Gavin - Comments - FriendFeed

10 Ways Twitter Will Change Blog Design in 2009

Sunday at 3:27 pm - mashable.com - Link

"These are some great ideas about how Twitter will integrate into the blogging experience. One thing I hope we don’t see though: Tweets mixed with regular blog posts. I have to admit I’d likely unsubscribe from a blog that crowded my RSS Reader with tweets." - Hutch Carpenter

Totally agreed with the mixin feeds! - Gavin

Gavin - Disqus

Re: RSS as the foundation for realtime (Scripting News)

Sunday at 2:02 pm - scripting.com - Link

"I don't think the current state of pinging server is going to be good enough for indexing." - Gavin

Gavin

20 Weird Logos That Work (and Why They Do) | Bite-Dose

January 2 at 7:58 pm - bite-dose.com - Link

Mahesh CR, Devon Campbell, Bob and 2 other people liked this

Awesome article! - Gavin via Bookmarklet

Paul Buchheit

Economy Recovery Plan

January 2 at 6:36 pm - philip.greenspun.com - Link

Cornelius Toole, shami, Kelly W. and 26 other people liked this

"We know what America's future looks like if we continue along our present path. It looks like Michigan." - Paul Buchheit via Bookmarklet

26 more comments

"Our country's best performing schools (all of them private) have non-unionized teaching staffs" - All our best schools are private? Depressing to hear since private schools cost a ton of money - Bindu Reddy

"eliminate the requirement to use union labor on public works projects; it shouldn't cost the taxpayers more to build a structure than it would cost Microsoft or Google" -- no kidding - Craig Eddy

The U.S. needs to drastically reduce social and entitlement spending. That is what is out of control. - Spencer

And the sad part, Spencer, is that the majority of that spending is off-book and rarely reported. - Craig Eddy

Hasn't the cut-taxes-and-let-business-prosperity-grow model been discredited already? This is like describing Communism as the solution to the world's problems in 1989. - ⓞnor

Cutting taxes does spur business, the problem is the government just keeps spending more. The government took in more money after the tax cuts, but it doesn't matter if out of control spending blows it. - Spencer

@nor...no, it hasn't been discredited. Economies are cyclical by nature. - Craig Eddy

Well, Spencer & other pro-corporate Reaganomics fans, do you have evidence from history that cutting taxes, services, and regulation helps pull economies out of depression? It's sort of a lot to take on faith. Certainly what seems to have pulled the US out of the Great Depression was the almost unthinkably massive increase in spending and government debt during WWII. - ⓞnor

Well if a huge increase in government spending and debt helped in the Great Depression, then we wouldn't be in the situation we are in now. I don't know why you are labeling someone as "pro-corporate" just because they favor lower taxes. High taxes does not create nor encourage business. - Spencer

@nor, Right now cutting taxes may be a mistake as the last stimulus package did not stimulate the economy much. Resulted in more saving by consumers. At the moment, the Government needs to spend to create jobs... However we should spend it on stuff like education and non-union labor as the author suggests. In the long run however, most of what the author suggests, esp around benefits etc, seems to make a lot of fiscal sense - Bindu Reddy

Spending is not the way out of a recession/depression. This was already shown in the Great Depression. - Gavin

Sorry, what do you think *did* end the Great Depression, if it wasn't government-funded economic activity during WW2? I'm describing your position as "pro-corporate" because the goal of your proposal seems to be to promote corporate business growth, which you feel in turn will rescue the economy -- am I wrong? - ⓞnor

Who here thinks that the best way for you, personally, to eliminate your own household debt is by taking on more debt? Why then do you think it will work for the country? - Mark VandenBerg

If the goal is to eliminate debt, then taking on more debt is bad. If the goal is to fix a roof that sprung a leak that's rotting everything under it, then some debt might not be the worst thing. If I'm spending a huge amount every month on heating bills, getting some insulation installed could be really great, even if I have to do buy the insulation with a credit card. But again: what ended the Depression, if not government spending in WW2? - ⓞnor

Economists of all stripes agree that stimulus is the way to get us out of the current recession (or whatever we're calling it). And it was much the same with he great depression: as ⓞnor says, it was the massive direct creation of jobs by the gov't that did it. Notably, an attempt to balance the budget in 1937 prolonged The Great Depression. - j1m

