RIAA and EFF

Whiney EFF and RIAA knocked by digital license go ahead | The Register :

Under a blanket (or ‘compulsory’ license) for consumer downloads, record labels fear they would lose control of their hard-fought grip on physical distribution channels, and lose control over pricing. In fact, they’d simply have to work harder to gain a bigger share of the pie, and innovate to find new outlets for their copyrighted material.

A bit old by now but this one speaks for itself. Michael Geist always has interesting things to say about these.

Ecto

As said a few hours ago, been trying some blogging tools and ecto looks like it might be a winner. Among other things, ecto’s interface is efficient, it seamlessly supports multiple blogs (useful in my case because of my role in Critcal World’s own WordPress-based weblog), integrates a variety of scripts (from Perl to Bash and Ruby to AppleScript!), and allows for both categories and tags. Unfortunately, its categories/tags support doesn’t seem to work like, say, del.icio.us (which is incredibly powerful). But that might not be much of a deal-breaker. After all, there probably are scripts which creates tags from comma-separated terms.
This entry is sent through the MetaWeblog API (instead of the MovableType, which is the default for WordPress.com blogs in ecto). My hope is that through this API, blog entries show directly on the blog front page. With the MovableType interface, my previous entry was published but didn’t appear on my blog’s front page.

Technorati Tags: blog editors, blogging, ecto, tagging

Blogging Tools

Been trying a few blogging tools on Mac OS X. Currently trying out ecto, posted the previous entry through MarsEdit, played around with Flock, downloaded MacJournal, Dossier, blogworkz, looked at pages for other tools (like Performancing).
Still haven’t found the ideal tool.
Would like the following features:

• Free (as in beer) or really inexpensive.
• Spell as you type through Cocoa Services or multi-lingual dictionaries.
• WYSIWYG with a toggle for HTML.
• On-the-fly categories and (technorati) tags.
• Browser integration (Firefox, Safari, Flock).
• Easily enter URLs from bookmarks and history.
• Manage posts.
• Batch application of categories and tags.
• Basic outlining (move lines up/down, left/right).
• Crossplatform (OSX/XP)
• Statistics (wordcount, etc.)

At this point, ecto seems almost like a winner as it has most of these features. What’s missing, though, are the on-the-fly categories which WordPress.com has in its Web interface.

Another option would be to use Safari or another browser which does “spell as you type.” In fact, Cocoa Services available in Safari also include many interesting features, including text tools from Devon and integration with several applications. But the Scrapbook in Firefox is almost addictive and it doesn’t work in either Flock or Safari. (Flock doesn’t do spell as you type.)

Ah, well…

Technorati Tags: blog editors, blogging, Cocoa Services, ecto, Firefox, Flock, MarsEdit, spell as you type, tagging, WordPress.com

GERD and Stress

[This entry is about a health condition which causes some distasteful and potentially disturbing effects. Apologies in advance for the details!]

Been suffering from GERD (“gastroesophageal reflux disease” or “acid reflux”) for about ten years at this point. Heartburns are a fairly big part of it but there are other symptoms, especially after a lot of reflux episodes. GERD is very common. But it's not frequently discussed. Perhaps because its symptoms are so repelling and are unlikely to be mentioned in polite company.
GERD is easily treated, including by surgery. Haven't had surgery myself. At one point, my condition was bad enough that we feared it might lead to cancer. Things have gotten a lot better since then.
Overall, my condition has been quite stable for a long while (thanks to some well-known medication). There are days however, like today, during which things aren't as good. Not because of pain. It can be quite painful at times (like when you get a horizontal bar of pain in your back). But it's also causing a generally displeasing overall state. Had a rather acute episode today. Woke up with almost a mouthful of acidic bile. And there wasn't anything special from the past day which might have led me to expect this episode (like eating before going to bed or sleeping in too horizontal a position). But it hurt and the effects are still with me, ten hours after waking up.
One thing about GERD, for me, is that it stresses me out. And vice-versa: stress is likely to cause a reflux episode in me. It's quite annoying but it's also potentially damaging. A seemingly simple situation may become a big problem under GERD symptoms and too high a level of stress and acid reflux is likely to change my mood. It's not at all like hypochondria, AFAIK, but it's a psychosomatic connection between mental state and physical condition. It's no less real than any other physical condition or mental state, but there's a clear connection between the two.
The upshot is that stress has become a known state to me. In my experience, and it really does seem to make sense, it has little to do with having a lot to do or even with being in a hurry. But it does have to do with situations of “double-bind” in which you feel trapped. Those types of “darned if you do, darned if you don't” situations we all know on occasion. For me, it's difficult to think straight during GERD episodes. And stress caused by double-bind situations will likely generate an acid reflux episode in me. Kind of a vicious circle. It's easier if the source is physical (if the GERD starts the pattern) as it's then possible for me to convince myself that things are fine and it's best to just wait for the GERD symptoms to pass. But it's still very inconvenient.
Another aspect of GERD, which can be especially “gross,” is that it's often associated with IBS or “irritable bowel syndrome.” Not that they're intimately linked but with GERD, IBS symptoms are frequent. Haven't had IBS diagnosed in my case but it does sound as if it were the same symptoms. In such situations where IBS is apparently caused by my GERD, it's an overall uneasy feeling which is tolerable but quite annoying. Ah, well…

Life is still good.

Technorati Tags:
GERD, stress, gastroesophageal reflux disease, IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, psychosomatic, double-bind