Gawker
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i hate it here
What tech pundits talk about when they're not talking tech
Tired of hearing tech bloggers opine authoritatively about politics, a subject they know nothing about but nevertheless retain strongly held views? That was so September 2008. Welcome to the next blogosphere megatrend: Tech bloggers opining authoritatively about the economy.
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By Owen ThomasComment by fakemichaelarrington: Oh. I thought you would just have the word "nothing" under the title. more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
TWITTER IS DOWN NOW IT'S NOT OH MY GOD. A nightmare in screenshots!
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i hate it here
When you're too good to just work at home
This is just so busted, where do I begin? I needed somewhere to duck into downtown to work for an hour before going to Marissa Mayer's favorite hair salon. There's Wi-Fi there, but that's a bonus: not a reason to camp out. Even bloggers have boundaries. But not this guy, who actually worked from the cafe I ended up in on what looks like a laptop with a broken screen. Instead of replacing the laptop — these are lean times after all — he just brought his own external monitor. More »
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Comment by Lawrence: This guy's an idiot - he's sitting there drinking a $4 cup of coffee...yet still using broke-ass computer parts, which... 2 Responses | Other threads
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i hate it here
Burning Man was way too short for all of us
Sidewalk graffiti at 18th and Dolores in San Francisco's hipster-heavy Mission district. (Photo by Melissa Gira Grant)
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By Paul BoutinComment by prsiii: Too tired, eh? It's freekin' hot and dusty ~every~ year. Whatever. To me, this year's art largely... 2 Responses | Other threads
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i hate it here
The east coast's love affair with Gavin Newsom
Time magazine gives renewable energy credit to hunky God-mayor Gavin Newsom. None was due. The august journal hails our fair mayor for a nonexistent wind-energy installation: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by cokeslurpee: I've lived in SF for a few years and I have been extremely unimpressed with how the city is governed.... 10 Responses | Other threads
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i hate it here
850 new reasons for San Franciscans to hate AT&T
So that's what those things are. The box in the photo holds equipment for AT&T's U-verse cable service. The grumpy guy is David Crommie, president of the Cole Valley Improvement Association. He's torqued because AT&T got an exemption from environmental review requirements to install up to 850 of these things around the city. You'll also see smaller green boxes on city sidewalks — those are Comcast's. Verizon manages to bury all its equipment underground. The CVIA has stalled AT&T's plans, but the San Francisco Daily Post reports that "AT&T is now expected to reapply for exemption." (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)
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By Paul BoutinComment by ExtendedRockyMontage: Ah, so it's essential to have an environmental review for installing bike lanes but not these ugly ass Ma Bell... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Protest at "America's Army" game maker scheduled for noon today
Protesters angry at what they call the "recruitment of children" through the U.S. Army-sponsored America's Army videogame plan to meet in San Francisco's South Park at noon. It's a safe bet they'll march over to game developer Ubisoft on 3rd Street. This being San Francisco, the only real news from the event will be a counterprotest.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Adam Rock: My favorite part of my tax dollars at work: "3) MIPR4GPN097042 - $540,151.04 for Army Game marketing... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Neal Stephenson's new novel makes me want to kill the Internet
I'm a hundred pages into Anathem (accent on first syllable), Neal Stephenson's forthcoming thousand-page novel about Fraa Erasmus, a young man who lives in a millennia-old monastery devoted not to religion, but to science, math and philosophy. They have no Web 2.0. It's convincing enough that I already want to stuff your Twitter feed up your nose. Why? (I promise: No spoilers and nothing not already leaked in the promo materials.) More » -
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journalist math
Hipsters = hippies - subversion + Twitter
"Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization" is the new cover story from Adbusters. If you're not familiar, Adbusters is a fun, angry, Starbucks-hating publication whose credo states that we've all been brainwashed by advertising and mass media into an orgy of overconsumption that lets the American Empire destroy the rest of the world to feed our fat faces. I buy it at Whole Foods. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by giania: That AdBusters article was a total wank. All complaint and doom, no solutions or positive outlook even approached. It is... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Mission hipsters choose Google as their new object of hate
Here we go again. New graffiti on the sidewalk at 18th and Dolores claims nothing short of "Mission Exploitation" by Google employees. A decade ago, the Mission Yuppie Eradication Project posted flyers urging Valencia Street's self-styled "artists" to vandalize luxury cars. Some did. In 2008, most Web 2.0 workers aren't rich enough to draw the righteous anger of their slightly-less-privileged neighbors. Except for Googlers who dare move into the city's youth-culture ghetto between Cesar Chavez and Market. More » -
i hate it here
New website turns unused parking spaces into cash, and vice versa
GottaPark is the site many a Bay Area resident has wished for: A meeting place where people seeking parking spots can hook up with people who have parking space to rent. What the site needs: A primer on how this would affect my income tax return.
