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Kol Tregaskes to Kol's feed, Music, Last.FM, lastfmfeeds

What is your Last.fm URL? Add me here if you like: http://www.last.fm/user...

August 4, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

batuhan icoz, ★ Soner Gönül, Karma Martell and 43 other people liked this

Don't forget about the FriendFeed group on Last.fm too, more details here: http://ff.im/62vKL #whatsyoururl - Kol Tregaskes

98 more comments

We are already friends Kol but just for fun: http://last.fm/user/niczak - Nicholas Kreidberg

Cool, thanks, Nicholas. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://last.fm/user... - clarke thomas

Here's mine: http://www.last.fm/user... - Shevonne

I was gonna say...doesn't the FF group on Last.fm take care of this? - Spidra Webster

It's me! http://www.last.fm/user... - MicahBear78

here I am: http://www.last.fm/user... - sean808080

I finally found one person on my friends' list who we are "Very High" - Shevonne

Mine : http://www.last.fm/user... - Faraz Mullick

MWM has a last.fm group at last.fm that you may want to check out - RAPatton from iPhone

Low? Strange, I like (and listen to) most of your top artists. http://www.last.fm/user... - Marcos

http://www.last.fm/user... - Fossil Huntress

http://www.last.fm/user... - Steven Perez from Android

I think you befriended me on it, but mine's http://last.fm/user/vmlemon. - Tyson Key

Crud - dropped this on the wrong FF post. Ah well! Sorry to whomever I apparently spammed! http://www.last.fm/user... - Ciaoenrico

http://last.fm/user/inkedmn - Brett Kelly

And frankly, I like adding friends with whom I have a low compatibility. It helps me hear music I never would have found in the first place. I never would have listened to a lot of my favorite music if someone hadn't said, "just try it." - Ciaoenrico

Heh, "Music you have in common includes ABBA and Depeche Mode"... - Tyson Key

Last.fm profile exchange? I'm at http://www.last.fm/user... - Czar

Haggis, your link didn't work. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.last.fm/user... - MikeAmundsen

Fossil Huntress, you have the highest compatibility so far. Low but still the highest. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

ABBA and Depeche Mode are killer. Whose said that? Whom should I be friending there? :) - Ciaoenrico

No me. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Czar, yep basically it is. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.lastfm.com.tr/user... - Yunus YAMANER (CITRIL)

http://www.last.fm/user... - M F

Your musical compatibility with koltregaskes is Very Low. Music you have in common includes Sneaker Pimps, Hybrid, Snake River Conspiracy, VAST and The Boxer Rebellion. (that's because I listen to a lot of obscure stuff) http://www.last.fm/user/app103 - April

http://www.last.fm/user... - Dobromir Hadzhiev

http://www.last.fm/listen... BTW, I send my Blip.FM feed to Last.FM. I fell asleep several times while listening to Blip, so there's some music in there that I don't necessarily like. But, for the most part, it's mine. - Michael Fidler

Mine: http://www.last.fm/user... - Iván Abrego

http://www.last.fm/user... - Georgie Bestie

http://www.last.fm/user... - Alex Scrivener

http://www.last.fm/user... - LB shining

http://www.last.fm/user... - Nine

http://www.last.fm/user... - Jack Lhasa

http://www.last.fm/user... - Michael W. May

http://www.last.fm/user... Here you go. :-) - Mathew A. Koeneker

http://last.fm/user/rahsheen - Rah-PM 2012

Me: http://www.last.fm/user/rchaas - Rob H.

http://last.fm/user... - Andrew Terry

http://last.fm/user/snipergirl - Snipergirl

http://last.fm/alcalamichi - Outsanity

http://www.last.fm/user... - Mark H

user/tofu916 I LoVe last.fm! - Tofu De la Moore from BuddyFeed

http://www.last.fm/user... - Holger Eilhard

http://www.lastfm.fr/user... - Rubin Sfadj

http://www.last.fm/user... - Paul Greer

http://www.last.fm/user/cysk - cysko

http://www.last.fm/user... - Glenn Slaven

http://www.last.fm/user... - Beau Liening

http://www.last.fm/user... - ThenWang

http://www.last.fm/user... - I'm going to leave it playing scrobbing my 5 stars over lunch so it can log some of my favourite tracks - Toby Graham

http://www.last.fm/user... - I share a lot of my "love it" back to twitter by funneling through here :-) - Courtney Engle

http://www.last.fm/user... - browneyes

http://www.last.fm/user... - andy brudtkuhl

I've listed my top 25ish songs of the moment here: http://ff.im/6diug if anyone is interested. - Kol Tregaskes

If I played my 'best of the best' playlist one day would anyone be interested? It's 45 songs and iTunes tells me it's 4 hours. I can post a FF message when I start and finish and you can check the tunes out. - Kol Tregaskes

http://last.fm/user/lostmoya - David Young

Thanks for all the friends request BTW, I work up this morning to 30 of them in my inbox. :-) I've added you all. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.lastfm.com.tr/user... - Oğuzcan Yavaş

http://www.lastfm.de/user... - Ronald

Love Last.fm! I'm here: http://www.last.fm/user... - Elizabeth Parmeter

Glenn, I get a high compatibility with you. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.lastfm.de/user... - Mike Chelen

http://www.last.fm/user... - Turner Burns

I am going to add you right now...I am http://last.fm/user... :O) - Harold Cabezas

Don't use it as much as I used to, but it's -> http://www.last.fm/user... - Matthew Horton

I barely use last.fm as a site - but I scrobble all the time. Like everywhere else I am finalcut there. - Bill Rawlinson

Bill, that's pretty much what I do. What's your URL? :-) - Kol Tregaskes

My Last.FM URL is http://www.last.fm/user.... - Thomas Ward

http://www.last.fm/user/spidra - Spidra Webster

http://www.last.fm/user... - Sajida Hina Khan

http://www.last.fm/user... - Colette

http://www.last.fm/user... - Martin Bryant from iPhone

http://www.last.fm/user... - John E. Bredehoft

Keep 'em coming, I'll add you all later today. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://last.fm/user... - Jonathan Hardesty

http://last.fm/user... - Gaurav Bansode

http://www.last.fm/user... - Arthur Guy

http://www.last.fm/user... - Emma

Thank you!! :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Last.fm/user/iMJR - Matt Ruiz

Thank you. - Kol Tregaskes

hi! http://last.fm/user/legaria I frankly don't see the value in adding friends there though ??' - Friendfeed's Francisco

Franc, you can recommendations and more choice in your Neighbourhood radios stations. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.last.fm/user... - Turner Burns

Welp. Ya'll have been friended and oddly enough I only had 4 with high compatibility. Lucky for me that means there is a lot more music our there that I need to be turned on to. Thanks, Kol! :-) - Mathew A. Koeneker

Mine is http://www.last.fm/user... - Chris Rogers

hm - and looking at my last.fm page, I'd say I need to use my ipod more and Pandora a bit less ... - Chris Rogers

oh. I get it, thanks Kol. I'm still finding my way through it. - Friendfeed's Francisco

http://www.last.fm/user... - Moody (Sweet FA 4 Life)

http://www.last.fm/user... - Brian Bufalo

I signed up back in 2005: http://www.last.fm/user... Not using it anymore since they pulled that stunt. Scrobbling to http://alpha.libre.fm/user... - Irma Vermaat

http://www.last.fm/user... Of course ;) - ★ Soner Gönül

http://www.last.fm/user... - ali

http://www.last.fm/user/cysk - cysko

Bumping this post after seeing the new Friend Finder on Last.fm. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.last.fm/user... - Adam

Steve Rubel

How much do I love Friendfeed? This much - I made my desktop match the theme!

July 24, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Jimminy, CoG of FF, M F, Friendfeed's Francisco and 33 other people liked this

wow. you really do love it. - Zee.

9 more comments

Now don't move the browser window. - Louis Gray

Sweet, i was thinking of doing that, but i've got some really good space bg's already... - Chris Heath

I like the part where Scoble the Hulk pops up in the grey box in the corner about 200 times every day to say hello. Hi little green Scoble! Now, sit down, I'm trying to work here. - Sheree Motiska

Maybe it's time for a "you know you're addicted to FriendFeed when..." meme. ;) - Meryn Stol

Don't believe Steve. He's got other desktops with Posterous and GMail themes that he uses when he claims he's in love w/ them. ; ) - Rex Hammock

Funny, I just saved that same background image to my desktop. Just need to shrink it a bit from its 18,000x18,000 dimension :) - Jan Ole Peek

I love FriendFeed so much that I created my very first Greasemonkey script for it just now to improve the usability: "Sidebar Tweak" fixes the sidebar in place despite scrolling, which alone is worth its weight in gold. I use the Helvetica theme, and the rest of the changes are meant for it, to tighten up things to show more items, as well as highlight the user's own comments in light-blue: http://userscripts.org/scripts... Try it and let me know what you think. - Alex Schleber

I like that script, very useful! I changed position of the sidebar in my version to right:50px instead of left:900px so the sidebar does not cover the content area on smaller screen. Also the headers of the sidebar items was weird on the grassland theme i'm currently using. I fixed it by removing botton-margin on the .box-bar. - Jesper Lind

Oh yeah, a nice blue box on my comment, thanks for the script! - Jesper Lind

lovely :) #browsermeme - Friendfeed's Francisco

LPH™ and his dog P™

[Another Surgery]: Loren underwent his second brain surgery today. The doctors removed at least two "new" tumors. These were in different regions from the last large one taken out this past summer. He's recovering well in ICU. His smile and positive attitude remain strong.

November 21, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

AJ Batac :), LANjackal, Joe The Sausage and 17 other people liked this

Keep on smiling :) - Shey

6 more comments

Hoping for a speedy recovery - Scoble, Alex Scoble

It's so easy to learn from Loren about how to be positive about life. :) - Lora Heiny from iPhone

He's up and walking around today. - LPH™ and his dog P™

Hope things get better, Loren. Best wishes!! - David Cook

All the best man. My mom survived a pituitary tumor herself - LANjackal

Best wishes. - Hollywood Amanda

Rest in peace. http://friendfeed.com/lph... - Micah

Lis

This is the cropped version of the previous picture (thanks RAP!). Should I put it on JDate?

May 13, 2010 - Comment - Like - Share

Kol Tregaskes, Steven Perez, Milton Ramirez and 15 other people liked this

Yes. - Spidra Webster

3 more comments

Me likey - Shawna Benson

I'd definitely add it to your profile to complement the other - RAPatton

Yup. - Brent

Cool! Will do! - Lis

Andy Carvin

@goudotmobi: how is it a blog? A wiki is structured very differently. #crowdcontrol

March 14, 2010 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Milton Ramirez liked this

Doug Peterson

Reading: "A Brief History of Pi - PCWorld" ( http://www.pcworld.com/article... )

March 14, 2010 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Milton Ramirez liked this

AJ Batac :)

Behold! My new letter opener. - http://ajbatac.soup.io/post...

March 11, 2010 from ajbatac's soup - Comment - Like - Share

Zu from AOD, Thierry R. Andriamirado, Alfredo 亜瑠布れっど and 72 other people liked this

Behold! My new letter opener. - AJ Batac :)

15 more comments

all hail the bunneh opener - just ZONED

That is too cute - Scoble, Alex Scoble

LOL, where do I get me one of those? - Tanath

Do they sell those at Staples? - Kevin Bondelli

You may want to ask Steven Perez. He's the expert in that area. :P - AJ Batac :) from IM

LOL Love it! - Anika

Oh sure it looks cute now. But just wait until you get a check in the mail and the little jerk runs off with it! - Joe "Looptid" Pierce

#DYSP - AJ Batac :)

STOP GIVING AWAY ALL MY SECRETS. :D - Steven Perez

:D - AJ Batac :)

ha ha ! - TrafficBug

Dude. Steven Perez opens your mail? Wicked! - Trish Haley

LOL at Trish :D - WoH: Minding her Steves

These cute bunneh pics and vids are only serving to strengthen my resolve to get a bunny! - Renee Hendricks

Want! - Martha

My cousin Louie always was a show-off. - Steven Perez

Вит Колесник

Every your word, every pic you share, every action you take online makes the virtual world richer and richer. Think about that. Then do some maths.

February 18, 2010 from Facebook - Comment - Like - Share

Milton Ramirez liked this

Jandy

So now that I'm all unemployed and time-having and shit, maybe I'll give this learning to play the git-tar thing another try.

February 25, 2010 - Comment - Like - Share

Mo Kargas, Zu from AOD, Lis and 61 other people liked this

<333 - Derrick

21 more comments

I think I gotta start over. I forgot which strings were which notes. - Jandy

DO IT! - Geoff Schultz {TF}

I love Jandy... Just sayin' - Johnny from iPhone

E-A-D-G-B-E - John (bird whisperer)

Eb-Bb-Bb-Gb-Bb-D - Bren

Sweet - Rodfather

That's a good picture - RAPatton

You make a super cute guitarist. Doo eet! - Carmen wBabby

every artist does good but elvis - asbdx by Demetri

Okay, that's enough for tonight; hafta get those callouses back on my fingers to do it for any longer at a stretch. The notes came back quickly. Chords are still hard because my hands seem too small for this. :( - Jandy

lol, thanks RAP and Carmen. I kinda liked the way that one turned out, too, and it was the first one I took! That never happens. - Jandy

If your fingers aren't long enough to stretch across the whole fretboard, you can make most of the chords on the first four strings. - John (bird whisperer)

You can also use alternate tunings to make it easier to finger various chord forms (I also find alternate tunings are great for inspiring new sounds) - Bren

For example: the tuning I posted in my earlier comment is an open tuning for the song "Mayonaise" by Smashing Pumpkins... I am learning to play the song using that tuning, and it sounds much better. - Bren

I wondered what you were doing there. I'm not sure I'm ready for alternate tunings - I think that'd just confuse me at the moment! But at some point that might be a good idea. - Jandy

http://www.ehow.com/video_5... - Joe The Sausage

yEHA!!! - The Real sofarsoShawn

Kick ass! great pic! - Anna Haro

cute girl with guitar alert! *grin* - Michael W. May

That too, MWM - Bren from iPhone

Go for it, Jandy - Mol, FF Music Lover

Oooh, my mom said she'd buy me one out here since my brother has pretty much co-opted mine back east; we can jam! In the "ok, let's play the two chords we know." - Lis

Louis Gray

Google Lets Fearmongers and Unbelievers Opt Out of Buzz - http://blog.louisgray.com/2010...

