Jeremy Raines

You need to be either crazy or have a strong backbone, character and conviction to swim against the tide - interesting to see how Schiff opposed "popular" belief in the financial industry in such a vocal manner. Fav quote "... stay away from the financials, they're toxic ..." - Mustafa K. Isik

It's more then that - you need a perfect sense of timing. In let's say 2003 or 2004, it would have been absolutely right in theory, but deadly in practice. As John Maynard Keynes put it -- "the fundamentals can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent." - Eugene

people are not smart, even the heroes with etched portraits in the wsj .. or as here, the tv talking heads ... we can only blame ourselves for not listening to our own minds .. after all, who makes them heroes? - Gregory Lent

It's amazing to see such luminaries as Arthur Laffer and Ben Stein being so wrong, yet it's not hard to see how Schiff was right: Without inflation, house values can only get so high before the avg. monthly payment exceeds the avg. monthly wage, and at that point people will have no choice but to default. From there, it's easy to predict that home equity will collapse, and so on. - Gabe

I wouldn't be taking any investment advice from Ben Stein. He doesn't even believe in evolution, why would he believe prices don't always go up? It'd be great to see these guys come back on tv and review what they said now. - Chris White

note Peter feels the recession will last "years." Oh boy. - Jason Kaneshiro

Surely recession will last "years" = depression? - Brian Sullivan

I kept saying the market going to tank since 200. I sold all my stocks at that time. My broker called me crazy. I should have shorted. I also think it will take years for the market to correct itself. There might be trading opportunities but I would not be investing unless Dow hits 6,000 And if we have banks defualting, 4,000 But I am not Peter, just a Troll. LMAO - Igor The Troll

Absolutely hilarious to hear the talking heads recommend Bear and Wamu. - Jason Kaneshiro

Brian, I think whether it is a depression is measured by how deep a recession is, rather than how long it lasts. Igor, you were around during the Roman Empire? :) - Chris White

In my other life! ;-) - Igor The Troll

As long as we don't consume so much crap, don't spend the money that we don't have via credit, and start saving real amounts of money, and start producing things of value, then the economy will start to come back. - jokrausdu

Whiplash... the quick interest rate hikes and uncontrolled gas prices are what jerked us into the ditch. The question is whether a new vehicle will be in order if we crash in early 2009. :) It could be one sad holiday season for retailers... and China. - Gus

jokrausdu is probably right, but it was saving too much that got us into this mess. Instead of spending all their money, the Chinese and Indians were saving it. Since interest rates were so low, they turned to mortgages as a safe, high-yield investment. Once all the safe mortgages ran out, they went to unsafe ones, causing all the trouble. - Gabe

Gabe, you should read http://friendfeed.com/e/9dace0... - Private Sanjeev

america looks dumb from the asian perspective ... any disagreements? - Gregory Lent

It's a global economy Gregory. No one is immune. - Chris White

Laffer is putz - and the first clip is proof. - MikeAmundsen

I'd really like to see an interview with Laffer today where he's shown that clip and asked to justify his prickish behavior in the face of being 100% wrong. - Kevin Fox

guess i need to start keeping an eye on peter schiff! - MikeAmundsen

@Kevin Bloomberg Radio had a nice interview with Laffer recently. I think EconTalk has one as well. - Kevin D. White

Sanjeev: it sounds like either way it's China's fault. :) - Gabe

Seeing this guy's latest YouTube vids, he's now predicting food lines and martial law. I think part of his predictive accuracy has to do with a truly pessimistic perspective. Is there anyone in this new media climate who can provide counter-intuitive insight without a radical extremism? - Christopher Galtenberg

Christopher, how do you know it's wrong unless it doesn't happen? Things are much worse financially than most people think, and the financial media and government are continually optimistic. They've been saying for some time that things are at the bottom.... for a year. I don't know about martial law, but we may have food lines if unemployment goes over 10%. - Chris White

ahahahaa - Monique

Been there, done that. Many, many, many years ago, we brought computers to a week-long music festival just so we could play games. - Akiva Moskovitz

Switch that to someone else carrying all that and I'm there with you. - pea gives ♥ a bad name

Akiva, you went to burning man? Sweet! Tell all... - Pete Delucchi

Hah, no. It was a regional festival. - Akiva Moskovitz

That guy needs to ditch his eMachines and get a MacBook Air. - Louis Gray

What in the hell resolution is he running at? The IE icon takes up the entire screen. - Akiva Moskovitz

I wonder what battery he used... - Ming Tsai

He's writing "e"-mail - Morton Fox

Wow, that will produce some muscles ! - Ryo

.LOLz - .LAG

Wiindows Fit - Jemm

L ... O ... L - Mike Reynolds

LOL that would be my bf! - ♥Brandy Lea Photography♥

Dude. Get a Shuttle case at least. - Cyndy

Heavy pc and crt, ok, but the subwoofer too? You know how heavy those things are? This would work in space maybe. - Josh Haley