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By Paul BoutinComment by MikeTy: I love this idea! There also was a recent idea of posting open spaces so that drivers can look them... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Local scribe discovers citizen journalism at cupcake event
The San Francisco Bay Guardian's Susie Cagle went in search of that most elusive of user-generated content — actual good times at a Web 2.0 event. Her target: CupcakeCamp, a "crowd-sourced" bakeoff where Internet cool kids took pictures of one another eating cupcakes. More »
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Comment by Melissa Gira Grant: @lustylady: As in, the cupcaking photo orgy, without it being overrun by lads who think attending a party is a... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Five reasons why women really do need to get off the Internet
That's it, I'm leaving. And I'm taking the hot ones with me. Women of the Internet, it's time to go. It's dangerous online for us in tech. As long as we were moderating "coping with cutting" LiveJournals and keeping Zappos rich by shoe shopping, the Valley and the men who made it paid us little mind. But if we dare be more than pretty eyeballs driving the market, we must challenge the deep misogyny pulsing at the heart of the hypertext transfer protocol. Consider this a collective Swiftian kick to the panties. Follow me, for this is why we have no hope here: More »
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Comment by maddr: I'm assuming this is parody; at least I hope so. If not: Wah, wah, wah. Try being a female physicist. Oh wait,... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Olympic torch gets obligatory rickrolling
San Francisco city officials, hoping to avoid the hippies, began today's torch run up the Embarcadero in front of the Splunk office and its large scale sound system.
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By Paul BoutinComment by notyoutool: Duh, Paul's the not-new Splunk Correspondent. more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
It would be pegged to "BULLSHIT" the entire time. [MSNBC]
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i hate it here
Great place for a startup: rents up 10.3 percent in San Francisco
The best advice you got from successful entrepreneur Patricia Handschiegel? "Don't spend." Good luck with that if you're living in San Francisco. Bootstrapping entrepreneurs and everyone else have to live somewhere and if its in the foggy city its getting yet more expensive for many. San Francisco rents increased 10.3 percent in 2007. According to Curbed, that's the highest rate increase in the country. Rents increased only 7.7 percent in 2006 and a mere 3.8 percent in 2005. Over 60 percent of San Franciscans rent, and it may be time to look into buying for those with savings — on the flip side, home prices fell. Remember the good old days before Google bought YouTube for $1.6 billion? (Photo by greencandy8888)
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Comment by QADude: href="#c5086608">sample032: SJ isn't exactly land-locked. They don't have water on 3 sides. Well, they have it on one side -... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Webcam captures Tibet protesters on Golden Gate Bridge
Why should the Chinese government shouldn't worry about protests during the Olympic torch run. Local media would much rather cover low-effort displays closer to home, like these activists scaling the Golden Gate Bridge. KPIX has live coverage. [CBS 5]
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By Jackson WestComment by SeanPara: Tibet was a theocracy who kept the people poor and ignorant. Does the Free Tibet movement want to chuck out... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Stuff White People Like's Christian Lander nails San Francisco
Blogger Christian Lander, self-appointed arbiter of Caucasian tastes, needles San Francisco's inferiority complex when it comes to New York — as a former Toronto resident, he can certainly relate. Google's algorithm suggests Chinese mail-order brides. True enough.
