laprensa66 - Comments

Dear FriendFeeders, we've started a group for this called FriendFeeders' Directory http://friendfeed.com/ffdirec... organized around Countries/Cities. Feel free to contribute ! - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

=/ "After polling and then interviewing 400 English school pupils aged 14-17, the programme found that both boys and girls greet real-life bodies and photographs of normal, wonky women's boobs and genitalia with a resounding "bleeeeurgh!" while only fake boobs, hairless crotches and "trimmed" genitalia are considered desirable and "perfect". And these porn-standard fantasies are now what both boys and girls expect and demand." - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

29 more comments

its good, no great not to be young anynmore :/ - chaz2b

This sounds like anti-porn crusading FUD. - Internet's Tad

The article as a whole, yes. However, I do think the point about *very* unrealistic body expectations is valid. - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

If not from porn it'd be from Barbie. - Internet's Tad

Seriously, Tad? You think a 8 inch tall doll has the same body image influence as seeing 90 minutes a week of mostly unrealistic naked women? Really? - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

of course, are they likely to get decent and comprehensive sex education from their parents and school? Also, I'd go as far as to say that porn is an essential part of understanding your own sexuality. - alphaxion

I agree with Tad. Like it or not, they DO learn about sex from porn. So what? Might not be the right kind of sex, or whatever, but they do. This reminds me of a thought I'll post separately, if I dare. - Anthony Citrano

Barbie, Bratz, and our society's fascination with artificially-sculpted and Photoshopped celebrities are probably a more pervasive risk to kids' self images. - LogEx

I agree with Tina on how that much porn at that age might create some unrealistic expectations - made me glad I grew up in an era where women in porn were, shall we say, more natural - William Harryman

Are the women any more “natural” (whatever that means) in other non-porny or less-porny mediums? Also, I like to call the “Bratz” the “Slutz” because it stuns me how slutty they are given their target market. - Anthony Citrano

@anthony Bratz shock me far less than the knowledge that there are gstrings for prepubescents and 8 year olds tshirts that exclaim statements alluding to sexual preference. While I acknowledge that a person can be aware of their sexuality as early as 5 years old, it's still inappropriate to market this kinda stuff to them. Let them discover who they are naturally. Of course, those items of clothing are more aimed at the parents and the statements they wish to make than towards the child wearing them. - alphaxion

@AlphaX - I agree.. marketing sexual stuff to prepubescents isn't right. But I wonder if those marketeers are directing those products toward prepubescents or if the products are intended for adolescents but are being cross-sold/cross-marketed? - Anthony Citrano

@anthony when they say "ages 5 to 7" in them, there is no confusion. Just a totally warped society - alphaxion

There are several well written/researched essays out there about regular women encountering guys in a relationship who have never seen a non-porno female before. It isn't a good thing for either side. Their expectations and understanding of a sexual relationship is damaging to them and to the women they pursue. - JoEllen

Viewing it in the converse, I'd much rather "encounter" a girl who'd seen porn before. - Anthony Citrano

Anthony, that's not analogous to JoEllen's statement. A more equivalent question would be: Would you rather encounter a woman who'd never seen non-porn male genitalia before? I mean, if a gal expects every guy to be 7 inches minimum she's going to have a most... Unfulfilling road ahead of her. - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

alphaxion, while shopping for my 3 month old baby at a clothing store last week, I found PADDED BRAS in the childrens' department. It was ridiculous. - Rochelle

@Tina - I don't care if gentalia she'd seen in the past was porn or non-porn. This line of reasoning strikes me as a bit pollyannish. I mean, it's akin to arguing that we shouldn't let girls/boys look at beautiful men/women, because most people are kinda average-looking and we don't want them to be disappointed. - Anthony Citrano

@Rochelle: what do children need bras for? - Anthony Citrano

Anthony, no idea. - Rochelle

I want to know what self-respecting parents aren't monitoring 11-year-olds' internet access. - Bryce, Low in Sodium

There's a difference between seeing beautiful people intermixed with average and seeing nothing but beautiful people until you're let loose upon the real world, don't you think? - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Jason, I wasn't trying to make the point that they're beautiful, but that they aren't representative of a more average human form. Seeing nothing but a non-average form conditions you to only be aroused by that form, and once you see a real naked man or woman, that's no longer deemed attractive. Anthony's statement was that by my logic children shouldn't be able to see beautiful people either, because they're not average. - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Are Barbie's proportions possible, even with surgery? - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

@MiniMage http://bit.ly/OiD4T - Tony, Paradox of FF

@jason - Tina was responding to my point, which you can read above. She wasn't saying porn people are beautiful. And on that point, I agree with you - I don't think I've ever seen a porn actress I thought was beautiful. But then again, I'm sorta idiosyncratic about such things. - Anthony Citrano

i object to the use of the word "pollyannish" as a perjorative. mainly because it's wrong. if you're going to use it, it should be "pollyannA-ish," not "pollyanNish." - edythe

Thanks for dropping by, edythe. - Anthony Citrano

jason, that's, i think, what tina was saying originally. and i agree. mainly women's breasts. while i haven't heard about men's penises being artificially enhanced, porn does seem to use male actors who are very large. and that creates perhaps unreasonable expectations in women/girls as well. - edythe

Something just as worrying - normal isnt normal either these days. I am regularly described as being skinny. But I have the perfect BMI for my height. Overweight is now normal. - laprensa66

It happens a lot to me, too. - Nine

503 more comments

Thread killer!! *points and throws LOLcats* - Yolanda

We are a rare breed. We say things that just can't be followed for some reason. Thread killers unite! - Josh Haley

Are you the Ted McGinley of friendfeed perhaps? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Alex Scoble

Joey, I thought it was my breath or something. Glad to find I am not alone. Tic Tac anyone? - Janet

Oh, Alex. That's just downright mean! - Nine

No! I'm the thread killer! - Christopher Harley

There are no further comments bacause your comment was so perfect no one could bear to top it. - m9m, Crone of FriendFeed

We are the thread killers. Kill 1k more, and we'll let you in the room =D - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Do you ever use the word dookie in your posts? - Oldengrey (Jay)

I notice the same phenomenon when I join a queue, 20 km long and no one seems to come behind me, obviously I was born to be last and I suspect this is the end of this thread. - M F

Should I have ended it with "Just sayin'!"? - Alex Scoble

exactly the same here :( - ♥ Stephiepooos ♥

The Thread Reaper(TM)? ;) - Tyson Key

Joey, please comment so we can close this one out. ;-) - Sprague D

No biggie, go with m9m's theory and don't judge on comments or likes, you did your part throwing it out there. Everyone else can do with it as they wish. Additionally if a girl dumps you assume she is a lesbian. - Steve C

Alex, are we talking Ted McGinley in Happy Days or Married With Children? - Mark Wilson

Test would be is to comment on this post and see what happens.. - CW™

lol i am often a thread killer as well - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Steve C is correct. - Christopher Harley

Sorry you guys, I'm the OG Threadkiller. In fact that name, is on my profile in several places. Because it's true. :) - Anika

If I do it, it's usually on a day when I forget my deodorant. - Katie: Witch Of The West

Married With Children, AKA the guy who gets shows canceled. - Alex Scoble

But Ted McGinley was on Married With Children for years. My hair is a bird. Your argument is invalid. http://is.gd/gM2D - Mark Wilson

No, Brian, you have failed at killing this thread. - Alex Scoble

Hey, I didn't say that he's actually killed every show that he's been on, but that's what they call him. - Alex Scoble

Just pay people to respond to your comments. If you respond to my comments I will give you a DOLLAR! LOL - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

$1 please, Igor. - Alex Scoble

Alex, send the bill to my accountant at the end of the month! ;-) I hope I do not declare Social Media bankruptcy by that time. LOL - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

Another $1 please Igor. - Alex Scoble

Seven killed MWC (and I don't meant that abomination, 7/9). - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

Seven killed what? - Alex Scoble

But who ate one too? - Alex Scoble

I specialize in killing threads. :) - Morton Fox

Isn't it ironic that none of you have killed this thread and yet you are all supposed to be skilled at it? - Alex Scoble

Now I'm curious to see who's going to kill this thread - Manuela

Or maybe the kid on Married was named Six... - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

I don't think this thread is killable. - Alex Scoble

I mean the only non-frungible rule on friendfeed is that the residents here do the opposite of what the poster expects. - Alex Scoble

Whaaaa? - Holger Eilhard

You're not the only one, Josh. And I wouldn't be shocked if I kill this one. *watching and waiting* - Carmen

You got to do better than that! - Alex Scoble

Dammit Brian and Alex! This one is MINE! - Carmen

Not even close! - Alex Scoble

Damn, I think I killed the thread! - Alex Scoble

... - WorldofHiglet

Hah, you keep dreaming. - Alex Scoble

Just passing through again. Nothing to see, people. Move along. - Carmen

Peanut butter jelly time? http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Alex Scoble

Late? - Shevonne

No, it's peanut butter kitteh time! http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Carmen

Never. - Alex Scoble

Not too. - Todd Hoff

You're never gonna get it...not this time. - Alex Scoble

Thanks for all the comments, folks. Let's now see if my record of thread carnage stands. :-) - Joey Gibson

Same thing happens to me. Watch this one die. :) - jcunwired

This is going to be the longest thread of Friendfeed's history - Manuela

oops - M F

I'm good at thread-killing. Let me give it a try. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Damn it, Brian! :) - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

You are all amateurs at killing threads as evidenced by this thread. - Alex Scoble

Who will be the last one with the hot potato? - Shawn Farner

I'm a comment killer too. We should form a club. - ♥patricia♥

Nice try Chris, but you can't kill this thread either. - Alex Scoble

@pea ♥ fierce as a woozle Done: http://friendfeed.com/rooms... - Rui Pereira

Yeah, I gotta say something...something. - Alex Scoble

Yes, I have to say something else... - Alex Scoble

Something else. - Alex Scoble

So if a room was started upon my suggestion and the room never takes off, does that mean that I then become the official room killer? Cuz that might make things kind of not fun for me. :D - ♥patricia♥

after all that, you think it - Glen Campbell, B.A.

Thumbganglings! - Alex Scoble

Anything? - Tyson Key

Happens to me ALL the time. - Bec Rowe @d0tski

Not yet. - Alex Scoble

First! - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Don't even start with me, Mark...I'm feeling stabbity after dealing with Leather Donut. - Alex Scoble

Gee, now I have to create a room for FF room killers ... sheshh ... :) - Rui Pereira

Stabbity! - Alex Scoble

I just created a Thread Killa' t-shirt for all of us on Zazzle but I don't feel like creating a marketplace or whatever the hell it is to show it to everyone - just close your eyes and picture a shirt that says Thread Killa' in an edgy font - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

http://friendfeed.com/e... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

@Alex, I've liked "stabbity" since the other day when Tad used/coined it. :-) - Joey Gibson

Not in this lifetime, Brian. :) I wonder what thread in friendfeed has had the most comments...I'm sensing that this one will beat it - Alex Scoble

yea so how does this work when the thread is stacked with people who all claim to kill threads with their comments? this has the potential to become the longest running thread in history - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

I've trained for this my whole life. - Todd Hoff

No, my brother is never rude to me. - Alex Scoble

I seem to be the death of discussion, too, so hopefully this won't end at #113 - Joe....

I have no idea, Brian...but I'm thinking we are going to find out - Alex Scoble

I do it all the time, Chris! - Alex Scoble

who is your brother alex? - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Just some guy with a blog...and a HUGE melon. - Alex Scoble

I shut down threads all the time. I'm the thread stopper. - Got Love For DB™?

