"Iraqi officials continued to insist Tuesday that a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition troops must be included in any security agreement with the United States." Would be funny if not for all the death. Putting aside for the moment the question of listening to 'commanders on the ground'... Shouldn't we spare a few cycles to contemplate the wishes of the occupied? - Madsimian via Bookmarklet

"The United States needs a new law requiring that the president consult with Congress before going to war, a blue-ribbon panel led by two former secretaries of state said Tuesday." Funny, I thought that was in the constitution. - Madsimian via Bookmarklet

Lured by $1 beer and the prospect of "hot chicks" and "hardcore fights," thousands of Arkansans were duped last month into appearing as extras in comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's latest staged mayhem. Cohen and his confederates organized cage fighting programs on consecutive days in Texarkana and Fort Smith. Both cards ended with two male grapplers (one was identified as "Straight Dave" and wore camouflage) tearing each other's clothes off and, while in underwear, kissing down their opponent's chest. This man-on-man action triggered Fort Smith fans to throw chairs and beer at the ring, according to one cop present at the city's Convention Center. - Thomas Hawk via Bookmarklet

Sacha Baron Cohen is such a provocatuer! - Larry Kless via twhirl

Do you think that someone should tell him that there are lots of people in that part of the country who carry loaded guns? - Paul Denlinger

This is the clip - http://friendfeed.com/e/dcc4b0... - Joe Dawson

This is brilliant. - Nick Gerakines

This is a dollar bill taped to the floor of FriendFeed's headquarters. It's a bit of social engineering. They figured out it kept people from tripping on the cord cover because people noticed the money on the floor. - Robert Scoble

Hahaha, now that is brilliant stuff. Awesome. - James Mowery via twhirl

wow, that's funny smart! - Susan Beebe

I stubbed my toe on that dollar. - Michael Muller

Heath And Safety in the UK would not approve....but I do! - Toby Graham

dis-like, with extreme prejudice. - Madsimian

I emailed my senator last night, which made me feel better but wont accomplish anything :*( - Geoff Schultz

Feinstein and others will do what they must, as politicians. As a citizen, it is completely unacceptable to not include specific protections of our collective ability to *hold accountable* our executive branch and the powerful corporations they enthralled (in the old school sense of the word). My votes and voice will always be consistent on that. So, although I can empathize with Feinstein, the bill remains unacceptable. We can't compromise on the constitution, per @shellee. - Madsimian

She is claiming this modernizes FISA when, actually, I think it's using a very outdated understanding of intelligence gathering and pointing it at a completely different animal. I'm not buying this explanation either. Modernize it, please. But seems that would be fundamentally different from what's proposed. - Shellee

I was struck by the fear-mongering "Nation goes bare in mid-August" language. This is the same lie we've heard from Republicans. - Jason Wehmhoener

maybe thats because they have accomplished none of the things they said they would and are just about to bow down to the executive branch yet again. - Geoff Schultz

Indeed. Nothing attracts voters like kowtowing to insanity. - Madsimian

"Sen. John McCain on Tuesday brushed off skepticism from economists and insisted he could balance the budget by 2013 by keeping taxes low and curbing spending. " - newsjunk.com

How about a cutting a little defense spending? -- Captain Obvious - Madsimian

Beautiful, fascinating, cool and yummy at the same time. How can you beat it? - Lindsay Donaghe via Bookmarklet

Now we just need a cute lady with big feet to step on all of it. Oh yeah baby! - Tad Donaghe

cee bee: wow. cool. - edythe

That is extremely cool. - Geoff Schultz

Oh Yeah! wait, that's Kool-Aid - Geoff Longman

This guy is the new executive director of the GNOME foundation. I wonder what he negotiated before joining the team. - Lars Trieloff

What's not clear: were the videos in question ever on the phone, and second, surely if this was an issue, they would have done due diligence before the deal. - Duncan Riley via Bookmarklet

From the news report: "Verizon said the controversial video was never shown on it's vcast service, and was never intended to be made available." - Ken Sheppardson

While we're at it -- screw YOU for not having some frickin respect. - Shey

There's a difference between the state quashing free speech and people using free speech to influence the financial dealings of a private actor. Just sayin', 'tain't censorship. Loren owes his success to controversy, but that's a double-edged sword. - Madsimian

Thanks for sharing this, Duncan, since I wouldn't have seen it otherwise, inasmuch as I'm ignoring Los Angeles local TV news, VCAST, and Najee Ali. Not boycotting, ignoring. - Ontario Emperor

I support all features named after me. - Mark Trapp

@Mark Looking forward to the 'Trap' button... - Madsimian

I can't agree more! This is why I say that this feature can't help in finding recommended people. Because "liking" the same stuff on FriendFeed doesn't mean that we share the same interests --I'm working on an intersting feature for NoiseRiver that will fix this :) - directeur via NoiseRiver

I agree with Mark :-) - Mark Anderson

On the other hand, Liking/Marjing similar things does mean SOMETHING. We have similar tastes, perhaps, or similar senses of humour, or we hate similar things. It IS signal. - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver

I can't decide if this is satire or real, though leaning towards real :( - Paul Buchheit

Last line of security, first line of stupidity! - Nenad Nikolic via Alert Thingy

for my years in electronics/computers i've never heard interrogation as engineering term, but knew it enough from (distant) military past - this looks to me like classical "boiling frog alive with pan open" case... naturally, i don't dispute your right to have different opinion - silpol

@silpol: Google for "RFID interrogator" - Tudor Bosman

Do not underestimate the stupidity of people and the stubbornness of some of them! What if he makes it through the bureaucratic wheels? - Eugene

"Congress should repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law because the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win, according to a new study released by a California-based research center." - Madsimian via Bookmarklet

It took them fifteen years to notice that the British and Israeli armies haven't been affected by openly gay members? Can't we just admit that Congress was dominated by bigots in 1993? - Madsimian

Why would it. - Bjorn Tipling

They needed a study to come to that conclusion? - Trish Robinson

ruby library for atom and atompub - Madsimian

Atom is really getting close to world-rule - Madsimian

"And, not to evangelize a tool (I did the same thing with Twitter last year right around South By) but the "friend" part of friendfeed is not just some cute alliteration and a smart name for a product. I've met several new people who have become significant acquaintances in a short time. Unlike even my favorite online social media tools - last.fm and twitter - by "liking" and "commenting" on FF, you find yourself connecting with strangers quickly but because of similar interests and/or engaged conversation." - Jason Toney

interestingly enough, there are several of these kind of posts tonight. Maybe hanging around "Normal People" over the holidays inspires this kind of reflection for we "Abnormal Early Adopters". - Jason Toney

Kyle, I was big on fluid for awhile but firefox 3 has brought me back to doing everything in one browser. Too many necessary add-ons and scripts needed for my browsing enjoyment. - Jason Toney

hey, i thought this was a really good post, Jason. Kudos. I think they should put this in the Friendfeed FAQ and Guide Archive or something. Plus, I didn't know about that awesome Greasemonkey script for highlighting comments. :) Thank you! - edythe

Thanks everybody. Glad this was useful. - Jason Toney

sometimes i feel like i need a friendfeed secretary - MG Siegler

http://friendfeed.com/account/... - ⓞnor

Let go. - Amit Patel

I've felt pretty comfortable stepping in and out of the stream. Rooms aren't quite doing it for me in terms of segregating the conversations, though. Would like to group those I'm following, or make more arbitrary filters. Then I could manage it all like a feed reader; I just want to know when there's activity of various sorts, in case I want to tune in. - Madsimian

my girl visited me this week and I have found ff to be used less. just back off dude - Noah David Simon

U2 - Pride (In the Name of Love), Journey - Faithfully, Tears for Fears - Head over Heels, Berlin - Sex, Spandau Ballet - True. What can I say, I was a power-ballad, angst ridden, confused teenaged girl. That's my story anyway. :-) - Dawn M. Armfield

Hmmm...but then I start thinking about Prefab Sprout, the Talking Heads, ABC, Adam Ant, New Order, The Smiths...aaaagggh! Now I have a million 80s songs in my head, damn you! ;-) - Dawn M. Armfield

Anybody working on an online playlist (e.g. imeem)? - Mike Doeff

OK, here we go... New Order - Ceremony, Freur - Doot Doot, Visage - Fade To Grey, Sinéad O'Connor - Heroine (Theme from Captive), The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want. http://mdff80s5.muxtape.com - Mike Doeff

Hmmm, 5 songs is gonna be hard but..... Duran Duran, Skin Trade...Madonna Like A Prayer...Depeche Mode, Never Let Me Down Again...The Smiths, How Soon Is Now...Talk Talk, Life's What You Make It... - Emma

Heh, now that's freaky. - Nick Munson

LOL, that is freaking awesome. I need a garden now just so I can put that in there. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

Looks like bat boy. - Bill Bittner

That's great, and certainly a good way to get the rest of the neighborhood talking about you... - Brandon Wood

that is excellent - Jim Goldstein

Liked the book quite a bit. - Madsimian

"A 12-year-old girl found dead last week in a shallow grave near her uncle's home was killed, a federal prosecutor said Monday at an initial appearance for the uncle on charges of kidnapping the girl." - Madsimian via Bookmarklet

I support life in prison over the death penalty, but cases like these always make me yearn for more creative justice. The alternatives I come up with usually involve forcing the perpetrator to choose between alternative punishments. Like: life in prison, or three hours without legal protection in a windowless room occupied by certified representatives of the victim(s). Or suitable corporal punishment, old school. Grr... - Madsimian

"Science fiction writer and poet Thomas Disch has committed suicide, authorities said. Disch died July 4 and his body was discovered July 5, according to the New York City Police Department. He was 68. The author of seminal science-fiction novels "Camp Concentration" and "334," Disch had been openly gay since 1968." - RAPatton via Bookmarklet

I write poetry because I think it is the hardest thing I can do very well. " http://www.pastemagazine.com/a... - RAPatton

not-like. :( Camp Concentration was great. - Madsimian