Ruchira S. Datta
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Jeremy just joined the blogosphere, give him a round of applause :). - Michael
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bob posted a link
Tourists warned to stay away as Venice suffers worst flooding for two decades - Times Online
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"Sirens sounded across Venice yesterday as flooding submerged 95 per cent of the city and left tourists in St Mark’s Square thigh-deep in water....Driven by strong winds and heavy rain, the water rose to just over 5ft above sea level, the highest acqua alta since the 5ft 2in (1.6m) of 1986. The tide monitoring centre gave warning that the levels could yet reach a 30-year high.The water reached 6ft 4in above sea level in 1966, causing devastation to homes, shops and historic monuments and artworks. " - bob via Bookmarklet
We were there last weekend and had a wonderful dinner at Da Fiore near Campo S. Polo - http://bit.ly/D2C0. Recommend chef's menu with 6 or 7 items. - Paola
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Mitchell Tsai bookmarked a page on delicious
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The Dow lost 679.95 points to close at about 8,149. There have only been three days in market history with bigger point losses for the Dow - the Monday after the Sept. 11 attacks, and Sept. 29 and Oct. 15 of this year. - Mitchell Tsai
Bond prices jumped as investors sought the safety of government debt. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill, considered one of the safest investments, slipped to a very slim 0.03 percent. That indicates investors are willing to accept tiny returns just to park their cash somewhere safe. - Mitchell Tsai
http://bloomberg.com/markets/r... US Treasuries 3-month 0.04%, 6-month 0.44%, 12-month 0.81%, 2-year 0.90%, 10-year 2.72% - Mitchell Tsai
And the fed itself is thinking (out loud) of buying treasury bills to sustain the value of the US dollar. These investors "tiny returns" are set to take a massive hit once the run on the dollar starts. And start it will, its not a matter of if, its a matter of how soon and how drastic the foreign dumping of American dollars is. - David HC Soul
David: With all the world's economies cratering, I think we'll see MORE money in US treasuries, not less. For example, it's cheaper now for me to visit London than anytime in the past 5 years (1 GBP = $1.49). http://ibtimes.com/forex/curre... The Euro is also down to $1.26 http://ibtimes.com/forex/curre... - Mitchell Tsai
http://ibtimes.com/articles/20... We saw the dollar strengthening immensely over the last few months with or without bad economic data and that was purely the fact that risk aversion was taking control and traders were looking the dollar in a new light as the safe haven currency. ...the traders fear and uncertainty can be felt daily all across the globe. - Mitchell Tsai
The US dollar has been strengthening over the short term as large scale investors based in US have been liquidating foreign holdings in massive amounts in order to bring money home to cover margin calls and other risk exposures at home. When they do this, they receive the money in the foreign funds, and to repatriate have, of necessity, had to buy US $ with it. The amounts transferred in this fashion have been truly massive and have artificially boosted the US $ in the short term (supply and demand). - David HC Soul
http://ibtimes.com/articles/20... The manufacturing ISM report declined more than expected to 36.2 versus expectations for a smaller drop to 38.4 from 38.9 in the previous month. November ISM prices also dipped sharply, falling to 25.5 from 37.0 in October. - Mitchell Tsai
David: I'd love to read anything about the volume of currency sales due to US-investors versus overseas-investors. Do you have any links to articles? - Mitchell Tsai
When the massive repatriation of native American dollars slows, the US dollar will drop. Some think gradually and marginally, I worry went it starts it will become subject to irrational movement and quite likely dumping by foreign holders. If they (including China for example) start dumping US investments (including treasury bills, and to a lesser extent bonds and equities) the pressure downwards on the American dollar will be immense. I'm afraid that the "risk aversion" is a fictitious construct. - David HC Soul
David: What will happen when foreigners (e.g. China with $1+ trillion) dump US $? Very common question. Some talk about people shifting to Euros & the effect on the US. However, this global meltdown raises a good question - Are there any "safe havens" in the world? If I am trying to preserve 10-yrs-saving-from-work, where do I put it? Gold doesn't appreciate over time, whereas equities are investments in companies and people who do productive work. Bonds in companies/banks also finance people. - Mitchell Tsai
I don't think there are safe havens as unfortunately US policy and world wide financial linkages have created a bubble that impacts everyone (including the Chinese who must now fear domestic violence as their economic growth falters; they thought they could dodge the bullet by refusing to join in the derivative, World Bank and IMF games to bring their financial institutions and operations into conformity with "best" practices in the west) & unfortunately equities also became a shell game. 2010 = real crash - David HC Soul