So I'm guessing you blocked him then? - Alex Scoble

I think the point of this thread is to keep it going so that no one gets to be the ultimate thread blocker. - Alex Scoble

I am the ultimate thread killer. Posting now to stop the madness. - Alan Simpson

True, but Ben, however, doesn't blog...although his bar does have a myspace page http://www.myspace.com/bennyst... Which by the way owns Google if you search for Benny's Tavern. - Alex Scoble

I am Thor, Killer of Threads, Despeaker of the Saxons, Soverign of ALL England! - Joey Gibson

alex this guy is your brother? http://melongrowinghelp.blogspot.com/ - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

No, you are just Joey. - Alex Scoble

You confused the metaphorical large melon of Robert's brain pan, with an actual melon that can be grown in the garden. - Alex Scoble

+1 Alex - Tyson Key

Great googly moogly! - Alex Scoble

OHHHHH my bad - glad you pointed that out because the photo or website accompanying my next guess would have been much weirder - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

I know some FriendFeeders who comments and the thread stops. But I don't think it's you or them. - AJ Batac

It isn't AJ either. - Alex Scoble

Kudos to you Joey, for coming up with the most awesome method ever to generate comments. - Alex Scoble

or you alex - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Nope. It's not Alex either. Hmmm... - AJ Batac

You mean yet. - Alex Scoble

this is why FF rules over Twitter in my book - you could never do this to the same effect with Retweets - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Indeed, Marco, Indeed! - Alex Scoble

You guys will have to try killing this thread without me for a while. Time for me to head out for dinner - Alex Scoble

Glad I'm not the only one who feels that way sometimes. :-) -

Without proof, who would know? - Alex Scoble

It would just make me start my own similar thread. - Alex Scoble

is this conversation over? - Noah David Simon

It should stop right here - AJ Batac

@Alex, thanks. I never expected this many comments. @Marco, maybe this thread can serve as an example of FF's superiority over Twitter for generations to come. ;-) - Joey Gibson

This is the thread that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends . . . - B. Hatin

@Chris, delete the thread? Are you kidding? This thread is my ticket to becoming an FF GOD!!! I fully expect an invitation to next week's FFUndercats because of it (and my)) awesomeness. ;-) - Joey Gibson

Really? - AJ Batac

@Chris, No way, baby. Because of this thread, I'm Da Man, Dawg. - Joey Gibson

I've never been a very good negotiator. OK, let's try this again. How much you wanna pay me? - Joey Gibson

u know it just occurred to me that we are looking at this all wrong - the glass half full approach would lead us to believe that many of our comments are crafted so beautifully that no one else could add anything else no matter how badly they wanted - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

*burp* - Bec Rowe @d0tski

(_|_) - Bec Rowe @d0tski

Are those boobs, Bec? - Joey Gibson

Bored now. Hide. - m9m, Crone of FriendFeed

Joey: Nah, it's a bum :D - Bec Rowe @d0tski

No. No it isn't. - WorldofHiglet

My goodness... This should be the end of it. ;) - AJ Batac

Not quite, AJ. :-) - Kevykev

almost - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Oh look, I already killed one thread tonight. Let's make this #2. I prefer even numbers, anyway. - Carmen

I thought it was this: (_(_) (_|_) (_)_) - Carmen

Wha?? Damn, I just stumbled in here to grab a beer. How did all you people get in my room? - Haggis (Sean Loyless)

Thread killer, checking in. Will this be the last comment? - Mike Doeff

Nope - Carmen

Mike, that's just begging for a No. - ♥patricia♥

No, I hardly ever get a comment either - Ginger Kenney

This thread is obviously not dead yet *hits it over the head with a cudgel* - Alex Scoble

Good. Went to Applebee's and had the quesadilla burger...was good. - Alex Scoble

Just ain't dying huh? - Katie: Witch Of The West

I've fallen! And I can't get back up! - imabonehead

Downtown is too much of a pain in the ass, Chris...plus a lot more expensive. - Alex Scoble

you are not offensive enough. trust me - Noah David Simon

First I was afraid. I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side. But I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong. I grew strong. I learned how to carry on... - Anthony K. Valley ©

I am the ultimate thread killer - George Smith

I'm pretty sure this isn't the random lyrics room, Anthony, hehe. - Alex Scoble

Nope. It just means you are succinct. - Steven Perez

I just wanted a burger, Chris. :) - Alex Scoble

Isn't there some Mom n' Pop near there? I always find those have some combo of better food/lower price, often both. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Alex: Sorry... this thread reminded me of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". It's a resilient little booger. - Anthony K. Valley ©

Obviously Chris, dollar cost averaging has worked better for you than for me. :) No, Mark, I haven't seen any Mom n' Pops out here. - Alex Scoble

Low blow, Brian, bringing up a burger that I cannot have in this area. - Alex Scoble

lol - Geoff Schultz

LOL. So we are so not going to let this die, right? - DO ANYBODY NO MONIQUE from fftogo

My dad's getting a DVR, sweet! - Alex Scoble

I'm watching Flashpoint right now. Amy Jo Johnson is still cute after all these years since her Power Ranger days. - imabonehead

DirecTV DVR...she was on Power Rangers? Yeah, she's pretty cute and that's a good show. - Alex Scoble

I'm a thread killer. I don't worry about it too much. - cecily

Amy Jo Johnson is not bad. - ld

Cuz this is thread killer, thread killer night....wooo yeah! - Alex Scoble

Woo yeah! Shamon! - Alex Scoble

Yeah, she was a former pink Power Ranger. http://www.imdb.com/name... - imabonehead

Give me the $100! - Alex Scoble

Hehe, no, I just wanted the $100. - Alex Scoble

No, he's going be like a koala. Eats, shoots, leaves. - ld

Hi! I almost read all the comments but can't remember what was the issue or the purpose of the thread LOL :) - George The Writer

*gets out the eucalyptus leaves* - Alex Scoble

Come again? - ld

What do koalas eat? Eucalyptus leaves. - Alex Scoble

Not even. There was one with 550 comments. - ld

Not even, Steven? Damn you Steven Perez! - Alex Scoble

*twiddles thumbs and toes* - imabonehead

Well, I gotta go to bed now, but just know that I will not let this thread die tomorrow when I wake up. - Alex Scoble

wow still going? - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Then it doesn't count. English FTW! - Alex Scoble

Flashpoint is now over. Now watching Numb3rs. - imabonehead

Temp is dropping! 6c in thirty minutes! woot! - Bec Rowe @d0tski

*clears throat* - Bec Rowe @d0tski

EVERYTIME I have commented EVER the thread has stopped dead. This could be the first when it hasnt! (It would not be funny if you now all agreed to stop posting) - laprensa66

Actually, I have just checked that. Not quite accurate, but it was certainly like that at the beginning. - laprensa66

</thread> - Alan Cheslow

<thread> - Bec Rowe @d0tski

EOM - ld

Depends on who you're following. timezones and such... maybe - Richard A.

Dead - Nicola Quinn

This thread can't die. - B. Hatin

I thought I was the thread killer. The temperature has cooled down to a nice cool 24 degrees C. here in up town Adelaide. - Chris Loft

Can I join in? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Sure, Kol :-) - Carmen

Wouldn't it be nice if FF timestamped each comment in a thread? Then I could see how long ago Carmen welcomed Kol to the party. - Joey Gibson

Joey, hover your cursor over each quote bubble. Tells you how long ago each comment was. - Carmen

Thanks Mohomed and Carmen. I did not know that. Now, it would also be nice if FF put the Comment and Like links at both the top AND bottom of long threads... - Joey Gibson

This is still going? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

It will probably be the thread that never ends. Or has that been said 10 times already? - Ontario Emperor from fftogo

Probably said more than 10 times. - Katie: Witch Of The West

At least. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Pfffttt...as if. - Alex Scoble

will anyone ever get the last post? - MicahBear78

no - Dan Glass

There's always the possibility that you are so profound that nobody can top you, and they don't even try. - Louis Gray

wow still going - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

LOL, it totally happens to me, too! I can shut a conversation down with a comment. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

How do you mean, Micah? Will the last post be the punchline? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

the irony of the original post. - MicahBear78

We certainly can't let Mark get the last post. He already drives a 7 series BMW. - Alex Scoble

I shot a thread in Reno, just to watch it die. - Josh Haley

alex are you implying the final poster gets a car? Genius my boy, Genius - this thread will go on for years now - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

No, I'm implying that Mark doesn't need to own this bright shiny thread. - Alex Scoble

Wait, wait, wait... Hold on... Back up the bus.... Alex doesn't own the thread; why is he making the rules? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

fight!fight!fight! Tell him how to use FriendFeed! - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

this thread has a hell of a lot of comments. - Thomas Hawk

Nothing gets by you, Thomas ;) - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

one more LOL - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

Who says I don't own this thread? - Alex Scoble

Oh, my, god. 269 more comments??? How on earth did this happen?? I guess you guys are trying to break the record... Do the search by # of comments and you'll see if you've won. - Kamilah Gill

Alex 1 $ please! - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

mark said alex - and he makes the rules, have you seen his scowl? - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Gosh this thread is still running - Manuela

happens to me most of the time too.. you do wonder if the internet is on at times ;) - alphaxion

o hai, morning folks! :) - imabonehead

OHAI! - Alex Scoble

Can this thread make 300 comments? Yes or No? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Yes - George Smith

I don't think so. - Glen Campbell, B.A.

I mean with the 3 showing + 284 + this one = that's not too many needed. I'd say it will pick up straggling comments. - George Smith

The more you interact htte better - Roberto Bonini

Agreed, Roberto, indeed. - Alex Scoble

so, this thing is still going strong, eh? ;) - Holger Eilhard

No, it is indeed dead. We are just awaiting the results of the autopsy to see who killed it. - Alex Scoble

ping - Todd Hoff

Pong! - Alex Scoble

What does it say about the person that comments last? Are they the true comment thread killer? (Now I'm nervous it might be me....that would be an interesting plot twist. You never expect that you're the killer) - George Smith

In this thread? It probably says they are suffering from severe OCD. - Alex Scoble

Am not. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Wow...did I finally kill it? - Alex Scoble

No - it was the dramatic pause like in horror movies. Everyone thinks it's dead and relax for a moment, only to have the killer come back to life.... - George Smith

and comment 300 FTW - George Smith

um no.... - kartik vaithyanathan

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND! - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Hehe no one wants to not comment on this thread. - Roberto Bonini

Everybody (including me) wants to have the last word. - Brian Sullivan

Word. - Alex Scoble

BTW http://friendfeed.com/e... seems to be the post with the most comments. - Brian Sullivan

We're not going to take it, NO! We ain't going to take it. We're not going to take it...anymooooooore! - Alex Scoble

But this one is in the top 10. - Brian Sullivan

It's like hacky-sack. Don't let it drop. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Knee kick to Mark! - Alex Scoble

You kneed Mark in the hacky-sack? Ouchy.... - WorldofHiglet

On my tombstone: Made the final post on the longest thread in the history of the world. Most satisfying. - Todd Hoff

Oooooooo FIGHT - Roberto Bonini

Toe-tap, toe-tap, left-knee, left-knee, right-knee, toe-tap high, head-butt to Roberto. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

up up down down left right left right B A - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Fireball! Fireball! Dragon Punch! Fireball! Fireball! - Alex Scoble

"309 more comments".. do I read them all to make sure I don't repeat something, or damn the cannons and comment anyway? The latter! - Phil G

+1! - Alex Scoble

I killed it! - Alex Scoble

Thought you all should know I have returned from lunch. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Good grief. I can't believe this is still going... - Joey Gibson

A (figured it was time to resurrect a FriendFeed classic http://friendfeed.com/e...) - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

If you are in North Dakota during the winter, don't wear a kilt. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Cobblersauce! - Alex Scoble

I've killed it again! - Alex Scoble

or so you wish - kartik vaithyanathan

Nope you didn't - AJ Batac

Haha. This is one of those epic threads Robert does, but without Robert. This has gotta be a first, then. - Roberto Bonini

I'm sure he hid this thread a long time ago...it probably fits his definition of noise 100% - Alex Scoble

ok - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

Strangely enough most of the high comment threads do not involve Robert -- in fact most of them are not even in English. - Brian Sullivan

go - Alex Scoble

Everything I say is a lie. I'm lying. - Alan Cheslow

We believe you, Alan. - Alex Scoble

Once again, I've killed this thread! - Alex Scoble

Hehe. No. This is turning into a general thread for everything. - Roberto Bonini

So who read the Famous Five as kids???!! - Roberto Bonini

Who here has read The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy? - Alex Scoble

I'm killing this thread with my inanity, yay! - Alex Scoble

I ♥ bananas - AJ Batac

You are bananas for posting to this thread still! What does that say about me, though? - Alex Scoble

Who reads Tom Clancy??? - Roberto Bonini

Alex, stop Spamming Friend Feed! UR Fixated with this thread! LMAO - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

I used to read Tom Clancy until he stopped spell/grammar checking his works. Now he's just weaksauce. And Igor...NO! - Alex Scoble

What's the FF record for longest comment thread ever??? - Roberto Bonini

Anyone interested in placing bets on a number of comments this thread gets? There is always a way to hijack the thread and kill it! LMAO - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

555 last I looked -- a long way to go - Brian Sullivan

9 times out of 10 I post something and nothing happens...lol - jamar78

Joey, we just want to make sure you do not feel lonely anymore. Next time someone does not comment after you, just remember this thread! LOL - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

