It's even worse than it appears.
  • 1. I am an outliner.#
  • 2. Their stories are outlines.#
  • Evidence. Look at how beautifully organized this piece is. It's like a dossier. Here's the info you need, presented in a way that's easy on your mind. #
  • So many stories on other sites take forever to get to the point. Here, they give you the organization of the story in a skimmable form. I know where we're going before I read a word. #
  • It builds trust. I more than like it, I love it. #
  • Another tragic gun incident.#
  • People act as if they know what happened before they know. #
  • We know that at least one Congressperson was shot in Virginia. #
  • We don't know who the shooter was. #
  • If he (assume it's a man, almost always is) had a foreign-sounding name, it'll likely be called terrorism. If he's Christian, he'll be called crazy. But there are other possibilities, things we should be watching for.#
  • Ask a Russian. A member of the legislature has been shot. Who did it? They're likely to think it was someone who worked for Putin. Now in the US we should start thinking that way too. Putin exterts a lot of control over us. Do you think it'll stop at assassinating a legislator? It'll probably happen, and when it does, they might stop talking about standing up to Trump. American politicans are not known for courage. #
  • In any case, don't assume you know what happened.#
  • And also if it happens to be a terrorist, remember in the recent terrorism in London there were no guns involved. Because guns are so damned hard to get in the UK. (And our president is clueless.)#
  • Updates#
  • I wasn't planning on it. #
  • I had a little help from circumstances. #
  • I needed life-saving heart surgery.#
  • I had to stay in the hospital for a week.#
  • No smoking.#
  • That, a prescription for Wellbutrin and advice from the heart surgeon was what it took. It was a bit more than advice actually.#
  • Having almost died gave me a new perspective on life. I don't worry so much about things I worried about before. What will people think? Who cares, we'll all be dead soon enough! #
  • When I returned from the hospital I felt like I was in a dead relative's house. I didn't live there. I sold the place less than six months later and had a new career at Harvard. All the way across the country. I was able to get great things done. #
  • Lots of lessons: #
    • 1. Pragmatically, if you smoke, if you can, it's a good idea to quit.#
    • 2. When something huge happens in your life you can make big changes. It's good to know what you want in advance, so when you get to move you can do those things.#
    • 3. When you're in need you find out who your friends are. Three people in particular stand out. None of them were technically family. But they are people I value more than all others. I hope they know it. I tell them whenever I see them. #
    • 4. The worst also comes out in people when you're in need. #
    • 5. Steve Jobs was right about taking chances. "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." #
  • It's no longer a struggle to stay a non-smoker. If it hadn't had been for a reminder on Facebook I would not have remembered that this was the big day. I guess that's how you know you really have become an ex-smoker. #
  • I watch Fox & MSNBC, sometimes there's no diff (e.g. Greta) and MSNBC is no more balanced than Fox. It'd be nice to have a skeptical network.#
  • So sorry for all the interruptions. #
  • I'm trying to get support for RSS-in-JSON nailed down.#
    • Part of that is getting it to understand outlines that are included in RSS items. #
    • That works in the XML version, but not yet in the JSON version.#
  • Paradoxically the problem is that it's a bit simpler to convert, because we're not trying to pass them through the feedparser package. #
  • So this is such an outline. Let's see if it works.#
  • I truly am sorry to be overloading your feed with all these test posts. #
  • I never want to say This is the last one, because that will of course guarantee that it is far from the last one. However, I keep finding problems, so there is a chance that this is the last one. Nah. I don't believe it. 🐶#
  • 1. Readers.#
  • 2. Audience.#
  • 3. Viewers.#
  • 4. Consumers.#
  • When you use those terms to describe your relationship to the rest of the world, be careful, because you might be overlooking value that other people can share. You have become a gatekeeper. A bottleneck. A problem. #
  • Better terms:#
    • Experts.#
    • Constituents.#
    • Taxpayers.#
    • Patients.#
    • Professionals.#
    • Scholars.#
    • Workers.#
    • Students. #
    • Friends.#
    • Children.#
    • Doctors.#
    • Teachers.#
  • Think of others as participants. And think of ways you can get new value from them. Believe me, we're all aching to help make the world better, in ways beyond being part of a crowd. It really needs all of us on board. If you're thinking exclusivity, then you're in the way. #

© 1994-2017 Dave Winer.

Last udpate: Thursday June 15, 2017; 12:06 PM EDT.