Tuesday, December 23, 2008

After a busy week, FeedANeed non-profit voting extended to Dec 31

It hasn't even been a week since we announced FeedANeed and the project has already received a ton of press, a slew of new partners, and most importantly, lots of volunteers. Our collective thanks go out to all of you.

Presently, we've got thousands of volunteer hours pledged and growing -- there's still time to sign up here. Erik and I have been keeping track of shoutouts here -- thank you for generating so much attention and let me know if we missed your blog entry, tweet, or FeedANeed tattoo picture.

Erik's been doing a tremendous job both on the publicity side as well as working with the many non-profits that have shown interest. To that end, he's created a Database of Awesome: the non-profit edition, which will help us to better match your non-profit with volunteers. The form is pretty straightforward and the data will not be sold, bartered, or used for evil in any way.

With all the recent attention FeedANeed has gotten, we're also extending voting until December 31st @ 7pm Eastern. And to save you a click, here's the current standings of FeedANeed non-profits.

Show non-profits that are:

hottest right now | newest | top-rated

Submit a non-profit with needs to feed

While you can submit as many predictions as you want, you can only submit one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.

Back to top

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Animated .gif of aliens being thrown at the U.S. President, just one more way to get a bobblehead out of us

Muntazar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, threw his shoes at George W. Bush (and now faces up to 7 years in prison).

The video spread quickly around the Internet and was converted into an animated .gif. And that's where a redditor called bballbackus took over.


As expected, he was heartily rewarded on reddit for his hard work. He even ranked #3 on The Metro's The Ridiculant blog list of top Internet responses to the Bush vs. Shoe video.

This obviously earned bballbackus a complementary reddit alien bobblehead, but it came with my warning:
Don't throw this bobblehead at any heads of state.
However, I erred. If you are going to throw this bobblehead at a head of state, make sure someone is videotaping it. Then publish it online and we'll send you a replacement bobblehead.

The views and opinions expressed in the blog entry are solely of the individual, Alexis Ohanian, and are not the views of reddit.com, its parent, affiliate, or subsidiary companies
.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

FeedANeed.org - Volunteer to Help Non-Profits Get Important Things Done

Around this time last year, we were busy partnering with xkcd to raise over $3,000 for the EFF, a non-profit chosen by you as the recipient of our fundraising efforts.

This holiday season, reddit.com is launching its first Feed A Need project. Instead of asking for monetary donations, we're asking people to donate a few hours of their skills & energy. So if you are a programmer, designer, artist, lawyer, geology professor, bacon cooker, or anyone else with a few hours to spend for a good cause please consider participating in this year's Feed a Need charity drive.

To participate, fill out this form with as much information as possible. Your information will be entered into our "Database of Awesome", and you will be matched up with a project for a needy charity. See the list of non-profits here, vote up your favorite or submit one of your own. You needn't volunteer in order to help us choose the charities whose needs we'll be feeding.

But by working for at least 2 hours on a Feed A Need charity project before the deadline on February 14th, 2009, you're eligible for some great prizes from one of our amazing partners: Wufoo, xkcd, Destructoid, Ars Technica, Wired, EFF, 23/6, Baconfreak, Foundry Communications and more to come. Winners will be chosen at random from the pool of eligible volunteers.

Andrew Sullivan recently cheered the "Power of the reddit generation". Let us show the world what our generation can accomplish in the name of a good cause. Join the project here.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Filling a gaping hole in the 2008 year end awards, 23/6's Dickipedia and reddit open up the polls for "Dick of the Year"

It's that time of year when news and media outlets applaud how little we remember, and how little we've done with our own lives. Looking back at the past year, 2008 has had it's fair share of dicks. We've had enough cheaters, crooks, overpaid Knicks point guards, and megalomaniacs to fill a bag of dicks as Louis CK might say. To settle the score for the annals of history, reddit has teamed up with our friends at 23/6 to launch the DICK OF THE YEAR Awards.

Head over to the Dick of the Year reddit to nominate and vote on 2008's biggest dick. We've primed the dick pump with entries from Dickipedia.org, but that's just the tip of the dickitude. Nominate your favorite politician, relative, neighbor, Colbert Show host (we need the attention), or clever abstract concept.

23/6 is preparing a special trophy for the winner, and we will make sure it gets delivered, even if we have to bake it in a pie. Yeah, it's no secret that Gov. Blaggypants would have to be the odds on favorite at this point, but never count out the 2006 Bengals or The Pilgrims. Voting is open until January 1, 2009, so who knows what new and unforeseen dickery might pop up in the next two weeks. With a little luck the Dick of the Year award will take it's rightful place next to the Razzies and the Darwin Awards.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Thanks to BaconBuzz, team reddit gorges on succulent bacon

One week ago today, team reddit was recovering from a bacon coma. Our pal, Rocco, at BaconFreak.com sent us a case to try out before we named him BaconBuzz's chief bacon officer (CBO).

