“Here's an interesting thought: no matter which party wins the election, it'll be a pretty big first - either the first non-caucasian president, or the first female vice president. I'm a little more excited about that than anything else!”
i thought bill clinton was america's first 'black' president. silly me. lolz - .LAGizmoto
It's not just about making history - it's about setting the world back on the right track - Chris Saad via twhirl
McCain needs to keep the votes from those who would have voted for HRC, had she made it to be the dems candidate, but were moving towards him once the nomination was lost. Not much more information about Palin this side of the pond, but it sounds a bit like a last minute contingency plan to me. - dario
McCain's choice of running mate is obvious pandering to get just that reaction from voters. Palin is a weak candidate, maybe weaker that Quayle who we remember couldn't spell potato or some such ridiculous thing. - Rafael Robayna
half-caucasian. either that, or we can just say he's black (versus *non*-caucasian) like everyone else. sorry, feeling nitpicky today. - Kamilah Gill
Except that Palin is staunchly anti-abortion. What may seem like a win for equality would in effect be a loss for women's rights. Firsts in gender or race may have novelty, but let's not forget there are long term results from our choices here. - Sherard Ewing
For me it's more about what's the right thing to do, who represents the best opportunity for a better America? Who is going to dig us out of the hole Dubya dug so resolutely? That's what gets me excited. It's nothing to do with race, gender, religion or whatever. I'm now an Obamacan because I genuinely believe he will offer this country the best chance right now. - Sally Church
Yep this is shaping up to be a very pivotal election. We're presented with two very different ideas of the "american dream" (yes, it seems we don't all agree on this means) - and how to achieve it. - Jason Kaneshiro
I agree with Chris. It's nice that we're making history, but much more is at stake than history. - Chieze Okoye
It will be interesting for Mcain and his running mate. I mean he doesn't even think women should get paid the same as men. - PC Easy via twhirl
not an Obamacan or a McCainiac, I'm an American - Jeff Quinton
For most jobs in the tech sector, you can't actually do much to guarantee that women will get paid the same as men. Most of the time the people working alongside each other have no idea what the other people are getting paid. And employers should be allowed to base pay on experience and merit. I don't see how you can equalize pay in most non-unionized jobs where there isn't a set pay scale. - AlexScoble(Robert'sBro)
I'm not against the idea of women getting paid the same as men for the same job given that they both have similar experience and performance, but I don't see how this can be effectively regulated in industries where people are salaried. - AlexScoble(Robert'sBro)
I realized that too -- very cool indeed. - Tamar Weinberg
Exactly what I told my kids over lunch today. Historic and way overdue. - Kevin C. Tofel
There are firsts and there are meaningful firsts -- I'll take the Obama first over the Palin first any day. - Mitch Ratcliffe via twhirl
Couldn't have said it better myself, Chris :) - Mona N.
