Jonathon - Likes - FriendFeed

Stupid Blogger (aka Tina) posted a message

“So, being the social media poseur that I am, I have jumped upon the bandwagon and setup Google Friend Connect on my site. It's very sad, there are two members and one of them is me =P I don't know that I want this kind of constant reminder that blogging is pretty much me talking to my computer...”

16 hours ago - Link

Mark Krynsky, Internet Strategist, Steven Perez and 31 other people liked this

Google Friend Connect is still up in the air for usefulness, but you can signup and add it to your site/s by logging into your Google account and heading over to http://www.google.com/FriendCo.... - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

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Ill be your friend! - Shevonne Polastre

YAY! Gratuitous and obvious begging WORKS! =D - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I'm setting it up now - Shevonne Polastre

I use DIsqus for commenting (well, theoretically; no one comments so it's a tree-falling-in-the-forest situation). If they ever build in Friend Connect, then I guess I'll get it for free. - James Williams (willia4)

I'll have to try when I get home. - Yolanda

I use Disqus for actual comments too, but I figured this was along the lines of a MyBlogLog situation (that's what it reminds me of, at least). - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

And the other is ME! I feel so special. :D - Haggis (Sean)

Is it wrong, or just close to lunch that on first glance, I saw Google Fried Chicken? - Derrick

So what does it...do? - James Ferguson

Okay, can someone tell me what this actually does? I know that sounds stupid but ... sometimes ya just gotta ask the stupid questions. - AJ Kohn

I never actually looked into what MyBlogLog did. Reading it makes me think of Bob Loblaw's Law Blog and I wander off to watch Arrested Development clips on YouTube... - James Williams (willia4)

Ok, I put it on my blog. Can you believe your blog is blocked at work?! I'll have to go when I get home. - Shevonne Polastre

:) Did I mention how much I love you recently, Tina? You do all the stuff I think about and then get distracted...where was I? Oh yes - pleased to be providing links/instructions for the setting up of the Google Fried Chicken :) - WorldofHiglet

By the way, Google: If you're going to do this, you HAVE TO LINK MY EXISTING OPENID TO MY GOOGLE PROFILE!! It's like they don't understand the point of OpenID. It's just an extra button they put on their log in forms, but past that, they don't get it at all. - James Williams (willia4)

Haggis, of course you're special! =D For both the James's and AJ: I always saw MyBlogLog (and by extension G's FriendConnect) as just another way to build an audience. For whatever reason, people like putting faces to names, and names to readers. From a users perspective it's kinda cool to get to 'see' who's been reading the same sites as you. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I think FriendConnect will allow you to build a community around your site, that's what MyBloglog and Blogcatalog seem to wanna do, but I think Google could probably do it better. What if they integrated google talk, for instance? That could be pretty awesome. I think they have the pieces, they just need to be put together. - ♫ Rahsheen ™ ★

Done! - pea♥ fierce as a woozle

Shevonne, Websense blocks my blog and I have no idea why. Might be the post about the wanker wacker... WoH, to setup your very own GFC (haaaaaahahhahaaa!) just log into your existing account and head over to http://www.google.com/FriendCo... and follow the instructions to add the widget to your blog. And Rah, I agree that Google could make something very useful out of these, it just remains to be seen if they will do so. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

Just joined you on Google Friend Connect! - Tyson Key

i read your blog, tina =) - Adam Singer

I have a few questions Tina. (1) did google just pay u to say that?? (2) if they did then I'm ok with that (3) wtf is it? - Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ

Adam, in that case I appreciate you putting up with my rambling =D Noah, no I didn't get paid (heck, I don't even have ads on my blog!). As for WTF it is, it's kinda like Google's answer to the MyBlogLog widget. I'm pondering what I might want to do with it, I'm thinking I might put up a wall widget on it's own page... - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I'm still abit confused over FriendConnect. I don't really know what to do with it? - Patrik Johansson

You have 13 friends now! :) - Julio F ~ @SocialJulio

hmmm may have to try and set up friendconnect myself. Still not sure exactly how it works or what it is supposed to do. - Thomas Hawk

hmmmm.. it says I have to upload these two files to my server for this to work. I'm not sure how to do that. Can I set up friendconnect through Blogger? - Thomas Hawk

