1/27/2006 10:35:00 AM|W|P|Jacob|W|P|The post below was originally written for Newsvine. Newsvine is a new news service that has three main areas: read, write, and seed. All of these activities involve the power of tagging the articles.
Reading is pretty obvious; you read news. They include news from the AP, ESPN, and other news services and allow you to vote and comment on them. I have found that I am reading a bit more news than I usually do. There is something about the way it is laid out that makes it not feel like you are dredging for stuff to read. I have also been adding my 2 cents in comments.
Writing means that any user can write stories. This is intended to be an outlet for citizen journalism, not personal blog entries. If you have a story to tell this is where you can tell it and share it with the rest of the community. My article started as a comment to a story and after the third paragraph I thought it would be better to make a post.
Seeding means you can add outside article to the Newsvine system. If you read a great article at someinterestingoffbeatnewssite.com you can seed it by providing the link and a short summery of the article. This works much the same way Digg does, but the community is focused a little differently. I have not had a chance to seed anything, because I am rarely looking at any news sites.
There are some other features, like profit sharing, which make this rather interesting. However, right now it is a private beta. So if you try to see my articles at tfl.newsvine.com you will be shown a login screen. I first heard about Newsvine yesterday on the latest episode of Inside the Net. I emailed the host, Amber MacArthur, for an invite and she graciously sent me one. The creator of the site said they hope to be going public in the next few weeks. Until then, I have 20 invites to give out. If you are interested let me know.|W|P|113838119041436793|W|P|Newsvine|W|P|jacob.tomaw@gmail.com1/27/2006 10:28:00 AM|W|P|Jacob|W|P|Recently the AP reported a story with the headline "Poll: Public Worried About Federal Deficit" but that is not exactly what the article said. The article reported, "Seven in 10 said in the poll released Friday that they expect the deficit to grow larger by the end of [President Bush's] presidency." This is simple stating that 70% of people know what is going on and says nothing about how they feel about it. I know the deficit is going to grow, but I am indifferent about it.
The deficit is the gap between what the government is spending and what they are taking. There are two big ways the Federal government can bridge this gap. First, more money could be created, which devalues the dollars people own and inflates prices. Second, they can do what you and I do when we want to spend more money than we have on hand and get a loan. We take out loans for homes, cars, and education. The government takes out loans for national defense, entitlements, and subsidies (which often turn out to be homes, cars, and education).
The second option is the one the government usually uses. They let their deficit turn into debit and then ask for loans by selling this debt. The public (including me, I own a few thousand in public debt) and foreign governments buy this debt with the expectation of the Feds being able to pay the interest. This interest will fluctuate based on various factors. One of the factors is an investor confidence in the ability of the Government to pay at the end of the terms. So far there are still enough investors who think the US will be able to pay her debt to keep the interest rate at a pretty competitive rate.
I do not want my income taxes raised to justify further spending, and I think there is a lot of spending that should be eliminated. However, the deficit is not entirely a bad thing. It encourages people to invest by giving them an investment that is risk free (because if the government collapses more than our savings is screwed) and has a better than nothing return.
This is how our monetary system came into existence. Alexander Hamilton was faced with the challenge of paying the Republics debits from the Revolution. He decided to not tax the States, but to create money out of debit buy selling these obligations. Instead of being scared of this system, we should be marveling at the genius.|W|P|113837944321222707|W|P|Fear Not|W|P|jacob.tomaw@gmail.com1/25/2006 10:06:00 PM|W|P|Jacob|W|P|I have been a bad fiancée. Jos' Birthday was on the 13th. I think she had a very happy birthday.
I have had these pics living in my camera since then. They are of wide ranges of lighting and focus. Although I can filter out the ‘bad’ pics, I don't. I just bought a Pro Flickr account, and it has tons of storage attached to it. I also figure that some of you would be interested in the duds (please no jokes about them all being duds). I consider my photography as art. There are no good ones or bad one. You have to experience them all.
You also might notice that there are larger formats. This is also because of the pro account. I am now uploading the pics in their original format.|W|P|113824891491660685|W|P|Jos' Birthday|W|P|jacob.tomaw@gmail.com1/26/2006 10:11:00 PM|W|P| |W|P|I notice there are no pics of you in any of these. Your gonna have to let others use your camera so you can get some lens time.1/27/2006 11:21:00 AM|W|P| Rob|W|P|Well, that's half the fun of being the photographer - no pics of yourself! It's hard work looking as good as we do all the time.1/11/2006 10:11:00 PM|W|P|Jacob|W|P|The bag Jos gave me for Christmas has a great little pocket where I can store my camera. I have been doing this and taking some pictures when I have a chance. You can now see my latest ones on the right. I had to replace my camera battery recently because after 5 years the original held a charge for about 5 min. Now I can snap pictures all day long (if my day is only 2.5 hours) without a problem. Also, if anyone wants to use one of my pics for any reason, contact me for a higher quality image.|W|P|113703958555812782|W|P|A little Pic me up|W|P|jacob.tomaw@gmail.com1/17/2006 05:17:00 AM|W|P| |W|P|I like the pics. Most are very clear & crisp. Wish my camera would take such nice outdoor pictures.1/03/2006 11:33:00 AM|W|P|Jacob|W|P|One of my new favorite blogs is CTA tattler. Today they are starting a review of the best entries from the last year. Last January they caught a Spanish speaker being called out for dissing someone they thought did not speak Spanish.
If only is was always as easy as knowing Spanish. More than once I have wanted to know if some people speaking English (well something approximating English) were talking about me.|W|P|113630958228746925|W|P|Be nice, por favor|W|P|jacob.tomaw@gmail.com1/06/2006 07:54:00 AM|W|P| |W|P|Sometimes I comment about you...in English (or Spanish).
But, for the most part, it is in a positive light.1/09/2006 09:04:00 AM|W|P| |W|P|I felt that way often with you & Dana whispering around me!
|W|P|I notice there are no pics of you in any of these. Your gonna have to let others use your camera so you can get some lens time.
Rob|W|P|Well, that's half the fun of being the photographer - no pics of yourself! It's hard work looking as good as we do all the time.