Twitter has the "first to market" thing going for it. Most people I know are just starting to hear about Twitter and are beginning to use it. I'm in Twitter, now FF and moving to use Identi.ca and others. The landscape changes fast...but I think Twitter will be the most used of the group and most popular. - Geoff Peterson
I'm fed up trying stuff before others. I'll stick to twitter for the time being - Graham Lawrence
gah the endless FF vs twitter debate, first and foremost FF wasn't about taking on twitter it was about cramming all your social network feeds into one place, then suddenly it was the next google, and now its the next twitter - Dan Rockwell via twhirl
maybe its just me but it sure seems like some folks comment on friendfeed w/out actually reading the post - this was not a ff replacing twitter related post it was about bootstrapping in general and the rapid scaling effect of ff bootstrapping off of twitter, much like podcasting off of blogging - this blind commenting does the original poster a disservice & labels you as a *chose your favorite expletive* - nice post btw dave :) - mike "glemak" dunn
It might grow faster than Twitter, but it's another thing entirely. Twitter is all about communicating; FriendFeed is about sharing. It's similar, but not the same. Also FriendFeed is doing the Plurk thing: receiving the Twitter refugees while those guys finally iron out the kinks and get Twitter up and running once and for friggin' all. - Juan Carlo Rodríguez
If I end up buying a 3G IPhone soon, I guess FriendFeed will be a lot more useful then it is to me now, on my TMobile Sidekick Slide. I can still get something out of FF on a Sidekick - but can't interact or comment from there and FF doesn't seem to have a mobile site, just a IPHone site. - Marshall Sponder
I love Twitter like you love an abusive girlfriend -- you know it's not going to work out, but you really wish it would, and you *do* love her... - John Biesnecker
plurk is waaay overrated. I don't like it at all - Grant
Plurk is so much easier to follow, first post interesting.... click through to see the replies. the grey text of friend feed hurts my eyes - Joe Budde Jr.
Plurk is awful. It was a "bandwagon" thing. A few key people mentioned it and suddenly everyone jumped on. I don't know of anyone who actually uses Plurk. It's something that looks a little more tailored to a younger crowd. - Candace Holly
I thought what if he has a terrible month in June and I didn't do something to help, how would I feel then. All right I'm an ATM. I guess there are worse things. - Dave Winer
You have a problem with FISA? How about Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Protection Act of 2007 - Igor The Troll
I understood why people supported him a few months ago - but now that his true nature is showing (a Chicago politician who will sacrifice any position to win votes) I think all that's left is "anybody but McCain"... the same election we have been having for decades. - Soulhuntre
I pegged Obama as soon as he denounced his Reverend. I call him the False Prophet. - Igor The Troll
Today he denounces his Reverend, tomorrow he will denounce Israel. - Igor The Troll
Soulhuntre: really? When I was touring Congress last week several congresspeople told me that McCain used to be a much more centrist candidate than he is now (even Republicans were saying that). He's turned toward the right to win over religious folks. And if you can't see a difference between Obama and McCain, I don't think you are looking very hard. - Robert Scoble
Obama is like the Wizard of Oz. An amazing performance as long as you ignore the real man behind the curtain. - Michael Tefft
I am glad people beginning to see through he Obama gauze! I is all a staler facade! - Igor The Troll
Wasn't the man behind the curtain an accomplished engineer responsible for the success of Oz? The only reason for the curtain and the light show was because people didn't listen to him without it. - Kevin Fox
Well done Dave. Better to contribute to the decentralization of money/power influence. - AJ Kohn
Obama just gave $2,300 to Hillary and his wife too (another $2,300) to help w/ her debt. - Pokai
Yes,you will find obama hiding behind the curtain in the oval office if/when we get attacked again. - Carroll Sturm
It's good that Hillary's made it clear that all future contributions to her campaign are to pay off the campaign's debts other than her personal loan. She's acknowledged that she's not going to get that money back. - Kevin Fox
No Kevin, the point is Obama presents himself as much more than he is, Everyone seems to think he is the second coming instead of a junior senator in his first term. - Michael Tefft
@Michael: What about Obama's policies do you disagree? You have a perception issue which is subjective and an experience issue which can be debated by going back to past Presidents - so which positions do you disagree? - AJ Kohn