Loved the photo :) Is it Cuba? - andrei_c

"immigration that encourages high earners".. It kills me that people talk about building a fence on the Mexican border without talking about sucking up every ambitious Asian we can attract. - Clare Dibble

But on another matter, note that union busting is actually not particularly useful. In fact, back in the day when the median income still grew, union membership was growing too. In the end, unions are good for America. - j1m

Monopolies are rarely known for efficiency and hard work. I don't know why unions would be any different. The incentives are just too broken. - Paul Buchheit

Union members still have bosses and can get fired (or not promoted, or not hired) and so on. Whereas monopoly customers really have no such choice -- if I don't like my cable installer's habit of not showing up, I can't fire him and ask for a new one. - ⓞnor

I don't think 'reduced taxes for cashflow-negative businesses' is such a great idea. It actually reduces management motivation and helps non-profitable businesses to linger longer before dying off, and decreases economy efficiency as whole. At least, it will be the case with old businesses that became non-profitable due to poor management or market shifts. - andrei_c

For further reading: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/I... - Craig Eddy

The rules for depreciation are really dumb. The point is to enable long term investment andrei. Purely non-viable businesses already don't pay taxes, but the ones that are cash-flow negative due to long term investments do, which discourages those investments. - Paul Buchheit

@Paul, thanks for the clarification, it really makes sense then, provided there's no loopholes big enough to sneak entire Detroit in. - andrei_c

Curiously , this discussion has a pic that is obviously from an Indian city showing the dinosaur Indian car, the Ambassador, which if I am not mistaken is based on the Morris design and dates back to the 60's ! Wonder why ? - viki saigal

ⓞnor, The auto manufactures do not have a choice regarding the UAW. If the auto manufactures don't like the deal with the UAW, they cannot fire the UAW and ask for a new union. - Gary Burd

Yeah, I too see unions as functioning in a way analogous to a monopoly, and this seems unfortunate in roughly the way actual monopolies are. otoh, it's helped a lot of people get offered jobs that pay a living wage, as it were. - j1m

Okay, the Ambassador is a great car I insist! And its 1962. - shami

Steve Rubel - Flickr

Scribd Does Books

January 2 at 5:22 pm - flickr.com - Link

Seth Greenblatt, Gavin and AJ Kohn liked this

How is this different from Google Books/Book Search? - Gavin

Robert Scoble

“At Half Moon Bay brewery where my Twitter followers didn't get me a table any faster.”

December 27 at 2:38 pm - Link

Susan Beebe, Roberto Bonini, Jared Smith and 7 other people liked this

So, apparently there IS something Twitter can't do? - Mark VandenBerg

9 more comments

Even the popular people have to wait, sometimes, eh? - Julie Anderson

Do they even know what Twitter is? - Gavin

Did you try explaining "I am an important person ON THE INTERNET!"? - Daniel Bruce

Daniel: they answered "you are not Mike Arrington." - Robert Scoble

@Daniel I tried that once. But then someone said, "I actually am, and have never heard of you." I skulked off. :P - Alex Wilhelm

How rude =) - Daniel Bruce

Oh, and they served me cold fries. Sigh. - Robert Scoble

It's a brewery? - how was the beer? - Brian Sullivan

I like their Lemon Drop. Mmmmm... Tasty. & Lemony. - Lisa L. Seifert

http://twitpic.com/x47y - Ed Shaz/NextInstinct

only because you didn't call a tweetup early enough! ;-) - Bill Sanders

Gavin - Disqus

Re: Jake And Amir Dot Com - Happy Holidays

December 23 at 1:04 pm - jakeandamir.com - Link

"Woah, didn't see that either, so cool though!" - Gavin

Gavin - Disqus

Re: Obama's bone-headedness, day 2 (Scripting News)

December 23 at 10:57 am - scripting.com - Link

"I'm not sure what exactly you're saying. Please sort out your words and thoughts and then say something people can understand!" - Gavin

Gavin - Disqus

Re: Obama's bone-headedness, day 2 (Scripting News)

December 23 at 10:38 am - scripting.com - Link

"Isn't Obama about bringing people together. Then this is the first step." - Gavin

DeWitt Clinton

“I'm looking for a small handful of FriendFeed users to help test something. Any volunteers?”

