RSS/Atom Feed Analysis
Analysis of http://scripting.com/rss.xml
Feed fetched in 120 ms.
Content type is text/xml.
Feed is 55,949 characters long.
Feed has an ETag of "eedaf8b0feac3a278524c1f86b9d0606".
Feed has a last modified date of Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:20:32 GMT.
Warning This feed does not have a stylesheet.
This appears to be an RSS feed.
Feed title: Scripting News
Error Feed is missing a self link.
Feed has 21 items.
First item published on 2025-12-06T15:09:49.000Z
Last item published on 2025-12-01T14:18:10.000Z
Home page URL: http://scripting.com/
Home page has feed discovery link in <head>.
Error Home page does not have a link to the feed in the <body>.
Formatted XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- RSS generated by oldSchool v0.8.16 on Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:20:31 GMT -->
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:source="http://source.scripting.com/">
<channel>
<title>Scripting News</title>
<link>http://scripting.com/</link>
<description>Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:09:49 GMT</pubDate>
<language>en-us</language>
<generator>oldSchool v0.8.16</generator>
<copyright>&copy; copyright 1994-2024 Dave Winer.</copyright>
<docs>http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html</docs>
<lastBuildDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:20:31 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<cloud domain="rpc.rsscloud.io" port="5337" path="/pleaseNotify" registerProcedure="" protocol="http-post"/>
<image>
<title>Scripting News</title>
<url>https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/04/curly.png</url>
<link>http://scripting.com/</link>
<description>Scripting News gets an image because it's part of a network that uses them. 6/4/25 by DW</description>
</image>
<source:account service="twitter">davewiner</source:account>
<source:localTime>Sat, December 6, 2025 5:20 PM EST</source:localTime>
<source:self>http://scripting.com/rss.xml</source:self>
<source:blogroll>https://feedland.social/opml?screenname=davewiner&catname=blogroll</source:blogroll>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/byte.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">If we really want tech to get <a href="https://resonantcomputing.org/">back to basics</a> we need pubs that function as product reviewers, like we have entertainment <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-house-of-dynamite/">reviewers</a>. There's so much software and so many isolated bubbles of developers, when there's a development that shakes the world less than ChatGPT, I might not hear about it for ten years, or might never hear about it. In the 80s we had lots of pubs that covered all kinds of products at a user level. There were 15 popular word processing apps, for example -- all made a decent living, and remember there were a lot fewer users then. Three spreadsheets on the PC and two on the Mac. It was possible because we had PC Week, MacWEEK, MacUser, MacWorld, PC Mag, PC World, <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2007/03/25/infoworldWeHardlyKnewYe.html">InfoWorld</a>, Dr Dobbs, BYTE, Popular Computing, Creative Computing, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Some great <a href="https://www.jerrypournelle.com/">writers</a>, and insightful reviews about what it's like to actually use the stuff. I had a product reviewed in the NY Times if you can believe that, and at the same time InfoWorld did a similar review. If you want to rock, we need good, thoughtful reviewers, with no conflicts, and enough time to put into each product.</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:09:49 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150949</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150949</guid>
<source:markdown>If we really want tech to get [back to basics](https://resonantcomputing.org/) we need pubs that function as product reviewers, like we have entertainment [reviewers](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-house-of-dynamite/). There's so much software and so many isolated bubbles of developers, when there's a development that shakes the world less than ChatGPT, I might not hear about it for ten years, or might never hear about it. In the 80s we had lots of pubs that covered all kinds of products at a user level. There were 15 popular word processing apps, for example -- all made a decent living, and remember there were a lot fewer users then. Three spreadsheets on the PC and two on the Mac. It was possible because we had PC Week, MacWEEK, MacUser, MacWorld, PC Mag, PC World, [InfoWorld](http://scripting.com/stories/2007/03/25/infoworldWeHardlyKnewYe.html), Dr Dobbs, BYTE, Popular Computing, Creative Computing, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Some great [writers](https://www.jerrypournelle.com/), and insightful reviews about what it's like to actually use the stuff. I had a product reviewed in the NY Times if you can believe that, and at the same time InfoWorld did a similar review. If you want to rock, we need good, thoughtful reviewers, with no conflicts, and enough time to put into each product.