Michael is right. Obama is a PR *image* and most of his supporters are in love with the image he has created and know very little about the substance. Obama is a knee-jerk reaction to Bush. - David Risley
I think people make their own judgments on how to perceive him. You may perceive him as unqualified because most of his experience is not at the federal level, but I believe your metaphor is disingenuous because it implies, without substantiation, that he's trying to deceive people. - Kevin Fox
Having worked for a Dem Fundraising Company in Chicago for 3 years, I am surprised they aren't trying to call you for more. - Michelle Trent
I agree with David Risley. Obama supporters are more about hate Bush than anything else. They would support almost anyone over another 4 years of Republican leadership. If you doubt my point about the hate Bush attitude look no further than San Francisco's childish and boorish effort to name a waste treatment plant after the President. - Michael Tefft
Trolls? Already? Brilliant. Will no one rid FriendFeed of this troublesome beast? - John Craft
No, Kevin, he has been caught trying to deceive people. Have you forgotten the Rev. Wright issue. I didn't know he was saying all those things. Just like President Clinton said "I never had sex with that woman." - Michael Tefft
Obama must of wore ear plugs every Sunday for 20 years. - Carroll Sturm
Tell me again why anyone with a brain _shouldn't_ hate Bush? The man is the worst president since Harding. I feel sorry for his successor. Bush has destabilized the economy, made the world a much more dangerous and divided place, and his imprudent tax cuts for the richest Americans have created the largest national deficit ever. It's not about ideology - it's about competence. - Leo Laporte
John, I am not only a Troll but a Jew and Israeli. Be careful or I will eat you alive. lol Oh Robert is a such a Potz. He is trying to measure who will be the best candidate for US president based on their technological prowess. I guess the qualities for dealing with Iran and North Korea is the ability to use iPhone! LMAO. - Igor The Troll
For all the Obama alarmists: How could such a bad person have made it so far in the process? Seems impossible with all the media coverage - Grant
@ Igor I am a Jew too and I feel Obama has NOTHING against Jews - Grant
I'm struck by the number of knee-jerk postings, and slagging of Obama. The current President has been so incompetent, and generally set us back in the rest of the world's eyes. Obama represents a new generation, and by definition, he has to be a politician first to get elected. It's just that I do believe in his values and his hope for a better future. Change does begin with one person. - Henry Burger
So Leo, if someone doesn't hate Bush they don't have a brain? Did you sign the petition to name the sewage plant after Bush? - Michael Tefft
I haven't donated anything to anybody. I count on my tax dollars to fund the election - Michael VanDervort via twhirl
You may want to save the $100, if Obama gets elected you may very well need it-- that is unless you can take advantage of the inevitable new social programs ;-) - Mark Nassal via twhirl
@Grt of merit as one calling him a secretant - There is also no real evidence to support the claim that Obama has anything against Jews. That claim has about the same amount of merit as one saying that he is a secret muslim. - Patrick via twhirl
Oops, major drag mishap at the begining there, ignore the first line of that comment ; ) - Patrick via twhirl
Of course all the knee-jerk postings are only from those who don't think Obama would be the best choice for President? I guess we should all just fall down before Obama and start worshiping. Is that knee-jerk enough for you. It is hard to spell out in a few words why I don't like Obama, so call me a knee-jerker. BTW it is not about Bush, it is about that other guy that never seems to get mentioned, McCain. Remember him? - Michael Tefft
Look guys, I do not know if it makes sense, but I believe in God and I pray to God. When Obama denounced his Reverend that is an insult to God. He did not need to denounce him, he could have said, "I do not agree with him." Then the Dems pass FISA under Obama. That is another slap to freedom. I respect all people and religions, I just do not trust Obama.Oh and Dave sorry for not spelling g-d. - Igor The Troll
Good article. I read it before. People with opinions see what he is about. - Igor The Troll
First off, I applaude anyone who backs his politics with his wallet. However, I have to sayBush's tax cuts turned around the econ and pulled us put of the Clinton resesion. The tax cuts were NOT for the rich, I do payroll for a small business and people making less than $25,000/yr got a real reduction that made a difference in there lives. I guess that's why Dems hate small business, we know the economic truth. - Robert Hafer via fftogo
Look Bush is not the issue here. He got us in Iraq, that was a mistake. What do we do next? - Igor The Troll
