This also looks like a "Battleship" tournament... Kevin, in fact, appears to be making the "you sank my battleship!" gesture. - Chris Reed
Great to see a company firing on all cylinders - Mike Doeff
Josh: the key is extremely large screens so you can't actually see the person in front of you. - Bret Taylor
Man, do people get sent to sit by the bathroom and public writeboard as punishment? - Stepan Mazurov
I brought a t-shirt to change into after biking to work, but I didn't bother. I might have made a different choice if I'd known it would be blogged... :-) - Kevin Fox
@Kevin: You match the rug and lamp so it's working. :) - Tsega D
Awesome window into FF Bret. Really like the transparency and willingness to speak openly with the community and those who are critical of FF. Enjoyed that Qik inteview by what's his name... - Brian Daniel Eisenberg
Wow you guys have really grown and your office looks more colorful than the "garden variety" Google office space! - Bindu Reddy
Keep up the good work. You'll all have corner offices soon :) - Andrew Smith
i hope one of those people is working on the "page 11" bug! - Nick
I'm with Josh - I'd probably go crazy, no matter how large the screen. - Ontario Emperor
Wait, there's somebody on the other side of my monitor? - Casey Muller
im all up in paul's code now! and that guy in the orange really sits up straight - Allen Stern
I want to go and meet Bret, Paul, Dave, and the gang!! - Susan Beebe
I see nobody will finish off that Old Time Candy. As your mothers likely told you, you can't have more until you finish what you already have! - Louis Gray
Louis: we ate all of our favorites. Apparently no one wants to eat the wax lips. That was the best gift we have ever gotten, by the way. You rock, Louis. - Bret Taylor
Bret, but shouldn't the interns _have_ to wear the wax lips as some form of initiation? - Louis Gray
So that's where all my attention went! :-) - Robert Scoble
I wonder if the Left could see past Bush's sins as a President to see that he too is a patriot and might have something to offer after his term is over. - Aaron Brazell
I think I just heard Erin throw her computer against a wall, pick it up and block you ; ) qos! - Marco
I think he has a lot to offer - on the front-line in Iraq... you know, fighting for what he believes in... he does believe in it still, right? - Lucretia Pruitt
#1 Kotecki has had company and a friend who like to pour wine all day. #2 Bush is a Patriot, but he's a very dumb one. #3 you all can #suckit - Erin Kotecki Vest
Oooooh... a violent drunk, Mrs Kotecki is. :) - Aaron Brazell
Heyhey now... let's what where we're flinging those #suckits queeny-bay-bee... I proposed sending Shrubya to Iraq... surely you see the beauty of my solution!? ;) - Lucretia Pruitt
Well, we're working with a very loose definition of patriot here. - Summer
At least we haven't descended into "omg that jerkface stole my baybe and sent him to get shot at. Death to Bush" - Aaron Brazell
My favorite Bush quote on this topic: "I must say, I’m a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed… It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks." http://snipr.com/2u5qx - nathan
Erm, Erin? Folks, I think Erin is trying to say "I think Bush would do a fine job but I think he should probably worry about other things that retired world leaders worry about after their terms are over. Like, I think he probably should polish up his golf game a bit" - Aaron Brazell
we should send Bush, Blair, and everyone who still supports them to Iraq as part of his "surge", then we may finally accomplish something :) - Prolific Programmer
He is totally going to retire to the ranch and cut brush and drive his truck around - Christian Burns
Sure, after he retires, he will remain a patriot and applaud every republican president who attacks other countries in the world just because that country's president peed on Bush's daddy's vehicle. - Krish
more importantly, the National Review is kinda creepy - Erin Kotecki Vest
Is it also too late to point out that Bush would have to understand a HS Gov. Class in order to teach it....ohhh. come on... - Erin Kotecki Vest
If only we could honor all ten amendments in the bill of rights. Not just the convenient ones. - Christian Burns
"A new study of nations’ vulnerability to the impacts of global warming found Canada was the most secure, while the Comoros Islands, off the coast of Africa, are least equipped to deal with future dangers." - Shey via Bookmarklet