David: I'm in Beijing and the signs are all over the place of a bad fall for China. After all, the Chinese export-driven economy was based on an endless supply of dollars coming in from fat American consumers whose jobs had been outsourced to China. No more! - Paul Denlinger
when the value of the dollar drops, what will it drop *against*? - Gregory Lent
All: Globalization = US (Wall Street + unregulated government) created bogus financial instruments to export financial cancer to world system, while Chinese built factories, rapid growth and air, water and food pollution to create real cancer for people. All under guise of development and globalization. - Paul Denlinger
Gregory: gold, silver and food. Everything else is bullshit. - Paul Denlinger
ah, bubble in gold on the horizon then .. get in, get out at the top? - Gregory Lent
Gregory: Get out at the top to what? Food? Better have a shotgun to protect it! - Paul Denlinger
Fundamentally: Consider a trade economy. If I work one year (assume my productivity is 1), and try to save one month's work, then I help by (a) create a surplus of 1/12 (b) use surplus to support someone else's projects temporarily (c) If other people have productivity > 1, then my returns will grow over time (d) If I die, while producing a surplus, society gains. Big question: How do we support this type of production/trade economy? Commodities are not good for (B). - Mitchell Tsai
paul, it gets better after 2012 ... this is a paradigm shift, looking at what is falling away, ohmygod, looking at what is being born, praisegod ... :-) - Gregory Lent
Currencies/equities/company-ownership/government are a way to support (A, B, C, and D). Money is a fiction. Using gold/silver/diamonds as a storage of value is a group-fantasy. Food/land/housing/clothing have "real" value, but they aren't very stable (e.g. mudslide, global warming with rise in water levels). Gregory, in your paradigm shift, where do we shift to??? - Mitchell Tsai
I spend a lot of my time in alternative communities, where we work with various non-money economies. (a) How do you handle free-loaders? Or people who's productivity is <1? (b) Can you operate in surplus? Most of our communities can't operate in surplus, which is why people have to pay money from their "real lives" to attend "camp". (c) How can you encourage exponential growth, which is what our VC/equity/company system tries to support by using borrowed money/time/effort from stock-holders? - Mitchell Tsai
life is one big adjustment machine .. no steady state ever .. how we live with that is where wisdom lies - Gregory Lent
Gregory: 2012, huh? Isn't that the year the Mayan calendar ends? - Paul Denlinger
mayans, maybe were reading the same flow of time as the tibetans, yogis, mystics, etc ... either way, paradigm shift, and it seems important to put attention onto the new, don't you think? - Gregory Lent
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Michael posted a link
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This document tells what the formats of the index files are. Priceless. - Michael via Bookmarklet
The most important lucene doc I've found that's not linked anywhere. - Michael
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Rachel Lea Fox posted a link
MAKE: Blog: Yabba Dabba DIY - Homemade Flintstones car
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"Bill LeMaster, a 44-year-old retired Air Force technician living in Montgomery, Ala., enjoys a great many hobbies, ranging from arts to electronics. He also enjoys his family, his most beloved passion. Although, if you ask his wife, she'd probably say collecting hobbies is his biggest passion. Last Halloween, when he heard his grandkids were dressing up as Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm from the Flintstones, LeMaster volunteered to build them the Flintstone car to perfectly complete the look (and to make sure he got to join in the fun). "I just wanted my grandkids to have the most awesome costume in Montgomery," he recalls. He started the build six weeks before Halloween, allowing himself plenty of time to get the project rock solid. Once the car was done, the kids were all set to shuffle their feet down the street -- Yabba-Dabba-Doo! His grandkids were happy, the neighbors were amazed, and LeMaster was satisfied with the outcome of the project." - Rachel Lea Fox via Bookmarklet
That foolish man! Has he even considered how this vehicle will hold up in an accident? I bet this car wasn't even crash tested before handing the wheel over to underage, unlicensed drivers. Just look at the flimsy construction and those so-called safety belts!! - April Buchheit
April *LOL* - Rachel Lea Fox
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Neha Narula shared an item on Google Reader
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I just finished reading Dean Simonton's _Origins of Genius_ and this advice is very well-supported. - Ruchira S. Datta
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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."”