Does anyone remember what the PIN number is for Winer? I need $100 ;-) - Karim
Obama clearly has a Charisma of 18 and everyone just failed their saving throw vs. Charm. - Akiva Moskovitz
the clinton recession? we had the largest budget surplus in years that 43 squandered - Sean
Sean, you as have many others have been lied to about the phantom surplus. The "predicted surplus" was a projection based on the false assumption that the economy would continue to grow at the pre-increase rate, which, of course, it didn't because of the tax increase. The so-called surplus never materialized. The economy was bad the day 43 took office, do you really think he wrecked in his swearing in ceremony? Every time the tax rate has been reduced, the revenue to the government increases. - Robert Hafer
Just reading through these comments, it's easy to see why politics is so devisive in this country. Each person sees through their own rose colored glasses. - Henry Burger
Complain about his campaign asking one day, then pay up the next. - Tony Kanzia
All I see amongst these same anti-Obama comments are rehashings of old rightist propaganda that weren't true 8 years, or 4 years ago and or now - aka this phantom surplus of Clinton that indeed existed and was squandered by the following administration. And as for Obama changing his position? Helllo!! McCain's done that so many times over the last two years. He cuddled up to Bob Jones University, suddenly believes we should be in Iraq for years in spite of the cost he knows our military in lives. Shame... - Matt Mendelow
I'm always amused at how people often take an 'If you're not with me, you're against me' stance when it comes to this stuff. They like to lacquer on assumption-fueled accusations and, worse, play a kind of equivalency game through which they excuse the wrongs of one side by pointing out the wrongs of another even if there is no connection between the two. Can't people just deal with the fact that sometimes people are not going to agree with you and are sometimes going to have good reasons not to? - Akiva Moskovitz
Unfortunate use of money. The gift that will keep on taking, especially if elected. - Jim Bednarz
why don't you just use summize? i don't even use the replies tab anymore. - Veronica
Spent the weekend getting used to FriendFeed - thanks for the tip Leo - it rocks! Figured it all out just by clicking around. Friendfeed me of "Shozu" the way they tie into all the other online services. Really amazing. - Harry Myhre
Friendfeed makes it much easier to see EVERYTHING not just status updates - Grant via twhirl
You're right, Beronica, shoulda thought of Summize. But I still have too many @s to reply to. Even 10 replies would choke Twttr. - Leo Laporte
so re: your switch to friendfeed, how will you manage your status updates when you are mobile? by logging in to the friendfeed site on your mobile browser? - isky
@isky doesn't have to. just twitter the mobile update, it'll show up on ff and ppl can comment there. - xero
its gonna go back down again just you wait - sadiq kassamali
time to ditch all replying at Twitter and do it at FF - Michael McGimpsey
Bah can't believe that such a major part of twitter's functionality was down for so long. FF wins again. - John Samuelson
I only had one new response there to greet me when I clicked Replies! - Joe Dawson
Someone should be keeping a track on the amount of backlash twitter is getting because of its lack of scalability - Jassim
only hundreds? Am surprised-- seeing how long replies were down. I'd have thought @leolaporte would have even more. This is actually v. interesting information for me - john conroy
It was more replies than the paginator would let me read, so I don't really know how many. According to Summize 281 @replies in the past 48 hours. - Leo Laporte
I am liking this FriendFeed concept. Should have looked at it earlier. It's like gossip central. - Andrew L
it'll be really interesting to see when/if ff goes down when they start getting serious traffic. i wonder what their numbers are in relation to twitter - h1ro
Leo, I took the plunge and jumped over to Friendfeed. I'm sure it will take a bit getting use to. But I can already tell it's much better for having an actual "conversation" with someone. Take Care! Looking forward to being a part of your iPhone Coverage on 7.11 -- Ryan_Ly - Ryan Lynch
Yes, everyone should learn a lesson or two from Amazon about keeping afloat in the Internet age. This story from The Economist contrasts nicely Amazon's success vs. the stagnation of eBay and the failure of Yahoo!: http://www.economist.com/busin... - Vlado Handziski
"stagnation and failure of ebay and yahoo"? wow. just, wow. - Graham Garland
Has E-Bay really stagnated and failed? Yahoo looks to be in more jeopardy because they haven't expanded with services hat equal those of GOOG. - Michael VanDervort via Alert Thingy