December 21 at 11:52 am - Link

Benjamin Golub, Kol Tregaskes, Joe Dawson and 12 other people liked this

how can i help? - MikeAmundsen

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I'll invite you to a room and then show you. Thanks! - DeWitt Clinton

right here. abdullahi.mohomed at gmail.com - Mohomed=genieyclo

Yes? - Robert Scoble

cool - MikeAmundsen

Volunteering ! - Thomas Bøhm

Yah! - Steven Perez

You'll crash it, Scoble. I even have code in place to defend against you. : ) I meant that in a good way -- I can't get it to scale up to the number of friends you have. But I'd love to see what happens. - DeWitt Clinton

Okay, invited all of you to join the room. If it doesn't crash then I'll open it up a bit more shortly. - DeWitt Clinton

I'll help - Aaron Hood

Room for one more? - Michael R. Bernstein

I'll be a guinea pig! - MLx

Thanks, sent another batch of invites to the room. - DeWitt Clinton

You can count me in, if you still need help - Dennis Bjørn Petersen via twhirl

I can help too ... if it's not too late. - Amani

As long as it's not electric shock therapy-ish I'm in. - Micah Wittman

What are you working on? - Dave Winer

Sent another round of room invites out. If it holds up I'll do a few more later. - DeWitt Clinton

I can help - Marco Ramirez

I'll give it a shot. I love testing stuff! - Mark VandenBerg

If you need another, you can include me, too. - Helen Hoefele

I can volunteer. - Atul Arora

have you reached your small handful yet? I'm interested. - Troy Forster via twhirl

Sent some more to everyone up to here. Thanks! - DeWitt Clinton

Colour me game. - David HC Soul

I'll help, if you still need it - Bobbi Newman

Can I have a pony too? - Andre

I'll check it out if you need more. - Brandon Titus

Sent more. - DeWitt Clinton

I would be very interested in helping. Let me know what you need. - Mike Elliott

DeWitt, sure I will please sign me up! :) - directeur

Yes. :) - Erica Baker

Sure, count me in! - Bill Sodeman

Sent, sent, and sent. - DeWitt Clinton

as long as I don't have to get naked and bend over.. I'm in! - Capn' One-Eye ☠

I'm in for the next round - Dion Almaer

@Dion - sent. - DeWitt Clinton

I'm in! - Gavin

I'm in too x - Joe Dawson

In for next round, if needed. - Casey

i'm in - John Duff

Sure, what's all this about? - Kol Tregaskes

Everyone get a chance to try it out that wanted to? - DeWitt Clinton

I'd be happy to check it out! - Laura Norvig

@Laura - sent! - DeWitt Clinton

The app held up swimmingly and the feedback has been extremely valuable. I'm going to hold off on the wide release until Jan as I'll be mostly offline next week, but would anyone else like to test this out before then? - DeWitt Clinton

I can't believe I'm not already on your trusted testers list. Sign me up! =) - Tom Stocky

@Tom - sent! - DeWitt Clinton

Robert Scoble

“Who really killed MacWorld? Bloggers! Discuss here:”

December 16 at 4:54 pm - Link

Mohomed=genieyclo, fbrunel, Anne Bouey and 8 other people liked this

The economy, mostly. But trade shows have been on the decline since 2001. The economy was the final straw. The internet is honestly cheaper - with social networking and high-tech sites, what is the ROI of a trade show nowadays? Hard to decide. - David Bisset (sn)

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I don't know! :( But this will be my first and last MacWorld experience! - Daynah

Odd that they announced it so early .... - Michele Neylon

Bloggers killed MacWorld becausethey will print anything Apple tells them to and Apple can talk to all the bloggers it wants back on campus for a lot less money than at MacWorld. - Robert Scoble

I have been covering the economy and conventions and trade shows on ConventionInsider.com I also just came from IAEE which is the trade show for trade shows. The economy is hitting the industry hard. - Jim Turner

Al Gore,he wants to save a lot of energy. - Steve Chou

Trade shows are expensive, they have a massive following, especially among bloggers so they don't need to go to MacWorld anymore. - Gavin

