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Mitch Wagner › Likes
I have to post a picture of the place cleaned up. Can't go out with a dirty porch. =)
Michael W. May, The Bohemian Penguin, Michelle Martinez and 9 other people liked this
Reference: http://friendfeed.com/fabooma...
- Anika
Now, I just need to put up the decorations sitting in that chair.
- Anika
I still can't find my bag of eyeballs so no eyeballs floating in the glass bowl this year. :(
- Anika
This just made me laugh --> "I still can't find my bag of eyeballs so no eyeballs floating in the glass bowl this year."
- Katy S
I'm upset over the missing eyeballs. I have this HUGE glass bowl I got at a thrift store for a dollar. I fill it up with water and red dye, float the eyeballs in that and light it from below. The kids always get a kick out of it.
- Anika
Google Flu Trends - http://www.google.org/flutren...
Mike Chelen, Bluesun 2600, Rafael Robayna and 26 other people liked this
Click http://google.org/flutrends for the real-time app. We've found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster than traditional systems.
- Mitchell Tsai
See "Google search engine flags flu activity in U.S." [Reuters - 11/11/08] http://reuters.com/article... http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Mitchell Tsai
Studies indicate that between 35 and 40 percent of all visits to the Internet are begun by people looking for health information. When people are sick, they tend to look up their symptoms.
- Mitchell Tsai
Google Flu Trends uses search terms that people put into the Web-based search engine to figure out where influenza is heating up, and notify the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in real time. Google is keeping the search terms it uses private, but influenza-like illnesses include symptoms such as fever, muscle aches and cough. Sneezing usually occurs with other viruses such as rhinoviruses.
- Mitchell Tsai
"One thing we found last year when we validated this model is it tended to predict surveillance data," Finelli said.
- Mitchell Tsai
"The data are really, really timely. They were able to tell us on a day-to-day basis the relative direction of flu activity for a given area. They were about a week ahead of us. They could be used ... as early warning signal for flu activity."
- Mitchell Tsai
Influenza kills an estimated 36,000 people a year in the United States and 250,000-500,000 globally.
- Mitchell Tsai
Experts are keen to track flu activity in case of a pandemic -- a global epidemic of a new and deadly strain of flu that could kill millions within a few months.
- Mitchell Tsai
i hear the Google Flu is not as bad as it sounds, though... ;)
- edythe
but seriously, mitchell, this is awesome.
- edythe
Polly: I love this idea of using Google (and/or social networks)'s knowledge of what people are interested in to benefit society (and not just whether we're going to be terrorists). I'd love to see similar efforts in monitoring (1) what cancer patients are looking at for cures/treatments (2) what kids & adults are interested in (3) popular exciting travel spots
- Mitchell Tsai
How can we move "news" to the next generation past (a) Digg/Reedit (b) Google News (c) Disqus/Google Reader/FriendFeed (d) Flickr/picture-sharing (e) Wikipedia. The "Google Flu monitoring" seems to be the 1st jump in bringing data-mining of social networks to new usefulness. What if we had a service which took "50 pages in Wikipedia most active" combined with some "educational benefit" metric to inform us about newly active topics?
- Mitchell Tsai
Twitter/Summize combo kicks-butt for monitoring real-time events (1) earthquakes (2) elections... but it's still a huge swamp of info. Could services like "Google Flu Trends" pull out 100 interesting topics from all the Twitter traffic? (kind of big-brother for a good purpose)
- Mitchell Tsai
i made a flu room! http://friendfeed.com/rooms...
- Brian Ries
Thanks Brian. Nice flu articles. Many nations' leaders spend money REAL fast when faced with possible pandemics. They're not stupid...
- Mitchell Tsai
Gregory, the profit margin on vaccines is actually quite low, which is why the pharmaceutical companies aren't inclined to produce tons of it. The influenza virus changes its genetic make-up every year, forcing the vaccine makers to anticipate what strain will be predominant, and sometimes the vaccine makers guess wrong.
- Victor Ganata
http://reason.com/news... "In the past three decades, the number of vaccine manufacturers in America has plummeted, as the industry has been flooded with lawsuits." He added. "Today, there is only one manufacturer in the United States that can produce influenza vaccine." Since 1967 the number of American vaccine manufacturers has dropped from 26 to just 4 today. The problem...
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- Mitchell Tsai
...another example of how medical & legal reform are so closely intertwined...
- Mitchell Tsai
Tough world of profits http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2... (Good) Net product sales for the year ended December 31, 2005, increased 12 percent, or $155 million, compared to the year ended December 31, 2004, primarily due to $96 million in sales of FLUVIRIN vaccine in 2005, compared to $2 million in sales of FLUVIRIN vaccine in 2004, which related to late sales from the 2003-2004 influenza season.
- Mitchell Tsai
(Bad) As previously reported, in the year ended December 31, 2004, the entire FLUVIRIN vaccine product inventory was written off, resulting in a $91 million charge to cost of sales. No sales of BEGRIVAC influenza virus vaccine in 2005 due to a product sterility issue
- Mitchell Tsai
http://jhsph.edu/publich... It’s important to point out that the current vaccine crisis is an extreme example of what’s wrong with the vaccine supply system in the United States. Many people are quick to criticize industry, but making flu vaccine is really difficult.
- Mitchell Tsai
Companies do not receive the virus strains for the vaccine until March. They are expected, on a very tight timeline, to get an egg supply, grow the vaccine and have it ready to ship by September or October. They charge anywhere from $8 to $22 a dose, which is not a large profit margin.
- Mitchell Tsai
http://weeklystandard.com/Content... http://qando.net/details... Why is it that 100 percent of our flu vaccines are now made by two companies in Europe? Chiron was scheduled to supply 46 million of the 100 million doses to be administered in the United States this year. The other 54 million will come from Aventis Pasteur, a French company with headquarters in Strasbourg. ---- Trial lawyers drove the American manufacturers out of the business.