Is it just me or is the list more or less divided in terms of development? Doesn't it seem to suggest that all the developed countries will get by and the rest of the world will not? How is Japan in that list when the factors are popln density, land area and agriculture? - Parth Awasthi via twhirl
Wait..if temps were to drop dramatically, Canada would be the first to turn into a popsicle, no? - Hao Chen
@Parth i would seem that way and it also has to do with population density: "This is because of the low pressure on natural resources resulting from a low population density and large land area, combined with high agricultural capacity, a healthy economy, few development and health challenges and excellent public institutions." - Shey
@Hao Temps in Toronto are already so messed up, I don't think it could get worse. In Spring and Autumn temps can go up or down 15 degrees celcius in less than a day. - Shey
Shey, I think that the LakeShore corridor will be no more . Al that water melting to the will certainly fill up the lakes to..just not the sea levels !! @Hao, u got a point there.."the day after tomorrow" story :)- - Peter Dawson
I guess I'm moving to Yellowknife, NT, though the south pacific looks like a better place - clarke
Shey: Exactly my point. The list ignores the first few factors, it concentrates heavily on - 'a healthy economy, few development and health challenges and excellent public institutions'. The counterpart to global warming is fiercer winters - not exactly great for agriculture. Low popln - won't people migrate in the event of an apocalypse?It ignores the dependence of the food cycle on plants and of plants on the sun. Most studies reveal the tropics as our best bet despite higher chances of imminent flooding. - Parth Awasthi
Some people are buying land along the projected Arctic shipping route. Others are investing in land assuming a 100-200+ ft water rise. - Mitchell Tsai
thats an interesting concept, new shipping lines across the Arctic, it will cut shipping cost from China to America :)- - Peter Dawson
Parth, those are all good points. Hopefully they factored that in somehow. That being said, the most developed countries are still gonna have an upper hand anyway. - Shey
Most notable about this is that the "western world" - North America, Western Europe and Australia are all LEAST likely to suffer climate change. Aren't the "collective we" most responsible according to the so-called experts? - Aaron Brazell
@Aaron We are, yes. But I'd say China and India are also to blame and they aren't in the green here. - Shey
"“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem,” Albert Camus wrote, “and that is suicide.” How to explain why, among the only species capable of pondering its own demise, whose desperate attempts to forestall mortality have spawned both armies and branches of medicine in a perpetual search for the Fountain of Youth, there are those who, by their own hand, would choose death over life?" - Robert Seidman via Bookmarklet
I just watched this great movie... "He Was a Quiet Man" with Christian Slater and William h. Macy. made me think of it. Unfortunately this article is another argument against gun ownership. What the article fails to understand is free will. Perhaps the writer should be reading Fyodor M Dostoevsky's "Grand Inquisitor". Free Will is a burden and I'll take it - Noah David Simon
"“At the risk of stating the obvious,” Seiden said, “people who attempt suicide aren’t thinking clearly. They might have a Plan A, but there’s no Plan B. They get fixated. They don’t say, ‘Well, I can’t jump, so now I’m going to go shoot myself.’ And that fixation extends to whatever method they’ve chosen. They decide they’re going to jump off a particular spot on a particular bridge, or maybe they decide that when they get there, but if they discover the bridge is closed for renovations or the railing is higher than they thought, most of them don’t look around for another place to do it. They just retreat.” " - RAPatton
"She remembers feeling a moment of intense pain and then nothing else for a long time. Her next memory is of her husband, standing over her and screaming, “What have you done?” and the sound of an approaching ambulance. She found she could speak, but all she kept saying over and over was: “I don’t want to die. Please, I don’t want to die.”