Palin is a joke conservative so I disagree. Obama needs to win to change this country for the better and for the future - Photo Larry via twhirl
That's exactly what my History teacher said. - OekelWm
I am just hoping that the disgruntled Hillary supporters are not taken in by the "yay, another woman" sham being propagated by McCain. Palin is anti-choice, anti-science (supports creationism in schools and doesn't believe climate change is man-made), anti-wildlife (supports drilling in ANWR, opposed classification of polar bears as endangered, supports hunting from the air - yeah, that's real sporting..) - Marci Maleski
Marci, why take the negative? I'd say she's pro-human survival (against killing our own or protecting animals at the cost of our economy), and pro-not having your opinion ridiculed because someone else's opinion is accepted as a matter of public policy. At least creationism can explain first cause and the origin of matter and energy...and the disappointing shortage of transitional species. - klecu
It is amazing to see how many auxiliary and rather useless and eye-pleasing and online-PR-promoting tools there are for things like Twitter and FriendFeed. This Grader is one of those. What does it change to have some number assigned to your name, not least because you have not the slightest idea how it is calculated? Why wasting time, energy, money and efforts? P.S. mine was 5 out of 100. - Hayk Hakobyan
Twitter Grade: 90 - Rank #584 out of 7063 - Morgan
Twitter Grade: 42 - Rank #3688 out of 7067. yes! - Cee Bee
44 which I can't argue with since I've only been Tweeting for a month. Grading methodology seems pretty simplistic. A FriendFeed grader would be a lot more interesting and useful. - Chris Selland
Twitter Grade: 69 - Rank #1995 out of 7101. Not bad considering that I haven't really used it for almost two months now. - Cyvros/fyc
yes, people should do this more often...from emails i've been copied on it looks like actually sending the 'real' response still happens a lot...just writing it out is a good stress release/reality check - joshuabacker
Absolutely. It's good "therapy" to get your thoughts out. I always, always, always do one thing after hitting Reply however. I delete the e-mail address so it doesn't get sent accidentally. - Kevin C. Tofel
Of course. It is thereputic. So is writing a diary. Once I write it down, my brain can 'release' it and move on. - Matthew Davidson via twhirl
Seldom, but I do that on Twitter all the time. - Rick Wolff
When you work in customer service its an almost everyday thing. Why is it that people don't feel the need to indicate that they are at all socialized and safe to be around humans when they are emailing a company? Odd. - Aaron Krug
Huh? I just completely disagree. Content: still thin, virtually no backlist. Ubiquity: only on Kindle, DRM. Price: ~$400 and $10 > used book. - AJ Kohn
have a look at Stanza for iPod/iPhone. Over the air free ebook download. For novels, ie that don't have complicated layout, this is the killer device. Kindle etc is too expensive to go mainstream and is yet another device to carry. - Ian Fogg
Meet Dave (aka David). When I told Dave about the project, he was happy to pose. After I took Dave’s picture, I gave him a $1 and we chatted for a minute. I asked him what his name was and he said, “Dave, well, David, I’m one of God’s chosen people.” I asked him if he was Jewish, and he responded, “Yes, sir, I’m Jewish and part Irish and part Native American.” He went on telling me that he has been in San Francisco for 10 years and is a recovering alcoholic. “These kids [on Haight] drink and they are all crazy. They think another drink will cure their world…you know.” He assured me he wasn’t drinking any more and that he’d be fine “as long as I believe in God.” As we parted, he said, “God bless you.” - Justin Korn via Bookmarklet
Matt, fairly new to smugmug, but really digging how their larger sized thumbnails display in friendfeed. - Thomas Hawk
can you give some details on how you set-up these shots especially in the really low-light. - Randy Ksar
Randy, mostly in low light I'm using a tripod. A lot of my shots from the Monterey Bay Aquarium are with tripod. The jellyfish there though are lit up enough that you should be able to shoot them handheld at 1600 iso though. A good tripod is mandatory for low light shooting in general though and a cable release so you don't have to screw around with the timer. I've got 2 tripods, a Slik and a Manfrotto. Best to pay up for a nice tripod vs. trying some of the cheaper off brands in my opinion. - Thomas Hawk
oh and a huge tip with shooting the jellyfish. Shoot 1,000 frames of them. You'll end up with 5 or 10 that you really like. - Thomas Hawk
but you have to let him choose his boss - gregory lent