I'm trying out this thing now for my blog. Interesting. - Mathew Ballard

Thomas, my understanding is that if you have a Google hosted Blogger blog, you should be able to skip the part about uploading the two HTML files to the server. Patrik, I'm still playing around with it, but I think I'm going to go with a 'retro' guest book thing for now. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I joined! - Shevonne Polastre

Hmmm...not really sure this is something that will really catch on. Maybe if more is done with it, but I'm not really feeling it right now. - Mathew Ballard

meh i'll join the thing later... i've been reading your blog tho - Amber aka SDA

Mathew, see my next post http://friendfeed.com/e/63fbbc... - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

grrrrr.. it seems that you can only add it on blogger as a "widget" sort of thing which means I'd have to change my blog from bloggers old templating thingy. I tried to do this once before and it screwed my blog all up so I guess I'm out on Friend Connect for now. It seems lame that I use blogger (read: Google) and can't even add it. - Thomas Hawk

ok... I installed it and now I look like I have no friends. great. another network that makes me look bad http://simonstudio.com/ark ...truth is if I could centralize all the shit I'm involved with I'd be so much better off. - Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ

Nice, I came by and joined...apparently you're doing great with 43 friends now. I just set it up over at Lifestream Blog too so come on by peeps http://lifestreamblog.com/ - Mark Krynsky

Thomas Hawk posted a message

“"One of the reasons that Prohibition ended 75 years ago was the urgent need for tax receipts during the Great Depression. As we enter another major collapse, the US government could (should) consider legalizing and taxing other popular vices such as marijuana, cocaine and prostitution."”

Monday at 1:02 pm - Link

Alex Lomas, Charlie Anzman, Parth Awasthi and 47 other people liked this

from Richard Russell: continues. "... like they tax alcohol and cigarettes. Of course we would also save the unbelievable amounts of money we throw away trying to stop people from engaging in these vices, usually making the activity more dangerous in the process. - Thomas Hawk

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"selling is legal, and sex is legal, so why isn't selling sex legal?" George Carlin - Thomas Hawk

"Over the past 10-15 years, despite interventions at every point in the supply chain, cocaine and heroin consumption has been rising, prices falling and drugs have continued to reach users. Government interventions against the drug business are a cost of business, rather than a substantive threat to the industry's viability." -- Tony Blair - Thomas Hawk

Good idea, but I think there would be a significant uphill battle with the religious lobby against legalizing any of these activities or substances. - Jeff P. Henderson

And online gambling. - Joey Gibson

Prostitution in particular seems like a no brainer. As long as it is kept safe and all participants are adults I fail to see how it will harm anyone, or effect anyone who is not involved. - Jeff P. Henderson

Legalized prostitution seems to be working quite well in Nevada. - Jeff P. Henderson

How about a national lottery? The prize: Foreclosed on homes! - Jason Kaneshiro

Definition of gambling: "A tax on those who don't understand money." But sure, online gambling ought to be legal and taxed too. - Thomas Hawk

Or photography, a vice if ever there was one. - Tom Kimmerer

@Tom, last time I checked, Photography was legal ;-) - Jeff P. Henderson

and hard to tax. - Kevin Fox

Oh please. You'd just buy over the internet to evade sales taxes anyway. - Jake Rome

good point Jake. I suppose that they could figure out a way to tax it though. Aren't alcohol and smokes still taxed if you buy them on the internet? - Thomas Hawk

+1 Joey - studies have shown the US Gov. could collect $3 BILLION on taxes on online gaming if it's regulated and taxed. Instead the US Gov. is attempting to ban it by forcing the struggling banking industry to block 'unlawful internet gambling' - but they don't define what 'unlawful internet gambling' is!! - Ken Gidley

Many places can't even receive alcohol through the mail. It's super annoying for wine in many states. - Chris White

Yes they are, Thomas. My father sells cigars and he's responsible for paying all tobacco taxes on his product, not the consumer. In fact, tobacco products cannot be sold until the tax has been paid on them. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I would be all for this, IF some of the money was also designated to treatment on demand for those who need it. IT is a sorry state that we are in now, where you have to wait months for treatment, but you can go to jail right away for using. - Beth K

Not only can the government make money on taxes on these things, they can save money by not having to pay to incarcerate people. The savings alone would make it worth it. - April Russo

Between the human costs (lives destroyed, families wrecked), the direct cost of imprisonment (highest incarceration rate in the world), the cost of kneecapping the potential economic productivity of those convicts, the law enforcement costs, the opportunity costs of lost law enforcement resources, *and* the failure to utilize a potential tax base, the war on drugs is our most disastrous and financially ruinous failed war. - Eric P