- Mitchell Tsai
Today there are only four that make any type of vaccine and none making flu vaccine. Wyeth was the last to fall, dropping flu shots after 2002. For recently emerging illnesses such as Lyme disease, there is no commercial vaccine, even though one has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
- Mitchell Tsai
All this is the result of a legal concept called "liability without fault" that emerged from the hothouse atmosphere of the law schools in the 1960s and became the law of the land. Under the old "negligence" regime, you had to prove a product manufacturer had done something wrong in order to hold it liable for damages.
- Mitchell Tsai
Under liability without fault, on the other hand, the manufacturer can be held responsible for harm from its products, whether blameworthy or not. Add to that the jackpot awards that come from pain-and-suffering and punitive damages, and you have a legal climate that no manufacturer wants to risk.
- Mitchell Tsai
In theory, prices might have been jacked up enough to make vaccine production profitable even with the lawsuit risk, but federal intervention made vaccines a low-margin business. Before 1993, manufacturers sold vaccines to doctors, doctors prescribed them to patients, and there was some markup. Then Congress adopted the Vaccine for Children Act, which made the government a monopsony...
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- Mitchell Tsai
As recently as 1980, 18 American companies made eight different vaccines for various childhood diseases. Today, four companies--GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Merck, and Wyeth--make 12 vaccines. Of the 12, seven are made by only one company and only one is made by more than two. "There are constant shortages," says Dr. Paul Offit, head of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital...
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- Mitchell Tsai
The intersection between mass vaccinations and the tort system was bound to be messy. When you vaccinate enough people, someone, somewhere, is going to have a bad reaction. You could give a glass of milk to 100 million people and a few would inevitably get violently sick from it.
- Mitchell Tsai
The first instance of this came in 1955 with polio vaccinations. Cutter Laboratories, the California company that now distributes Cutter's Insect Repellent, made an early batch of vaccines, some of which had live viruses in them. Almost all the children in Idaho were administered the vaccine and several dozen contracted polio.
- Mitchell Tsai
The jury found Cutter's actions were not negligent--the orders had been rushed, standards had not been clear, and safety precautions were still rudimentary at the time. But, using the new doctrine of liability without fault, the jury held Cutter accountable anyway and awarded $147,300. "That decision made Ralph Nader possible," Belli later claimed.
- Mitchell Tsai
"It was a turning point," says Dr. Offit, whose book The Cutter Incident will be published next year. "Because of the Cutter decision, vaccines became one of the first medical products to be eliminated by lawsuits."
- Mitchell Tsai
Yale Law Journal published an article arguing that insurance against adverse reactions was the solution. Unfortunately, this thesis failed to anticipate how high damage awards would go.
- Mitchell Tsai
WHEN AN UNUSUAL EPIDEMIC occurred in 1976, the federal government decided to vaccinate the whole country against the new "swine flu." To the astonishment of Congress, the insurance companies refused to participate. The Congressional Budget Office predicted that with 45 million Americans inoculated, there would be 4,500 injury claims and 90 damage awards, totaling $2 million. Congress decided to provide the insurance.
- Mitchell Tsai
As Peter Huber recounts in his book Liability, the CBO's first estimate proved uncannily accurate. A total of 4,169 damage claims were filed. However, not 90 but more than 700 suits were successful and the total bill to Congress came to over $100 million, 50 times what the CBO had predicted. The insurance companies knew their business well.
- Mitchell Tsai
Adding to the problem are the predictable panics about vaccines that spread among parents and are abetted by trial lawyers. In 1974, a British researcher published a paper claiming that the vaccine for pertussis (whooping cough) had caused seizures in 36 children, leading to 22 cases of epilepsy or mental retardation.
- Mitchell Tsai
Subsequent studies proved the claim to be false, but in the meantime Japan canceled inoculations, resulting in 113 preventable whooping cough deaths. In the United States, 800 pertussis vaccine lawsuits asking $21 million in damages were filed over the next decade. The cost of a vaccination went from 21 cents to $11.
- Mitchell Tsai
Every American drug company dropped pertussis vaccine except Lederle Laboratories. In 1980, Lederle lost a liability suit for the paralysis of a three-month-old infant--even though there was almost no evidence implicating the vaccine. Lederle's damages were $1.1 million, more than half its gross revenues from sale of the vaccine for that entire year.
- Mitchell Tsai
In 1998, the FDA approved a vaccine for Lyme disease, which strikes 15,000 people a year. GlaxoSmithKline manufactured it for three years but quit when rumors began circulating that the vaccine caused arthritis.
- Mitchell Tsai
Each year in February, the Centers for Disease Control meets with the vaccine-makers--all two of them--and decides which strain of the virus to anticipate for next year. Then they both make the same vaccine. Last year the committee bet on the Panama strain, but a rogue "Fujian" strain suddenly emerged as a surprise invader. A mini-epidemic resulted and 93 children died, only two of them properly vaccinated.
- Mitchell Tsai
Whether doctors are quitting the profession because of an out-of-control tort system, whether malpractice premiums are the cause of health care increases--such hardy perennials of the litigation debate are still a subject of lively controversy. But with vaccines there is no argument. Trial lawyers have all but ruined the market. Yet they are still unwilling to take responsibility.
- Mitchell Tsai
What is frustrating about all this is that vaccination is such an easy intervention, and so many lives have been saved with near-universal vaccination against childhood diseases. When you do the cold-hard calculus comparing the number of adverse events versus the number of deaths prevented, it definitely seems worth it. Unfortunately, the mathematics of the legal and economic end of things don't agree.
- Victor Ganata
Thanks Mitchell.. mind if I write this up for GoogleTutor?
- Phil G
Victor: (A) It seems "right" that people might be compensated for dying due to a vaccine. (B) However, when a drug company's entire profit margin can be wiped out by 2 lawsuits, how can you do business? (C) We might look to the Japanese legal system which sets maximum damages. Or just ask people to "suck up". If you die due to vaccine (and it's not the manufacturers fault), that's the risk you take for the possible protection.
