Windows Live Writer and .Text

Did some digging and sorted a better way to configure my .Text blog with Windows Live Writer. Granted, this wasn’t exactly how I wanted to spend a few hours; my Dell system developed video card issues and had to be sent into the shop .. I sit here with a huge “LOANER LAPTOP” sign on my cover .. won’t that look good on stage tomorrow? 😉

.Text is a predecessor to Community Server (which is a pretty spiffy tool). However, I’ve not upgraded as of yet as I’m thinking I’d like to host this blog with a third-party provider rather than on my own.

WLW is pretty adept at detecting the blog host you’re using .. it just doesn’t detected .Text as of yet. However, thanks to the MetaWebBlogAPI standard, you can configure it by including the string:

https://blog.opsan.com/services/metablogapi.aspx
(noting that that is not a physical file on your hard drive)

When WLW makes the call, it finds the API and off you go.

The best part: this is better than my previous solution (“My first Windows Live Writer Post”) as the API supports pulling a post down from the server and editing it in WLW.

Special Court Rules Autism Not Caused by Vaccine

I’ve posted a few times on this case, as is near and dear to my heart, as my Hunter falls “in the spectrum”; a nice way of saying “he has autism”. Back in May 2005, I posted “Mercury and Autism”, as to then-current findings.

Well, the latest is an MSNBC article that says the vaccines are not to blame: “Court says vaccine not to blame for autism”.

Three cases were reviewed and were deemed “speculative and unpersuasive”. The court the court concluded that "the weight of scientific research and authority" was "simply more persuasive on nearly every point in contention."

As I mentioned in my posts, I’ have had the same concern about the affects of the MMR .. the timing of his behaviors and the short were just suspect. At question was the existence of a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal, since removed in children’s vaccines.

Right out of "Gattaca"

You might remember "Gattaca", a thought-provoking, futuristic film starring Uma Thurman, Ethan Hawke and Jude Law.

An interesting story bloomed out of the premise that through health evaluation via gene sequencing, only the best of the best (seeking perfection, assessed at the genetic level) would be selected for tasks vital to the species.

If your genes were less than perfect, you were placed in some other, presumably crappy position.. Blogger, Pragmatic Evangelist, perhaps? 😛

It seems these scenarios are nearer than we might think.

Navigenics is a well-funded genetic evaluation company (around $25MM raised to date, plus a significant customer acquired in the past few months).

Navigenics’ business is to sell gene tests directly to the public. For about US$2,500 you can be screened for your risk of developing, and potentially succumbing to more than 20 life-threatening and degenerative diseases.

The scientific-medical community, health departments, federal regulatory and consumer protection groups are objecting to this sort of testing .. and so should you: The company has plans to create a massive commercial database of genetic and lifestyle information so employers can look significantly more closely at you.

This is old news, by the way (back in October 2008):

• Sandy Szwarc posts "We predict you will be very, very diseased" on the Junkfood Science blog.
• BusinessWeek comments in "Reading the Entire Genetic Code".

Just how much should corporations know about us? How about this "Overview of Genetic Discrimination" from Genome.gov.

Stay close to this. It affects us all.

Memo to Business Travelers: Be Kind

I am a Business Traveler.

I’m one of those guys who shows up with bag in hand, has status to blast through security and waltz on the plane early. I know when to board, where to put my bag and how to get out of the way so others can board. I wear those silly noise-canceling head phones on the plane (although I usually don’t have music playing in them). I know many of the FAs on the planes. You can spot me with a single glance.

I’m happen to be a good guy: I help with bags. I’m willing to exchange seats when circumstances warrant (that said: I really, really like the aisle). I know to allow enough time for all the airport activities (drop off the rental car, pass through security, visit the airport lounge and get to my gate). I allow enough time for meetings, just in case the plane is late. I never need to push, shove, bitch about lines or about other people. When things go awry, I always have a Plan B .. usually the phone or LiveMeeting.

As I’m on a business trip right now (rescheduled due to Seattle weather last week), I’m seeing lots of folks who aren’t business travelers. Some haven’t traveled in years, others with children, others returning home from visiting their grown children. I get this: it’s the holidaze.

There’s a smattering of business travelers mixed among them, acting generally pissed-off at the rabble. Folks: Get over yourselves. You know who you are.

Forty-nine weeks out of the year, we have the skies to ourselves .. you can shove, rant and bitch. We know who you are:

• The Gate Agents know you.
• The FAs know you.
• I know you. I’ll let you in front of me, if you must. I’ll get to where I need to go.

But, folks who are going to, or returning from a visit to family, or a vacation to some warm (or cold .. some folks like snow) spot may not know you. Why ruin their trips because you feel inconvenienced?

Some day, they may tell a tale of "a man" (or "a woman") who sputtered and fumed, who yelled "come on" or "let’s go" at security .. someone who muttered at you under their breath as they let you pass. Someone who made them feel bad or stupid.

There is simply, no need. We’ll all get to where we need to go. If you’re not allowing enough time to navigate life, you’d best find another.

Buck up, buttercup: Life is messy, and for us, it includes travel. No reason to ruin another’s trip because you have placed yourself in a mode where you feel you can misbehave.

Twitter Search: "Authority" versus "Popularity"

Interesting threads going on in the ‘sphere w/r/t "weighted" Twitter search results.

TechCrunch posted "Should Twitter Add Authority-Based Search?", linking to a Loic Le Meur post asking Twitter to add an "authority" filter to the Twitter Search. He suggests prioritizing of results weighted by the number of followers for the author, implying relative importance of the conversation.

From a pragmatic view, this sounds more like a popularity contest than a relevance indicator to me; Robert Scoble agrees, in his "Thanks Mike Arrington for taking us off the rails into Twitter Idiot Land". Of course, Robert is a bit more outspoken than am I.

The beauty of Twitter (and the Web at large): use it the way that suits you, and enjoy your usage (else don’t use it at all). For me, Twitter is a way for me to stay in touch with those for whom I care, but won’t sit down and write an email (nor will they). It’s a way for me to keep a finger on various Web pulses in near-real-time.

On a side note, my Twitter habits will never win me the popular vote:

• I don’t auto- or random-follow (there must be programs that do this, as the oddest collection of people start to follow me).
• I follow only those whom I recognize, or are relevant and / or interesting to me. I follow TechCrunch, O’Reilly, Hinchcliffe and a smattering of talented Web .Next folks .. along with some of my more colorful co-workers and friends.
• I look at anyone who follows me (email alert), and if they’re not active, known, relevant and / or interesting to me, I block them.
• I prune my follows / followers from time to time; their voice and recent activity are my primary constraints. It takes seconds to tell us what you’re doing .. don’t be shy!

I will never follow 1,000 people, and likely won’t ever have 1,000 followers. That’s too much management and risk of overload for me .. not from too much information: I can handle the incoming information I choose to read, but if I’m missing the bulk of the relevant tweets because of volume, what’s the sense of following all those people?

My Tweets overlap my blog post messaging; a bit more whimsy than my blog, and of course, far more immediate. Who else Tweets the "Pancake Shape of the Day", you might ask? 😛 As I point out in my blog: I have a voice. If my voice resonates with you, then I have an audience. Either way I still have a voice.

As with all things Web, there’s always more. TechCrunch posts: "Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Twitority Launches Authority-Based Twitter Search".

Memo to all: Get Over It. Use Twitter (and other Web 2.0 toys) in the way that suits you.

That said, I suspect we’ll be echoing about this for a bit.