" - RAPatton
"“What was immediately apparent,” Rosen recounted, “was that none of them had truly wanted to die. They had wanted their inner pain to stop; they wanted some measure of relief; and this was the only answer they could find. They were in spiritual agony, and they sought a physical solution.” " - RAPatton
i do believe some people truly want to die. - edythe
In a given moment I am certain many do, and all it takes is one moment and the means. I think the article showed if the mean were not there during those moments people did not seek out new means, and instead let the moment pass. - RAPatton
just to be precise I think the article illustrated that if the means were not there only a small minority sought out other means. Also the article seemed to exclude cases like Hunter S. Thompson's. - Robert Seidman
whatever your opinion is... some of us will fluctuate on issues of life and it is important that we are given as many options of freedom as possible. Finding statistical reasons to restrict freedom is a VERY SLIPPERY SLOPE! - Noah David Simon
interesting. you seem to discount FF as an aggregation of a bunch of "bloggers and would-be bloggers." With the explosive number of blogs and bloggers out there now, isn't that a little like saying, "that's just a group of people with email addresses"? - Christian Anderson
I didn't say Twitter or FF is small. (Twitter specifically has lots of active users.) I wanted to question whether influentials in tech were active users of either. That's why I asked "which vanguard does FriendFeed and Twitter have a lock on?" - Gabe Rivera
Do you consider robert scoble, louis gray, duncan riley mike arrington, allen stern, dave winer, wall street journal, business week influential? - Christian Anderson via fftogo
TOTALLY WRONG "the vast majority of early adopters, executives, journalists, and “influencer's” in technology are not actively monitoring FriendFeed or Twitter" - am an early adopter, beta tester and worked within tech incubations. Just because some executives, influencer's of tech dont participate on twitter /ff does not mean that they do not know the value props behind it. Trust me the - “influencer's” r certainly working scenarios to dove the twiiter/ff paradigms to suite their agendas. - Peter Dawson
Christian: you're not refuting my point at all. Peter: you're actually supporting my point. - Gabe Rivera
Gabe, the key is "actively monitoring".I can actively monitor a alpha/beta site w/out having to be hands-on. I get my day briefs and check the dev dashboard and I know pretty well, what ishappening in the sandbox. - Peter Dawson
Gabe, might it increase TechMeme's usefulness and make it more unique if it also looked at FriendFeed and Twitter activity when ranking content? It seems like you're in a position to wade through even more of the noise and distill out the interesting bits. - David Recordon
Gabe, I don't think it's a matter of authority (which seems to be your argument), but *velocity*. FF is now surfacing news faster, though it may not have the authority that comes from having been passed through the members of the Leaderboard. If "influencers" aren't using it yet, they will be. The fact that Arrington is now posting messages here (and no longer just alerting about posts to TC) is a leading indicator. - Sprague D
I'm not trying to refute anything. Whether Scoble is included on Techmeme or not isn't overly important to me. I would like to understand the points you make in the comment you linked from Scoble's blog to FF. - Christian Anderson
You say, "The vast majority of “influencers” are not actively monitoring FriendFeed or Twitter." I gave you a list of highly influential media here on FF (more on Twitter). You discount FF users as just "bloggers or would-be bloggers." I say everyone has a blog, and liken your characterization to FF just being made up of people who have email accounts. what is your point? - Christian Anderson
seems to me the right answer was something closer to "getting on Techmeme is based on complex algorithms... Scoble is a smart and important guy. His stuff just has landed him on the leaderboard currently." why disparage FF the Twitter as made up of a bunch of people you don't seem to think are too important? - Christian Anderson
I meet influencers all over the world. It is a rare day when I meet one in tech industry that isn't on Twitter. Today I met a couple, including a developer on Blogger who are here on FF. - Robert Scoble
But, it doesn't matter. I have proven you can get in nearly every newspaper in the world by telling hot news to 15 people. - Robert Scoble
Does that mean Techmeme vs. FriendFeed = old media vs. new media? - Kerem Ozkan
FriendFeed is more disruptive lately than Techmeme. But smaller things are more interesting to me than bigger things. - Robert Scoble
Christian: http://is.gd/MvS Robert: why not start asking people "Do you follow me on Twitter?" after "So who are you?" - Gabe Rivera
I do learn a lot from FF, and twitter, but I am now trying to figure out how to "use"it to move some things forward. I think some things just get lost on FF, if that makes sense. - Robert