- Mitchell Tsai
Phil: Feel free to write this for Google Tutor (what's that?). Journalistic disclaimer: I haven't triple-checked my sources... :-)
- Mitchell Tsai
Similar question: If we go to a surgeon for a 95% effective surgery, do we sue the doctor for the 5% deaths? ---- Another industry with a different answer (Employee injuries): In worker's comp, people decided that employers will pay for everything, to save the legal fees from deciding everything in court. Thus, a homeowner would be liable for a mailman slipping on their icy driveway.
- Mitchell Tsai
Mitchell: http://www.googletutor.com - A site related to all things Google.
- Phil G
In terms of malpractice, pain and suffering caps seem to be preventing physicians from fleeing the state of California. Is it a different kind of tort law that pharmaceutical companies are subject to, or would such a thing apply?
- Victor Ganata
Currently, the answer is that, yes, the surgeon can get sued for those deaths, even if he/she did everything right. The answer clearly lies in limiting the damages awarded.
- Victor Ganata
The case for the tort system causing physician discontent is pretty minimal, at least if you're practicing in a state that has pain and suffering caps. There are a lot of other reasons why docs are throwing in the towel.
- Victor Ganata
Enjoying the ice swimming.:)
- Igor Poltavskiy
Mad Men. Sesame Street Style. #instantclassic http://mona.posterous.com/mad-men...
Mitch Wagner, Anna Marie and Helen Sventitsky liked this
Recently my cousin's head was run over by a car. This is what's left of her helmet. My cousin completely survived because of this helmet. Please think of this before riding a bike without a helmet next time!
Harold, Michael Pardee, Amy and 81 other people liked this
I've ridden only once without a helmet in as long as I can remember. Felt vulnerable!
- Adam Loving
from StumbleRead
It's true. They work.
- Andrew Feinberg
wow... that's amazing. how old is your cousin jesse?
- dave mcclure
dave, my cousin's 30, just 1 year younger than me
- Jesse Stay
from twhirl
You can read her story, in her own words here. I'm inspired: http://thetopotheworld.blogspot.com/
- Jesse Stay
from twhirl
This happened to a friend of mine at the beginning of the month. He didn't do so good in the accident, but the helmet obviously saved his life. Thankfully is on his way home tomorrow: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit...
- Steve Lacey
I used to ride my bike without the helmet even though it is mandatory in Chennai, India. But after reading this I am not even going to the next street in my bike without helmet.
- Sudar
I never wear a helmet. When hearing things like this, I always think of this article.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1.... In the Netherlands no one wears a helmet. It seems safe to me.
- Peter Stuifzand
I was hit while riding to work in summer 2006 & did not want anyone to touch my helmet at all costs. If my brain was scrambled, I did not want anyone to touch my egg:) I highly recommend a helmet especially if you think you will not need one! Mine was almost the same color too & manufacturer, but there is no conspiracy there:)
- Roney Smith
Bicyclists/motorcyclists that don't wear helmets are better called future organ donors
- Brian Sullivan
that's incredible...
- Jamie Allen
from twhirl
Wow, glad to hear your friend is doing well after that. I agree, helmets save lives. Regardless, I've many intentional close-calls by drivers who don't want to share the road. Unfortunately, this is the common attitude where I live (southern US).
- pete
we wear helmets for everything: mtb, snowboarding, wakeboarding, skateboarding & even surfing - skulls are fragile why not put a protective layer around it (i also try real hard to not ride on streets - a high percentage of drivers are oblivious to bike riders)...
- mike "glemak" dunn
I always ride in my helmet and stay to bike lanes as much as possible. Nice to know the safety tools work. Now, if I can just avoid that NYPD cop with a penchant for knocking people off their bikes. Hopefully, he won't transfer to LAPD.
- Jason Toney
Peter Stuifzand, my cousin would be dead if she did not wear her helmet. That article is BS. Wear your helmet!
- Jesse Stay
from twhirl
Point blank. You are a moron if you ride without a helmet. Sorry, but that's true and you're just going to play into Darwinian theory should you continue to ride without one. Any 'real' cyclist (e.g - you've been hit by a car - and yes, I have been) will tell you this without reservation. Helmets work without a doubt.
- AJ Kohn
I survived a nasty motorcycle crash in my youth and would also be dead without that helmet - which cracked in 2 like an egg (that would have been my head, as the nurse aptly put it!).
- Susan Beebe
A friend who's a cop refers to motorcycles as donorcycles whenever she sees someone riding without a helmet. I figure that applies for bicycles, too.
- Ha3rvey (more more more)
I was on the way to work Monday morning while it was raining, when the third car in front of me spun out of control and flipped twice into a ditch. When I pulled over to help her out she was just fine. She only had a scratch on her left shoulder from the broken window and was not hurt anywhere else. THE REASON: She was wearing her seat belt. It's nice to hear that these devices are actually helping us!
- David Cook
Awesome. I ride my bike to work everyday and I see a lot of people with no helmets on. I don't know how they do it.
- Clint Ecker
Wow! I wear mine! Didn't for years - I was lucky I guess. Thanks for posting that!
- matthew hunt
OMG... Jesse, do you have a link other than here on FF? I have friends whose kids refuse to wear theirs, and seeing this may help.
- Cyndy
Cyndy why not just link here - http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Brian Sullivan
Dutch don't wear helmets and they don't get killed by cars http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterd....
- Peter Stuifzand
Actually they do get killed by cars. But culturally they are not inclined to wear helmets.
- Brian Sullivan
Cyndy, with this being dug out of the grave, I just noticed your question. That particular picture is from my cousin's blog here: http://thetopotheworld.blogspot.com/2008... You can read the full story here: http://thetopotheworld.blogspot.com/2008... Search for "run over by car" and you can read about her entire ordeal.
- Jesse Stay
My brother would not be alive today if he did not wear his helmet while riding his motorcycle; please wear a helmet!