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By Jackson WestComment by Moonshine Mike: @mediawhoremeow: ain't no real people who create here either. time to head back to deadspin. more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
War protesters snarl Financial District
Jackson West, reporting live (don't tell my boss!) from downtown San Francisco: War protesters have shut down Market Street between Sansome and Montgomery, with smug Berkeley Hills residents gleefully getting arrested. The cops expect to clear it soon. Police have shut down San Francisco's old-money corridor of power, Montgomery Street, between Sutter and Bush, but except for the private building security having upped the menace-level of their sunglass stares, it's business as usual — the House of Shields is already serving drinks. If the protesters were smart, they'd concentrate their efforts at AT&T headquarters on Folsom and 2nd, where stopped traffic could snarl the 101 and totes disrupt your meeting in Multimedia Gulch. That might actually generate some Twitters. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by fear_me: i was there for a few minutes and saw 4 guys get gang tackled by the cops and some dude... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Valleywag watering hole ruined by new owners
An outrage, a crying shame: Moose's is closing on April 1. The North Beach restaurant and bar facing Washington Square Park is being replaced by some abomination called "Joey & Eddie's." Valleywag is not taking this sitting down at a bar, ordering a Juniper Breeze. We're packing up and moving Valleywag Fridays to an undisclosed location starting next month. Until then, you've got four more shots at our Moose's happy hour, an enduring tradition since January 2008. We'll make our last one on March 28 a blowout.
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By Owen ThomasComment by sfpaulie: Well, the truth of the matter is that Moose's SUCKED. Years ago it was good, but has devolved into crap... more » | Other threads
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i really, really hate it here
How do you annoy me? Let me count the ways
My gripe about Web 2.0 invites has prickled a few PR 2.0 types who fervently believe that my career will just explode if I sign up to get spammed on Eventbrite. Look, people: In one day, Valleywag nitpicker-in-chief Owen Thomas will typically contact me through (1) email, (2) SMS, (3) IM, (4) voicemail, (5) Campfire, (6) Facebook, (7) Movable Type comments and (8) Tadalist which he uses only because it sounds gay. Usually he wants to remind me that we're supposed to use an <em> to italicize words in posts but an <i> tag in comments. (And I had to fix his HTML in this post, too. - Ed.) So if you sent me a Super Press Release on Facebook, I was too distracted to notice. -
i hate it here
Web 2.0 invitations make it easier than ever to stay home
Dear Web 2.0 cool kids: I'm one of those people you like to call "OLD" and whom you're sure "doesn't get it." Still, for some reason you want me to write about you for those doomed East Coast newspapers I hang out at. If you want me to attend one of your events, just put the time and place in an email. Don't send me an easily-lost IM that links to a page on Facebook, which requires me to create an account to see the event info. Don't then send me from Facebook to Eventbrite to RSVP, forcing me to create yet another account just to acknowledge that I'm coming. Great, now I receive colorful HTML email daily from these and a dozen other sites that buy exclamation points in bulk: "Shameless Networker is your friend! You have 28 new alerts!" How about if you just write up your next shmoozefest yourself and post it to Digg? That seems easier. (Image by americangreetings.com)
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By Paul BoutinComment by MichelleMyBelle: @marcsiry: Just getting the information in the first email? Or maybe you are being subtly sarcastic. more » | Other threads
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great moments in hr
Google dresses up job listings for crappy jobs
In our "Googler's vent: working here sucks too" post, commenter tengallonhero does some venting of his own:To all the commenters saying "stfu and stop whining": the thing you're missing is the false advertising on Google's part. Google doesn't tell you when you're going through their intense and selective recruiting process that your job is going to be crap.
He continues: More »
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Comment by laroc: I know some peeps in India who would love themselves some Google CSR jobs. more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Googlers vent: Working here sucks, too
Last quarter, Google hired 889 people, bringing the total headcount to 16,805. What do all these new employees do? Stab each other in the back, apparently. A tipster writes: "The management within Google, especially AdWords and AdSense (the money making machines of the entire company ... engineering gets the glory but advertising brings in the big bucks) are completely disorganized and chaotic (in a BAD way- because Google sometimes tries to spin the whole 'chaotic' thing in a good way)." There's much more: More »
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Comment by allstar444: i really think GOOGLE should look into matters like this. if there isn't a process to file complaints at the... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
San Francisco Chronicle's desperate calls for help
The San Francisco Chronicle must be shedding readers even faster than staff. Reportedly, it was losing $1 million a week before shedding 100 employees last May. In order to maintain circulation, the Chronicle is engaging in an extensive telemarketing campaign. For the last few weeks, I've been an unwilling target. I've been called almost daily by an incoherent newspaper peddler who greets me with the gruff demand, "Where do you live?" and offers either a six-week or six-month trial — the mumbling made it unclear. After the trial, the Chronicle is asking a measly $3/week for home delivery. Why not stop badgering me and drop the newspaper off at my door for free, like the Examiner? That seems easier.