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="If we really want tech to get <a href="https://resonantcomputing.org/">back to basics</a> we need pubs that function as product reviewers, like we have entertainment <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-house-of-dynamite/">reviewers</a>. There's so much software and so many isolated bubbles of developers, when there's a development that shakes the world less than ChatGPT, I might not hear about it for ten years, or might never hear about it. In the 80s we had lots of pubs that covered all kinds of products at a user level. There were 15 popular word processing apps, for example -- all made a decent living, and remember there were a lot fewer users then. Three spreadsheets on the PC and two on the Mac. It was possible because we had PC Week, MacWEEK, MacUser, MacWorld, PC Mag, PC World, <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2007/03/25/infoworldWeHardlyKnewYe.html">InfoWorld</a>, Dr Dobbs, BYTE, Popular Computing, Creative Computing, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Some great <a href="https://www.jerrypournelle.com/">writers</a>, and insightful reviews about what it's like to actually use the stuff. I had a product reviewed in the NY Times if you can believe that, and at the same time InfoWorld did a similar review. If you want to rock, we need good, thoughtful reviewers, with no conflicts, and enough time to put into each product." created="Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:09:49 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/byte.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150949"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>People seem to like <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=telex+wordpress">Telex</a> which makes developing WordPress user interfaces easier, via AI. Software is gradually adjusting this way, putting the AI where the problem is. For example I wanted to do a Google Form a few months ago and the best Gemini could do was tell me what commands to choose. But now if you go to <a href="https://forms.google.com/">make a form</a>, using the Forms app, it <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/helloDave.png">offers to do it</a> via AI.</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:02:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150200</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150200</guid>
<source:markdown>People seem to like [Telex](https://www.google.com/search?q=telex+wordpress) which makes developing WordPress user interfaces easier, via AI. Software is gradually adjusting this way, putting the AI where the problem is. For example I wanted to do a Google Form a few months ago and the best Gemini could do was tell me what commands to choose. But now if you go to [make a form](https://forms.google.com/), using the Forms app, it [offers to do it](https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/helloDave.png) via AI.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="People seem to like <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=telex+wordpress">Telex</a> which makes developing WordPress user interfaces easier, via AI. Software is gradually adjusting this way, putting the AI where the problem is. For example I wanted to do a Google Form a few months ago and the best Gemini could do was tell me what commands to choose. But now if you go to <a href="https://forms.google.com/">make a form</a>, using the Forms app, it <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/helloDave.png">offers to do it</a> via AI." created="Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:02:00 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150200"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>People using <a href="https://feedland.org/?river=true&screenname=scripting">feedland.org</a> -- may notice that some old items will appear in your timelines. I just installed a version of <a href="https://feedland.org/">FeedLand</a> on that server that does a better job of figuring out if a feed item has changed. There will be fewer false positives, which makes the software considerably more efficient, and means that you don't have to see things that didn't change. It should settle down fairly quickly, but it may be a little chatty for a while. Still diggin! (Also these changes will come to feedland.com as well.)</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 14:44:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a144400</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a144400</guid>
<source:markdown>People using [feedland.org](https://feedland.org/?river=true&screenname=scripting) -- may notice that some old items will appear in your timelines. I just installed a version of [FeedLand](https://feedland.org/) on that server that does a better job of figuring out if a feed item has changed. There will be fewer false positives, which makes the software considerably more efficient, and means that you don't have to see things that didn't change. It should settle down fairly quickly, but it may be a little chatty for a while. Still diggin! (Also these changes will come to feedland.com as well.)</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="People using <a href="https://feedland.org/?river=true&screenname=scripting">feedland.org</a> -- may notice that some old items will appear in your timelines. I just installed a version of <a href="https://feedland.org/">FeedLand</a> on that server that does a better job of figuring out if a feed item has changed. There will be fewer false positives, which makes the software considerably more efficient, and means that you don't have to see things that didn't change. It should settle down fairly quickly, but it may be a little chatty for a while. Still diggin! (Also these changes will come to feedland.com as well.)" created="Sat, 06 Dec 2025 14:44:00 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a144400"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>I've come to see WordPress as an API with a widely deployed and stable implementation behind it, where the user is in control and developers can build apps without having to get into the storage-selling business.</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2025 14:29:48 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a142948</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a142948</guid>
