luni, 6 octombrie 2014

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Kids Who Are Kicking Ass in Their Halloween Costumes

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 06:00 PM PDT

When it comes to Halloween costumes, these kids can't be beat. Their costume game puts every adult on the planet to shame.


























The Gorgeous Girls Of Tommorowland 2014

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 12:48 PM PDT

The Tommorowland festival of 2014 has come and gone, and if you missed it, you missed out on seeing these gorgeous girls in person.


























Two Female Teachers Have A Threesome With a Student

Posted: 06 Oct 2014 11:16 AM PDT

Shelley Dufresne (right), 33, and Rachel Respess (left), 23 were recently arrested for having a threesome with a 16 year old student. These two are facing some major jail time and the whole thing was reportedly caught on video. It's too bad for these teachers, but as far as the teenage boy goes, he might be one of the luckiest kids on the planet. Bragging rights for life.






















Via dailymail

Thank You for 10 Incredible Years

Thank You for 10 Incredible Years


Thank You for 10 Incredible Years

Posted: 05 Oct 2014 05:15 PM PDT

Posted by randfish

Below are letters written to you all (yes, you!) from both Rand and Sarah.

The first is from Rand:

Dear Moz Community,

Wow. Ten years. It's been an incredible ride. Through the ups and downs (and there have been  plenty of both), there haven't been many constants in my life—my wife, Seattle, and, strangely enough—you, the Moz community. From my first days on the blog and in the forums of the SEO world, when I was deeply in debt and had no idea how to dig my way out, to the incredible rush of 2007 and 2012 when we raised funding rounds and felt like the sky was the limit, you've been there. And in the darkest hours of the past decade, when I've felt the most alone, guilty, and insecure, you've been there, too.

I get to see many of you in person—at conferences and events around the world. But I get to see you right here on the web, too—on Twitter, in the comments, through my email. Your support, empathy, and unwavering belief that Moz could and would do great things has been a beacon of hope and a challenge that I constantly strive to meet.

A decade is a long time. Few things in our lives or in the world last that long—the average tech startup  doesn't quite make two years. I'm honored and humbled that you've stuck with us all that time, and I promise that in the decade ahead, Moz will deliver more and better work in the areas you need most. We believe in making data that others hide transparent and accessible. We believe in delivering remarkable education and software that everyone can afford. We believe that all of this can be done not just without evil, but with real generosity of spirit and action.

Thank you for the ten remarkable years of warmth, friendship, and support. We absolutely couldn't have done it without you, nor can we take the next steps without your help. I hope you'll keep holding us to high standards, and telling us when we've met your expectations and when we've let you down.

With deep appreciation,

Rand Fishkin
Co-founder & individual contributor
Moz

The second letter is from Moz's CEO, and one of the company's earliest employees, Sarah Bird:

Dear Moz Community,

Moz is the steward of this community, but it's owned by everyone who contributes with posts, comments, shares, and visits. Many, many people have passed through the community, leaving an indelible mark. I get emotional remembering the humor and generosity of  Goodnewscowboy. I'm grateful and relieved that Dana Lookadoo is still fighting the good fight. I'm STILL impressed with the solid that Rhea Drysdale did the SEO community when she fought a nasty trademark battle on the community's behalf. I salute all of the folks, and there have been many, who've been a force for good in my life and helped us all to take our game to the next level.

Our community is dynamic, but always TAGFEE. In fact, I've come to believe it is the truest expression of TAGFEE. People share openly and without a promise of getting anything in return (TAG). It's a positive and supportive environment to become your best professional self (FEE). I'm proud that the Moz community is one of the few places on the web I'm not afraid to read the comments; I seek them out because they are consistently insightful and stimulating.

Thank you to those who paused here for a bit before continuing on your journeys, and for those who have stuck with us. There are people out there RIGHT NOW who haven't yet discovered the Moz community, and who are going to help us keep it amazing in the future. I can't wait to meet them. Without all of you, there is nothing here.

It's been 10 years, but there is still a lot to learn and a lot to teach. It still feels like day one. The pace of innovation has increased, and the stakes are higher. We strive to share, adapt, and become the most TAGFEE and impactful professionals we can be. Thank you for creating a space to do that every day. Together, we dig deeper and go farther than would be possible without each other. Let's keep it going and growing for the next ten years.

Hugs and High Fives,

Sarah Bird
CEO
Moz

If you have any fun or interesting memories from the last 10 years, whether they're related to Moz, SEO, or whatever you think we might like to hear about (we're feeling awfully nostalgic), please share them in the comments below!


