"While LA does have a significant French population, Eagle Rock is not a bastion of French cuisine - nor is the greater Pasadena area, sadly. Insinuating that Cafe Beaujolais is a 4/5 star restaurant…"
- Andrei M. Marinescu
"While getting completely black-out wasted every weekend isn't so great for your liver, it does turn Sunday mornings into your own personal version of Lost."
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
Just found out about Nick's travel plans over the coming year and am planning to keep up with his adventures on his blog.
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
"Law-enforcement officials on Friday said that Mr. Rajaratnam’s success appeared built not on “genius trading strategies,” but on his insider-trading connections. “He is not a master of the universe,” said Robert Khuzami, the S.E.C.’s director of enforcement. “He is a master of the Rolodex.”"
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
Louis, I'm not talking about aggregation - I want pure content - kind of like what I'm doing with @ohmykids. Pure original content, 140 characters at a time.
- Jesse Stay
IMO some of those are the most interesting Twitter accounts - they're truly using Twitter as a publishing platform, the way it was designed.
- Jesse Stay
You mean like Oprah? No... wait... that's self-promotion. How do you do "content" without self promotion? Do you consider a link to one's content "promotion"?
- Ken Sheppardson
Ken, kind of, but even hers is self-promotion. I want accounts that are telling a story. Accounts that are entertaining, and accounts you can learn from with original content.
- Jesse Stay
Twitter wasn't designed to be a pure publishing platform... It was designed to be a broadcast text messaging platform. Thus the heavy integration with SMS (and the 140-character limit). And remember that the @reply has been there from the beginning as well.
- Otto
Otto, no, Twitter was designed to be a publishing platform - Twitter's engineers even admit that. That's why they had such a problem scaling.
- Jesse Stay
I'm not saying that's all I want to follow. I'd just like to single out some of those accounts - I think those would be the most interesting accounts to follow.
- Jesse Stay
Building a back end that uses traditional publishing system paradigms like "post" and "comment" tables in a MySQL database isn't the same thing as being "designed to be a publishing platform".
- Ken Sheppardson
Ken is right... Just because they used a publishing type model doesn't mean that's what it was designed to be. "Design" is about functionality, not implementation.
- Otto
I'm just saying what Ev Williams told me, and has said elsewhere - anyway, that wasn't the intent of this discussion. I'm just looking for pure content accounts on Twitter. I don't care what Twitter is "supposed to be".
- Jesse Stay
Fair enough, I'm just saying that the underlying idea of Twitter is obviously a broadcast text message system. The 140 limit comes from the limit on SMS messages: 160 chars - 20 for the username/address space. There's been mobile functionality from the beginning, including shortcodes to send SMS directly to twitter and mobile following to let twitter relay somebody's tweets back to...
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- Otto
Otto, you should tell Ev Williams and Biz Stone that then because that's not what they told me.
- Jesse Stay
@sh*tmydadsays is another good example
- Jesse Stay
What Ev and Biz and even Jack Dorsey say is primarily going to be determined via where Twitter is as a company right now and their long term goals... They won't be bothered with actual facts. And hey, that's not a bad thing, they're businessmen trying to make their company profitable. But that doesn't mean you should pay real attention to their words, since those will change in an...
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- Otto
"Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing. For some friends you might want instant mobile updates—for others, you can just check the web. Invite your friends to Twitter and decide how connected you want to be." -- http://web.archive.org/web...
- Ken Sheppardson
Otto, Ken, again, that's besides my point. I don't care how Twitter is "supposed to be used". Can we get back on topic now?
- Jesse Stay
Sorry... what's the topic? You want us to just say "Yes indeed, someone should create such a list." and move on? Fine :-)
- Ken Sheppardson
The topic is "Someone should make a list of pure-content Twitter accounts - ie no self-promotion, @mentions, etc. Just content."
- Jesse Stay
Yes indeed, someone should create such a list.
- Ken Sheppardson
Robert, yeah - that's the idea. A place to go and just get good content. I'm actually going to start focusing on just content on @Jesse. For the communication and @replies you can join my community at @JesseStay. We'll see how it works out.
- Jesse Stay
"Then they discovered a loophole: Why couldn't Starz sell Netflix the right to air its movies, just as it did with Comcast? Starz had the pay-TV rights to newer titles, exactly what Netflix lacked. Netflix had nearly 9 million (now almost 11 million) subscribers; if it were a cable company, it would be number three, bigger than Cablevision and Charter combined. "We looked at our contract rights and saw that they were an aggregator of content just like the other distributors," says Starz CEO Robert Clasen."