I've heard some speculation that the effect pre-event rumors had on Apple's stock prices might have been a factor. - Brandon

is it related to health issue withstevejobs? I doubt the economy, they have 25 billions in cash... - scales

That kinda makes sence, Robert. But the economy calls for more advertising and PR dollars to be spend, not less. - Roberto Bonini

The internet. The internet killed User Groups nearly a decade ago. Now it's so easy to broadly disseminate information to the general population that MacWorld is just a fan convention. - Kevin Fox

It's a combination of the economy (David Bissets point) and the fact that bloggers are blogging anything Apple tells them to (Robert Scoble's point). - Paul Vereijken

is this not about control? Apple gets the same amount of press from their music events, which they host, than macworld announcements. they can do it cheaper AND with more control - John Head via twhirl

MacWorld killed Christmas sales cos everyone not buying until after MacWorld - Shazron Abdullah

scales: everyone is cutting back, no matter how much money one has in the (stable?) bank. Apple has already announced they are continuing R&D spending and not so far haven't cut much jobs. Some would consider this a logical step. - David Bisset (sn)

Who really killed MacWorld? iPod sock makers... - Johnny Worthington

i dont know... perhaps their big announcements just don't cut it this year? with all the iphone hype etc they don't have much to announce? just more upgrades?? - Terry O'Fee

John: it is all about control. Oh and ROI. Now do you see why bloggers are worth more than $500? - Robert Scoble

in their press release they said that it is part of their ongoing strategy, and due to increasing popularity of the internet and their store gets 3.5 million visit a week, with a web audience reaching over a 100 million people around the world.. - scales

This is obviously the work of the Jewish Illuminati group lead by none other than Michael Dell. /sarcasm - Dean Clark

trade show biz is in trouble... MacWorld was such a huge event, I'm little surprised...but trade show economics don't add up anymore..Turn out the lights when you leave... - mark ivey

I don't think money has been an issue,it is very tiny compared to Apple's giant ad fee.\ - Steve Chou

really, the fanbois make enough hype for them now as it is. they don't need big events. they have their own street team now. :P - Terry O'Fee

I don't believe it's the last. Apple will find an excuse in the coming year(s) to bring it back. Steve Jobs won't turn away from the hero worship service. - Rudy Amid

I'd add the Internet, video streaming, etc. There's nothing like face-to-face events; those are still needed, but there are more efficient and cost effective ways to spread the word about, promote, or teach something. Schools are encountering this shift in reality too. - Loren Heiny

Still can't figure out why Steve Jobs won't attend all of sudden,is he sick again? - Steve Chou

@rudy - hahah. actually you're right. i see it now. give it two years or so and boom! our savour! he's back! with something brand new! *cue wallets* - Terry O'Fee

The return on trade events has always been nebulous even in good times, in tighter times its even more of a highly visible expenditure. When people the industry over, are losing jobs visions of your management "networking" with martinis loses some of its appeal. - Robert

And it's not only Apple that is saving money... Seriously, who can afford to go to these events? If it's only the very top of the pile, then better for Apple to host it locally, and better for the attendees cause they are getting better value for their time and money. - Johnny Worthington

Macworld is Apple's biggest AD every year,if they want to save money,why start it now,I think 25 billion cash is a huge amount. - Steve Chou

I agree with many of the above posts. Apple is able to muster its own hype and no longer needs a major launching event to release products (which seems to have been a major point of Macworld in the past years). Also, it seems that the environment is changing and little real news comes out of Macworld other than new Apple products which is forcing them to ready products for this specific annual date. - Brandon Titus

I might buy if someone said that MacWorld is expensive for Axiotron, but I have to turn my nose up at any idea that it's too costly for Apple, my piddly shares be darned. That's like saying a pack of gum is too expensive for me. I can maybe accept that the accountants were saying there was nothing in it for them; they'd say things like that. - MiɳiMagɘ is EnderMage

I prefer to think this is the start of something new, not a death alone. Nerds will need to find another way to "tech vacation". :) - David Bisset (sn)

Steve Jobs has always hated MacWorld. - Oldengrey

I guess Violet Blue really frightened him. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1377... - MiɳiMagɘ is EnderMage