<source:markdown>I've come to see WordPress as an API with a widely deployed and stable implementation behind it, where the user is in control and developers can build apps without having to get into the storage-selling business.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I've come to see WordPress as an API with a widely deployed and stable implementation behind it, where the user is in control and developers can build apps without having to get into the storage-selling business." created="Fri, 05 Dec 2025 14:29:48 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a142948"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>When they say AI is just <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22autocomplete+on+steroids%22">autocomplete on steroids</a>, that's like saying a human is just a product of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur on steroids. It may be true, but it doesn't say anything useful. It's also like saying that a computer is just a collection of on and off switches.</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:05:15 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a150515</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a150515</guid>
<source:markdown>When they say AI is just [autocomplete on steroids](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22autocomplete+on+steroids%22), that's like saying a human is just a product of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur on steroids. It may be true, but it doesn't say anything useful. It's also like saying that a computer is just a collection of on and off switches.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="When they say AI is just <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22autocomplete+on+steroids%22">autocomplete on steroids</a>, that's like saying a human is just a product of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur on steroids. It may be true, but it doesn't say anything useful. It's also like saying that a computer is just a collection of on and off switches." created="Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:05:15 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a150515"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Funny thing about yesterday's Supreme Court decision, if Texas goes ahead with their gerrymandering plan, it probably will backfire on them, cause them to lose a few seats instead of gain them. The <a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251204/p132#a251204p132">news reports</a> generally leave that out, probably figuring the sports fans who can understand the gambling on football and baseball couldn't understand that gerrymandering is a bet that you know which voters will turn out and who they'll vote for <i>a year in the future.</i> In fact <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-redrawn-congressional-map-favorable-to-gop-in-2026">NPR reports</a> it as a victory for Repubs. Right now it looks very much like it is not.</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:36:18 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a153618</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a153618</guid>
<source:markdown>Funny thing about yesterday's Supreme Court decision, if Texas goes ahead with their gerrymandering plan, it probably will backfire on them, cause them to lose a few seats instead of gain them. The [news reports](https://www.memeorandum.com/251204/p132#a251204p132) generally leave that out, probably figuring the sports fans who can understand the gambling on football and baseball couldn't understand that gerrymandering is a bet that you know which voters will turn out and who they'll vote for _a year in the future._ In fact [NPR reports](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-redrawn-congressional-map-favorable-to-gop-in-2026) it as a victory for Repubs. Right now it looks very much like it is not.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Funny thing about yesterday's Supreme Court decision, if Texas goes ahead with their gerrymandering plan, it probably will backfire on them, cause them to lose a few seats instead of gain them. The <a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251204/p132#a251204p132">news reports</a> generally leave that out, probably figuring the sports fans who can understand the gambling on football and baseball couldn't understand that gerrymandering is a bet that you know which voters will turn out and who they'll vote for <i>a year in the future.</i> In fact <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-redrawn-congressional-map-favorable-to-gop-in-2026">NPR reports</a> it as a victory for Repubs. Right now it looks very much like it is not." created="Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:36:18 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a153618"/>
</item>
<item>
<title>Flip switches</title>
<description><p>In software, I like to have multiple ways to view the same data. In one context it's an outline, then flip a switch and now it's a graphic. </p> <ul> <li><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2023/02/28/presidentCarter.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MORE_(application)">MORE</a> shipped at <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22living%20videotext%22">Living Videotext</a> for the Mac in 1986. You start with an outline and flip a switch to turn it into a tree chart. Flip it back to make a change, then flip it again to see the change in a tree chart. Or flip the outline to reveal a set of presentation slides. People loved the idea that they could create graphics entirely by writing and reorganizing and then flipping a switch. That was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application">killer feature</a> in the demos we did at trade shows. </li> <li><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/04/ucsdPascal.