February 18, 2010 from louisgray.com - Comment - Like - Share

Kol Tregaskes, Mark Douglass, Myrna and 26 other people liked this

Louis- I am happy to embrace innovation, if I get to choose to embrace and don't have some wedding planner yelling how commitment phobic I am cos I don't want to embrace every damn girl at the dance :) - Pete

38 more comments

This girl is quite attractive, Pete. Date her and get to know her. It'll be a win for you. :) - Louis Gray

Louis- that's what you say :) Really, you have to trust me on this too ;) I really only use g-mail as a 'portable' e-mail; most people I care to know I don't have on there. Weird, I know, but there you are. And whilst I have a lot of time, it's not that much that I can invest in this right now. I sometimes wish google would go back to their original motto (to borrow Sandi Toksvig's line) 'find stuff on the internet' ;) - Pete

I like to fall in love, not arranged marriages - Johnny

Which is why they *have* to integrate Facebook Connect and enable users to port their Facebook and Twitter contacts into Buzz as Buzz contacts. (similar to how FriendFeed connects users) - Jesse Stay

I asked them about this on the Monday before launch, Jesse. That's when they told me they have 1,000 things they would like to do to improve. Whatever you and I can think of, they have thought of. (Mostly) It doesn't mean they will get to it all, or as fast as we want them to, but once they get around the initial hiccups, they will continue to add features. - Louis Gray

Slapped with the Perpetual Beta Fish! ;) - Pete

Louis, I know that, which is why I've laid off a bit in my criticism. I made my own frustrations known, now it's time to let them fix things in the priority they need to. They may not be ready to scale what adding Facebook or Twitter connections would do to them - remember how the size of your social graph grew when FriendFeed did this? - Jesse Stay

Jesse, I would assume Google has the capability to scale in technology. Not sure about humans. :) As for the graph growing when FF did it, maybe the #s went up, but the quality didn't. - Louis Gray

Even Google isn't immune to preparing their software to scale though. If it takes additional architecture, it could take additional time. - Jesse Stay

"Professionals leveraging free Web e-mail, which Gmail continues to be today, despite being exponentially better than its other free competitors, are getting what they pay for." See, that's the trouble with Free. "If I buy you dinner, you'd better put out." And you think you are the *progressive* thinker in this, Louis? Yeah, right. - Dawn

Ouch. Louis, I like you because you usually have light and polite tones - I'm sad and disappointed that this time you are so aggressive and sarcastic toward privacy-caring people. Google added more choice for their users, and that's good: more choice won't negatively impact Buzz's development, and I don't think I'm "a luddite" or a 6-years-old for stating this. - Opensource Obscure

they have WAY more than 1,000 things they NEED to do to improve Buzz. this thing is a mess. - Joe The Sausage

do they also let people opt out because the service is shite, and those that want to protect their privacy? Or just fearmongers and unbelievers? - The Real sofarsoShawn

Opensource Obscure - Don't forget that you're also an "unbeliever". Don't question the all knowing, all powerful Google Gods! :) - Dawn

Amen, Louis. Apart from one few worst-case example in the press (valid one, but out of millions?), I didn't hear of another real problem. And they fixed it right away. I agree with the comments that being able to turn it off only improves it, but the way our country fears their own self-created data is just bizarre. Maybe the FF fans like us just get its value sooner?? - John Eich

Tyranny of the tech elite minority much Louis? - Tinfoil 2.0

WoW, I've never seen Louis Gee so bitter, biased, and unreasonable; I hope there's no problems at home.... - The Real sofarsoShawn

SFSS: that's hardly a measured comment from you, either. Louis has made his position clear from the start about Buzz, and his views about online privacy in general are all over his posts. - WoH: Minding her Steves

Louis, with phrases like "head in the sand privacy-shrieking luddites" I don't know how you expect to be considered objective. Social networking services need to work for their users, not just for the shareholders looking to push the boundaries on the next business model. The vast majority of users are not very technical, and you do a disservice to them by assuming they have the same... more... - Tinfoil 2.0

Louis, you agreed to make all your email public, how is that going :-) - Todd Hoff

@WoH I should clarify rather. I meant in terms of how he characterized those opponents of Buzz throughout the article and hitting home in his conclusion, those are clearly bitter, biased, and unreasonable. My 2n part was j/k. of course. - The Real sofarsoShawn

Privacy advocates don't want to strip away your rights to choose to be more public. Why do you ridicule their rights to choose to be less public? - Tinfoil 2.0

LogEx: ***** - ovigia

LogEx - the whole point of Google giving away stuff for free is that you will give them your online identity whenever and however they want it so that they can make money from it via advertising. It's the implicit arrangement. Like I said here last night, if you eat the guy's free dinner, you'd better be willing to put out. If you don't, you're the bad guy. - Dawn

Dawn, if there are enough people who are willing to put out to support the service, that's fine, (and if not, then the service shouldn't exist), but services shouldn't be forcing themselves on those who don't put out after dinner (I've politely refrained from putting that more bluntly). - Tinfoil 2.0

"Unbelievers" hahahah :) Which brings out the classic: Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village http://www.youtube.com/watch... - See-ming Lee 李思明 SML

My favouritest part of the post is how to opt out: "Want out of Buzz? Go to your GMail, click "Settings" and click "Buzz", and you can opt out." ~ DONE! & DONE! - The Real sofarsoShawn

I'm with Louis. If you're really concerned about privacy then delete your Facebook account, you may also want to cut up all of your credit cards - certainly any 'rewards' card you have. Privacy - unfortunately - is only cared about by a vocal minority. Frankly, having Buzz tied to an email address might finally get more people to pay attention to privacy since people are finicky about... more... - AJ Kohn

I'm a little disappointed, Louis. Rather than just roll your eyes and dismiss people as "privacy-shrieking luddites" I would've hoped and expected you to use your platform to explain to people how the system works and *why* they shouldn't be concerned. It's not particularly constructive to just rant about how people don't get it and that they should essentially just have a more faith. - Ken Sheppardson

Ken, do we really need another article dissecting Buzz? Whether you agree with my position 100% or 50% or 20%, the fact is that the response to Buzz on privacy has been ridiculously overblown and people need to be realistic. I can walk through the benefits of the platform and tips some other time for sure. If you get FriendFeed, you get Buzz. They have work to do, but it's the best alternative so far. - Louis Gray

Except it's not as good as the thing it's an alternative to. But I agree, the launch gaffes and privacy settings will be worked out. Those who were spooked, are starting to lurk, so as the smoke clears we can start looking at what Google's done. (Launched a real-time ping server to feed their search algos) - Cliff Gerrish

Louis, just because it's a good technology doesn't excuse sweeping valid concerns (that potentially affect 150 million people) under the rug and ridiculing people who have made different trade-offs on publicity/privacy than you have (which is most of the population). Realistic? You must live in such an insulated and privileged world that you don't see the harms that can occur when personal information is forced public without properly informed consent of users. - Tinfoil 2.0

@LogEx, I wouldn't call it insulated and privileged. I am comfortable with the data that I create and the people I commiserate with. Glad to have you as part of that. I am ignoring the easy tease I could do about your FF profile being Tinfoil 2.0 and linking to Buzz. :) - Louis Gray

And I share what I'm comfortable with, within this context. But I don't assert that others should act as I do or are ridiculous if they don't. Tinfoil 2.0 means living with evolving technology without giving up rights and choices (unless you want to). - Tinfoil 2.0

& that's where I was disappointed and laid down my previous statement, the title in and of itself shows a considerable lack of understanding to those with privacy concerns. Louis you may be open with everything you share, but most people aren't comfortable with that. Put yourself in their shoes. - The Real sofarsoShawn

I'm not talking about another post "dissecting Buzz", Louis. It's larger than Buzz. *WHY* is it "overblown"? Why do you think people shouldn't be concerned about exposing their social graph? I get it; I'm playing devil's advocate here. I'd humbly suggest *most* people react to changes like this the way they do because they don't understand them and (taken to the extreme) think that Google suddenly exposed the names and email addresses of everybody they know. You're in a position to talk them down. - Ken Sheppardson

Personally I think the whole thing is an emotionally over-charged battle, I can't seem to find many people who want to discuss ways to attack the issues or solve problems. The comments are a combination of facebook .. you rock!! to entire blog posts within a single comment. Buzz in GMail is confusing... more... - Chris Myles

Chris, it has been overcharged. The post was essentially answering back. I think the waving of the hands has been silly, and overdone. I assume, as the product stabilizes, you will see more instructional commentary from folks. - Louis Gray

I hope so.. maybe I'll come back when the dust settles. I get the feeling Google isn't ready and neither are the users. Unless something changes soon it's just a big waste of time. A fun mental exercise but very frustrating!! Let me know when the truce is in place. - Chris Myles

Paul Buchheit

Who are these people that get all defensive about Microsoft? Is there a group of Microsoft fanboys out there somewhere watching for negative remarks so that they can leave angry comments? I've seen this on other blogs too. Why do they care so much?

Screen shot 2010-01-03 at 8.20.49 PM.png

January 3, 2010 - Comment - Like - Share

Carolyn Chan, Milton Ramirez, Laura Norvig and 36 other people liked this

probably stockholders. - Mike Nencetti

90 more comments

It's amazing what you can do with Mechanical Turk :-) - Todd Hoff

I tend to find Microsoft largely irrelevant in many areas of my life. I have one Windows machine, with o Microsoft software except windows itself. The rest are all Linux. - Ian May

You've obviously never been to a PDC. Everyone in the valley underestimates the immense size of the MS ecosystem. - Joe Beda from iPhone

I don't doubt that Microsoft is still huge, I just don't think they are changing the world anymore in the way that Google or Apple are. - Paul Buchheit

O really? Who are the journalists/bloggers who feel that writing MS-bashing posts for their own sake counts as useful output? Every year hordes of pundits pronounce MS irrelevant, only to be proven wrong the next year. The people who reply to those threads are those who are active users of MS products and find them the best fit for their needs. That includes me. I don't think every MS... more... - LANjackal

LANjackal. If I'm asked, I don't so much bash Microsoft, but point people to other options such as OpenOffice and Linux, if it's suitable for them. Many people use MS products simply because they know of no alternatives. - Ian May

LANjackal, I don't think anyone disputes that Microsoft will keep producing Windows and Office, but that doesn't count as changing the world. If they introduced something on the scale of the iPhone (in terms of new product with market impact), that would count. - Paul Buchheit

There are Microsoft fanboys? I must always just see the Apple and Linux fanboys. - Rob H.

There's a difference between pointing to alternatives and calling a company irrelevant. MS is the only company that can do an end-to-end drop in solution that includes a private cloud, collaboration (Sharepoint), supercomputing, servers, etc. They're the GE of the tech world. Sure, GE doesn't make exciting headlines ... but anyone who says they "don't matter" is simply insane. Ditto MS. Relevancy and making headlines are NOT the same thing. - LANjackal from IM

The computers in my house are all running Windows. The computers at my workplace are also. Nearly all the customer art we get is produced on the customers's Windows computers. Microsoft seems pretty important to my life. It helps put the bread on the table, it doesn't need to be doing anything new. If Google and Apple both went down the tubes what would the consequences be? People would... more... - Sue - Friendfeed is best

So is the answer that these are Microsoft developers who feel slighted by the notion that Microsoft is irrelevant? - Paul Buchheit

Ummm no Paul. I don't know where you're getting that from and I really don't know why you're trolling your own thread, but hey be my guest - LANjackal from IM

They're users like myself. Not developers. - LANjackal from IM

LANjackal, my question is why they have such strong feelings, not why do they disagree with me. - Paul Buchheit

Microsoft isn't changing the world? Have you used a 360 at all? - Scoble, Alex Scoble

It would probably be reasonable to say that Microsoft has considerable influence - but isn't really at the forefront of most web-based tech anymore. But I know a few Wintards here in Seattle and they're not a pretty bunch (*ZING*) (I would probably count as a "Googtard" for the record) - Jeffrey Canton

I think you need to qualify how MS is irrelevant. Because I don't see it either. - Gabe

Probably because we don't like people calling a good company whose products we rely on daily for serious stuff being called irrelevant? Don't you think some people out there might find that offensive? What if you had a BMW and I said BMW as a company was useless? Isn't there a slight chance you might be riled by that? - LANjackal from IM

No, I would not be offended LANjackal. I think it's fair to say that the American car companies are irrelevant for example, which is unfortunate. My possibly unfair definition of relevance is that they are driving change in the market. Continuing to produce the same thing you've been making for 10 or more years doesn't count. - Paul Buchheit