- Sandra
man
- Shey, Jamaican of FF
If it's nice enough to ride, I probably won't be bothering with the human-powered bike any longer. I always wear a helmet on my gas-powered bike.
- MiniMage, sheeple of FF
As long as we won't have mountains, we Dutch will not wear those things. Otherwise we won't be able to recognise the tourists on bikes.
- Ton Zijp
Thanks for sharing - I had a mishap with a car, wasn't wearing a helmet at the time, was lucky. If they don't see you, it doesn't matter either way. Wear the helmet!
- Rick Bucich
This isn't as extreme as this but when I fell off my bike onto a sidewalk and broke my arm, I thought I was fine for a while. Later, my dad noticed that the whole front of my helmet was all scratched up and the visor in front was torn off! I realized that if I wasn't wearing my helmet on the 2 minute trip down the road, I probably wouldn't be typing this comment right now! Not that I'd be dead but I would have suffered some head damage, limiting my ability to do most things.
- Kevin Lyons
Helmets for cyclists are mandatory in Australia. Still gives me the shudders when I'm travelling and see bareheaded bicyclists on the roads.
- Kate Foy
Fwd: #4GW Small Wars Journal: Is the War in Afghanistan in the Interests of the United States and its Allies? http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog... provocative (via http://friendfeed.com/warlord...)
Mitch Wagner, Sean McBride and ProsePetals (aka Denise) liked this
Beyond the hyperbole that Afghanistan is a graveyard of empires, current misconceptions and conventional ‘wisdom’ could certainly lead the United States to a similar fate as our Victorian British or Soviet predecessors. Aside from 1842 or 1979 allegories, neither US policy nor grand strategy in 2009 can justify long-term military (General Purpose Force) presence in Afghanistan. Plainly put, creating, defending, and institutionalizing top-to-bottom cultural, governance, or humanitarian reforms in Afghanistan are not vital national interests to the United States. With those ends outside the precepts of stated US policy, there is no justification for any of the ways and means of armed nation-building, security or stability operations, or anti-drug operations conducted by the US military in Afghanistan. The only hypothesis that can begin to explain the continued military presence in Afghanistan is the theory that defense of the homeland begins at the Hindu Kush; we fight them there so we...
more...
- WarLord
The underlying logic of the neoconservative program: the entire world must be reduced to absolute submission to eliminate all potential threats.
- Sean McBride
The NeoCon have no grasp of history or the hubris to ignore it. Read Kipling learn that A-Stan destroyed the best soldierss of the time in the flower of the empire, then the Rusians, Then...
- WarLord
I think I need this. Deluxe Sequined Bras: Enlighted Illuminated Clothing - http://faboomama.tumblr.com/post...
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edythe, Deepti, RAPatton and 15 other people liked this
I want one :-)
- YoYo_P
LOL
- Melissa
Want!
- Michelle Marie Miller
Do I have that??? *looks in closet*
- Derrick
Complete with animated GIF!
- mike fabio
you know you cannot sweat in that, right?
- nakachi
Crap and i already got the wife her birthday present. good thing i saved the receipts.
- Steve C
Come on Nakachi, a little electrocution only add to the excitement.
- Anika
*briefly considers buying wife one of these for anniversary present, but decides on iPod Touch instead*
- Ha3rvey (more more more)
LOL Anika! Guaranteed!
- nakachi
Flashing Boobs FTW!
- Jeff P. Henderson
Come on ha3rvey tell her you thought it was an IPod Touch.
- Steve C
Steve C: Nope, would like to have more anniversaries. :)
- Ha3rvey (more more more)
Boom! Back from the dead!
- Adrian
Yelp’s augmented reality app is an iPhone first, but still needs improvement - http://venturebeat.com/2009...
Mo Hall, Gaith, Andrew Trinh and 2 other people liked this
well, it is a start,
- Zachary TG
Who Would Have Thought? - Yelp Releases the iPhone’s First Augmented Reality App - http://mashable.com/2009...
Harold, RyanEs, gary and 5 other people liked this
"Yelp’s new iPhone app is now the first iPhone App with Augmented Reality. It takes Yelp information and overlays it into the real-world. It’s actually a secret easter egg (discovered by Robert Scoble), which may be why Apple didn’t reject Yelp’s augmented reality app. We have screenshots and a demo video to show you what this is all about."
- Mitchell McKenna
from Bookmarklet
What?? really
- tkoapps
Apple to Announce new iPods with Cameras on September 9th - http://thenextweb.com/2009...
Pavlo Zahozhenko, Derrick, Mitch Wagner and 24 other people liked this
I'm so looking forward to the next version of iTunes which doesn't do a damn thing to address shortcomings with it, you know, managing your music but, woah hey!, adds truly awesome features like Facebook integration. OMG YAY [suicide]
- Akiva Moskovitz
The iPod will soon need a new name. Like "Shiny Apple Device that does everything."
- Danny Minick
See, this would make me buy one
-
Has anyone seen any specs for these cameras yet? Unless its a decent jump in quality, I don't see the point. And despite what anyone says, I will follow the livebloggers with the foolish hope of a Tablet announcement/tease.
- Travis Smith
Will there be tablet? Will there be camera equipped iPod Touch? Apple is such a tease.
- Sung W. Lim
the date 09/09/09 coincidence?
- Tate DA FF MVP
yay apple go on obsolete the iphone.. hurray!
- Jay Martinez
I hope it's not the same poor excuse for a camera that is in the iPhone....
- Jeff P. Henderson
why does a music player need a camera?
- Jay Martinez
why does a phone need a music player?
- Zee.
*hugs his Zune*
- Jonas, Leper of FF
*hugs his Technics SL-1200Mk2*
- Adrian
80 GB or bust!
- Andrew C
Just when I wanted to go buy one, they do this. Ugh!
- Patrick
ooh, with cameras. kinda nice.
