If that's how you feel, then there's no reason to post that here.

I have four cats and they are all indoors, so I guess I'm safe. But even if they weren't indoors, and I was vulnerable to this parasite, it wouldn't matter. I love them too much. The heart overrules the head in this matter.

> The heart overrules the head in this matter.

I guess the parasite is working.

Could be the parasite talking... :-)

Sorry. I'm not leaving Flickr. It's one of my favorite spots on the Internet. I love the community aspect of the site and the countless quality (and not so quality) Creative Commons contributions.

I have spent more hours than I'd care to admit sifting through photos, admiring people's work, reading comments - all the while listening to trip hop or whatever is on SOMAFM.

It's one of the best parts of website design: finding the perfect image. I'm not going anywhere.

"I love the community aspect of the site … "

This. 1000 times this. I _so_ often hear geeks saying "It's easy to leave Flickr, just host your photos on S3/Dropbox/your-own-web-hosting! Done!". That misses out on a _lot_ of what keeps people on Flickr. The social/community/discoverability side of it.

I suspect Flickr's successor will either:

1) be a service which provides all that "social/community/discoverability" stuff while letting users choose which of many backends actually do their photo storage (openphoto might be a first contender here),

or 2) one of the existing social networks will steamroller over the entire photo sharing space (Facebook seems to be gaining considerable momentum down this path).

The horror that has been going on in Syria for months is beyond comprehension. I personally don't know what to do but pray for the people.

Tensions are electric in the Middle East. Rumor is Isreal will strike Iran soon to stop their nuclear program. Syria and Russia may have something to say about that. All hell is going to break loose.

Sounds like there's an ego issue here. Not ego as in "I'm so great, look at me" but ego as a self identity that wasn't there before.

You're writing through a filter now (a personality you've constructed) whereas before you were writing in a selfless zen state.

So relax. Stop thinking so much and start training your mind through meditation. Read the teachings of Buddha. You will be alright. In fact, you'll be better than alright. This is just a bump in the road.

Btw, never take compliments like "brilliant" and "ingenious" too seriously. These words get bandied about much too often, and it's hardly ever appropriate.

I wouldn't contest that, and thanks for your advice.

But could you elaborate more on what you mean by a 'filter' as opposed to a 'selfless zen state'?

Filter being your conscious mind.

Sometimes when I read or write, it's with a voice I haven't heard before. It doesn't sound authentic to me. That's my mind being loud, and it acts as a dirty filter that inhibits pure words from flowing freely.

Cool. You grabbed some good domains here. Nice work!

Oh thank God we as a consumer society are trying to sweep this issue under the rug. It's starting to ruin the enjoyment of my Apple products.

Those so called hard working conditions where poor Chinese people work 16 hour days 7 days a week in unsafe conditions until they're literally crippled... they should be grateful they even have a job.

What are these workers expecting? Compassion? Sorry. They were born in the wrong country. God bless America!

The sooner we can rationalize this issue away, the better. I don't need the guilt trip, and I sure as hell don't need the inconvenience.

Yes, I use Blekko regularly. I'm often (but not always) pleasantly surprised with it's search results.

The slashes take some getting used to, but Blekko is worth an honest go.

In a way, I actually agree with this statement. Here's my reasoning: RIM's main manufacturing plant is in Waterloo Ontario. They also have a plant in Dallas, Hungary and Mexico. They offer good wages and excellent working conditions. That's more than I can say for Apple and Foxconn.

Just this morning a person in RIM management told me the costs on RIM devices are typically higher because they stay away from unfair labor practices.

That means a lot to me. The humane and ethical treatment of human beings trumps everything, including performance and features.

I have an iPhone 4 (I waited outside a Rogers store all night to be one of the first to have one in my city) but with what I read is going on at Foxconn, I can't support Apple anymore.

I suppose you are boycotting everything else made in those factories from other non-Apple brands as well?

Is this your subtle and twisted way of rationalizing your conscience away? Will this make the purchase of your next Apple product easier?

Tell yourself anything you want, but you're going to have blood on your hands if you continue to support Apple.

What's tragic is that there are some folks who can't afford to have badly needed dental work done. Hard to believe, because the pain of my recent toothache hit these incredible high notes that literally buckled my knees.

Great post. Thanks for reminding me of such a serious(ly overlooked) issue.