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Shevonne Polastre posted a link

The REK Bookcase Grows to Accommodate Your Collection

Wednesday at 12:36 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Marco (aureliusmaximus), vivavida, Matt Musgrave and 21 other people liked this

WANT! :) - AJ Batac

11 more comments

ME TOO - Shevonne Polastre

NEED! - William Harryman

My luck I would put breakables in there and my husband would accidentally shut the thing =/ - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I totally want that. - Melissa

That is awesome! I need to get that - g. warbucks

That's awesome. Great idea. - James Ferguson

Love it! - Michael Forian

want! - .LAG

I find it's busy and heavy.. but neat. - Dino

wantwantwant! - RudĩϐЯaЯïaȵ

I think I can live with several regular bookshelves. :-) But definitely a clever idea. - Brent Newhall

I find it vertigo triggering :| - Michael W. May

nice design :) - vivavida

Cee Bee posted a link

World disaster hotspots

Tuesday at 10:20 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

Jess Lee and Vinay | विनय liked this

"What are the world's disaster hotspots? Arthur Lerner-Lam, who we spoke with in last week's Seven Questions about global disasters, set out with a team from Columbia University and the World Bank to answer this in "Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis." They divided the world up into sub-national swathes of land and analyzed population and disaster data going back about thirty years for six disaster types: drought, flooding, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. For reasons of data accuracy and availability, the results are relative rather than absolute likelihoods that disasters will occur in various corners of the globe. The study focuses on more significantly populated areas amounting to about half of the world's land area. It approaches loss as potential damage to that which is "valuable but vulnerable includ[ing] people, infrastructure, and environmentally important land uses. the study hints that disaster frequency is increasing" - Cee Bee via Bookmarklet

Shey posted a message

“Always check your children's homework”

November 28 at 8:54 am - Link

J. Abdul-Qahhar, mikepk, Aaron Draczynski and 117 other people liked this

(Mommy works at Home Depot, she was selling a shovel) - Shey

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i busted out laughing when I first saw this - Shey

Holy crap, man. 101% LOL - Akiva Moskovitz

LMAO - Mohomed=genieyclo

ROTFL - Parth Awasthi

too funny. - Jasmin Smith

Oh...my... - ♫ Rahsheen ™ ★

NOW why was Shey google-image searching strippers? hmmm - Caroline

lol umm... - Shey

OMG!!!!!!!! that's tooo funny - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

OMG this is horrible! LOL - Adriana

))) - Mehdi saberioon

Hahaha :D - Joe Dawson (beta)

That is hysterical! - Aaron Schaub

bling bling! - Jeremy Campbell via twhirl

submit it to the Failblog... ;-) - Bora Zivkovic

Wow. That's wrong on many levels. And hilarious. Very hilarious. - Daryl aka Lil Trumpet Boy

holy crap. farking hilarious. - Monique

A shovel? So that's what they call that. - Peter Simard

Looks more like a hammer... - Tyson Key

OMG.. I'm putting it on my Facebook. - Cyndy

i havent laughed like this in a long time - took me a minute to get it haha thanks - Allen Stern

Shey, if you put it on Flickr or your blog or something, we can link back to it and spread the word.... - Bora Zivkovic

I don't get .......ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! LOL! - Mike L

you guys are retard i have seen this image 50 times on the internet somewhere....TIRED OF U PEOPLE GOING NUTS OVER SHIT THAT IS SOO BLATANTLY OLD it makes u look inexperienced - Caroline

Holy crap, who pissed in Caroline's corn flakes this morning? - Peter Ghosh CISSP

Caroline, on behalf of all of FriendFeed, I humbly offer our sincerest apologies for not consulting with you first to get permission to post something that you may have seen but others may have not. - Akiva Moskovitz

I’m deliberately un-liking this and then re-liking it just to bring it to the top and spite Caroline. - Guillermo Esteves

submitted to reddit! http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/... - joshua hatfield

lol least i got that out off my chest..akiva but 89 people? 89 smart and intelligent bloggers? content managers etc. - Caroline via twhirl