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">Before that in <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=lbbs">LBBS</a>, a bulletin board system I wrote and ran on an Apple II in my Menlo Park living room in the early 80s, I had two views of the message structure, reverse chronologic and a hierarchic thread structure. You could always flip a switch and see the post you're looking at in the other view. If you're catching up and want to see where in the tree this message lives you, flip the switch. If you've come across a two year old post in the tree, and want to see what else was going on in 1982 (for example), flip the switch into the message scanner, and you've gone back in time. And the flip-switch was instantaneous and required one gesture, no thinking on your part. </li> <li><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/03/14/goodbyeBlueMonday.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">And then <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Manila">Manila</a>, many years later, written in <a href="http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout">Frontier</a>, started as a discussion group. It was the software behind <a href="https://discuss.userland.com/msg000001.html">discuss.userland.com</a>, which was where the initial blogosphere formed in 1998 and 1999. Go through the archive to see for yourself. But then we had the idea that hey this could be a blog, so when you created a blog post, unwittingly behind the scenes, it just created a discussion post. So all you had to do was flip a switch when you were reading a post, and see the post in the discussion group. There's that duality again. </li> </ul> <p>I'm working on discourse with <a href="https://wordland.social/">WordLand</a> in the middle, and <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=wordpress">WordPress</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory#Directed_graph">edges</a>, where a comment is also a blog post. Readers might not know that they're reading something that has a dual life as a comment linked to someone else's post. There can be a flip-switch in both views that lets you go back and forth. I can only guarantee that the flip switch will be in my software, since this will be an open network, there can be any number of different ways to view the content. </p> <p>As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki">someone</a> famous once <a href="http://scripting.com/davenet/1994/11/26/letathousandflowersbloom.html">said</a> "Let a thousand flowers bloom." </p> <p>Why should comment writing not have all the features of blog post writing? Why invent a new more limited text type instead of reusing the one you created for blogging? That's where <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=factoring">factoring</a> comes in. </p> </description>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:21:43 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html?title=flipSwitches</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html</guid>
<source:markdown>In software, I like to have multiple ways to view the same data. In one context it's an outline, then flip a switch and now it's a graphic. * [MORE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MORE_\(application\)) shipped at [Living Videotext](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22living%20videotext%22) for the Mac in 1986. You start with an outline and flip a switch to turn it into a tree chart. Flip it back to make a change, then flip it again to see the change in a tree chart. Or flip the outline to reveal a set of presentation slides. People loved the idea that they could create graphics entirely by writing and reorganizing and then flipping a switch. That was the [killer feature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application) in the demos we did at trade shows. * Before that in [LBBS](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=lbbs), a bulletin board system I wrote and ran on an Apple II in my Menlo Park living room in the early 80s, I had two views of the message structure, reverse chronologic and a hierarchic thread structure. You could always flip a switch and see the post you're looking at in the other view. If you're catching up and want to see where in the tree this message lives you, flip the switch. If you've come across a two year old post in the tree, and want to see what else was going on in 1982 (for example), flip the switch into the message scanner, and you've gone back in time. And the flip-switch was instantaneous and required one gesture, no thinking on your part. * And then [Manila](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Manila), many years later, written in [Frontier](http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout), started as a discussion group. It was the software behind [discuss.userland.com](https://discuss.userland.com/msg000001.html), which was where the initial blogosphere formed in 1998 and 1999. Go through the archive to see for yourself. But then we had the idea that hey this could be a blog, so when you created a blog post, unwittingly behind the scenes, it just created a discussion post. So all you had to do was flip a switch when you were reading a post, and see the post in the discussion group. There's that duality again. I'm working on discourse with [WordLand](https://wordland.social/) in the middle, and [WordPress](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=wordpress) at the [edges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory#Directed_graph), where a comment is also a blog post. Readers might not know that they're reading something that has a dual life as a comment linked to someone else's post. There can be a flip-switch in both views that lets you go back and forth. I can only guarantee that the flip switch will be in my software, since this will be an open network, there can be any number of different ways to view the content. As [someone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki) famous once [said](http://scripting.com/davenet/1994/11/26/letathousandflowersbloom.html) "Let a thousand flowers bloom." Why should comment writing not have all the features of blog post writing? Why invent a new more limited text type instead of reusing the one you created for blogging? That's where [factoring](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=factoring) comes in.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Flip switches" created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:21:43 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html">