Eric, I agree, so then where are the politicians out there promoting this? Other than comments made earlier this year by failed Democratic Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel, I've heard very little from any politician on these matters. Why isn't Obama talking about this? - Thomas Hawk

I agree except for the cocaine part. - Ruchira S. Datta

Interesting note: The 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which repealed prohibition, was ratified in 1933, and the state that cast the deciding vote in ratifying this amendment was—of all states—Utah. - Jason Shultz

Utah, where you still can't homebrew... at least they got ratification of the 21st Amendment right, I guess. - Bob M. Montgomery via twhirl

Something tells me this isn't even on Obama's economic team's radar. My cynicism tells me the pharmaceutical and religious industrial complexes would never allow this to happen, but my idealism is holding out hope for at least decriminalization. - Pete Delucchi

@Thomas: Because it's unpopular. No politician - least of all a Democratic one, wants to be seen as "soft of crime" (whatever the hell that means). It's an issue that seems obvious to rational thinkers, but to the vast majority of the population, ending the war on drugs is tantamount to the government teaching first graders how to use crack cocaine. We're making baby steps towards marijuana legalization, but the general public just isn't there for "hard" drugs. - Eric P

In short, if we want it to change it'll take a massive grassroots effort and a campaign to educate the public on the folly of treating drugs as a criminal rather than medical problem, and minimally reach the point where the public doesn't punish politicians who might call for an end to this war. - Eric P

We'll run out of money, and then we'll have to start letting people out of jail. Marijuana users and sellers will probably come out before rapists and murderers. - Chris White

at the very least, I simply don't understand why Prostitution is still illegal in the US. - Duncan Riley

they did legalized prostitution in Germany, tho not sure whether they thought it well -- one might find himself unemployed, only to face stark choice between cut-off unemployment benefits and going to now-legal-and-moral-by-law job offered... - silpol

There are plenty of good reasons for keeping prostitution illegal, on a moral level, for instance, it is simply the case the legal or illegal, prostitution is a pretty terrible profession, with a ton of potential for abuse. It may be inevitable, that doesn't mean we have to like it. - Jamelle

Most of the potential for abuse stems from the prohibition on prostitution rather than prostitution itself. Look at the porn industry as a prototype - you can't argue with a straight face that the girls were better off when the whole thing was underground and performers were stigmatized as opposed to now with legal protection, support, STD testing, producers operating within the law, etc. - Eric P

I disagree jamelle and +10 eric. how "bad" it is depends very much on the circumstances and conditions surrounding the prostitute in question. - tiffany

Now that's what I'm talking about!!! There's only one way to deal with a depression....have a massive friggin party. - Toby Graham

fijidaddy favorited a video on YouTube

Marijuana Nation

November 27 at 12:10 am - Link

Walt Ruppar and Jonathon liked this

Jeff Hoard posted a message on Twitter

“here's a gem for the pro-marijuana crowd - http://is.gd/9kSr”

November 27 at 9:20 pm - Link

Jonathon liked this

Corie "Viper" Jones posted a link

Your Bacon Gift Guide

November 27 at 12:54 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Jason Huebel, April Russo, Jill, Superhero Librarian and 9 other people liked this

Need this stuff for my work gift exchange. I have inundated them with bacon links from FF, so they'd be disappointed if I didn't do it. - Eric @ CS Techcast

omg Corie Allison, I heart you. - Mona N.

aww, Mona <3 I'm really into the little bacon and tofu guys. - Corie "Viper" Jones

Baaaaacon mgharghmm - Patrik Johansson

Fox Tucker commented on a story on Digg

Free iPhone Porn on iPhone Porn Grid

November 26 at 12:32 pm - Link

Jonathon liked this

"The Brazzers Network have finally launched their mobile version for iPhone and iPod Touch. Press release at http://www.doipod.com/ipod/200... ..." - Fox Tucker

iPhone: Fox Tucker posted a link

Apple to be sued over iPhone web browser because it makes pages smaller

November 26 at 6:01 am - Link

Jonathon and Brian Ries liked this

Would they have to sue me if I sit further away from my computer screen while I have Safari open? - Ryan Twomey

Ryan, you WILL be hearing from their attorneys, if you're looking at a laptop screen. It must be portable. - MiɳiMagɘ (AlwaysMiniMage)