15 hours ago - Link
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
"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
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Typography: Rachel Lea Fox posted a link
et al at FormFiftyFive - Design inspiration from around the world
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I really could have used this a month ago - but only if each were connected to their typeface names. - Erin
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Jason Wehmhoener posted a link
Richard Heinberg's MuseLetter: The Food and Farming Transition | Global Public Media
November 11 at 10:08 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link
"The only way to avert a food crisis resulting from oil and natural gas price hikes and supply disruptions while also reversing agriculture’s contribution to climate change is to proactively and methodically remove fossil fuels from the food system. The removal of fossil fuels from the food system is inevitable: maintenance of the current system is simply not an option over the long term. Only the amount of time available for the transition process, and the strategies for pursuing it, can be matters for controversy. Given the degree to which the modern food system has become dependent on fossil fuels, many proposals for de-linking food and fuels are likely to appear radical. However, efforts toward this end must be judged not by the degree to which they preserve the status quo, but by their likely ability to solve the fundamental challenge that will face us: the need to feed a global population of 7 billion with a diminishing supply of fuels available to fertilize, plow, and irrigate fields and to harves" - Jason Wehmhoener via Bookmarklet
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Piaw Na updated their status message on Gmail/Google Talk
“Back home after 7 months”
Sunday at 6:15 pm - Link
Welcome back! - Ruchira S. Datta
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RAPatton posted a link
The Cool Factor - Never Let Them See You Sweat - NYTimes.com
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"How much neuroticism anyone gets is determined largely by genetics. But it is also within our control. Psychiatrists and psychologists talk about emotional regulation — the ability to manage neuroticism so that even the most nervous of people can go through life appearing and feeling more in control than those genetically predisposed to calmness. “What studies have shown us is that there’s great plasticity, even though people are genetically built in ways that make them respond anxiously or not,” said James J. Gross, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of its psychophysiology laboratory. “Genetically identical people can give very different outward impressions because they think differently, they regulate their emotions differently.” It’s relatively easy to say how outgoing someone is, or how verbal. Those who study personality caution that it’s harder to know how calm someone really is under the hood — several noted that President-elect Barack Obama has had trouble kicking smo" - RAPatton via Bookmarklet
"But many researchers argue for two ways to think about calmness: you are calm, or you learn how to be. Imagine two people with equally high measures of neuroticism dealing with the same irascible boss. One gets yelled at and leaves the boss’s office perfectly composed; the other gets yelled at and flees to the bathroom in tears or storms out and kicks the wall. The difference is that the first person has learned to regulate the neuroticism. People tend to think that the confrontation produces the reaction; if you’re faced with an irrational rant, who can blame you for falling apart? But researchers in emotional regulation tease out a factor in between: how we think. Between the “a” of the antecedent and the “c” of the consequence, they argue, is the crucial “b,” for belief, which in the case of the person melting down might sound something like: my boss hates me, everyone hates me, I’m a total failure. That is the opportunity for emotional regulation." - RAPatton
"“Even if you’re someone who is initially anxious, you can develop tricks and strategies, so someone on the outside would say: ‘Her, anxious? She’s awesome at cocktail parties, she’s great at public speaking,’ ” Professor Gross said. “They wouldn’t understand that if you didn’t have those strategies, you wouldn’t be able to do those things.” This may be easier for some than others." - RAPatton
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Tyson Key favorited photos on Flickr
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The Aurora shots are something - RAPatton
Wow. Insanely amazing. <bookmark> - possible248
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Arthur Laffer is a schmuck. - Nathan Naze
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Robert Scoble posted a message
“William Gunn has headlines that are WAY over my head: http://friendfeed.com/mrgunn He's a blogger at DNA Network.”