Excuse me? Who said Macworld was dead? It might sound bonkers but Apple are (were?) a miniscule part of the event that is Macworld! Yes, we'll all miss getting stoked up because there is no SteveNote but come on, the Apple booth didn't really give you anything you couldn't find at an Apple store - more thoughts here - http://myownreality.eu/?p=589 - Don McAllister

Don: without Apple MacWorld is dead. Period. - Robert Scoble

I detect some Freudian language here. It's not MacWorld whose death we fear. - Tim Ostler

Apple has missed Macworld before. Macworld Expo has been slowly dying for a while. It started back in the days when Apple really fucked up on a consistent basis and people began to think MacOS was a dying platform. For a couple years there, Power Computing injected the old excitement back into things with their amazing antics at MW Expo. A lot of people went to Expo for two things: great deals on software/hardware and free swag. - Spidra Webster

As the deals became less great and the swag nearly non-existent, fewer people went. Then IDG did something stupid like not having Expo open on a Saturday. People who can't get off work or school now couldn't go at all. If MW Expo dies, it won't be because Apple's not there. It'll be a delayed response to Apple's fumbles of the '90s (and IDG's stupidity since). - Spidra Webster

Don't know if others feel this way but even with slow dying of Macworld Expo, it's still been worth it to me to go so that I have a chance for face-to-face time with developers and tech staff. I've gone up to the Griffin Technologies booth in the past and showed them the problem I had with my iMate - they immediately handed over a spanking brand new one. How often do you get customer satisfaction like that these days? You can ask questions that might get ignored if you were to call or email. - Spidra Webster

Apple has a great strategy. Announce special events, broadcast/stream them from their campus to Apple Stores around the world. And after the new product is announce, say... and you can buy it and take it home today at this special Keynote price. Tell me that they won't be able to pack their stores with this type of presentation. - JosephLew1s

Who killed Macworld? Easy. The economy and the overall decline and horrible cost-effectiveness of old-school marketing and prospect/customer acquistion. - Jeff Ventura

Steve has looked terrible the last few outings. Let's be honest, Apple have this thing where they like to pretend everything is OK when it is not. - Gabe Boisvert

I think you're right, these events are old school. The mac fanbois who won't get their yearly fix of steve are whats making these posts amusing, though. - Terry O'Fee

As a former trade show director, Apple was nowhere to be seen, and our show was education based... a target market for them. We went from a great symbiotic relationship to nothing in one year. So this does not surprise me. Their excuse at the time: we don't need shows, we have our stores. - Matson Breakey

another vote for the economy... when (and if) economic times get better, apple will be back. big shows offer things no blogger can offer: spectacle and scale... things that come from tens of thousands of people converging in one place at one time. everyone loves a good show. - .LAG

Honestly as a non apple fan boy I think they are a lame company in a lot of ways. I have no idea what their relationship is with MacWorld. It could be Apple wants a cut / a bigger cut of the profits from the event. But using this move by Apple as a sign of a trend in tradeshows in general in nonsense. It is a much longer and involved discussion than this thread. - Rick Calvert

I blame MSG - Bwana

I do agree that MacWorld may not be the best place for the industry or commercial entities to conjugate to find out new products and network. Let's don't forget the other major target audiences for MacWorld, and that is the Macintosh users and other Apple product users. Without MacWorld, where will these users go to find out and touch the latest greatest accessories and software for their favorite product (the Mac, iPhone, iPod, etc.)? I see MacWorld as a celebration of Macintosh ownership. - Vinko

Gavin

Getting Out of Prison // Current

December 9 at 7:27 pm - current.com - Link

Interesting documentary. - Gavin via Bookmarklet

Gavin

Big Three Ad Campaign... you wouldn't buy our cars, so... - jasoncalacanis's posterous

December 9 at 1:53 pm - jasoncalacanis.posterous.com - Link

My feelings exactly! - Gavin via Bookmarklet

Gavin

You call these people tolerant?!? They are extremely violent and rude!

