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Ross and Dan made this video to illustrate the advanced technology we use behind the scenes at FriendFeed. (Ross and Dan, you are amazing - I can't believe how awesome this thing turned out) - Bret Taylor from Bookmarklet

I love that this got bumped!! - Rachel Lea Fox

Graphics research is amazing. This project: sketch and label something you want a photo of, then the system finds photos on the web, cuts out the parts that it wants, and composes everything together. Watch the video too. - Amit Patel from Bookmarklet

I downloaded the client, but it doesn't appear to work and has an expiration date of "1 Jan 2011" :(. - Private Sanjeev

"People who ate the most full-fat dairy had a 69% lower risk of cardiovascular death than those who ate the least. Otherwise stated, people who mostly avoided dairy or consumed low-fat dairy had more than three times the risk of dying of coronary heart disease or stroke than people who ate the most full-fat diary. Contrary to popular belief, full-fat dairy, including milk, butter and cheese, has never been convincingly linked to cardiovascular disease. In fact, it has rather consistently been linked to a lower risk, particularly for stroke. What has been linked to cardiovascular disease is milk fat's replacement, margarine. In the Rotterdam study, high vitamin K2 intake was linked to a lower risk of fatal heart attack, aortic calcification and all-cause mortality. Most of the K2 came from full-fat cheese. In my opinion, artisanal cheese and butter made from pasture-fed milk are the ultimate dairy foods." - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

We seek out fat because it's one of the best sources of energy in a world where your next meal isn't guaranteed... the problem is while we have negated this for the most part, our natural instincts to stock up on fat for periods where food isn't as abundant never went away. - alphaxion

"To get serious analyses of hurricanes and oil slicks, see Jeff Masters' blog. To get serious discussions of worst-case scenario thinking, see Bruce Schneier's blog. To get enough Vitamin D, don't read any blogs and go outside instead." - Tudor Bosman from Bookmarklet

"Next the team wondered whether meth could improve the snails' memories. First they immersed the snails in meth-laced pond water, then they moved them into regular de-oxygented pond water and gave them a training session that the snails should only recall for a few hours. In theory the snails should have forgotten their training 24 hours later, but would the meth improve the snails' memories so they remembered to keep their pneomostomes closed a day later? It did. A dose of meth prior to training had improved the snails' memories, allowing them to recall a lesson that they should have already forgotten. And when the team tested whether they could mask the meth memory with another memory, they found that the meth memory was much stronger and harder to mask. So memories formed under the influence of meth seem to be harder to forget, possibly because the drug disrupts the mechanisms for forgetting, and could help us to understand how amphetamines enhance memory in humans." - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

I've also seen several college & graduate students with lives & health severely impacted, and academic careers derailed, by adderall abuse. - Lo

"Under “civil asset forfeiture” laws, [the police] typically do not have to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that a crime was committed, or even charge anyone with an offence. What is more, the money raised by auctioning seized houses, boats and cars is often used to boost the budgets of the police department that did the seizing. This conflict of interest has predictable consequences. Total federal seizures have exploded from $400m in 2001 to $1.3 billion in 2008. State data are patchier, but the trend appears to be sharply upward. Police and prosecutors deny that the system is widely abused." - Simon from Bookmarklet

The system is not widely abused. If it were, this would be a well-known problem and there would be congressional investigations and such. Instead it is a "deeply abused" system, that is most organizations do not abuse it, but those which do often abuse the system quite heavily. - Gabe

Thanks! - Paul Buchheit

A sudden surge of wealth can be a curse instead of a boon. Thanks for sharing your tips Paul. - Shakeel Mahate

via http://www.geek.com/article... - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

Very impressive! (and scary). I want one! - Jason Wehmhoener

Aww, thanks April! Time to trade me in for two 16 year olds ;) - Clare Dibble

Sarah, That paper is very interesting. I particularly thought that figure 1 c&d were interesting because UK women seem to have a luck minimum at 31-40, while men's seem to be from 51-60. - Clare Dibble

freaky looking. like half insect, half injured dog. - Nicķ

"He said the tires began to fry within seconds." - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

WHOA! - David Cook

Best of luck to you in whatever new role you find, Kevin! - Stephen Mack #TeamMomo

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do next, and I hope you have a great summer vacation! - Lani

You are presented with two envelopes. You are told that the amount of money in the envelopes is 10^n dollars and 10^(n+1) dollars, where the positive integer n is chosen with probability 2^-n. The rules of the game are: you are allowed to open one envelope look at the amount, and then will be given the opportunity to switch to the unopened envelope. Doing some trivial expected gain calculations you can show that you should always switch. So it follows that you don’t need to look in the envelope before deciding to switch, and therefore shouldn't need to switch. And that is the paradox. - Simon