- Kamilah Gill
If I can get an iPod touch with higher capacity than my 16GB iPhone 3G and the touch has the 3MP camera from the 3GS, I would be all over it. Right now I can't upgrade to the 3GS at a decent price because I'm in the middle of my 2-year contract. :P
- Cheryl Jones
from FreshFeed
Ipod is dead.
- Guilherme da Rosa
Here's an idea. Instead of features people don't want, how about lowering the price! Oh, and adding a feature or two people DO want...
- Kenton
@Kenton You mean like they did with the iPhone this year? Lowered prices, new features and new hardware. All at once. Doing that twice in one year might be hard for Apple. Maybe it was because Jobs wasn't involved so much... (Uh-oh, I hear thunder)
- Jared B. Luther
Can I synch to Amarok?
- Christopher A Carr
My daughter got an iPod nano for her birthday yesterday, but since I knew a refresh was around the corner she gets to borrow mine until the new ones are released. If they are not available mid-September I will be in trouble.
- Niklas Morberg
Matthew Yglesias » Conservative Alternative to Rationing: You Get Nothing - http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archive...
ProsePetals (aka Denise), Andrew C and Mitch Wagner liked this
"Steele’s a buffoon but his incoherence is perfectly reflective of a larger conservative incoherence. The preferred argument against the government paying for your health care is that in order to control costs the government might start limiting the quantity of care that it’s willing to pay for. This is the dread so-called “rationing.” The obvious solution to the rationing problem, were it to arise, would be to make taxes higher and spend more money. But instead the conservative pseudo-solution to the rationing problem is to have the government pay for nothing at all. You’d get a ration of zero. Instead of the risk of the government coming between you and your doctor, you just won’t be able to afford to see the doctor."
- Steven Perez
from Bookmarklet
Flickr Shuts Down Discussions About Flickr Constantly Shutting Things Down - http://gawker.com/5344686...
Nils Sandin and Mitch Wagner liked this
grilled eggplant and olive pizza | smitten kitchen - http://smittenkitchen.com/2009...
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rowlikeagirl, Steven Perez, Live4Emma (L4S) and 6 other people liked this
Very Young Einstein
Steven Perez, Katie: Witch Of The West, sG and 18 other people liked this
GOP Unveils "Seniors' Health Care Bill of Rights" - http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs...
Ethan, Mitch Wagner and Myrna liked this
"The head of the Republican National Committee today unveiled a "Seniors' Health Care Bill of Rights," claiming that the GOP's first priority in health care reform is protecting seniors. "Under the Democrats' plan, senior citizens will pay a steeper price and will have their treatment options reduced or rationed," RNC Chairman Michael Steele wrote today in the Washington Post"
- chaz2b
from Bookmarklet
He's right, what do you think chaz?
- Myrna
They're treading dangerously close to admitting Medicare is a government program.
- Andrew C
i'm just watching it unfold, it'll be compromise in the end, ...
- chaz2b
KEEP YOUR DAMNED GOVERNMENT OFF MY MEDICARE!!
- Internet's Tad
The title should be GOP Unveils New Anti-Obama Scare Propaganda on Paper
- Ethan
Fwd: Panetta Threatened To Quit, Got In "Screaming Match" Over Torture Probe - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009... (via http://friendfeed.com/thepuck...)
Myrna and Mitch Wagner liked this
Arrgh... Couldn't stand it anymore and bought something sugar free from the vending machine... Read the label and can't bring myself to eat it after all. The #1 ingredient is "partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening". I wish you could read the damn labels before you buy... it's always such a crap-shoot. $0.75 down the drain...
The Bohemian Penguin, Mitch Wagner and pea ♥ fierce as a woozle liked this
VP Biden @WHiteHouse on $1.2B grant announcement for State HIE & Regional Centers: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_pre... (via @bobcoffield)
Mitch Wagner liked this
As video increasingly becomes a more prevalent way of delivering news and information on the web, I find myself getting fewer morsels of news and information. I don't want video, folks. I don't need 30 seconds' introduction and 30 seconds' wrap-up. I don't need talking heads: I want data and I want it in an efficiently delivered form.
Jon Ursenbach, Stephen Mack, Jacque and 49 other people liked this
I don't need theme music, either. Just give me the text, people. Just give me the text.
- Akiva Moskovitz
Exactly. Most of the time I don't even have sound on, so I get very little out of videos. Text and pictures is what I want.
- Jordan Hofker
Jordan, good point. I usually have music playing. So they expect me to turn down my music so I can hear them deliver news wrapped in their personalities? The nerve of some people!
- Akiva Moskovitz
I agree completely. It drives me nuts when article links bring me to video or audio presentations that lack text.
- RAPatton
Yes, lolcat pictures.
- Eric @ CS Techcast
Who wants to found a company that takes videos and automatically creates transcripts of them? I have no idea how that would even work but I want to make money off of it. Who's with me?!
- Akiva Moskovitz
There are services that will do that. I have looked into it for the podcast, but they are still pretty pricey.
- Eric @ CS Techcast
That's it then! Time to undercut the competition by providing an inferior product! How could this idea possibly go wrong? Who's with me?!
- Akiva Moskovitz
Akiva, there are companies out there like that.
- Rochelle
This also reminds me of another failure with video: it's not indexable.
- Akiva Moskovitz
There's also the annoying issue with video of not having the right player, plugin, updated version of blah blah blah. And it buffers or the sound is poor quality. I prefer words.
- Rochelle
Linux people are pretty much screwed when it comes to most video sharing formats.
- Matthew DeVries
If a video has more than 7 seconds of introduction, they've lost me. But the real nails on the chalkboard aspect of watching videos, which seems especially prevalent in screencasts, are the constant ums, uhs, ahs, and other verbal filler from people who clearly aren't comfortable conveying ideas orally. If you can't finish a sentence without using um to join two clauses together, or at least take the time to edit those pauses out, maybe podcasting or videocasting isn't your thing.