Give up already? - Todd Hoff

the ultimate thread killer! - dave

And the beast lives on.... - Katie: Witch Of The West

Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and then the baby looked at me. - Bec Rowe @d0tski

Took me 5mins to scroll down to the bottom of this thread, let's get it to 500 comments. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

What? - Rochelle

556 if you want the record - Brian Sullivan

Is there a limit to the number of comments on one FF entry? - Morton Fox

LOL um...the same thing happens to me all the time. Kinda makes it less likely that I'll comment on something for fear of killing the conversation... - Phoenix

I can't believe this is still going on! - Michelle Martinez

Maybe you just said all that needs to be said. Summed it up in one post. - Paula W

363+ posts and I still don't know the answer to the original post! :) Ps: hate to be the party spoiler, but, how much CO2 has these comments produced? - Rui Pereira from fftogo

More like how much methane has been produced as a result of this thread. - Alex Scoble

And I've officially killed this thread, once again. Yay me! - Alex Scoble

I just finished watching two episodes of House MD back-to-back. - imabonehead

same here ima - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

So it's looking like I'm the anti-thread killer then? - Alex Scoble

Yes, it's definitely you, Alex. - WorldofHiglet

Nope, it's gotta be me. - Bec Rowe @d0tski

bump - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

I have buttermilk chocolate and beer. - Bec Rowe @d0tski

You're not dieing on me yet, Thread. Breath damn you, breath! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Resurrection! - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

It's obvious which of us friendfeeders are either a) competitive, b) OCD or c) just plain crazy. - Alex Scoble

I've killed it once more! Let's hope I remembered to use the right implement this time. Can't remember if it requires A) a wooden stake through the heart B) a silver bullet C) sunlight D) cutting off the head E) dropping in to a pool of molten metal or F) all of the above. - Alex Scoble

Drop it in to a vat of boiling acid? - Alex Scoble

Hardly stalling. Just waiting to pounce... - Todd Hoff

This is like an eBay auction with an hour left to go. - Alex Scoble

More like: exit(-1) - Todd Hoff

More like: exit(-n) - Alex Scoble

Love this really long thread... the longest one yet on Friendfeed? - Susan Beebe

OH HAI! - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Good morning, FF! Watching Globe Trekker now. - imabonehead

ERROR, INVALID COMMAND - Alex Scoble

error: out of memory. rebooting... - imabonehead

REBOOT HALTED, INVALID COMMAND IN QUEUE - Alex Scoble

Professor Green, with the pipe, in the study! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Sundays are for watching cool shows on PBS-HD - imabonehead

I love doing my taxes! - Alex Scoble

And you still haven't killed the thread, Brian. - Alex Scoble

We are now up to 402 comments (including this one)! - Alex Scoble

I'm gonna have to dollar cost average it and call it at 410. - Alex Scoble

Don't stop, I said to 500 comments. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Logout and check the thread, I suppose? I have no clue...oh what about ffholic.com? - Alex Scoble

Up to 422 according to ffholic. And it's uber lame that it's not on most commented entries for last 24 hours. - Alex Scoble

Back atcha, Chris. :) - Alex Scoble

All I wanna do is zoom a zoom zoom zoom around the room room... YO SHAKE YA RUMP! - Bec Rowe @d0tski

Comment Orgy! LOL - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

I was going to kill this thread, but then I got high. - Alex Scoble

And by high, I, of course mean, got drunk...not going to jeopardize my job and my CISSP standing for a little doobage. - Alex Scoble

And now I need a new xbox. - Alex Scoble

Cool...Microsoft is sending me a box. I think I'm going to get an arcade model from either Target or Best Buy tomorrow though. - Alex Scoble

@Chris Give me yours and I'll stop posting on this thread. :) I could always use two. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

I still feel a pulse...better hit it over the head with the cudgel again *whack* *whack* - Alex Scoble

I think it's feeling better. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

*whack* *whack* *whack* - Alex Scoble

It's not quite dead! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Clear as glass, Chris. - Alex Scoble

This isn't even the most commented thread in the last 30 days yet according to ffholic...My brother's post on how to get followers in Twitter and friendfeed is #1...we still have 20 comments to go. And yes, I'm only counting English posts, since I don't speak another language...interesting that we only have visibility in to last 30 days. We have no idea what the most commented entry EVER is. - Alex Scoble

I don't think you'd like him, Chris. He doesn't believe in dollar cost averaging. - Alex Scoble

No, Todd...use Nike clubs. - Alex Scoble

i hate haters - AJ Batac

I hate haters who hate haters. - Alex Scoble

I thought what we needed was glove. - Alex Scoble

The glove didn't fit anyway. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

So we must a quit! - Alex Scoble

But only if it's Odwalla. - Alex Scoble

I'm o'Cato to have some OJ, too, thanks. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

That's no good, Chris. - Alex Scoble

Yeah, I used to get that stuff from Costco and it was pretty good. That's lame that they changed it. Wonder why. - Alex Scoble

I have a complete lack of fruit trees in my yard. Just trees that dump leaves everywhere. - Alex Scoble

I don't rake the leaves. I prefer to leave them so that they create a nice mulch. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

LOL, Jason. If you did that in my yard you would come back in 10 years to leaves piled 30 feet high on top of 20 feet of fresh dirt. - Alex Scoble

Yeah, I feel you Chris, but you still aren't going to be last on this thread. - Alex Scoble

I can't even remember the last time I had a shamrock shake. - Alex Scoble

Woo this is now the most commented English thread of the last 30 days. - Alex Scoble

Damn, Chris...that would be whack! - Alex Scoble

Hehe - Alex Scoble

Only one there can be - Yoda the Highlander - Todd Hoff

What if there are two that post simultaneously? - Alex Scoble

I try to get out, but they keep bringing me back in. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Yeah, Chris, but not for you. - Alex Scoble

for whom does the bell toll? - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Such nice threads. - Alex Scoble

Speech! Speech! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Sorry, but no joy on Chris winning this thread. I clearly had a comment after Chris's. - Alex Scoble

Encore! Encore! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Still not dead. - Alex Scoble

Somebody will have to keep it going. I'm about ready to eat dinner and watch the rest of season 3 of the office (and maybe start season 4) so don't let me down! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

OK, we won't. - Alex Scoble

Come on people, at this rate this thing will never be #1. - Alex Scoble

Wheeze. - Alex Scoble

Wooo...we finally passed 500 comments. - Alex Scoble

Are you part of the thread, or is the thread part of you? - Alex Scoble

I officially declare this thread dead. Dead, I tell you! - Alex Scoble

Damn you, Chris! - Alex Scoble

My gin and bitter lemon consumption is quite high of late. - Alex Scoble

I'm on pace to drink a bottle of gin every 2 weeks. Ironic that my wine fridge is full of wine. - Alex Scoble

sweet alex won! oh wait... - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Ho ho ho, now I have a machine gun! - Alex Scoble

Did I ever get in on this? - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Don't you have something better to do besides torment me? - Alex Scoble

wayyyyy too many other things - that's what makes tormenting you enjoyable ; ) - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

what no machine gun? shouldnt it be stabity-abity-abiity-abbity-abbity? - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

DAMN YOU TIM GEITHNER! - Alex Scoble

I win! - Alex Scoble

didnt ,, I win - johnpiercy

Nope, I did the post where I said I won...so I win. - Alex Scoble

Don't you have some property tax to pay, Chris? - Alex Scoble

I think you missed some. - Alex Scoble

What's the solution? - Alex Scoble

Well he obviously couldn't kill this one. - Alex Scoble

Yeah, it still wouldn't count, because although I wouldn't see the comments they'd still be there. Chris is definitely an evil, evil man. :) - Alex Scoble

This is all getting very exciting. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Yeah, this thread fizzled compared to the other one. I guess it was the competitive nature of the other one vs this one which has already proved the initial premise wrong. - Alex Scoble

611 vs 555. - Alex Scoble

No, you can't kill this thread either. Brian is just too sneaky. - Alex Scoble

It is now 11:22 AM PST. If no one comments on this thread by 11:30 AM PST (you have 8 minutes) I declare myself the winner of this thread. - Alex Scoble

It is now 11:31 AM PST. You did not post anything. I did. So I win. Thanks for playing. This contest is now over! - Alex Scoble

Suck it Alex - Josh Haley

Thanks for playing! Game is over. - Alex Scoble

Only way to end it is for the thread to be deleted - Josh Haley

Do what? I can't delete someone else's thread - Josh Haley

Go home...I won. You guys didn't comment for like 30 minutes. - Alex Scoble

I instituted it and declared myself the winner. This junta has now been completed. You are on foreign soil ruled by me...so bugger off! - Alex Scoble

you're not the boss of me now - Josh Haley

No, but I am the boss of the thread! Take a hike, ya hoser! - Alex Scoble

I got yer hose right here - Josh Haley

That's not a hose, that's a little straw you got off your can of air. - Alex Scoble

brian: doesn't that involve a large trout? - Jason Shultz from twhirl

I'm sure the fish doesn't care as it's already dead. - Alex Scoble

Can of air, like the fire extinguisher? Maybe. - Josh Haley

Yes! We have no, bananas. - Bec Rowe @d0tski

Can't touch this! - Alex Scoble

2 legit! 2 legit to quit! - Alex Scoble

We're the monkees! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Still mine! - Alex Scoble

congrats Alex! oops - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

No, mine. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

*steals the internet* - Bec Rowe @d0tski

Here comes the hammer! - Alex Scoble

hey you're the last comment again alex yayyyyyy!!!! - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

We say what we wanna say, do what we wanna do, the Addams Fa-mi-ly! Go! - Alex Scoble

yeah - Josh Haley

Pumps and a bump, pumps and a bump! (at least I think that's what he says and I'm too lazy to check) - Alex Scoble

Beep-beep! - Tyson Key

Turn this mutha out! - Alex Scoble

w00t - Josh Haley

Citizens Against Alex Owning This Thread - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Hammer!!!! - Alex Scoble

:p - Josh Haley

Time! - Mo Kargas

Looks like I'm late to the party. - LogEx

SNIPE - Mike Nayyar

You don't have to go home but you can't sleep here - Johnny Worthington

DAMN YOU WORTHINGTON - Mike Nayyar

This is the part where we dance. - Alex Scoble

hey look everyone Alex is last on the thread again! - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Woot! - Alex Scoble

nice work alex - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Fin! Finito! Ende! - Alex Scoble

You aren't gonna get it, Chris. - Alex Scoble

. - LogEx

Still not. - Alex Scoble

boogers - Josh Haley

What's interesting is that ffholic is no longer properly counting the number of comments in this thread. - Alex Scoble

yeaaaa Alex is last again! - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Marcooooooooooooo! - Alex Scoble

Alex wins again!!!!! - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

OY VEY! - Alex Scoble

thread killa'! - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

OU812 - Marco(aureliusmaximus) from fftogo

OIC - Josh Haley

Still mine. - Alex Scoble

never - Josh Haley

Wow this thing is still going? - Katie: Witch Of The West

Unfortunately, yes. - Alex Scoble

Nice try Chris. - Alex Scoble

hey look Alex has the last comment again! - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

And again. - Alex Scoble

HA - Richard Lawler

Nice try, Richard. You still won't win the grand prize of CoD 5. - Alex Scoble

*yawn* - Josh Haley

Josh! - Alex Scoble

Go eat a burger, Chris... - Alex Scoble

620. - Alex Scoble

meh - Josh Haley

Meh indeed, Josh, meh indeed. - Alex Scoble

*cough* - Josh Haley

Gesundheit. - Alex Scoble

LOL - Alex Scoble

Wow was expecting to see Alex's name here - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

uh, no - Josh Haley

I WILL END THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL - Mike Nayyar

wtf? HALEY! - vijay

last! - Josh Haley

Eff you, Haley. - Mike Nayyar

Woo hoo! My thread LIVES!!! - Joey Gibson

Yay! - Tyson Key

@Joey - Don't worry, I have the same effect too, sometimes. ;) - Tyson Key

Funny, I was actually worrying about the same thing. Oh yeah, sorry in advance for killing the thread. - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

no prob - Josh Haley

Segmentation fault - Tyson Key

Are we there yet? - Tyson Key

nope - WorldofHiglet

nope - Josh Haley

Ping! - Tyson Key

Wow, 600+ comments. - Kevin Whalen

Trundle, trundle wheel... La la la... Still... not... dead... La la la... - Tyson Key