creative use of Google Trends + 1. Interesting grouping Digg in there, that will undoubtedly upset some people. I would have used Pownce, Kevin seems more forgiving when you attack that, after all even he can see the fail train when its running. - Duncan Riley
Can't agree that Yahoo! has really failed, either. Failed at what? They've still got a bunch of properties that are used by many millions every day. :shrug: - Brent Newhall
Sure they have, but without leadership, innovation and perfect execution, the users will start looking for alternatives - Vlado Handziski
Vlado, I understand your point of view. However; Y! is very profitable and as long as they keep making their users happy, they won't be turning out the lights anytime soon. - Graham Garland
Carl supposedly never said those words. No you know the rest of the story. - Russellreno
yay sumnmer! DO NOT THROW AWAY THOSE CRAYONS, MAKE IT A PROJECT TO DO WITH THE KIDS ON A DAY ITS NOT BLAZING TO PUT THE OVEN ON. damn caps lock, sry - Adrienne Van Houten
I would do a thorough tossing but am hoping to have a #2 SOMEDAY. Plus I am a colossal packrat. =( Old habits die hard. - Kimberly J
We always done this before xmas & Birthday's, They choose & know that they are getting more so they need to make space & that the toys are going to other children who are less fortunate. The large size of our family makes this a neccessity. But they have gotten used to this & seen the rewards in their now 7,6,5 & 4 years. - Mrsth
We follow the mrsth approach. kids are involved and we generally let them choose a small box of totally off limits stuff that we don't think about tossing. Can't live in Northern California and keep everything. When the THs do this to thomashawk's camera equipment, I'm happy to be the less fortunate child and get his extra toys - David Thomas
@David Thomas- Those are all in his off limits box. Now the overflowing box of all his electronic toys he hasn't for over a year i.e computers keyboards, stero speakers Tivo boxes... those you can have etc. - Mrsth
The puppet retired? Where did you get that, Dave? In the post on Loren's blog that you linked to he says "The puppet will live on forever though, I just like the little bastard, he makes me and a lot of people smile." - Ken Sheppardson
Ken, I'm sure you'll understand that I'm a bit more concerned about the accusations he's made about me. Could you use whatever influence you have with Feldman to bring him back to earth on this. - Dave Winer
I hope the Whole thing is over. As a way outside observer it was starting to get disturbing to see so much dirty underwear on a daily basis. Between the puppets, Thunder and squatted web domains, it was ghetting disturbing. - Michael VanDervort via Alert Thingy
I hoped this was all this was about. I knew he didn't have any issues with me cause I've never said or done anything even remotely controversial to him or about him. I had dinner with him once in NY, and it was fun, he was a good host. Then there's all this. He's a very angry guy, and for some reason he decided to direct that at me. I had no way of knowing whether he was telling the truth about Shel, now I'm sure he's full of it, cause he made up that horrible stuff up about me. Really fucked up situation. - Dave Winer
In the end, this sad behavior was not good for Loren's career either. I think he realized it, made a correction and hopefully he is good to go. Nothing to do with puppets. - Jay Tannenbaum
Oh please Loren was/is hilarious. His puppet videos were a thousand times more entertaining than Shel's. - Tony Kanzia
I am not sure if it is hilarious, or vitriolic and sad. It might be funny it was being done with humor and in a friendly way, but this has been growing increasingly mean spirited. - Michael VanDervort via Alert Thingy
I'm liking it so far (30 minutes so far). After downloading the green version of Flock I ended up with tons of environmental feeds that I like but don't want to put into NetNewsWire. Reading them in Flock was too much of a chore (2250 new items since last read). Now I have a constant stream of green headlines across the bottom of my screen that I can glance at every once in a while. I wonder if they count as "read" once they scroll off the left side?? - Jeff Schneiter
What employees don't snark when their previously successful busines is in FAIL mode and many top execs are bailing? - Michael VanDervort via twhirl
@MichaelVanDervort: you would be amazed at how many die-hard bleed-purple Yahoos there are. Remember this company has already had a few near-death experiences and it's still the #1 or #2 destination online, depending how you count. I know people who plan to be working for Yahoo in 2018. - Neil Kandalgaonkar
Someone should tell him about FF instead. Sort of hard to talk with people on Twitter. - Thomas Hawk
Both my email and twitter are nuts- FF is so much cleaner. Love it! - Brian Carter
But I think you can reach more people via twitter - isn't that the goal of the whole thing? - Chris