BTW, I didn't want to overcomplicate my remarks earlier, but there's also the point that the Twitter userbase is much larger than the people who come into contact with Robert's tweets (Twitter users >> Scobleizer followers). So as Twitter grows, and I expect it to, the # of influencers on Twitter will grow. But that still doesn't mean Robert's ability to reach them will grow at the same rate. - Gabe Rivera
Gabe: funny you should say that. It is what I ask people off camera lately. - Robert Scoble
Gabe: I still don't get your point. Why does this matter? - Robert Scoble
@Robert Scoble do you find yourself leaning towards FF or twitter, or using them both in different ways at this point... - Robert
Hah, I changed my comment above, before I saw you replied, but for the record, I want you to ask for their Twitter ID. That would be interesting and even informative. Though it doesn't really support or refute my earlier point all that much. - Gabe Rivera
I have been searching for people who are using FF for a business use... not coming up with much, even though I know networking is business... You have any pointers or thoughts... How would you tell a startup to use FF other than networking? - Robert
Gabe: is the proof of example link intended to illustrate what i was doing or what you were doing? - Christian Anderson
"what is your point? " , Gabe is onto something here.. Growth is not directly related to Influencer's, rather akin to the law of diminishing returns - Peter Dawson
Don't feel bad, Aaron, because apparently hubby being a defense contractor doesn't make us rich, either. - Michelle Martinez
Welcome to the world of being an independent contractor. Save as much money as you can and, enjoy the ride. I thank God I don't live by myself some months. - Candace Holly
Ive been in a "temporary" living situation for close to 17 years now. Some day my ship will come in. THen I'll come pick y'all/ya'll up. - Adrienne Van Houten
Yeah, we're in a bad position. Going to talk to in-laws about moving in with them for awhile. This is *not* what I need at 31 years old. - Aaron Brazell
I feel for you, we're in that boat too many months ourselves. - Summer
Dude, everyone I know has been there. I'm in academia and had to leave my Ph.D. field at 37 to get a full-time job with benefits. - steplow
I feel your pain; I had to put off paying a hospital bill because other bills had eaten up whatever disposable income I had left from my paycheck. Fortunately, I was able to negotiate in good faith with the vendor at hand. I don't miss being a contractor in the least. - Helen
Sorry to hear that Aaron. I was between jobs myself just a couple of months ago, I know how you are feeling. - J. Phil
I didn't know it was called an Oxford comma either, thanks. Wikipedia tells me it's called an Oxford comma, a Harvard comma, or a serial comma :) - Michael C. Harris
Grammar humour? You guys are wonderful! ;) - Abby Martin
I can't wait for the next time at work when I ask someone, "Could you send me that file in Oxford comma delimited format?" - Kevin Shannon
One, of, the, many, things, i've, learnt, on, friendfeed. - Gordon Swaby
I didn't realize it had its own name, either. I always use it. In fact, I tend to list three items out of compulsion to use it... heh - Michael W. May
I will drop this quote and move on. The differences of opinion on the use of the serial comma are well characterized by Lynne Truss in her popularized style guide Eats, Shoots & Leaves: "There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don't, and I'll just say this, never get between these people when drink has been taken."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O...http://snipurl.com/2u2sp - Russellreno
I'm with you Edythe, with a whole lot of reverence to the Comma, and; I also pay due obeisance to the Semicolon. - Parth Awasthi
The semicolon is, alas, woefully under-appreciated. - Joanmarie via NoiseRiver
I overuse the colon and semicolon; at least that is what I am told. ;) - Michael W. May via twhirl
Most punctuation doesn't get its proper due: people over-use the comma when they really should use a colon or a semicolon. Don't even get me started on the lack of em dashes and en dashes; they happen to be perfectly valid and useful punctuation marks that nobody uses anymore. - Mark Trapp
Michael, I want to say you should've used a colon instead of a semicolon there :) - Mark Trapp
I've seen those English dramas too
They're cruel
So if there's any other way
To spell the word
It's fine with me, with me - Joe Dawson
I am yepping this 100%. Although I allow myself little creative leeway with commas, colons, and semi-colons, I am otherwise mortally strict when it comes to proper, classic punctuation and grammar. Yep, I am the guy who has no problem with the em-dash and a semi-colon meeting. - Akiva Moskovitz
I'm a big fan of the semicolon and the serial comma. I suspect publishers wanting to save ink are responsible for dropping the serial comma :) - steplow
Joe Dawson: :) and, yes, I also love the semicolon. - edythe
I worked at a marketing department where they had a policy of not using an Oxford comma - Bjorn Tipling
I will cut some slack where the Oxford Comma (never knew it had a name) is concerned, but NO SLACK for the "apostrophe mistakenly used for plural" crowd. That makes me feel like Conan the Grammarian. - Harvey Simmons
