Damn Cool Pics

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• Monkey Shoots Ak-47 At Crowd in Africa
• San Fermin Festival 2011
• Retro Car Accidents
• World's Smallest Space Invaders Arcade Game
• Amber Amputee
• Zynga Path To IPO

Monkey Shoots Ak-47 At Crowd in Africa Posted: 11 Jul 2011 03:10 PM PDT These idiots gave a pet chimp, a AK-47...The chimp learned how to use it, very quick!You know what they say: "You don't have to be a West-African soldier to know that giving a chimpanzee a loaded AK-47 is NEVER a good idea". Good thing we happen to have video of a West-African soldier giving a chimpanzee a loaded AK-47 so no one has to feel stupid. The moral of this footage is...Monkey see! monkey do!! lol!

San Fermin Festival 2011 Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:21 PM PDT Every year, the Festival of San Fermin attracts thousands of visitors to Pamplona, Spain. During 14 days of festivities, runners dicing with death are the main draw as thousands pack the streets to watch the four-minute running of the bulls every morning. Held since 1591, San Fermin remains a popular, but at the same time dangerous and controversial event. Several people have been gored already this year, and the festival continues until July 14th. Here we have a great collection of some scenes from the first few days of this 2011's Festival of San Fermin. Previous year events: Spanish Bull Run Fiesta 2007 Spanish Bull Run Fiesta 2008 San Fermin Festival 2009 San Fermin Festival 2010

Retro Car Accidents Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:11 PM PDT Ever since the car was invented, of course, so did the car accidents see the light of the day. In the last century, during the years 1917-1940, there were very few cars, but still they managed to get into accidents. Let's see how our ancestors wrecked their machines.

World's Smallest Space Invaders Arcade Game Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:50 AM PDT For those of you who grew up in the 1980s and frequented arcades that had all these large machines, asking you to feed them quarter after quarter while you master the nuances of the game itself, this is one DIY project that quite unlike the electric chair, is able to send chills down your spine. After all, we are talking about what could possibly be the smallest Space Invaders arcade cabinet in the world – and a fully functioning one at that. Measuring a mere 7″ x 3.5″ x 4.5″, this arcade cabinet comes complete with super small buttons and a tiny arcade stick – definitely not something you would want to vent your frustrations on when you lose. At the heart of this cabinet lies parts from a Game Boy Advanced SP, so Space Invaders isn't the only game since it can handle just about any GBA SP cartridge. Check out a video of it in action after the jump. Source: ubergizmo

Amber Amputee Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:26 AM PDT Amber lost her leg in 2004 due to osteosarcoma, a bone tumor. She has done two courses of chemotherapy and has managed to still have a positive outlook and actually use her "disability" to her advantage. Amber enjoys life, goes to parties and leads an active lifestyle. Look at her and stop complaining about your lives. Source: myspaceprofiles

Zynga Path To IPO Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:12 AM PDT This infographic is all about Zynga. Founded in 2007, the company responsible for viral sensations such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, is already profitable and its active users are growing by the day. So this infographic features some interesting facts and statistics about the company and it rises and path to IPO. Lets have a look. Click to Enlarge. Source: namesake

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Watch Live: Today at 11 a.m. EDT President Obama Holds a Press Conference

Your Daily Snapshot for Monday, July 11, 2011   Watch Live: Today at 11 a.m. EDT President Obama Holds a Press Conference At 11 a.m. EDT today, President Obama will speak on the status of efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction.  Watch it live at WhiteHouse.gov/live. President Barack Obama meets with Congressional Leadership in the Cabinet Room of the White House to discuss the ongoing efforts to find a balanced approach to the debt limit and deficit reduction, Sunday, July 10, 2011. House Speaker John Boehner, left, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are pictured with the President. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton) In Case You Missed It Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog. Watch Live: President Obama Holds a Press Conference Today at 11:00 a.m. EDT President Obama meets with Congressional Leadership in the Cabinet Room of the White House as part of ongoing negotiations to find a balanced approach to the debt limit and deficit reduction. South Sudan's Moment of Promise Check out our special edition of West Wing Week that takes you behind the scenes of the referendum that led to the celebration of an independent South Sudan and President Obama's statement about this important day.   President Obama on the Passing of Elizabeth Anne Ford President Obama and Vice President Biden release statements on the passing of former First Lady Elizabeth Anne Ford. Today's Schedule All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). 11:00 AM: The President holds a news conference on the status of efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction 12:00 PM: The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing 2:00 PM: The President and the Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership  Indicates events that will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.Gov/Live Get Updates  Sign Up for the Daily Snapshot  Stay Connected          Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr iTunes        This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Manage Subscriptions for e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Sign Up for Updates from the White House Unsubscribe e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com | Privacy Policy Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Seth's Blog : Waiting for the fear to subside