<source:outline text="In software, I like to have multiple ways to view the same data. In one context it's an outline, then flip a switch and now it's a graphic." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:22:38 GMT" flBulletedSubs="true" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a212238">
<source:outline text="<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MORE_(application)">MORE</a> shipped at <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22living%20videotext%22">Living Videotext</a> for the Mac in 1986. You start with an outline and flip a switch to turn it into a tree chart. Flip it back to make a change, then flip it again to see the change in a tree chart. Or flip the outline to reveal a set of presentation slides. People loved the idea that they could create graphics entirely by writing and reorganizing and then flipping a switch. That was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application">killer feature</a> in the demos we did at trade shows." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:23:08 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2023/02/28/presidentCarter.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a212308"/>
<source:outline text="Before that in <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=lbbs">LBBS</a>, a bulletin board system I wrote and ran on an Apple II in my Menlo Park living room in the early 80s, I had two views of the message structure, reverse chronologic and a hierarchic thread structure. You could always flip a switch and see the post you're looking at in the other view. If you're catching up and want to see where in the tree this message lives you, flip the switch. If you've come across a two year old post in the tree, and want to see what else was going on in 1982 (for example), flip the switch into the message scanner, and you've gone back in time. And the flip-switch was instantaneous and required one gesture, no thinking on your part." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:25:36 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/04/ucsdPascal.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a212536"/>
<source:outline text="And then <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Manila">Manila</a>, many years later, written in <a href="http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout">Frontier</a>, started as a discussion group. It was the software behind <a href="https://discuss.userland.com/msg000001.html">discuss.userland.com</a>, which was where the initial blogosphere formed in 1998 and 1999. Go through the archive to see for yourself. But then we had the idea that hey this could be a blog, so when you created a blog post, unwittingly behind the scenes, it just created a discussion post. So all you had to do was flip a switch when you were reading a post, and see the post in the discussion group. There's that duality again." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:26:40 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/03/14/goodbyeBlueMonday.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a212640"/>
</source:outline>
<source:outline text="I'm working on discourse with <a href="https://wordland.social/">WordLand</a> in the middle, and <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=wordpress">WordPress</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory#Directed_graph">edges</a>, where a comment is also a blog post. Readers might not know that they're reading something that has a dual life as a comment linked to someone else's post. There can be a flip-switch in both views that lets you go back and forth. I can only guarantee that the flip switch will be in my software, since this will be an open network, there can be any number of different ways to view the content." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:40:36 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a214036"/>
<source:outline text="As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki">someone</a> famous once <a href="http://scripting.com/davenet/1994/11/26/letathousandflowersbloom.html">said</a> "Let a thousand flowers bloom."" created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 22:08:29 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a220829"/>
<source:outline text="Why should comment writing not have all the features of blog post writing? Why invent a new more limited text type instead of reusing the one you created for blogging? That's where <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=factoring">factoring</a> comes in." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:45:36 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a214536"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">The <a href="https://subscribe.scripting.com/">nightly emails</a> didn't go out last night. It was easy to fix, a server needed to be rebooted. The problems cascaded from there, long story, but in the end I had to move one of my virtual-virtual servers (two levels of virtuality) to another virtual server. Upgrading versions of Node is a tricky process that I have never mastered or understood, and every time it takes almost a full day to do it. Something I hope to someday be able to find the time to sort out. Not today, though -- I have a fun project planned out. Really looking forward to doing the work and seeing the result.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:33:22 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143322</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143322</guid>