Makes sense to me :) - Charlie Anzman

LOL@Guillermo ! - Shey

I've seen it before. Ive even posted it before ( to stumbleupon ), But that's ok. It's still funny as shit. I'd much rather look inexperienced than come off like I have that "shovel" she's selling shoved up my ass.....sideways. - Tony Miller

Fatih Taşkıran posted a message

“Blogger's Love :)”

November 17 at 2:59 am - Link

gülnur öztürk, azez, Yolanda and 63 other people liked this

hahaha - sunipeyk

6 more comments

ahahahahah - Merush Hanim

Lol :) - Aziz Aydın

whats a trackback? - Caroline

@Caroline, trackback is one of three types of linkbacks, methods for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking, and so referring, to their articles. - Fatih Taşkıran

ahahaha süper - Simto ALEV

LOL. geek <3 - Carolyn Chan

Are you blogging someone else"... LOL.. - Devakishor

LOLLLLZ!! - Mohomed=genieyclo

Jemm posted a link

People you meet on the Web

November 25 at 11:07 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ, (jeff)isageek, Kol Tregaskes and 45 other people liked this

LOL - Shey

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Pick any two. :) - Morton Fox

Dang it! So close! - klecu

LOL nice. I think I fall in the Sane category. - Alan Le

what if you are none of the 3? - RAPatton

snort. too funny - Mark Wilson

Good point RAP - Shey

less sane one's ,, defineltly - johnpiercy

I fall into the Sane Category. There should be one for "other" for the vampires, warewolves and such that hang out here in the day time :) - Roberto Bonini

@Roberto: I thought they hang out in Facebook? - Jemm

Oh, good point, Jemm. There must be alot of them, then..... - Roberto Bonini

I've decided I must be in the attractive/sane overlap. - Anika Malone

hahaha! - Live4SoccerVacations

Notice there is NO sweet spot there i.e. no one has all 3 attributes! LOL - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

Amusing qualifies as attractive, yes? (grasping for at least one) - Kevin Johnson

Good point, Susan! I think tht absence is due to uncertainty principle induced by the internet. We can never know for sure any kind of information and even less claim veracity of any combinations :) - Hayk

so true! LOL - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

RAP, it's call being an outlier - John Cozen

I am in no location on that chart. WTH! Ugly-In Relation-Crazy REPRESENT! - L0GiX

me = (single&&sane) I hope - klecu

Heh, picked from the sources comments: "Well, you know what they say about finding love over the internet: The odds are good, but the goods are odd." - Jemm

I thought I had all 3 attributes. So What am I doing here? Or am I delusional? Wait!, that makes me insane. Makes sense. Oh no, there we go again. - Tapio Kulmala

This works out well for those of us that aren't single. Not so much for the rest of you though. - Kenton

That's how it goes - Nia

In my experience, this applies nearly perfectly to real life as well. - Jared Smith

From my experiences, this is missing the small subset within a subset in the center, where you can have all 3, and intelligence too...but it never matches your sexual persuasion. - April Russo

Parth Awasthi favorited a video on YouTube

Rangeela Re Tere Rang

November 23 at 10:41 am - Link

Vinay | विनय, Pete Delucchi and Anika Malone liked this

LOVE this song. - Parth Awasthi

I always feel dumb liking foreign language songs because I won't listen to English ones with dumb lyrics. But I like this song too & remember this scene. What's it from. My daughter is dancing and singing to it right now. So we must have watched this recently. - Anika Malone

It's from a 1970 movie called 'Prem Pujari' FabooMama. The movie is not great but I am biased to the actress - Waheeda Rehman - partly because she is my mom's favourite dancer and I have seen her dances since forever, partly because she is a brilliant actress and partly cause she is gorgeous. The words in this song are utterly beautiful. The lyrics are by a brilliant hindi poet - Neeraj. Alas, I can't translate the beauty. - Parth Awasthi

Mark Krynsky posted a link

FriendFeed User Locations - Google Shared Map (4 days & 75 users later)

November 23 at 11:14 pm - Link

Jens Christian Freund, Ari Milner, Mohomed=genieyclo and 94 other people liked this

A smashing success! Thanks to everyone who has participated. This is very cool. If you haven't yet, go ahead and do so. Original post here http://friendfeed.com/e/901e40... - Mark Krynsky