Friday at 8:26 pm - Link
He is a senior graduate student at the Tulane Center for Gene Therapy. His dissertation is entitled "Investigating the Role of Human Mult... ipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in the Repair of Bone", in which he developed a model of multiple myeloma in immunodeficient mice and used it to test small molecule inhibitors of the interaction between multiple myeloma and bone precursor cells. - Robert Scoble
Got that? Now THAT is what I call a "smart FriendFeeder." - Robert Scoble
I'm making notes. - Nicola Quinn
Makes me realize just how little I really know. But, then, smart people always do that. - Robert Scoble
That's why I find FF so fascinating. Always something intriguing here. - Nicola Quinn
Docs in gene therapy using social media and even FF, well whaddya know! - Mohomed=genieyclo
Most doctors I know barely know how to use a computer, but are so smart at other things, I'm sub'ing to this guy! - Mohomed=genieyclo
genieyclo: he has friends, too. It's interesting to watch subcultures evolve here on FriendFeed. This is a VERY positive development! Shows that FriendFeed's growth is real and is sustainable. - Robert Scoble
Yes, there are lots of scientists here, especially computational biologists, science librarians, and scientists interested in Web2.0/social networks/online apps for scientists, for communicating, teaching and doing science. - Bora Zivkovic
@Scoble Bora Zivkovic is another scientist here, and very smart as well. Sub'd. http://friendfeed.com/coturnix - Mohomed=genieyclo
In addition to what Bora said, there's lot of sci-related rooms. From general life science, through various languages for bioinformatics, science 2.0 initiatives, scientific applications, diybio, synthetic biology, chemistry development kit, devoted to particular scientific or science-related conferences (ismb2008, biobarcamp), devoted to particular scientific journals up to even to small invertebrate nervous system ganglia research (http://friendfeed.com/rooms/sm...). - Pawel Szczesny
What, there are people here on FF who are not scientists? Whodathunk... lol :-) - Björn Brembs
Yeah, I always get caught up reading boring Science geek stuff - Jim Hardy
And I thought I just read a complicated white paper! His headings are insane and way too long. - Jeremy Campbell via twhirl
Most of the long headings are scientific article bookmarks or links. Hardly his fault how they are entitled.... - Nils Reinton
You can search for science in rooms and find some really cool stuff: http://friendfeed.com/rooms/se... - Bora Zivkovic
Thanks for the follow, Robert. I just pipe the feed for my science-specific bookmarking sites in here. http://www.connotea.org/user/w... http://www.2collab.com/user:wi... I'm working for a San Diego area startup called Genalyte, which is developing a real-time label-free multiplex biosensor. We've got multiplex immunoassays and drug screening applications in the works, and have attracted serious interest from companies such as Roche and Illumina. Expecting to close Series A soon. - Mr. Gunn
http://friendfeed.com/bersenev Alexey also pipes his paper-bookmarking in here and he's a much more prolific reader than I am. Also unlike me, he still has a top-quality non-neglected blog. @Bjorn, Bora, et al. Yeah, sometimes I forget there's non-science people on FF. I should subscribe to Scoble, but I'm loath to dilute the science-specific signal to noise ratio, something Sally Church and I have talked also about. I - Mr. Gunn
Life Scientists rock! - Sally Church
Mr. Gunn, is your inbox buzzing with new people signing up yet :)? - Deepak
Hey Mr Gunn, I'm currently doing a project on multiple myeloma and new drugs in development post bortezomib for ASH in SF next month. You going to be there? - Sally Church
@ Deepak http://williamgunn.org/pubpics... I thought it was a spam attack until I saw Scoble's name at the very bottom. @ Sally I can't find a good excuse to go there, since my current work is more assay development and because I'm not in grad school anymore, I can't get my PI to spring for the registration. Let me know next time you're in San Diego, though. - Mr. Gunn
That is another T-shirt I need: acts like spam. :-) - Robert Scoble
Robert, that would be a good one - Deepak
Woohoo! DNA Network shout out! :) - Ricardo Vidal
Mr Gunn, ah but much of the exciting new developments in assays are in hematologic malignancies from what I see from the abstract book. Am about to do a new project with an assay company in the NE for leukemia. Will let you know if there is some great stuff there and absolutely, if I am in San Diego. - Sally Church
Robert, they're not actually over your head, they just involve a lot of vocabulary you don't know. Don't be shy about dipping into the fun! - Ruchira S. Datta
@Sally - I'll see if I can make a case for it. Money's a little tight right now as you know, but I'm really excited about the screening aspect, and I have a proposal for cancer proteomics using our instrument(which is fairly similar to the drug screening application), we just need to get that Series A already. - Mr. Gunn
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Paul Graham posted an entry on Paul Graham: Essays
Saturday at 3:19 am - Link
This works in the web 2.0 world, where a reliability failure (like twitter's frequent outages) has no real consequences. I would not want my bank to take this attitude to its accounting software, nor would I want the medical X-ray manufacturer to take this attitude --- "oh yeah, the worst that happens is we kill a couple of folks while we push a new release." For good reason, you don't see car owners lobbying for an elimination of crash test standards and other expensive checks. - Piaw Na