If Surface ever becomes a real product that real people use that would count as relevance Danny, but my prediction is that it won't. You may be right about the Xbox -- I don't know anything about games. - Paul Buchheit

I think its crazy to get offended for a publicly traded company, or any other non-human entity, though. - Jeffrey Canton

Yeah, it's the offense part that amuses me. Disagreement is totally reasonable :) - Paul Buchheit

As an end user I mostly can't justify the price of MS products when I can use something else that is free, as in the case of Office. OpenOffice does what I need; reads/writes the MS formats, and isn't a few hundred bucks to buy. For email, I use Gmail, and Google Calender, on my ALL my computers (regardless of OS), and on my Blackberry too. No need to sync anything as it's all in the cloud. - Ian May

So yes, I would miss Google if they disappeared overnight, but I wouldn't miss Microsoft. - Ian May

Paul, then you must get really amused by Apple fanboys. I know I do. - jbrotherlove

Paul: your definition of relevance is wrong. Period. By that definition only a handful of tech companies would be "relevant" despite the fact that many others supply major components that the handful rely on. I guess Cisco doesn't matter then, right? If they and their products vanished tomorrow we'd all be OK. Everyone in agreement? #sarcasm - LANjackal

I guess I just haven't upset the Apple fanboys yet. Apple sucks. - Paul Buchheit

I do think that Microsoft is doing new and innovative things. In some cases they just haven't done a great job of bringing them to market and executing (Surface, for example) but in others you just don't see it as you aren't part of the Microsoft world. For example, LINQ is very very cool but unless you use C# (talking to MS SQL server in ASP.net/IIS via Visual Studio) you probably just... more... - Joe Beda

LANjackal, which successful companies _are_ irrelevant? I'm getting at a factor that is different from success, because if all I wanted to talk about was profits or market cap, that's what I would reference. However, there is an independent factor which is essentially "market influence", and it's undeniable that some companies have more than others. - Paul Buchheit

That's a fair point Joe, and I think the fact that there is this growing non-microsoft world is part of what drives their "irrelevance". It would be really cool if they opened up C# and .Net, because by most accounts it's very nice (much better than Java), but nobody outside of the Microsoft ecosystem even considers it. - Paul Buchheit

I'd agree with that. I think that Microsoft is stuck into a classic innovator's dilemma. They are optimizing for their ecosystem and world and missing the fact that the world is shifting. However, I don't think the world is shifting as much (yet) as it appears from the perspective of the valley. In the hearts and minds of the average enterprise developer Microsoft is the only game in town. - Joe Beda

I think Microsoft advocates in general have less experience with non-MS systems than non-MS-centric tech types have with MS systems. If you don't know much about the alternatives to MS and if your income is tied to your tech knowledge - you probably should get busy and start up reading up about the things you don't know about. But it's a lot easier to just stick your head in the sand. That sounds a bit harsh. But I think it's accurate. - Douglas

BTW -- C# is pretty open -- there is the spec and Mono. But it is largely still born as no one trusts Microsoft and there is very little cross pollination across these worlds. - Joe Beda

Yeah, I'm not going to use the second-class version of it (Mono) and apparently neither is anyone else. - Paul Buchheit

Douglas: I have plenty of experience with non-MS systems, but aside from embedded systems I find them largely irrelevant. - Gabe

Gabe: Please explain - Douglas

I think ignorance of the other side cuts both ways. There are plenty of unix nerds that have no idea how *awesome* the Visual Studio development environment can be. There is a lot going on there -- some of it is much better than what is going on in the Unix/Mac world. But mostly it is just different. - Joe Beda

I do resent the comment that Mono is a 'second-class version' of .NET. We have some benefits over .NET, for instance, we are open source, and just like Linux was one day a second-class version of Unix, the day for Mono will come. For instance, anyone interested in .NET development on Mac, Linux, the iPhone, Android, the PS3 or the Wii have today only one option: Mono. If your business... more... - Miguel

Sorry Miguel. I'm sure Mono is really great, but I bet Microsoft's version is better. - Paul Buchheit

Microsoft's version is better in many ways, and Mono's is better in many ways. We have no WPF, partial WCF and no WF, only now we are getting a copying/generational GC; But we have xplat GUI toolkits, an embeddable C# compiler, a C# REPL, SIMD extensions for AMD64 and X86, 64-bit arrays, full UNIX APIs, static compilation, we work on more platforms and much more. My point is: Mono is not your enemy, Mono is your ally. Use it when it makes sense as another tool in the box. - Miguel

An example: several years ago I was working with a group of programmers on a project that was to be done in .Net. I suggested we use JQuery, which was pretty mainstream by then. No one else on the team had heard of it and one programmer even said "why would I want to use anything that didn't come from Microsoft?" A few months later Microsoft included JQuery in Visual Studio. It's not fun trying to get things done around that sort of attitude. - Douglas

Douglas: I've used and supported Macs since System 6 and various Unix systems since the mid-90's, and I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like there's anything I can do on those systems that I can't do on Windows. - Gabe

Microsoft is just another American software company, and I feel is unfairly targeted at for things like bundling IE with Windows, etc. Of course you get ketchup with a pizza. If you dont like the ketchup, use some other ketchup. Oracle brings with it Java. Did anybody complain? - TrafficBug

Paul, I agree with Miguel. I don't see why MS having a better version is reason to disregard Mono. If I were writing Linux apps, I would choose Mono in a second. - Gabe

Ketchup with a pizza? - Sue - Friendfeed is best

Gabe: what about rsync, ssh, vim, grep, sed, perl, readline, etc... of course, you can install windows-equivalents of most of those but it's a bit of a pain and they never seem to work quite right. If you just want to pull bits of data out of a giant file on a Windows machine on a network you can still do it but you may have to drag folders around and write a DTS package to load it into SQL Server... I'm sure you're an exception but the average Windows-only person has no concept of the unix way to do that. - Douglas

Mono definitely isn't my enemy Miguel. Things like garbage collection are very tricky though, and I'd be surprised if you are able to keep up with Microsoft's version, I certainly hope you do though (especially after reading things like http://news.ycombinator.com/item...). Gabe, I simply called it "second class", which seems accurate if Microsoft's version is better. - Paul Buchheit

my fear with Mono is that, despite it being really cool, I don't trust Microsoft to keep a genuine commitment to open-source software. Unfair? Probably to Mono ... but Microsoft has kind of earned that over the years (wrt open-source software) Having said that, I should investigate Mono more, the brief exposure I had to it a few years ago was really positive. - Jeffrey Canton

BTW, what are the latest performance comparison numbers among the JVM, Mono, and CLR? A quick google didn't turn up anything credible looking. - Paul Buchheit

Right, doing a copying/generational/multithreaded debugger is hard. But .NET is not the competition in this case, Java is. Java having multiple implementations for research and production has been the platform where new GC technologies and ideas have been tested out in recent years. We can only hope that Mono's open source nature will lead to new ideas and innovations being tried out with .NET beyond the walls of Redmond (which has been the case in other areas). - Miguel

I worked at a Fortune 500 and there were a lot of fanboys here. The problem is folks invest in an MCSE or some sort of cert. It made them invested in Microsoft technology no matter how bad it was. Billable for Microsoft technology almost always cost double from what I could get from Open Source. - barce

I would put it on par with Linux fanboys, Apple fanboys, Google fanboys, open source fan boys, Nintendo fanboys, Playstation fanboys, laserdisc fanboys, Betamax fanboys, Datsun fanboys; in essence, only the ones you disagree will you will rub you the wrong way. - Eric

But I also said that Linux was hopeless on the desktop and nobody showed up to insult me :) - Paul Buchheit

I'm not saying your wrong, just saying fanboys are fanboys and will argue to silliness about something like this. Don't look for rational thought from these kind of people. - Eric

Yeah, I understand Eric. I'm just curious what motivates them. My suspicion is that the Linux fanboys are different from the Microsoft ones though. With Linux it's probably driven by a religious devotion whereas the Microsoft ones feel a threat to their livelihood perhaps. - Paul Buchheit

Paul, the only reason no one comment on your "Linux was hopeless on the desktop" statement is because at the bottom of our hearts we do not really want "our" OS to become mainstream ;-) - Tzury Bar Yochay

I think if your list showed on slashdot or Digg, you might get a few comments about Linux on the desktop, where stories about "I setup Linux for my grandma and she loves it" live. - Eric

Have you tried Ubuntu lately? It's pretty cool. I find myself using my Ubuntu desktop machine more than my Mac laptop sometimes, completely unconscious preference. I understand that some of the other distros are also very nice; I just haven't gotten around to trying them. Of course if I were an Ubuntu fanboy I wouldn't say that :) - Douglas

It's already becoming mainstream Tzury -- it's just going by the name "Android". I wouldn't be surprised if it surpasses Windows installs in fact (once every cheapo phone in the world has Android on it). - Paul Buchheit

Nothing really comparing all 3 on the same conditions/platforms. But there are various mixed tests that you can use to extrapolate results. - Miguel

I have Ubuntu in a vm Douglas. It has the same stupid problems that have always plagued Linux -- things never quite work right. - Paul Buchheit

In case it's not clear by now, I'm happy to make fun of all platforms :) - Paul Buchheit

It is well deserved by all! - Eric

Paul: Cool. I suspect that's what separates the angry fanboys from the not(angry fanboys). - Douglas

a concrete wall with barbed-wire at the top might be nice too, though. - Douglas

People just do get it do they? how sad this guy Derek must be inside... pathetic! geesh - Susan Beebe

Douglas: All those things are available on any platform I care to use. All are generally fairly easy to use on Windows if you want the precompiled binary, which is similar to other platforms -- on Linux it's hard to install something that isn't in a repository and on OSX it's hard to install something that isn't drag-n-drop installable. Of course, I also have no use for grep, sed, and... more... - Gabe

Paul - I think irrelevance comes down to what space you're talking - In an MS enterprise shop they're not. For those MSIEs, or even for the guy running a small computer repair shop, MS is their life blood, their livelihood depends on MS so they get rather rabid.If you're talking the web or consumer electronics space, they are somewhat irrelevant, or have been. At least haven't been... more... - PXLated

As a ceritfied MCSE: Security & Messaging, plus having installed, deployed and supported LOTS of servers and systems throughout the US to multiple customers in a wide variety of industries, I can assure you that most Microsoft "fanboys" are really scared. I invested a ton of money, time and energy back in the day with M$ and now I sit here with 7 levels of irrelevant technical... more... - Susan Beebe

Sadly, I've watched M$ go from relevant to pathetic. To their credit, Windows 7 is fantastic. Yet, I solely rely on cloud apps for my work. I hate MS Office - too clunky and old. M$ lost their mojo and i don't think it's coming back. So bottom line, folks that get all upset over that news are in denial. - Susan Beebe

Jeffrey Canton, would you trust that Microsoft could keep a genuine commitment to open-source software if Microsoft themselves committed to releasing a portable run-time for .NET rather than relegating this task to Mono and Mono developers. Microsoft, with all their capital (both financial and mindshare), is in the best position to create and maintain a fully cross-platform portable runtime, yet they don't. - Andy Bakun

That's my feeling Andy. If Microsoft really wanted it, they could make it happen and it would probably be awesome. - Paul Buchheit

And that's my issue with Mono: its very existence shows that Microsoft doesn't really care and was only throwing the open source community a bone by _allowing_ it to exist. I'm sure there are people at Microsoft that work closely with Mono developers (like Miguel has claimed in the past, I have no reason to doubt him), but .NET on anything other than Windows doesn't really fit into Microsoft The Corporation's plans. - Andy Bakun

Susan, are you Redhat (or other) certified also? I'm curious as to how someone who is certified with both MCSE and Linux view and value the knowledge they provide. I have heard that RH certifications are more long-term useful, but MCSE are so focused on specific products that they encourage an ecosystem of requiring more/additional certification as time goes on. I've seen the RHCE, and... more... - Andy Bakun

MS does some pretty cool tech demo videos (eg, surface). Maybe that makes them this decade's Xerox? Cool tech, but unable to deliver. - Nick Lothian

No I am not RHCE certified, but I sure wish I had pursued RHCE as much as I did my MCSE in 2006. I considered doing both, in retrospect, I should have. Both certs are well respected, but anything M$ is starting to be laughed at, sadly :( MCSE is very niche, yet it does also required strong networking and infrastructure knowledge. During my tests I was doing subnetting in my head, that's not product specific. (actually I used my hands - 8 fingers for octet counting!) - Susan Beebe

Surface is amazing, really awesome. I need to upload my iPhone video of that, thanks for the reminder :) - Susan Beebe

Gaping Void comic strip -- very apropro -- http://www.gapingvoid.com/microso... - Susan Beebe

@Andy - that's exactly the issue for me wrt Mono. They ultimately need people to buy Windows and Office, they're 2 main profit-engines - moving into the cloud the way Google wants to move (and the way things seem to be heading) undoes their momentum in the shrink-wrapped, downloadable software business and I can't see them undercutting that anytime soon. My guess has always been that... more... - Jeffrey Canton

@Nick - yeah, I was thinking IBM, but Xerox definitely works too :-) - Jeffrey Canton

I don't think that Microsoft opening any product (like .NET completely etc) will help them get respect from those that wouldn't use anything by Microsoft, anyway. Usually it goes like this: "1) Microsoft should open product/format X!1" **Microsoft makes X open, maybe even a standard**, "2) The specifications suck! They need more details!" **Microsoft revises specs, provides more... more... - Jemm

I am a software developer on the Microsoft platform. I've been working on the MS platform (DOS, Windows) for over 20 years. And yes, I do defend Microsoft in forums, because I find that many criticisms are exagerated or come from irrational hate and not from reason. - Dan Armano

I've seen a lot of this coming from Apple people - I'm sure it cuts both ways. (Personally, I don't care because neither company sends me any checks or anything.) - Ciaoenrico

Is Microsoft really so thin skinned that they need respect from people who don't want to use their products? It's not about gaining respect, it's about following through on your claims. - Andy Bakun

@Andy: "respect" was perhaps wrong choice of words by me. The point was that those demanding "openness" wouldn't switch anyway - no matter what Microsoft did or promised. I personally don't care whether something is completely open or a black box, as long there is a good way to integrate through a decent API through standard interfaces (SOAP, REST whatever). - Jemm

Then why does Microsoft do or promise anything? It has to obvious to them too that these people won't switch, so why bother catering to them? - Andy Bakun

@Andy: I've been wondering the same. Maybe there are some major audiences (like governments) that require at least some effort or because "opennes" looks good on paper. - Jemm

never underestimate stupidity - Nico Granelli

This is a good and relevant question. I look forward to a Paul Buchheit blog post about the dynamics of people becoming emotionally attached to software/services/platforms. - Bruce Lewis

If you make such a blog post, it would be an interesting read, I guess you can let us know as I for one can read it... - TrafficBug

Has fairness and balance become irrelevant? Our national news media has chosen hype over reality in their efforts to attract views. Perhaps Mr. Buchheit has made the same choice in his effort attract readers. I'm an Apple fanboy, but I haven't lost my grip on reality. I agree with the observations of LANjackal as to Microsoft's relevance. The vitriol here is beyond the bounds of rational discussion. Perhaps that's the nature of the internet. Sadly, it's becoming the nature of our culture. - Jimmy Walker

Louis Gray

FestivusFeed: Start Festivus right with the traditional Airing of Grievances.