Chris, how do you figure you can reach more people with Twitter? If your goal is to reach the most people, not only can you reach more people with FF today than with Twitter, it is where the growth is growing -- why invest time and energy in Twitter when the momentum and growth is here? - Thomas Hawk
Think about it this way Chris. In 2 years of Twitter I've had 3,000 people follow me. In 2 months of FF I have 3,000 people following me. Plus with FF broadcasting to friends of friends your message can be pushed even further. If broadcasting and reaching people is your goal, FF is where the action is, not Twitter, the rest of the world will be getting this fact very very quickly. - Thomas Hawk
Here here, TH. People are worried their thousands of Twitter followers won't follow them to FF. Except a great many of those followers are ghosts (unused accounts) or join for the wrong reasons, I'm sure. Unpopular viewpoint, but someone's gotta say it. With that in mind it's a much easier decision to make more time for FF. - Jim Stanger
@Thomas: You can reach exponentially more people via email. Perhaps Culberson should dump Twitter and go start an email list instead of moving to FriendFeed. I'm not sure on what you base "can... reach more people with FriendFeed today than with Twitter." Sure, we like it, but most people are staying away in droves. - Kirk Kittell
@timryan is also a Congressman on Twitter. Jeremiah, do you always tweet like what you have to say is earthshattering news? ;-) - Aaron Brazell
How timely. I just got followed by my Governor, Jim Gibbons. Heh...yeah right! Keeping an eye on @GovernorGibbons for shenanigans. He's not the most popular guy in this state right now. Someone's gonna be having some fun, methinks. - Jim Stanger
@Thomas: Obviously we all love FF, but what should be the plan? Move to FF and abandon twitter? Update on twitter, discuss on FF? I don't know much about the number of users, but I got the impression that twitter is still the dominant platform. I can't see the benefit in switching to something only very tech savvy people are using, at least at this point in time. - Chris
Chris, I post status updates on Twitter and do everything else here. I don't discuss on Twitter. FF is where the better conversations are happening, it's easier to have conversations here, the uptime is far better, and even if Twitter worked like a champ it's still an inferior platform or conversations. So, at least for me, the plan was to pretty much move to FF and yes abandon Twitter for conversations. - Thomas Hawk
Culberson should stay on Twitter and feed his comments into FriendFeed and other services. He wants to talk to ALL voters, not just to weirdos like us. Twitter is easier to master. - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
Does Obama know? He still thinks we have 57 states. - Michael Tefft
Michael, that doesn't work anymore -- you can't turn this around. I usually don't go for these gotcha questions, but the price of gas is a huge issue, it hits everyone. I remember very well the first time I paid more than $4 a gallon for gas, and I'm finanically well off, I can't imagine what it must be like for people who are just getting by (I've definitely been there myself, many times). You can be sure that if Obama didn't know before he does now. - Dave Winer
The guy is lazy. What, he doesn't ever look out the window of the Straight Talk Express. The price of gas is advertised everywhere. I could understand not knowing the cost of a gallon of milk (though he should be up to date on that too). Presidents have to keep a lot of information in their head, it's a complex world. It says a lot that he can't be bothered to understand the most basic thing about the people he's trying to sell. In some sense we're defined by this today. - Dave Winer
This reminds me of when George Bush, Sr., visited a supermarket and didn't quite get the concept of scanning product bar codes. I fear that too many politicians are so out of touch with the realities of life for normal citizens that their judgment is warped. We must always be wary of people so thirsty for power that they forget the realities of life. - Mark Dixon via twhirl
Aren't there enough things to attack McCain on without distorting the facts? The question put to McCain was "When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?" McCain's response was "Oh, I don't remember. Now there's Secret Service protection. But I've done it for many, many years. I don't recall and frankly, I don't see how it matters." Not remembering what the price was the last time he bought his own isn't the same thing as not knowing what the price is now, is it? - Ken Sheppardson
Note I'm an Aussie - and prefer OB to JM, so be kind. But I also prefer fact to spin. In this case it looks like it depends on how the question and answer were interpreted. McCain was asked when he last pumped gas and the cost - he said he couldn't remember and didn't see how it mattered - that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't think the price matters, it just means he only answered the first half of the question - about when he pumped gas. Easy trap for someone to fall into. - Craig Thomler