Somewhere along the way the part about an invention not being obvious to a person 'skilled in the art' has been lost for lots of software patents. - John

Thomas Hawk posted a link

Apple's deceptive iPhone ad banned in the UK | Technology | guardian.co.uk

November 26 at 7:47 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

Bryan Landers, Ethan, Zee. and 14 other people liked this

Finally someone does something about Apple's lying advertisements about their iPhone's 3G speeds. It's about time. I've been bitching about this for a while. Every time I see that iPhone ad pop up on CNBC and it shows speeds way, way, way, faster than what I get in real life it pisses me off. - Thomas Hawk via Bookmarklet

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in fact, Apple should do the right thing and either require AT&T to get their 3G speeds up to snuff in San Francisco or AT&T should rebate back customers. It's shameful to see a company as fine as Apple blatantly put up deceptive advertising like they do. - Thomas Hawk

Apple lying about 3G speeds... BAD! ;) - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

Apple claim "it's relative speed compared to the original iphone, it's obvious that's what we're talking about".. um, no it wasn't! - alphaxion

*runs over to App store to find a 3G speed test app* - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

Isn't all Apple TV advertising based on lies (or to be kind hyperbole)? But maybe that is just advertising in general - Brian Sullivan

I really enjoy the "you can't make superlative claims without proof" requirement for advertising in Europe (and elsewhere? no idea). The fact that we can lie our asses off here in ads and make any damn claim we want drives me CRAZY after having lived many years in Europe. - abacab

BBC's article on it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/bus... - Thomas Hawk

Well, you have to look at it this way. For every ad that has come under a lawsuit, Apple has probably made 3 - 4 times the amount lost to the suit back in actual sales from the ads. So to them, it is just a small price in the grand scheme of the ad business. - Wizetux

Plus with the iPhone (in the US) you still have 30 days by law to test the phone, and if you don't like it or feel that you were lied too, you can return it for a full refund from the provider. So all in all, it comes back to that good old saying "Buyer beware." - Wizetux

Whether or not Apple profits in the end from deceptive advertising or not, it seems unethical to me and considerably lowers my opinion of them as a company. The iPhone is a fantastic product. They should market it on its merits alone. Hyping it with lies makes me not trust anything that Apple has to say. - Thomas Hawk

And it still totally sucks that Google Maps won't work on an iPhone when they work fine over EVDO or over most other internet connections. Mapping software ought to be fundamental to an internet connected phone these days. - Thomas Hawk

I worked on the 3G "buildouts" for AT&T here in SoCal and a few other states. I know exactly what they have and where. When I told people not to trust the 3G promises, I was ignored. But don't worry, I hear that they're really really really, for real this time going to start the real buildout any moment now. At least, that's what our clients tell us. Maybe in Q1. HAHAHAHA - Anika Malone

Alan Le posted a link

YouTube Videos Now in Widescreen HD 720p

November 26 at 12:00 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Jonathon, Robert Miller, Brian Sullivan and Matt Darnall liked this

Good article on Kotke for how to embed a HQ video as well: http://kottke.org/08/11/high-q... - Scott Kingery

cool, thanks for the link scott - Alan Le

Ana posted a link

Finally... pictures of my trip to Sichuan last fall are online

November 21 at 1:23 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Henry Winckelmann, aurelian, Gary Burd and 34 other people liked this

Despite appearances to the contrary, I did do more than just hang out with animals the whole time. - Ana via Bookmarklet

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The animatronic panda looks so lifelike... - Brian Johns

Pictures of interesting places and activities are good for everybody's mental health. - Bruce Lewis

What a trip you must have had! The pics are wonderful. - Anne Bouey

Some of those panda pics belong on CuteOverload! http://picasaweb.google.com/an... - Jess Lee

ha!Wen su yuan temple is so close to my house!I love ur trip and ur pics. - kelvin

I'm so glad this isn't about the recession! That really looks like a beautiful place, thanks for the armchair travel. - anna

Ana I love your pictures!! :) - Robert Newbury

ana, how heavy was the panda you were holding? it looks pretty big - bob

nice! - Dmitry Eremeev

great pictures! i usually get so caught up in my travels that I forget to take pictures. I always regret it. - Jeanette Martinez