- Mark Trapp
I'm with you. I watch at most 1-2 web videos a week. Video is modal, I want text and images I can scan and either dig into or discard but make the choice to do either in a second.
- Sparky, TranshumanXXXist
You know, it's amazing how much lip service has been paid to indexing video and audio, but those services never really took off. You really have to rely on the tags and descriptions of a video.
- Eric @ CS Techcast
I feel the same way (despite the fact that increase in internet video helps my company). Its annoying, invasive and incomplete and a total waste of my time.
- jcunwired
Mark, I agree. I'm down with screencasts (and have actually seen some really good ones) but if you can't get through it without stammering, then you need to write a script and stick with it.
- Akiva Moskovitz
U just saying this because you are Camera SHY
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
Well, that, too!
- Akiva Moskovitz
On the issue of indexation, the speculation is that Google's voice recognition, that we've seen in Goog 411 and with lesser success in Google Voicemail transcription, is to be tasked with parsing video for its textual content. It's a boon to the hearing impaired and could provide the grumpier among us with an alternative to viewing content.
- Christopher Harley
this is interesting to me as I'm trying to build up my own video show from the ground upwards. I guess some of it will depend on a few factors such as what they're covering (in my case, video gaming), what method of consumption they're aiming for (web, portable media devices, etc), when and where they're consuming.
- alphaxion
But video is a more effective way to force feed you commercials with your news. Which is why it's becoming prevalent.
- Kevin Pedraja
It's something that Joe Blogger with no budget can't necessarily do. Getting a talking head to look like a proper talking head isn't totally easy and often requires money for studio gear. Making a talking head requires both writing and ability to not stutter on camera. Hosting it without dumping it on youtube is expensive. Etc. So it's a secret way to stiff it to the smaller media properties.
- Wirehead
You don't need high quality equipment to produce a video, there's nothing wrong with using YouTube as the delivery vehicle (or any of the other free to low-cost video providers), and being able to clearly convey your ideas to an audience doesn't cost money. Take, for example, Matt Cutts: while he works for Google, he's using a regular Flip camera and hosting the videos on YouTube for...
more...
- Mark Trapp
I sometimes wonder if the inherent problems with video - that it's not indexable, that there are no automatic transcripts - are exploited by some people. Fringe wackos are more likely than the mainstream to post links to videos rather than text pages, IME.
- Andrew C
Automatic transcription will come to the web soon. It's already possible on pro editing software to search video by words spoken within it.
- Martin Bryant
from iPhone
@mark trapp exactly. I made my own green screen for less than £10 and I use consumer equipment (macbook, canon HF100, final cut express, samson C03U, a few desk lights, grand total = £1650 ish). Tho, I do take the time to write a script so I'm not umming and ahhing. The two most time consuming aspects are the writing and the video editing.
- alphaxion
I'm not a video person. If I can't skim it, I don't look at it.
- Mike Reynolds
+1 Mike
- Tyson Key
Thank You, Akiva. You said something out loud that has been bugging me.
- Kamilah Gill
Same here - I'm not generally a fan of video. Too much time. Much easier to read.
- Hutch Carpenter
I think this thread is depressing me.
- Eric @ CS Techcast
from iPod
I also do not want video. I think my attention span is too short.
- MiniMage, sheeple of FF
Yeah, I like to read it too. I hate those popup ads that make you wait for the content. Die.
- Rick Cogley
YouTube - Bill Hicks Perfectly Describes Rush Limbaugh - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
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Mitch Wagner and Michael W. May liked this
So very NSFW. Duh. It's Bill Hicks.
- Steven Perez
from Bookmarklet
I <3 Bill Hicks.
- Ayşe E.
Ever wonder what it would have been like if he had lived? Could you imagine him on the Daily show?
- BairdWilliamson
Or in debate with Ann Coulter? o_O
- BairdWilliamson
That would be a real short debate. It would end with Coulter being strangled by Hicks.
- Steven Perez
from IM
I think about it all the time, Baird. EXCEPT it's frightening how resonant his stand-up is today. All of those routines about Bush and the Iraq War. My brain kept exploding. 12 years later! The same gd thing!!
- Ayşe E.
A physicist claims to have solved one of the more persistent problems in physics: why time flows in only one direction - http://origin.reddit.com/r...
Mark Jepsen, Mitch Wagner, Mark Wilson and 6 other people liked this
it's about time...
- Mike Nencetti
Because the future is all downhill, of course. My grandpa's been saying that for years.
- Kevin Shaum
loling @ Mike -- Very fascinating and likely. It could explain instances of deja vu without resulting in paradox.
- Lindsey is Fierce!
You know, I was just thinking: what my neighborhood is really missing right now is a fat-ass kid on one of those gas-powered pocket motorcycles riding up and down the block for 3 hours straight. Well guess what? My fantasy has just become reality!
Jens Christian Freund, Kol Tregaskes, Derrick and 20 other people liked this
Are you in my neighborhood?
- Michelle Martinez
from iPod
LOL. Would it be evil of me to spike the road?
- Adrian
if the riding occurs at 11pm then you must live on my street
- Marci Golub
had to be a "fat-ass" kid right?
- Allen Stern
I am so going to get headers and a racing exhaust on my MINI, and just drive up and down the f$&%^(*#(* block reving my engine... blasting MC Frontalot.
- Adrian
Not all the time... they trade off, Allen.
- Adrian
Marci, Michelle... we must be *really* close.
- Adrian
Hmmm... they must have stopped to refuel. Nope.. it's back.
- Adrian
I'm so glad I can't hear him in the living. Yesterday, I thought I'd have to shake the palm tree to get some obstacles in the road.
- Anika
Oh had one of those...annoying high pitched whining sound running up and down the street....and then the motor on that scooter....
- Katie: Witch Of The West
Exactly, sounds like a turbo powered lawn mower.
- Adrian
LMFAO. That made my day!
