Scripting News

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:50:55 GMT

Bryan Bell's ode to the cactus.

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 01:04:21 GMT

Tomorrow morning Andrew is going to install the new servers at the co-location facility, and then I will move the Scripting News archive onto one of those servers, and pick up the work from there.

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:58:20 GMT

A NY Times report on a study that shows that Lipitor, a drug which I take, is very effective in preventing atherosclerosis.

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:18:07 GMT

Halley cleaned out her address book. I know what she's talking about. Every time I dial someone in my phone book on my cell phone I trip across my uncle's name. I keep meaning to delete it, but I just can't seem to do it. Too fucking sad.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 23:21:31 GMT

Okay, this can't possibly work, but in theory the crumb trail at the top of the page is not a mock-up now. It's a real directory behind the string. It won't work. Pray hard. (Postscript: Didn't work the first time, worked the second.) I took the next step to see how the hotting-up of the trail works, and while my first guess was wildly wrong, they do actually hot-up, they just don't go anywhere. On this rebuild they should make sense, they still won't go anywhere, but now I see how the URLs for the directory structure have to work. See what's going on? A weblog page has a place in a hierarchy. So far the hierarchy that you can see is pretty boring. But there's more to wire up. And more after that.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 22:06:44 GMT

Paolo: "Stay tuned." Ack.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 22:08:02 GMT

Today's song: "We all want to change the world."

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 19:27:15 GMT

Bob Stepno has a great Art Carney story.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 17:19:13 GMT

Great pics in the comments on this post.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 19:23:45 GMT

Sean Gallagher is working on new designs, too.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 17:09:53 GMT

There's now a totally dysfunctional cookie crumb trail at the top of the page. Now I have to figure out how to get it working for real. Now if you're looking for the grand vision, this is the beginning. When you click on World, at some point, you will actually get the world.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 13:27:06 GMT

BBC: "TV and film star Art Carney, an Oscar winner for his part in the 1974 film Harry and Tonto, has died aged 85."

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 14:47:09 GMT

Jon Udell wondered yesterday if Microsoft really means to push the Web into a corner, pour gasoline on it, and light a match. This happens over and over. People can't believe it but Microsoft really didn't want the Web.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 11:42:08 GMT

Back in the 80s Stewart Alsop was launching a new conference to compete with Esther Dyson's. Stewart was fiercely competitive. Everything about his conference was a response to Esther. He upped her, zigged where she zagged, in every way compared his show to hers. I found it fascinating because there clearly was room for a new conference, but I was good friends with both, and brainstormed with Stewart, seeing it as playfulness, not meanness. Now the cool thing about the competition was that they went to each others' conference, and seemed to genuinely be having a good time. I guess there's nothing like going to a conference that's a lot like your own, where you don't have to work. I mention this because now I have graduated to being a conference-giver myself. With BloggerCon version 1.0 under my belt I now go to conferences with a new eye, looking for ideas that I can use or adapt in my next show. It's in my blood, changes the way I think. And I remember how well both Stewart and Esther competed, how they made me, a person who went to both their conferences, feel. Neither ever tried to get us not to go to the other. Probably the most important symbol of this was that both were welcome at the other's conference. Bravo.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 12:05:08 GMT

BTW, Esther came to BloggerCon. I saw that as a gesture of support and it was much appreciated.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 11:40:11 GMT

Wired: "A prestigious music school is encouraging musicians to swap audio and video clips of course material over peer-to-peer networks. File sharing is a cost-effective way to distribute the rich musical knowledge of the school, according to David Kusek, the school's associate vice president."

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 11:33:16 GMT

Scott Rosenberg nails it. Three-pane aggregators save you zero time, unless the issue is that your net connection is too slow to display HTML pages live. Otherwise you might as well read the news in your browser. He's correct that server-side aggregators have certain advantages (we offer one to our users at Harvard), but reverse chronologic updates are a huge efficiency. Otherwise you have to do the hunting for new bits. Let the computer do it for you, I say.

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 11:31:53 GMT

Got a couple of emails overnight saying that the new picture is either too big, or not work-safe. I want to acknowledge that, because there must be other people thinking that but not saying it. I appreciate that people are being so respectful. Here's what I think. Things are going to change here. It's gotten too static. I did something bold and unmistakably different from the past to set expectations. Look at it this way. Scripting News first popped up when there were no other weblogs. It was like a little outpost on the prairie, nothing but Big Sky and you could see light between the slats in the roof. No one would have complained about it being work-safe back then because (almost) no one was reading it. Now the prairie is a bustling metropolis, and my little house is on a block with shopping centers, schools, porn shops, you name it. Who cares about one little house with a leaky roof. I want to build a new city!

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 11:32:51 GMT

Next thing on my to-do list -- unbreak the main RSS feed. Done.