November 22 at 12:09 pm - youtube.com - Link

Here's a retelling of what happened:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... - Gavin

Gavin

Teenagers’ Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing - NYTimes.com

November 21 at 9:07 am - nytimes.com - Link

I need to leverage this into more computer time - Gavin via Bookmarklet

Gavin

Nerdspotting: Facebook CFO in two places at once

November 8 at 9:20 am - valleywag.com - Link

CNN's new hologram technology put to good use! - Gavin via Bookmarklet

Gavin

If The Other Party Wins - CollegeHumor video

November 3 at 6:54 pm - collegehumor.com - Link

Best Part: "thanks mom,mom,mom,dad,dad who married a box turtle" - Gavin via Bookmarklet

Louis Gray

Why Are AOL Users So Overwhelmingly Republican?

November 3 at 6:23 pm - alleyinsider.com - Link

Squirrel Girl, j1m, Jeff P. Henderson and 7 other people liked this

I don't dare answer, but I have some guesses as to why this is the case. - Louis Gray via Bookmarklet

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I'm with you, Louis. I think I know the answer, I just can't prove it. - Mark VandenBerg

What's the answer? - Gavin

I would suggest age, technology prowess, and general intelligence. The third one will have me shot for being elitist. - Louis Gray

I'm shocked but not surprised. - Steve Isaacs

Gullibility - Head Ov Metal

What's scary is that NY stays blue no matter what. How many peope ARE there in NYC anyway? - Cyndy

Obama supporters are better educated, I'm told, but I don't find them wiser or more intelligent than McCain supporters. - Charles LePage

++louisgray though i'm not sure i'd say "general intelligence". Maybe simply just more un/misinformed, possibly due to age. I'd also suggest a high percentage are rural which may also contribute to the skew. - ·[▪_▪]·

No, none of these answers sound elitist. :) - Charles LePage

Blip on the radar. More educated doesn't mean smarter. Lots of studies show IQ drops with years of education. Some of the richest in this country dropped out of college - or graduated with a BS from a "flyover country" college. "AOL Republicans" are a freakonomic anomaly. - Robert Worstell

'cause it's "america online." what are ya a commie? america eff ya!! - Cee Bee

Doesn't explain it well, since statistically (Pew studies) internet adoption and broadband usage are lowest in rural areas and among the elderly. Most AOL users will probably be found in larger cities and middle to younger age. - Robert Worstell

Comparing these results against the Gallup breakouts -- they most closely match the numbers for regular church-goers. Go figure. http://www.gallup.com/poll/108... - Sprague D

Online America? Say it isn't so ... - Scott Moskowitz

@Sprague - I could see the remaining AOL users being self-sheltered individuals, AOL let's you ignore the real Internet by staying in their walled garden. There are some good (and rational) attempts at explanation in the blog's comments. The "old and rich" and "too poor/secluded to switch from AOL" seems plausible. - xero

I have a few ideas, none of which are broadcastable on TV. - drew olanoff

The article didn't say how many AOL users the actually are. Maybe there are so few that this whole discussion is irrelevant. How many people actually know someone that is still an AOL subscriber? - Jeff P. Henderson

I would say it's because republicans are the America in America OnLine. Too bad this graph wasn't available for McCain when he was doing all that social media astroturfing, his campaign could have really used it. - Josh via twhirl

The walled garden of AOL is mostly the older generation on computer users. I know older people that think it is still dangerous to go on the internet without aol. I wonder if they had a marketing campain that scared all the older users.. - EminiAddict

Zee.

Earth from Mars

October 28 at 6:13 pm - cs.bc.edu - Link

Winfried Hoffmann, Yolanda, Mattb4rd and 9 other people liked this

ps. not a joke. - Zee.

2 more comments

What an awesome demonstration of the size of our universe! - Gavin

i completely agree Gavin, incredible. - Zee.

A Pale Blue Dot. - Akiva Moskovitz

Can you imagine being an astronaut and seeing this as you step out onto the Martian surface. Personally, It scares the hell out of me. - Mattb4rd

Scott Cate - Twitter

“Just picked up my windows 7 hard drive from PDC”

October 28 at 6:21 pm - Link

Gavin and Morton Fox liked this

Hard drive? They are handing out hard drives now at events? What brand? - Robert Scoble

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Is this code for "it's too big to fit on a DVD"? - James

@Robert, I understand it's a WD http://news.cnet.com/8301-1080... - Loren Heiny

+1 James! - Gavin

James is right. - corlyon

Gavin - Twitter

“Wow, some awesome Greasemonkey scripts have now made it essential to visit Friendfeed in firefox!”