No Dave, I am just tired of you and your friends always taking cheap shots at McCain and Bush and NEVER having anything bad to say about Obama.. And you can't seriously infer from that question, even if the source is telling the truth, that McCain is not aware of how the price of gas is affecting people. Give me a break. - Michael Tefft
Candidates are under tons of pressure to come up with answers to some pretty arcane questions (Sunni/Shia, names of world leaders, etc.), and I am sympathetic. But this is their chosen profession -- both the governing AND the campaigning. If they are not able to answer these questions, then they are not getting their jobs done to satisfaction. Period. I live and work in China, and I am not quite insane enough to drive myself around Shanghai, but I still have a pretty good idea what my friends in the US are paying for gas and milk. McCain will just have to laugh this gaffe off, like Bush Sr. did with his "I'd like a grit, please" boner. - sage brennan via twhirl
The question was not "What is the price of gas?" It was "What was the price of gas the last time you pumped it?" It's not the same thing. You and I remember the price of gas, because we filled up within the last week. Do you remember how much you paid for gas six months ago? Quick... without looking it up! - Kenneth LeFebvre
(Oh, and I absolutely don't like McCain, either, so I'm not particularly looking for any reason to defend him... :) and I do think a good politician could have answered that one much better than he did.) - Kenneth LeFebvre
Michael, it's okay to feel that way, but you're wrong to direct your anger at me and my "friends." Do you think a football coach ever goes into the halftime locker room after a losing half and blames the other team's fans? He wouldn't have a job much longer. He'd probably be fired by the third quarter. :-) - Dave Winer
Kenneth, I thought that at first too, but I actually read the interview and he did get asked the price of gas. - Dave Winer
And to answer your question, I don't remember the price of gas six months ago. But the question was what's the price of gas TODAY. That, I know. It gives me a stomach ache. It makes me feel we're headed into the crapper as a country, that we're not at all ready for what's ahead. But I know what the price is cause I pump it into my car. - Dave Winer
Yea. I am going to agree that this question/answer does not really equate to whether or not he knows that gas costs 4.00. It does however show that he is out of touch with what Americans are doing each day. The next time the SS is fueling up his car, McCain should get off the phone and pay attention to the people and the pump. - Sean Brady
I agree with Kenneth and Ken. It was a trick question. The question was what was the price of gas the last time you pumped it? McCain explained why he did not remember, since the secret service will not let him pump it. The question was not what is the price of gas now? If you have to distort and twist the meaning of questions and replies that is pretty sad. - Michael Tefft
Hey Dave, I know this is a bit of a cliche but why is there such an uproar over Gas prices in America? In Europe, particularly in Britain, we pay over 2.5 x as much as you do per gallon. Your gas is cheap, sir. - Mark
You can overcome the cocoon in which the Secret Service surrounds you. I'm sure President Bill Clinton knew the price of a Big Mac... - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
Shades of King George Bush the First at the grocery check out - Michael VanDervort
Dave, since you obviously have blinders on I will reprint the question." When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?" Where does it say what's the price of gas TODAY? McCain explained that he had not pumped gas in a while due to security measures so he did not remember what the price of gas was the last time he pumped it. Try reading the article again without your obvious political bias. - Michael Tefft
Mark, the big issue is the rate of increase in the price of gas (in US dollars, which is how we pay for it). Gas costs twice as much now as it did in early August 2005. In late August 2005, I was shocked to pay $2.60; yesterday, I was pleased to pay $4.41. - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
Does anybody have a link to the original column in the Orange County Register? I'd like to see the original before judging. - Leo Laporte
Hah! That's very clever. I didn't see that. But... The right answer, imho, is "I haven't pumped gas myself for a while since the Secret Service won't let me, but I do know that we're all paying over $4 a gallon today, and that's hurting a lot of people, now let me tell you what I plan to do about it..." followed by some pandering about a tax holiday. Anything else comes off as "Let them eat cake." - Dave Winer
That's simple... McCain is an idiot. He doesn't even know how to use a computer either! - Jeff McCord