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Added. Surely I'm not the only FF'er in Africa? - Neill Adamson

@Neill, that's great. You just got us to the 6th continent. I highly doubt we can hit 7 as there surely can't be someone from Antarctica that FriendFeeds. - Mark Krynsky

The Antarctica challenge: OK, here's the plan: we need to contact Eli Duke (http://twitter.com/elisfanclub) he's tweeting from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. We have until February (some background I just found: on his 1st stint in the Antarctic he was a dish washer. In 2006 he wrote a functioning RubyOn Rails site, got burned out and tried to give it away on Craig's List...unsuccessfully--it's back online now http://listyourlist.com/ . McMurdo Photo: http://is.gd/8Ltk) - Micah Wittman

I reshared to the Translation room to help boost your international participation. - Shannon Jiménez

nah, friendfeed isn't a niche play. it's got dozens of users! ;) - Jeremy Toeman

Jeremy: you are such a comedian! - Robert Scoble

Alrighty then, I just sent Eli a tweet (http://friendfeed.com/e/e84697... ) with a plea. I hope I'm not taken for a crazy. Hmm, I know that could be my first reaction. - Micah Wittman

@Robert: caught up with an old buddy over a cigar, bottle of wine, and a few glasses of quality bourbon. and i have to be up at 6. so i'm having fun. ;) sorry we didn't get to catch up more at the 12seconds/uservoice party! - Jeremy Toeman

WTF!!! Nobody from India... ??? Am I the only one..:) - Devakishor

Well I was late to this party. Great idea Mark. I have all of New Zealand to myself! - Alistair

Turkey is on it must be. Anyhow, and Anyway, they'll be more Balloons One Day All Around Our World, BTW Thats a Great Daft Punk Track ain't it ;-D, Shall We Play it, and what Room shall we doeth Such? It Big enough for All. That is All. Time For Work Now, See You Laters, FriendFeed and Have A Nice But Try Not To Be too naughty Day. :)) - Jason

Reshared in my feed! - flapic

Ditto. - Kol Tregaskes

Wow... I am the only person in VA. I expected a lot more people around DC. - Aram Zucker-Scharff

Ah... Aram, I'm in Virginia Beach, but I don't think it added me properly. - Ladybug Heather

we have someone in the middle of the Atlantic - Alejandro S.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=... - Jason

How did I miss this? Off to add my pin! - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

same here! Ok just added mine a while ago (Irondequoit Bay near Rochester, NY)... look for sailboat! - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

Pin added. Great idea! - James Ferguson

2nd pin added in Italy! - Alessandro

Pin and 1m snow added in Helsinki. Great idea! - udo

pin added at OHSU in Portland, Oregon - Maureen

+1 pin at Debrecen, Hungary - Berci Mesko

Why is Erhan Erdogan in the middle of the atlantic ocean on the map? Is he in the Bermuda Triangle or something? lol - Alan Le

@Micah, great job on recruitment. Eli has added himself and we now have all 7 continents filled. - Mark Krynsky

No Greenland luv, tho... - Mark VandenBerg

Erhan probably got moved accidentally. When I got to the page, and was moving the map, I accidently grabbed someone and moved them to the middle of the Atlantic. Thankfully, it was someone who used a special icon, so it was easy to search and put them back. - Anika Malone

I put my self on the map... - Aline

Added, in the Norway. :) - Daniel Bruce

Added me in Texas! - Phil Glockner

Added myself in the west Chicago suburbs. :) - Cheryl Jones

@Mark Such Coolness! And thanks Eli (http://friendfeed.com/elisfanc...) - Micah Wittman

man there's not that many people from MN! only one other person pinned it...hmmm - Mohomed=genieyclo

weird....I can't add a pin! - Mohomed=genieyclo

Apps: PooMa posted a link

TeamViewer - Free Desktop Sharing and Remote Control

November 20 at 1:54 am - via Bookmarklet - Link

Vinay | विनय, Lu Tao, Allison Kipta and 19 other people liked this

Cool tool; i posted an article how to use it a while ago : http://ausems.blogspot.com/200... - Olivier Ausems

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i like the fact that the partner doesn't have to install the software - Adarsh