The Slowe's hosted the first (and sure to be recurring) team reddit bacon brunch. Among the sampling of bacon was a package of some spicy Cajun bacon. Fortunately, Dr. Slowe kept much of his old lab equipment.

Served with a delightful assortment of eggs, potatoes, and biscuits (Bisquick, if you're reading this, I'd like to endorse you). Steve couldn't join us, but we poured some bacon grease on the ground "for our homie."

Just kidding. We'd never waste good bacon grease.

But that wasn't all. As the final strips disappeared (see the before and after picture of bacon plate) we doled out the various packs of bacon jerky. Slightly winded, no one managed to try any until later, but one member of team reddit, raldi, was particularly moved:
I don't endorse products unless they really impress me (not that I've really had the opportunity one way or the other until now), and I have to say, the bacon jerky was spectacular. It's not some dried-out chewy strip of leather -- it actually tastes like just-fried bacon, and yet, you can carry it around with you or hide some under your pillow. My only complaint is that it doesn't come in a glass vial labeled, "Emergency Bacon."

Needless to say, the raldi family will be finding bacon jerky in their stockings on Christmas morning.
Forget "trust falls." This was a real team-building exercise. If you'd like to conduct one of your own with your co-workers, family, or even some bacon-loving strangers, consider ordering some bacon from BaconFreak. BaconBuzzers get 5% off.

And if you live in the Bay Area, get your bibs ready for a BaconBuzz tasting event...

Another blog.reddit poll ends, much was learned

Our most scientific poll yet concluded that 53% of redditors have peed in the sink. Yet a larger percentage of people who had not peed in the sink felt the need to qualify it (22%) than sink-urinaters (18%). Combined with what we learned from the Sheeple poll, we're really starting to understand the reddit community. Take that, Census Bureau.

Poll: Have you ever peed in the sink?
  1. Yes. 50 (35%)
  2. No. 32 (22%)
  3. No, that's as disgusting as "Vote Up if..." 31 (22%)
  4. Yes, but only once. 15 (10%)
  5. Yes, but I was also voting up. 12 (8%)
It's a new week and thus there's a new poll, thanks to raldi. Blame ketralnis for the pee poll.

We're anxious to know which Unicode character you are.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Three orphaned pets enter TheCuteList naming contest, two already found homes, the other has a new name

And hopefully with that new name, Rory (the cat formerly known as Tory), isn't far from a new home.

We didn't expect a pet - let alone two - to be adopted before the naming competition ended, but the power of TheCuteList (reddit) knows no bounds. These were homeless animals at the SF SPCA who particularly needed the extra attention, as they'd been there for quite some time.

By all accounts, this contest was a tremendous success. And we'll continue doing it every month on TheCuteList with organizations across the U.S. until every single dog and cat gets adopted. Mister Splashy Pants was just the beginning of the rename-it-to-save-it movement. Thanks to you, reddit.

When voting ended at noon today, swampsparrow had the highest scoring cat name (Rory, short for Rorschach) and MimiK had the highest scoring dog's name (ROFLs [Roffles]). They've each won a fine reddit bobblehead and the invaluable feeling that comes with renaming an orphaned animal (and hopefully getting it the attention it needs to find a home).

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Welcome, Mike Schiraldi (a.k.a. raldi)

Mike joined team reddit a little while after Erik, but he's been a redditor for over three years. He's getting his avatar before Erik only because he sent me his eye color in hex.

You probably already know him as raldi. He's still coming up with a title for himself (consider giving him some ideas in the comments) so for now I'll just say he's developing some nifty, albeit neglected, reddit features back into existence.

He's done quite a bit of traveling lately, which should explain the stickers on his suitcase. He's also a fan of a sport called "baseball" and language called Perl. Perl-ism aside, he also wanted a dollar sign to remind him that he's "a refugee from the collapsing financial industry." What's not to like?

Mike also has about 4x my karma, which makes things a bit awkward around here. I'm getting tired of bringing him coffee in the morning.

+15 Bonus points if you can identify those 3 country flags, their capitals, and their average yearly rainfall.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Trumpeting the MusicMakers, winner of the raise a reddit contest

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

-- Arthur O'Shaughnessy
Originate created the WeAreTheMusicMakers.reddit as part of the raise a reddit contest.
A subreddit for those in the music industry, as well as those that are interested in music composition, production and theory. Enthusiasts welcome! Also, consider discussing audio hardware and software! Questions are encouraged regardless of how basic/advanced! We are also interested in discussing the facets of the music industry, including record labels.
And after growing this community larger than anyone else, won the grand prize.








