HUH? Digg White Paper Recommendation Engine

What’s the #1 thing  programmers can’t do?  Write…

http://digg.com/whitepapers/recommendationengine

Things that made sense (because an editor obviously worked on the first few paragraphs and closing sentences)…

People love Digg because it’s a place to discover and share great content from around the Web. The Digg homepage always has the most popular stories, but many Digg users find their content in the Upcoming section, which gets over 15,000 new stories a day. To help users filter this enormous amount of content, we have created a new feature: The Digg Recommendation Engine.

When you Digg a story, you tell the Recommendation Engine two things: that you recommend the story to other users and, less obviously, that the users who Dugg the story before you are good at finding content. The Recommendation Engine keeps track of users who Dugg particular stories before you did, and it recommends you the stories they Dugg. The more content you Digg, the smarter the Recommendation Engine becomes.

and…

We hope you enjoy using the Recommendation Engine and look forward to helping you uncover even more great stories on Digg!

Digg on!

Things that didn’t make sense…

Everything else.

The Daily Beast: Meghan McCain Has Gone Crazy

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-03-02/looking-for-mr-far-right/full/

My god, somebody get Meghan McCain some medicine and/or a reality check.  And I quote…

The election killed my personal life.

OK, maybe killed is a bit of an exaggeration. But it does seem to be on life support. Of all the things people warned would happen post-election, no one ever said anything about how complicated dating would become. Especially if your dad loses the election. There are things that have been difficult, but nothing quite as tough as dating. I fear the election has destroyed my ability and desire to date.

and…

But when it comes to dating, it’s become an entirely different subject. And I promise, no one is more surprised by this revelation than I am. If I am adult enough to understand that voting is one of the most personal things a person can do, why am I letting it affect how attracted to someone I am? I know that no one can really explain sexual attraction and why you are drawn to someone or not—but at this point in time, nothing kills my libido quite like discussing politics.

and…

Nothing makes me more ill than the idea of some guy bragging to his friends that he was going to go on a date with “John McCain’s daughter.” (Unfortunately this has happened more times than I would like to count and each time I can sense it within the first 30 seconds of meeting them.) One extreme fan of my mother’s recently told me I could be “his Cindy.” And then asked me if I ever wore pearls because they probably would look as good on me as they do on my mother. No, I’m not kidding. Any guy that has a fetish for older women in pantsuits and large pearls obviously only finds my last name attractive about me.

Lazy Sunday

Wow, for the first time ever I have nothing to say.

Well, maybe I do. My wife just emailed somebody whose name rhymes with “jill cares” regarding a job at a Chicago based University. As in, she sent an email to this individual’s personal email address. Maybe she could be palling around with terrorists – thanks sarah – if the cards align themselves. That’s pretty fcking cool.

bobby jindal Attended Exorcism in 1994

Wow, bobby jindal recounting an exorcism he was present for in 1994 hasn’t got much press as you’d expect. Weird…

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/06/11/jindals_exorcism/

“Strangely, I found myself repeating the Hail Mary until it became a chant. Being a recent convert to Catholicism, I had yet to accept the Catholic doc trines concerning Mary and considered any form of Marian devotion to be idolatry. Though I had never before prayed a Hail Mary in my life, I suddenly found myself incapable of any other form of prayer. Somehow, Mary’s intercessions allowed me to find peace during that long night; I knew that I had sur vived the worst and that I would exit with my faith intact. It terrified me to recall how close I came to turning away from Christ out of fear.

The crucifix had a calming effect on Susan, and her sister was soon brave enough to bring a Bible to her face. At first, Susan responded to biblical pas sages with curses and profanities. Mixed in with her vile attacks were short and desperate pleas for help. In the same breath that she attacked Christ, the Bible’s authenticity, and everyone assembled in prayer, Susan would suddenly urge us to rescue her. It appeared as if we were observing a tremendous battle between the Susan we knew and loved and some strange evil force. But the momentum had shifted and we now sensed that victory was at hand.

While Alice and Louise held Susan, her sister continued holding the Bible to her face. Almost taunting the evil spirit that had almost beaten us minutes before, the students dared Susan to read biblical passages. She choked on certain passages and could not finish the sentence “Jesus is Lord.” Over and over, she repeated “Jesus is L..L..LL,” often ending in profanities. In between her futile attempts, Susan pleaded with us to continue trying and often smiled between the grimaces that accompanied her readings of Scripture. Just as suddenly as she went into the trance, Susan suddenly reappeared and claimed “Jesus is Lord.”

With an almost comical smile, Susan then looked up as if awakening from a deep sleep and asked, “Has something happened?” She did not re member any of the past few hours and was startled to find her friends breaking out in cheers and laugh ter, overwhelmed by sudden joy and relief.”

I’m done discrediting jindal. It’s way too easy. I can’t wait until the gop tries to prop up a new puppet on the stage.

palin – fail. jindal – fail. who’s next?

Conor, thank you for the link.

P.S. I’ve gotta admit that I’m slightly scared of Pawlenty in 2012 but I think he’s too “normal” for the gop base to rally behind.

MSNBC: “Oh, God!” Keith Olbermann (or Chris Matthews?) Before Bobby Jindal Republican Response

I backed my DVR up half a dozen times to make sure I didn’t mishear something.  Keith Olbermann (see update below) sounded so exasperated.  9 second mark…

P.S.  Why is Bobby Jindal such a boner?

Update: It’s not confirmed the voice was Olbermann’s.  Regardless, it was an awesome and fitting intro for Bobby.

StubHub vs. Ebay – Selling Some Extra Tickets

I stupidly bought 8 tickets to the Elton John and Billy Joel concert at Wrigley Field on 7/16.  So, I frantically put 4 tickets for sale on Ebay and 2 tickets for sale on StubHub at around the same price per ticket.  The seat locations are equally as good.  I’m looking forward to seeing what service is most effective in my quest to break even.

As you may know, Ebay bought StubHub a few years back.  Ticket monopoly anyone?!?  But, there’s a major difference in posting experience.  Here’s my feedback so far…

StubHub

Benefits: EASY to list an ad.  It couldn’t be easier.  The entire process took less than 5 minutes.  StubHub is free to list your extra tickets.   Their traffic is very targeted – people looking to buy tickets.  In fact, when trying to get last minute tickets, I ALWAYS go to StubHub to see if there are any ticket holders not trying to rip people off.  If so, I buy from StubHub.  I will never buy tickets from Ebay – shady!

Downside: StubHub charges ridiculous fees to both seller and buyer.  It’s 15% to the seller and a decent clip to the buyer.

Ebay

Benefit: Very cheap upfront fee.  $7.  Done and done.  While I’d have to pay $7 even if the tickets don’t sell, this risk is much better than 15% of the final sales price like StubHub.

Downsides: Nobody buys things on Ebay anymore except for stolen goods, right?  Posting an ad is OBNOXIOUS.  I’m pretty sure the only way you can sell something on Ebay is if you’ve done it before.  Even though I have, the process still took about 10-15 minutes and I almost went crazy double checking everything.

I haven’t got Craiglist desperate yet.  More to come once I get rid of some of these tickets!!!

63%: President Obama’s Job Approval Average

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html

Isn’t it amazing that our president has the approval of over 60%?  This number is sure to fall, but, the administration should take some pride in starting off on the right foot given the brutal nature of the first month in office.  I think Obama got less than 53% of the vote…let’s roll.