Great tool! I'm using it for pair programming and it works like a charm - Christoph Thelen

How does it compare to Logmein? - Roger Benningfield

Well you have to install Logmein before beeing able to use it. With TeamViewer you don't. Once Logmein is installed, you can access the remote computer without anyone helping you; with Teamviewer you always need a user to give you a session ID and a password... - Olivier Ausems

Seems very similar to Crossloop, no install just an .exe - http://www.crossloop.com/ - Mark Layton

In Team Viewer when the host computer's desktop is locked you can not connect to it :( this is one of the big disadvantage of TeamViewer to connect to a remote computer you need a user to sit there - PooMa

Lindsay Donaghe posted a link

Infinite amounts of time...

November 22 at 1:41 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Vinay | विनय, Ladybug Heather, Phil Crissman and 26 other people liked this

very nice - j1m

I need this on lots of upcoming impossible projects that have freakin' ridiculous imposed timelines! augh! - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

The "Countdown" app on the iPhone uses this for it's icon & splash page. It's one of the very simple and useful tools I use as part of my "schedule-diary-system" - David HC Soul

According to their info page, the "Droste Clock" logo was created by Greg Ross & more of his works can be found at http://flikr.com/photos/photom... - David HC Soul

Lindsay Donaghe posted a link

OMG! This is Tad and me (sometimes). Especially since we got our new phones.

November 22 at 1:58 pm - Link

sam, Michael J. Cohen (mjc), Sarah Miller and 53 other people liked this

Hahah. Us, too. - Rochelle

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LOL! - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

:) - Caroline

Wait - everything I say is pure entertainment gold, right? - Tad, TV's Patrick Duffy

Make it laptops at home and you have Debbie and me. =) - David Cook

Hahahaaa! laughing at Tad & David's comments! you guys are freakin' hilarious! - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

We IM each other even when we're in the same room :) - Michael Hocter

well i think almost everyone using any social network would identify with this... - Oscar Juarez

i admit (shamefully) this is the perfect date. - Valley

Ken and I have our laptops on the dinning room table and send IMs to share links - Susan Beebe (Santa Claus)

I've planned dinner over IM with someone sitting next to me - Sean Reiser

Ontario Emperor posted an entry on mrontemp

Geezers rule - why IT never trusts anyone under 30

November 21 at 1:15 pm - Link

Igor Poltavskiy, James Robertson, Glenn Batuyong and 21 other people liked this

Dam that is a worry for big business. - John Spencer

33 more comments

As an IT manager, I've found the concerns here know no age. Although, I have found that with gen y people, it's more "I know the policies, I just think they're stupid so I'm not going to follow them" and with older people it's either "I forgot the policy," "the policy was in gibberish because I don't want to learn technology," or "I didn't realize what I was doing was against the policy." - Mark Trapp

These damned young people - they just don't respect authority!!! *yawn* - Kevin Johnson

that should read "IT never trusts anyone". It's true, we don't trust you no matter what experience you say you have - If you're a user, you're a problem, if you're another IT staff you're a problem waiting to happen ;) - alphaxion

Hey atleast we get things done. - Hitesh Sawlani

alphaxion: it's definitely an us vs. them relationship. Users think IT is the devil's work and is there solely to make their job harder, and IT thinks users are spiteful jerks who can't follow directions. Communication and mutual respect goes a long way. - Mark Trapp

I know the comments are joking - I think - but it's interesting to note that one of the major problems in a customer service organization (IT, HR, whatever) is the customers themselves. - Ontario Emperor

+1 Alphaxion... Too True Too True. - Chris W

I don't really like the way this is presented (and I'm over 30). However as an IT manager with a security background, I don't trust anyone to act in a secure manner, no matter how old they are. There are problems with all age groups (different ones to be sure) but it all comes down to user education.If they actually understand why a policy is important to them and their job, they'll pay attention to it. - Kenton

BTW Stay off my Servers! - Chris W

great post babe!!! - Caroline

@Mark It's not so much an Us vs Them, it's more "why didn't you listen to me?" and "well, that can only happen if you do x and y" "oh no, I don't visit them sites/use those apps" "can you explain the presence then?". It's a polarised issue - your biggest problems are with people who have no damn clue and those who think they have a clue. The people who just do their work, don't store their photos etc and don't use their work stuff for personal use are the ones that don't cause the problems. - alphaxion