<source:markdown>The [nightly emails](https://subscribe.scripting.com/) didn't go out last night. It was easy to fix, a server needed to be rebooted. The problems cascaded from there, long story, but in the end I had to move one of my virtual-virtual servers (two levels of virtuality) to another virtual server. Upgrading versions of Node is a tricky process that I have never mastered or understood, and every time it takes almost a full day to do it. Something I hope to someday be able to find the time to sort out. Not today, though -- I have a fun project planned out. Really looking forward to doing the work and seeing the result.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="The <a href="https://subscribe.scripting.com/">nightly emails</a> didn't go out last night. It was easy to fix, a server needed to be rebooted. The problems cascaded from there, long story, but in the end I had to move one of my virtual-virtual servers (two levels of virtuality) to another virtual server. Upgrading versions of Node is a tricky process that I have never mastered or understood, and every time it takes almost a full day to do it. Something I hope to someday be able to find the time to sort out. Not today, though -- I have a fun project planned out. Really looking forward to doing the work and seeing the result." created="Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:33:22 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143322"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>They should make a version of bash on Linux that also accepts ChatGPT commands. As always <i>they</i> is someone other than me.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:31:49 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143149</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143149</guid>
<source:markdown>They should make a version of bash on Linux that also accepts ChatGPT commands. As always _they_ is someone other than me.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="They should make a version of bash on Linux that also accepts ChatGPT commands. As always <i>they</i> is someone other than me." created="Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:31:49 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143149"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Today's song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHcGkGdiEHc">Old Folks Boogie</a>. <i>Sooooo</i> you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:47:19 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a024719</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a024719</guid>
<source:markdown>Today's song: [Old Folks Boogie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHcGkGdiEHc). _Sooooo_ you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Today's song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHcGkGdiEHc">Old Folks Boogie</a>. <i>Sooooo</i> you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill." created="Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:47:19 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a024719"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2019/09/14/rssCoffeeCup.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">There's a question going around in WordPressLand as to whether there are any RSS apps. Yes, of course there are. Have a <a href="http://scripting.com/images/2025/12/02/blogroll.png">look</a> at <a href="https://daveverse.org/">daveverse</a>, in the right margin. That's a feed reader. All the feeds I follow personally. When one of them updates it goes to the top. You can see the five most recent posts by clicking on the wedge next to the title, and from there, you can go to the website by clicking the link. That's available as a <a href="https://github.com/a8cteam51/feedland-blogroll">WordPress plug-in</a>.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:30:28 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a023028</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a023028</guid>
<source:markdown>There's a question going around in WordPressLand as to whether there are any RSS apps. Yes, of course there are. Have a [look](http://scripting.com/images/2025/12/02/blogroll.png) at [daveverse](https://daveverse.org/), in the right margin. That's a feed reader. All the feeds I follow personally. When one of them updates it goes to the top. You can see the five most recent posts by clicking on the wedge next to the title, and from there, you can go to the website by clicking the link. That's available as a [WordPress plug-in](https://github.com/a8cteam51/feedland-blogroll).</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="There's a question going around in WordPressLand as to whether there are any RSS apps. Yes, of course there are. Have a <a href="http://scripting.com/images/2025/12/02/blogroll.png">look</a> at <a href="https://daveverse.org/">daveverse</a>, in the right margin. That's a feed reader. All the feeds I follow personally. When one of them updates it goes to the top. You can see the five most recent posts by clicking on the wedge next to the title, and from there, you can go to the website by clicking the link. That's available as a <a href="https://github.com/a8cteam51/feedland-blogroll">WordPress plug-in</a>." created="Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:30:28 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2019/09/14/rssCoffeeCup.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a023028"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>On Saturday I <a href="http://scripting.com/2025/11/29/165203.html">reported</a> a problem with WordPress feeds that created a problem for the software I was working on. It's Tuesday now, and <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/342#issuecomment-3592400879">it's fixed</a>. This really feels good. Thanks Jeremy! The WordPress community is special. Never seen a big product like WordPress respond so quickly.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2025 19:12:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a191225</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a191225</guid>