December 24, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Jimminy, CoG of FF, hollyrae, Moses Kpetigo and 91 other people liked this

Image borrowed from a super old post. http://blog.louisgray.com/2007... - Louis Gray

91 more comments

Grievance: There is no longer an official Festivus Feed. - Louis Gray

Grievance: That we discussed this back in August as well. http://friendfeed.com/louisgr... - Louis Gray

"I got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you're gonna hear about it." - Louis Gray

Grievance: Sean Percival! Your hair is too straight and too long, and you are too thin. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Rahsheen! All your topless pictures are posted and yet, it does not encourage any women to do the same! - Louis Gray

Ha! Double Ha! in fact. - sean percival

Grievance: Anne Bouey, you are too kind to everyone. I want to know what you really think about Facebook. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Cecily, you carry on the stereotype of the stern librarian who does not approve of shenanigans! Live it up every once in a while. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Friendfeed didn't buy Facebook and declare it *dead* :D - TINY REPTILIAN PYROMANIAC

Grievance: Haggis! You are the lamest poker in the world I have ever seen. Pathetic. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Adrian, you couldn't man up and get Anika to take your last name like a true patriarch! - Louis Gray

Oh man... I lost the armwrestling match that was supposed to decide that. :( - TINY REPTILIAN PYROMANIAC

I trained for weeks too! - TINY REPTILIAN PYROMANIAC

OMG *gets out p-whip* - Anika

Grievance: Spidra, your avatar looks like Rosie the Riveter meets Archie from Archie Comics. Let's see the real you! - Louis Gray

Grievance: Anika, you have not told us all the dirt about Mark Krynsky that you really know. It's time you told us. Everything. - Louis Gray

Jaime Hernandez was very influenced by Archie Comics. I doubt I'll change my avatar, but (and this gets to *my* grievance) I have posted quite a few pics of me in my feed - that so few of my subscribers read, like or comment on. :-P - Spidra Webster

Grievance: we haven't seen enough of LG bragging that he's whipped someone in Scrabble or Mario Kart. Especially that he's mercilessly beaten his mother. - Spidra Webster

lol - Brent

Grievance: Jandy, if you were truly the ConcertMaven of FF, how come I have #1) never been invited to a concert you attended, and #2) you have not yet organized a concert made up of FriendFeed performers? - Louis Gray

Spidra, I try to remain humble. I would never bore you with such triviality. :) - Louis Gray

Grievance: Louis, your most fun posts are only seen by insomniacs. - Bruce Lewis

Grievance: Bruce, OurDoings has not yet been acquired by FriendFeed or Facebook and is far too obscure, requiring much more visibility. - Louis Gray

Obscure? The user group http://friendfeed.com/ourdoin... has 13 subscribers. That's gotta be about half the active FriendFeed user base, if the pundits are to be believed. - Bruce Lewis

Louis, #1) Consider yourself invited to every concert I attend; all you gotta do is come down to LA! #2) I'm waiting for Spidra to move back down here, then I will organize said concert with her in the lead. And you're invited. :) - Jandy

Hmm. We can take over the Rose Bowl and have a huge festival. What will we call it? Ffunderstruck? - Spidra Webster

Sounds awesome! I'll get started on the booking arrangements! :p - Jandy

Well, Louis, to tell you the truth, I've never been on Facebook! - Anne Bouey

Anne, your truthfulness pleases everyone. :) Carry on. - Louis Gray

Festivus used to be about grievances. All this cheerfulness is ruining it! ;-) - Bruce Lewis

Where the hell did I put my pole? - Ⓒⓗⓡⓘⓢ Ⓟⓘⓡⓘⓛⓛⓞ

Grievance: Chris Pirillo is not lifecasting in 3D, so I don't feel like I know him well enough. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Mahendra's sharing preferences on Google Reader and Twitter are dramatically different than the posts he selects for Techmeme while on his shift. - Louis Gray

LOL...is that a grievance?! - Mahendra (SkepticGeek)

Grievance: Atul Arora is remarkably mysterious about his full-time work life, and is seen as a full-time link sharer. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Jim Norris complains often about struggles with attracting a date, yet he is cute enough and successful enough that I would be happy to pass his name along to potential partners. :) - Louis Gray

Grievance: Louis Gray won't stop hitting on me. - Jim Norris

In your dreams, Norris -- LG only fantasizes of RSS feeds ;) - Mona Nomura

Grievance: Jim's and Mona's hilarious comments make mine look really lame by comparison. - Bruce Lewis

Grievance: Not enough things have been declared Dead, Lame or Wrong... - Johnny from iPhone

Grievance: I didn't follow the thread format, which probably leveled up LG's grievance. ;) - Mona Nomura

Grievance: Bret Taylor hasn't publicized the fact Toby Gerhart lost the Heisman Trophy award after weeks of unrealistic hype. - Louis Gray from iPhone

Grievance: People post their mugs way too much up in here! #getaroom - Mona Nomura

Grievance: Mona's everyday drinking behavior makes college students feel like underachievers both in the classroom and at their frat houses or sororities. - Louis Gray from iPhone

Grievance: WorldOfHiglet has not posted her novel to FriendFeed as a PDF to download. - Louis Gray from iPhone

Grievance: I live to far away from Louis Gray - Johnny from iPhone

Grievance: Stephen Mack toils away at TiVo for a decade and hasn't ONCE posted promo codes for lower-cost units. He also won't tell us if there is anything beyond the TiVo XL. - Louis Gray from iPhone

Track down Louis Gray using this http://www.phonedetective.com/PD... - Thomas Power

Grievance: Johnny Worthington isn't Australian enough. Secondary grievance... the Skype connection to FFunderCats is complete rubbish. - Louis Gray from iPhone

Grievance: I can't quit you... - Johnny from iPhone

Grievance: Thomas Power runs a successful social network and his three children somehow all still managed to become FarmVille addicts. - Louis Gray from iPhone

Grievance: I have no housemates to annoy with my loud cackling at this thread. - Spidra Webster

bah humbug - Thomas Power

Grievance: Louis Gray made me snort my tea when I read his comment about my novel... - WoH: Minding her Steves

Grievance: Akiva and Rochelle Moskovitz go to bed way too early. - Louis Gray from iPhone

Grievance: Louis Gray has not been listening to my audiobook podcast - WoH: Minding her Steves

Grievance: Kol has a last name that nobody can pronounce, and a first name that should be short for something, but nobody has any clue. - Louis Gray from iPhone

Trez-Gas-Ges ... I can - Thomas Power

LG, it's short for "Koldkockya" - Spidra Webster

Ouch that sounds painful Spidra. This is what LG stands for http://www.lgblog.co.uk/wp-cont... - Thomas Power

LOL, Louis. Kol, short for Kolin, i.e. Colin. Tregaskes: say like Tree-Gas-Kes. Easy. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Grievance: I never get invited to all the great meatbag parties - Mo Kargas

Grievance: I never go to bed. Wait...Another Grievance: I'm always late to these parties. - Jonathan Hardesty

Grievance: All my network is on Twitter instead of FriendFeed. Bastards! - Justin Whitaker

Grievance: this video won't edit itself. - WoH: Minding her Steves

Grievance: LG's not on FF right now. Which leads me to believe he could only be sleeping. I'm disillusioned. - Spidra Webster

Grievance: FriendFeed got hijacked by Facebook - bah! I think they should switch places. I mean, declare FB dead and switch all those accounts over to FF --- now, that would be AWESOME! - Susan Beebe

Grievance: Not enough chocolate over here, that's cuz I ate most of it already :P *sad santa* - Susan Beebe

I'm glad you aired out these grievances, Louis, They were starting to stink before, all boxed up like that. - Stephen Mack

I don't get a Grievance? Woo hoo! I win! - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

Grievance: Spidra does not recognize I can be off FriendFeed and still not asleep at the same time. A rarity, but true. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Susan Beebe dutifully listens in to every Gillmor Gang, but has yet to be invited on as a participant. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Kamilah Gill is still doing her daily sketches and has yet to switch to oil-based paints. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Stephen Mack has no resemblance to the line of trucks which bear his name. - Louis Gray

Grievance: Paul Buchheit has not yet singlehandedly made Facebook as cool as FriendFeed or GMail. - Louis Gray

:P I'm going to! and I have done tons of oil painting. That's how I got my art degree. Ah, that's better. Happy Festivus. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

Grievance: Stuart Miniman won't admit that the vast majority of people who interact with him don't really get the full benefits of Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE). - Louis Gray

Greviance.... Apple not letting Google Voice on the iPhone - Roberto Bonini

Grievance: It is still only Christmas Eve, so I cannot partake in the (completely made up by me) tradition of spending as much of the day as possible in my Christmas pajamas. - joey

Grievance: It's Christmas Eve day and I'm at work :( - Brent

Greviance: Jet lag is screwing up my sleeping patterns. - Roberto Bonini from iPhone

Grievance: I wish you could all be eating Turkey here with me. Instead I have to type on a keyboard to try to feel close to you. - Jorge Escobar

Greviance: Transporter tech hasn't been invented. See above. - Roberto Bonini from iPhone

Cristo: You tried that on Alex yet??4 ;) - Roberto Bonini from iPhone

Grievance: No one on my FF feed or FoaF has yet made a YouTube video of their Feats of Strength - Spidra Webster

Spidra: not even Rah?? - WoH: Minding her Steves

Spidra, I may have a photo of mine a little later. No video, though. - ha3rvey (Hugs 50% off!)

WoH, got link? ha3rvey, I'm sure we all look forward to it! - Spidra Webster

HA HA! I totally escaped the Airing of Grievances. - Steven Perez

Grievance: DYSP. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

TOO LATE. YOU MISSED THE CUTOFF. - Steven Perez from IM

Belated Grievance: I missed the cutoff. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

Robert Scoble

Prediction for 2010: FriendFeed is going to see a resurgence.