As I have heard from so many of my fellow IT colleges, "This job will be perfect if it was not for the darn users." - Wizetux

Also, I have seen many policies that companies have blinding adopted on the word of the IT manager in which they only said to use them so that they could make their jobs easier instead of doing the job correctly. - Wizetux

Umm, I'm in IT security, have a CISSP and do most of the things they think are wrong. To say that users are doing bad things by using IM, using work internet to browse sites other than work sites and downloading "non-standard" apps is hogwash. I'd say the reverse is true, a company that doesn't allow these things and protect the network accordingly is doing the bad thing. - Alex Scoble CISSP

I wish there were a way to create a tunnel that people could use for an hour a day (lunch break, whatever) on a VM or something that was protected and wiped after use so you could do your personal business from work when you needed to. It's truly ridiculous for an organization to expect it's employees to cut themselves off from the world for 8-12 hours a day. That being said I NEVER use my work email address for anything but work and I wouldn't be inspired to download music, movies or other files. - Lindsay Donaghe

I understand the need for security, but there is also an advantage to allowing people to communicate outside of your lan. Oftentimes there is information that is helpful to the problem at hand in former work colleagues that can save you time spinning your wheels or reinventing one. Also by letting people take care of some of their personal business at work, it means they don't have to leave the office to do it (and waste time on commuting). - Lindsay Donaghe

It's not just about security: if you're being paid to work, it's not your time. Do your personal business on your own time and on your own equipment. The way I see it, if you have an issue following company property/time policies, that's a question that ought to be asked during the interview process when asked, "Do you have any questions for the company?" - Mark Trapp

Users are going to do what they want to do. If you put up blocks it only forces them to work around them which creates a even bigger security hole. Best to allow things but control how they are gotten to. Give them a way to get to places. A happy user is a user with less problems for the most part. Granted there are those Pains in the Ass that are the exception to the rule. But its better to just have one of those then the whole company/office. - Chris W

I suppose it depends on the industry. I can tell you that locking down access in a hospital = FAIL that can actually impact patient care. I've worked at places where they have absurdly restrictive policies, to the point where I've spent time waiting for my pager to go off figuring out ways to circumvent them. When you can't access Pubmed or even Google, you've probably gone too far. - Victor Ganata

@Mark - my lunch hour is my time... not the company's. I don't get paid for it. It's in the company's best interest to keep me at my desk if possible because then I'll take less time at lunch and get back to work. And besides, if you're salaried you probably work more than 40 hours a week anyway... the company doesn't pay you for that overtime. The least they could do is make it more convenient for you to actually give them more of your personal time. - Lindsay Donaghe

@alex it's not so much the fact that they access their IM client or update their facebook status.. I fully agree with giving them the freedom to occasionally take a break from work. But signing up to ebay with your work email address then bitching that our spamfilter has blocked their emails or installing limewire and then complaining their system is riddled with spyware is another bloody thing entirely ;) - alphaxion

As for my own equipment, I'd be happy to bring a laptop in, but we're not allowed. I'd be happy to get one of those mobile lan cards too... but again... And yeah, I have definitely learned with this particular employer that I will be asking about those kind of restrictions on my next job interview (whenever that is) and probably turning down the position if the answer seems too restrictive to me. I am extremely grateful for my G1 phone. It has been my savior. - Lindsay Donaghe

No one disagrees here with the fact that a company has the right to set their policies. Within limits, my employer legally has the right to control what I do on my work time, and I have the right to accept it or quit. And not only on my work time; an employer could ask you to delete your public facebook profile and fire you if you don't; this is how at-will employment works. But... - Tudor Bosman

@lindsay but the problem exists when you do things that take up time to fix. That is paid for.. there's no excuse for keeping thousands of personal photos on your work PC especially if your profile is sync'd to network storage and/or installing crap like toolbars that break web access. - alphaxion