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
"Dumile took some audio equipment inside. Then he reiterated instructions that he'd given me the night before: there was to be no talking while he was work- ing, not from me, from Five, or from him. He fiddled with a two-hundred-and- fifty-gig hard drive until Madlib's instrumentals pounded out from the speakers, filling the room. He paused to explain his approach. “When I'm doing a DOOM record, I'm arranging it, I'm finding the voices .... All I have to do is listen to it and think, Oh shit, that will be funny. I write down whatever would be funny, and get as many 'whatever would' funnies in a row and find a way to make them all fit. There's a certain science to it. In a relatively small period of time, you want it to be, That's funny, that's funny, that's funny, that's funny. I liken it to comedy standup.” I opened the bag and began paging through the rhyme books. It was a great honor - an MC sharing his rhyme books is like a magician sharing notes for his tricks. I half expected a...
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- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
I'm feeling quite lonely on FriendFeed. I have far fewer comments on entries I post nowadays (and has been dropping slowly since the buy-out - any connection?). What am I doing wrong?
dunno.. I've never had much in the way of responses to my posts, so I haven't noticed any drop or increase ;)
- alphaxion
It seems a bit slow sometimes. Kind of dwindling down to a core of FF addicts ...
- Laura Norvig
Are you subscribing to new people, Kol? While there might be a slow down of some of the regulars, I'm still seeing lots of new faces around here.
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
It has been a little slow lately. I hope it's just a little sag.
- ha3rvey (Ho)^3
I see the usual suspects are still around, perhaps they are not as active as before.
- Kol Tregaskes
Tina, yep subbing to new people all the time, though they appear to come and go and not regular users.
- Kol Tregaskes
Alphaxion, I was surprised to see that I'm not subscribed to you. Thanks for your comments about my dead motherboard yesterday.
- ha3rvey (Ho)^3
I think a number the old timers have shifted off and scaled back since the buy out, but there are a ton of new users, and you may want to reach out to them.
- RAPatton
it just seems like since the notice of FB taking over the ppl on here decreased 10 fold.
- clarke thomas
I've noticed the same (I figured people just got sick of me talking about my UPS guy LOL), it definitely seems like things are slow at the moment, but that happens occasionally. The only reason I'm really around right now myself is that I'm not at work.
- Penguin It's Cold Outside
Roberto, yep I'm still subbing to lots of new people but they appear to be less regular.
- Kol Tregaskes
Could be a combination of things. If I've commented on a Google share, I probably won't comment again here. Some of the most active users definitely have scaled back their interactions though. Perhaps they are just hedging their bets by trying out other options. Of course it could just be a slow month. Lot of people were on vacation then had to go back to school.
- Eoghann Irving
I definitely haven't noticed a slow down exactly, but it does seem....different around here. I've always tried to be everywhere at once, so I don't think I'm spending any less time here. I guess people that were on the fence about FF may have just ditched it when they heard about the buyout?
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
Facebook didn't care for Friendfeed's user base, but for its founders, they probably wouldn't miss us and even consider many 'destabilizing' elements
- Aaman (Clone of FF)
@ha3rvey no probs... also noticed I wasn't sub'd to you either
- alphaxion
Eoghann, could be but there is definitely a lot of activity on FF just a lot less interaction on my posts. Hmmm, oh well. I thought it was me. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
I think it's easy to over-analyze these things. It could be that you're just posting boring stuff I guess, but I get almost no interaction on my posts at all, so what does that say? ;)
- Eoghann Irving
One thing to keep in mind is that some posts just don't need a response (from me at least). I appreciate your posts on tennis, but rarely feel the need to comment on those.
- Eoghann Irving
Martin, I'm here a lot less for the same reason.
- Kol Tregaskes
The lag time for me, comes from those few moments each day when I actually have to do some work. Granted, those moments are few, and sometimes far-between, but they do exist. And so if my lack of quick snarkyness has contributed to your current feeling of blues, then please know that i will try my best to slack with greater enthusiasm
- Morgan Haley
Eoghann, I realise all this but there is definitely a big drop in comments/likes on posts. Oh well.
- Kol Tregaskes
And for anyone snickering under their Funyun-infused breath, Yes. I do actually do some work each day. So there.
- Morgan Haley
Yeah, I've definitely noticed a drop from my previous high of one comment/one like per 100 posts! Now it's closer to one comment/one like per 250 posts! ;o)
- Mark "DerBingle" J
Kol, because I see less activity on FriendFeed, I am now moving all of my subs to my home feed. And I think with the decreased activity, it's even more difficult for newbies to get into the mainstream FF.
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Ever since Robert Scoble brought me here during his big unfollow over on twitter, I've been very much a regular at FF. I've even brought some new people here myself, usually during Jason Pollock live chats. I *have* noticed some dropoff in activity since the FB takeover (all the FB haters left), and hardly anybody's even noticed my own feed, it seems...
