Scripting News

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 13:52:52 GMT

Carter Family: "Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, keep on the sunny side of life."

Wed, 17 Jul 2002 02:29:29 GMT

NY Times: "Prices of blue-chip stocks fell for the seventh consecutive session yesterday, as investors and traders ignored generally reassuring comments from the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan."

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 21:12:46 GMT

Press release: "Today Amazon.com launched its first version of Amazon.com Web Services, a platform for creating innovative Web solutions and services designed specifically for developers and web site owners."

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 22:43:37 GMT

Peter Drayton looks into the Amazon API.

Wed, 17 Jul 2002 01:55:48 GMT

Ben Brown: "What I'd really like to see is a book about how to stop blogging. With twelve steps."

Wed, 17 Jul 2002 01:51:29 GMT

Jacob Reider: "I was teaching a class of medical students today and somehow we got onto the topic of physicians as decisionmakers. The best medical care, I argued. is provided by those who make the best decisions. This is why I'm so interested in medical informatics."

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 23:00:35 GMT

Shelia's back behind the firewall, blogging for bucks, and has uncovered a new advocacy group for people like you and me.

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 23:03:28 GMT

Today's movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. What to say. I read the book. The Quiddich match was cool. Tears at the end. Nice story, nice movie. Blah blah blah.

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 21:14:15 GMT

Wired: "Seniors in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, with mild to moderate memory loss, are writing weblogs to help them make sense of their daily lives. And the activity, they say, is slowing the onset of their symptoms."

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 15:18:54 GMT

Jon Udell: "Nobody is going to miss visiting O'Hare."

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 14:45:00 GMT

Happy 31st birthday to Brian Buck. He is such an inspiration. Enjoy the tiramisu Brian.

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 14:32:48 GMT

Two years ago today we had a TranceFest™ on Scripting News. It was a very interesting exercise. First I showed everyone a picture, and asked them to write stories explaining what the people were doing in the picture. Then I asked why there were no women in the picture. More stories. Then I showed another picture from the same event that had a woman in it. The interesting part is this. Everyone will see a different story given the same information. It's like Don's Amazing Puzzle, but personal. Basically you'll see the story of the house you grew up in. Someone in the story will play the role of your Mom, even if there's no woman in the picture. It's funny how the subconscious fills in detail, even when no information is present.

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 14:20:40 GMT

John Robb recommends the Bay Area Futurists, meeting the third Friday of every month in San Mateo, starting this Friday. Meanwhile John is on a roll this morning. He says that almost everyone with a net worth of more than $2 million made their fortune by bending or breaking the rules. Of course I am the exception to that rule, assuming I still have a net worth in excess of $2 million, which is somewhat questionable.

Journalism and blogging

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 22:44:30 GMT

OK, let's deconstruct a myth. Someone says that weblogs aren't journalism. OK, suppose a journalist has a weblog. When that journalist writes something on the weblog, therefore, it must not be journalism. Suppose the journalist writes exactly the same words on her weblog that she writes in a column in the newspaper she writes for. In one place it's journalism and in the other it's not? Hmmm. OK, try this one out. Are weblogs medicine? Suppose a doctor is writing a weblog and the doctor writes something she learned in medical school. Then the same doctor writes the same text in a medical textbook. I guess it's not medicine when its written in a weblog? You see how silly these arguments are, how easy they are to deconstruct. If there is such a thing as journalism, it must be possible to practice it in a weblog. It's just a format. Nothing more. It's really not a mystery in 2002.

It also goes without saying that if an idiot writes a weblog, then you get idiocy in a weblog.

Smoking cessation

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 22:44:13 GMT

I just got a pointer to QuitNet, operated by Boston University, it's a site that helps you quit smoking.

Weird fact about smoking cessation. Health insurance (apparently) won't pay for it. What kind of sense does that make. The diseases caused by smoking are expensive, the cure -- not so expensive. Maybe they're owned by the tobacco industry? Next. Smoking is not as hard to quit as they tell you it is. The first week is relatively difficult, while your body is dealing with the physical addiction, and then it gets a lot easier. In a sense I was lucky, being hospitalized, with no way to get a cigarette, made the physical part easy. Now why can't people check into a nicotine detox resort for a month where you get pampered with vitamins, juices, exercise and massage, hot tubs, great scenery, and no way to get a cigarette. My doctor's advice was ridiculous. He told me to go cold turkey. Ehhh. That doesn't work for most people.

Postscript: A few emails say that smoking cessation is not covered under health insurance because most programs and treatments don't work. A few emails say that health insurance generally doesn't cover birth control either. And smokers are a better deal for insurance companies because they die a decade or two earlier than non-smokers, on average. That's a good point. Death is generally expensive. If it happens sooner that's a savings for the insurance company.

Final note for the day

Wed, 17 Jul 2002 02:02:56 GMT

If you had told me a month ago that I could write a Scripting News like today's without a single cigarette, I would not have believed you. If anyone says you can't quit, don't believe them. I am the ultimate nicotine fiend. If I can do it, you can too.