- Mark Wilson
Guess you will be raking some leaves really close to the road real soon :P
- Rene Wirtz
Rene, it will not necessary... we are just going to do the civil thing and let nature take it's course. There's a palm tree that sheds insane amounts of fruit nuts (whatever they're called... dates that you can't eat?) on our lawn strip adjacent to the street. They are deadly and the city does nothing to sweep them... shame.
- Adrian
Damn Adrian, you're even meaner than I am ... I like that *LOL*
- Rene Wirtz
Hehe... evil by omission!
- Adrian
I think he's riding all the way down to Lakewood where he transforms into a skinny little punk kid who also smokes when he gets around the corner.
- Steve C
Chrome for Mac is more usable than ever. About time you tried it out again. - http://thenextweb.com/2009...
Thomas Power, Ahmet Soyata, James Tenniswood and 33 other people liked this
Chrome is my no1 browser, love it:)
- Patrik Johansson
So far, I'm loving Chromium.
- phil baumann
Considering I feel Safari is comparable to Chromium, I would stick with it on a Mac system.
- Manuel Mas
Are the flash issues resolved on the Mac side. On the windows side Chrome does not play well with Flash.
- Rob Cairns
@Rob not yet..most flash will play, but definite occasional issues
- Zee.
It blows up now & then, but I'm looking forward to the release.
- phil baumann
thanks, i'll try it right now! i'm waiting for a stable chrome on mac since i got a mac! :)
- Ivy /composmentis
Flash on the Mac pretty much sucks no matter what browser you use. That's why I've turned it off.
- Victor Ganata
a huge bug is still not fixed: drag&drop fails to add bookmarks on bookmarks bar. i've commented on their website, i hope they'll solve it soon! http://code.google.com/p...
- Ivy /composmentis
Just tried it the other day. HUGE improvements. Very soon it could be my default browser
- Edgar Rodríguez
from iPhone
Flash support?
- Alexey Ivanov
I've been using it more lately
- Steve Sill
I'd be happy to try it if they hadn't made it only Leopard and above.
- Spidra Webster
@Spidra why are you on tiger or below? leopard is required because of the way it separates the engine from the UI (sandboxing), it's not possible to do that on tiger - see http://dev.chromium.org/develop...
- mjc
I'm on Tiger because I became too disabled to hold a job anymore. No $ for upgrades.
- Spidra Webster
Still holding myself
- Ozkan Altuner
anyone having troubles opening pdf files? (to me it has problems loading the "quicktime plugin" when i try to open a pdf)
- Ivy /composmentis
from email
Chrome for Mac doesn't support Flash. Other features seams to work very well. My grade for it is 3 out of 5. Now if you want a browser that is fast, has Flash support, has Multi-Processing architecture (same as Chrome) and many awesome new full working features like Parallel Sessions, go to http://www.stainlessapp.com/. You won't regret and will thank me!
- Marco Brandao
Just needs Xmarks support.... But it is pretty much my main pc browser these days. Firefox eats too much memory.
- Walt Ruppar
from iPhone
TweetDeck: New Twitter AIR App With Summize Integration, Groups - http://www.louisgray.com/live...
Rob Michael (Atmos Trio), John Cass, Cris Pearson and 5 other people liked this
"TweetDeck offers four major columns in which to organize Twitter data: "All Tweets", essentially your friends' timeline, "Replies", showing replies to you, the equivalent of Twitter's replies tab, "Search", which will keep a running search window open for a term you've selected, and "Group", which lets you make a sub-set of those you follow on Twitter, and make a miniature timeline" [This seems like a hardcore Twitter tool. Lots of windows and activity. Seems to occupy an entire screen.]
- Bwana ☠
from Bookmarklet
"The recent strain at Twitter has resulted in the service reducing the number of API calls developers can make to get Twitter updates, and there, TweetDeck has you covered as well, so you learn if there's any slowness, where to lay the blame" [This alone has reduced my faith in Twitter apps to zero. The apps can only be as good as Twitter's API. It's current state is ridiculous. ]
- Bwana ☠
"While Jesse Stay and others have said Twitter's major issues have decimated the developer community's efforts around Twitter, there are still some looking to innovate, TweetDeck being a good example" [I hope for their sake that Twitter gets their act together. I would hate to see such an effort go to waste.]
- Bwana ☠
None of it will be wasted effort. Because a smart developer will see the larger vision of microblogging incl things like FF and identi.ca
- Tris Hussey
from twhirl
Bwana, I still think there will be innovation, I just know a lot of frustrated developers and it can't last long if it's taking time and effort. I was simply sharing some real life examples of developers leaving the platform because of this. Truthfully, I'm actually developing my own Twitter apps on the side - you better believe that the non-Twitter systems are on the back of my mind, and will be a backup though. I could pull away from Twitter at any time, and I'm sure they could as well.
- Jesse Stay
TweetDeck is the #1 trending topic on Summize. I love it. http://www.summize.com
- Louis Gray
Of course it is :) I'm only getting female replies. Naah ... must be me ...
- Charlie Anzman
Been using this a few minutes now - I like it a lot. I'm one of those people who subscribes to hundreds and hundreds of tweets -- more than I can possibly keep up with. I had a special, sooperseekrit account for following RL friends and other accounts for whom I didn't want to miss a tweet. This is a more elegant solution.
- Mitch Wagner
BUMP. Remember when TweetDeck was all brand new?
- Louis Gray
I think this was one of your first links to me, Louis - funny how things haven't changed though. :-)
- Jesse Stay
Wow, blast from the past... this is when I was using Feedly to annotate
- Bwana ☠
Four Myths About Staying Hydrated Debunked - Lifehacker - http://lifehacker.com/5309517...
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Steven Perez, Amit Morson, BEX and 4 other people liked this
This is being shared more for my own edification to come back and look at later. Sorry if this is a repeat for most.
- Jon, the Beartato of FF
from Bookmarklet
Jonathan, please don't stop putting that kind of article aside "to be read later" : Think that what helps your own edification can help other people's edification efforts! In few words, thanks for the link!