Of course I would do it if Obama wins and I was chosen -- but they'll go for someone with a lot of money. It's not just about who can give a lot of money to politicians, it's that's what people respect in both tech and politics. For education and health, being rich isn't a prerequesite, but for tech it is. They'd go for Gates, and I bet he'd do it. He's still relatively young (he and I are the same age) and it's not a long-term committment, and he'd like it. - Dave Winer
Gates as CTO, Winer as deputy, Susan Crawford as counsel. - Dave Martin
Meg Whitman for CTO, Winer for Miss Congeniality. - Sprague D
If Dave gets the nod and needs a Minister of Mobility, count me in as interested. :) - Kevin C. Tofel
Meaning no disrespect to any of them - but on the absurdity scale, this ranks right up there with the Arrington and Scoble suggestions in the other thread. - Anthony Citrano
Why not having for instance one tech and one business-tech-VCapitalist? Say, Steve Jobs (continous tech innovator) CTO and Michael Moritz from Sequoia Capital as Deputy CTO (someone else from the Midas list)? In this way there will be not only a tech-geeky but a business-tech approach :) - Hayk Hakobyan
WTF is wrong with you? Very disappointed Duncan. @Cyndy told me you were actually technical, so I thought you'd be able to tell the difference between someone who knows tech from someone who knows ego. - Jason Carreira
In keeping with the the theme of the campaign, sure. - Russell Holliman
Because this is a ridiculous idea. Dave as CTO? he blocks folks on social sites because he can't stand their politics. He wouldn't last five minutes in DC. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
Yes, if we want Epic Fail now Powell the is one cat I would vote for CIO of America..He has everything the career DC'ers hate Class, Honesty, and Integrity - Fred Grott
Jason: you might look into it. Winer has forgotten more about tech than me AND you put together will ever know. - Robert Scoble
Mark: I agree with you there. Winer isn't easy to get along with if you don't see things the same way he does. That alone would make him a big problem inside government. - Robert Scoble
the last thing the US needs is a CTO, jesus, next you'll want a VP of Marketing. Dismantle the friggin government. You old men sure have gone establishment. Anyone with faith in government has no real faith in invention or technology, they are playing at the edges. - Morgan Warstler
Morgan: you are pretty clueless. If you think we can dismantle government I want some of what you are smoking except I am pretty sure it is illegal. - Robert Scoble
@Robert You maybe... But I'd suggest that remembering tech is more important than forgetting it - Jason Carreira
I'd work for Dave in this role in a heartbeat. - Jody C
Robert, when any barrel of geeks have no libertarian drumbeat, no less-government baseline, that's a macro problem. And If you don't get that, I'm not going to watch your podcast! Now fork over your gmail password. - Morgan Warstler
Dave hate to break it to you but they'd more likely than not (I think) go with someone who is in government or that type of thing, maybe a military technology expert. And if not they'd go with someone around your age, and very unlikely go with Bill Gates, they will go with a thinker, not a business person so that may give you a chance. But still remember Obama still needs to win and also he needs to fulfill the promises he has made on the campaighn trail. The first is much more likely to happen than the 2nd - Andrew Fielding
I thought part of the requirement was "works well with others", in which case Winer's definitely not your guy. What an INCREDIBLY stupid idea. His only boss will only ever be himself... It's really best for everyone on all sides. - abacab
Oh, Wow, you guys crack me up. Are any of you serious? If you are; please take two steps back, turn yourself around, and smack yourself in the head. inability to do so indicates a severe case of taking ones self too seriously. There's medicine for that. - Gina K
@Gina: exactly... I think this little "social media" niche sometimes suffers from a fairly entertaining combination of belly-button-gazing and delusions of grandeur... more on Scoble's thread too .. http://friendfeed.com/e/152d2f... - Anthony Citrano
I like Vint Cerf in this role, if he'd take it. Bill Gates not a bad suggestion either, but bet he'll be way too busy in his role giving away his money via his foundation. - TDavid
Vint Cerf is the best suggestion I've heard so far. Whoever it is should be very familiar with the underpinnings of modern technology (TCP/IP, HTTP, HTML, etc) and not associated with any of the big technology vendors. - Jason Carreira