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Comment by bloatboy: Let me see, no pets to train, no birdcage to line. I also have an adequate supply of regular toilet paper... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
We're all a bunch of greedy bastards
San Francisco is the city every manchild with a wee knowledge of Ajax and a penchant for dropping vowels from proper nouns flocks to in the hopes of striking a venture capital goldmine. It's not exactly a revelation that you're all a bunch of greedy louts, but Forbes, in what is no doubt a highly scientific study, has determined San Francisco is the country's second most avarice-riddled city — beaten only by its brethren in San Jose. It's also happens to be the most proud. Who's surprised that Oakland turns up as the sixth most wrathful — that is, gun-toting — place in the U.S.?
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Comment by Dweezil: God, Forbes is such a shitty rag. It's amazing to me that anyone takes a single person affiliated with them... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Burmese pythons join tigers, oil tankers as threat to Bay Area
An investigative reporter at the Chronicle reports that Burmese pythons could slither their way from Florida to the Bay Area in just 12 years. The 250-pound, alligator-swallowing snakes find our climate congenial, and could arrive sooner if introduced here by irresponsible pet owners. What the Chronicle missed: Unlike other cold-blooded threats to our way of life, Burmese pythons won't drive up rents.
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By Owen ThomasComment by ScalaWag: He missed the bigger story. These Snakes will arrive On the Plane. more » | Other threads
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silicon valley users guide
Generation Y, watch your boss for these warning signs
Coddled by close-hovering helicopter parents, Generation Y (of which I'm a proud member) is incapable of taking initiative. (This very post was "suggested" by Owen Thomas, yet I get to take all the credit.) We never had to struggle up multiple hills, in the snow, to get to school, so we lack any true sense of accomplishment. To help managers deal with our overweening self-importance, BusinessWeek has come up with a bullet-pointed Generation Y workplace survival guide. No, it doesn't include anything helpful, like how to use Facebook or Twitter as management tools. It does suggest exactly the kind of boss behavior Gen Y will see right through, once we learn to recognize it. So how do you know if your boss is trying to game you into productivity? Here are the signs: More »
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Comment by bnpederson: @raincoaster: Many baby boomers expected to live off the land in peaceful communes, flappers of the roaring 20s were pretty... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
Look ma, I'm on TV!
It's all Scoble's fault. Instead of holing up to write O'Reilly books, software developers are now wasting their time filming themselves talking — awkwardly, unclearly, and usually too fast — about their latest world-changing innovation. How convenient that keeping it real means putting yourself on camera. The result: Dull videos hogged by rambling "geek rock star" narrators waving at blurry whiteboards. Sure it's cheap, easy, and most of all ego-gratifying for the (cough) star. But what about the viewers? More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by raincoaster: Software developers need an authoring tool geared to making effective Web-video explanations of their abstract IT concepts. or maybe they... more » | Other threads
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paul boutin
Why I hate you — and I do mean you
Entrepreneurs. Engineers. Bloggers. You keep asking: Why does a writer like me hate people like you? Nick Denton's new traffic-based pay scale has backfired wonderfully, giving me a few minutes to explain it. More » -
i hate it here
San Francisco is just like Second Life
Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's freshly reelected god-mayor, descended into the bowels of Second Life for a quaint fireside chat with Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab. What lofty matters could a city mayor and the chieftain of a seamy virtual world possibly have to discuss? Why, the parallels between the "two famously diverse and tech-savvy communities with global profiles," of course. As Newsom said during their discourse, "We're all geeks." But the comparisons don't stop there. San Francisco is exactly like Second Life. More » -
i hate it here
Effects of tiger spill on Bay will be felt for generations
I swear the San Francisco Chronicle updates its front page by replacing the words "Cosco Busan" with "Tatiana" and running the same damn angles again. The Chron's reports on failed systems, beleaguered bureaucrats, and oh-the-humanity handwringing are all framed by the big question: How could this have been prevented? I keep hoping some rival paper will court Valley engineers with a headline like TIGER IN CITY, WHAT A STUPID IDEA. -
i hate it here
Internet is so quiet you can hear your own echo
Save for one very special correspondent's valiant efforts, all was quiet on the Internet at the beginning of this week. The Christians were busy celebrating the birth of Jesus, and the rest of you, your new JesusPhones. It's not grown much louder since. And some, including professional echo chamberist Jeremiah Owyang, are having trouble dealing with the change in pace. More »