Ontario Emperor: That's a good point actually, this surge in price has come to America over a couple of years. In Europe the high prices are the result of over a decade of gradual tax rises. Fair point. - Mark
Oil is going to hit $209 per barrel by Q1/08- this is the future market predications. No amount of pondering can change this.wheeling and dealing that is going on. Oils is the base commodity for War Machinery..now go figure !! - Peter Dawson
This is a result of the 80's. We deregulated the oil industry and banking. Now we have refined products that are way over the top and a banking industry that is in deep stuff. One of the major arguments at that time was that if we deregulated those areas, we would have the problems we have now. The chances of getting them fixed now....Zero! - Dave Rutter
That's right Peter. The CEO of an airline or car company would know the price of oil and gas at the pump, all grades, probably up to the minute. In many ways these guys are speculating on the price of oil. Okay cut the Prez a little slack, maybe he only needs to know the price of oil at the weekly or monthly level. Not knowing it at all, that's incompetent beyond belief. - Dave Winer
Mark, sir, it's because our economy is (somewhat foolishly) built on the assumption of cheap oil. Even we were smart we'd still have a problem. Look at the distances. How much oil do you burn getting from SF to NY vs London to Paris? There's no comparison. We *need* cheap oil not just cause we're lazy and didn't prepare, but also because of geography. - Dave Winer
I buy gas once a week and I barely know how much it is where I pump, much less the nationwide average. That said, being such a huge issue he should probably know it off the top of his head so he doesn't seem out of touch. BTW, I am an Obama supporter but I don't think McCain is an idiot. And I don't think it matters than an 80 year-old man doesn't know how to use a computer. Know many smart 50 year-olds who just don't care to learn. - Adam
Sorry Dave that is not clever, that is how the question was asked and how McCain answered it. If the reporter wanted to know if McCain knew what the price of gas was today why didn't he simply ask him. No, instead he couched it in terms that could easily be mis-interpreted , as the reporter obviously hoped it would be. BTW, hindsight is 20/20 - Michael Tefft
He's clearly not an idiot. He does this kind of interview well. Much better than when you put him behind a podium. - Dave Winer
BTW, each thread in FF is kind of like a mini-Twitter. - Dave Winer
I wish we had your kind of problems in Germany, where we pay $3.50 per liter (about a quarter of a gallon). *sigh* - Alexander Kucera
So, let me ask: How much is a gallon of gas? - Mike Lewis
To the people that question why Dave is McCain bashing.... being from a rather Republican minded family I can tell you my inbox is flooded daily with anti Obama mail, most of which can be quickly disproved with a visit to snopes.com. Yet these email quotes always come up in our Bar-B-Q political debates. I find it refreshing to find some anti McCain stories which are at least TRUE, that I can forward on. Although the question was phrased badly I think Dave is correct with his answer above. - Kevin Shannon
it doesnt matter to him he has donors to pay for it - Fuad Arshad
Even though I am a Obama supporter, I hate it when the press twists individuals statements. I am sure McCain knows the current average price for a gallon of gas, you cannot run for president and be an idiot at the same time. - Kyle DeFacis
We are actually paying around $3.89 on average for regular. I feel sorry for the poor truckers who are paying way over $4.00 a gallon for diesel. Have you seen how high food prices have gotten in Hawaii? People are actually being priced off the islands. - Michael Tefft
Just one example of how detached the leadership of this country is, and not exclusive to any one party. But really sad for someone running to be president, his people should tell him every morning the state of a massive issue facing the nation. - Tom Carroll
It's discouraging that McCain doesn't know the price of gas. (Splitting hairs that McCain was referencing the last time he pumped it is a s t r e t c h.) But here's the real problem. This is one of the most important issues for voters, so as a candidate for POTUS, McCain and his campaign should know this question is coming, is important, and know it cold. It shows a general lack of understanding, planning, vision and strategy - and THAT's the problem. - AJ Kohn
first of all, the straight talk express is retarded, but thats another matter. secondly, i agree with the aussie, its not about being out of touch 'last time i pumped' really doesn't matter. the crux of the matter is that we've been drunk on cheap fuel for years and consume way beyond our means. cheney's insane 'conservation is a virtue' is doubly quaint... - tommy payne