- Zackatoustra
Cool. Then I shall continue. :)
- Jon, the Beartato of FF
Try Googling for "14 cm in inches". I was trying to convert the height of some high heels.
David, ExistMe, Beau "Slick Foot" Liening and 41 other people liked this
Picture? :-)
- Daniel Dulitz
from iPhone
These are the shoes: http://www.polyvore.com/christi...
- Jess Lee
LOL! Epic Fail.
- Matt Ruiz
经过观察，所有的英寸，英尺，磅都和中国的寸，尺还有斤都差不多。 经过很多次的比较之后得出的结论
- xiawinter
@xiawinter, 一斤原来约等于600克，1.3磅，只有大陆才是500克。
- vjay
poor guy :(
- Geoff Schultz
Those are some hiiiiigh heels.
- Ginger Makela Riker
such a tragic rounding error
- Jay Cuthrell
Gross!!
- Yunkwan Chen
@Ginger: Way too high! I could never wear those. I'm tragically clumsy and can't really go past 3 inches. 4 inches if there's a 1 inch platform in the front.
- Jess Lee
Guys: Look at the first result not the conversion by Google. LOL
- AJ Batac
@AJ: Yup, that's why I posted it. Ginger & I are just having a tangential discussion about the heel height : )
- Jess Lee
AJ you're a genius...
- vjay
What? 5.51 rounds to 6. {innocent look}
- Andrew C
@Jess: does Eddy know what you're googling?
- Jim Norris
Nice shoes. :-)
- Daniel Dulitz
You were trying to convert 6" heels into what, exactly?
- j1m
Don't know if this would help, but try this online converter - http://www.peters1.dk/webtool...
- Jannifer @wordsforliving
Andrew: ROFL, just what I was thinking...
- Marlin Forbes
Wolfram Alpha is disappointingly non-filthy. =)
- Andrew C
@vjay 还有一斤=600g的说法啊？ 这是源于哪里
- xiawinter
I just got the croc Tribute Toos and they HURT like CRAZY. Let me know how the CLs work for you - they hurt my feet too.
- Mona Nomura
Tribtoos are so cute! I thought they would be comfy because they're 4 inch with 1 inch platforms so at least the heel isn't too high. Are they stiff? Also, just to be clear, I do not own those 5.5 inch Louboutins and would never consider buying them -- I can't do anything past 3 inches!
- Jess Lee
I bought the 105s (the 5" with 1" platform). I can walk fine - I just need to find a shoe person who'll properly redo the insole and linings (I'm not in NYC anymore) since the heels are soooo high, all my weight is on my ball and HURTS when I'm on my feet for an extended period of time. Though those shoes make me tower over people so I love love LOVE them :)
- Mona Nomura
I'm pretty sure historians will point to the Ford Pinto as the catalyst for the downfall of the USA.
Melanie Jagolino, martha, Bonnie Foster and 9 other people liked this
or maybe the chevy corvair
- MikeAmundsen
tv dinners?
- MikeAmundsen
Perhaps the ballpoint pen. A celebration of convenience that eschews any function...
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
from iPod
neck ties
- MikeAmundsen
Polyester?
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
from iPod
gotta go w/ polyester.
- MikeAmundsen
Then it's settled.
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
from iPod
Not Lolcats?
- Rob H.
No, Robert. LOLCats are a sign of hope and promise of a better society.
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
from iPod
No, it was the signing of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. Slow death by fiat currency.
- Morton Fox
There are so many to choose from
- Amit Morson
At least the Pinto had a sleek design to it, I place the blame on the Yugo
- Davis Freeberg
Surely there are other cars that exploded when you breathed on them wrong?
- Victor Ganata
The early Fiero's come to mind... Plenty of them caught fire as I recall.
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
Early Saturns burst into flames while off.
- The Letter M
I had a grey 1976 Ford Pinto, got it in 1985.
- Mike Reynolds
Study reveals key to a lasting marriage - http://www.smh.com.au/lifesty...
Kol Tregaskes, Emma, Baard @ Pixum and 6 other people liked this
"They found the factors that increased the likelihood of marriage breakdown included differences in age, desire for children, work, alcohol and smoking. Divorce was twice as likely for couples in which the husband was nine or more years older than his wife. And the same risk applied in marriages in which the man was two or more years younger than his wife. Couples were twice as likely to split if the wife had a much stronger preference for children or for more of them. Smoking and drinking rates also contributed to relationship breakdown. Relationships in which one person smoked and the other did not were between 75 and 90 per cent more likely to end than those of non-smoking couples. It was a similar story if the wife was a heavier drinker than her husband. People whose parents were divorced were more likely to call it quits, so too were those who had children born before the marriage."
- RAPatton
"Couples in which both people had been previously married had a 90 per cent higher chance of splitting than those marrying for the first time. Unemployment and or perceived financial stress of the husband, but not the wife, also played a role. Factors that were not important included country of birth, religious background and education levels."
- RAPatton
hmmm and what planet was this on? Who ever performed this study obviously has never been married.
- The Catz Meow
It was conducted on Planet Australia, the place the Lex Luthor once hoped to rule, where women go and men plunder
- RAPatton
Luthor wanted to rule Australia? Way to dream medium.
- Andrew C
I've had 10 years of wonderful marriage by not treating my wife like "my buddy." That may be counter-intuitive but listen --- My wife is my friend, but not my buddy. I don't force her to play video games with me (though she would); I don't pick my nose, belch or fart around her. I treat her with respect and love - listen to her when she needs me to and understand her worries and desires...
more...
- Vince DeGeorge
http://twitpic.com/a9j7k - One more of the little slurpee - this one's a close up. Squishy baby face - awwww.
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Mitch Wagner liked this
There will be a successor to the desktop; it will be the room - http://www.techflash.com/Microso...
Mitch Wagner, Internet's Tad and CannonGod liked this
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