This rings true on so many levels. In particular, we easily spend half the price of our product just on selling it to the people who want it. - Gabe
Piaw, car manufacturers don't have to build multiple instances of a production ready vehicle and crash-test it for *every* change, nor do non-critical changes (paint colors, UI changes) ever have to be crash-tested. Frequently, software developers are forced to get approval for things that could be released immediately, or at least tested on the live system with A/B testing. This forces systems to be built for graceful recovery from failures, a more robust approach. - Michael R. Bernstein
Oh, and in any case, PG's post was about disproportionately expensive tests and tests with hidden costs, like approval processes. I'm pretty sure the developer group he was talking about have a comprehensive test-suite for their system, so it's not like they were talking about immediately releasing untested code, just *unapproved* code. - Michael R. Bernstein
off-topic quote ;-) 'If you want to build a ship, don‘t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.' -Antoine de Saint-Exupery - Adriano
Just about everyone working at a software company of any size would agree that this is a real phenomenon, and Graham does a good job of pointing out why it occurs, and what purpose it serves (i.e. it's important to weigh both benefits and costs of process). I believe the only way to avoid unnecessary process is for everyone in the company to push back, and to have a culture where asking for forgiveness rather than permission is acceptable. - Joel Webber
Mike, I'm not proposing that dot coms start having massive approval processes, just that it's not appropriate for software when people's lives (or financial balances) are involved. Intel's recall for a floating point problem cost way more than having effective testing would have. Of course, I'm an anachronism these days --- concern about reliability is so old fashioned. - Piaw Na
Small companies generally have small development teams and small numbers of users, both of which make it easy to ship quickly. - Gabe
I think costly checks grow when one group of people is affected by another group's errors. That tends to happen when groups insist on ownership of critical facilities (both infrastructural, like networking, and organizational, like PR) and set themselves up as gatekeepers. "Us and them" dynamics set in on both sides, and the problems make the gatekeepers be even more gatekeepery. - ⓞnor
Agree with @nor about multiple groups. If my group pays the cost but your group benefits from some change, I have an incentive to say No to your change. And you have an incentive to say Yes, because you're not paying the cost but you get all the benefit. This also happens if you take your kids Christmas shopping… - Amit Patel
Right, and if a single group bears both costs and rewards, they can make intelligent tradeoffs, and have an incentive to develop efficient safeguards. But developing the kind of partitioning, self-service infrastructure, and chargebacks necessary for that has its own costs (in many cases defeating the economies of scale that make big companies successful in the first place!). - ⓞnor
"If you're hard enough to sell to, the people who are best at making things don't want to bother. The only people who will sell to you are companies that specialize in selling to you." - j1m
Piaw, as far as I understand it x-ray machines were in "unstable beta" hurting people's health longer than most web sites... http://www.museumofquackery.co... - Philipp Lenssen
one problem is that although thorough testing may cost less than a recall, the thorough testing has to happen every time & the recall may only happen one in 10 or more, so it may still not be cost efficient :-( what programmers hate (in my experience, anyway) is the idea that the work they're doing is not used or, even worse, causes more work for others. We like to think we make the world better ;-) *crosses fingers* - immaterial
The people responsible for developing new features don't necessarily have to be the ones productionizing and handling all the details of running the live service, although of course they need to be connected to their users to make a decent product. I think the open-source model might have some benefits here—random people might throw out innovative but half-baked pieces of code, then others might develop them into a finished product. - Jim Norris
When downside costs a lot (Google.com, VISA, etc.) you should have enough process. When lack of success costs a lot (most startups) you should do whatever works! The intersection (early-stage product at big company) is where a lot of problems happen. - Michael Herf
It seems like most folks are really bad at assessing the costs (and opportunity-costs) of intangibles. This may be one reason why most people are overly risk-averse. In any case, creativity and innovation increasingly suffer as these checks against adverse outcomes grow and their hidden costs multiply. - Gordon Vaughan
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omar posted an entry on omar's thoughts
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Mr. Gunn posted a link
Christmas and holiday cards for geeks: Top 11 - Telegraph
Friday at 3:20 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link
I kinda like this one too : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/top... - Pedro Beltrao
Awesome. I think I'm going to get some PEACE as well as the transcription christmas tree! - Shirley Wu
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Paul Buchheit posted a message
“I was going to suggest that Louis get these shirts for his kids, but maybe it's only permitted with identical twins?”
