Kevin Donahue

Explanation: "In January 2007, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught has now returned to the outer Solar System and is now only visible with a large telescope. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework." - Andrew Baron

wow indeed - Michael W. May via twhirl

مثل ساحل لاست میمونه :دی - Mil∂d

wow, Greattttttt - Zahra HB

That is an amazing image - Kreg Steppe

It's worth being subscribed to friendfeed for that photo alone. I wouldn't have found it if you hadn't been a friend of Scobleizer. - James Robertson

Dude. - l0ckergn0me

So becoming my wallpaper. - Ben Parr

Very nice wallpaper for dual monitors setups! - Éric Senterre

What a spectacular photo !!!!! - Nellie Root

echoing what james robertson said......worth being here for that photo alone. amazing. - carlotta fancypants

I am setting this up as a dual monitor type display between my two work systems! - Joe Dawson (beta)

that is unbelievable. astoundingly awesome - Paul Rj Muller

Wow! That's amazing! - Marcus Beagley

That is gorgeous! Check this out: http://www.jeffmccord.org/when... - Jeff McCord via twhirl

thanks for sharing, great photo - sean percival

Amazing! - Jiri Fencl via Alert Thingy

Incredible! Thanks Andrew for finding such a beautiful shot. Lovely to wake to up to such beauty on FriendFeed... - Mitchell Tsai

Oldie but a goodie! - Steve Rubel

Breathtaking. - James Mowery via twhirl

Amazing. Thanks - Parvez Halim

Wow ... this is incredible - Nick O'Neill

Mind-blowing! - David Fendley

this is really kewl...!! - Peter Dawson

Wow - Aaron Myers

very hip, I've seen this photo before (might have been on APOD) - mikepk

sometimes good photography gives me goosebumps! - Phillip Jeffrey

great image - Pete Delucchi

incredible image - johnpiercy via twhirl

Wow, 153 people 'liked this" so far and almost 30 comments. - Andrew Baron

Absolutely incredible shot! Then again some of the best shots on the web come from NASA, National Geographic, Discovery and, of course, Hawk :) - Charlie Anzman

Not to be too cynical but that shot seems to good to be true -- I wonder if there is more processing going on than the text seems to admit. - Brian Sullivan

I'm enamored with that lightning. - Jason Toney

ahhh good one - Dobromir Hadzhiev

I'm going to side with Brian here. What is right: Comet McNaught was that bright in WA (I use to live there), but I checked my attempted pics, they predate this by over a week. I'm sure the comet was only that bright for less than a week. Second, the main Australia Day fireworks occur in Perth City...which isn't near a beach . Maybe it's Leighton Beach with Fremantle to the left...but it doesn't seem right. I did check the weather records though, there was a storm that night, and it's in the right direction - Duncan Riley

I do hope it is real though...and I forgot how wonderful the environment there is - Duncan Riley

Now the wallpaper on my iMac - Adam Helweh

Duncan, last year both Fremantle and I believe Hillarys held their own fireworks for Australia Day. I myself was trying to guess the location this morning. Being a regular on Leighton beach though it doesn't look familiar so I was thinking it may have been taken to the north of Hillarys. It also made me very nostalgic for Perth :) - Penny

wow, just wow - Mark Douglass

Amazing shot! - Timo Heuer

Unbelievable! - fbrunel

This is for sure a record post for me! 333 people liked this! - Andrew Baron

Congrats Andrew... this is truly a unique share!! thanks! :o) - Susan Beebe

Though I like the picture, I do agree with Brian Sullivan :( - directeur via NoiseRiver

Crazy looking - didn't even notice the comet until reading the site... - George Smith

Kick ass photo. - David Risley

smoke on the water - Harry Myhre

At 302 likes, the #1 most liked post of all time on FriendFeed. Antti Kemppainen Photography - Here's Antti's original picture http://jkemppainen.com/antti/i... Antti's e-mail is kemppaisantti@gmail.com, and you can scroll through Antti's other photos. - Mitchell Tsai

just incredible! - Geoff K

An absolutely stunning shot. - Brandon Wood

Still lovin this shot days later. :D - Andrew Baron

amazing. I guess the timing for this shot couldn't be better - Dan V

I forget which Greek philosopher said it, but "Right timing is everything is most important." - Scott Kitchen