<source:markdown>On Saturday I [reported](http://scripting.com/2025/11/29/165203.html) a problem with WordPress feeds that created a problem for the software I was working on. It's Tuesday now, and [it's fixed](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/342#issuecomment-3592400879). This really feels good. Thanks Jeremy! The WordPress community is special. Never seen a big product like WordPress respond so quickly.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="On Saturday I <a href="http://scripting.com/2025/11/29/165203.html">reported</a> a problem with WordPress feeds that created a problem for the software I was working on. It's Tuesday now, and <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/342#issuecomment-3592400879">it's fixed</a>. This really feels good. Thanks Jeremy! The WordPress community is special. Never seen a big product like WordPress respond so quickly." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 19:12:25 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a191225"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>I asked ChatGPT to <a href="https://gist.github.com/scripting/43a643d52f52a6074d4a5488bfe65c5e">write an email</a> to Sam Altman for me. It's about a possible way to compete with Google.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2025 23:48:05 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a234805</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a234805</guid>
<source:markdown>I asked ChatGPT to [write an email](https://gist.github.com/scripting/43a643d52f52a6074d4a5488bfe65c5e) to Sam Altman for me. It's about a possible way to compete with Google.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I asked ChatGPT to <a href="https://gist.github.com/scripting/43a643d52f52a6074d4a5488bfe65c5e">write an email</a> to Sam Altman for me. It's about a possible way to compete with Google." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 23:48:05 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a234805"/>
</item>
<item>
<title>Pluribus spoilers below</title>
<description><p>Theories on what's actually going on. </p> <ul> <li>It's a love story between Carol and Zosia. You <i>can</i> fall in love with a person with no sense of self. They plotted to have Helen killed, and waited until Carol's "f*ckable" judgment turns into real love. They get married and everyone lives happily ever after.</li> <li>Alternate theory -- the original people are still in their bodies, suppressed to keep quiet. Inside they're screaming to be saved, as pissed off as Carol. They want their bodies back. They have the ability to write messages on their skin, so what Carol saw at the end of the last episode was a corpse with the words HELP ME! visible on the body's belly.</li> <li>Another alternate theory about the end of the last episode -- it took a moment for Carol to recognize her own body, possibly dead, and realizing this is all a dream. It's another version of <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22">The Matrix</a>, where this is the fake reality that we've been seeing. None of this is really happening. (Like the end of the Bob Newhart show?)</li> </ul> <p>Also is Plur1bus like Saul Goodman, in that if you say it a different way it has a message encoded? The 1 instead of an i seems like a clue.</p> </description>
<pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:06:44 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html?title=pluribusSpoilersBelow</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html</guid>
<source:markdown>Theories on what's actually going on. * It's a love story between Carol and Zosia. You _can_ fall in love with a person with no sense of self. They plotted to have Helen killed, and waited until Carol's "f\*ckable" judgment turns into real love. They get married and everyone lives happily ever after. * Alternate theory -- the original people are still in their bodies, suppressed to keep quiet. Inside they're screaming to be saved, as pissed off as Carol. They want their bodies back. They have the ability to write messages on their skin, so what Carol saw at the end of the last episode was a corpse with the words HELP ME! visible on the body's belly. * Another alternate theory about the end of the last episode -- it took a moment for Carol to recognize her own body, possibly dead, and realizing this is all a dream. It's another version of [The Matrix](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22), where this is the fake reality that we've been seeing. None of this is really happening. (Like the end of the Bob Newhart show?) Also is Plur1bus like Saul Goodman, in that if you say it a different way it has a message encoded? The 1 instead of an i seems like a clue.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Pluribus spoilers below" created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:06:44 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html">
<source:outline text="Theories on what's actually going on." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:06:52 GMT" flBulletedSubs="true" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a160652">
<source:outline text="It's a love story between Carol and Zosia. You <i>can</i> fall in love with a person with no sense of self. They plotted to have Helen killed, and waited until Carol's "f*ckable" judgment turns into real love. They get married and everyone lives happily ever after." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:07:03 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a160703"/>