Waiting for the fear to subside

There are two problems with this strategy:

A. By the time the fear subsides, it will be too late. By the time you're not afraid of what you were planning to start/say/do, someone else will have already done it, it will already be said or it will be irrelevant. The reason you're afraid is that there's leverage here, something might happen. Which is exactly the signal you're looking for.

B. The fear certainly helps you do it better. The fear-less one might sleep better, but sleeping well doesn't always lead to your best work. The fear can be your compass, it can set you on the right path and actually improve the quality of what you do.

Listen to your fear but don't obey it.

 

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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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Republicans Likely Blew It Posted: 10 Jul 2011 08:02 PM PDT On Friday, Boehner announced there was a 50-50 chance of a major budget deal. On Saturday the picture changed dramatically as Boehner abandoned efforts to reach comprehensive debt-reduction deal. House Speaker John A. Boehner abandoned efforts Saturday night to cut a far-reaching debt-reduction deal, telling President Obama that a more modest package offers the only politically realistic path to avoiding a default on the mounting national debt. On the eve of a critical White House summit on the debt issue, Boehner (R-Ohio) told Obama that their plan to "go big," in the speaker's words, and forge a compromise that would save more than $4 trillion over the next decade, was crumbling under Obama's insistence on significant new tax revenue. I do not know what "significant" means because on Friday Boehner had agreed to some revenue increasing measures. Sunday Debt Talks Abruptly Abandoned There was supposed to be 5 hours of negotiation today. Instead it made it to the 90 minute mark, at most. MarketWatch reports U.S. debt talks break up early, to resume Monday. A closely watched meeting between congressional leaders and President Barack Obama to resolve the impasse over the U.S. debt ceiling ended Sunday far more quickly than expected, with no immediate word of progress, according to reports. The meeting had been projected to last four or five hours, Reuters reported, but subsequent news accounts said the parties met for between 75 and 90 minutes. Obama Sets 10-Day Deadline, Will Address the Nation Yahooo Finance reports Obama: 'We need to' work out debt deal in 10 days Grasping for a deal on the nation's debt, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders remained divided Sunday over the size and the components of a plan to reduce long term deficits. Saying "we need to" work out an agreement over the next 10 days, the president and lawmakers agreed to meet again Monday. Obama also sought to use the power of his office to sway public opinion, scheduling a news conference for Monday morning, his second one in less than two weeks devoted primarily to the debt talks. Officials familiar with the meeting said Obama pressed the eight House and Senate leaders Sunday evening to continue aiming for a massive $4 trillion deal for reducing the debt. But there appeared to be little appetite for such an ambitious plan and the political price it would require to pass in Congress. Instead, House Speaker John Boehner told the group that a smaller package of about $2 trillion to $2.4 trillion was more realistic. A Democratic official familiar with the session said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., was especially adamant that any deficit reduction package could not contain tax increases and that any new tax revenue would have to be used to pay for other tax benefits. Obama and the congressional leaders met in the Cabinet Room of the White House for the rare Sunday session. Most appeared in casual Sunday clothes, with open-collared shirts underneath blazers. When a reporter asked, "Can you work it out in 10 days, sir?" Obama replied, "We need to." Earlier, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley said in a television interview that Obama would not "walk away from a tough fight." "Everyone agrees that a number around $4 trillion is the number that will ... make a serious dent in our deficit," he said. Geithner cautioned that a package about half the size of the one Obama prefers would be equally tough to negotiate because it, too, could require hundreds of billions