Central Perk

miercuri, 3 noiembrie 2010

Damn Cool Pics

Huge Landslide in Brazil
Street Art by JR
Romantic Proposal in the Rain
Love Locks
Top 15 Highest Paid Athletes in The World
First Known Photo of a Human
The Biology of a Hangover

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 09:26 AM PDT

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 08:40 AM PDT

JR is a French artist who exhibits his work in what he describes as "the biggest art gallery in the world", the urban landscape.

The highly private artist mounts enormous black-and-white photos, often without official permission, on to buildings in some of the world's biggest cities.

JR wins Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) prize ($100,000) for his exhibition "Women Are Heroes" which has been shown on slum housing in Paris, bridges in Africa and the walls of favelas in Brazil.

Here, a favela in Rio de Janeiro is transformed by dozens of images.

His "Face to Face" project in 2007 saw dozens of images of Israelis and Palestinians plastered onto both sides of the Israeli West Bank barrier, and at various other nearby locations.

The project has been described as "the largest unauthorised art exhibition in the world".

In this Kenyan slum, his photographs were printed on waterproof vinyl and doubled up as makeshift roofs.

The elderly residents of Shanghai were the subject of JR's latest project, "The Wrinkles of the City".

The artist links the lines and wrinkles on the residents' faces with the transformation of their city.

Romantic Proposal in the Rain

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 08:34 AM PDT

These are some great photos of a couple in love. This is a real love story and very romantic. It is all very cute and tells a real story of love.

Love Locks

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 02:51 AM PDT

For years now it has become popular for loving couples to write messages on a padlock and attach them to certain landmarks. This is done all over the world. It shows a couple's undying love for one another and supposedly brings good luck.

Pecs, Hungary

Moscow, Russia

Seoul, South Korea

Cologne, Germany

Korakuen, Japan

Wroclaw, Poland

Montevideo, Uruguay

Guam, USA

Rome, Italy

Huangshan, China

Odessa, Ukraine

Prague, Czech Republic

Source: lock-master

Top 15 Highest Paid Athletes in The World

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 02:33 AM PDT

Here are 15 athletes that are the highest paid in sports currently.

15. Dwyane Wade (NBA) $27,779,912

14. Peyton Manning (NFL) $30,800,000 (for now)

13. Derek Jeter (MLB) $31,000,000

12. Kobe Bryant (NBA) $33,034,375

11. Shaquille O'Neal (NBA) $36,000,000

10. Alex Rodriguez (MLB) $37,000,000

9. Manny Pacquiao (Boxing) $38,000,000

8. Christiano Ronaldo (Soccer) $40,000,000

7. David Beckham (Soccer) $40,500,000

6. Lionel Messi (Soccer) $44,000,000

5. LeBron James (NBA) $45,779,912

4. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Boxing) $60,250,000

3. Phil Mickelson (Golf) $61,660,757

2. Roger Federer (Tennis) $61,700,000

1. Tiger Woods (Golf) $90,508,163

First Known Photo of a Human

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 02:30 AM PDT

It is the first known photo of a human. This is a Daguerreotype taken by the inventor of the process, Louis Daguerre, in 1838. It is a view of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. To achieve this image (one of his earliest attempts), he exposed a chemically treated metal plate for ten minutes. Others were walking or riding in carriages down that busy street that day, but because they moved, they didn't show up. Only this guy stood still long enough. Do you see him?
More after the jump.

This man stood still long enough to have his boots shined.

The Biology of a Hangover

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 02:06 AM PDT

A hangover describes the sum of unpleasant physiological effects following heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages. The most commonly reported characteristics of a hangover include headache, nausea, sensitivity to light and noise, lethargy, dysphoria, diarrhea and thirst, typically after the intoxicating effects of the alcohol begin to wear off. While a hangover can be experienced at any time, generally speaking a hangover is experienced the morning after a night of heavy drinking. In addition to the physical symptoms, a hangover may also induce psychological symptoms including heightened feelings of depression and anxiety.

Hypoglycemia, dehydration, acetaldehyde intoxication, glutamine rebound, and vitamin B12 deficiency are all theorized causes of hangover symptoms. Hangover symptoms may persist for several days after alcohol was last consumed. Approximately 25-30% of drinkers may be resistant to hangover symptoms. Some aspects of a hangover are viewed as symptoms of acute ethanol withdrawal, similar to the longer-duration effects of withdrawal from alcoholism, as determined by studying the increases in brain reward thresholds in rats (the amount of current required to receive to electrodes implanted in the lateral hypothalamus) following ethanol injection. Dehydration is caused by alcohol's ability to inhibit the release of anti-diuretic hormone. (Source: Wikipedia)

More Infographics.

Click to Enlarge.