- Dennis Jernberg
I enjoy your posts Kol,but I am not a natural contributer in this,more of a reader.I've been trying to spend more time on facebook,but I just dont enjoy being there as much as twitter,flickr and friendfeed.
- Paul Downing
Dennis: I see you very active on Twitter and am following you much better there.
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
I hope the person who have supposed to have left FF come back. It's not going anywhere for a while yet. Hopefully it will never go away but hat's wishful thinking. ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Did your account die? I could have sworn I was following you, but (until a second ago) I wasn't. Maybe you shed some followers due to technical difficulties.
- Will Higgins™
I've seen a decrease in activity, some of the people I'm subscribed to seem to be using FF only for streaming their stuff now and I reckon they don't come here very often. I've been using other services myself but I still spend time on FF but not as much as before as there is less to keep here.
- M F
I've not been in here myself quite so much the last 2-3 weeks as I've been real busy with work. That's a good thing, so I'm not complaining, but of course only so many hours in the day!
- Ian May
Will, I've never moved and not shedded any subscribers. Odd. Thanks for following me again though. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
"After a surge in user demand that threatened to trigger massive royalty fees, Spotify last week reverted to an invitation-only model for customers in the U.K., the same model it plans to use initially in the U.S."
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
If true, it's appalling that DMCA notices sent to Flickr are not verified. So Yahoo can't be bothered to have a process in place that validates legal claims it receives, or to offer users recourse for that matter?
- Andrei M. Marinescu
Andrei, thanks for this - is this ever timely. just thinking about canning the old Dell PC I've been using for the same purpose. Need something quiet and more unobtrusive....
- Robert Rose
The mini is a great way to go. I got one for this purpose a couple of months ago and have been really happy with it.
- Andrei M. Marinescu
"Taibbi breaks down the five steps Congress took to be sure no bill would pass — aiming low, gutting the public option, packing it with loopholes, providing no leadership and blowing the math — in his story."
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
"The researchers say it will take up to ten years to develop a cathode with no graphite and single crystals of lithium cobalt oxide but that the end result is a powerful battery for electric cars, which can store 10 times more electrical charge. As a result, electric cars could travel ten times farther than they can today."
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
"A breakdown in law and order due to the recent coup in Madagascar has resulted in poachers killing lemurs for profit." Saddening and alarming.
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
"Flickr had removed the Joker image due to copyright-infringement concerns, Alkhateeb says the company told him in an e-mail. A Flickr spokeswoman declined to comment due to a company policy that bars discussing inquiries about individual users."
- Thomas Hawk
from Bookmarklet
it's interesting to me that according to the LA Times, Flickr saw the need to pull down the now famous Obama/Joker image from its creators stream citing copyright concerns (with no DCMA complaint) while allowing the Pro Obama HOPE, image which would also be a copyright violation, to appear virtually everywhere on the site. Of course if you compare mentions of "Obama" on the official Flickr Blog you'll find 74 references as opposed to 5 references for Bush.
- Thomas Hawk
Haha! I *just* posted that from LA Times before I saw you were doing it, too. :)
- Spidra Webster
I think that the Obama/Joker image could pretty definitively be defined as both parody and political speech anyways and as such would not be subject to copyright law at all. It's unfortunate that Flickr would remove this image from the creator's flickr stream and censor him this way. I have no idea how they get away with this sort of stuff.
- Thomas Hawk
It doesn't surprise me that Flickr removed it. However, I also agree with you that it's very likely protected as parody.
- Spidra Webster
Boo on Flickr. Is there *any* of the original spirit with which the service started left among the people running the property?
- Andrei M. Marinescu
Parody has long been regarded as an absolute defense against copyright claims. That's why Weird Al gets to record and sell copies of "Eat It" to the same tune of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" This image is clearly, absolutely and unequivocally parody. What's more, in copyright cases the courts have always given political satire the widest berth of all -- it's why Ralph Nader was able to...
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- Thomas Hawk
Thomas, I'm starting to think you have an issue with Flickr's censorship policies.
- Daniel J. Pritchett
yeah Daniel. I do have a big problem with Flickr's censorship.
- Thomas Hawk
Flickr are beginning to really scare me. My Pro account expires soon and I'm thinking about thinking about letting it lapse.
- James Myatt
Don't get me wrong. I think it's super cool that President Obama has an official Flickrstream. I think that's great actually, but when Flickr starts deleting the accounts of people who post things critical of Obama on his stream and start deleting anti-Obama imagery I think they go too far. I think it's wrong that they have a division that can essentially get away with deleting whomever or whatever content they want. I don't think that this is right at all and I think it's an attack on free speech.
- Thomas Hawk
I'm with Thomas. It's all about freedom of speech.....right?