I hear dogs - Tyson Key

/me throws a Zune and sees if anyone catches it - Tyson Key

woohoo - Josh Haley

I feel the same way about "conversate" instead of "talk". - Ha3rvey (not Akiva)

24 more comments

Guilty... - Mona Nomura from fftogo

Victor, don't be disingenuous. - Alex Scoble

...i hate when people are mendacious! - .LAG liked that

All I'm saying is, get a freaking thesaurus, man. - Victor Ganata

People who use 'irregardless' lose any credibility with me. - Anika

Let me get this straight, if the author describes two people conversating and during the dialog one accuses the other of being disingenuous then that writer has lost credibility irregardless of how well he writes the other passages .. ;) - LPH™ and his dog P™

LOL @LPH - Anika

LPH Wins!...Flawless Victory! - Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF

ROFL - Alex Scoble

LOL LPH +10,000! -1. - Victor Ganata

I still can't believe anyone has to use the word disingenuous more than twice in a single paragraph. - Victor Ganata

Sometimes le mot juste is, well, the best choice. - Andrew C

Sorry Victor, it would just be disingenuous of me to try to put disingenuous into the same paragraph. I couldn't bring myself to even try. - LPH™ and his dog P™

Victor's entitled to his opinion, people, so it's a mute point. - B. Hatin

Schnitzel, absolutely. That's the beauty of FF; reading opinions and discovering what other people like and dis-like - LPH™ and his dog P™

A mute point? A point that doesn't talk? Hehe. - Alex Scoble

Ive always rather liked the word. Its not really a word I hear in RL. I do often see it used as an accusation in comment section of blogs. And it does describe whats going om quite well. - laprensa66

I may just be reading the wrong things. In some articles, it starts to remind me of the way Vizzini uses the word "inconceivable." "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." - Victor Ganata

Victor, did I miss something? Disingenuous is simply a false presentation or insincerity. Are you suggesting otherwise or are you suggesting someone else is mis-using the word? - LPH™ and his dog P™

LPH, no, I agree with that definition, but I have a hard time making it fit into the context of some of the things I've read on the net. - Victor Ganata

OK - I understand Victor. - LPH™ and his dog P™

I think I may just dislike the word, for no rational reason whatsoever. :) - Victor Ganata

its because of conversations like this that I learned myself something new every day. Seriously, are you allowed to dislike real words? I thought you could only dislike made up words? :) - Eugene Huo

Heh, Eugene, now that you mention it, aren't all words ultimately made up anyway? In any case, it may be only that the linguistic police have never yet managed to catch me. - Victor Ganata

Sometimes I think i am starting to get up to speed with the Internet - and then I read something like this. LOL! - laprensa66 from Bookmarklet

Had me chuckle a lot! "LOA was the group that first installed Linux on a Shetland pony in 2003, but growing competition from other hacker groups have shut them out in the past five years. “We were close to being the first with Linux on a cracker, but those jerks from Norway beat us out,” said Piest. The first vegetable Linux install was on a head of iceberg lettuce by a group of hackers in Turkey." - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

cough, cough. The base is not in England, but Scotland, and I think you mean British armed forces not English. England is to Scotland what black is to white, or Jew is to Muslim. I'm actually giggling here, although a Scot I cant get worked up about mistakes like this. But I have many friends who would feel mortally offended about this. Therefore of course I am going to send them this link. Childish I know. - laprensa66

i usually install firefox, chrome, digsby, and anti-virus. but besides that what do you install? Office is nice. I like Notepad++ as my editor. Ah Dropbox forgot about that one. - Alfredo

11 more comments

Chrome, AVG Free, EditPad Pro, Gtalk, MSN Live Messenger and Live Messenger Plus, Office 2007 - Alex Scoble

Office, Lightroom, Live Essentials, Digsby - Jordan Hofker

Dropbox if it's mine - Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF

@Lisney I tried CCleaner but i usually use it once and uninstall it. i had a bad experience with it in the past so i like to stay away from it. - Alfredo

Lightroom, DirSyncPro, Adobe Reader, WinPatrol, Defragglr - Russellreno

is there a better option than adobe reader? - Alfredo

I usually head over to http://filehippo.com/ and download some good ones. - Alfredo

For one moment I thought I'd gone back in time....! Did you revert to XP from VIsta? - WorldofHiglet

no, just reinstalled xp. i dont like vista. only if its 64-bit and i have a super fast computer. - Alfredo

God, the number of times I have had to do this cause my computer is available to my flat mates - and they dont know the basics about what to do and not to do. Its all automatic to me. Get all those Service Packs. AVG. Zone Alarm. Open Office. Flock, Mozilla. To be honest that keeps you safe and as you get into the way of things again you can download things as you go along. - laprensa66

CCleaner can delete system files... Be very careful with that program - Patrick from twhirl

@Patrick yeah i know. the first time i installed it i was playing around with the registry and before you know it..xp crapped on me - Alfredo

"Ed Yong looks at Jeremy Ginges's research and the connection between religion and violence: "Together, these four studies...contradict the idea that religious belief and devotion in themselves are the driving force behind the suicide bombing mindset. Nor is this mindset exclusive to Islam... Ginges studied a wide variety of religious people from various cultures and faiths - from Palestinian Muslims to Israeli Jews, and from British Protestants to Indian Hindus. Across the board, Ginges found that a person's stance on martyrdom had little to do with their religious devotion or to any particular religious belief. Instead, it was the collective side of religion that affected their stance - those who frequently took part in religious rituals and services, were most likely to support martyrdom."" - Sean McBride from Bookmarklet

3 more comments

Sean, a bit off topic but could you clear something up for me. It was Andrew Sullivan that got me into reading blogs - he wrote for The Sunday Times and talked about it. I was hooked straight away. For one reason or another I drifted away. Your Post reminded me about him and I revisited his site hoping for a right battle to ensue. But there are no comments! Is his blog really just what he thinks? Fair enough its his blog, but the comments following a post (IMO) is where the interesting stuff happens. - laprensa66

I haven't paid attention to the social dynamics of commenting on his blogs, since I receive his articles as a feed. I don't always agree with him, but I have the highest respect for Andrew Sullivan as a writer and independent thinker. He has worked hard to recover an appreciation for those core conservative values which neoconservatives have striven so furiously to destroy. - Sean McBride

Yup agreed about Andrew. He sticks with ideas (as you say often ones that you dont agree with) - it doesn't really matter which Party is advocating them. He gets accused of being a traitor by many on the right. He has merely remained consistent. - laprensa66

Andrew is a true independent thinker -- he doesn't follow any party line. People who follow party lines can easily be replaced by software bots -- they are useless, a waste of oxygen. - Sean McBride

nope doesn't work. gif here http://www.deanguitars.com/userpic... - Alfredo

6 more comments

Alfredo, you can check out my feed - boring stuff, just really learning about social media. I saw you offerring some help to Mathew Ballard when his DB were mucked about with on GoDaddy as a result of a fishing scam. You said you could do something very easily. I have been trying to do something that I am sure is quite simple - but it has taken me 16 hrs already. Im sure you could do it in half an hour - id pay you £10 on paypal. Its just to install a cubecart shop on my godaddy hosted domain. If you could - laprensa66

do a screen capture while your doing it all the better. Then I can do it myself in the future when I mess things up. Warning: I am a Newbie. My website has been propagated, Id be using cubecart v3. And I am taking advantage of the free hosting that comes when you register a name with godaddy. This is no final product - just learning so I can help a friend set up a store. How can I contact you in a non public way? - laprensa66

as much as i like to help you laprensa66, i dont know a lot of setting up cubecart that much. i probably have the same trouble with it as you do. - Alfredo

I can help you install a different platform that i have installed before its call magento http://magentocommerce.com/ and its like a store website. - Alfredo

Cheers for that Alfredo. Im just off to work, so have not had enough time to check out magentocommerce yet - but will later. I see it is a free download. Am I right in saying I can go ahead and set the shop up for my cousin. However when it goes live I have to buy a subscription - cheapest I can see is $42 a month. This whole shopping cart thing is new to me. - laprensa66

the cubecart is only a free trial, but the magento is free (open source). Magento doesn't charge to use their platform, only support that the client can request. - Alfredo

Once again thanks. Because I have godaddy hosting, they can automatically add something called joomla for you. quite an easy process - even for a Newbie. Joomla has a 'plugin' called VirtueCart - which was once again quite easy to install. Magento looks good too but I came up against the same problems as cubecart. Its just beyond the Newbie level! Ive subscribed to you. Now to work out what the hell Joomla actually is! - laprensa66

"On the Origin of Species is one of many hundreds of thousands of Oxford University books now available through Google Book Search, and we look forward to bringing even more volumes online for scholars and enthusiasts alike." - AJ Kohn from Bookmarklet

44 more comments

Calling that the most important single work in science is a stretch. I would say the discovery of DNA is much more significant. The invention of the light bulb is more significant, in my mind as is the invention of the air plane. Not that I'm taking away from the significance of what Darwin did, but the usefulness of understanding evolution pails in significance to the usefulness of quite a few other scientific discoveries/inventions, in my opinion. - Alex Scoble

@Alex: yeah, might be some hyperbole there. but, IMO, the essence of his book (multiple small changes over time can result in more complex outcomes) is pretty powerful stuff. it applies to all dynamic systems, not just living tissue. - MikeAmundsen

I don't disagree that it's a very important piece of scientific knowledge/understanding, but NOT the most important. - Alex Scoble

Alex: "Not only is it the explanation for life on this planet, it is the only theory so far suggested that could, even in principle, explain life on any planet. If life exists elsewhere in the universe (and my tentative bet is that it does), however strange and alien and weird its nature may be (and my tentative bet is that it will be weird beyond imagining), some version of evolution... more... - Alejandro

Yeah, still the invention of the lightbulb, nuclear power, fusion, DNA have all been far more useful and transformative of our world. And yes, I'm aware that DNA sort of builds on what Darwin first theorized. - Alex Scoble

I'd rate penicillin over all those Alex - Jeff Quinton

I think Alex's examples don't qualify -- the "work" referred to is the book itself. Important as it is though being "most" might be a stretch -- Newton's "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" probably is right up there along with a few others. - Brian Sullivan

Yeah, Jeff...another big one, thanks. - Alex Scoble

How do you figure that my examples don't apply? The invention of the lightbulb was a scientific WORK, the invention of the airplane was a scientific WORK, the discovery of DNA was a scientific WORK. - Alex Scoble

The "work" being referred to is a published work -- a book or paper -- at least for the purposes of the article posted. - Brian Sullivan

I'd have to defend the hyperbole. Evolution is the grand unifying theory of biology. It's the thing that makes DNA and genetics make sense, and understanding it is critical to much of modern medicine. The powerfully simple idea of evolution has also transformed our thinking across any number of other domains. The only other contender I can think of is Newton's Principia Mathematica. - Eric P

Archimedes; what little remained of his written works effectively became the spring board for all "western" science. Thence came the giants including Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, da Vinci et al (' philosophers' of the middle ages and their followers.) - David HC Soul

The criteria/category though is "single work" meaning a book or paper. - Brian Sullivan

Sorry, but I see the term work more broadly as in something useful. What works have been the most useful? I have listed many that have been much more useful to mankind in the last 150+ years than Darwins theory. Doesn't mean his theory hasn't been important, as it was the starting point for some really awesome stuff, but the derivative works (like DNA) have been, in my opinion, MUCH more useful and therefore more important. - Alex Scoble

Alex -- did you read the article? -- how you see the term is not germane to this particular discussion. The article is about published "works". - Brian Sullivan

How I see the term is exactly germane to the discussion. If the title of the post was "The most important single WRITTEN work in science" we would be having a slightly different discussion, now wouldn't we? Details ARE everything. - Alex Scoble

Arcimedes Palimsest then Brian. While leaving room for Alex's perspective (on work vs written work) to the side for now, if we reduce it to your perspective only I'd still have to go with the collection of papers as one published work by your terms. - David HC Soul

disccussed w/ @carpdeus and we singled out the following four science writings for consideration: Book of Optics [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...] (1011); Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...] (1687); On the Origin of Species [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...] (1859); Annus Mirabilis Papers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...] (1905) - MikeAmundsen

Alex - did you read beyond the title to the posted article? That is what I am talking about. - Brian Sullivan

From a bibliophile perspective (I worked in the industry for ~3 years), a work is essentially a piece of content with a unique combination of title and author. - AJ Kohn