Jeff Hoard favorited a video on YouTube

Cannabis Canadians

November 21 at 3:48 pm - Link

Jonathon liked this

3G iPhone: Susan Beebe (Santa Claus) posted a link

Iphone 2.2: iPhone 2.2 Update Available Now

November 21 at 4:30 am - Link

Kelly Johns and Jonathon liked this

""That was fast. It's barely Nov. 21 and the iPhone 2.2 update is here, all 246MB of it, as promised. Included in the update, according to the release notes and as we'd heard, are all the new Google Maps features we've been waiting for like Street View (which is so far butter smooth and delicious over Wi-Fi, slightly less magical over 3G), public transit and walking directions, as well as over-the-air podcast downloads, mail enhancements, Safari tweaks, improved sound quality for visual voicemail, fewer dropped calls (again), and more. But you know, not MMS or copy and paste. Grab it now."" - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

Steve Isaacs posted a message

“Google Maps Street View looks awesome on the iPhone”

November 21 at 9:29 am - via mail2ff - Link

Atul Arora, Susan Beebe (Santa Claus), jlt and 14 other people liked this

Lucky.... - orionstarr

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Cool. I'll be upgrading tonight. - Jonathon

AGREEEED! - Kirk Skodis via twhirl

It's a bit scary. I looked up my pad and saw my car parked in front. - Rodfather

No Street view for Toronto :(. So I spent an hour at lunch street-walking 5th Avenue, NY - Kamath ॐ

but, it turns the world sideways!! - Lindsay Donaghe

Street walking, Kamath? I do not think it means what you think it means. :-p - Missile-TOW

i wondered why i was leaning to the right all day - Morgan Haley

KevyKev, lol. I don't know what I was thinking. - Kamath ॐ

Robert Scoble posted a link

tap tap tap ~ How to prevent the App Store from becoming the Crap Store

November 18 at 6:48 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Brad Coy, Tyson Key, Susan Beebe (Santa Claus) and 25 other people liked this

"we’re getting to the point where the App Store is in jeopardy of getting destroyed because it’s being overrun with 99¢ shovelware, with an ever growing number of developers competing for a slot in the charts." - Robert Scoble via Bookmarklet

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I'd personally like to see developer fees to keep the crap away - Adam

The Top 100 free/paid lists would have to be replaced with something else. Maybe a Digg style system to get on the 'top' list? - Jim Bergman

If u think this is bad u should see the state of 3rd party open source freeware for the Nokia N810 over at maemo.org. - Tokyo Dan via feedalizr

@Adam, Developers do pay a one time fee when signing up. - Swaroop Hegde

80% of the apps on App Store are either shovelware or cloneware. - Mike

It's true that the App Store could degrade, but it's held up very well so far compared to, say, Facebook applications. Within days FB became a cesspool of crap and it's decreased the usefulness of FB significantly. - Ryan Twomey

This is why, with everything we are faced with that gives us a glut of choices, social trust and recommendation are so important as filters. I learn what iPhone apps to try from people in my network (real life and online), services like iPhone.iusethis.com, etc. And I try to provide the same filter of opinion and experience to the people who listen to/follow me. It's what the "Human Web" is all about. - Josh Bancroft

Ugh. I'm very bored with ppl crapping on the appstore. The past month I bought more than ever. Some at .99 (Ocarina -- such a cool app), others at 3.99 (Fieldrunners, addictive game like DesktopTowerDefense). All I know is the stuff is mostly stable, easy to update and install, and I never needed a fart joke app in the first place. What I really find the AppStore needs is some UI overhauls -- true for much of iTunes Store -- it's very hard to browse and find stuff with the UI. - Robert Denton

Lets just hope they don't try and implement any sort of Apple Certified Application branding. The store itself is great, but a certified application policy would just bring the whole thing down. Then application developers would have to most likely cough up a fee to be "certified" as trustworthy. Much like Facebook's current scheme. - Angelo Rodrigues

Fees do tend to weed out the good and bad apples somewhat though - Robin Monks via IM

getting facebook-ish? at own expense? welcome to fruity world :) - silpol

Robin: They do, but they also weed out those with money and those who don't. I'm sure though, that a lot of perfectly good applications don't have much in the way of monetary backing - Angelo Rodrigues

Once again, opinion becomes fact - Bwana

xangelo: True enough - Robin Monks via IM

Angelo and Robin, there ARE fees to get an app listed in the app store. $99 per developer. Do you think there should be another "tier" of certification and fees, or maybe the existing fee should be raised to "raise the bar"? - Josh Bancroft