in new tax revenue -- anathema to Republicans. Lawmakers said that previous bipartisan talks, led by Vice President Joe Biden, identified a fraction of cuts that would be needed even for the more modest packages. Even so, Boehner insisted the smaller proposals had more realistic chances of passing. One would call for about $2 trillion in deficit reductions, most accomplished through spending cuts that have been identified but not signed off on by the Biden group. "I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase," Boehner said. Disgusting Turn of Events This turn of events is disgusting. A $2 trillion deal will do absolutely nothing to solve a long-term debt problem. $2 trillion sounds significant but it is a scant $200 billion a year deal, probably back-loaded at that, while the deficit is $1.4 to $1.6 trillion. $4 trillion is barely a down payment. Moreover (and again we do not know the details because they were private), but it has been reported that Obama agreed to substantial Medicare and Social Security changes. This deal fell apart over "significant" revenue raising proposals. Pray tell what is significant? Again, this is a case of not knowing the details, but I do not consider $1 trillion over 10 years, very significant. It is a mere $100 billion a year. I do not like tax hikes, but we are talking peanuts here. Moreover, Obama's proposal on Medicare and Social Security had Nancy Pelosi howling so loudly that Obama held a private meeting with her. Anything that has Pelosi that upset, is probably a good deal. When will there be another chance to rein in Medicare? Once again I am making assumptions because no one has yet revealed what was on the table, but from where I sit, (guessing at proposals), Republicans blew it. How to Tell if the Deal is a Good One I wish to emphasize what I said in Boehner says Chance of Budget Deal in Few Days "Maybe 50-50", NYT says Sides Still Far Apart; How to Tell if the Deal is a Good One Budget Deficit Math The budget deficit is somewhere between $1.4 and $1.6 trillion a year. Cutting $2 trillion over 10 years is not even a down payment for what needs to happen. Heck, $4 trillion is barely a reasonable down payment. I much prefer a $4 trillion deal than a $2 trillion one. Then regardless of what the deal is, I would slash another $2 or $3 trillion over 10 years out of defense spending. Any deal that hits $4 trillion probably will include some small tax hikes. So be it. The ratio of 3-to-1 or 3.5-to-1 budget cuts vs. tax hikes seems like a reasonable compromise to me. Republicans should take the opportunity to slash $8 trillion ($800 billion a year) out of the deficit if Democrats are willing to stick to those ratios I mentioned. How to Tell if the Deal is a Good One The deal will not be a good one if it is all back loaded. Nor will it be a good deal if it cuts less than $4 trillion. We need huge cuts this year and every year forward, not back-loading that may never happen. Slashing $400 billion would have Krugman whining. Slashing $800 billion would have Krugman and the Keynesian clowns howling like mad. In general, the louder Krugman howls, the better the deal it will be. Helping Cities, States, Municipalities Unfortunately, what I proposed above does nothing for states. Cities, states and local governments need relief as well. The way to help cities and states is to kill collective bargaining for public unions and scrap Davis-Bacon. Those two acts will lower costs, spur hiring, and reduce layoffs. Unfortunately, those actions do not appear to be under discussion. Republicans Blew It There are many things Republicans could have asked for in return for tax hikes. Among there are ending collective bargaining and scrapping Davis Bacon. Had they done that, Democrats may have walked out of the talks and not the other way around. Instead, had Democrats agreed to my proposal, cities and states would be far better off and Republicans still would have had reductions in Medicare and Social Security in hand. Thus, Republicans had a no-lose opportunity staring them in the face and kicked it down the drain for ideology that may come back to haunt them. Three-Fourths of a loaf is better than no loaf at all. Unless there is a major turn of events, Republicans blew it. Note: within a few minutes of posting I added the word "likely" to the title. We still do not know how this will end, but I do not like the looks of it now. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