Companies need to understand the issues and move to minimize the risk, rather than ban or crack down on internet use. We all know that companies need to expose themselves more to the internet, and it is these under 30's that are most likely to drive them. - Alistair

... we can still discuss what is and what isn't a reasonable policy. Keeping employees happy (or at least content) at work is definitely beneficial for an employer, and a policy that outright bans all non-work activity while at work is questionable at best. - Tudor Bosman

(my two previous comments are really two parts of the same comment; two other comments slipped in between) - Tudor Bosman

I agree alphaxion - and frankly, since I know that everything I do on my work computer is monitored, I have NO DESIRE to store anything personal on it. I don't want the IT guys going through my stuff. But I do resent not being able to communicate with people digitally outside the lan through the convenience of my computer. I think that actually hurts my overall productivity and prevents me from working as much overtime as the company expects me to in the long run. - Lindsay Donaghe

As a former sysadmin turned knowledge worker, I'd like to blame IT. Giving users administrator access on their own machines and trusting machines inside the firewall is your problem, not mine. What's the harm in letting workers access the internet if their job requires them to keep abreast of news and trends? - Daniel J. Pritchett

Keeping the kids from messing up the VCR schedule is one of the big selling points toward spawning an alternate business net that is really out to thwart net neutrality and ruin the future (again) - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

@lindsay which is why I don't block IM clients nor certain websites unless managers complain that their staff are spending too much time on them. I just have issues with activities that expose their machine to damage and that waste resources. Though, just remember that everything you do on IM clients is also logged. - alphaxion

@alphaxion: okay, but say I won't store hundreds of photos on my work computer, and I won't install crapware. Employees will be much less likely to respect your company if you treat them like idiots, irresponsible children, or criminals. - Tudor Bosman

@tudor some will, sadly some won't no matter what you do/say.. You should see the states of peoples machines that I have had to spend time on bringing back to a respectable state. I am extremely lax with many things because I do take the viewpoint of a user when implementing things, but if managers request certain things barring I have to agree and do it. I have had to lock down a department to the point of no right click because of how childish they were (telesales). - alphaxion

Daniel: most jobs don't require workers to be constantly connected to breaking news and trends. Just because there's a legitimate business need to having access to the internet does not mean you have a right to access the entire internet. Places like Google and <insert startup here> get a lot of press for treating every employee like they're a special little flower, but most businesses just need their employees to work. It's up to the employee to determine what they want to do and choose appropriately. - Mark Trapp

@Mark: Curiosity and a desire for self-improvement is not in many job descriptions, to be sure. I believe that they are critical to success and advancement in business. - Daniel J. Pritchett

Mitchell Tsai posted a link

How to Make Money in a Sideways Market [Dan Burrows, SmartMoney - 11/24/08]

November 21 at 2:42 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Farzad Zamani, Mohomed=genieyclo, Leather Donut and 5 other people liked this

Buy-and-hold works very well when the economy is clicking along like in the Goldilocks '90s, says Landgraf. The problem is that you can never abandon that strategy. It affords no way to play defense and preserve capital. - Mitchell Tsai via Bookmarklet

8 more comments

Jack Ablin, U.S. portfolio strategist at Harris Private Bank/BMO Capital Markets, says buy when the S&P 500 moves 5% above its 200-day moving average and hold until it breaks 5% below its 200-day moving average. - Mitchell Tsai

Jack's strategy is on the chart (Sell in 2000, Buy in 2002, Sell in 2007). - Mitchell Tsai

You don't have to trade, you know. You can hold dividend-paying stocks. Not all of stock investing is about capital appreciation. - Morton Fox

Morton: There's lots of stuff besides stocks. See Cap Gemini http://friendfeed.com/e/de0c18... However, if you are going to sit 33% in equities, how are you going to do it? In Feb 2000 and April 2007 I decided to leave the markets & sit in cash. Too risky for me. However, now I'm considering trying to make profits during bear markets, which I've never done in 22 years (I've always been a bull). New stuff for me... - Mitchell Tsai

During 4/07 - 11/08, I was +5.5%...but I'm looking at what I could have done if I played "bears" (e.g. playing the don't in craps, which I do very rarely. There's a fun strategy of betting Don't & also playing the 6 and 8... It's like a stock market straddle bet.) - Mitchell Tsai