WTF? Ok, here's the thing... Robert Scoble is an ok writer, but he's not technical. Someone else on another thread suggested Mike Arrington... Arrington is a former lawyer and now a writer, but again, not technical. What is it with the Social Media community that people can't tell the difference between people who know how to build things and people who comment on things being built? - Jason Carreira
cto makes no difference, need a revolution in american education ... tech will then take care of itself - gregory lent
Yes, but I'm starting to move towards unsweetened as I try to make the lifestyle a little healthier. - Kevin C. Tofel
I used to love apple sauce when I was younger, but now it's just ok. - ChaCha Fance
We buy the unsweetened for Iain. When he gets "normal" apple sauce when we are out to eat he thinks it tastes "just like sugar". And yes, I love apple sauce...with cinnamon on top. - Sean Brady
hey john! thanks for asking. these were shot into the sun and it was really misty from the ocean, but in photoshop....the one on the left i added a bit of blue and a bit of yellow, some gaussian blur and bumped up the contrast. the one on the right i added some pink, some vignetting and took down the brightness and added contrast. i hope that helps! : ) - carlotta fancypants
Gaussian Blur! The missing step... (The lightbulb has gone on above my head) Thanks... - John Worthington
you're welcome!!! i really love to use gaussian blur and diffuse glow (obviously diffuse glow would not have worked in this case). i'm glad i could help! - carlotta fancypants
Extrasupercutie is such an amazing photographer! Definitely one worth following. When the NY Times did their Flickr piece earlier this year and asked me for photographers who represented the best of what was on Flickr, hers was one of the names that I gave. Outstanding as always. - Thomas Hawk
Best wishes as you begin this new chapter, Michael! - karen2
um, unless you have T-mo at home :) then its a series of hellos and hellos :) kidding aside. Very best of luck! I am excited to see what you do next. Maybe you and Charlene team up? - Christian Anderson
good luck Michael and have fun. You know, it's funny - there are zero comments on your blog post right now but this link is one of the most discussed in my network on FriendFeed. Either you haven't moderated comments or discussion has truly shifted. - Marshall Kirkpatrick
Good luck Michael! Whatever you do next, I know it'll be worth reading about. - Ian Betteridge
Love the Billy Joel reference. Good luck with your new career! - Tony Vota
Looking forward to what you come up with next. - Thomas Hawk
good luck with your next adventure, now enjoy the peacefulness - Dobromir Hadzhiev
Very nice set of daylilies - are these from your garden? - Patty Hankins
Patty - thanks so much :-). Yes, these are from my garden. They were the "last hurrah" for that bed for the year. Seems like the daylilies started blooming later than usual this year but finished early, and the flowers generally weren't as impressive. Must have been the tough winter in WI. - asiriusgeek
What every geek wants! The hot chicks, the cool toyz, and a private Star Wars screening with Lucas. - Todd Jordan
Got the cliff notes version of that thing Scoble? :) - Nathan via twhirl
Todd: well, I have two out of those three. I saw Star Wars with the guys who started Hotmail, though. Does that count? :-) - Robert Scoble
Robert: we'll go with that for private screening. :) - Todd Jordan
Oh yeah, LOVE - they want comment love, and soc net love - hint hint - Todd Jordan
Nathan: cliff notes? I'm looking at differentiating myself from other tech bloggers. That means telling PR people (most of them, anyway) to either get me interesting and different stories than TechCrunch gets, or routing around them and finding my own stories that don't require them to be involved at all (like StackOverflow). - Robert Scoble
Robert: cultivating a variety of relationships has got to be key. I'd wager your biggest key to success is two things: persistence, relationship building. - Todd Jordan
haha. I appreciate that but to be honest I read the article. I was just attempting to be humorous :) - Nathan via twhirl
Winnov! I integrated those into a video conferencing project back in the '90s. - Peter Dragon
I thought I was going to hate it, but it made total sense. Thanks for not ranting! - Jason Kintzler
why, even after all the times i've posted to your blog, do I still have to wait for my comment to be moderated... - Zee at WeDoCreative via fftogo
Zee: I don't know why your stuff is still getting moderated. I approved it, though. - Robert Scoble
Will someone tell Scoble PitchEngine is worthy of a look-see? Zee? htttp://pitchengine.com/alpha - Jason Kintzler
Jason according to his post - you may need to camp out on his front lawn...But heck, considering the topic at hand & the rants you've given Scoble - it's worth a few minutes away from friendfeed to have a look at. - Zee at WeDoCreative via fftogo
