We conducted a soft survey at last week's Atlanta Angel Lounge meeting. As you review the results, you should keep in mind that this crisis is new and unsettled. In fact, since our last meeting the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped over 1,400 points. So this data, although only a week old, may be outdated.

Here is what we learned from a gathering of 25 Atlanta angel investors:

* The professional angels with a sizable wealth base said, 'it will be business as usual.'
* There was agreement that with AAA rated companies like GE paying 10% with warrants for long-term money, valuations for early stage companies will be lower. The risk/return ratio is shifting with the market.
* Many angels are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what their liquidity will be when the markets get back to some rhythm, good or bad.
* Deals will be more closely scrutinized and therefore more time will be needed to raise money.

I've been worried about this. It appears the crisis will impact startups negatively, but it doesn't sound like the market has been wiped out... yet...

Charlie Paparelli - Angel Investments in the Downturn

Did Kraftwork do the soundtrack for this?

YouTube - Sesame Street - How Crayons Are Made

Highslide JS is a piece of JavaScript that streamlines the use of thumbnail images on web pages. The library offers these features and advantages:

* No plugins like Flash or Java required.
* Popup blockers are no problem. The images expand within the active browser window.
* Single click. After expanding the image, the user can scroll further down or leave the page without restoring the image.
* The approach uses two separate images. No heavy full-size image packed into thumbnail display size! The full-size image is loaded in the background either on page load or when the user clicks the thumb. You specify this option in the script's settings.
* Compatibility and safe fallback. If the user has disabled JavaScript or the JavaScript fails in any way, the browser redirects directly to the image itself. This fallback is able to cope with most exceptions and incompatibilities.

This is actually quite slick....

Highslide JS - JavaScript thumbnail viewer

The world’s first sports car phone with alcohol Breathalyzer has gotten tremendous popularity in Korea. The cell phone by LG was a big hit from the beginning mainly because its outward appearance of a sports. Equipped with an alcohol measurement sensor, the LG-SD410, LG-KP4100, and LG-LP4100 have sold over 200,000 in the four months that it has been available, and is still selling around 1500 per day.

Having an alcohol measurement device attached to something like a cell phone is nothing but brilliant, especially among younger crowds who regularly drink after work or school and like to party. To use the sensor an intoxicated individual simply opens the phone and blows on the sensor, the LCD will tell you whether your level of alcohol in your blood is safe to drive.

Bloody Koreans are too smart! I thought of this while drunk dialing last night: a breathalyzer that will not let you talk on the phone if you are drunk: you can only call a taxi, alcoholics anonymous, a suicide hotline, or 911. Everyone thought it was a novel and original idea. But they've alreay done this and its selling like hotcakes.

I think a phone attachment could still work, though, a little thing that goes in the charge plug/data cable jack.

LG Cell Phone with Breathalyzer gaining popularity

Scientists find evidence of a perpetual evolutionary battle in the mind. The process, they suspect, is the key to individuality.

Brain's Darwin Machine - Los Angeles Times

Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through a neck harness. 'The question is, were these dolphins made secure before Katrina struck?' said Sheridan.

This is really interesting, but one suspects wildly inaccurate. Dolphins that are trained to shoot people? Really? Even if its true I find it hard to believe that the Navy would have left them armed as the storm approached. They tend to have fairly careful security proceedures.

The Observer | International | Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

] Increasingly, though, Russia and the West seem to be
] talking past each other. "I think there could be a new
] cold war," Mr. Markov said, "not a result of competition
] of interests, but because of miscommunication."

We have a President that respects and likes a fascist dictator, and a press that has the balls to refer to the differences between foriegn policies of American and Russian "democracy" as being the result of "miscommunication." Talking past each other!?

A Tug of War Over Ukraine

Kimbo Slice is the guy in the white shorts. He is an underground boxer, that will fight anyone, anytime, anyplace, for between $5,000 and $10,000. Backed by a Miami porn site mogul, he has these fights for a living until he goes pro. Which he is looking to do, in UFC or something. So, if you wanna throw down with Kimbo then you'd better hurry up. Otherwise you'll have to assault him or go pro to get a piece.

It has been argued that he was on PCP, or a short acting anabolic agent popular with Mike Tyson, that stimulates extreme aggression. But the guy went to prison for 10 years, and was probably raped before he got that big, so I think he just has an enormous amount of aggression and experience in fighting.

You decide. For me: Kimbo is my hero either way. He is way tough.

kimboslice@hotmail.com if you want to throw down.

Meet Kimbo Slice. Do not anger Kimbo. Kimbo is teh tough.

] This amazing image is included in the standard US
] Department of Defense briefings on North Korea. It was
] mentioned in a news briefing on 23 December 2002 by
] Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, who stated that "If you look
] at a picture from the sky of the Korean Peninsula at
] night, South Korea is filled with lights and energy and
] vitality and a booming economy; North Korea is dark."

North Korea Is Dark

I found this interesting. Olga Utkina, a female bodyguard. Talks about how females are now competitive, as clients in Moscow have gone from wanting "bruisers" to "shooters". Muscles don't so much matter when you got ace gals with gats.

This reminded me of Molly in Neurmancer in a pleasant way.

A Female Bodyguard Fights Back