To be frank, no I didn't because the title was so jarring and obviously poorly formed that I saw no point. Instead I started a discussion here which has been much more intellectually engaging. I have now read the article and wished that I hadn't as the title and quote that it's based upon still bothers me. - Alex Scoble

Now Alex - let's get into a debate on the" Most important single work in science" on your terms (the way the headline reads) ... Not such an easy task I'd say .... Where does one 'discovery' begin and end? Very few are the result of totally idependent and truly isolated works.... Myself I rank the work on "governors" culminating in Watts engineering marvel and the sciences of control and communication well up on the list if sciences that have changed us irrevocably.... like most Advances not solitary - David HC Soul

I'm still confused on what basis you're declaring DNA more important than evolution. DNA is pretty useless without evolutionary theory. And the light bulb is an invention; it's an application of scientific ideas (Maxwell's laws), not a scientific discovery in its own right. - Eric P

Meanwhile if your criteria is number useful applications stemming from the theory, you *still* have to give it to evolution, as most of modern medicine owes itself to evolutionary theory in one way or another. - Eric P

The discovery of penicillin had nothing to do with evolutionary theory. And if you want to use "most useful derivative applications" then something like the wheel would be the most significant. In our world the microprocessor has been much more significant than Darwin's theory and that had a long history of discoveries behind it as well, none of which had anything to do with Darwin. - Alex Scoble

BTW, I hope none of you took this to mean that I don't think that Charles Darwin and his theory were complete awesomesauce, because I do think that they were complete and UTTER awesomesauce. That doesn't make his work THE most important thing ever done in science though. I think that honor goes to The Woz for building the Apple II. Just sayin'! - Alex Scoble

(sorry to keep messin with you, Alex, we crossed paths a bunch of times this evening). Gotta pedantically say, Apple II building is more technology than science... I'm voting for Darwin Wins It. - Kamilah Gill

Because technology isn't science? - Alex Scoble

nooo... it is, sort of... it's the application of science? versus pure research and theorizing? at least that's the difference I make between the two - Kamilah Gill

Okay, that came off the top of my head. Here's Wikipedia (not authoritative, I know, but it's a start): The distinction between science, engineering and technology is not always clear. Science is the reasoned investigation or study of phenomena, aimed at discovering enduring principles among elements of the phenomenal world by employing formal techniques such as the scientific... more... - Kamilah Gill

Krispy Kreme Donut > Evolution Book - Mattb4rd

There are plenty of researchers in labs working on technological breakthroughs on the bleeding edges. Scientists working at Intel, IBM, etc. trying to get die sizes down under 30nm is definitely science even if it's technology. Engineers trying to get true white LEDs are working on science. Etc. I think where the line blurs between science and tech is software...is it science? Is it art? A blend of the two? - Alex Scoble

Yeah, I guess the smaller the computer chips get, the closer the chip makers get to dealing with pure physics just as much as any other researchers. (Last I read. I need to brush up on the subject.) - Kamilah Gill

Actually, that was hardware. As for software... I don't know. Not sure I follow. - Kamilah Gill

Well a lot of the research in to hardware requires development of new software as well. For instance, the router couldn't work without software and that was something developed in part by researchers at Stanford. Ask anyone in the business though and they will tell you that writing good code is as much art as it is science. - Alex Scoble

My boyfriend tells me a lot about it since he's a computer engineer focused on automation. I have a little better understanding of what's involved myself now, too, since I at least wrote a Perl script to do a simple task. Anyway, I think Darwin is especially important in part because of all the assumptions that got challenged by his theories. - Kamilah Gill

Alex: just to be ornery ;-) I guess you are too young to remember the Sol-20 of Lee Felsenstein et al....(or the folks behind the Altair to go back a step further)... (The Sol-20 was the first "true" PC I had on my desk and oh what a revolution it was; too bad the unreliability of the HELIOS drive helped drive it under) - David HC Soul

Yeah, David, sometimes first isn't always best. I just think of all the really cool things that have been discovered in the last 200 years, the periodic table, radiation, going to the moon, I mean the list goes on. Darwin's theory is certainly in the top 100 and probably in the top 10, but THE top thing? - Alex Scoble

You NEVER caught me arguing it was the top thing.... I have a LONG List of things that I think top it; Not all mine are in yours (I think) but all that you've mentioned certainly belong in any short list..... I brought up the Sol-20 to emphasize how many things are done in parallel or build on other pieces... The "hobby" computer was moving forward quickly; in commercialization Sol 20 went down in flames, I happen to believe Apple's success was in large part due Visicalc ....Aldus etc secured it in the end - David HC Soul

Nahhh. Darwin was theeeee MOST BIGGEST THING EVAH!. Why? He provided an explanation for the variety of forms of life- everything we see about us- that did not depend on a supernatural force.Everything flows from that. Does that make me stare into the void? - Thats a different subject altogether,something that only a Marist Brother could answer and it does not make me neither a good nor a bad person:). What Darwin did was set us free. Can we rise to our free man status? YES!(I think we can) - laprensa66

It WAS the top thing. It killed any conception of god that had existed for thousands of years. - laprensa66

Jewwrewd. I took the risk, you didn't respondt.defo im on your side. But the good thing id we are tottally pro. I am with you. no dought/ - laprensa66

@Alex: The discovery of penicillin was an accident. The subsequent decades of research and development into antibiotics are utterly dependent on our understanding of evolution. - Eric P

"Gibbs introduction of probability into physics occurred well before there was an adequate theory of the sort of probability he needed. But for all these gaps it is, I am convinced, Gibbs rather than Einstein or Heisenberg or Planck to whom we must attribute the first great revolution of twentieth century physics." -- Norbert Wierner - David HC Soul

"Willard Gibbs is, in my opinion, one of the most original and important creative minds in the field of science America has produced." —Albert Einstein - David HC Soul

You should read some of the rants here http://intepid.com/sub... - Paul Reynolds

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I've been itching to use the phrase, "lying sacks of sanctimonious shit" since I read it on his site. ;o) - Paul Reynolds

Define what you mean by creationist. Because a large portion of creationists have beliefs that are completely incompatible with evolution. Actually, they have beliefs that are completely incompatible with reality. - Alex Scoble

Chris White, like saying A == B and A !=B are both right? What are you talking about? - Dave Slusher

Fundamental creationism. The belief that god created the universe, the earth and all that is on it, some 4000 to 5000 years ago. In other words, their beliefs are completely counter to evolution, carbon dating and just about every scientific understanding about the earth, the universe, life, etc. - Alex Scoble

If you don't know what a creationist is then it is inappropriate to be trying to argue points about what they are, don't you think? - Dave Slusher

Goodbye, Chris White. - Dave Slusher

Dave, you are doing yourself a disservice if you block Chris. - Alex Scoble

I have no desire to engage with someone who is willing to assert black is white to me. - Dave Slusher

Face it all religion were born of the need to explain the unexplainable. What is thunder ... must be a god, etc, etc. Man unending need to have a reason for existance. We are not happy if this is all there is, so there *must* be an afterlife, a creator. One cannot just exist then die, there has to be a purpose ... whatever. :) - Robert Couture from twhirl

When one side provides facts and evidence and the other side provides fantasy to support their argument, there is no middle ground. I hate how being fair and unbiased now means treating two sides with the same amount of factual weight when many times one side is so clearly delusional. - Rob H.

"Black == white, and because I'm so open minded let's agree it is a shade of gray." Wheeee! - Dave Slusher

I can guarantee my religion is. - Dave Slusher

I paid my $30 because of it. You should too! http://culld.us/l4031055 - Dave Slusher

"Fuck em if they can't take a joke" - JR "Bob" Dobbs - Dave Slusher

“The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we... more... - Rob H.

me the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvellous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavour to comprehend a portion, be it never so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.” -- Albert Einstein, The World As I See It. Including more of the quote changes the entire meaning of that one line. - Rob H.

I believe this may just be another form of Darwin's theory of the weak perishing. :) - CW™

Chris, you are arguing creationism vs science while admitting you don't know what creationism is and demonstrating you don't know what science is. This is why I consider you to be trolling. - Dave Slusher

Heh, you guys gotta figure out if the relationship is worth it, both of you are definitely not trolls though, although, Chris, your comments lack a certain structure. I mean if you don't even believe that reality is real, then it's hard to converse in a common framework. - Alex Scoble

Dude, it's figured out. It has been since comment #6 - Dave Slusher

I believe the stress of my shitty day has driven me insane, and I'm dreaming that the co-founder of Android is telling me what "science" is by using a fuzzy definition that is the opposite of what it really is. Forgive me for having a different point of view of all you "rational" "Friend" "feed" people. - Dave Slusher

When you come from the "scientists think they know everything" direction, it is already off the rails. The reason creationism opposes science is that science is a methodology for asking and answering questions, and creationism denies the questions should be asked. No scientist thinks they know everything. The way scientists make their bones is by proving each other wrong. Scientists LOVE to prove things wrong. - Dave Slusher

If someone's Android phone crashes, is it fair to say it is actually running but they are just perceiving it differently? - Dave Slusher

No, you absolutely have not said anything personal about me. Comment #10 you said this "So, I see areas of gray. I think anything fundamentalist is almost by definition wrong, including scientists." That's where I'm taking what I just said, also the "Dave, do you believe there are things scientists don't know?" Yes, of course. That's how science works. - Dave Slusher

OK, I'm withdrawing my assholishness and switching strategies. IE, much like a scientist getting new information I'm doing a 180. I'll engage and take you seriously and take this as a teachable moment. - Dave Slusher

Since you brought up flat earth, let's go there. You are aware that model of the world started falling apart around the 4th or 3rd century BC. It did it the good old fashioned way, one observation at a time. Greek astronomers noticed that the angle of stars differed as they moved north and south. The simplest explanation for this was that they were moving on the surface of a sphere. That's how it works. Stubbornness of supporters of one model don't magically make new observations invalid. - Dave Slusher

I'd urge you to drop the strawmen "scientists don't change their mind" argument, because that is in fact exactly what creationists and evolution deniers say, and it is demonstrably not true. If you have to go back 2500 years to find cases of that sort of thing, that's a pretty good statement about how it works now, no? - Dave Slusher

I was a chemistry undergraduate at Georgia Tech when Pons and Fleischmann came out with their "cold fusion" paper. There was a brief burst of people trying to confirm and deny it. GT got egg on their face when a researcher tried to duplicate the original experiment and measured an increase in neutrons emitted. Turns out the detector was miscalibrated. It got caught when someone tried to duplicate THEIR duplication. This is a slow series of stacking of data, conclusions and observations on each other. - Dave Slusher

Why I reacted so badly to your putting creationism and evolution on equal footing is that one has no foundation other than one book, and the rest has 170 years of data across many domains. Many mechanisms have been proposed, disproven, revised, re-revised since Darwin's original proposal. The presentation of this as a fundamentalist dogma equal and opposite to that of young earth creationism is not reasonable, fair or true. 100s of thousands of people have contributed data and ideas to this over 2 centuries - Dave Slusher

No one observation is golden. Some turn out to be wrong, and some conclusions are erroneous. Creationists position evolution as a unitary monolithic dogma because since their only tool is a hammer, they see it as a nail. - Dave Slusher

And to get back to WHERE THIS ALL STARTED: since we have been able to sequence genomes fully over the last 10 years (something that was a sheer pipe dream back when I was a scientist) we have more evidence than ever before that evolution has happened. We can show mechanisms that Darwin could only fantasize about. We can almost time out when speciation occurred, we can track changes to gene sequences over time. This is truly the oddest time in history to deny the truth of evolution ... - Dave Slusher

... which Albert Mohler SPENT THE WHOLE DAY DOING! My original post was that if you deny this DNA evidence constitutes substantial proof of evolution, then how can you turn around and accept any value and truth of it? Like in court, like drugs targeted to specific gene sequences. That's what is driving me, pointing out the irreconcilable nature of those two positions. - Dave Slusher

This is why I originally routed you to /dev/troll because I'm talking about how these are logically irreconcilable and you came in with "what if they are both right?" To say they are in fact reconcilable will take some horsepower. If you can do that, I'm all ears. "Scientists used to think the earth was flat" is a dodge, "Scientists don't know everything" is a dodge. A logical argument I will gladly accept, tossing a handful of dirt in the air and saying "can't see so clearly now!" don't do it. - Dave Slusher

I also think "there are layers of reality" is a dodge. It's elevating an arbitrary imaginary reference point to the level of fact. It's logically no different from "we don't know how this happened so obviously God did it." It's just using different terminology. - Dave Slusher

See, isn't it way more fun to be on offense than defense? - Dave Slusher

Note the world "originally" in conjunction with "/dev/troll". That implies it isn't happening anymore. - Dave Slusher

I'm happy to accept any evidence you have for "layers of reality." - Dave Slusher

So then why do you believe it? - Dave Slusher

You started this, my friend. You asked me about my beliefs but you don't want to pony up yours? I anted up. - Dave Slusher

BZZZZT!!!!! Comment #15: "Dave, do you believe there are things scientists don't know? - Chris White" - Dave Slusher

Comment #19: "So, the consensus of the people on this thread is that all religions are essentially silly human pacifiers for avoiding the inevitability of death without afterlife? - Chris White" - Dave Slusher

Now you are demonstrably weaseling. It's approaching midnight eastern and I'm done for the night. Teachable moment ..... OVER! - Dave Slusher

Because, demonstrably, we both want to have the last word and are willing to wait each other out. You are going to win, I'm nodding off on the keyboard - Dave Slusher

Did Chris White just block me? I accept your surrender, but I had you at the point you said "I didn't ask you what you believe only what you think." CHECK AND MATE! Booyah! - Dave Slusher

BTW, offense is so much more fun than defense that there is no comparison. And with that, good night inkernets. - Dave Slusher

Wish I could've seen the thread before he removed his comments. - Rob H.