How do you think the two writing styles affect readers? It seems like some readers will automatically skip Eastern-style pieces: if there's nothing in the first line to 'hook' them, they're gone. - Thursday Bram
I think eastern style writing invokes curiosity and that's the hook. "What is the bigger picture here?" - Aaron Brazell
Wrong. Courtesy is given, respect is earned through action, trust is accumulated over time. - Andrew Feinberg
I start with respect. Courtesy should be a given always, yes, but is often false. If more would start with respect, what a better world it would be. - Michael W. May via twhirl
I give people a certain amount of trust initially based on gut feeling - after that, trust can be lost, earned and sometimes even regained. Respect is separate from trust for me. I respect my enemies, but I don't trust them. - Lucretia Pruitt
Outstanding response to the hecklers by Bush in front of the newcomers, many of them coming from places where such behavior would not be remotely tolerated. Perhaps some of the Daily Kossack blog kiddies would enjoy pulling their heckling bullshit in someplace like Tehran ( http://yweb.com/1jj ). - William, CPU Media
Yes, it's nice to see that the First Amendment still means something. If only we could start obeying all the other parts of the Constitution, we'd be set! - Lon Harris via twhirl
if Bush would have it his way (off camera) he would have called out the SWAT Team on those folks and pulled the trigger. But since it was all ON camera, he couldn't. But all their names were collected and he'll seek revenge - later - Marc Canter
Yep. There are still radicals who see fit to interpret parts of the Constitution differently than the Supreme Court, for example ( http://yweb.com/1jk ) - William, CPU Media
The hecklers were cowards who knew damned well that they were risking NOTHING. C'mon, calling Bush a "war criminal" is taking a risk? The kiddies were bogus toughs looking for cheap thrills. Let them pull the same stunt in Zimbabwe. Then they can see if Joe Trippi can get them out of a jam. Heh. - William, CPU Media
What does Joe Trippi have to do with any of this? - Andrew Burd
Joe Trippi, with the same blustering risk-free bravado as the above mentioned kiddies, decided to take on Zimbabwe's bad boys by heckling them from the safety of American TV studios, his Twitter feed, and his home-made chicken coop. Risk-free, didn't change a damn thing, but it made him feel better. True grit, that Joe. - William, CPU Media
William: aren't you engaged in the exact sort of impotent and risk-free behavior right here in this thread? You are in no danger and are just getting your rocks off being voicing your thoughts. - Andrew Burd
So, stating your disagreement with a Supreme Court decision violates the Constitution, Wm? That's kind of a backwards view of things, don't you think? I was more talking about secretly spying on American citizens, or disappearing people for years without charge or trial. That sort of thing. Rather than, you know, trying to start a conversation. - Lon Harris
I an Indian (the Asian variety) but am a history buff especially when it comes to democratic history. The "good foundation" that you mentioned was solidified and 'set' by the 60s generation. Whichever historical account I read, I find the 60s mentioned as the generation that understood what they had been given a couple of hundred years ago and finally understood the responsiblity that comes with it. - Kamath
Well ... at least *one* Constitution is holding up ... (holding breath for 6 more months) - Clarence Chiang
The hilarious thing about the contemporary American left is its unseriousness. Bush a 'fascist'? He's a Chamber of Commerce Republican. He's an ideological twin of the guy who owns your bagel shop or your plumber. - Rob Sterling
It's always amusing to see lightweights taking pot shots at risk-free targets: ie. the US of A and GW Bush. Let them put their bluster where their mouths are and try it someplace where it might really make a difference. Somehow, I think that they just don't have it in them. In any case, it's been real gentlemen. I'm off to Pamplona to run with the bulls tomorrow AM. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. - William, CPU Media
By definition, as supreme arbiter of the Constitution a SCOTUS decision cannot violate said Constitution. Unless, of course, by "violate" you mean decide something that you are not in agreement with. Isn't that the case here? - William, CPU Media
You have now dodged the question. No one was stating that the SCOTUS decision was not the law. The ACLU was taking issue with the decision itself, as anyone would agree is their right. So what's your point? - Lon Harris via twhirl
oh great... Valleywag inspires a legion of trolls to vandalize Mahalo. dozens of defacements over a 24 hour period--all rolled back with a couple of clicks. Hey, on the bright side even pageviews by vandals count toward your monthly traffic goals I guess. :-) - Jason Calacanis via Bookmarklet
This will be a photograph in the top 10 of many future lists. - Andrew Baron
Explanation: "In January 2007, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught has now returned to the outer Solar System and is now only visible with a large telescope. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework." -