He's received all of his loot and is looking to share the WatMM shirts, pins, and stickers with the community that helped him win them. We're quite pleased with what he's done so far and will continue to do -- we've even learned a few things about making music along the way. That said, the reddit band is still a long way from getting an album on iTunes or Popcuts.

There's a new house ad in the rotation promoting the site. Plug in your amp and give it a click or reddit it and let us know if we should have set the volume to 11.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Blog.reddit poll ends decisively: Sheeple ought to be woken up

This first ever reddit blog poll ended today (find the weekly poll on the footer of this blog). The question was direct and simple, here are the results:

You come across some sheeple, what do you do?
  1. WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!! 48 (71%)
  2. Walk away slowly, careful to avoid making eye contact. 11 (16%)
  3. Engage them in spirited discourse about the pressing issues of the day. 8 (11%)
This week's question ought to evoke some more interesting results:

Have you ever peed in the sink?

Here comes a new challenger! With Sugar already adopted, we've got another dog to name

After the whirlwind adoption of Sugar, we asked our pals at the SF SPCA to send us another worthy orphaned dog for our TheCuteList naming contest.

I'd like to introduce you to the dog formerly known as Chip, go here to submit and vote on a new name for him. Same rules, same warm & fuzzy prizes for the winning redditor.

Chip, in his own words
view his profile | rename this dog!
8 years of living with the same family, and all of a sudden - here I am - interviewing new people as my best friend. I'm hoping the next one to step up is my dream pack. Someone told me I look like some famous guy - Clark Gable? I hope that helps my cause. I'm not too selective in what I'm looking for - Lots of outdoor activities - bringing me to things my houndy nose can sniff - the great outdoors is what I love!

If I may say so myself, I'm the perfect companion. Not too large, not too small, not too talkative, but not too shy. I love all things sniffable, and long walks through the neighborhood would give us a chance to meet new people, see new things, and of course - sniff new sniffs. I'll sit when you ask me to, heck - I might even hand over a paw to shake or a belly to scritchy-scratch. Kisses? I got em for ya. Snuggles when it's cold outside? No problem, buddy. So come on - let's find new, exciting adventures together!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

LegacyOfW.com - Tell Wired's ThreatLevel what ought to be the legacy of the US's 43rd President

As George W. Bush's 8 years come to an end, Threat Level's Ryan Singel thought it'd be a good time to reflect on the last two terms of the Decider and do some deciding of our own.

We've setup LegacyOfW.com as an easy way for us all to keep score and easily share this reddit-powered poll.

Submit your own legacy for W and vote on the rest. Here's a sneak peek at the current top legacies:



photo: Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite

Just one day after the naming contest started, orphaned dog has been adopted - somewhere, Mister Splashy Pants is singing a special whale song

Well done, reddit, Sugar was adopted this morning! Pity we didn't get a chance to rename her ("Splenda" was in the lead), but I think she'll get over it. This all happened within 24hours of the contest starting. We don't yet know if TheCuteList was specifically responsible, but the new owner had learned about her "from the Internet."

Thanks for already making this such a success for this lucky dog and the SF SPCA. We've already had a few more SPCAs around the country contact Erik for placement in what we're pretty sure will now be a monthly event on TheCuteList.

We still need to name (and find a home) for the cat formerly known as Tory. With almost an entire week to go, we're going to try and find another dog to profile for this contest.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Make Mister Splashy Pants proud: name an orphaned dog and cat to help them find a home!

A little while back, we wrote about Jessmuhkah, a redditor who asked reddit to name her cat.

This gave us an idea. In the proud tradition of Mister Splashy Pants, we thought TheCuteList could use a contest to name a needy dog and cat at our local San Francisco SPCA. I've had a bit of experience working with this fine organization and can write with confidence that they're a very worthy beneficiary of the reddit collective's imagination and voting prowess.

So here's the deal, they'll rename the following cat and dog whatever gets the most points in this thread for cat names and this thread for dog names. Don't worry, they know the "pics or it didn't happen" rule; we're expecting not only images of the '2.0' animals, but hopefully also a great adoption story as a result of this contest.

The only rule is it can't contain any profanity (this name will appear on the door for potential adopters to marvel at -- keep it family friendly). Submit your ideas and cast your votes before the deadline of Wednesday, Dec. 10th at noon Pacific. Winners will receive a priceless warm & fuzzy feeling and maybe something slightly more tangible.

Tory, in her own words:
she's been adopted!
Oh Hai! I have traveled a long way to be here. I started my life in Ventura County, and for some reason I ended up at the local shelter. Luckily, I was rescued and endured a long car ride along with 5 other cats. Since I arrived at The San Francisco SPCA several months ago, all of my traveling companions have found homes. Don’t get me wrong, this room with a view is a big upgrade from a cage. It's nice and all, but it’s not a real home :(

I am a very sweet lady, and I promise that I will give you lots of love if you let me join your family. I'm not a picky cat, but I do have one request: to be your one and only feline...other cats aren't exactly my cup of tea. Please take me home...it's what I dream of every night!