Whoa, Chris not only blocked me but deleted all his comments. I was just coming back to take a snapshot of them in case he did but he beat me to it. That, I believe, says all there is to say about this whole thing. Strike that, I'm not blocked, he just deleted his side of this. Defeat admitted, that's how I score it. - Dave Slusher

Ahh...uhh, yeah. My apologies, Dave. - Alex Scoble

The sinus pressure in my head prevented me from sleeping, even though I'm well and truly exhausted. Laid in bed for 30 minutes and not a hint of sleep. Anyway, I'm a true, stone idiot. I have Chris White's whole side of the thread in my IM history! I just don't know that it is ethical to repost his writings without his consent, which obviously he will not give. Is not spending all evening arguing on FF and then deleting your whole side when you get backed into a logical corner the weakest of teas? - Dave Slusher

Since I don't know what the full thread is, I can't answer. Here's his response http://friendfeed.com/e... - Alex Scoble

Alex, no biggie. You did nothing wrong other than accidentally catalyze. I find it odd that Chris only found this hostile after I started taking him seriously, ceasing to ridicule him and actually engaging with the content of his argument. At which point, he got backed into a corner and deleted his side. I find that highly unethical. Blocking me would be ethical, but deleting isn't. Also, he's lying about me editing my comments to make him look silly. He did that on his own. - Dave Slusher

And the "mischaracterization" is when he'd say "I never said that", I'd repost in its entirely where he said that. I find denying you said something at the bottom of a thread WHERE YOU SAID IT also completely non-ethical. - Dave Slusher

I apologize for accusing Chris White of lying. That was not cool and I don't know he was talking about me. He says he's talking about multiple people at once, and I take him at his word. For the record, I did not do that in this thread. - Dave Slusher

You should apologize for accusing hostility, when there is no way for anyone other than you and I to know the context of the exchange. If you can't stand by what you said it is unfair to accuse me of something like that. - Dave Slusher

For those interested in my views, here is a full hour long, emotionally raw podcast of me talking about my personal journey to atheism, and a lot about my belief system: http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpre... - Dave Slusher

Dave - Im off to listen to that.Thanks. - laprensa66

Thanks, I'm interested in comments, either here or on the original blog post. I was surprised that the clergy who ran across it were so overwhelmingly sympathetic to my viewpoint. - Dave Slusher

no .... wrong on all counts. Dave. evolution and religion are not in contradiction... if you want it to be you can have it your way though. I'd like a french fried agnostic... no atheist bigot served on steamed rice - Noah David Simon

Not at all what I said. Plenty of religion is compatible with evolution. I am saying that evolution and CREATIONISM are in contradiction, not religion. This is by definition. Young earth creationism is the denial of evolution. - Dave Slusher

Also, plenty of Christians find their beliefs compatible with evolution. Albert Mohler spent Darwin day declaring Christianity and belief in evolution incompatible. He is a special case of Christian, thank God. (pun intended) - Dave Slusher

In fairness to Chris, there was a point around comment 20 where I thought about deleting this whole post. i resisted the urge. I predict this will become a troll magnet, but so be it. I just wish the deletions of his comments didn't give this whole thing a creepy Tyler Durden vibe. - Dave Slusher

For the record, YEC's don't deny the existence of evolution... just macro-evolution that calls for a new species to develop from another... so the drug resistent bacteria example is as strawman as a YEC's strawman that we all came from monkeys. - Rob Reed

Fair enough. I'll remove that shell from the bandoleer. However, once you believe in evolution of any kind, I personally don't understand how you can split the hairs between micro and macro. It's the same thing, just on different time scales. - Dave Slusher

Also to Noah David Simon with the love of unicode, I'd like to point out that I'm accusing no one, not even young earth creationists of being bigots. I'm absolutely willing to change my tune given compelling evidence to that effect. Throwing out "atheist bigots" is fundamentally unfair and uncool. - Dave Slusher

A thing worth saying is that while my belief system differs in particulars, a high percentage of the people I most love in this world are Christians. I have no vendetta against a religion or the religious, I'm just asserting my point of view which happens to be opposed to the majority, default American stance. That don't mean I don't love you, baby! - Dave Slusher

"How long is a piece of string? When talking about how long an LED lamp will last, that certainly seems to be the state of the question. Manufacturers of LED lamps, which many regard as the next generation of lighting, destined to eventually replace today’s incandescent and compact fluorescent lighting sources, make wild claims as to product life." - Kol Tregaskes from Bookmarklet

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Interestingly enough... in my house we switched to CF bulbs gradually over the last 2 years. In the last week 4 of them have failed, way before they should have. I'm no longer convinced they are worth the investment. the failed bulbs were replaced with incandescents. - Capn' One Eye - adrift

At least in the case of CF bulbs you have a warranty. If my CF bulbs don't last the rated 5 to 8 years, GE will damn well hear about it. - Alex Scoble

it's a little known secret that not all light fixtures are CFL friendly. had a lamp that blew out a CFL bulb after a week. and they don't play nicely with dimmer switches. i blew one out in about a month by putting it in a fixture attached to a dimmer switch. - tiffany

Wouldn't do good in the market. - orionstarr

Lighting fixtures need to be totally rethought. Instead of making an LED bulb pretend to be an incandescent, fixtures should be designed to maximize the qualities of the LED. I want to tell the LEDs, "Just be yourself." - Dave Roth

Do you know that in the UK people are hording 100W incandescent bulbs, because soon it will be illegal to sell them. Those environmentally sound ones give of a really depressing light. I just hope its just a matter of getting used to them. LED lights - thats a new one on me. - laprensa66

Surprised myself technically that I managed to do this. Overcoming DRM restrictions for BBC i[player, editing clip, changing formats etc . But now I know how its done. There has been 300 views in 2 weeks. I have heard toutube is now the second most popular search engine. - laprensa66 from Bookmarklet

Very good question! - laprensa66

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I remember first seeing it on TV or the cinema, in an American movie, I believe. - Vincent van Wylick

By 1990 finger-quotes were already quite popular in Israel, but it says little about the origin though. - ǝuǝƃnǝ

1927, apparently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Nathan Chase

I'm assuming Vegas. - Tsega Dinka

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He worked at Red Rock Casino. They laid off 400. Our driver tells me his uncles are laid off but he says they just sit around waiting for something to happen but he says he will make something happen. Will do whatever it takes to pay his bills. American spirit at its best. - Robert Scoble

@Scobleizer - from Chef to Taxi driver after lay-off. Thats perseverance! - frank barry

But is he getting the palm or sticking with the iphone ? ;) (Seriously, hats off to him) - Thomas Bøhm

If I have to, I'll clean toilets, but I will not service septic tanks. No way, not without a level A hazmat suit! - Chris Mayer

I stayed at Red Rock in Feb 08. Really great place. Sorry to hear they are having problems. Obama needs to sign the spending bill. Then maybe your chef / taxi driver can get a job in construction. ;-) - Martin Schecter

At the IA Summit in Miami last April our taxi-driver was a Manhattan real estate broker - Tim Ostler

This is one of the things I like about you - for all the teasing about your followers and being an A-lister and all that crap, you're a guy who's listening and interested when a cab driver is talking, not just when Tim O'Reilly is ... - Patrick Jordan

Good example of how the American spirit perseveres even in these difficult times. You do what you have to do (which might not be what you want to do) until you can do what you want to do. - Anthony Papillion

This is important in good times also, as a crew member who still has their job, and for the Captain of the ship. The first nine years at my last job, I cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the floors, swept, shoveled snow, and did much of the dirty work. Not once as a token, but every week for nine years. Oh, and I was the CEO. - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

For some reason, I've never had a taxi driver who actually did that as a career. It always seemed to me to be a cool gig. You get to make up stuff to tell your customers. Makes the day go faster. Maybe a bigger tip if you somehow bond with them. Not that I'm cynical or anything. - Wilma Stoneflint

+1 Patrick: That´s sort of what I wanted to convey too with my stupid comment. And to add something relevant: This is a problem in Norway when the going gets tough after good times when only immigrants have done all the "low class jobs". Our oil money and social system *unfortunately* ensure unemployed people good money without having to take these jobs. It sickens the society, taxation is high for other working people also in financial distress, and the oil won´t last (or be relevant) forever. - Thomas Bøhm

Great point, Patrick! - Chris Mayer

Friend of mine, Max wrote a piece on this... http://bit.ly/7Gr8. Personal story from him. - Ken Stewart | ChangeForge

Remember me of Argentina where the Taxi Drivers were architects, but it's not an advice for survival. - Sebastian Wain

@ Thomas and Chris - thanks. He always talks about how crucial it is to follow smart people. This is one of the various things that shows how smart he is ... - Patrick Jordan

Can you imagine an unemployed Steve Jobs cleaning toilets? He would no doubt invent a new seatless, buttonless (and self-cleaning) vestibule, the iToilet. - Wilma Stoneflint

@Wilma: He could sell yogurt. - Jemm

too many people believe certain work is too below them, you should be able to do whatever work is necessary to feed yourself/family. - clarke thomas

I lived in my car for 2 weeks when I left my parents house as a kid. I immediately got a job, enrolled myself into college and did just fine working at a factory (Ernie Ball guitars - San Luis Obispo, CA). Some friends harassed me for working at a factory, but I had to buy food, get a place to live and make it!! Plus, I did make a whopping $11 bucks /hr and became the global Volume Pedal Manager! w00t - Susan Beebe

Survival involves humility in spirit sometimes bordering on humiliation unfortunately....Pride falleth before destruction.... - bcultral

My hat's off to the guy too. And let me break this news: there's nothing uniquely American about that spirit. Come to the Philippines. I'm impressed everyday by people doing what they've got to do to keep bread (err rice) on the table for their family. - Nick in Manila

Patrick: this guy was definitely smart, and funny. Told us lots of stories of Vegas and had a great outlook on life. Taxi drivers are great people to listen to because they see such a cross-section of life. - Robert Scoble

Wow, Susan. (and, for the layperson, Ernie Ball volume pedals are among the best in the world :)) - dario

@ Robert - I've always enjoyed talking to cabbies, in every city and country I've visited / lived in. So I agree completely. - Patrick Jordan

Inside everyone is a switch, located between their belly button and their backbone. No matter how much they may think a job is beneath them, once the belly button hits that switch, they change their mind. - April Russo (app103)

@April: Or they turn to crime and nothing's lower than that... - Jemm

I am currently working as a Hackney driver - although originally I was a Geological Engineer. Wont be for ever but def a good stop gap. Great conversations, no annoying co-workers - your out and about and see everything, totally plugged into the city around you. Long hours, but if you factor in zero traveling time to work, that kind of compensates. And Wilma - way too cynical. - laprensa66

All taxi drivers must wash hands before returning to work as a chef. - Kevin Leroux

Wilma's perception of taxi drivers not actually choosing that as their primary career isn't unusual. There are a great number with the same notion, so much so, that if you recall the tv series Taxi, there was only 1 character on the show that could say that driving a taxi was his career (Alex). The rest were all something else, or trying to be something else. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - April Russo (app103)

