luni, 26 septembrie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Sleep Anywhere With Sleep Suit

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:14 AM PDT

Forrest Jessee has recently unveiled his Sleep Suit inspired by Buckminster Fuller's practice of Dymaxion Sleeping. Fuller believed that two hours of sleep a day was all that a person needed. Dymaxion sleeping involved four thirty-minute naps in a 24-hour period. The Sleepsuit is perfect for Dymaxion sleeping. However, there are concerns about how Dymaxion sleeping could affect the health.

The Sleepsuit is made of a structural pleat that is composed of EVA foam. EVA foam is the same material that is used for padding and shock absorption in sports equipment. The foam material is used to support different parts of the body and make a person feel as if they are sleeping in a comfortable skin rather than a scary looking cocoon.












When Dogs Bite (Infographic)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 10:45 AM PDT

Often, in response to vicious dog attacks, many communities have enacted breed-specific legislation (BSL) that prohibits ownership of certain breeds, such as pit bulls, Rottweilers and others, although research suggests that such laws do little to protect the community from dog-bite incidents.


Source: livescience


Challenges in Automated Traffic Reporting

Challenges in Automated Traffic Reporting


Challenges in Automated Traffic Reporting

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 02:17 PM PDT

Posted by Benjamin Estes

Recently I had a client who (generally for the enlightenment of their executive branch) wanted traffic information reported in an easy-to-digest format. The idea was that while they had consistently used Google Analytics for some time, there were people in the company who had an interest in knowing certain traffic data, but were too far from the day-to-day running of the website to be spending a lot of time sifting through Analytics reports.

Enter the Dashboard.

It sounded like the perfect solution: a screen full of nice, big numbers! Lines going up and to the right! Charting all the things!

But lo! my dream was short-lived. There were so many solutions to choose from, and each had different integrated services and custom data reporting methods. Most of them were explained quite well through documentation, but it was all so time consuming. I would have to trial services, only to determine one-by-one that they were somehow not a match for the client's needs. So here I am to save you some time by letting you know some of the pros and cons of various services, as some insights I had along the way. There is probably a service out there that's right for you, but it may or may not be the first one you look at.

I should point out that my concern here is with monitoring organic traffic data specifically. There are many services apart from those listed here which excel at reporting ranking data, and of course some services which walk a line between the two. There are several services which revolve primarily around ranking data instead of traffic, such as Authority Labs and Conductor Searchlight; I can say from experience that these are both great products (NB: Searchlight does provide Analytics integration but I'm not personally familiar with that aspect of their service). With services that revolve around tightly-integrated analytics data, the pain point is usually getting actual lists of keywords sending traffic reported back to you.

Google Analytics

For monitoring organic traffic data, my instinct is always to go straight to the source. For most of us, that means Google Analytics.

And indeed Google Analytics has built in dashboard functionality. The crucial factor which favors Analytics is that, unlike other solutions I have assessed there is no need to depend on a service providers integration of the Analytics API or to have your own dev team spend time building out a custom solution. I mentioned above that some solutions have problems reporting keywords sending traffic; obviously Analytics is not among these, because its dashboard will report just about anything you care to know. Breakdowns by country, for instance, are quite easy to set up in Analytics but are hard to come by outside of the proper Analytics interface.

If all you want is traffic data, you really can't go wrong with sticking to Analytics. The only management issue I've run into is that you can't share dashboards across user accounts at the moment. On the other hand this is a very robust service; there is never a concern about about whether or not a certain report can be integrated into your dashboard. All available traffic information is at your fingertips.

Plus, Analytics is free as in beer, which is the best kind of free.

PRO: It's got all the traffic information EVER. CON: No other SEO related info...

SEOmoz PRO Campaigns

Disclaimer: This is being written on SEOmoz's blog (duh). I don't work for the 'moz, but you could say we're buds. Regardless, I promise the following represents only my own opinion.