Chip, in his own words
he's been adopted!
8 years of living with the same family, and all of a sudden - here I am - interviewing new people as my best friend. I'm hoping the next one to step up is my dream pack. Someone told me I look like some famous guy - Clark Gable? I hope that helps my cause. I'm not too selective in what I'm looking for - Lots of outdoor activities - bringing me to things my houndy nose can sniff - the great outdoors is what I love!

If I may say so myself, I'm the perfect companion. Not too large, not too small, not too talkative, but not too shy. I love all things sniffable, and long walks through the neighborhood would give us a chance to meet new people, see new things, and of course - sniff new sniffs. I'll sit when you ask me to, heck - I might even hand over a paw to shake or a belly to scritchy-scratch. Kisses? I got em for ya. Snuggles when it's cold outside? No problem, buddy. So come on - let's find new, exciting adventures together!



Sugar, as described by her friends @ the SF SPCA
she's been adopted!
We've come to realize she's dealt a less than ideal hand in this card game.

See, she's a little older, a little chubbier, and little less spotty than the Cattle Dog mix down the hall. Her fur isn't as soft and luxurious as the Cockapoo next door, and she definitely doesn't seem like she wants to go for a daily swim like that big Yellow Lab across the way. Unlike the litter of puppies in the next hallway over, who've got that "new to the world" look about them that so many folks seem to fawn over, Sugar has character in her eyes, and a swagger in her walk that says "hey world – we're old friends. And p.s. – I'm already housebroken."

Sugar's got a pretty solid vocabulary – she'll sit, lay down, roll over and shake. But no, she doesn't know fetch, heel, or know how to get you the paper. And she's way too much of a lady to play tug-of-war. (She'd just let you win anyway – it's in her nature to make you happy). I guess the point is, Sugar isn't traffic stopping gorgeous, or so smart it knocks your socks off when she walks on her rear legs and recites the Greek alphabet. She loves leisurely walks, but she's just as happy to run circles in the back yard for a while, and flop down in the grass for a snooze. She's vivacious and outgoing, friendly and charismatic. She enters a room and you just know, you just feel - there's love there.

Based on the positive feedback we've already gotten, we're aiming to do this every month at cities across the U.S. -- New York is first up in the New Year. If you've got an SPCA in your hometown that you'd like to see featured on TheCuteList, message Erik.

--
The mission of TheCuteList is to be a 24-7 competition for the cutest things on the Internet, all of which are submitted and ranked by the site's users.

The mission of The San Francisco SPCA is to save and protect animals, to provide care and treatment, to advocate for their welfare, and to enhance the human-animal bond.

Founded in 1868, The SF/SPCA is a national leader in saving lives and raising the status of companion animals. Its innovative programs and services include: Maddie's Pet Adoption Center; Community Veterinary Services, including the SF/SPCA Animal Hospital and Spay/Neuter Clinic; Humane Education; public Dog Training classes; Feral Cat Assistance Program; and Animal Assisted Therapy.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Vector art really is a limiting medium for reddit alien creation

Playing with food might irritate parents. Creating art with it shouldn't. It's going to take some work to get this into the MOMA, so we ought to start the edible reddit alien campaign now. Food.reddit, we're counting on you.

Granted, Chris and Jeremy did bake a reddit cake last year. But cakes are meant to be sculpted into things like website mascots, bizarre towers, and erotica.

And we just recently saw a redditor bake a set of pixelized reddit alien cookies (you should also see the 1up & Super mushroom cookies). Frankly, we thought we'd seen it all.

We should have known something was going on when this fungi appeared on flickr:

Andrewinmelbourne's mushroom alien was the ideal first submission to mushroom.reddit, but it turns out mushrooms.reddit was already alive and growing (albeit in the moist darkness of the Internet's deepest crevices).

Then this appeared in my inbox, courtesy of krispykrackers; it can only be described as a McAlien.

Still no sightings of a bacon reddit alien. Hopefully we won't need to wait much longer.


Send in your homemade (edible or semi-edible) reddit alien pictures if you've got them. There's still time to carve that turkey carcass...

Winner Winner, Bacon Dinner!

Congratulations to russellnation for winning the 1st Annual Fight Tryptophan with Nitrates Fall Recipe Classic with a tasty recipe for "bacon wrapped water chestnuts". russellnation will be receiving a glorious gift box from our friends at BaconFreak.com.

Big thanks to everyone who shared a recipe! They all look delicious. If you didn't win, don't worry we have a lovely bacon-related parting gift for you: a brand new extra crispy BaconBuzz.com redesign.

Enjoy, and remember if you still have Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge they might be unsafe to eat, but a little danger sauce never hurts the taste.