A decades-old historical artifact that may never go away. - LogEx

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Apple has been making PCs longer than anyone else still on the market...And the IBM PC never ran Windows. - Alex Scoble

People equate the two together because the term PC was used by the media to refer to Windows machines. I want to say that Jobs himself made a distinction in an ad campaign along the lines of "PC vs Mac" at some point. People forget that PC just means personal computer. - xero

I'm hear to remind them that PC just means personal computer. - Alex Scoble

Thank you, Alex! - Helen Sventitsky

Isn't Apple a big part of trying to make the distinction between the two. "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC, hi PC" commercials and all. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas, that would be known as marketing FAIL. - Alex Scoble

A Mac is a personal computer, but it's not a "PC". "PC" stopped meaning "generic personal computer" many years ago. Such is the way of languages: always evolving. - James (@willia4)

It's always been associated with 'PC'. All the way back from the IBM PC being married to Microsoft OS's. Blame Apple with their commercials for continuing the trend. 'Wintel' was used for a short time but then not just Intel made x86 processors too. Us geeks know better and just say XP, Vista, Linux, OSX.. - Rodfather

See also: iPod. - Steven Perez

I like MSFT's new "I'm a PC" adverts running in the BART stations right now. heavy on the nostalgia factor. Guitars, 70s muscle cars and baseball t's, huge vinyl record collections, etc. Seems like they are reading my mind to try and find out what is hip and cool. - Thomas Hawk

Mac PC, Windows PC, Linux PC...PC is the type of box, not what you have installed on the hard drive. - Alex Scoble

Actually, Alex, it's Marketing Win. Apple works very hard to reinforce the perceptions that distinguish its premium products from the rabble of Windows-based personal computers ;-) - LogEx

No, those Mac vs PC commercials are about the lamest, sleaziest, most dishonest commercials out there. EPIC Marketing FAIL! - Alex Scoble

windows on a mac still sucks, so equating a mac to being better then a pc is stupid - clarke thomas

Aren't Macs "PCs" by definition? (i.e. they're computer systems designed for one local user/personal use). Doesn't help that the line has been blurred even more with the shift to x86 from PowerPC, either. - Tyson Key

That's what I'm saying, Tyson. Thanks for reiterating the point. - Alex Scoble

I think that early on there were hardware architectural differences (also other than processor) that differentiated PCs and Macs (and possibly others), and a certain OS was fit for that. Hence the different historical names for the hardware associated with the OS. It wasn´t like today when you can choose to install Windows, OS X/OSX86, Linux on whichever computer/PC (or game console!) you buy. - Thomas Bøhm

You can argue phones are PC's too now.. Or even some MP3 players. Better not to use the term at all unless you're making a point that choosing a PC is a 'personal' choice. - Rodfather

WHY are people arguing the point? - Rob Sellen :o)

I am a Mac and I am a PC. I'm also a Gemini. - Christopher Galtenberg

Alex, I'm talking about Apple's long-term marketing strategy, not specifically those commercials, - LogEx

Hmm, they used to use a proprietary implementation of Open Firmware on the machines prior to the Intel transition, and their proprietary Macintosh Toolbox firmware prior to that. They've been using commodity parts for several years, though (barring most of their older motherboards). - Tyson Key

I'm actually surprised that Microsoft doesn't have a TM on "PC". - Mathew™ one of a kind

Yep, one could also argue that there's a delineation between desktop PCs and laptop PCs, but PC is so broad of a term that any computer used for one's personal needs and is small enough for a person to carry around is a PC. But basically this myth that there's a difference in hardware is perpetrated by Apple and the "pod people". - Alex Scoble

IBM might have had a trademark, but the term PC is so broad and well used that Microsoft would never be able to defend it in court. - Alex Scoble

Yes, and a tomato is a fruit.... - Kelly W.

Of course, they used NuBus expansion cards for a while, before phasing them out for PCI ones. Barring probably the very earliest machines, they've used standardised RAM, SCSI (and later PATA) hard disks, and replaced LocalTalk/DIN serial ports in favour of Ethernet eons ago. Other than using Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) instead of PS/2 prior to the USB transition, there really weren't all that many architectural differences. - Tyson Key

It *is* easier to say mac than "PC installed with Mac OS X" though :) I guess that´s why some Linux people call their computers Linux-box too. - Thomas Bøhm

Heh, how far are you willing to go? Is my Nokia smartphone a "personal computer"? Are the barely working PlayStation, or the broken Apple Newton I have in a drawer somewhere "personal computers"? Hell, what about a Nintendo DS? - Tyson Key

I thought it was funny when Dwayne Wade was asked, what do you use, a Mac or a PC? He answered, neither, I use a Vaio. Relationship to a brand may be more important than what's inside. Like when you say 'Netbook', you can't really associate it with an OS since it's running Linux, XP, OSX (through hacks), and now Android.. - Rodfather

Kleenex. Need I say more? - Martha

It should be "Windows," not "PC" - Kevin L

If Apple was smart, they'd leverage this. Make new commercials that have Justin Long begin with, "I'm a PC" ... lot's of interesting directions to go from there. LOL! - michael silverton

Rodfather: I agree about "netbook", but the older acronym PC has, at least in some circles, become to mean Windows computer (no matter what the P and C stands for). Although ironically, you can now legally only use the term Netbook about a Psion ;) - Thomas Bøhm

So, if I am the only one that uses my toaster, and that toaster has a circuitboard, is my toater a PC? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

@Steven Perez - I find the insistence of many people to refer to all personal audio players/"MP3 players" (regardless of brand) "iPods" grating. Still, even more annoying are those few that reckon that an "iPod" is not an "MP3 player" (and yes, I know a few people like that :()... - Tyson Key

Even more confusing is when commodity "PC" hardware is running Linux, given how "PC" means both that hardware and Windows. - J Wynia

Personal Toaster? ;) - Tyson Key

At least everyone who has commented in this thread knows a 'Computer' is not the Monitor. I've met so many people who think everything is in that monitor - Tyler (Chacha)

It is if it's an eMac or iMac Chacha...or even a Mac Classic. - Alex Scoble

@Chacha my apple lisa would like a word with you... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

...or the keyboard. - WorldofHiglet

Because "Hi, I'm a personal computer with an x86 CPU running Windows" doesn't sound nearly as catchy... - Tyson Key

I don't come from the world of Macs ... cut me some slack - Tyler (Chacha)

This is friendfeed...not slackfeed. Slack is for those who aren't friends. - Alex Scoble

How about this, you buy me a new Mac, and then you can not cut me slack :) - Tyler (Chacha)

I can't cut you some Slack', but I can give you some Ubuntu... ;) - Tyson Key

Pretty sure HP, Gateway and Acer have "All-in-Ones" for ale as well. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

How about you buy me a CycloDS Evolution flash card for my Nintendo DS and then I'll cut you some slack...yes, I can be bribed. - Alex Scoble

PCs for beer...nom nom nom. - Alex Scoble

It took a minute to figure out exactly what you were naming Alex - Tyler (Chacha)

Alex eats PCs? Yuck! ;) - Tyson Key

I sort of agree. I mean, they're all personal computers. But back in the day when there were multiple architectures, PC only specifically meant a machine manufactured by IBM with a 16-bit x86 CPU. I can't remember, but did people call machines made by Commodore, Atari, Tandy, etc. PCs? - Victor Ganata

Wouldn't you rather have an impersonal computer? ;) - Tyson Key

I'd rather just have a computer. A COMPUTER DAMMIT! - Tyler (Chacha)

@alex it's a shame that compaq are only around in name only.. they'd have been the ones to claim longer time on the market ;) - alphaxion

@victor technically everyone referred to them as "home computers". Oh, and there's still multiple achitectures. powerpc is found in all your games consoles, ARM RISC CPU's can be found in most mobile devices (intel xscale is an ARM RISC chip), alpha and dec are still hanging on but are the great whites of the computing world - endangered as fuck. - alphaxion

Hmm, "Lenovo-compatible PC" or "IBM-compatible PC"? (Not that it matters, these days) - Tyson Key

At my workplace everyone apart from me calls the whole computer cabinet a "harddisk". *That´s* annoying because it leads to all sorts of misunderstandings. - Thomas Bøhm

Apple was in business before COMPAQ. Apple II was released in 1977. COMPAQ wasn't founded until 1982. Apple II was the first mainstream PC. - Alex Scoble

Heh, I know some people insist on calling it the "CPU". :( - Tyson Key

Something tells me this will not change any time soon. - Ryan

MIPS, anyone? They're still hanging on in there... It seems sometimes that Sony's their biggest customer, although I know they're used in most ADSL modems/routers... - Tyson Key

they were one of the first to produce IBM compables tho.. which is where most of the PC industry today stem from in the family tree. - alphaxion

Apple still produced the first mainstream PC. - Alex Scoble

I have one of those. - LogEx

@alphaxion - Do Sun or Stratus Technologies still count? (I suppose SGI now is pretty much a shell of it's former self). Still Acorn, or at least their technology managed to stick around in some form, until this present day (in the guise of ARM CPUs, and the Shared Source RISC OS project)... - Tyson Key

True. But, people have also probably bought Zunes by asking for an "iPod" rather than asking for a "digital music player." - Sonya Smith

If it were marketing fail, why would they still be running the ads? Now, those Microsoft commercials with Seinfeld and Bill Gates - THOSE were marketing fail. - cecily

how do you consider the altair? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... note, I'm not claiming it is the first mainstream PC, but it is just as important on the way towards the PC. - alphaxion

It's marketing FAIL because they are patently false and insulting most of the time. Who needs ethics when you have marketing, eh? - Alex Scoble

Who has a patent on PC? - Tyler (Chacha)

Yes, the Altair was earlier, but it wasn't the first mainstream PC and the maker is no longer in business, as far as I know. This makes Apple the oldest PC maker still in business. - Alex Scoble

You can't patent something as broad as a personal computer. - Alex Scoble

Acorn is long dead.. all that exists is the spin off company that became totally seperate to acorn (ARM, the only british CPU designer and the most successfull fabless CPU company). And if anyone ever asks for my fav PC, I'd always answer the RISCPC (A5000). First computer I ever lusted after! - alphaxion

Any thoughts on their "World Without Walls" (or something like that) promotion? - Tyson Key

@alex I just wanted your thoughts on it, I did say I said it didn't count in the rest of the convo :) - alphaxion

Did Apple really ever call their machines PCs? - Victor Ganata

@alphaxion - Not sure if it's of interest to you, but seeing http://www.riscosopen.org/content... makes me happy, given that the software would have died off a long time ago, even if there is a lot of politicking about the hardware side of things (Iyonix and numerous never-to-be-seen products) and ROM/OS revisions. - Tyson Key

I'm pretty sure that they have, Victor. Although they've always differentiated their PCs from IBM's PCs and the Windows PCs that came afterwards. As for the Altair, I can't say too much about it as I never got to play with one. My first PC was an Apple II with 48k of memory. - Alex Scoble

But as far as I can tell the Altair is another legendary story about a silicon valley idea that never quite reached its potential. Kind of like how Atari could have gotten in on the ground floor of PC computing with the Apple II, but pooh poohed the idea. - Alex Scoble

I'm surprised that Psion is still around in some form, even they're now based in Canada, are sniping people over the use of the word "netbook", and have reduced their product line to a few industrial devices, and spare parts... - Tyson Key

I thought it was all about what OS you are using? I like the Mac OS the best! - orionstarr

You're sure that the term PC wasn't just IBM marketingspeak from the early '80's? As @alphaxion points out, I think most people called them home computers or microcomputers, generically. I got the impression that when people said PC, they basically mean a DOS-based computer, even way back when. - Victor Ganata

psion could have been the british version of sony, but in typical british style it failed and failed hard :( @tyson I played around with RISCOS emulators.. shame I can't get my stash of DD floppies to work, I have some stuff on them that I haven't seen in over a decade! - alphaxion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... The term has been in use long before IBM came out with the IBM PC in the early 80s. - Alex Scoble

PC=Personal Computer. Simple enough, choose your OS... - orionstarr

Alex: Isn't it kind of disturbing in a way, how many people don't even know the origin of the term PC? So many "insignificant background stories" that shaped things -- and failures that resulted in suboptimal current situations. Maybe there should be a cadre of contemporary tech historian vetting quotidian cliches and better advising sitcom script writers to somewhat prevent complete... more... - michael silverton

Well being that windows is what on 95% of everyone's "PC" according to MS users, it's no wonder that the stereotype is there. - orionstarr