Hopefully you're all familiar with SEOmoz's toolset. I'm usually using SEOmoz's campaign tool anyway for clients, so it isn't much of a stretch to start using their Analytics integration to look at traffic data.

The three metrics that SEOmoz's Analytics integration reports are the three that I find myself lost without: Organic Visits, Number of Organic Landing Pages, Number of Organic Keywords. It's a sparse set of metrics to be sure, but in my time at Distilled these metrics have been the three that we always return to and those that we most commonly report to clients as an indication of a site's health.

If I wanted to share this information directly it might be awkward, but if I was advising the client on setting up their own monitoring solution I think that this would work out fairly neatly. And of course, there are any number of other benefits to using SEOmoz's campaign tool (competitive analysis, rank tracking, etc.) but that's a bit beyond what I'm looking at here. No custom data reporting like StatsMix and Geckoboard (below), but then again those services don't hold a candle to SEOmoz in terms of ease-of-use and built-in analysis.

PRO: Super-relevant traffic data, awesome supplementary metrics. CON: No customization, no keyword specific Analytics integration.

StatsMix

StatsMix has the capacity to store data over time that you submit to it, which is unique amongst all of the dashboard solutions. This can be easily accomplished in any number of contexts; the service provides examples in various programming languages, but all that you need to do ultimately is make a POST request to their servers with the information you want to submit. It will be stored in a table that is even manually editable through the web interface.

This obviously requires a certain amount of dev commitment, but it really is pretty neat, and it allows you to do things that no other dashboard service does. External and internal metrics can be brought together. But the Analytics integration that your team would have to do to monitor organic search related metrics is non-trivial, so unless your company is going all the way, this service might be a little too much for SEO-related monitoring. Also, all metrics must be "number-over-time" in nature, so no keyword-based metrics!

I can also say that I've talked to the StatsMix support team and they've been exceedingly helpful in helping me with any questions I might have.

PRO: Awesome customization possibilities. CON: No intrinsically relevant SEO widgets, everything must be built ground-up. Metrics must fit number-over-time format.

Geckoboard

Unlike StatsMix, Geckoboard does not have the capacity to store your data over time; custom information that it retrieves from your data sources must be presented exactly how you want the information to be displayed. There are many built-in widgets that are very handy, including server monitoring and Analytics widgets, but some of the defaults are a wee bit underpowered when it comes to customization

I think Geckoboard's strength lies in its powerful custom widgets. As I said, these require you to either locate or more likely build an API to deliver data. Distilled has done this internally and has been very pleased with the results. One consequence of this extensibility is that with the proper Analytics integration in your infrastructure it would be possible to report a list of top organic keywords or similar data, which is impossible with, for instance, StatsMix.

PRO: Great customizability in its own way, cool built-in widget set. CON: Not necessarily SEO monitoring friendly. Needs a custom API on user's end to explore full potential.

GinzaMetrics

GinzaMetrics seems to strike a fairly good balance between keyword tracking and traffic assessment. There is definitely some cool stuff going on with funnel monitoring, especially as you can filter the data by tracked keywords. Ultimately I find that the data provided by the service is somewhat less useful than SEOmoz's. GinzaMetrics' graphs present a lot of information, but it isn't necessarily actionable or diagnostic in the format in which it is presented. I mean, there are some freaky graphs you can find in here. They would give me data-nightmares, but I can see that they might turn some data-folk on.

I do appreciate that GinzaMetrics pulls in Analytics data for tracked keywords, but as I've been consistently lamenting throughout this post, I wish it were the other way around; that the service would discover keywords based on the traffic they were sending your site. Overall a good service, definitely SEO-centric without much customization outside of that.

PRO: Pretty OK mix of keyword tracking and analytics. CON: OMG numbers everywhere.

NB: After publishing this Ginzametrics brought to my attention that their service does provide for keyword discovery. Might be worth chatting with them if this is on your radar.