Source: medicalinsurance

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

2010 Industry Survey Results, Infographic & Surprising Trends

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 02:07 PM PDT

Posted by randfish

Earlier this year we asked the community to take our SEO Industry Survey. We had originally hoped to get at least 3,000 responses and were completely blown away when over 10,000 people ended up taking the survey! Of course, it never hurts to have an iPad as the grand prize, but I'm still very excited about the extent of this report. As a comparison, another excellent survey in our industry earlier this year from eConsultancy and SEMPO generated ~1,500 responses (results are detailed in this SELand article).

Our survey's goal was to gather information about SEO in 2010 and share it publicly. We asked questions around:

Who are the people in the SEO community?
How do they learn about SEO and sharpen their skills?
How are companies embracing search marketing?
Which tools and tactics do people in the industry use to support their SEO and social media efforts?

After some detailed number crunching by our good friend Will Critchlow from Distilled, we're happy to present to you the results from the data.

Get the 2010 Industry Results Here

Some of the cool things you'll see include:

What percent of SEOs say they buy links, report spam and how many overlap?
Salary ranges across countries, experience levels and job descriptions
Demographics of SEO - we might need to work on our male/female ratio
and lots more - just go read it!

We've also created a spiffy infographic to help visualize the survey results:

For those who'd like to delve into the data more deeply, and extract new views on the information from the 10K+ respones, we've made the full data dump available in CSV form: download here. We'd love to see any interesting/unique analyses on this information, and we hope it's useful to those organizations and companies seeking to learn more about the SEO market.

Winners!

We can't forget to mention the people who won gifts for participating in the survey. The winners were notified back in June and they've all received their prizes. Here are the winners:

Grand Prize: 32GB Wi-Fi iPad:
Sam Ilowitz

First Prize: 120min Flip Mino HD Camera with custom SEOmoz artwork:
Jared Reed
Jay Estis
J. Smeekens

Second Prize: $35 gift certificates to the SEOmoz Zazzle Store:
Gareth Allen
Jody Lonergan
Anton Korzhuk
Jason Tan
Robert Palmer
Sebastien Mégraud
Lindsay Copeland
Joakim Eriksson
Nicholas Foo
Brian Hutchison

It's been a tremendous pleasure and honor to be part of such a powerful and growing industry, and this survey highlights the depth, breadth and uniqueness of those who do SEO professionally. Thanks so much for participating - we hope to make this a biennial (or possibly even annual) tradition.

p.s. We've also got the questions in individual results format on this detail page. Feel free to use any of the images and data in your reports, presentations, analyses, slide decks, etc. but if you use them online, we'd appreciate a link (nofollow is fine, but remember it leaks PageRank) ;-)

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News Conference with President Obama Today at 1 p.m.

Your Daily Snapshot for
Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010

News Conference with President Obama

Today at 1 p.m. EDT, President Obama will hold a news conference in the East Room. Watch live at WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama makes an election night phone call to Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) from his Treaty Room office in the White House residence a couple of minutes after midnight, Nov. 3, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time

9:30 AM: The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

1:00 PM: The President holds a news conference

2:55 PM: The President meets with senior advisors

Indicates Events that will be livestreamed on WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Seth's Blog : Helping the rejection committee

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

Helping the rejection committee

Liz quotes a friend who sold expensive business to business products in Texas, "It's not a no until they call security!" This salesperson has no intention whatsoever of helping the folks who reject her do the rejecting.

I'm not sure you have to go that far, but I know that many marketers work hard on behalf of the rejection committee. We sabotage our college applications or email pitches or websites, predicting in advance that we're not going to make it, not good enough, not worthy. So we set out to save them the trouble of having to think hard about the no.

If someone wants to say no, let them. But no need to help them get to no before they get the chance. Let them do their job.

• Email to a friend •

•

marți, 2 noiembrie 2010

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Irish Bond Yields at All Time High; One Month Away From a Bailout; Pessimism Bubble "Faith-Based" Cure
Mid-Term Election Does Matter - It Really Does
9 Years of Housing Backlog at Current Sales Pace; Chris Whalen on Troubled Banks "Bank of America is at Top of Restructuring List"

Irish Bond Yields at All Time High; One Month Away From a Bailout; Pessimism Bubble "Faith-Based" Cure

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 12:49 PM PDT

Yields on Irish bonds are soaring once again. Bloomberg reports Ireland May Have One Month to Stave Off Bailout

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan may have just one month to stave off an international bailout.

The extra yield that investors demand to hold Irish 10-year bonds over German bunds surged to a record today as Lenihan tries to put together a 2011 budget by Dec. 7 that convinces investors he can get the country's finances in order.