EU Calls Emergency Meeting on Italy; Don't Worry "It's a Coordination, Not a Crisis"; Short Sellers Blamed; Junckeritis Spreads Posted: 10 Jul 2011 09:34 AM PDT In case you missed it, the European debt crisis escalated in Portugal and spread to Italy last week. Here are a few articles if you missed them. Italian Yields Hit 9-Year High, Spreads Record High vs. Germany; Italy's Finance Minister in Rent Scandal Michael Pettis Warns of "Virulent Political Turn Against Euro", Adds Clarification to "Gold's Honest Discipline" ECB Suspends Collateral Rules for Portuguese Debt, Hikes Rates .25; Trichet Says "No" to Selective Default, Market Yawns In response, the EU does what it always does. Blame Short Sellers Declare an Emergency Meeting Deny there is an Emergency Meeting Don't Worry "It's a Coordination, Not a Crisis" Taking an overdone play straight out of the Jean-Claude Juncker "lie when it gets serious" handbook, European Council President says "It's a coordination, not a crisis meeting." That is all you need to know to determine a full blown crisis is underway in Italy. Please consider EU calls emergency meeting as crisis stalks Italy European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called an emergency meeting of top officials dealing with the euro zone debt crisis for Monday morning, reflecting concern that the crisis could spread to Italy, the region's third largest economy. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet will attend the meeting along with Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the region's finance ministers, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Olli Rehn, the economic and monetary affairs commissioner, three official sources told Reuters. Van Rompuy's spokesman Dirk De Backer said: "It's a coordination, not a crisis meeting." He added that Italy would not be on the agenda and declined to say what would be discussed. Shares in Italy's biggest bank, Unicredit Spa, fell 7.9 percent on Friday, partly because of worries about the results of stress tests of the health of European banks that will be released on July 15. The leading Italian stock index sank 3.5 percent. The market pressure is due partly to Italy's high sovereign debt and sluggish economy, but also to concern that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi may be trying to undermine and even push out Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, who has promoted deep spending cuts to control the budget deficit. "We can't go on for many more days like Friday," a senior ECB official said. "We're very worried about Italy." Monday's emergency meeting will precede a previously scheduled gathering of the euro zone's 17 finance ministers to discuss how to secure a contribution of private sector investors to the second bailout of Greece, as well as the results of the stress tests of 91 European banks. Italian Emergency "Coordination" Supersedes Emergency "Coordination" in Greece, Portugal, Spain The first thing to do in any crisis, before there is time for further "coordination" is to blame short sellers and speculators for the crisis. True to form, Italy Hurt by 'Irrational Speculation,' Hoyer Tells La Stampa Italy was the victim of "irrational speculation" in the financial markets last week, German Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer told La Stampa, saying the country can balance the budget by 2014 and its banks are sound. Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti "wants to have a balanced budget in 2014, an ambitious but fair goal," Hoyer told La Stampa. "For this reason, I can't see any excuse for irrational speculation of any kind." Junckeritis Spreads The proclamation from Hoyer that "Italian banks are sound" gives a strong indication of something most knew anyway: "They aren't." Thus, it is all too obvious that Hoyer is inflicted with the highly-contagious Junckeritis virus, now rapidly spreading across the EU. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