Closing Thoughts

I'm not going to declare a winner. I'm using one solution for a client today, and when another client comes along with their own needs, I'll use one appropriate for them. But digging through the many alternatives and learning what is possible really helps me be flexible to respond to these requests when they are made.

I've mentioned that some of these services benefit from a certain level of customization. For anyone interested in building an "API" or automated tool to push data to a dashboard, I highly recommend brushing up on your Python skills and checking out Google App Engine or a Django-based solution (they function very similarly). App Engine probably isn't the most secure solution, but it's dead easy and ridiculously fast, as Will Critchlow demonstrated in his brilliant post on automated link building tools (which I inevitably cite in every blog post I publish).

This is hardly a comprehensive, just my meditations on the services I've run into. So, any of y'all have your own methods or tools? Dashboards? Generated reports? Let's hear about it 'em!


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As a reminder, the new AdSense interface offers additional insights in the form of detailed graphs and reports, new ad blocking controls, and increased efficiency through a visual redesign. We've now added many of your top-requested features -- including the ability to create scheduled reports and view channels on the Home tab. We encourage you to watch our video tutorials at http://www.youtube.com/user/InsideAdSense#g/c/B067D355E59D96E0, which will guide you through completing common tasks in your account. You can also find detailed information in our Help Center for the new interface (http://www.google.com/adsense/support/as/).

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Putting America Back to Work: President Obama's Town Hall with LinkedIn

The White House Your Daily Snapshot for
Monday, September 26, 2011
 

Putting America Back to Work: President Obama's Town Hall with LinkedIn

Today, President Obama will participate in a Town Hall with the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn. The President will answer questions about jobs and the economy, and hear directly from LinkedIn members live from the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

What: Putting America Back to Work: President Obama’s Town Hall with LinkedIn
When: Today, September 26th at 2 p.m. EDT / 11 a.m. PDT
Where: Watch it live on WhiteHouse.gov/Live

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog.

The American Jobs Act: Your Questions Answered
Setting the record straight on the American Jobs Act and the President’ fiscal plan

President Obama at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Dinner: "March with me and press on"
The President delivers remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Phoenix Awards in Washington, D.C.

First Lady Michelle Obama Celebrates the Success of Million PALA Challenge at Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play
First Lady Michelle Obama joins children and families at Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play to celebrate the success of the Million PALA Challenge

Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

11:00 AM: The President participates in a LinkedIn Town Hall Meeting WhiteHouse.gov/live

12:25 PM: The President departs Mountain View, California en route San Diego, California

1:40 PM: The President arrives San Diego, California

3:00 PM: The President delivers remarks at a campaign event

4:00 PM: The President departs San Diego, California en route Los Angeles, California

4:40 PM: The President arrives Los Angeles, California

6:20 PM: The President delivers remarks at a campaign event

8:20 PM: The President delivers remarks at a campaign event

WhiteHouse.gov/live Indicates events that will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.gov/Live

Get Updates

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Seth's Blog : Run your own race

Run your own race

The rear view mirror is one of the most effective motivational tools ever created.

There's no doubt that many people speed up in the face of competition. We ask, "how'd the rest of the class do?" We listen for someone breathing down our necks. And we discover that competition sometimes brings out our best.

There's a downside, though. Years ago, during my last long-distance swim (across Long Island Sound... cold water, jellyfish, the whole nine yards), the competitiveness was pretty thick. On the boat to the starting line, there were hundreds of swimmers, stretching, bragging, prancing and working themselves up. By the time we hit the water, everyone was swimming someone else's race. The start was an explosion of ego and adrenaline. Twenty minutes later, half the field was exhausted, with three hours left to go.

If you're going to count on the competition to bring out your best work, you've surrendered control over your most important asset. Real achievement comes from racing ahead when no one else sees a path--and holding back when the rush isn't going where you want to go.

If you're dependent on competition then you're counting on the quality of those that show up to determine how well you'll do. Worse, you've signed up for a career of faux death matches as the only way to do your best work.