And I wonder where it's getting powered from. Is there an extension cord behind him, or maybe he's got a generator attached to his feet? - Costa Walcott

That shit needs a webcam. - Gabe Boisvert

But which way would it point? Or should there be two, one aimed at his face, and one on the visor of his hat, to see what he can see? - Ladybug Heather

It's a 'Trojan Horse'!! The hollowed out tower contains 8 Macbook Airs, 25 iPhones, a G1™[product placement by Google] and a handful of Newtons - just waiting to be deployed! - Micah Wittman

There is a distinct lack of cup holder. - Rochelle

True... where does the Mountain Dew go? Or coffee or Jolt Cola or whatever caffeinated substance he drinks? - Ladybug Heather

Rochelle: thats what the CD Drive tray is for. - Roberto Bonini

body builder geek :D - AbdO

hehe - Kamilah Gill

I love it ! - PooMa

Me too! - Mona N.

Nice - Anna Haro

want. - .LAG

WANT! - Jesse Stay

yeah want WANT! - BeeLing

Just great! - Nice Fish Films

Uhm...some of those look kinda...freaky - ♫ Rahsheen™

On one hand WANT! On the other hand...I'm just not sure that I would be comfortable with my butt that close to Pac-Man's chomping mouth. - Joe Pierce

WANT - Nicholas Kreidberg

Joe - just put a (no homo) sign on your bum. ;) - Mona N.

Yeah...these would definitely cause a lot of "no homo"'s - ♫ Rahsheen™

note to self, first check friendfeed, then check GReader and don't share old stuff :p - Pascal

Hah, I wasn't even thinking about it like that, I was just thinking ya know...painful bite. - Joe Pierce

These are superb! - Kol Tregaskes

They are quality! - Joe Dawson (beta)

Both! - Ruchira S. Datta

Clearly the mutations and inventions are not literally random (people are not just injecting random characters), but also clearly some are much more successful than others, and the successful ones create offshoots. So like Ruchira said, both intelligence and natural selection are at work. - ⓞnor

But I bet you are wondering the level at which intelligence is acting. Are there people who, through intuition and/or principled study, are much much better at crafting viral messages than you or I would be, or does most of the success come from random luck by people who are not much more clever than average, but who chanced on a combination of concept A, wording B, and seed population C that turned out to be successful? - ⓞnor

the important thing to realize is that in complex organic systems emergent behavior is continually evolving. what was viral y'day might not be viral today. Intelligently designed? virus loop = purpose/value = survival = strategically control scarce resource = intelligently design - ray

Some of them are really funny. Like this one: "Paris Hilton's V*g*na Bites Penguin" ... - Stuart Woodward

The commonality among virulent (in both senses of the word) political emails is that they reinforce your existing beliefs or opinions in a way which is novel to you. So you feel compelled to forward it to both the people who share your belief and people who you think may be compelled by this "new" evidence/argument/rhetoric. - Jeremy Raines

It turns out that the plural of "moose" is not "meese" as Paul would have had me believe. - Bret Taylor

yeah everyone knows that "meese" is plural for "mouse." ;) - grant

@Bret Taylor and more moose burgers as Palin can attest.http://bit.ly/3M7rS3 - MikeAmundsen

Random I was just checking out clips on YouTube of moose attacking cars hahaha!! - Joe Dawson (beta)

Moose burgers are really good. So is caribou stew and reindeer sausage. *mouth waters* - Jill, Superhero Librarian

It may look funny, but moose can be really mean. And they are really big. People get hurt in AK every year by moose stomping. Don't get between a mama moose and her calf. - Jill, Superhero Librarian

I was once bitten by a moose... - Scott Loganbill via twhirl

Population of Delaware = 853,476. Divided by 2 = 426,738. - ⓞnor

I heard that Meese only attacked cars that he felt were deviating from the road that the founding fathers intended: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E... - Kevin Fox

I would be more excited about the GOP ticket if McCain had chosen Michael Palin. - Bill Sodeman

"i hate meese-es to pieces!" - MikeAmundsen

LOL +1 Kevin - Jill, Superhero Librarian

check this out: [http://bit.ly/2myoBn] "Cover Girl" Palin vs. ".50 Caliber" Palin hmm.... - MikeAmundsen

Mike: I'm not voting for her but that is totally badass! - Occasional Headbanger

I'm sure the santa clara G(county)P is also miles above Alaska's - anna awesomesauce

Andrew Burd: reminds me a bit of Dukakis in 1988: [http://bit.ly/BO8iZ] (same year Biden dropped out for plagarism). - MikeAmundsen

Kinda puts things in perspective. - Jeff P. Henderson

Paul, what are the similar figures for revenue for Alaska vs Walmart vs Santa Clara - Rob Schonberger