- Jimmy Watson
from iPhone
interesting case of confusion of a few concepts. i am with thomas on his analysis of defense against copyright claims and idiotic behavior by flickr. however, free speech and censorship do not apply here in a strict consitutional sense, for it is not a government doing censoring and gagging, but a private corporation. our way to protest is not to engage with such a corporation. isn't the Bill of Rights taught in schools in US? ;)
- jacek
I dislike the Joker image, but it's clearly political parody and shouldn't be subject to copyright restrictions.
- John (a.k.a. dendroica)
I wish FF let users like comments as well. That would help here.
- Jimmy Watson
from iPhone
I see an unspoken racist content to this poster. The "Joker" image happens to coincide with the "white face" vs "black face" aspect of minstrel shows, Vaudeville, early movies such as The Jazz Singer and Birth of a Nation. This all goes unspoken but even if this would be within the grounds of parody It's equal might be a cover of Time with GWB with white powder in his nose, some beer vomit on his chest, and I won't go on. It seems utterly tasteless and crass, but I guess that is "cool" these days.
- Phil Boiarski
"In a society that protects free expression, we understand a lot of stuff will float up out of the sewer. [...] We hold our nose and tolerate it, but we speak out against the values it proffers." Caryl Rivers /Journalist, Professor of Journalism, Boston University/. Or Voltaire, if you prefer. So let's not confuse our dislike of content with a desire to protect our ability to speak. Phil - I hope you agree.
- jacek
Phil, there may be an unspoken racist element to the image. I personally don't see that in it. I see someone turning Obama into the Joker and portraying him in a negative light. Regardless of whether the image is tasteless, crass or even offensive though, I'd still, defend the right of its creator to post the image on Flickr and am disappointed that they continue their tradition of censoring folks. jacek, that indeed is the point here.
- Thomas Hawk
That's just asshattery. I'm an Obama fan, but I still wanna fave this pic.
- Tanath
A more considered response on this image as fair use vs. Flickr's claim to have deleted it based on "copyright concerns" from a law student: "he downloaded the October 23 Time Magazine cover of Obama and began digitally painting over it. Don't think so. If you produce something that is transformative, and not derivative, then it's fair use (Folsom v Marsh). In Campbell v Acuff-Rose, 510...
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- Thomas Hawk
In my statement, I was opining on what I saw was a subliminal racist statement. I won't speak to the possible context of Palestinian and African racism. At no time was I indicating the parody did not deserve legal protection or condoning flickr's decision to flick him off of its site. The legal issues are different than the business issues are different from the journalistic issues. I...
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- Phil Boiarski
It fell a little flat for me. A lot of loose ends from the previous season weren't even alluded to, though Sal's encounter does provide some much-needed fodder.
- Andrei M. Marinescu
"AMC's Mad Men drew its largest audience ever -- 2.8 million viewers -- in its third season premiere Sunday night."
- RAPatton
from iPhone
I very much enjoyed it myself, but would just say that like the second season's opening episode, I think there's a tremendous amount that was introduced that will be built upon and paid off in subsequent episodes.
- Eric Berlin
I watched a few episodes, but it didn't end up pulling me in. Seemed a little too soap opera-y.
- Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
from IM
It's kind of a slow burn. I think it was like the next to last episode of the first season before I got really hooked.
- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
I think one of the things that turned me off was the philandering - I can't stand it when protagonists needlessly mess around on wives.
- Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
from IM
i've really gotten into USA's lineup lately. Psych, Monk, Burn Notice, and Royal Pains. SyFy isn't bad, either, with Warehouse 13 and Eureka.
- Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
from IM
In Plain Sight on USA is really good, too. And yeah, I want to smack Don every time he cheats on Betty, because...why?! But the art direction, costuming, etc. is so amazing that I can't stop looking at it with my jaw dropped. And Christina Hendricks is amazing.
- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
In Plain Sight is another show that I recognize that I *should* like, but haven't gotten into yet. I watched one and didn't mentally give it a 10 of 10, and have thus avoided it since, but I think it may be more out of a desire to cap off my TV viewing at a certain number of shows. I'm a sucker for all the Law and Order shows (and most criminal process dramas), so I avoid them like teh plague so I can actually have productive hours left in my life.
- Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
from IM
Hee, I get that. I cut most procedurals out of my schedule last season when I actually, like, got a job and didn't have ten hours a day to watch TV anymore. I just like the main character in In Plain Sight a lot - her snarky attitude jumps it above a lot of other procedurals for me.
- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
Hands down, the best MJ tribute I've heard yet. Don't sleep...Dwele does a amazing job demonstrating what an innovative and talented musician is all about.
- Andrei M. Marinescu
from Bookmarklet
Jonathan Jeremiah - Happiness (Quiet Village remix)
QV’s remix adds a nice atmospheric dimension to what’s already a fantastic tune from Mr. Jeremiah. - http://malaparte.tumblr.com/post...