Compared to "rich" people (10% real-estate, 33% equities) , most upper-middle-class & middle-class people are way too heavy in (1) residential real estate - their home (2) equities. Listening to the "buy & hold" stock strategies was seductive during the 1990s. I've been through 3 bear markets though. Bears are different than bulls. - Mitchell Tsai

33% in equities is not terribly risky. If it goes down by half, that's a mere 16.5% loss. In the meantime, you're presumably generating some kind of income from the remaining 67% that'll offset the loss to some extent. - Morton Fox

I experienced the 2001-2002 bear market and came out of it with more than when I went into it. What I learnt is you don't stop doing your homework during a bear market. There is always some kind of deal out there. - Morton Fox

Morton: That's what I have to learn. I haven't actively tried to profit from a down market. In 2000-2002 I was very busy running a few businesses, and didn't feel like messing with stocks. In 1987-90, I was just starting in stocks, and didn't do so well, ending up losing 50% of my stock money. - Mitchell Tsai

Reversion to the mean, which says that stock prices eventually move back to their historical average, is one of the better ones. Common Sense columnist James B. Stewart, employs such a strategy, selectively selling when the Nasdaq climbs 25% and buying when it drops 10%. - Mitchell Tsai

Glen Campbell posted a link

This is absolutely amazing

November 21 at 12:10 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Lu Tao, Vinay | विनय, Zee. and Chris W liked this

Toilets that don't require you to lower your pants. - Glen Campbell via Bookmarklet

2 more comments

I want one in my bathroom now. - Chris W

Yeah that looks ergonomic. - Bjorn Tipling

I've got a stiff neck just looking at this! - Nicholas Kreidberg

Maybe those are special pants - Glen Campbell

Cee Bee posted a link

anyone else hate it when utility companies do this?

November 20 at 7:59 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Vinay | विनय, Jan Dawson, Kol Tregaskes and 26 other people liked this

thats crazy! ive never seen anything that drastic before. my first instinct was "photoshop!" - Carlos Ayala

16 more comments

HATE!!! That's why I'm going to have to remove the dogwood from the front of my yard: they've utterly mangled it =/ - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

Looks a bit weird alright, but what's the alternative, other than chopping down the tree entirely? - Ray Metzen

hate it. - Trish Haley

bury the silly wires - Logical Extremes

That would have been the cleanest solution if they had done it when they ran the wires. But now they would have to rip up the street, or the sidewalk. Seems like a lot of trouble to save a few branches. - Ray Metzen

at least manicure the damn thing. don't go leaving a hole like a rocket ran through it or something - Cee Bee

Yeah, sure wouldn't hurt if the utility people stopped occasionally and considered the aesthetics of what they are doing, or put a trained gardener on the team... - Ray Metzen

yeah, this is mutilation. and the best answer is to loose the tree. sad either way. - MikeAmundsen

They can't risk the branches touching the powerlines, especially in a storm... no way to make it look nice and keep the distance... sad, but I'd rather be safe and have power.... - Lindsay Donaghe

In 2006, I spent six days and 16 hours without electricity. I'll let those jerks do what they want, as long as they do it proactively. See, they were warned that the outages could happen, and they didn't do anything until AFTER it happened (and supposedly got awards for their subsequent response). - MiɳiMagɘ (AlwaysMiniMage)

well it's not the utility companies job to keep trees trimmed. If it is a tree on cities propriety it is there job to keep trimmed or if it is on privet propriety it's the owners if they have to cut it someone will get the bill. - Zehn

whoever the responsibility belongs to is besides the point. just pointing out that it's an eyesore for any location - Cee Bee

That's bureaucracy for the loss for us all. What about the lack of aesthetics for the community as a result of the hatchet job? wow! - Roney Smith

I've never seen anything that drastic before. They might as well take down the tree. - BEX

Yeah, they just create more problems by pruning the trees like that. Won't bore anyone with the horticultural deets. Suffice it to say, they would have been better pruning completely back to the base of the main branches. At least then the tree would only be an eyesore until the new growth appeared in the spring, and then it would take several years for the branches to become a potential nuisance again, if even then. Often times if you prune it back hard enough, you'll encourage more shrub-like growth that's easier to manage. - Amanda H.