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How Google+ Affected Social Shares and +1 Adoption Rates Posted: 10 Jul 2011 04:41 AM PDT Posted by dohertyjf Google announced the +1 button in March much to the enthusiasm and confusion of webmasters and SEOs the world over. "What's the point?", people asked. "Why should I +1 a site? Should I implement it on my site?" It seems the answer now is clear, with the launch of the Google+ "social experiment" last week that has kept me from getting work done as Google continues innovating and brilliantly drawing me back to Plus everytime that little notification indicator turns red. I'm not here to talk about that though, because we've put together a bit of data for you today about +1 integration and social sharing statistics. This post originally was conceived by Tom Critchlow and I before Google+ was launched, so it has gone through some iterations. We wanted to get outside of our typical SEO circles though and see how the general public is adopting the button. To keep things interesting, I also gathered some well-trafficked SEO sites and their social numbers. What I have done is gathered the Technorati Top 100 sites and their RSS feeds. Then I pulled their 20 most recent blog posts (both before and after Plus was announced) and grabbed their +1, Twitter, and Facebook share data thanks to an awesome script by Tom Anthony. The data got interesting pretty quick. Here are our findings. Technorati Top 100 Stats Since we were interested to find the rate of +1 adoption by the Technorati Top 100, we pulled the numbers before Google+ was launched and after. I removed the Gawker sites since their RSS feed is all-encompassing and skewed the numbers terribly. Here are the numbers for the other 95 Technorati sites: The numbers changed thus: Pre Google+, only 22 had implemented the +1 button. After the launch of Google+, that number increased to 25. 22 of the sites had +1s, but 8 of those sites did not have the +1 button implemented! These were predominately technology sites, which is no surprise, but also two LA Times blogs (The Opinionator and L.A. NOW) as well as entertainment site TMZ. Takeaway: If you own or have a client who owns a technology, opinion, or entertainment site, you should implement the +1 button. Average +1s per article, Pre and Post Plus Launch As you can see, the average number of +1s per article for the Top 100 almost doubled. The number of +1s per SEO article also increased by about 30%. It is not surprising that SEO sites have more +1s than the Technorati Top 100 on average, but the increase is especially interesting given the next two charts. Average Facebook Shares per Article and Ratio of Plus to FB Shares Here are the average shares from the Technorati sites as well as SEO sites: We must note that the Facebook share numbers went down for the Technorati sites, but increased for the SEO sites. One possible explanation for the SEO sites is that SEOs were sharing Google+ news on Facebook, but this is simply a hunch and not proven. Here is the most interesting statistic I found, the ratio of +1s to Facebook shares on the Technorati sites: The number was cut almost in half. Perhaps we could guess preliminarily that the launch of Google+ has adversely affected the amount of information shared on Facebook? With the rise of the number of +1s and the decrease in Facebook shares, as shown by the last graph, I think this could be a safe assumption, at least with this limited data set. This graph might also support this hypothesis: This graph shows that before Google+ was launched, there were 2 Facebook shares for every tweet given to articles on the Technorati Top 100. Post Google+ the ratio is almost even, with tweets being more prevalent than Facebook shares! What do we do with this data now? There are certainly some takeaways from the data presented. There are certain niches where it makes sense for us as SEOs to encourage our clients to implement certain sharing features. On other sites, especially in dodgier or more regulated industries, social share buttons do not make as much sense. One of the most interesting bits of information that came out of the data was the number of sites that have +1s, but do not have the button implemented on their site. 10 Technorati sites without the button have +1s; and all of the SEO sites I looked at have +1s, even though only 2/3 have implemented the button. Based off these discoveries, I'd recommend that if you have an SEO site, it should have a +1 button. Even if +1s do not count for rankings at this point, they are displayed in the SERPs and therefore probably help with click-through rates. If +1s are used for rankings in the future, which I am not convinced of but still remains a possibility, then you will be one step ahead of the curve. Also, if you or a client has a site in one of these niches, you should probably have a +1 button on your site: Technology Opinion (Political or other) Celebrity gossip This discovery is also interesting because it means that people +1d these from the SERPs, which is something we all wondered how we would do, and more importantly if people would do it. It appears that people do. I think this discovery reinforces that we as webmasters/SEOs (we are often both, after all) need to find ways to track social engagement around our sites. If we see engagement, we need to encourage it. Google has recently helped us accomplish this goal by adding +1 tracking to Analytics. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Oh, and you can Follow @dohertyjf if you want. Happy Optimizing! Do you like this post? Yes No

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Seth's Blog : When did you get old?

When did you get old?

At some point, most brands, organizations, countries and yes, people, start talking about themselves like they're old.

"We can't stretch in that direction," or "Not bad for a 60 year old!" or "I'm just not going to be able to learn this new technology." Even countries make decisions like this, often by default. Governments decide it's just too late to change.

The incredible truth is this: it never happens at the same time for everyone. It's not biologically ordained. It's a choice. It's possible to put out a hit record at 40, run a marathon at 60 and have your 80 year old non-profit change its business model. It's not as easy as it used to be, but that's why it's worth doing.

 

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More Recent Articles

• Put your name on it
• Time for a workflow audit
• The arrogance of willful ignorance
• Every successful case is a special case
• Paying attention to the attention economy

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