December 22, 2009 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

ravi karandeekar, TINY REPTILIAN PYROMANIAC, Flavio and 74 other people liked this

What's the rationale? - Pavan

55 more comments

Really?! - Michael Liss

I hope this prediction turns to be 100% true. - Ashish from iPhone

I think this prediction's outcome might fall into the hands of Facebook. We'll see what they do with the property this year. - Andrew Dobrow

ROFL. - Derrick

So is RSS if we're going to follow Robert's logic. - Jimminy, CoG of FF

HOW TO SPOT COMMENT BAIT IN 100 EASY STEPS — STEP 1: DID IT COME FROM ROBERT SCOBLE? STEPS 2-100: REPEAT STEP 1. - Akiva

already happening, yo - Josh Haley

it started surging (again) after ppl let the knowledge of fb purchase fall into the bits of history pages - chaz2b

Lets cross our fingers - polou/indigo_bow

WTF is FriendFeed? - David Cohn

Rational, Twitter usage is flattening, people are finally figuring out that Twitter sucks for having a conversation. People though Friendfeed was hard to use, try having to install several software 'crutches' to be able to use Twitter productively without even half the functionality as Freindfeed. - Jeff P. Henderson

if you say so... - MobilAdam

Either this is tounge in cheek or Robert really hasn't gotten over our breakup... Robert, I hope we can still be friends but we have to move on and grow... FriendFeed will always love you, but we need some 'us' time to find out who 'we' are... *cues The Bodygaurd soundtrack*... *walks out into the rain, adjusts collar, walks off down the road*... *fade to black, credits* - Johnny from iPhone

LOL Johnny! - Jeff P. Henderson

Best Christmas present ever! - Jemm

Comment bait. Even Robert can't generate interest these days. - Russellreno

I agree. Friendfeed is for those who need more from a 2d interface. Until there spatial interface is there, Friendfeed is on top of the pyramid (especially when one knows how to use it best). - Kirill Bolgarov

Up - Luca Perugini from iPhone

*slow-mo head shake* - Micah from iPhone

Too funny! Johnny and Akiva -- you guys crack me up. - Mathew A. Koeneker

I would agree with a few here and say that FriendFeed is already resurging, Robert. #friendfeed - Kol Tregaskes

AMEN! - ciw

The stats don't agree though: http://thenextweb.com/2009... - Kol Tregaskes

it's like drunk dialing an ex-girlfriend... - Aron Michalski from BuddyFeed

i guess so too.. - Daniele - Viralavatar

so too :) - ★ Soner Gönül

Agreed wholeheartedly Robert - Roberto Bonini

Akiva: lol, Kol: that article only looks at unique visitors, and doesn't consider user hours. - Mike Chelen

Lets hope so ... Miss some of my old peeps :) - Charlie Anzman

I'm surprised Robert made this statement but I find it very interesting in the change of view and wonder what has changed his mind or if he knows more info. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

The unpredictably erratic Scobot is at it again... - Ciro Villa

Well, after glancing at his Twitter timeline, he's just making a bunch of joke predictions. I'd like to think that there's some truth in this one though... - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

Sniffs... Do you smell that? It's what we used to call a troll. Robert is getting dangerously close to becoming irrelevent. - Jason Williams from iPhone

Robert is waiting until 2010 to respond to this thread. :) - Louis Gray

I told you so - Jesse Stay

Kol: the *stat* doesn't agree (note the singular) - Jesse Stay

Well, since I'm ready organizing the elections for the best Dutch blogs I can say the resurgence already started last week. ;-) - Ton Zijp

Kol: Here are many more stats that imply the contrary: http://staynalive.com/article... - Jesse Stay

Excellent idea. - Richard A. from FreshFeed

Scoble - I disagree ONLY because I think that FriendFeed activity is already migrating to Facebook via deeper integration over there but I'm wiling to hear you out (as are the other 40+ people commenting here). Do share why you think this is true? - Aaron Strout

I wrote this tweet for Twitter, not for FriendFeed. But nice to see you all! :-) - Robert Scoble

Jason: I'm definitely irrelevant if the people calling me irrelevant don't even have 1,000 subscribers. Sigh. - Robert Scoble

I actually see FriendFeed growing instead of slowing and there will also be new enhancements. A testing ground for Facebook. Just to expand, Robert's still the man! - amarquart

Akiva wins the internets with this mathematical formula for spotting comment bait. - Nicholas Kreidberg

You think we're fighting, I think we're finally talking! -all in one page - Tim Jones

Funny, when I write, I write for everyone, everywhere - Johnny

Akiva wins the thread. - Mark Davidson from BuddyFeed

let's hope so - I love the darn thing - Arthur Coleman

I'm finding that FriendFeed is fiendishly sticky. On Twitter lists do help, they make twitter better and all but but but-but I think a lot of users are getting more sophisticated in their web usage faster than Twitter can evolve their tech. Louis Grey recently postulated that even if there is no interaction on FriendFeed it makes complete sense to stay riding this horse. That got me... more... - JSLeFanu

Dude..... I totally hope you're right, but not too sure about this! LOL Explain your rationale please :) - Susan Beebe

i agree with the original prediction. by the way, what's a resurgence? is it different than insurgents? :-) - Morgan

Morgan - the insurgents never left ... ;-p - Robyn Hawk

Jason, OK. Good. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

I'll stay one faithful user, for those "outside the US" stats. Still feature plenty, still enjoyable. Still effective. Thanks for rallying the troops again Robert. Bring the hopes, and forget the ropes! 8) - Zu from AOD

like Elijah - maxilprof

I like this whole thread. ++Akiva, Johnny, JSLeFanu, Jason Heubel, Mike Chelen . . . Robert, Twitter may have geeks and famous people, but you can actually do things here. Oh, wait - I'm not here. I'm in a widget on a blog in someone's Posterous whom I don't even know, that I'm searching through to find FF peeps to subscribe to over here. Now, that's just mind-blowing! - Auntie Buttinsky Botts

Shevonne to Shevonne's feed, Bitchfest

If you are asking for my assistance in learning an application that is super easy to learn, and you even made a point to boohoo to the higherups about it, then don't reschedule every time I have a little bit of time to come to the office and help. You should be working around my schedule; not the other way around.

December 23, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Mark J Colonel Colonic, Milton Ramirez, edythe and 14 other people liked this

Try sending an email to them specifying times you could be available and cc the higherups in on it. Then the people upstairs know you're making the effort. - Amy

3 more comments

I did that. I forward it to the Project Manager I report to. I am trying not to get annoyed, but on this project, I have deadline after deadline, and she knows that. IIl try to talk to her on the phone next week. - Shevonne

Ach, just stick to your priorities - you're in the right and your project manager will no doubt stick up for you if anything comes to a head. Some people are just in it just to *appear* like they want to further themselves, they probably have no desire to actually do it. - Amy

Actually no, he responded back saying that we should work around each other's schedule and that she didn't know I was working from home til January. I responded back to him that being that she is asking for help, and I have a deliverable to the client every week, she should be the one working around my schedule, and that she thought I was going to leave early today if I were in the... more... - Shevonne

Wtf? The people in charge are doing a seriously shoddy job there. This woman is clearly taking the piss too. :( - Amy

Paul Buchheit

The realtime connection from Twitter to FriendFeed is back! (thanks to Twitter's "birddog" api)

December 22, 2009 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Denise Howell, Jim Swi...., Garin Kilpatrick and 139 other people liked this

Awesome news! - Jorge Escobar

42 more comments

Very good! - Kurt Starnes

Sweetness! - Alex Scrivener

34 secs flat for my latest tweet. Thanks Paul and team for this! - Jorge Escobar

wow, that makes actually want to use Twitter. I may just go tweet something. - Mike Nencetti

It should be even faster than that Jorge, but our systems are getting near their limit. I hope to have it down to 1 sec sometime next month. - Paul Buchheit

Thank god! - Miguel Caetano

@Paul, believe me, 34 secs is a charm compared to what we had before! - Jorge Escobar

Great news! - Rasmus Lauridsen

Is the birddog api open to all developers, or is it only to you guys? - Jorge Escobar

Jorge, everyone can access the streaming api, but you need an agreement to follow a large number of ids. See http://apiwiki.twitter.com/Streami... - Paul Buchheit

Thanks Paul. - Roberto Bonini

that cool. Thanks Paul - Peter Dawson

Yay! That's fantastic! I was getting really bored of manually refreshing it every time I tweeted. Especially from my phone. :) - Jandy

Thanks Paul, nice work :) - LANjackal

wow no posts on the majors yet - usually within mere moments of an announcement we'd have posts. - Allen Stern

Thank God. - Ahmet Alp Balkan

cool! - Barbara R. S.

What was the problem? - Özkan Altuner

Now....if you could just get rid of the @ replies again. I would be very happy. - Chris Nixon

relief ! :) - asli subasi | ☮

You are still working on Frienfeed (: how nice ! - mcd

^ That's probably the best part of this announcement, TBH. Good point - LANjackal from IM

whoa, it took less than a minute. i accdently tested it but it's great :) thnx - asli subasi | ☮

awesome, keep it up guys, i knew you would not let us down - Iggy Mwangi

You didn't break the FF Facebook app while you were at it, did you? It hasn't worked since. - Tim Tyler

Oh, awesome!!! 12 seconds :) I can finally go back to Twitter (...okay no I can't I've turned into a Friendfeed junkie..) but prior it took hours upon hours for me to see a feed. Dumb I am, I never suspected a problem LMAO. - Hollywood Amanda

Thank you! - Micah

Awesome news :) - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

eyvallah hacı - Mücahit Yılmaz

Cool. Haven't tried it but yay! - Friendfeed's Francisco

Yippee! I love real time - Technogran

Paul ?? Twitter updates facebook status and then facebook creates a new feed here on friendfeed. So we have same entries both from twitter and facebook on friendfeed. Could you guys please work on how we can avoid duplicate entries? Thank you. ( If there's already a way to avoid this, pls let me know) - mcd

Cool, thanks, Paul! :-) RT Twitter updates have been missed. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

And just as I say that, I see my tweets are not coming into FF in real-time. :-( - Kol Tregaskes

Kol. I just tweeted and it was here before I could get out of Tweetie and launch Safari... It's working :) - Johnny from iPhone

awesome.; thank you a lot.. - Jaap Willem

Nice! Thank U Paul :) - ciw

:) - ★ Soner Gönül

Oh, so nice to have that back again. - Hutch Carpenter

Johnny, cool. Just me then. It's still slow. Maybe it's FriendFeed then? - Kol Tregaskes

It truncates retweets, even in the middle of a link... - Vezquex

seems that there are only 140chars allowed for a tweet (on FF) and the new twitter retweets are being translated on the way through to old RT @name style - thus are too long. - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

not working - Serhad Makbuloğlu

Zee.

Man, you Americans are lucky to have such a down to earth President. - http://www.zee.me/blog...

December 22, 2009 from Zee Slash Blog - Comment - Like - Share

liladreams, Milton Ramirez, Iván Abrego and 22 other people liked this

Lucky? Meh. - Spencer

11 more comments

Now theres a much better cover for The New Yorker :) - Roberto Bonini

I LOVE that photo. - Nicholas Kreidberg

While I'd prefer he'd stop the "torture is okay if they're not people" crap, better a torturing president who's nice to people and cool than the last guy :) - Lo the Baker

Obama isn't perfect (far from it) but he's been loads better than the Dubya years on a number of fronts. - Joe The Sausage

A fistbump does not a down-to-earth President make... - Jenthemum

I'm (independent) red, and I don't see Obama is being any more or less approachable than Bush was. But then again being from the latter's home state helps that ;). But there's no doubt he's done more to bring the government process closer to the people it affects than anyone else before him (I'm young, so I may be wrong). And that picture exemplifies that fact - LANjackal

a year or so ago, we had something similar with our PM. he was out an about, meeting people who lost their homes, their loved ones lives when the terrible http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... black saturday bushfires. one guy was talking to the PM and just broke down in front of the cameras and kev gives the guy a hug. there's a lot i don't agree with that the gov. isn't doing at the moment but it was a nice moment.. - Terry O'Fee

That's a nice photo! - TrafficBug

Bush gave nicknames to people, wasn't that down-to-earth? =P - Andrew C (✓)

turdblossom ?? ;) - Terry O'Fee

Can the UK have him when America is finished with him? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

if you don't like him, I proffer a good exchange with italian prime minister. - Bisax

Joshua Schnell to Joshua's feed, The Apple Room: TNW Apple, Appetite, All Things Apple, Apple Fans, macgasmteam, Macstuff, RWW: The Future of Tech

It’s time to abolish free apps on the AppStore - http://www.macgasm.net/2009...

December 22, 2009 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Milton Ramirez, MB Linder, Nispell and 3 other people liked this

no - Will Higgins™

38 more comments

no - Shey

Daryl, when a dev firm can't make more than 21 dollars a day, for each day they worked on the project there's something clearly wrong with the culture on the AppStore. - Joshua Schnell

Also, the argument isn't about liking the free apps. It's about developers not being able to develop for a platform because it doesn't nearly pay out enough to employ themselves. If we keep expecting free apps from developers, the developers are eventually going to leave the iPhone behind because they can't afford to sustain themselves financially. - Joshua Schnell

Shey, Will, care to elaborate? - Joshua Schnell

They're not going to elaborate because they are merely reading the title and not reading the story. Daryl didn't read the story either it appears. - Tamar Weinberg

Here are some snippets for the lazy (cough Daryl/Will/Shey cough): "When a development firm such as blacksmith games puts together an entire month worth of free downloads for the iPhone community, and the community can’t turn around and support the developer by purchasing a $1.99 application in the appstore, something’s clearly rotten in the state of the AppStore." - Tamar Weinberg

Actually, I did read the article. But I'll forgive your snarky comment. :). Reading the article doesn't automatically mean I'm going to agree. Cuz I don't. - Shey

"A dollar ninety-nine for a mobile game is a steal no matter how awesome or crappy a game is, and the fact that a development firm tosses out a tweet that says, “if 5% of the daily appvent visitors would buy plushed i would be happy” reveals a pretty grotesque commentary on iPhone users and their purchasing tendencies." - Tamar Weinberg

Then why just a "no"? Maybe you can add a little more? Surely it's not that difficult... - Tamar Weinberg

In the middle of typing a response... if you guys could just give me a minute... - Shey

Might've been a good idea to say that before the "no." I know it's FF culture not to read articles but only to comment on titles - so apologies if I was misjudging you there, but based on Daryl's comment, it's evident that at least one person didn't read it. - Tamar Weinberg

No. - Akiva

(Just kidding.) - Akiva

LOL@Akiva - Shey

I will let you do that, Akiva. ;) - Tamar Weinberg

First of all -- products and services should be aimed at filling market needs. If you focus on that, you'll succeed. Secondly, if people want to download crappy free apps that are easy to find and that makes them happy, guess what? NEED SOLVED. If there is a market for people who want an app that does more and are willing to pay for it and you can fill that need --- NEED SOLVED. If there isn't a market for it, then don't complain about it -- create a better product or fill another need. - Shey

Shey, fair points, but it's not an issue of a "better product" when the culture of free makes "better products" harder to sell. - Tamar Weinberg