Self motivation is and always will be the most important form of motivation. Driving with your eyes on the rear view mirror is exhausting. It's easier than ever to measure your performance against others, but if it's not helping you with your mission, stop.

 

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duminică, 25 septembrie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


IMF Needs Funding; My Dear Darling

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 08:47 PM PDT

Things are so dire the IMF is out of cash. Don't take that from me, take it from Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF.

The Telegraph reports IMF may need billions in extra funding, says Lagarde
Christine Lagarde said the money available to the organisation "pales in comparison to the potential financing needs of vulnerable countries".

In the wake of the global credit crisis, the funding of the IMF tripled and Britain's exposure to it rose to £20 billion. This figure is poised to rise again if financial troubles engulf bigger economies such as Italy and Spain.

Yesterday, Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor who was in office during the previous crisis in 2008, warned that the problems facing the global economy were worse than three years ago.

"There are lessons to be learnt, and they are not being learnt by those responsible at the moment," he said. "Lehmans [the investment bank that collapsed in September 2008] taught us one thing which is if you know there is a problem, take action, sort it out [in a way] that is more decisive than people expect if you are going to stop it.
My Dear Darling

My dear Darling, you are a complete fool (but no, I don't love you anyway). Here are the "Lessons of Lehman"

Lessons of Lehman

  1. Lehman was overleveraged
  2. Lehman went under
  3. Lehman should have gone under
  4. The world did not end

Darling continues ....
"The problem with the Greek crisis is that it has been allowed to run on and on and on."
I happen to agree with that Darling sentence, unfortunately I completely disagree with the context.

The smart thing to do would have been to let Greece default. It is now clear Greece is going to default anyway.

History will show the world will not end. It will also show that bailouts to date have done nothing but harm.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Desperate Times Lead to Desperate Lies; Europe Weighs the Weightless; Even Citigroup Sees the Lies

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 05:35 PM PDT

Are central bankers and politicians really as stupid as they sound or are they pathological liars who simply cannot help it?

Check out these preposterous lies by Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer as quoted by Bloomberg in Noyer Sees 'Absolutely No Reason' to Use Bank Backstop

Noyer Lies

  1. "I'm extremely confident" in French banks because "we know them very well. We know their balance sheets, their risk assessments. We know they have no toxic assets."
  2. There is "absolutely no reason" to activate a support system for the nation's banks that was set up during the financial crisis in 2008.
  3. Markets "are over-reacting," he said. "They need to come back to a sense of reality."

All of those are blatantly preposterous. However, lie number 1 has to be one of the top lies of the year. "French banks have no toxic assets"?!

For starters, what about Greek bonds about to take a 50% haircut or more in default? That lie is so ridiculous no one on the planet can possibly believe it.

Greece vows to stay in the euro, never go bankrupt

In case you need more laughs this Sunday, please consider Greece vows to stay in the euro, never go bankrupt

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos sought to reassure nervous markets and EU partners on Saturday by pledging his debt-ridden country would do whatever it takes to avoid default and stay in the euro zone.

During an IMF meeting in Washington that was dominated by fears that Greek debt woes could trigger a wider European crisis, threatening banks and hurting the world economy, Venizelos dismissed any talk of bankruptcy.

"Greece will always be in the euro and Greece will never go bankrupt because this would be destructive for the euro zone and for many other countries beyond the euro zone," he said in a statement after meeting his German, French and Italian and Belgian counterparts.

The European Union and IMF handed Greece a 110 billion euro bailout to save it from bankruptcy last year in exchange for austerity measures and reforms, but markets remain unconvinced a debt mountain of over 160 percent of GDP is sustainable.

"Greece is determined to honor all its obligations. No Greek paper will ever go uncovered," Venizelos told reporters.
No Greek Paper Will Go Uncovered!?

Excuse me for pointing out two simple facts.