October 28 at 6:26 pm - Link

Search for the friendfeed hacks room and find the greasemonkey scripts, and you will love your Friendfeed so much more. - Gavin

Philipp Lenssen

“...”

October 27 at 6:43 pm - Link

Lurking Grue, Ming Tsai, Tony Ruscoe and 25 other people liked this

A like the friendfeed now very much. Still has this sort of Googlesque simplicity about it. Good job FF! - Gavin

Lindsey in Love - Twitter

“SNOW!!”

October 27 at 4:07 pm - Link

Mark Wilson, Jennifer Dittrich, anna and 8 other people liked this

SAME HERE!! - Mohomed=genieyclo

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That's the white stuff that falls from the sky right?....:) - Zehn

you're so lucky - Brandon

....pretty sure, thought it was santa spilling some sugar from up north - Mohomed=genieyclo

he makes pie. - Mohomed=genieyclo

May I ask where you are located? - Gavin

Central Illinois . . . is it really Santa's sugar . . .why does that sound gross? - Lindsey in Love

uhhhh, next door neighbs with Lil Klaus? - Mohomed=genieyclo

I'm in northern Illinois... there was hail around mid-day, then huge snowflakes in the early afternoon. - Logical Extremes

ick - Shey

Perhaps you could go sledding sometime. :) - Hao Chen

So Jealous! - Jennifer Dittrich

and so my plan begins, a world covered in ice hmmwhaahahahaha! - adolfo foronda

Louis Gray - delicious

Proposition 8 - It’s Not Exactly Cut and Dry | Stay N' Alive

October 27 at 9:29 am - staynalive.com - Link

Ontario Emperor, Duncan Riley, Gavin and 2 other people liked this

From my view it's a lot more cut and dry than this article paints it. Briefly: the anecdotal case about a kindergartner in Massachusetts being exposed to the existence of a same-sex marriage is hardly a justification for a constitutional amendment revoking the rights of three million people, even if you see same-sex marriage as a bad thing, which is contestable. Second, this nation enjoys freedom of religion and it's hypocritical to the foundations of this nation for members of one religion to try to pass legislation removing rights from members of other faiths based on the scripture of one religion. To say otherwise is to say that a constitutional amendment mandating head-scarves for all women is just fine, so long as most women already wear head scarves anyhow. - Kevin Fox

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There is only one problem. When a church says no to a same-sex wedding they end up getting sued or the like. The homosexual community is two faced. When it comes to them and their rights, they are the upholders of human rights. But when someone doesn't agree with their lifestyle, they are right there to deny their rights. - Gavin

What church has been sued for not wanting to perform a same-sex marriage? I know that on Mormon forums that's oft-repeated statement, but there's no basis in fact. We have separation of church & state in this country. The law that Prop. 8 is fighting against, does NOT force churches to hold same-sex ceremonies, nor does it force the churches to recognize same-sex marriages. Anyone arguing otherwise is an outright liar. - Anika Malone

I thought that was an odd statement too. That would be like suing a Catholic church for not baptizing me since I'm Buddhist. - Rodfather

Gavin: Can you elaborate on the two-faced nature? The two examples you just cited seem to me to both be about same-sex couples being discriminated against as a class. Even if your 'gays suing churches for not marrying them' is pervasive (which I haven't seen) how does banning same-sex marriage in any location or context justified? It's like saying 'I hate those kids coming in to my grown-up comic book store and suing me when I kick them out, so let's pass a law banning kids from reading comic books.' - Kevin Fox

My feeling on this is there will be a time when we look back on how this country treated homosexuals the way we presently look back on how this country treated women and black people. And by the way, it was generally "the church" that spoke out virulently against giving voting rights, civil liberties, etc. - Jeremy Toeman