The premium on Irish bonds has doubled since August and is now wider than the spread on Greek debt four days before it sought a European Union-led bailout in April. That's putting pressure on Lenihan to cut the deficit and overcome both an economic slump and the rising cost of bailing out the country's banks.

While Ireland doesn't need to raise money this year, its 20 billion euro ($28 billion) cash pile may only last until the middle of 2011. Lenihan will pave the way for the budget when he publishes a four-year roadmap for cutting the deficit in the next two weeks.

Ireland's bond premium rose 13 basis points to 475 basis points today. That's 46 basis points above the level on Sept. 30, when the country's National Treasury Management Agency canceled debt auctions scheduled for October and November.

"There's a pessimism bubble out there on Ireland right now," said John McHale, an economics professor at Galway University in western Ireland. "To break that, the government's four-year plan needs to convince investors we won't need a bailout and we won't default. It needs to be as detailed as possible and include legislation where possible."

German proposals to put in place a permanent debt-crisis mechanism at EU level are also adding to Ireland's problems, says Harvinder Sian, a London-based analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated today that she wants to force bondholders to foot some of the bill of any future bailout of a euro member, some officials argue that could spook investors at a time when countries such as Ireland and Portugal are trying to cut deficits.

"Up to last week, I would have said that Ireland could avoid a bailout by taking the measures needed to reduce the deficit," said Sian. "Now, the measures being proposed by Angela Merkel are casting a shadow, not just on Ireland, but across the periphery."

Faith Based Cure

It's a faith based system. Believe there will be no bailout and no default and it won't happen. Really?!

Sorry folks, especially economic professors, it does not work that way.

Interestingly, market action suggests an Irish debt blowup does not matter but a potential Greece blowup did. Your faith in the ECB hath saved you ... until of course Spain and Italy face the same problems and the Greek debt blows sky high anyway.

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

Mid-Term Election Does Matter - It Really Does

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 11:10 AM PDT

In response to Election Predictions - How Big the Blowout? I received a fair number of comments from cynics who say the "election just does not matter, that nothing will change".

Sadly, this defeatist attitude is part of the reason we are in this mess.

To be sure, we are not going to see a return to a gold standard as a result of this election. We are unlikely to rewrite healthcare until it blows sky high (but that may be sooner than anyone thinks). Nor will we eliminate the Fed. And unfortunately, we will not stop war mongering.

Those are certainly very important issues, but they are not the only issues. At stake is the crucial direction of the country in regards to critical issues that desperately need a different direction.

For example, Cap-and-Trade is dead. That is a good thing. Many of Obama's socialist policies are dead in the water as well. The following headline highlights one key issue of critical importance.

Labor Unions Fear Rollback of Rights if G.O.P. Wins

Please consider Labor Unions Fear Rollback of Rights if G.O.P. Wins

Organized labor is deeply worried about what happens after Tuesday. By many measures, labor unions have been the Republicans' fiercest, biggest-spending opponents in this year's campaign, laying out more than $200 million in hopes of safeguarding the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

So it should be no surprise that Republicans, who appear to stand a good chance of winning control of the House or the Senate, are signaling that they plan to push bills and strategies to undermine labor's political clout and its ability to grow.

One bill that is popular among Republicans would prohibit employers from ever agreeing to unionization through "card check," a process often used today in which an employer recognizes a union as soon as a majority of workers sign pro-union cards — without holding a secret-ballot election. Another bill would severely crimp labor's campaign spending by barring unions from using any portion of a union member's dues for political purposes unless the member first gives written permission.

A Republican-led House or Senate is expected to be more eager than a Democratic-controlled one to approve free trade agreements that unions oppose, and to be more reluctant to enact stimulus plans that unions have supported, like the recent bill that gave states $26 billion to help save the jobs of teachers, police officers and other government employees. A Republican-controlled House or Senate would probably block a labor-backed bill that would give firefighters and police officers in every state the right to unionize.

"We fear that the Republicans are on the march, and that's why we're doing everything we can to stop them," said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which is spending $91 million in the two-year campaign cycle.

"Most certainly, the issue of card check will be dead," said Doug Heye, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. "That will be a victory for businesses large and small."

Mr. Heye said that many Republicans were likely to support legislation that would bar unions from spending members' dues on politics unless members first "opted in." Under current law, unions can spend a member's dues on politics unless the member first opts out, a little-known procedure that few workers have followed.

If the Republicans win control of the House, Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican, is expected to succeed George Miller, a Democrat from San Francisco, as chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

Mr. Kline is chief sponsor of the Secret Ballot Protection Act, a bill with 115 House co-sponsors that would bar employers from agreeing to unionization through card check. He has also criticized two policies that are favorites of construction unions: the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires that contractors on federal public works projects pay workers the prevailing wage, usually near the union wage, even if they are not unionized; and project labor agreements, which tend to tilt the awarding of federally financed construction projects toward unionized contractors.