  1. Bondholders have already agreed to a 21% haircut on Greek bonds.
  2. More haircuts are coming.


Europe Weighs the Weightless, Comes Up with Wrong Answer

Bear in mind the German supreme court has ruled out permanent bailout mechanisms. Moreover, the odds that Finland, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands would approve them is close to zero.

Nonetheless, Europe Weighs Speedier Enactment of Permanent Rescue Fund to Stem Crisis
European governments are exploring speeding the start of a permanent rescue fund for their cash- strapped economies amid fresh signs they may bolster efforts to halt the worsening sovereign debt crisis.

Senior finance officials will examine next week the cost advantages of setting up the fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism, a year earlier than its currently planned July 2013 start, according to a document prepared for the meetings and obtained by Bloomberg News.

"Patience is running out in the international community," U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told reporters yesterday.

That pressure increased after concerns that a Greek default may be inevitable helped push global stocks into their first bear market in two years. Economists at Citigroup Inc. said yesterday they now expect Greece to begin restructuring its debt as soon as December, while those at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said the euro area will start shrinking in the fourth quarter.
Citigroup and JP Morgan Dismiss the Lies

Lies from Europe are now so preposterous that even Citigroup can spot them.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


In Galling, Pathetic Whine, Deutsche Bank CEO Warns Against Opening "Pandora's Box"

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 10:33 AM PDT

In a galling, pathetic whine, Josef Ackermann, CEO Deutsche Bank warns of "Opening Pandora's Box" if banks have to take responsibility for their poor decisions.

Yahoo! Finance reports Bank lobby rejects reopening of Greek rescue deal
The international bank lobbying group that has been taking a leading role in negotiations on giving debt-ridden Greece easier terms for its bonds on Sunday rejected calls to impose larger losses on private investors.

Forcing private creditors to write down their Greek bond holdings by more than the 21 percent tentatively agreed to in a July deal would quickly cause a "domino effect" that would see the crisis spread to other parts of Europe, warned Josef Ackermann, the outgoing chairman of the Institute of International Finance.

Such a move would ultimately cost taxpayers much more than just bailing out Greece and erode confidence in the euro, warned Ackermann, who is also the CEO of Germany's Deutsche Bank, a major lender to Greece.

Such a move would ultimately cost taxpayers much more than just bailing out Greece and erode confidence in the euro, warned Ackermann, who is also the CEO of Germany's Deutsche Bank, a major lender to Greece.

Germany and other rich eurozone nations have been pushing for a re-negotiation of the July deal, arguing that the economic situation in Greece has significantly deteriorated since then and may require a steeper cut in the country's debt burden.

However, Ackermann quickly rejected that push, saying that the agreement was fair and already placed a heavy burden on banks at a time of major market turmoil.

"If we now start reopening this Pandora's box we will lose a lot of time and I'm not sure people would be willing to participate," Ackermann told a news conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.
As noted moments ago in German Banking Group Warns of Contagion, Requests Taxpayers to Take Hit for Stupid Loans Made by Stupid Banks admission that losses on Greek loans will be far greater than 21% is starting to spread.

Ackermann is a Liar

There is no polite way to say it so I may as well be blunt: Josef Ackermann is a liar.

Banks agreed to the 21% haircut in July for one reason and one reason only: It was nowhere near "fair" and banks knew they got off easy.

The only "fair" proposal is for those who make stupid decisions to pay full price for those decisions.

Ackermann wants taxpayer to bail him out. Screw Ackermann. And if Deutche Bank goes under as a result, Ackerman and the entire board should be fired. Indeed the entire banking system would be better off if failed bank executives get shown the door and their pensions set to zero when banks fail.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


German Banking Group Warns of Contagion, Requests Taxpayers to Take Hit for Stupid Loans Made by Stupid Banks

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 10:14 AM PDT

Slowly but surely (except from France), bankers are willing to admit things are more screwed up than they previously stated. For example, please consider German Banking Group Warns of further Greek Charges.
Germany's private banks need to prepare for further fallout from the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis, the head of Germany's BdB banking association said on Sunday.