I see this as Jeremy does - as a discrimination issue. I keep coming back to how interracial marriages were once illegal for reasons that I'm sure sound a lot like the justifications against gay marriage today. I can't imagine living in a society where I wouldn't be allowed to marry my wife, therefore why should we deny that positive experience to anybody who has the opportunity to experience it? Oh, and I support marrying clones whenever that comes around, too. - Jason Kaneshiro

+1 Jeremy - dkb

If a church chooses not to recognize/perform gay marriages, they don't have to. If there are any legal cases of a church being sued to go against its basic principles, please do point me toward them. We cannot, as a democratic, multi-faith nation, allow any religious creeds to influence civil rights. Kevin brings up an excellent analogy re Muslim headscarves. If you're conflicted religiously regarding homosexuality, it's an issue to take up with your god, not in the private homes and lives of others. - Carla Thompson

Carla, this is true as long as the church doesn't get federal money for any reason. If they want the federal money, they need to play by the fed's rules on discrimination. - Alex Scoble

Can someone explain the big deal to me about a kindergartener being "exposed to the existence" of SSM? I mean, I grew up with friends of my parents in a committed same-sex relationship. I'm not a serial killer. My kids know that some kids have a mom and a dad, some have one or the other, and some have two moms or two dads. They don't think a thing about it. It's amazing how kids don't react when their parents aren't freaking out about something. - Cyndy

Alex, the money the churches (and ONLY Christian ones who push a GOP agenda) receive is not tied into this. Bush's Faith-Base Initiative actually has the loophole in it that churches can still receive Fed. $$$ without adhering to Fed. rules. - Anika Malone

Alex, makes sense. But why would a church need federal money? - Carla Thompson

Carla, often it's not a church in a strict sense. I went to college at Emory and we had a chapel on campus. Since the school received federal funding for certain grants etc. the chapel had to perform same-sex marriages or no marriages at all. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

Carla, et. al, I shared a link in the blog of an example of a church getting sued. Here it is (scroll down the page): http://www.npr.org/templates/s... I'll see if I can pull a few more examples. Again, I'm not for or against this - I just don't think it's cut or dry, and the church getting sued thing is the most convincing factor towards any one side for me. - Jesse Stay via twhirl

can someone please tell me where the harm is in a kid being taught that if you love someone then they should be allowed to express their love in their own way? How can it possibly harm a person? seriously? - alphaxion

I don't understand the mentality that same-sex marriage threatens the sanctity of marriage. I too believe this is about discrimination. I always remember a story of a couple in their 70's who has been together for 30 years and felt it wasn't fair they weren't able to marry until now. - Rodfather

It has happened to people in Canada in a variety of instances, where they have gotten sued for not supporting same-sex marriage, and the homosexual agenda. For instance, a church who said no to a same-sex couple when requesting use of their church for the marriage. Another was a print shop which refused to print some material about homosexuality because it was against the owners belief. In both instances these people were sued! - Gavin

one thing is to be sued, and another losing. what happened in those cases? - Alejandro S.

In both those cases they lost. And even if they won, they still spent their life savings defending themselves. - Gavin

So you don't really know what happened. Where's your source? - Alejandro S.

In this article there are more cases of church or church organizations being sued: http://churchstate.org/site/1/... - Jesse Stay via twhirl

"Oh, and I support marrying clones whenever that comes around, too." and it'll be 30 years after clone-nonclone marriage is protected [after the landmark State of OK vs Angelina Jolie ∞34327, ∞44290, ∞77200-78329 class-action lawsuit] before people will finally protect the rights for people to marry clones of themselves [State of NJ vs Jayden Federline and Jayden Federline ∞1]. - Kevin Fox

those churches are being sued because of discrimination, making them lose their rights to tax exceptions. Which I think is right. Gavin is talking about churches being sued fro not allowing same-sex marriages taking place in their premises. We need sources for that information. - Alejandro S.

The churches getting sued is immaterial to the legality of same-sex marriage. Prop 8 would ban civil ceremonies as well as ceremonies conducted by houses of worship which don't discriminate against this minority. - Kevin Fox

Kevin, don't forget marriage to those underage, or even marriage to multiple wives. The line has to be drawn somewhere. In the end, *everything* is a moral issue. - Jesse Stay via twhirl

"The Homosexual Agenda>" http://www.bettybowers.com/hom... - John Craft