I refer to these tree coiffe as "A Larry" from the three stooges. It is tree abuse. - jlt

I hate that but it looks so friggin cool. Would make an awesome deathslide. - Toby Graham

They removed ALL the trees from my street about 4 years ago and I wasn't happy in the least bit about it. About 2 years ago they planted a bunch of puny cherry trees on the upper half of my street, one in front of each house. The lower half still looks really bad without any trees at all, and the trees they planted in the upper half all look sickly & dying. - April Russo

Zee. posted a link

Photoshopped: Before & After | The Foray: Weird & Wonderful

November 20 at 3:30 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Vinay | विनय, Carmen, Arthur Guy and 44 other people liked this

i admit, i'm still fascinated by these before and after shots... - Zee. via Bookmarklet

16 more comments

Would you like paper, or plastic? - Logical Extremes

I like the before better. - Nicholas Kreidberg

Perfect bodies are extremely scary. - Christopher Galtenberg

Not surprised, Nicholas. They shrank her butt and stuff. You like the first one probably in part because she's more normal and natural looking. This is annoying. Having to hold myself back from launching into a predictable feminist rant. - Kamilah Gill

And we wonder why we have so many gender image issues. - Alex Scoble CISSP

You are right Kamilah, I do prefer the 1st one because she is natural looking and actually has a butt. - Nicholas Kreidberg

It's totally so common you have no idea. It's insane what photoshop can do! - Patricia

for sure Patricia - Zee.

Amazing - think of the cumulative impact that photoshop has had on our shared concepts of who we are. Wild - instance of law of unintended consequences? - Simon Plashkes

Parts of me finds it cool and wants it done to her own pictures. The other part finds it horrendous that we think we have to make this rather good looking girl "squished" thinner, paler (!), smoother to be acceptable to the media. The message about how women (and increasingly men) must be to be accepted is... scary. How do we go back to considering normal humans just fine? - Joelle Nebbe

The problem is that it goes beyond what is physically possible. We can do makeup and plastic surgery, but we can't turn into pale plastic dolls like this. - Kamilah Gill

We shouldnt have to! - Joelle Nebbe

wow and that's probably one that has less Photo Shopping than most. nothing is real anymore - BEX

We had this before photoshop. It was called Barbie. Funny thing is, I'm just now noticing she was photoshopped and this has been in my feed 7 hours now...LOL - ♫ Rahsheen ™ ★

she looks like a damn crackhead effing model....suck those cheeks in and vomit your food. does the bank account good DOESN'T IT - Caroline

I love it . . . hilarious - Lindsey

I think she looks ropey in both pictures. I'd prefer the alien model with no belly button. OMG hahahaha from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/mag... "Ms Kurkova has not spoken publicly about how she came to have a smooth navel, and all her agent will say is "she's not an alien"." - Toby Graham

ugh. she looks far better airbrushed. on the cover, she looks awake. in the original, she looks like she didn't sleep after doing shots of tequila. that ain't sexy. and if she had put the curve in her back, the original shot would be more model-esque. the original looks like a bad glamour shot. i think her body size in the original is fine. and her face looks too thin on the cover. but if the choice is between awake and hungover ... - tiffany

Stupid Blogger (aka Tina) posted an entry on Stupid Blogger: Not So Stupid

Eat Like You're Poor So the Poor Can Eat

November 20 at 8:59 am - Link

David Lynch, Jayavasanthan J, Imabug and 21 other people liked this

Tina, you know...you have inspired me. In December, I am going to eat like a poor person and donate that money to these poor children in Africa using a charity who won't take all the money for "administrative purposes." Wonderful post. - Shevonne Polastre

22 more comments

Shevonne, that's awesome!!! I'd love to hear how it goes for you, plus any good recipes you find =D - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I love About.com's Frugal Site. I will let you know. - Shevonne Polastre

Shevonne (and anyone else thinking of doing this), you might want to check out http://www.hillbillyhousewife.... for some great recipes that are geared towards eating on the USDA's Thrifty Plan. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I bookmarked it. Thanks! -