AJ. But he plainly wasn't asked that question. The reporter obviously stated the question in an intentionally misleading way. I wonder how many politicians in DC know how much gas costs. Do you think they pump their own gas? This was a survey of one, a real useful gage of McCain's grasp of the issues. - Michael Tefft
Reading Comprehension FAIL... where's that new block feature so I'm not tempted to feed the trolls anymore? - David Knight
Hey David, what trolls are you referring too? Don't see any on this thread. - Michael Tefft
He said the same thing about computers, too. Sigh. - Robert Scoble
McCain's comment about not seeing that it matters, is just as bad as him not knowing the price. - Alex Hammer
I didn't see this earlier when I wrote my own post on McCain's comments. I think he knows the price of gas, or at least he knows that it's rising at a ridiculously high rate. That's not the outrageous part of what he said. The part that should piss every thinking voter off is that he doesn't have a clue as to what impact that has on normal people who have to deal with gas prices doubling in six months and the attendant price increases in other areas. Out of touch..that's the message. - Karoli
The problem comes in another, staggering set of government numbers. (Economists argue about the validity of using these numbers over long periods, but they capture the sorrow of the situation.) Get this, friends: from 1947 to about 1973 — from the days from the great Harry S. Truman to the great Richard M. Nixon — real hourly pay for nongovernment workers rose by about 40 percent. The peak year was the one before R.N. left for San Clemente in 1974. Since then, real wages both hourly and weekly for all nongovernment workers, on average, have fallen by about 5 percent, very roughly. As I see it, the problem is not the price of oil generally. (I think that the price will decline somewhat before long, but the long-term trend is very much up.) The problem is the stagnation of wages. - Will DeLuca
Wasn't McCain asked when he last filled up as opposed to the current price? Is it news to us that celebrities don't deal with day-to-day stuff the same way we do. I don't like it, but it's reality. He probably also doesn't cook for himself, pick out his own clothes or apply his own stage make-up. We don't orient campaigns to do-it-yourselfers. - tim
I've used Friendfeed a lot more lately. I think Twitter is starting to become irrelevant, and that's not good for them. Once people realize they don't need you, and they aren't financially invested in any way or obligated to stay, you become unnecessary. Twitter may be the big thing right now, but it's shooting itself in the foot repeatedly. - Vinny
FriendFeed does pretty much everything twitter does, plus a heck of a lot more. - Jason Kaneshiro
Twitter is like talking into a huge canyon. FriendFeed is like talking at the bar on Cheers. - AJ Kohn
Did Twitter ever really become 'relevant'? 'Relevant' implies important and useful - LinkedIn is relevant, Facebook is relevant, Blogger is relevant. - Rob Sterling
Seriously, could they pick a worse feature to turn off? It's literally half the appeal of the service. That's like Google serving search results that you click on and don't go anywhere. Thank god for FriendFeed. - Devlin Dunsmore via twhirl
Same here - I never was a huge FF fan, but Twitter without replies is useless. I just migrated... - Robert Blum
twitter is important and useful for me as a tech journalist. I gain contacts, set up interviews and stay in the loop all via twitter. - Marie Boran
I already commented on your blog, but this just goes to show how confusing it can be when trying to track down comments. - Dustin
Actually, EFCA has been around much longer than the FMLA. Such features were considered in 1935 when the Wagner Act was first passed, 1947 when the Taft-Hartley amendements went into affect, 1976 when it was rejected by Jimmy Carter, and 2003. - Michael VanDervort
This is a really great resources, especially for HR professionals in the Mid-West although the membership is much more diverse. Steve sends out an email with some home written song lyrics on every update. They are almost worth the price of memebership by themselves. And by that, I mean it is a good thing you can join for free! I have been a member for about 6 years. - Michael VanDervort
I am currenly reading a book called 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatal by Daniel Pinchbeck. In it, he specualtes that 2012, if it is real at all, is less about the end of the world, than about a radical shift in cultural perspective. This is driven by a combination of crises: economic, fuel, etc, coupled woth growth in technology, and our desire as a species to grow beyond where we arr today. It is a very diverse, interesting and somewhat disturbing read. - Michael VanDervort
This is the first time I have ever paid any attention to this. I will have to see if I can get that book at the library, Michael. - Michelle Trent
