Scripting News

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 22:38:20 GMT

Sun, 05 Sep 2004 02:15:17 GMT

Today's movie: A British Columbia waterfall.

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 22:30:28 GMT

Back from a long day touristing around Banff. Also listened to the latest Adam Curry source code, and Jon Stewart's history of America, an inexpensive and entertaining audiobook. Highly recommended. Be careful listening to it while driving, there's one joke in there, about the Senator from Kentucky, that's so funny you might not be able to stay on the road. Adam bought the book too, on an impulse. $7.95 is a good price for an audiobook. He also recommends (via Eric Rice) getting Snowcrash, so I will. And Jim Armstrong reminds me that I should look for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence (which I have read, about 30 years ago). Audio books are here to stay.

Sun, 05 Sep 2004 00:20:18 GMT

I'm about half-way through the latest Gillmor Gang. Longhorn is the topic. I have a couple of questions for next week's show. 1. Whatever became of MSIE? It's a great client. How about adding a few programmers to the team to work on enhancements in MSIE to make it a better weblog tool and aggregator. Call it MSIE/Pro and charge a few bucks for it. The next great billion dollar user interface keeps slipping further and further out, yet so many people use MSIE now, why not put the religion aside and make MSIE better? This is something the GG could help with. 2. In this one Steve says Jon asked that he not talk about RSS. Why?

Sun, 05 Sep 2004 01:56:00 GMT

Jon Udell: MP3 Sound Bites.

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 22:59:45 GMT

1/29/03: How to support enclosures in aggregators.

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 01:12:14 GMT

Photos: Prairie to Calgary to Banff.

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 10:14:15 GMT

Philadelphia Inquirer: Ghost towns await Frances.

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 10:28:59 GMT

Glenn Reynolds: "The Kerry campaign counted on Big Media to help it win. Oops."

Thank heaven for good drugs

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 11:07:16 GMT

Bill Clinton called into the special Larry King roundup on his bypass surgery. He sounded great. Of course I projected my own experience onto his. I sounded great too, at that point in the process. They're pumping relaxing drugs into your system. I don't think you could feel anxious, no matter what. Good drugs.

It didn't really come home what was going to happen until the guy came in to shave my chest the morning of the surgery. He didn't stop there. Basically every single square inch of my body was shaved, except for the top of my head. I tried to make light conversation, but my mind was on what was about to happen.

Before they carted me away I had to go into the lavatory and wash everything I could reach. That's when I fell apart. Sobbing, crying, wanting to get out of there. I looked at my chest and realized this was the last time I was going to see it. I had a pretty good idea of what they do in bypass surgery, and I had a visual image there and then of my vital organs coming out through a big hole there. I collapsed, got up and put myself in the rolling bed they had brought in, and let them roll me into the surgery part of the heart clinic.

Somewhere along the line they must have hooked up something intravenously, because while I was waiting in the corridor for someone to come get me, I got really high. Cracking jokes, and sort of observing all the preparations for the surgery. I'm not sure if I was actually in the operating room, but let me tell you, I sure didn't mind. Next thing I knew I was crawling my way through some weird weird ideas into a strange reality, the recovery room. There was an attendent there, reading a magazine, giving me ice cubes to suck on (I was really thirsty) and giving me more opiates to keep me from freaking out. When morning came (24 hours since the beginning of the surgery) they brought me breakfast, and made me get out of bed to eat it. I did.

They don't let you lie in bed for any long period after the surgery, if they did you'd get even sicker, gotta get moving asap. The amazing thing is that your body can do it. I remember the first walks I took around the cardiac ward were the most gratifying of my life. But I wasn't out of the emotional hole yet. Maybe I'll write more about that after Bill Clinton has his surgery.

Yesterday he cracked a great joke, "Like the Republicans, I want four more years." Here's lookin at you kid. Murphy-willing, knock wood, I am not a doctor (or a Republican), it should be a lot more than four more years.