Those are nominal fees though. It has no bearing on the quality of your application nor does it authenticate it. It just says "Hey, this is our cost to get your application listed". The fee we are talking about is speculative, but it relates to getting your application "certified" by apple. I personally don't think that such fee's should exist at all - Angelo Rodrigues

We are submitting the Borange social availability app to the store now and have decided we'll have to do a limited-time $.99 offering and only move to our target price when there's traction. It's hard to get people to notice something for $4.99 when there's near-infinite distraction there for free. - Mason Lee

Cee Bee posted a link

Valve Complete Pack: Every Valve game ever for $99

November 19 at 9:22 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

Jonathon liked this

http://store.steampowered.com/... - Cee Bee via Bookmarklet

wow, they sure got the art of repackaging down. - Hao Chen

iPhone: Fox Tucker posted a link

EAmobile release YAHTZEE game for iPhone

November 18 at 11:38 am - Link

Jonathon liked this

Mona N. posted a link

The supercomputers behind World of Warcraft - WoW

November 19 at 8:48 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

Jens Christian Freund, Mark Douglass, Alix Whitmire ƸӜƷ and 30 other people liked this

WOW. NYTimes article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11... - Mona N. via Bookmarklet

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I knew WoW's infrstructure was big, but i didn't think it was search-engine big. this is actually kinda scary... most WoW players always assumed that blizz must be doing well, considering 10m+ members at ~15$ a month... but if they're managing worldwide infrastructure at this scale, their margins must be pretty tight. - Chris Hollander

I used to run my own WoW server at home (never open to the public)... And bliz have made over a billion dollars out of WoW, they are doing extremely nicely ;) - alphaxion

@alphaxion: private servers are reverse engineered, not actual pirated blizz code, right? i've always wondered what the *actual* server architecture behind the realms is.... its clear that they have an authentication farm, and seperate servers for continent/instances (pooled by realm), and then battleground servers (pooled by battlegroup)... I doubt that the private servers that folks run are similarly segmented? - Chris Hollander

it's not just the code, it's the architecture and infrastructure and network layer etc. It's one of those things - somehow I would know where to start if I tried to do a normal web infrastructure, even a massive one, have done enough of that from ecommerce to search engines. But a game like Wow, working over UDP, with their one server per world/instance set up - it is a different approach and I'd be way curious. And yes, 11 million subscribers paying $15 per month is a heck of a cash flow - Joelle Nebbe

Mona, you're right, I should have posted the link to the NYT article. I was a bit hasty and lazy, although it cant be bad for the site I found the information on - Joelle Nebbe

What I had heard it was reverse engineered from code that had been leaked. I don't know how they're built now, it was back in 2005 that I had a play with them but you had a "world server" that controlled and sync'd everything, they were based on SQL so you could have easily split it into seperate servers for the different instances/continents etc. The ver I had you could even run it as a flat database file, but it was incredibly laggy - would take a good 10 minutes to enter a running state. - alphaxion

WoW universe is sharded, and as such, nothing spectacular architecture-wise (oh, it's nice, don't get me wrong). But if you want to see a real supercomputing cluster in MMOGs, check out EvE Online's single universe, and what it takes to run it. - Michael Bravo

@Michael: have a link to share? - Chris Hollander

Steve Isaacs posted a link

Mormons Stole Our Rights: No Tax Exemption for Political Churches

November 19 at 9:25 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

Russellreno, Clay Newton, bill giltner and 15 other people liked this

"On May 16, 2008, the California Supreme Court affirmed that the state constitution, AS IT WAS WRITTEN BY THE FOUNDERS OF THIS STATE MORE THAN 150 YEARS PRIOR, provided official government recognition of all marriages between all couples, regardless of gender. On November 4, 2008, Proposition 8 amended this constitution to explicitly deny this right to same-sex couples. Nowhere else in either California's constitution or the Federal Constitution are a specific class of rights restricted, to any minority group, for any reason. Why did this proposition pass? Was it because Californians genuinely believed that granting rights to a minority group undermine the fabric of society? No. Was it because Californians failed to recognize the similarity of Proposition 8 with the bans on interracial marriage last century, once considered "controversial" but now universally recognized as wrong? No. Was it because Californians no longer saw their constitution as a foundational document that is amended carefully, but a - Steve Isaacs via Bookmarklet