Public Unions Have Bankrupted Cities and States

It is undeniable that public unions and their overly generous pension plans have bankrupted cities and states. It is important, indeed it is crucial that Congress address this issue.

We should not fear a rollback of labor "rights". Rather, we should fear NOT rolling back labor "wrongs".

We simply cannot afford another 2 years of Obamanamics with his public union pandering.

Bringing Public Union Issues to the Forefront

I am grateful for those like Jack Dean at Pension Tsunami and Steve Greenhut have brought these issues to the public's attention.

Please see Book Review: Five Thumbs Up for Steve Greenhut's Plunder! if you have not done so. Then read the book if you haven't! I assure you it will open your eyes as to what is happening and the importance of these battles.

Also check out Cal Watchdog "Your Eyes on California". Greenhut is one of the writers.

Local Level Politics

Mayors in cities across the country are beginning to learn that towing the Public union line is going to be a liability.

Propositions in California cities to rein in union excesses are taking shape in a big way, no doubt with the help of people like Jack Dean and Steve Greenhut.

State Level Politics

Chris Christie is a shining star. He stands above all the rest when leading the way on unions and fiscal sanity. I backed him form the beginning.

Before the election, cynics told me it would not matter. They were wrong. It certainly did matter. The proof is now obvious.

Pension Plans $3 Trillion in the Hole

Public pension plans are $3 trillion in the hole. For details, please see Interactive Map of Public Pension Plans; How Badly Underfunded are the Plans in Your State?

Please look at that map and tell me the election does not matter.

Pensions are the single largest issue cities and states face. Republicans taking over state legislatures, state governorships, and Congress will help resolve this issue.

Governor Chris Christie is leading the way.

Krugman Whining a Sign of Change in the Right Direction

One way you know the election matters is by the amount of whining Paul Krugman does. That whining gets louder each day. He wants more big government and more spending.

It's not going to happen, thanks to this election.

It should be crystal clear this election is about bailouts and fiscal spending. Conservatives have had enough. Sure there will be waste. However, there will be far less waste with the incoming Congress than the outgoing one.

Unfortunately, the one thing this election will not do is create jobs overnight. Yet in Congress, and in numerous state and local elections across the country we are slowly taking a step in the right direction when it comes to fiscal madness.

It's a start, but an important start.

If more cynics would stop bitching and moaning that nothing will change and start actively helping those like Jack Dean and Steve Greenhut to spread the word, while backing candidates like Chris Christie wherever they are, we would be even further along with this effort.

So yes, this election does matter. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

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

9 Years of Housing Backlog at Current Sales Pace; Chris Whalen on Troubled Banks "Bank of America is at Top of Restructuring List"

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 01:23 AM PDT

In a story that highlights just how severe and lingering the housing crisis is, the Wall Street Journal reports Number of the Week: 107 Months to Clear Banks' Housing Backlog

107: How many months it would take to sell banks' current and shadow inventory of foreclosed homes.

Banks' vast pile of foreclosed homes doesn't appear to be diminishing. That's a troubling sign for the future of the housing market.

Over the past six months, that number has actually risen. Banks managed to pare down the shadow inventory, but largely by taking possession of foreclosed homes. As of September, they owned nearly 994,000 foreclosed homes, up 21% from a year earlier. The shadow inventory stood at 5.2 million homes, down 7% from a year earlier. Grand total: 107 months of inventory.

Taking possession does not reduce shadow inventory since those are homes the banks will have to sell whether they are currently on the market or not. Regardless, the important number remains the same, a grand total of 107 months of inventory at the current sales pace.

Chris Whalen Video Discussing Bank Restructuring, Inventory

Select Quotes

You can't prevent restructuring. It's going to happen. Bank of America is at the top of the list. The bondholders and shareholders are going to get a haircut.

Barrack Obama is wearing Herbert Hoover's concrete booties.

There is nobody in the Whitehouse today that understands where we are economically.

The smaller banks in the US are actually getting better. We have 4 really big elephants and 4000 smaller banks that are getting better.

The significant thing is the numeric amount of troubled banks is growing very dramatically. That's the big guys, Bank of America, etc.

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

miercuri, 3 noiembrie 2010

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

Get the 2010 Industry Results Here

Winners!

News Conference with President Obama Today at 1 p.m.

Seth's Blog : Helping the rejection committee

Helping the rejection committee

More Recent Articles

marți, 2 noiembrie 2010

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

miercuri, 3 noiembrie 2010

Winners!

More Recent Articles

marți, 2 noiembrie 2010

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

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