Wal-Mart reported in January 2006 that its health insurance only covers 43% of their employees. http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/f... http://www.slate.com/id/208953... - Indio Apache via twhirl

Bret and Paul. You two are having too much fun. I'm from Maine. We have plenty of moose up here also. - Alex Hammer

Wow, I love it! Like visiting an alien planet! - zoblue (Zulema)

really great ......i love it. it worth ten like per min - Arash

These remind me of the baobabs in Madagascar. I've had a photo of those as my home computer wallpaper for months and they're so freaking awesome I don't know if I can ever bear to take them down. I love weird trees. - Kamilah Gill

Very alien like. - Nick Munson

WOW. so lovely! - edythe

Zangarmarsh! - Mattb4rd

Past studies have suggested couples with dissimilar MHC genes are more satisfied and more likely to be faithful to a mate. And the opposite is also true with matchng-MHC couples showing less satisfaction and more wandering eyes. "Not only could MHC-similarity in couples lead to fertility problems," said lead researcher Stewart Craig Roberts, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Newcastle in England, "but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odor perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners." - bob

Wow. Reminds me of the article about ovulating strippers getting better tips . . . I wonder if they ever figured that one out. - Jeremy Raines

"So the pill puts a woman's body into a post-mating state, even though she might be still in the game. " - Clare Dibble

Oh, so that's why I'm single? - Jim Norris

Subtley saying "Don't take the pill (have sex) before marriage or you'll end up divorced." Very impressive, really. - Erica Baker

ha! +1 Jim - Raymond

ha, ha! +2 Erica - Steve Craft

@Erica, this appears to be actual science, though. - j1m

I've subscribed to Nielsen's weekly e-mail newsletter for years. I can't recall any anecdotal recommendations at all. He is meticulous about backing up his tactics with data. As for the site design, I'm just a civilian, but I find it very legible. (Much easier to read than, say, the gray color used in this comment on FriendFeed.com!) - Stephen Mack

The blog post you link to is discussing this page: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/... -- just curious, but why is the information layout terrible? Breadcrumbs, site nav, headlines, summaries -- seems very easy to scan and read to me. - Stephen Mack

I should be a little clearer. I don't mean anecdotal as in 'Boo.com uses flash in this way and it sucks don't do it' (though there is some of that) but more 'This very specific UI practice is bad' as opposed to Norman's more holistic discussions of UI principles. I don't want to sound too harsh though. I use his Heuristic Evaluation hit list all the time and it's extremely valuable, but again it's on a tactical level. - Kevin Fox

As for the information design, the typography is inelegant. It feels very pushy with text either being very dense or VERY BOLD. The leading isn't used to tie the bold headings with their content, but rather to just make them stand out more. The use of Verdana and interspersed bold terms invites people to skim and just pick out the buzzwords as a way of finding the piece they're looking for, which is fine in some cases but not for essays where one would assume there's something to be gained from the narrative flow of the piece. The design speaks to the largest problem of Nielsen in the world, which is that people anecdotally say things like 'Don't use serifs on the web because Nielsen said so.' They say this because this kind of bulletpoint is all they absorb from a layout that fosters this behavior. - Kevin Fox

@Stephen Mack: the font is rather large and not pretty, and the line spacing is all scrunched. That post could also have benefited from some anchored links. It is not horrible, but certainly not aesthetically pleasing. - LauraBrarian

To be clear, I think Jakob is brilliant and I respect him a great deal. What I'm saying is that his own site suffers from the same problem that, for example, DMV parking lots do: If you're an expert and try to apply every rule you advocate in one place, the result is often the opposite of what your expertise implies. Check out the useit.com home page and imagine it from a first-time visitor's perspective. - Kevin Fox

if he was to make a winamp skin -> http://www.kottke.org/00/02/di... - AJ Batac

wow! nice. love that Optimus Prime. - ~C4Chaos

love the shark one - Jessie

The shark one is my favourite, - Mark Wilson

All hail Optimus - Mo Kargas

Sometimes I feel like the first one. - Michael Tefft

cooool! - Anna Haro

The "last lightning" is actually the main stroke, and the only part we would normally see. - ⓞnor

Discharging a volume of air takes a few 100 milliseconds sometimes. - John Lam

Extremely awesome. Stuff like this is what should be forwarded in those chain letters full of jokes. - possible248

I so miss lightning! I was surprised that the electricity went both down the bolt as well as up it. I thought it only did one or the other. - Rachel Lea Fox

Some day, I would really like to visit http://www.lightningfield.org/. - ⓞnor

I'm big on colours, so I love this collection. - Cecily

These look awesome together. - Ole Begemann

...beautiful - "Czar" DJ Peterman

sew 'em together and make a quilt! - Stephen Shelton

Optics rule. - Vezquex இ

wow! - Anna Haro

Very cool! - Jonathan (Bad Robot)

that's cool! - Oli Kenobi

incredible!! - Susan Beebe