It's disturbing that so many people don't even know the origin of their chosen religion, city, state, country, let alone the PC they use, if they even use one. Ignorance is the gravest disease known to man. - Alex Scoble

alot of truth in what you say there alex ;o) - Rob Sellen :o)

So you are saying religion came from a PC? lol.. - orionstarr

no he is saying, its strange that people dont realise the ORIGIN of things... ;o) - Rob Sellen :o)

I understand the etymology of "home computer" (pretty self-explanatory) and "microcomputer" (as opposed to mainframes and minicomputers) but what does "personal computer" actually mean? Along what axis does it differentiate itself? I realize the term existed prior, but IBM certainly popularized it to mean their machines, and only their machines, so we're basically striving against nearly 30 years of history here. Not only is the term used inaccurately, I think it's just obsolete. - Victor Ganata

@Alex - Saddens me even more so that people either generally just don't care, or actively go out of their way to not learn about the history of things. "Ignorance is bliss", so they say, but more fool them... :( - Tyson Key

... there is not a windows pc or linux pc or Mac pc, but a MULTIBOOT PC! - Adrian

...make software, not war... - Adrian

It means a computer designed specifically for personal use, as opposed to the use of multiple people. Up until the 70s, all computers were designed to be used by groups of people. It just wasn't cost effective to build a computer for just one person until the advent of the microprocessor made it possible. - Alex Scoble

And now we're back to where we started - nearly everyone's running operating systems designed for multiple users, albeit on computer systems only used by one person (barring servers)... - Tyson Key

Yeah, I think that Victor is right about the term being obsolete. - Alex Scoble

@Adrian ROTFLMAO! multiBoot multiVM multiOS PC! I (heart) my Mac-PC runinng FreeBSD, and Windows 7 inside VMWare Fusion. Now, if only I can do all of this inside Android or Symbian, we can declare The Future, Present. And why do we call our pocket computers phones? "Phone" is another complete anachronim. PC should mean Pocket Computer, today, no? No, wait, it's a PokeCom! - michael silverton

@michael silverton Amen... when you can plug a usb pocket drive into a computer and boot an OS from it no matter what OS is loaded on the host... where does that really leave us? In Geekvana of course :) - Adrian

It'd be nice if someone found a way to get Symbian OS and other OSes of that kind running on QEMU or a VMware product, for what it's worth. (I know that it runs on ARM, although there's nothing to stop VMware or anyone else from producing a virtual machine monitor/emulator for it)... - Tyson Key

@Kelly W. regarding "tomato is a fruit" - anatomically it's a berry (if you believe Wikipedia on this). Legally in the US it's a vegetable (yes, in the 1800s the US Supreme Court weighed in on this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... ) based on common usage in the kitchen. Oh, and I'm sure the agricultural industry had no influence on getting a court ruling / classification because fruit had a tariff applied whereas veggies did not :) - Micah Wittman

Micah you rock with your accuracy and research. The point I was tryng to make is that it's all semantics and perception. What was once defined or considered one thing evolves into something else. PC though derived from "personal computer" has evolved to define specifically one that runs a Microsoft OS. - Kelly W.

-100 Kelly for incorrectly defining a PC as a computer that runs a Microsoft OS. - Alex Scoble

Here's your problem Alex: you think people mean Personal Computer when they call a Windows machine a PC, when they really mean Piece of Crap. (I kid! I kid!) - invariant - farewell FF

LOL invariant...now that actually makes sense. - Alex Scoble

This is all a surprise to me. I have an old Mac kicking about - not mine, but nobody wants it. My own computer is f****d. I also have a spare windows disk. Can I really just download windows on to this mac? Its a Power Macintosh 3. Is it really that simple? - laprensa66

Sadly, laprensa66, since that machine has a PowerPC CPU, Windows won't run on it natively. I doubt it's capable of running an x86 PC emulator, either. - Tyson Key

QEMU will emulate an x86 on a PPC. It certainly won't be fast, though. - Victor Ganata

Thanks for that Victor and Tyson. - laprensa66

THE Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant. The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has angered civil liberties groups and opposition MPs. They described it as a sinister extension of the surveillance state which drives “a coach and horses” through privacy laws. The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room. - Leo Laporte

40 more comments

Don't you just wish you lived in the UK. This is one of many big brother activities this foul government is undertaking - Nick Fletcher from twhirl

Typical of the UK to follow in the US footsteps. :P - ·[▪_▪]·

It's used in cases like child pornography, from what I understand. Privacy doesn't include freedom to commit crimes... - Patricia

Patricia - They DON'T KNOW that a crime was committed they THINK one MAY HAVE BEEN. The difference is critical. You could be a suspect tomorrow... all it takes is a bad tip or a misunderstood statement. The whole "well if you aren't doing anything wrong why are you worried" argument great until it is YOU. - Brian Roy

Patricia, I'm sure there are positive and useful applications, but I think the outcry has to do with the door being open to this happening outside that arena. @Brian exactly ... i'm fond of "innocent until proven guilty," and such policies smack of "guilty until proven innocent." not a negligible change in the legal order of operations. - idnan

You may KILL harmless people in the fight againt child pornography, which justifies everything... - Harmen

@idnan, you have no idea then what doors are already open.... - Patricia

You don't have to prove them guilty... just get a warrant (prove you have reasonable cause to THINK a crime is being committed). I see NO reason to remove that check from the search process. - Brian Roy

@Patricia i expect i don't, really, because i don't live in the UK and only have a moderate awareness of UK issues. there are those who would say the existence of such open doors in no way justifies the opening of another, simply because they exist. - idnan

Harmen, that's nonsense. Brian Roy, it may be so, but, if I'm not doing anything wrong, I have nothing to worry about. I'm not worried. I understand the concerns, but oh, if you think this is the only way your privacy is compromised online, you're in for a surprise. if anything, consumers should stop being blind and start realizing this baby's like one giant ticker tape on you and your personal business - and guard that first. - Patricia

i have a distinct feeling we've lost our way, and find ourselves in a different discussion altogether ... but thank you for the discussion, wherever it goes. - idnan

idnan, read up on the internet as a technology. it's not limited to the UK. the web has insane capabilities to invade your privacy - it's the platform, not the country, group, etc. - everything you do to some degree is already tracked. - Patricia

Patricia - Of course you have something to worry about... If you didn't you'd post every bit of data you own on a public file share for everyone in the world to browse. When I use the internet I'm in "public" so of course it is a giant ticker tape... why is that shocking. What I do off the internet is MY BUSINESS. The contents of my financial files, private letters, photographs of my children, family movies, etc is private... and I have a reasonable expectation that it will remain so UNLESS someone can... - Brian Roy

show probable cause to believe a) I've committed a crime and b) that data is proof of said crime. - Brian Roy

@brian, several times a year my luggage is sifted through for all the public to see thanks to terrorists using the airplane system to attack our country. I'm not saying it's right or that I agree, but the reality is, very serious shit goes on via the IP platform and there has to be some way to stop people from commiting crimes. Just the same, someday you could be a criminal's victim.... more... - Patricia

@Patricia i am aware of its reach, but we *were* discussing a governmental policy. you're discussing something interesting, but not what i was discussing. i'm amused by your encouragement to "read up on the internet," however. i thank you both for the discussion and a good chuckle. - idnan

Patricia - I have been, you have no idea... so you might want to be careful with that. The MECHANISMS exist already. Get a warrant. That is all I'm saying. - Brian Roy

@Patricia, who said, "if I'm not doing anything wrong, I have nothing to worry about." You have it backwards - if I'm not doing anything wrong, then it's none of the government's business. - Dean Barnett

idnan, the point is, this isn't the half of what you should be worried about that the government can do is all I'm saying. - Patricia

consider, Patricia, the difference between having your luggage searched in an airport and random closet searches in your home. now, i'm not saying the internet is equivalent, but i *am* saying that such a policy alarms people in a similar way. at some point such invasion and monitoring may be necessary ... i would ask whether this is that point, that's all. - idnan

That's crap! If they can do that then I should be able to attempt to hack their shit just to see if I can without consequence. - Walt Ruppar

If you read the article, it says certain criteria need to be met to be authorized to do it. Granted, that'll be abused and manipulated, but it's not like they're given full green light to do as they please. Read further and they list a bunch of other things their authorities are already able to do. My point is, you've got a lot more to be afraid of than just this. - Patricia

This is absolutely appalling. Hacking into one's computer when not even sure a crime was commited. Inserting a keylogger into one's computer to get access to their passwords. Same thing as inserting a secret camera into a living room. Sending emails with viruses attached to snoop around. Absolutely appalling. - John Grinde

Patricia - The only thing I'm afraid of is people who believe surrendering their freedom/rights makes them safer. "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Benjamin Franklin" - Brian Roy

So, if I want to censor or target anyone on teh interwebz, all I have to do is report them anonymously as a Child Pr0nographer or Scarrorist, am I right? - Richard ¿digame? Walker

@Brian, Agreed. Unfortunately, we have been giving up rights in the US at a ridiculous pace. - Robert Miller

@Robert - To be clear Franklin is often misquoted he says "Essential Liberty" which is different than EVERY right. For Example - being taxed does not disturb my essential liberty... but it is a restraint on my liberty. Knowing the difference is vital. - Brian Roy

This is a terrible precedent. It's also crazy because it starts a very high level hacking arms race that I'm personally extremely doubtful any "white hat" could ever win. The 4th amendment makes me feel a little better about things in the USA. The spirit of the 4th may have been broken badly during the previous administration, but we can still use it to restore our rights. - Jason Wehmhoener

@Brian, I understand and agree. But, the article says there is still criteria that needs to be met to be able to do it. You're all implying that they can just open up the hatch and dig inside at free will. It doesn't appear that's the case. To say that this'll open up some ability to do it illegally is like saying all authorities honor the rules requiring a search warrant today. - Patricia

@Richard, probably not. There would probably need to be some substantial data or information to enable a green light for authorities to do it I'm not niave enough to think that'll protect anybody, but i'm also not niave enough to think suddenly we're losing privacy on the web. - Patricia

Patricia, keep in mind that the UK does not have a bill of rights. - Jason Wehmhoener

@Patricia, sometimes in the interest of finding a guilty party, the rights we rely on to protect us are ignored by the individual(s). Without transparency, an act like this can be used to gain information illegally and then justify it after the fact. - Robert Miller

Patricia - then what is the point. A Warrant does exactly that. The difference here is the POLICE do this without restraint. Just because a more Sr. cop has to say it is ok doesn't create a check/balance. What you are saying is the same as saying Wall St. will regulate itself because the put some "rules" in place... - Brian Roy

Urgh, it's things like this that make me hate the UK. I've never left the country, and I've never had a passport, but I cringe at the prospects of going through the IDing process that they're slowly letting percolate in over time... :( - Tyson Key

@Brian, I agree with what you said. I also believe my statement was a general statement about the erosion of rights in the US. Frankly, taxation never entered my view, but monitoring and invasion of privacy do bother me. - Robert Miller

In the USA I would not be opposed to a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to privacy. The 4th protects us from illegal search and seizure but does not strictly prohibit (or define) invasion of privacy. - Jason Wehmhoener

@Patricia... "probably not" is probably not good enough :) It reminds me of an Iraqi neighbor feud... with anonymous tipline... resulting in some innocents being visited at 3AM by the "coalition forces" ... no interpreter, no nod to cultural norms, just another tragic experience in the tragedy we call "the Iraq victory" - Richard ¿digame? Walker

@Jason, an amendment guaranteeing a right to privacy is an excellent idea. - Robert Miller

That's an interesting point Patricia raised. We all regularly undergo luggage checks at airports without reasonable cause. Most people accept that that infringement is justified because of the benefits. An anonymous remote search of my hard drive - unknown to me - is much less invasive. Serious Q here. Do you really believe the intention (as opposed to the possible effect) of this legislation is sinister? Its just I kind of grew up with people who are now standing to be MP's. At what point do they become ho - laprensa66

@laprensa66 results of luggage checks not kept in records. "An anonymous remote search of my hard drive - unknown to me - is much less invasive" disagree STRONGLY with that. - Richard ¿digame? Walker

We have GOT to stop being so naive and quit giving up the inalienable rights I for one believe we are BORN with or history can and will repeat itself - or worse! In the U.S. police and other law enforcement and government agencies are already blatantly ignoring the documents this country was founded on. Tomorrow they might decide anyone who ever read X book or bought some innocuous item (to you but used for something you don't even know about) is a terrorist and round them (or us!) all up. Time to wake up! - Internet Strategist

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