Thirdly, it isn't the customer's fault that your development costs are too high. - Shey

No, it's not. But this isn't that abnormal for this market. I bet development costs are high for every decent game in the app store. - Tamar Weinberg

The bottom line is that the culture shift has made it impossible for GOOD products to sell. Look at this article from TUAW: http://www.tuaw.com/2009... - Tamar Weinberg

@Tamar I totally get the damaging effects of "the culture of free". That culture will always be around, so you can a) fight it and reduce your share of the market or b) embrace it, and yes, competition will increase, but so will the overall iPhone share and your share of that share. Get it :) - Shey

It's a shame to have really great products that can't sell. But in the end, if no one is willing to pay for it -- competition or not -- that's all that matters. - Shey

I understand that. I also think Josh's argument is very valid. If App store apps had to cost money, it wouldn't always be around. Embracing it in a competitive market with over 100k games is damn hard. TUAW says it nicely, "Everyone is still working to unlock success in the App Store, but with over 100,000 products on the shelves, it has become increasingly more difficult for the good apps to stand apart." - Tamar Weinberg

People would be more willing to pay for it if there weren't so many free games in the app store. I personally am guilty of it. I won't buy games because there are free apps that can consume my time, even if the games rock. - Tamar Weinberg

@Tamar Then I think the problem is not with the free apps. The problem is with the iTunes' capability of showcasing good apps through social/recommendation engines. - Shey

@Tamar I agree there -- but you won't get anywhere close to 100% conversion. And when others find out that apps are no longer free -- they'll just go to another platform, like Android, and all iPhone devs will lose. - Shey

The App Store needs Amazon's ability to produce recommendations based on what you've downloaded (and from other people who have downloaded what you've downloaded). Right now, it's these big pools of apps that aren't really, in any way, differentiated from each other except by title and icon and very loose definitions. 'New and Noteworthy' and 'What's Hot' don't really tell me ANYTHING... more... - Akiva

Shey, maybe social recommendation engines work, but I'm not seeing the power in those that I'm engaged in. I'm also not looking at 100% conversion, but some conversion that translates to decent sales would be nice. And personally, I think it's close-minded and stupid for developers to only focus on the iPhone market. I personally am not going to buy an iPhone. I'll keep my iPod touch and get an Android phone. If only developers would flock to the Android platform. - Tamar Weinberg

Woah, I jump in the shower and come back to a boat load of comments... catching up... responses to follow. ;) - Joshua Schnell

Akiva, there are recommendations, but I personally used them 1% of the time. There's a "Customers Also Bought" section on the bottom of each app's page though, but it's not very popular. - Tamar Weinberg

I think this can all be summed up with "Free != Best Option". If we stop categorizing things as Free and Not Free we might actually get better recommendations, and find applications that can provide us with the greatest marginal utility. I'd love to see the analytics on the amount of users who just go straight to the free section of the store. - Joshua Schnell

Akiva, I completely agree with the recommendation engine needing serious work. I've commented on it a number of times on the site, primarily here: http://su.pr/1TfAHz and here: http://su.pr/1I0Exv Apple really needs to rework the system. They're long overdue, and need to start embracing social media technologies. - Joshua Schnell

On a tangent, Blacksmith Games sound like they were operating inefficiently, art, story, and level design can be done in parrallel, at least for a small portion of the time. They should also focus on building a game engine that can be used as a frame work, reducing overall time for initial production down a few months, and subsequent titles at maybe half the total time, the story and... more... - Jimminy, CoG of FF

WinMo has had free apps since 2000, if not sooner. What makes iPhone so special that their devs -- many of whom switched over -- can't keep up? Palm has had free apps forever, too. No tears, no abolition. - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

Jimminy, those are excellent point, but what about the barrier of entry in to a market? If the barrier is so high that new comers can't compete, or even break even, won't developers give up on the system? It worries me that innovative applications might not make it to the device because a developer can't afford to develop for the iphone. Blacksmith Games was just an example, but they're surely not the exception to the rule. - Joshua Schnell

Cecily, that's awesome. How funny would it be if Apple released that ratio. I'd probably be shamed publicly. ;) I think the problem is across the board. I know i'm guilty of looking for a free option first. Why pay 10.00 for omnifocus's app, when I can get something for free. - Joshua Schnell

LOL Christopher, in that case, I hope they aren't successful. They should be looking for prospective buyers who can pay up front, not at the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. - Tamar Weinberg

This is a really interesting article and discussion. While yes, there are many things the developers can do to improve their chances (and hey, if the market wants something, you have to work with that fact, not against it), I don't think that Apple is entirely blameless in this whole dysfunctional arrangement. The single choke-point (with not very good recommendation or exposure... more... - Chieze Okoye

Don't forget about in-app purchases feature, which was recently introduced for free apps. Some of the apps (namely, Eliminate) made a fortune off in-app purchases, while remaining free. - Pavlo Zahozhenko

Thomas Power

The end of a legend or just a rest and recovery period? http://www.examiner.com/x-14552...

December 12, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Milton Ramirez liked this

Penny

Before and After! Blonde to Brunette

December 4, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Jason A. Samfield, Roberto Arancibia, Alfredo 亜瑠布れっど and 55 other people liked this

Much shorter at the back too :D - Penny

27 more comments

oh snap! Hello, pretty! I mean, Penny. :) - Bren

Pretty Penny!! - Derrick

Pretty Penny Penny ~ - junrxu

smokin in any colour - Michael W. May

Thank you! I was so nervous going dark, but I LOVE it :D - Penny

Great 1st shot there. You look awesome. Down to earth and hawt. - Josh Haley

The dark is a tad less "innocent" (ha) and a tad more sultry. You've tipped the angel/devil balance from slightly one way to slightly the other way ;) - Michael W. May

I'll have to take a pic with my devil horns next ;) - Penny from iPhone

know i have been called creepy for commenting like this but i would say you look great in both! - ffcode

Thanks! - Penny

I love the smoky eyes in the brunette shots - you are going to find that you will have much more fun with makeup as a brunette - more drama ;-p - Robyn Hawk

BIG LIKE. Well done. - Amani

cute. :) - edythe

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *breath* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *breath* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *breath* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN *collapses* - Johnny

very pretty =] - Marissa

woo woo woo! - Steven Perez

<3 - Mitch

Thank you :) ... Johnny, I will assume your comment is positive. Or else I just scared you to death! - Penny

I had a feeling Johnny would have a hard time recovering from this post. ;) - Josh Haley

S U L T R Y - JA Castillo

*secondary swoonage* - Johnny from iPhone

it makes you so younger :) - mehrzad

HAWT and HAWT (definitely a younger look, probably because it's more edgy) - Rah-PM 2012

*stammer* - Mo Kargas

Brunette is where it's at. - Andy Bakun

Omg! Where did Penny go ;)) <3 - Neya

ps. hawt u are ^^ - Neya

Thanks everyone! Should have done this ages ago :D - Penny

Ian May

Last night, my kids and I were sitting in the living room and I said to them, 'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.' They got up, unplugged the Computer, and threw out my beer.

December 4, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

WoH: Minding her Steves, Milton Ramirez, April and 18 other people liked this

I heard that before without the "fluids from a bottle" and "threw out my beer" :) - David Gross

5 more comments

I've heard it before too, Dave, with different variations, but it always brings a smile to my face. - Ian May

Cute, cute, cute. - Laurel LaFlamme

If my kids unplugged my computer, they'd be living in a vegetative state (just kidding). :) - Curdy G

LOL - Ian May from IM

yep :) - David Gross from email

Oh I never have to worry about my kid pulling the plug on my computer. In fact, the nice shiny powerful machine I am using was a gift from my daughter, because she wanted her mom to be happy. - April

Paul Buchheit

Tornado vs Rails: http://www.youtube.com/watch...

September 10, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Graham Sergeant, Jim Huller, Fabrizio Giordano and 110 other people liked this

;) - Paul Buchheit

24 more comments

awesome - Ayman Shurafa

wow. insane! - Caio

Looks like Tornado won! - Private Sanjeev

love the metaphor :) - andy brudtkuhl

brilliant. Alternative comment: this metaphor is a train wreck - Ivan Kirigin

haha love it - Rasmus Lauridsen

Smashing! Simply smashing... - Chris Heath

Ivan +1! - Kevin L

so sad story :( trains are so unprotected.. - я был в лесу

physics is a beaatch for sure - Robert Higgins

That video never gets old. Never underestimate the power of nature. - Jim Goldstein

This highlights the need for additional Superman III technology investment. - Jay Cuthrell

wow!! :) - Oguz Serdar

:) - Micah

\m/ - Friendfeed's Francisco

AMAZING footage. Dayum! - Josh Haley

That was worth watching even ignoring the obviously cute pun. - Greg Grothaus

Paul is probably just joking - but if he is serious about this pun i would assume it's for good reason. - Chris Heath

and i bet paul just couldn't wait for them to open up tornado when he first saw this video - Chris Heath

amazing - boro

should hitler be saying something about it now :) - vinod

MOther Nature indeed - Mark Mason

WOW! That reminds me...I still have some video from this summer's train trip to post. Nothing this exciting happened, I'm afraid. - Eph Zero

YEAH BABY - Çağatay " SKYLAB " Şama

Just as I expected, it's all twisted. - Dustin Sallings

Steven Perez

Hey Guys, Don't Want Kids? A Vascetomy Is Probably the Way to Go | Reproductive Justice and Gender | AlterNet - http://www.alternet.org/reprodu...

November 21, 2009 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Anna Haro, Penguin, Marty and 7 other people liked this

"You will lose your sex drive. Your genitals will swell. You will suffer excruciating pain. You won’t be able to get an erection or ejaculate. You won’t be a man anymore. While it is a routine operation—nearly 500,000 are performed in the United States every year—the myths about vasectomies fester. In fact, the outpatient procedure is a simple form of birth control for men, intended to be permanent, in which the health care provider closes or blocks the tubes that carry sperm. This prevents sperm from leaving the body or causing pregnancy; the body instead absorbs it. Used as birth control, vasectomies are nearly 100 percent effective." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

40 more comments

People keep suggesting I get one of these (including fiance), but there is something inside me that just can't do it. - Rah-PM 2012

Had a friend who did it. He said it helped solidify his relationship with his wife. - Steven Perez

I'm getting one Monday. Didn't have to think twice about it and my wife says that a vasectomy makes me more of a man, while a man who falls into the trap of the vasectomy myths, is de facto less of a man. - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

I got one 30 years ago, no problems! :) - Lars Clausen

@Rahsheen, your fiance? So she NEVER wants to have kids with you after you get married? - Alex Scrivener

I'm with you, Rahsheen... there are other ways to practice birth control. Plus, something my friend said to me, a guy who's married and has three kids, sticks with me: "What if something happens to my family? Wouldn't I want a chance to start another family?" Generally, I'm against any elective surgery that takes away natural functions - .LAG liked that

@LAG: but what if you're in your 40s or older, you would still want to start a new family after that, so when your kids are graduating you will be retiring? I agree that when you're still young a vasectomy is not the birth control of choice. And when the time comes for birth control, would you rather have your wife have a very invasive procedure (tubal ligation or hysterectomy) in favor of a simple outpatient vasectomy? - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

Interesting article: http://friendfeed.com/gender-... - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

Of course, I have to jump in now...lol. @LAG: I would suggest that you list out those other forms of birth control, and consider their pros and cons, then draw a comparison. The vast majority of birth control place responsibility on the female partner, often with side effects that aren't great in the long term. Second, elective surgery that takes away natural functions? Which natural function does vasectomy take away? @Steven - great topic! :D - Prosey BUTTONS!

This will be our form of birth control once we're done having children. If I can have a baby cut out of my belly, my husband can easily have his vas deferens snipped! - ☆ Mellyboo ☆

My ex refused to get snipped. His argument? I shouldn't breed anyway, since I had depression. (Of course, he's (a) got borderline personality disorder, (b) got Asperger syndrome, (c) an abusive a**hole, (d) all of the above. - Ladyepiphanybug

Oh Heather, what a POS. Sounds a lot like my ex - who, when I suggested we get marriage counseling told me, "We don't have a problem, but if you think YOU have a problem, then maybe YOU should see a shrink." -- this, given (at the time) about a decade of TONS of marital problems that I had been suggesting we see a marriage counselor for years about. *HIS* reason for refusing a... more... - Prosey BUTTONS!

Word of caution: *be sure* to go to your follow-up appointment that tests the effectiveness of the operation. A friend of mine didn't and lo was he surprised when his girlfriend came up pregnant a few months later. The operation doesn't always 'take' so you gotta check and make sure. - Kevin Fox

I have a kid already with my fiance and it's still up in the air whether we will have more. She says no, but it's not a set in stone, No. More like a Not Right Now. I'm with LAG in that I'm wary of any procedure that permanently changes what I'm naturally able to do. Plus, I'm only 30. - Rah-PM 2012

Kevin, it can take months before the sperm count is at 0 -- and the docs generally want two 0-counts in a row to be sure. Not necessarily that it doesn't "take" -- just that additional contraception should be used in the meantime. And sperm count checks once per year thereafter, to be sure (because in *very* rare cases, the vas can reconnect). @Rah, yeah, you're in a position that if... more... - Prosey BUTTONS!