THATs GREAT.THATs GREAT.THATs GREAT.THATs GREAT. - DSaad69

But how many Kindles are in the wild? I think Leo might account for 50% of that 12%. I think those that sprung for the device are just buying more books. Though it's definitely increasing sales and margins. - xero

i am still the member of the jury that is out. my one reprieve from the screen is my book, in my bed, next to my dogs, right before i go to sleep. maybe it's because i write books that i am a luddite on this one particular medium. - Brooke Shelby Biggs

12% of 130k != 12% of millions of books sold on Amazon total - Jesse Fornear

@ Brooke Shelby Biggs- oh it won't replace my "real" books, but think it will be great for flights, etc. agree with you though, reading a book is one of the last reprieves from the glowing screen world. - Nice Fish Films

Ebooks will substantially replace books (and etexts texts) once people figure it out. Absolutely guaranteed. Nostalgia about the look, feel and smell of paper, etc. simply is not going to cut it. (I currently read 10 ebooks for every book, and I've got a personal library of thousands of traditional books.) - Sean McBride

See also: Kindle love from Washington Post Company CEO—but can his newspaper learn to appreciate others’ iPhone love? http://tinyurl.com/6oltao QUOTE Gillian Wee’s feature leads with the word that Donald Graham, the 63-year-old CEO of the Washington Post Company, "says he hardly ever leaves home without his Kindle digital book reader from Amazon.com Inc." - Sean McBride

if the kindle had more of the books I want - especially the full o'reilly and wrox libraries, I'd already have one. The iPhone App Store could learn a thing from the Kindle and it's free 1st chapter preview. - felix

The title is hype. It's not 12% of books sold on Amazon, it's ONLY 12% of books available either on Kindle or offline = Amazon Kindle is a Flop. - Sprague D

I would love the Kindle buy one in an instant if I could get books for it at my local library...until then...no thanks - Snay Trivedi

@Sean - Agree about people making the switch. Once there is a great reader (not opinion on Kindle) then people will switch en masse. Paper books will become collectibles, nostalgic, or formal -- I liken it to the handwritten letter vs email. - xero

xero - You get it. What is amusing is that many people confuse the warm and fuzzy feelings they experienced while reading books with the physical properties of the book. They've been conditioned to associate the content of great books with the physical medium in which the content was delivered. In truth, there is nothing sacred about the physical medium -- it is entirely abitrary (within the constraints of an optimal user interface, of course). If Donald Graham can figure this out at age 63, anyone should be able to. - Sean McBride

Kindle's a flop? It was sold out for 5 solid months. - Brent Newhall

@Sean - Some books will always be better in print, but generally only those who used the print as an artistic medium and not a means to convey text. Example: http://tinyurl.com/6y9kth - xero

Until Amazon is more forthcoming about sales data (of both hardware and digital content), quotes about the Kindle being either a flop or a success are useless. I am perfectly willing to move to digital books (already own a Kindle) but the publishing community is dragging its collective feet until there is minimal risk. - Jill O'Neill

Does anyone know if a new version is coming out soon? Also wouldn't it be great if when you buy the physical copy from Amazon you get the Kindle version as well! - Derek Coatney

I like the Kindle on airplanes, but you have to train yourself which is page back or page forward - Francine Hardaway via twhirl

I have both a Kindle and Sony Reader. Once I got a decent cover for the Kindle, it's lame-o hardware UI seemed to fade away. Best part is that it has the Amazon.com bookstore behind it. I read more now, esp with intent. I sit down with the intent to read and not at some tiny screen that will probably ring on me. Currently reading: Halting State - Eric Rice

+1 xero @Jill Amen on the publishing community front. I would like for Amazon to add a feature that makes it easy for me to tell a publisher I want a book in Kindle format. - Erica Baker

These numbers are meaningless. 12% of the sales on the 130K titles they have available. There is no unit sales metric here! The Kindle sold out figure is also meaningless since they never revealed how many they produced. The title coverage is still pathetic (not even a third of books published in a year) and the price doesn't overcome the natural obstacle of no motivating change for this media. - AJ Kohn

Amazon needs to further motivate publishers to support the device at a discount versus the traditional media. I agree that Kindle can demand a slight premium for its instant content delivery, but the price of a Kindle copy shouldn't be equal to the printed copy... ever. From a user experience standpoint, the Kindle is an outstanding device, but the books seem to be over-priced right now. - Kevin Donahue

Sorry - lower the price to under $150 and get rid of the DRM. Otherwise I'm totally uninterested. - Tad, Fool