34 more comments

+1 for no more tax exemptions for political churches - Lindsey

No tax exemptions for churches period would be my vote - Brian Sullivan

+10 for no more tax exemptions for ANY churches. - abacab

Just curious, why just churches? What about other tax-exempt organizations that get involved in politics? - Glen Campbell

You'd be able to keep their opinions out of the laws if there was a consequence for sticking their noses in. They are a non-profit organization and I'm ok with no taxes for non-political churches - Lindsey

Why should any organization be tax exempt? What exemptions are we really talking about here -- for churches I am guessing mostly property ownership based taxes? - Brian Sullivan

The IRS shouldn't be in the business of recognizing churches, period. Churches should set themselves up as non-profits, charities, or corporations, and obey the rules applicable to their chosen status, and pay the taxes appropriate for them. - Eric P

There are non-political churches? - abacab

Pass the Fair Tax and there will be no (income) taxes for anyone, regardless of political affiliation. - Dave Roth

I hope the Mormon Church enjoys the wrath it has brought upon itself. I'm more educated about Mormonism today than I was a month ago. It seems pretty clear the LDS movement is based on intellectual fraud and false premises. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... - stretta via twhirl

+1 Dave, Fair Tax is the way to go. Then everything pays on items they purchase (except food). Drug dealer buys a new Lexus? Taxes paid. Church builds a new megachurch? Taxes paid. Fair Tax FTW. - Jason Huebel

So "Fair tax" is a VAT or GST? - Brian Sullivan

Essentially, yes. You pay taxes on the front-end instead of the nonsense we do now. - Jason Huebel

The "Fair Tax" in the sense of being a consumption tax a) is inherently regressive and b) would only serve to grind the economy to a screeching halt. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

"Fair Tax" is the most Orwellian name one could come up with for the idea. - Eric P

FYI, religious organizations, that are tax exempt, can support the issues, propositions, and legislation. They are not supposed to support individual candidates, though. THIS, they are permitted to do. - Trevor Carpenter

Blacks voted 2 to 1 in favor of Prop 8 and made up roughly 10% of the voters in California. I guess they stole your rights, too? - Jason Shultz via twhirl

I missed the part where "blacks" are tax exempt - Brian Sullivan

The African American vote is only 6% of the electorate. However, 61% of voters under 30 voted against. Most of the yes votes came from old people. OLD PEOPLE. But, we're not talking about who voted for prop 8, we're talking about who financed and shaped public opinion, and that would be the Mormon church. - stretta via twhirl

Religious organizations are not tax-exempt because they are religious organizations, they're tax exempt because, like other charitable organizations, they have no net income. Tax exemption is applied equally to all non-profit organizations. Like other non-profit organizations, religious organizations cannot support specific candidates, but they are allowed to support issues and policies that do not contradict established public policy. Given the state of same-sex marriage in the US, it's a stretch to say the LDS were going against the grain in the same way that say Bob Jones University was back in 1983 with segregation. - Mark Trapp

According to Wikipedia the black vote made up 10%. But who wants to argue over 4%, right? There was a large number of supporters of prop 8, not just mormons. your singling out of just one organisation out of many, not to mention individuals acting alone, is a bit misguided. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

Be careful what you wish for. If churches became more or less corporations by losing their tax status, you think you'll hear less from them? In that case they would be actively campaigning for issues AND candidates, lobbying elected officials, and so forth. - Jared B. Luther

+2 Jared - Mark VandenBerg

I still maintain that they ought to be treated as corporations. What they pay in taxes should reflect the amount of *real* charity they do to offset the often obscene profits they make - especially some of these megachurches and televangelists and whatnot. And they should pay property taxes like everyone else - their real estate holdings are frankly absurd. - Eric P

Morons are singled out, because they were, by far, the single largest factor to the passing of prop 8. Just the mormonsfor8 web site identified $14 million dollars of funding from mormons. - stretta via twhirl

My beef isn't with Mormons, it's with Mormons who don't live in this state who donated to Yes on 8. Don't have better things to do? Why do you care if I marry a man? What business is it of yours? - Derrick

@Derrick. I can understand that. As a Mormon from Utah, the church said NOTHING about this issue to the church at large. Only in CA. It was CA members that got the word around. Even look at the church worldwide conference in October (you can read transcripts online). Nothing specific was said about Prop8. - Jared B. Luther