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Seth's Blog : Dumb down and scale up

 

Dumb down and scale up

Small businesses rule our economy, and each successful small businesses is expected to get bigger.

Many successful small businesses are easily scaled. The owner has created something that can be repeated, a product that can mass produced, a process that can be franchised. Scaling up serves more customers and benefits the founder.

But some businesses, maybe yours, are built around new decisions and new work on a regular basis. Those businesses are also under pressure to scale, and that might be a mistake.

To get bigger, the small business that's based on the insight, energy and passion of a few people might have to dumb down. It has to standardize, itemize and rationalize, so that it can hire people who care a little less, know a little less and work a little less, because, after all, they just work here.

Which means that in order to get bigger, the small businessperson sacrifices the very thing that brought in business in the first place.

What if getting bigger isn't the point? What if you merely got better?

It's entirely possible that you're a special snowflake, that your unique point of view and understanding and care are precisely what the market wants from you... if that's true, then hiring people to be almost-as-good-as-you isn't going to lead to more of what we seek. It just means that you're working harder than ever to cover for people who can't quite figure out how to be you.

An alternative: acknowledge your special sauce and hire people only when they help you do what you do best and uniquely. Don't worry about replicating yourself, focus instead on leveraging yourself.

       

 

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duminică, 5 octombrie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Air Strikes on Isis Not Working; What's Next?

Posted: 05 Oct 2014 07:27 PM PDT

Isis fighters are closing in on the city of Kobani near the Turkish border. ISIS evades air strikes simply by scattering when planes approach.

The Guardian reports Air Strikes Against Isis are not Working, say Syrian Kurds.
US-led air strikes in northern Syria have failed to interrupt the advance of Islamic State (Isis) fighters closing in on a key city on the Turkish border, raising questions about the western strategy for defeating the jihadi movement.

Almost two weeks after the Pentagon extended its aerial campaign from Iraq to neighbouring Syria in an attempt to take on Isis militants in their desert strongholds, Kurdish fighters said the bombing campaign was having little impact in driving them back.

Isis units have edged to within two kilometres of the centre of Kobani, according to Kurds fighting a rearguard action inside the city. The jihadis, who this weekend generated further outrage with the murder of the British hostage Alan Henning, are simply too numerous to be cowed by the air assault by US fighter jets, the Kurds say.

"Air strikes alone are really not enough to defeat Isis in Kobani," said Idris Nassan, a senior spokesman for the Kurdish fighters desperately trying to defend the important strategic redoubt from the advancing militants. "They are besieging the city on three sides, and fighter jets simply cannot hit each and every Isis fighter on the ground."

He said Isis had adapted its tactics to military strikes from the air. "Each time a jet approaches, they leave their open positions, they scatter and hide. What we really need is ground support. We need heavy weapons and ammunition in order to fend them off and defeat them."
What's Next?

Most likely the US will drop more and more bombs, with 20% of the bombs finding the right targets, 40% the wrong targets, and the remaining 40% doing nothing. This will be labeled as a "success".

However, many so-called moderates will get fed up with US action and join ISIS.

Then, after another beheading or two, Obama will send in more ground troops and weapons, but purportedly only for training and aiding moderates who will take the weapons and training in directions contrary to the stated intentions.

My Take

The US and UK  should issue a  travel advisory labeled "beheadings happen". The advisory should tell everyone, including journalists to get the hell out of the region and if they don't, they are on their own.

Tax dollars should not go to protect those who voluntarily put themselves in harm's way. This is not a disparaging comment on journalists, who choose to do what they do. I commend them for wanting to get the story out.

Rather, my comments are a simple practical matter: The US has no obligation to protect anyone who voluntarily puts themselves in harm's way outside the US.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

800 Towns in Catalonia Pledge Support for Independence Referendum; Humpty Dumpty Chides Artur Mas

Posted: 05 Oct 2014 12:02 PM PDT

Inquiring minds may be interested in the latest events in Europe on an otherwise slow news weekend. Via translation from El Singular, 800 Towns in Catalonia Openly Pledge Support for Independence Referendum.
This morning, more than 800 mayors delivered to Catalan president Mas certificates in support of the November 9 referendum for Independence. The mayors represent 96% of the Catalan municipalities. A total of 920 councils who have so far voted in favor of N-9, but some mayors did not want to participate in the event.

Since 1918 there has not been a similar concentration of mayors in Catalonia.

The Mayor of Barcelona, ​​Xavier Trias, thanked the 800 mayors who approved the motion to defend the right to decide.