@Kevin: I agree, but the relationship between Amazon and publishers is barely civil at this point. There is a track record between Amazon and publishers back to the eCommerce days ... and publishers are still smarting. In the UK, the largest UK publisher has had enough: http://tinyurl.com/5cwvao I think some publisher's would rather anybody else but Amazon have the lead position in digital book distribution. - AJ Kohn

I don't have one yet, but I'm starting to see them (just like when we first saw iPods). Kevin Fox has one. My sister has one. - Louis Gray

BIL has one. Dad has one. WANT. - Cyndy

@Charles -- I think you are right, but there is no way the umpire wasn't going to call that a strike. That was very, very clever. - Matt Donders

Definitely a bit outside, but still really cool. I'd be interested to know if that pitch would actually be legal. - Harrison Hoffman

That pitch was high, outside - and I wouldn't be surprised if it was illegal. Still - pretty damn funny. - George Smith

It was really outside and probably was too high coming in but was a great trick and the ump made the right call to give it to him. - Sweyn via twhirl

I actually tried to reproduce this once. It certainly went nowhere near the strike zone. :) - Jared Smith

It's not a strike. Looks like made up for a funny video. - Muthu Ramadoss

So was this intentional? And do these kinds of videos *always* include that silly laugh track?* - Lisa Creech Bledsoe via twhirl

Great post Shey. I compare Friendfeed to a box of mixed chocolates, you never know what your going to get once you open it. - Mike Fruchter

It's exciting watching how beneficial Friendfeed is becoming to all of us. - Mike Fruchter

Thanks Mike, you've been doing some pretty kewl stuff in FriendFeed yourself. - Shey

some great ideas in the post. friendfeed is just plain awesome! - (jeff)isageek

@Jeff Yup, thanks to all the crazy FriendFeed cats for pushing the boundaries - Shey

Excellent post. - Darryl

@ Mike the person who put the choclate in there knows hahaha - Gordon Swaby

Gordon, but riddle me this, is that she or he a member on Friendfeed? HA! - Mike Fruchter

Don't sweat it Corvida, my generation was called lazy just cuz there were no jobs and a recession. - leigh himel

We were passing this all around the office today -- screw 'em! - Joshua Dilworth

Do you hear that noise? It's the sound of worry that tens of thousands of baby boomers who don't "get this generation" are going through. I work for a billion dollar company - surround myself by very successful people - and they don't understand how I can multi-task so effortlessly. They don't understand that I can absorb knowledge quicker, process things more efficiently, basically be omnipresent to all my surroundings - and do it effortlessly. Articles/Books like this are just that worry put on paper - the writings of someone scared that the world is changing in ways they don't understand... - George Smith

Everyone thinks that the next generation is missing out on the important things in life. It makes you wonder what the difference is between the reactionaries and people who "get" that with change comes new and exciting opportunities. - Steve Lynch via Alert Thingy

I want to commend you for writing that. It is really well done. And give thanks that you are nothing like what the author thinks of your generation. You should be proud. We need more young people like you, keep learning and discovering on your own. Realizing there's more to this world than what is in your school books is a very smart achievement. - Dread Pirate PJ

every generation is denigrated in some way. Gen X were slackers who didn't care for the finer things in life. Just ignore it, the media loves labels, Gen Z is on its way soon, and they'll just completely forget about Y - Duncan Riley

We punks of the Blank generation had the best clothes though... Stand your ground Corvida! - Mark Forman

Commented on your blog - powerful stuff, but I do have some thoughts for you to consider. - Mark Dykeman

Some of every new generation frightens some of the older generations. Who knows how things will turn out as the new generation matures? One thing's sure, though - change is constant (and threatening to some). - Tom Landini

this is the typical argument every generation makes up the following one - but Bauerlein, even though his thesis is a bit off, has some pretty interesting observations about how different generations handle information and knowledge. If he uses 'dumb' as meaning kids today focus less on knowledge and more on procedural knowledge, then his title is probably right. - Frederic

My two children are your age and are by no means dumb. I acknowledge each generation has different challenges. Having worked in technology since probably before you were born, I must say you ( and my kids) make me very proud. Keep up the good work and don't let anyone steal your joy! - Rosemarie Pena

has nothing to do with generation, everything to do with clarity of consciousness .... which is fdound everywhere, and often nowehre - Gregory Lent

Cordiva, you are a shining example of how *smart* your generation is! I am impressed with your education / career path and the power of your network. - Susan Beebe