For the record, I've really liked every Mormon I've met. They've proven to be kind, thoughtful people. The Mormon Church has launched a volatile political salvo and should to expect a political response. Further, prop 8 is seeped in bigotry, hate and homophobia. The church shouldn't be surprised or bewildered when they receive the same in return. I feel sorry for individual Mormons who get caught in the crossfire, or may find themselves personally on the receiving end of inappropriately transferred anger. - stretta via twhirl

NO TAX EXEMPTIONS FOR ANY CHURCHES! - bill giltner

Everyone can have their opinion on this, but what I hate seeing is when people project their own vicious take of the situation on others and call it fact. Yep, I'm a Mormon. Yep, I think marriage and same-sex unions should be different. Am I bigoted against those that think otherwise? Absolutely not. I think same legal status can be offered while protecting my rights as well. Yet those that go out of their way to slam Mormon's over this are just as bigoted as they claim others are. - Jeremy Hall

@Jeremy: What rights of yours need to be protected, exactly, that are threatened by two men who want to get married? - Eric P

Jeremy, if you're aware of American history, we tried the 'separate but equal' thing before. It didn't work out so well. We call those who defended this as a solution 'bigots' I'm glad this is all getting documented on the internet so our descendants can see clearly who is on which side of the debate. Someday, we won't be afraid to call love by its proper name. - stretta via twhirl

I've had the debate many times in various places, so I choose in this case not to pick it apart and go through all the details. In essence, for me it is not the actual union that is an issue, it is the slippery slope of legal changes and requirements that arise down the road for this one change. As for comparing sexual preference to ethnic segregation in the past, I find that a complete farce. - Jeremy Hall

@stretta - I don't mind being public with my stance, and voting for what I believe in. I also value others' right to do the same. Those that made public donations on their stance are now being targeted with hate and violence. Are those waging the hate willing to make their names public to be associated with their actions? - Jeremy Hall

It's not identical but it's similar. People are born gay. A person can hide their homosexuality but they can't hide their race. That's the most critical difference. Since it is innate, we should respect what consenting adult homosexuals want to do. I believe if something doesn't hurt anyone it should be allowed. - Kamilah Gill

I have no problem with being very public in my regard for Mormonism and the Mormon church, and showing them the exact same attitude that they afford to homosexuals. - Eric P

FAILpics: Susan Beebe (Santa Claus) posted a link

xkcd - A Webcomic - Exploits of a Mom - horrors of SQL injection vulnerabilities!

October 9 at 6:04 am - via Reshare - Link

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PhotoshopDisasters

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Mona N. posted a link

DIY Bacon Ice Cream

November 18 at 10:21 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

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WIN - Eric @ CS Techcast

29 more comments

O M G. Looks at the bacon. LOOK!! - Mona N.

whoa! - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

That's so wrong - what I'm waiting for is bacon bit toppings or a fudge sauce that tastes like bacon! - Wayne Schulz

You Americans have some funny traditions --- "So I candied my bacon the old-fashioned way." :P - Dave Pook

Maybe you could use bacon drippings as the topping on the ice cream. With the salty melty-ness oozing deep into the ice cream...or maybe not - Morgan Haley

Barf! - Sarah Perez

Interesting. - Molly, the Merry Maker

Mmmmmm:) - Patrik Johansson

i dunno...bacon ice cream? i'll try it but i ain't buying a quart to go without first getting a taste - Morgan Haley

Puke! - Éric Senterre

Go away you haters. It's a big pile of candy coated WIN. - Mona N.

bleh! - Carmen

Hmm, on one hand, this sounds disgusting. But on the other...intriguing. I would try it. Indeed, I would try it in a heartbeat. - Jamelle

I love bacon. I love chocolate. I once tried chocolate with bacon in it, and I almost vomited. Like actually. I assume the same would go for bacon and ice cream... - Clay B.

That's candy covered candy - Bwana

just listened to you on FFUndercats Mona .. sounded like fun ,, I like your laugh - johnpiercy

The waiter at Oliveto didn't recommend this dessert when we inquired about it at the Whole Hog Dinner there last year. The meal we had there was on of the best I've ever had, definitely in the top 10 (and we had things like brains and ears), and I felt the waiter didn't steer us wrong. I love bacon, I love ice cream, but not together. - Sarah

It would probably be even better if it were maple swirl ice cream. While it's still soft, gently stir maple syrup into the ice cream then pop it