Kevin, it depends on how the Dr. does the operation. If he just ties off the vas deferens or makes a cut, it is possible that it could heal back. If he takes a section out of the vas deferens and then cauterizes and stitches both lose ends, it's a pretty sure thing. Also some very small percentage of men apparently have more that two vas deferens tubes and if you don't cut them all, then the procedure does not work, obviously. - Jeff P. Henderson

Recanalization does not guarantee restoration of fertility; and duplicated vas deferens "syndrome" exists in less than 0.05% of the population making it highly unlikely - and the likelihood is that it would be seen/felt during the procedure, or a persistent sperm count of greater than 0 after 6 months would clue the urologist to the possibility. (http://www.vasectomy-information.com/wordpre...) - Prosey BUTTONS!

@Rah: the natural function comprises of two things: semen and sperm. What a vasectomy does is remove the sperm out of the equasion, but your ejaculation will still be pretty much the same, it is only missing the sperm (fertility part). And I ask you the same question I've asked LAG: would you want your fiance to have a tubal ligation or hysterectomy in preference over you having a vasectomy? - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

@Kevin: I have a follow-up in 2 weeks and then I have to provide two semen samples in the next 5 months to make sure the sperm count is zero. After that, it is suggested to do annual sperm check. - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

Rene, my aversion to getting my nuts cut has nothing to do with what I would want my fiance to do. I just don't want a knife anywhere near my business. I don't want to be permanently unable to reproduce. I don't prefer that she does anything. On another note, let's say I still want kids, but she doesn't. Why should I get a vasectomy? - Rah-PM 2012

Rah (I know I'm not Rene, but...) - my thought is if you still want more kids, then something like sterilization is not the right option for you. I disagree with *involuntary* surgery, or undue pressure from another person about something you feel is not something in your best interest. If, however, you were at a place in your life that you knew you and she together absolutely did not... more... - Prosey BUTTONS!

@Rah: it is understood that right now vasectomy is not for you, but your fear of having a knife anywhere near your business is a little irrational, although that is my personal opinion. You are locally anesthetized and you will have a taken a few valium to relax. Plus, trust me, the urologist knows what he is doing. The whole thing was done in less than 15 minutes. - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

Rene is correct, the surgery is really a non-issue, very minor and doesn't hurt. You are in and out of the office in less than an hour. - Jeff P. Henderson

Yup. And now after 8 hours, I only used an icepack (alternating 20-30 off and on) and 2 percocets and I've only feeling a very slight, dull pain. I wouldn't even call it pain, it's a mere annoyance. - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

I'd rather use a condom with spermicide than either party have surgery. I know condoms aren't 100%, but the chances are low enough to be the better alternative to either partner going under the knife. But then, I'm personally aversive of surgery unless it's something I really need. - alphaxion

@alphaxion: what is your reason for the apprehension? Fear? - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

I think it's a deep seated thing due to a disturbing dream I had when I was 7 or 8 where I dreamt my own death (was in a hospital, on a life support machine when they switched it off). Also, I'm uneasy with the concept of casually slicing into a healthy body when non-invasive alternatives exist. No surgery should ever be taken lightly, regardless of how commonly it is performed. - alphaxion

It is true that surgery should never be taken lightly, but the chances that something goes (horribly) wrong with a vasectomy are slim to none. - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

alphaxion, It's about as non invasive as you can get and still call it surgery. Removing a cyst or a mole is probably more invasive. The risk of complications from this procedure is almost nill. - Jeff P. Henderson

I guess there is also the desire to have your options open should minds change over time without requiring yet another procedure. - alphaxion

@alphaxion: That, of course, is a valid reason. - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

@jeff while it's nothing compared to having to go deeply into the body, it's still a drastic solution to a problem with other alternatives. As long as it was proven to not have any major side effects (since flooding the body with extra chemicals/hormones will have other effects than chemical castration), a pill solution would also not be out of the equation. So far, a condom has served me well and not delivered any unexpected presents. I've found my solution. To each their own :D - alphaxion

tho I do agree with the general train of thought that contraception is not just something the woman has to deal with, as we (the male) have an equal share in any offspring too. - alphaxion

My husband called Planned Parenthood from the maternity ward as soon as our one very-much-wanted child was born. Bless him. - m9m, Crone of FriendFeed

Had 1, got clipped. The End. - ‘-.-’ Tutivillus Grift

Rene, Prose Petal ...good points. To Prose's question what natural functions does a vasectomy take away: well, the most important life function of all-- the ability to procreate. To Rene's issue: would you want your kids graduating when you're retiring? I think that really depends on the person, and on the children and the joy (or horror) they bring to ones life. I remember reading... more... - .LAG liked that

I know of no other alternatives for males to achieve permanent 100% contraception. Compared to all of the female alternatives it has significantly less risk and is the least invasive. I understand that it is not for everyone and some people are adverse to surgery of any kind. That's why there are other non surgical methods to chose from if one desires. I did not have an issue with it, it worked fine for me. - Jeff P. Henderson

Jeff ...cool. I think the best thing about it, at least in the States right now, is that each individual can make the choice. I'm for personal choice in all things. - .LAG liked that

@LAG: it is interesting that men have a choice on reproductive measures, while women do no have that same choice. - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

@LAG: I understand the ability to procreate is removed (it's not *technically* contraception; it's sterilization *nod*) -- but once a person has had children, or if a person is CFBC, then beyond the option to remove the ability to procreate, then there is no single other function that vasectomy removes or inhibits. And I fully agree about choice. This is NOT a desired choice for... more... - Prosey BUTTONS!

Or...*heavy sigh*...take away the choice of their newborn infant sons by opting to have them circumcised...which to me is just as bad. - Prosey BUTTONS!

Johnny

I wish someone made Social Media trading cards

November 21, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Alfredo 亜瑠布れっど, Kamilah Reed (K. Gill), David Cook and 34 other people liked this

We already have pillows, why not cards as well? Good call JW. - Mitch

28 more comments

Why not? Maybe in 50 years, they could be worth a pack of Bazooka gum. - Steven Perez

I'll trade you my 2 Louis Gray cards for a Mo Kargas special robot edition card with 2 sticks of gum. - Josh Haley from iPhone

You are blocked, Josh. - Louis Gray

If I had a stick of gum for every block... - Josh Haley from iPhone

^^^ is someone talking? Huh? - Louis Gray

I kid you not, the IT dept (of which I'm not a part) at work made a trading card of each employee in there department and found occasions to hand out full sets all the time. I scoffed inside.... and then I pinned all of them up to adorn my cubicle. - Micah

Your stats dwarf everyone else's, Louis. Maybe I'll hang on to these cards a bit longer. - Josh Haley from iPhone

We could make them like Yu-Gi-Oh and young teenage boys can battle each other with our likeness... - Johnny

In my case, something like Magic would be nicely put to the test. With a 50% artistic impression of each with abilities and mana cost. Armies of the Semantic Web, arise from the data to plunge into the abyss of Web Services, platform in which your abilities will be greatly differing. Be challenged in Twitter world, and be expected to have round which are a lot shorter, be wary of the... more... - Zu from AOD

I wonder how much a Robert Scoble card will be worth in 50 years? ;-) - Jeff P. Henderson

I would be the card that is so common it's worthless :o( - ☆ Mellyboo ☆

Some Photoshop nut with way too much time on their hands should make a set of digital ones. - April

But personally, I'd rather have action figures. - April

The Steven Perez action figure could transform into a bunneh. - ☆ Mellyboo ☆

Johnny's could be like Shaving Ken: http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/FA01042... - ☆ Mellyboo ☆

I'm doing yours now Johnny. I hope you'll like it. - Will Higgins™

We do. They're made by moo - Phill Price from iPhone

http://yfrog.com/0pjohnn... - Will Higgins™

That is awesome! More! More! (please?) - April

Will: that is awesome! I like that you made sure to have the two FF's for awesome :) - aden {Chickadee}

1UP, Will - Josh Haley

I'm such a nerd :D Debating who's next... - Will Higgins™

Will, you should start a blog for it and pick someone each week and do a card for them. - April

I swear I received some at one time from a conference. I'll have to ask my coworker if he remembers them - or it could have been a really weird dream. Anyone remember something like that from sxsw maybe? - Tamara from iPhone

Haha!! Awesome idea!! :D - Susan Beebe from iPhone

My portrait sketches could be used for some of the illustrations! - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

++Will. And Kamilah - YES. - Micah

Nice one Will, do yours then! Or I'll do, I just don't know you that much to define *your* abilities 9) http://friendfeed.com/zjemily... - Zu from AOD

I found them! http://friendfeed.com/beanie... (I really need to clean my desk I think) - Tamara

Shevonne

I'm an Indian Priestess....What up! - http://vida.posterous.com/im-an-i...

October 31, 2009 from Posterous - Comment - Like - Share

consijfeed, Live4Emma (L4S), hollyrae and 34 other people liked this

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry ... - http://vida.posterous.com/im-an-i... - Shevonne from Posterous

13 more comments

Love! So cute! - Que Sarah Sarah

Come and poke my hontas, sugar. - Derrick

*sigh* - EricaJoy

Cool costume, Shevonne! - Ayşe E.

Nice! - Michael Fidler

LOL @ericajoy double sigh. - Liz

@dcfemella but Shevonne, you always look like an Indian Princess..I mean Priestess. Can we count it as a costume? :) - Alex Schleber

*blush - Shevonne

great smile! - Mary Carmen

Thanks Mary! We had a good time - Shevonne

hawt Priestess ;) - Neya

Where do I sign up for worship? - Steven Perez

Cute costume! - John (bird whisperer)

Smokin. - Russellreno

Robert Scoble

The new Facebook feed really rocks and shows mostly items that your friends are engaging on. This changes Facebook fundamentally.

October 24, 2009 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Beau Liening, Matt Ellsworth, Sean Rasmussen and 28 other people liked this

better or worse than Friendfeed?? - Roberto Bonini

16 more comments

It still stinks at memory/intuitive usage though. Here is what I mean as an example. A relatively new user goes to upload a picture. They figure it out, and then sign off. Two days later they want to upload another picture. They can't remember exactly how they did it, and are stuck trying to figure out the process all over again like they had never done it before. It's too busy. Two... more... - Robert Campbell

:-) - Jesse Stay

Roberto: in some ways it's better but I'm still getting used to it. I miss the real time comments, though that pop up here. - Robert Scoble

While I like it, it's not intuitive. Example: friend asked me what the difference is between the "News" feed and "Live" feed. I explained it to her, and she asked how it was better then "highlights". I preferred "highlights" for displaying highly engaged items, myself, but I see the value to the two new systems. Time will tell. Knowing Facebook, they likely won't roll back the feature, and keep powering forward. - Mike Nayyar

If they fix the comments and likes to push things back up to the top, highlights won't be necessary because the more active items are still seen (regarding the live feed, which is all that matters) :-) - Jesse Stay

it is better, but hope it doesn't usher in the untimely death of friendfeed - Stuart

Stuart: no, that won't happen until next year but you can see the trend. Twitter and Facebook are getting new features (and Facebook has 200 people working on its engineering team). FriendFeed has almost no one working on it anymore. So, next year you'll see Facebook and Twitter both pass FriendFeed's feature set. Until then we're happy here! - Robert Scoble

Only thing I do on Facebook is play Farkle. Gotta be really bored for that too. - MicahBear78

When you log in, you get the same News Feed as before. When you click Live Feed you see EVERYTHING in your feed - and comments and likes seem to push things to the top. But my latest update failed to show in the News Feed: it only appeared in the Live Feed. - Michael Slattery

I wonder how the system used to choose what to show you in the highlights section. And is it using some algorithm to SELECT what it shows in Live Feed? (Instead of EVERYTHING as I thought above.) - Michael Slattery

Michael, I think Live feed shows you everything, except those you've hidden. That's the difference from when they had the live feed before. Before you couldn't choose to hide people in your live feed. Also, be sure to use the filters on the left - make some friend lists and filter your live feed by friend list. - Jesse Stay

So when are they going to allow asymmetrical friending and FoaF?THAT'S what's going to change Facebook fundamentally. - Jandy from iPhone

FB live is really awesome - but buggy!! - Susan Beebe

I like the direction the new features are heading, but it still needs better hide and filter customization. - Tony Miller

Agreed. The new Facebook live feed is great and a huge step forward. - Alex Knight

This is circulating on FB: "If you dont like the new FB here is how you can change it back to the old. Look to the top left menu and click on MORE. Then drag STATUS UPDATES to the top. After dragging to top, click on it. That becomes your default and it is like before." - Michael Slattery

Except it's not the same: "Status" only gives you updates, without links, photos or notes. - Michael Slattery

Johnny to Johnny's feed, Rachael Worthington

PWN'd

October 24, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Kol Tregaskes, Snipergirl, Alfredo 亜瑠布れっど and 29 other people liked this

Or: "My wife blowing bubbles into the wind" - Johnny

5 more comments

L........O.........L - Josh Haley from iPhone

Ooops! - Martha

Looks like she is having a good time,, thats the best thing..I hope you both are having a wonderful day.. - SCS of the Space Station

There are worse things to do "into the wind"... if you catch my drift! - Mark J Colonel Colonic

4th pic is priceless. - DB Botts - Just DB Botts

Great series! - Anne Bouey

Steve Rubel

"Three Reasons You Need to Be on FriendFeed *Now*" - http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009...