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Comment by LindsayT: my inbox is usually populated with interestingness from the kids i went to grad school with. they're on break.... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
A gay entrepreneur's tale
Our article about Peter Thiel, the Facebook investor and rare gay venture capitalist, drew much response. Many noted that gay and lesbian entrepreneurs are not the only ones shut out by the old boys' network of Sand HIll Road. One correspondent, though, captured the experience of being gay in technology's heartland. The problem isn't that Silicon Valley is homophobic — it's that it's suburban. He's not the first gay entrepreneur to file that complaint, but his story's well worth reading. Here it is, verbatim. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Robert Synnott: I'm a gay male computer programmer, and I've never felt that it's a problem in the slightest. All my co-workers... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
SF meter maids ticket stolen car 29 times
A San Francisco woman reported her Honda Civic stolen to the San Francisco police. A few weeks later, she got a parking citation in the mail for her stolen car. Then she got another. And another. In total, her car got ticketed 29 times while being listed as stolen. She called the police and the city's Department of Parking and Traffic, but didn't get any solid answers about the whereabouts of her car, nor why it was being ticketed after being reported stolen. Eventually, she and a friend decided to drive around locations where the car had been ticketed to try to find it. More »
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Comment by weissadam: This happened to me in 1999. Three days after my car was reported stolen, I received a phone call... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
511 jammed by holiday traffic
OK, it's almost 2 p.m. on the Friday before Christmas. Time to do some last-minute shopping and head home, right? Maybe not. Traffic sucks even more than on most holiday weekends, thanks to an accident on 580 in Oakland. If you don't have one of those fancy GPS units that automatically updates you with the latest traffic reports, you can check Traffic.com before you leave work, or dial 511 from your cell once you're on the road. Oh wait, never mind! "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties on the 511 Phone System. We are working to solve the problem and apologize for any inconvenience." The worst part about sitting in traffic? Robert Scoble doesn't do podcasts, only video streams, so you can't keep yourself entertained with that. Here's our suggestion: drop "Here Comes Another Bubble" on your iPod before you head out. Catchy! And at least the lyrics are original! (Photo by AP/Ric Francis) -
surly media nerds
Annalee Newitz — the 100-word version
sparkly-crap mobile circuit-board garbage gizmo mass-produced by machines that stole jobs from nonunionized workers who stole jobs from the natives. I want a Nintendo Wii.
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i hate it here
Welcome to the great country of San Francisco
It's been a long-running suggestion that California secede from the United States. But barring a massive tectonic rift, the Cali shows no signs of jumping from its comfy perch. San Francisco has taken matters into its own hands, however, and quietly declared that it's not just a city and a county — it's a country, too. Just like he did with gay weddings three years ago, newly reelected and always hunky dictator-for-life Gavin Newsom was keen to make the shift go by unnoticed. One American patriot spotted the change on her tax bill. The jig's up, Newsom. (Photo by g-na)
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Comment by GinaMuchava: Wow, San Francisco property owners get off easy. Only 1.1410%? That's barely enough for the govt to buy cheese for... more » | Other threads
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cubicle culture
Cisco's new office layout could cause back injuries
Cisco says its office's new cubicle-free design promotes efficiency, increases group work productivity, and makes the environment more pleasant. Which makes the redesign seem like a really good idea. Until you hear about the whole back-and-neck injuries thing. More »
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Comment by djmjtar: What exactly is stopping this guy from getting on the available chair by the table behind him? This looks to... more » | Other threads
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i hate it here
No escape from Thanksgiving traffic
Stuck at work? Sorry to hear it. Valleywag's working a full day, so we'll keep you entertained. In fact, if you were thinking about leaving early to beat traffic, you might as well just stay at your desk. The Bay Area's major escape routes, 580-E towards Livermore and 101-N in Marin, are already clogged with Thanksgiving traffic.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Jhonka: I like the SigAlert maps better. [www.sigalert.com] more » | Other threads
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Transformers blows up this weekend. Need to know more? io9 gets down and dirty with the superbots.
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