from the decade.
- Joe Pierce
visit The Onion's av club... they have a series of "Best of the Decade" lists... there was a lot of brilliance out there in the last 10 years.
- T. Brent, technopeasant
Pepsi Twist. I forgot all about that. I actually convinced myself it was good. It was not.
- Haggis (Sean Loyless)
Sure if you want to use the accurate name of it.
- Joe Pierce
+1 Brent...lots of awesome stuff this decade...and a lot of stuff on this list seem suspiciously like they were actually popular in the 90s
- Louis Simoneau
Well, SP, thank you for ruining what the nanobot doctors thought would be a permanent memory wipe. =)
- Micah Wittman
I want to be the devastatingly beautiful temptress who discards men like used kleenex and gets kidnapped at least twice a season.
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
Ooooh can I be the gruff anti-hero that ends up being the good guy in the end?
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
FF is infinitely richer than "the stories". At least this is real! I never understood how people could invest so much time and energy into something fictional. I've had small bouts of that in my life, but they never last for long. Not just soap operas, but sci-fi epics, fantasy, romance novels, all of that stuff. Perhaps I'm not as much of a geek as I think I am. Or maybe my attention span is a little too short... I need lots and lots of variety. FF haz that.
- Kamilah Gill
pea? evil?, not happenin' :); aden - you have to explain that one hon'. I'm pretty out of touch with the soaps, but I've never heard of that trope.... either way, it sounds pretty cool, so, "yes"; Junebug - so shall it be written, so shall it be done; josh - how can you kidnap anyone with your pants constantly around your ankles?; MVB - wouldn't that be typecasting?; Kamillah - for realz... *sigh* you guys....
- MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS
Can I become possessed by a demonic spirit?
- Mary Carmen
Jeff China's fourth-quarter GDP growth is expected to surpass 10% so I guess it's working OK. Communism and capitalism seem very compatible. And we have black jails here and people seem quite happy with them. You are even acting like a patriot if you are for them.
- Todd Hoff
"Yahoo isn’t happy that a detailed menu of the spying services it provides law enforcement agencies has leaked onto the web. Shortly after Threat Level reported this week that Yahoo had blocked the FOIA release of its law enforcement and intelligence price list, someone provided a copy of the company’s spying guide to the whistleblower site Cryptome. The 17-page guide describes Yahoo’s data retention policies and the surveillance capabilities it can provide law enforcement, with a pricing list for these services. Cryptome also published lawful data-interception guides for Cox Communications, SBC, Cingular, Nextel, GTE and other telecoms and service providers. But of all those companies, it appears to be Yahoo’s lawyers alone who have issued a DMCA takedown notice to Cryptome demanding the document be removed. Yahoo claims that publication of the document is a copyright violation, and gave Cryptome owner John Young a Thursday deadline for removing the document. So far, Young has refused."
- Thomas Hawk
from Bookmarklet
I wonder how much of this personal data Yahoo uses internally. I wonder if, for instance, someone from the Flickr team, for instance, can use your IP address to look at other ways that you use other Yahoo services.
- Thomas Hawk
I can't answer that specific question, but Yahoo! is always trying to find better ways to engage users. Typically, however, the IP address really isn't useful, since the vast majority of people are behind a NAT device. Yahoo! uses its ID system to track users and, in some cases, provide a more personalized experience. For example, in News, we had a project recently where we would track...
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- Glen Mistletoe
No one honestly cares about a *specific* user (i.e., we don't need to know if it's Joe from Santa Clara or Sue from Fremont), but simply using the behavior as a guide. For example, if you visit http://news.yahoo.com, there will be a "local news" panel that will do its best to determine your location and show you news from there. In this case, the best information comes from the user ("I'm in Los Gatos") and only secondarily from things like the IP address.
- Glen Mistletoe
Glen, but lets say someone was trolling flickr and Yahoo had their IP address. Could Yahoo staff also run that IP address for Yahoo mail or Yahoo messenger? Are there internal controls put into place at Yahoo that prevent staff from using this data internally. Certain areas like community management come to mind where IP address tracking could be considered useful internally.
- Thomas Hawk
Someone *could* run it but it's unlikely to yield anything useful. It's certainly not anything I've heard mentioned at the individual product level. I'm sure that there are data analysts higher up in the company who will track a single user as they move from product to product to see what paths are the most common and for optimizing navigation. When I was on Yahoo! Tech, we did some...
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- Glen Mistletoe
There are internal restrictions on accessing individual user information (for example, to prevent stalking or identity theft) along with all of the usual Sarbanes-Oxley audit controls that are required for everything. You have to be granted permission to access most of this data anyway, and most of it is not available as raw data, but as aggregate. Honestly, no one really cares about an...
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- Glen Mistletoe
You have to understand what a vast quantity of data is out there. An engineer, for example, can log into a single server (for example, to diagnose a site problem) and see the raw log data. But there are usually dozens (if not hundreds) of servers per property; even if a user hits machine #1 on one request, his/her second request might go to machine #47 or #485 or even onto another property. So data is really only useful in aggregate (except, of course, for legal subpoenas and the like).
- Glen Mistletoe
But could a Yahoo staffer cross reference things like Flickr groups/mail, Yahoo mail, and Yahoo chat based on IP address? I understand that in general someone there would not be interested in the actions of an individual. But if a staffer was interested in the actions of an individual could they pull up this sort of information on a single user and at what level/authorizations. I'm...
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- Thomas Hawk