"It is our responsibility to fulfill the legitimate mandate coming from all over Catalonia," emphasized Trias and asked the mayors to do everything they can to ensure Catalans have the right to vote on November 9.
71% of Catalans Support Right to Vote

The Wall Street Journal notes overwhelming support for the referendum.
A poll taken last week by the regional government's Center of Opinion Studies found 71% of Catalans favored the Nov. 9 referendum.

Catalan separatists say Spain's central government doesn't respect their language and culture, or give them a fair return on their taxes. Spanish leaders say Catalonia has plenty of autonomy, and that the Catalan political class just needs to put its house in order.
Without a doubt the number would be far higher than 71% if Spain's government had not declared the vote illegal.

Catalonia Autonomy

Let's take a look at the region of Catalonia.



Statutes of Autonomy
In the Spanish Constitution of 1978 Catalonia, along with the Basque Country and Galicia, was defined as a "nationality". The same constitution gave Catalonia the automatic right to autonomy, which resulted in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979.

Both the 1979 Statute of Autonomy and the current one, approved in 2006, state that "Catalonia, as a nationality, exercises its self-government constituted as an Autonomous Community in accordance with the Constitution and with the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which is its basic institutional law, always under the law in Spain".

The Preamble of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia states that the Parliament of Catalonia has defined Catalonia as a nation, but that "the Spanish Constitution recognizes Catalonia's national reality as a nationality". While the Statute was approved by and sanctioned by both the Catalan and Spanish parliaments, and later by referendum in Catalonia, it has been subject to a legal challenge by the surrounding autonomous regions of Aragon, Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, as well as by the conservative People's Party.

Spain's Constitutional Court assessed the disputed articles and on 28 June 2010, issued its judgment on the principal allegation of unconstitutionality presented by the People's Party in 2006. The judgment granted clear passage to 182 articles of the 223 that make up the fundamental text. The court approved 73 of the 114 articles that the People's Party had contested, while declaring 14 articles unconstitutional in whole or in part and imposing a restrictive interpretation on 27 others.

The court accepted the specific provision that described Catalonia as a "nation", however ruled that it was a historical and cultural term with no legal weight, and that Spain remained the only nation recognized by the constitution.
Humpty Dumpty Chides Artur Mas

Catalonia is already a nation but the term has no "legal weight".

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty (Mariano Rajoy) said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice (Artur Mas) 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty (Mariano Rajoy), 'which is to be master - that's all.'

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Seth's Blog : Cassandra and Pollyanna

 

Cassandra and Pollyanna

You will often hear from people who will announce that it's all over, that this is the crisis that ends it, once and for all. The Cassandra sees the end of the road for the project or the brand or the culture. It's the end, now.

Cassandra is countered by the Pollyanna, who thinks everything is fine, will be fine and always is fine.

The thing is: failure almost always arrives in a whimper. It is almost always the result of missed opportunities, a series of bad choices and the rust that comes from things gradually getting worse.

Things don't usually explode. They melt.

       

 

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sâmbătă, 4 octombrie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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Shifting Debts: The Gold Standard: Both Good and Necessary

Posted: 04 Oct 2014 12:55 PM PDT

In response to Reader Question on a Credit-Based Society: Can Interest Ever Be Repaid? I received an email from reader Keith Weiner at Monetary Metals.

Keith writes
Hi Mish,

I hope all is well.

I liked your reply to the reader question. I think it boils down to one thing. With fiat money, there is no extinguisher of debt. Debts are paid using dollars, but the dollar is itself a debt. The dollar is just a bite-sized piece of the Treasury bond. Paying a debt with a debt merely shifts it around.

The debt must rise exponentially, by at least the accrued interest, and more if the government wants what passes for growth.

The Gold Standard Institute is sponsoring an event in NYC on Nov 1. I will be talking about this problem, and numerous others that plague the dollar.

Would you be willing to share the link on your site? It's for a good cause that I think is near to your heart as well. :)

Thanks so much for whatever you can do.

Best Regards,
Keith
Keith is one of the good guys. If you are in the area, the conference should be well worth attending.

Date: November 1, 2014
Time: 1:00 to 5:00pm on
Place: The 3 West Club, Midtown Manhattan
Cost: $50 (click here to register)

Conference Link: The Gold Standard: Both Good and Necessary.

You are cordially invited to join us for a presentation of ideas you won't get anywhere else. The gold standard is the monetary system of the free market—of capitalism. Advocates of the gold standard should make the clear connection from gold to freedom, and from freedom to self-interest. Advocates of freedom should understand the destruction wrought by the dollar, and it's not simply rising prices.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com