In case people still haven't figured this out:

-When you get an annoying notification like "Jen just whacked her brother Fredo in Mafia Wars!" move your mouse to it, and a "hide" button will come up. Click it.

-It'll ask you whether you want to hide Jen or hide Mafia Wars. Click Hide Mafia Wars.

-The gangsters will carry on and you'll have no clue what is happening. :) But you'll still be able to see your friend's real posts.

Again, don't mind the new layout, and I'm still confused why people get so fired up when Facebook changes layouts. Lots of status updates from friends where they're flipping out about the new layout.

I don't really care about the new layout, but the only thing I don't like is that I can't limit who shows up in my feed. I had it set to see my Alpha Gam list, and then I could click on News Feed when I wanted to see everyone else. Other than that, it's pretty much the same stuff just moved around again

I can't filter my news feed anymore. Sometimes I want to see just farmville posts so I can get rewards from friends.

PLUS, My "most recent" isn't very recent. I know friends are probably posting something at least every 5 minutes, if not every minute, but my 4 "most recent" occurred 35 min ago, 58 min ago, 3 hours ago, and 4 hours ago.

They made some change today that first, stalled my PC, then shut it down. I don't care if they make bells in whistles, but I do care if it interfers with performance of my PC.

This is what bothered me, as well. The timing seems all off and many posts are getting lost. My most recent are 3 minutes ago, 15 minutes ago, 58 minutes ago and 2 hours ago.

And what are top stories? Things that people respond to a lot? I don't get it, or know why it's necessary.

For emphasis. :)

I like it, a lot. I like it a whole lot. The missing feed stuff was happening before I got the new layout today, so I think that's a deeper issue. I like the new layout though. Me likey.

Yep
This, too.

This

I'll keep on using it, but these people are taunting me. Just when I get used to the old changes, they move stuff to the other side of the screen!

Top stories are the things the most people have commented on.

I keep getting the gaps in my news feed too. Hopefully once everyone has the design that'll stop.

I think those gaps in the news feeds started before the changes started, honestly. I noticed them a couple weeks ago.

Ok, I am missing the Bookmarks at the bottom of the page, I agree on that. Otherwise, I'm fine with it.

Facebook is like Microsoft. Every now and then they put out a new look and act like it's a new product. It's not a new product, everything is just in different places. Think of it this way, it's a brain exercise to learn new things.

Anyone know how to block the newsfeed updates that say so and so became friends with so and so without blocking all the messages that person sends? Or how to turn off notification of any updates or groups I join without turning off my status updates or wall posts?
It is hugely annoying to log in and see a news feed filled with who friended who. I don't care. Nor do I care to clutter my friends pages with all the mundane changes I made or groups I joined in facebook.