Gotta love heavy tailed distributions (hint hint :) ) - Simon

"Anybots, a robotics start-up in Mountain View, Calif., is officially unveiling the telepresence robot today. QB will be available in the fall for US $15,000. "We wanted to create a technology that allows remote workers to collaborate more fully -- and feel part of the team," founder and CEO Trevor Blackwell told me when we spoke a few weeks ago. What they created is a sophisticated mobile robot. Its base houses a compact computer, two Wi-Fi interfaces, a LIDAR-based collision-detection system, powerful motors, and a lithium-ion battery pack that lasts 8 hours, or enough for a full day of work. The head has a 5-megapixel video camera pointing forward, a lower resolution camera pointing down at an angle to help with driving, three microphone and high-quality speakers, and -- my favorite feature -- a laser pointer that shoots green light from one of its eyes. The 16-kilogram robot [35 pounds] rolls on two wheels using a custom self-balancing system, an approach that Blackwell says is... more... - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

http://www.rssmeme.com/story... Shared 36 times. - RSSmeme

"How much do you love riding? Probably not as much as this guy did. David Morales Colon, 22, was shot to death April 22 in Puerto Rico. For his wake, Colon was embalmed and mounted on his Honda CBR600F4i with full Repsol colors. The work was performed by the Marin Funeral Home in San Juan, which also made headlines two years ago for presenting the embalmed body of Angel Luis “Pedrito” Pantojas Medina standing up in the corner for his own funeral. Colon will be displayed on his Honda until his burial, scheduled for later this afternoon. As for the bike, it was reportedly a gift from his uncle and brought by his family to the funeral home for the wake. There’s no word on what will happen to the motorcycle after the funeral, but for now, ride on, David, ride on." - April Buchheit from Bookmarklet

Um. - Stephen Mack #TeamMomo from iPhone

"This is a story about a fickle little hormone that plays a large role in our lives. The name of the hormone is oxytocin, and until recently it was mostly dismissed by scientists. They knew it played a role in inducing labor and facilitating breast-feeding, but otherwise didn't give it much attention." - Tudor Bosman from Bookmarklet

"To understand the role that oxytocin plays in your own life, consider the experience of a small 9-year-old girl named Isabelle." [...] "Isabelle has Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder with a number of symptoms. The children are often physically small and often have developmental delays. But also, kids and adults with Williams love people and are pathologically trusting: They literally have no social fear." - Tudor Bosman

fascinating. - Nicķ

Happy birthday! - John (bird whisperer)

Happy Bday! - Heather

Thank you! - Tudor Bosman from Android

In a television interview in 2002, Larry King asked Julia Child which foods she hated. She responded: “Cilantro and arugula I don’t like at all. They’re both green herbs, they have kind of a dead taste to me.” “So you would never order it?” Mr. King asked. “Never,” she responded. “I would pick it out if I saw it and throw it on the floor.” - Emily

NO WAY!!! You've TOTALLY got to smuggle one back for me. I promise Justin's 100% on board with me getting more pets... - Felicity Arnold

"The weight of the piston compresses the air, heating it to the ignition point of diesel fuel. Diesel fuel is added/injected into the cylinder. The mixture ignites, transferring the energy of the falling weight to the pile head, and driving the weight back up. The rising weight draws in more fuel-air mixture, and the cycle starts over until the fuel runs out or is stopped by the pile crew." - Gabe from Bookmarklet

lots of videos on youtube, heres one http://www.youtube.com/watch... (they run it at the end) - bob

"The attorney said that they were just about to sue me into oblivion [...] Their contention was robots.txt had no legal force and they could sue anyone for accessing their site even if they scrupulously obeyed the instructions it contained. The only legal way to access any web site with a crawler was to obtain prior written permission." - Simon from Bookmarklet

"A Jordanian mayor is considering suing a newspaper over an April Fools' Day report saying aliens had landed nearby. Al-Ghad's front-page story on 1 April said flying saucers flown by 3m (10ft) creatures had landed in the desert town of Jafr, in eastern Jordan. It said communication networks went down and frightened townspeople fled into the streets. The mayor, Mohammed Mleihan, said parents were so frightened they did not send their children to school that day. "Students didn't go to school, their parents were frightened and I almost evacuated the town's 13,000 residents," Mr Mleihan told the Associated Press. "People were scared that aliens would attack them."" - Tudor Bosman from Bookmarklet

Mel and I had McBurger King for dinner last night. Do you do this often? Must be something to do with how the stars are aligned or something. - Dan Hsiao from iPhone

Not often. First time, actually. My buddy and I did it on Saturday because he asked if I wanted to meet for "McDonalds/Taco Bell/In n Out" and I replied, "All three at once?" Which got the wheels churning. - Brian Chang

Yum. - Louis Gray

Happy Birthday, April! - AJ Batac

*bump* - Josh Haley