"I don't think that banks will get around further charges regarding Greece," BdB President Andreas Schmitz told Reuters in an interview in Washington, adding that the effects of the Greek crisis were manageable if it could be contained.

Earlier this month, Free Democratic Party leader (FDP) Philipp Roesler, Germany's economy minister, said an "orderly bankruptcy" of Greece should not be a taboo, in remarks that were criticized by Chancellor Angela Merkel and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Schmitz said that this kind of dissent only added to investors' concerns and that it was crucial that the German parliament approves the granting of new powers to the existing euro zone rescue mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in a key vote on September 29.

Merkel already faces a potential revolt on the EFSF vote from some members of parliament in her ruling coalition who are increasingly skeptical about more aid for Greece.

But Schmitz, who is also the head of Duesseldorf-based private bank HSBC Trinkaus, also warned against increasing the burden on private banks in handling Greece's rescue package.

Private sector creditors agreed in July to take a 21 percent loss on Greek bonds maturing before 2020, but the loss is more likely to be 25 percent or more, Deutsche Bank said on Friday.
Did you catch that? Schmitz is pleading for passage of the EFSF to dump losses made by stupid risk-seeking banks on the backs of overburdened taxpayers. The "private investors" he wants to bail out are the banks and the bondholders.

Recovery will be delayed and moral-hazard policies rewarded once again unless banks and bondholders pay for the stupid risks they took.

As I have noted before, banks are not lending anyway, so there is no risk of having responsible parties take responsibility for their actions. Indeed, the way to increase lending is to require bondholders (not taxpayers) to bring banks up to required capital levels. Thus, private investors should pay 100% of the price for their poor decisions.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Seth's Blog : Marketing of the placebo: Everyone gets their own belief

Marketing of the placebo: Everyone gets their own belief

The placebo effect isn't a lie. In fact, if you believe something is going to help you get better, it may very well do just that.

This very same effect works with stereo equipment, wine, politicians... just about everything where our belief intersects with reality.

You can believe that Ford is better than Chevy, that California reds are better than French ones and that your particular tribe is right (and that everyone else is wrong.)

Marketers love the placebo effect because it opens the door to stories and fables and word of mouth and varied perceptions. It gives marketers room to sell more than price and features. The first cultural byproduct this benefit creates is the notion that everyone is entitled to believe what they believe, and it's rude to question it.

The second, is a real problem, though. If you spend enough time experiencing your own take on reality, you come to believe that what works for you might actually be a universal truth. Marketing plus psychology might equal science, it seems.

For the placebo to work, you have to believe it, but sometimes believing requires suspension of your connection with verifiable fact.

When that happens, we might believe that we're entitled to believe things that conflict with demonstrable truth and an understanding of reality. With enough internal spin, you can believe that the moon walk was a fake, that levitation is possible and that the world is only 6,000 years old. You are welcome to believe that aqua metals will improve your sports performance and that z-rays will cure your arthritis, but only until it collides with things that are actually true. Placebos are a good thing, and everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but they're not entitled to their own science.

We now have to deal with the fallout from personal science. We've so blurred the lines between stories we tell ourselves and our perception of the outside world that it's easy to be confused and easier still to confuse others if it advances your cause.

Consider the fact that the world is getting warmer. To be clear, everyone is entitled to have an opinion on what to do about global warming. The question I'm wondering about is whether we should solicit the opinions of the population as to whether or not it exists. We're asking people to bring their knowledge of statistics, earth science and atmospherics to bear on analyzing data... Of course, most people don't have that knowledge, or care that they don't. If all that matters is belief, why should they?

Dylan told us that you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows... I'm not sure you need to take a poll either.

Before you send me an angry email, consider that the question of what we should do about the trend is a different discussion, one that should be had. The question of how (or if) we should take action is not what this post is about. The trend I'm concerned with is the notion that we're entitled to get upset when the truth doesn't match our point of view. Does the weather care what you think?

 

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