May 28, 2009 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Alyn William, Rob Fahrni, ciw and 70 other people liked this

Actually, I'm getting tired of Friendfeed. Most discussion is vapid, banal and inconsequential. IOW, a waste of time. - Dawn

21 more comments

Me too Matthew. I use it that way to some degree. - Steve Rubel from email

Is there a way to get a friend feed onto a personal web site? - Peter Fletcher

Thanks for posting this Steve. And Dawn, are you deliberately ironic? Regardless, this post is for those who may not have the time to engage actively here, but will still benefit from being part of the service. - Hutch Carpenter

@Peter - try this: http://friendfeed.com/embed - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Thanks Brian. - Peter Fletcher

Nice work but a lil late on this BNO - The Real sofarsoShawn

Peter, you can also embed an individual thread on your site by copying the code from the "Share" link - Rah-PM 2012

Oh, Dawn, that's rich cause I blocked you for bringing vapid, banal, and inconsequential stuff to friendfeed a while back. All you have to do is look at all the items from the Google I/O conference to see just how wrong you are: http://is.gd/HaUQ - Robert Scoble

"Personal Content Database" is quite apt (especially if we could have our service icons back) - When working in twitter and waiting for twitter's page to refresh a new post, it is quicker to jump to FriendFeed, because the post is there instantly. - Chris Loft

@rahsheen thanks for the tip. - Peter Fletcher

BS, Robert. You blocked me because I'm not one of your sycophants but actually challenge your assumptions, motivations and actions. Like when I said you were neglecting your blog, you retaliated against me, but just two weeks later, Arrington said the same thing and you took that seriously. But I'm just a female, right Robert?...somebody you keep calling stupid, even though I'm sure my... more... - Dawn

Amen to that! - Calvin Ayre

Dawn: you don't even have a clue about why I blocked you. It's cause you were arguing religion and politics and had no clue who Ralph Reed was and then you followed it up with the lamest posts on global warming I've seen that it made me wonder why I was arguing with someone so clueless (and I forget there were a few other things you were arguing about). So much for that high grade point average. By the way, I don't remember Mike Arrington ever talking about that stuff. - Robert Scoble

BTW: I unblocked her for some reason, I still don't know why. Oh, yeah, my brother stuck up for her and so far I've seen just the lamest additions to the community, like this one here. If friendfeed's discussion is vapid, banal, and inconsequential IT IS OUR FAULT. So, Dawn, this one is on you. Good riddens, I say. - Robert Scoble

Ahh, community. - τorƍue

#4 Bacon - The Real sofarsoShawn

Yeah, right, Robert. I'm so lame that Louis Gray announced both on his blog and on FF that I'm a great person to follow. And you're comment about Ralph Reed just once again shows your bigotry against Christians, lumping us all in one basket - that far right fundamentalist basket that you once belonged to and now despise. I never did belong to it. I'm Catholic, not "born again." I've had... more... - Dawn

Btw, two people have DM'd me that Scoble is best ignored. I can't do that. Being the target of repeated and consistent defamation by Robert Scoble isn't the same as Joe Blow FFer calling you an idiot. Robert's words carry a lot of weight in the tech world. I've asked Robert privately and politely to back off and as you can see, he's refused to do that. I not only have the right to defend myself, but I have a duty to my present and future investors and to my future employees. - Dawn

FriendFeed's usefullness to me would increase 100% if I could automatically filter out every post with "friendfeed" in the title. That way I could get rid of the constant yapping about how great it is, and actually use it usefully. - Ian Betteridge

Bump for the good times. - Mark Krynsky

This is a post from last may! The situation has totally changed since then - DC Crowley

"even though I'm sure my IQ is higher than yours. Were you valedictorian of your high school? Or graduate magna cum laude? Did you get a graduate degree with honors" wow that means even i don't qualify :( - ffcode

Paul Buchheit to Paul's feed, Collaborative Charity

Text books seem generally expensive and insipid (http://friendfeed.com/paul...). Are there any promising open-source textbook projects? (high quality content and likely to see actual use)

June 25, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Julia, nahnu, Bill and 40 other people liked this

http://twitter.com/bookmaid - RIT Rochester Institute of Technology has their own text book exchange on Twitter :) - Susan Beebe

19 more comments

Obama's chief technology dude (can't remember his name) headed a project like this before taking the cabinet position. The folks at Buzz Out Loud (@acedtect @Mollywood @raygun01) would know about this as he recorded a message for their 1000th episode last week and we were reminded of the program (somewhere on the east coast). - Kevin Arth

paul - Literacybridge.org is a great non-profit focusing on this issue. there are numerous issues here in terms of language localization, cost of print and transport of books, ability to have access to and understand content, etc. many textbook programs also assume one basic fact that is not necessarily true - literacy. although i am a fan of building schools and education, the reality... more... - Joyce

IMO, most textbooks betray a massive bias of quantity over quality, in part because quantity is confused with depth. If professors were doing their jobs (some are of course), they'd concentrate on distilling out the key points rather than partake of the laziness/spoils of the rigged textbook market... most textbooks are the equivalent of a public works program. - Alex Schleber

I am planning on using an open-source book for the intro programming class I am teaching next fall at Colorado University - http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpy... - Robert Felty

Doesn't the Wikimedia Foundation have a project for open source textbooks? EDIT: Why yes, yes they do, although YMMV. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki... - Chris Charabaruk

I agree with Alex. Sometimes a good curriculum or at least a lesson plan is more important than a textbook. That's why I think a great project is Curriki.org. It is an online community, where educational resources can be created, shared and re-used in an open license environment. They concentrate mainly on K-12 curriculum, however it seems like it can be a great tool to share the... more... - Maciek Zielinski

Paul I agree that textbooks are way too expensive. As you may know, because of the way textbooks get adopted by some states, most of the kids in the country end up learning from books that were specifically designed to get approved in Texas and California. So how's this for an idea of how to give away your "lots of money": fund the development of a complete set of textbooks through an... more... - Peter

Flat World Knowledge: Check it out: Professors donate time to produce textbooks. Students get them for free. - http://www.flatworldknowledge.com - scott willeke

Note the importance of audio to building literacy - http://literacybridge.org/talking... - Ed Dodds

Consider also that if a person "open schools" all the way up through university material, there is no way to CLEP a degree. The US Department of Education should issue guidelines for the degrees where this makes sense. - Ed Dodds

...i suspect that the textbook business is terrifically profitable for publishers, and that they'll fight any move to displace them tooth and nail. - .LAG liked that

There's also http://ck12.org/ They make it easy for teachers to put together custom textbooks by reusing existing pieces of content (chapters and such). - Meryn Stol

The South African "Free High School Text Book" project has a reasonable reputation: http://www.fhsst.org/. There are a lot of free non-textbook resources available through OERCommons (http://www.oercommons.org/) - Nick Lothian

@Peter - curriki looks pretty interesting. Do you have any kind of harvesting facilities? - Nick Lothian

@Nick. Yes. Curriki provides several ways to export materials from the site. Each of the 30,000 free and open source resources can be downloaded on to your computer, where they can be printed. You can also get the XML data for any resource. In both cases, you just have to mind the specifics of the Creative Commons license requirements. You can also embed a widget for any learning... more... - Peter

Here is a project that I have tried to contribute information to and one of my websites is actually listed there because at their request, it was easier for me to start a site of my own with the info I gave them, than for them to list all the book titles and links I provided them with. http://textbookrevolution.org - April

Curriki is a knowledge exchange which is the 21st century textbook. EVERCHANGING, always adding, always collaborating. When I see this, I don't just see worksheets... I see customizable games- good easy to change content. I see LEARNING ACTIVITIES, best practices, I see collaboration, I see a whole curriculum FOR TEACHER INSTRUCTION- on learning how to use and implement different... more... - Sharnon Johnston-Robinett

Ditto on Flatworld, but @scott, profs are not donating their time for free -- basic web-version of text is made for free, with chapters, learning materials, etc. available for fee-based download -- don't have to use the fee-based material, but is very nice to see business model that offers a good hybrid between paper-only and web-only content. In my classes, students often print out material because they want to work on their computers and have something "hard" to refer to. - Mickey Schafer

Check out my new blogs on Curriki, we address this issue and hope the community will make sure we are sustainable. - Bobbi Kurshan

http://www.cnx.org and http://ocw.mit.edu - Just Joe from iPod

Mary Carmen

Don't ask. Really. Don't.

October 15, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Milton Ramirez, Charley M, bear (aka Mike Taylor) and 16 other people liked this

These boots were made for walkin'.... - MoTO Bott

16 more comments

The expression is priceless. - MoTO Bott

Seriously, it was the only way to get the boots in the frame. - Mary Carmen

There are so many other interpretations to this shot... - WoH: Minding her Steves

Let's not explore them - Mary Carmen

*dead* - MoTO Bott

No, let's not...I love the boots, though! - WoH: Minding her Steves

*drool* - Carmen wBabby

You don't look in the least bit uncomfortable. ;) - Nakachi

the book cart in the background just makes this picture perfect. - Laura Norvig

It was the best stretch I had all week. In fact I did the other leg when I was finished. - Mary Carmen

LMAO Mary!! - Nakachi

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :) - Steven Perez

Cute!! - SCS of the Space Station

I love this picture so much. So. very. much. Mary Carmen, giving her all for the team. - MoTO Bott

I am a complete ham and will always take one for the team if it will be funny. - Mary Carmen

Woots for Boots!!!!!!! - Mary Carmen

w00t! - MoTO Bott

lris

Hello from the reference desk.

October 13, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

rowlikeagirl, Kol Tregaskes, Alfredo 亜瑠布れっど and 30 other people liked this

*waves from GA* - LB shining

55 more comments

Shhhh, you guys are shouting in a library. C'mon. You know better. ;-) - lris

Hi! Hi! Hi! *jumps up and down* - Catherine Pellegrino

PIPE DOWN, CHRIS AND JOSH! (oops) - LB shining

ALLO PET! - Georgie Bestie

hi! - Jenica

Excuse me, where the bathroom? - Betsy

Can I use the stapler? - Catherine Pellegrino

(What? That's not your most common question?) - Betsy

Howdy! (Oooh, nice windows!) - Kirsten

Kristen, that's one of my favorite things about our reference room. Windows like that along all of two sides. - lris

Do you have a hole punch? ;) Hiya! - ~Courtney F.

hi iris! - holly #ravingfangirl

Hole punches and staplers are RIGHT BEHIND YOU. Bathrooms are down one floor. *makes three hash marks under "directionals"* - lris

Can I print this for free? - LB shining

Yes - lris

allo ma belle! - jambina

HELLO - marthalib

I've lost track of my purpose in life. Can you help me find it? - marthalib

Uh... here's the number for the Wellness Center? - lris

Which of these books should I check out? [actual question I fielded earlier today] - Catherine Pellegrino

*hands Catherine a magic 8 ball* - lris

What's the name of that green book I read three years ago? It's about a woman... in a country... - LB shining

Do you have any tape? Do you have an extra yellow highlighter? Do you have any white-out(tm)? Where is the paper cutter? Do you have any red pens? Do you have any paper clips? - Just Joe

Where's the bathroom? - ellbeecee

They are one floor down... - Just Joe

Is it gender neutral - family friendly with a baby changing station? - Just Joe

Do you have a comfortable lactation room? - Just Joe

Shhhh, no shouting. - Just Joe

SCISSORS!!!!! - marthalib

And this, my friends, is how we build social capital and foster a sense of community... - marthalib

I iz a passionate librarian. - lris

HAI! - AJ Batac :)

would you copyedit my paper? - marthalib

Hola! :) - JA Castillo

Can you be a proctor for my University of XXXXX exam? - Just Joe

I need peer-reviewed articles about the Jonas Brothers. - Betsy

Betsy, *dead* - joey

IIPA reports that there are 137 articles published in the popular musical press about the Jonas Brothers, but no scholarly journal articles. - DJF

DO ANYBODY NO WHERE THE REFERENCE DESK IS? - WoH: Minding her Steves

do you have an envelope I can have? a clean one? preferably a large manila one so I don't have to fold up my very important papers? - Miriella

Hello Iris! You look charming. - Laura H.

Now I want to find a reference question to ask Iris, just so I can talk to her... - Louise Alcorn

Is the lower level downstairs? - ellbeecee

Hiya, Louise. How's life? - lris

So lovely. :) - Derrick

Derrick's my new bestest friend. - lris

Hi Iris. Life is crazy and more than a little stressful, but thanks for asking :) That helps. You gonna be at IL? If not, MLTC in March? - Louise Alcorn

Unfortunately, no, and no. I'll be the jealous person watching all of those flickr photos flow past. - lris

I'll make a point of stopping in for coffee in March, then! *puts on calendar* - Louise Alcorn

WHO IS GOING TO FIX MY PAPER FOR ME? - marthalib

Hi, Iris. I think they like you. I think they're also noticing an influx of librarians here on FF, as am I. Are you new, or am I oblivious? And Derrick's right. You're lovely! - Auntie Buttinsky Botts

Louise, you look just like my late, very adored Bubbish - 1989-2004! Died of kidney failure, a complication of type II diabetes - he loved the people food a little too much. - Auntie Buttinsky Botts

Hi Mary. Nope, I'm not new. Been around these parts for a couple years now. Nice to meet you. - lris

lol, MaryB, it took me a minute to realize you weren't insulting me - I forgot my avatar is a cat! LOL. That is my beloved Molly (1993-2002). I miss her muchly. She was very photogenic. More so than I, hence the avatar. - Louise Alcorn

My husband was saying the other day that the next time we have an opening we should look for a pair that match Molly and Bubbish. They really are elegant-looking, I think, and Bubbish was incredibly loving. From my phone - Auntie Buttinsky Botts from email

Iris, you are lovely. I too will not be attending IL and watching all of those flickr photos...Your library has great light! - Eric Sizemore

Milton Ramirez › Likes