I was going to suggest that Louis get these shirts for his kids, but maybe it's only permitted with identical twins?
Friday at 2:43 am - Link
This t-shirt could be a reason for trying to have twins! :) - Olcayto Cengiz
my kids look quite alike even though they are of different age. Probably I should get them those shirts =) - Davide D'Incau
They're quality :) - Joe Dawson (beta)
Awww cute. Is this a subtle hint to Apple ? :D - Mo Kargas
We still get people thinking our boy/girl pair are identical. We figure they skipped that day in biology class... - Louis Gray
That's hilarious - Shey
ha ha ha . . . love it - Lindsey
My daughter thinks Paste has more personality than Copy. - Larry Kless
YES!!! Louis should totally get these shirts for his twins!! :) even if they're not identical... still cute! - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)
Those shirts are hilarious! - Tony
No twins for me (yet). Wondering if i just get a "cut" and "paste" shirt combo - put "paste" on my kid and leave "cut" lying on the floor unworn. - David Bisset (sn)
FriendFeed
Jason Wehmhoener posted a link
Friday at 12:41 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link
"Spot.Us is a nonprofit project of the Center for Media Change. We are an open source project, to pioneer “community funded reporting.” Through Spot.Us the public can commission journalists to do investigations on important and perhaps overlooked stories. All donations are tax deductible and if a news organization buys exclusive rights to the content, your donation will be reimbursed. Otherwise, all content is made available to all through a Creative Commons license. It’s a marketplace where independent reporters, community members and news organizations can come together and collaborate." - Jason Wehmhoener via Bookmarklet
FriendFeed
Paul Buchheit posted a message
“Happy Thanksgiving everyone!”
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Thursday at 5:34 pm - Link
To you too! - Abby Martin
happy turkey day! - Tom Stocky
Happy Thanksgiving to you, April and everybody!! - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)
Happy Thanksgiving, Paul! - Matt Musgrave
I am stuffed. Hope you are having a good one! - Robert Scoble
Loves from Turkiye, not Turkey! ;-) HEHEHE - love you friendfeeders. ;-) Also thanks for logo and this after --> http://friendfeed.com/e/c34c5d... - Erhan Erdogan
Happy Thanks Giving Paul and Friendfeed Staff - johnpiercy
Happy Thanksgiving! - Ruchira S. Datta
Happy Thanksgiving to all! - Sheila Taylor
Thanks for FriendFeed, Paul! That's what I'm thankful for. - Josh Haley
Happy t day ff - Jason Kaneshiro
Hope you guys are having a fantastic thanksgiving. Are we keeping some of you at work? - Kamath ॐ
Hope your Thanksgiving has been wonderful! - Anne Bouey
So many funny friendfeed logos ! - thomas via twhirl
Well done... the cool logo's... - Aad 't Hart
Flickr
Mona N. published photos on Flickr
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Thursday at 2:15 pm - Link
books. mmm. :D - pea♥ fierce as a woozle
I love these, Mona. - Anna Haro
(Mona N. is the only person who has used "donotwantkindle" as a tag.) ... lol -- nice pics mona! :D - Brandon
beautiful. I love shooting books 10x more than I love reading them. - Thomas Hawk
Nice shots, I love the smell of old books, lol - Alastair Montgomery
beautiful. if only we could also capture the smell of old books. (My personal idea of heaven is an old library. with all the smells of old paper and crumbling wood shelves) - Sofia Gkiousou
Sofia- what an evocative description! That does indeed sound like heaven. - Abby Martin
e-books.:) - Igor Poltavskiy
Abby don't get me wrong I do love all my gadgets and connectivity. But I figure, if dead, what better way to spend the loneliness of eternity than a library? - Sofia Gkiousou
These books are likely to wonderful. - istanbuldailyphoto