<source:outline text="Alternate theory -- the original people are still in their bodies, suppressed to keep quiet. Inside they're screaming to be saved, as pissed off as Carol. They want their bodies back. They have the ability to write messages on their skin, so what Carol saw at the end of the last episode was a corpse with the words HELP ME! visible on the body's belly." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:07:50 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a160750"/>
<source:outline text="Another alternate theory about the end of the last episode -- it took a moment for Carol to recognize her own body, possibly dead, and realizing this is all a dream. It's another version of <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22">The Matrix</a>, where this is the fake reality that we've been seeing. None of this is really happening. (Like the end of the Bob Newhart show?)" created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:07:02 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a160702"/>
</source:outline>
<source:outline text="Also is Plur1bus like Saul Goodman, in that if you say it a different way it has a message encoded? The 1 instead of an i seems like a clue." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:12:30 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a161230"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<description>We've forgotten how important <a href="http://scripting.com/scripting/manila/bloggerCon/ruleoflinks.html">links</a> are.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:43:37 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a144337</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a144337</guid>
<source:markdown>We've forgotten how important [links](http://scripting.com/scripting/manila/bloggerCon/ruleoflinks.html) are.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="We've forgotten how important <a href="http://scripting.com/scripting/manila/bloggerCon/ruleoflinks.html">links</a> are." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:43:37 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a144337"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/12/01/metrocard.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I was able to use my Android phone to get on the NYC subway a few days ago. Turn the phone on, point it at the reader on the turnstyle, and just keep walking. It's that fast and a lot better than with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCard">MetroCard</a>. Sometimes things <i>do</i> get better.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:53:17 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a205317</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a205317</guid>
<source:markdown>I was able to use my Android phone to get on the NYC subway a few days ago. Turn the phone on, point it at the reader on the turnstyle, and just keep walking. It's that fast and a lot better than with the [MetroCard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCard). Sometimes things _do_ get better.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I was able to use my Android phone to get on the NYC subway a few days ago. Turn the phone on, point it at the reader on the turnstyle, and just keep walking. It's that fast and a lot better than with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCard">MetroCard</a>. Sometimes things <i>do</i> get better." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:53:17 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/12/01/metrocard.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a205317"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><a href="http://scripting.com/2022/12/01.html#a165312">2014</a>: "The great thing about the web is/was that I could create any feature I could implement without getting permission from anyone. Before the web, with compuserve or applelink, only employees of those companies could. Here we are again."</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:49:17 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a204917</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a204917</guid>
<source:markdown>[2014](http://scripting.com/2022/12/01.html#a165312): "The great thing about the web is/was that I could create any feature I could implement without getting permission from anyone. Before the web, with compuserve or applelink, only employees of those companies could. Here we are again."</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="<a href="http://scripting.com/2022/12/01.html#a165312">2014</a>: "The great thing about the web is/was that I could create any feature I could implement without getting permission from anyone. Before the web, with compuserve or applelink, only employees of those companies could. Here we are again."" created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:49:17 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a204917"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Turns out we can influence the RSS feed we emit from a WordPress site by editing its theme, so it appears we should be able to get WordLand to work for linkblogs without resorting to a special feed.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:22:23 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a142223</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a142223</guid>
<source:markdown>Turns out we can influence the RSS feed we emit from a WordPress site by editing its theme, so it appears we should be able to get WordLand to work for linkblogs without resorting to a special feed.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Turns out we can influence the RSS feed we emit from a WordPress site by editing its theme, so it appears we should be able to get WordLand to work for linkblogs without resorting to a special feed." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:22:23 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a142223"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>We used to have great multi-cross-blog debates. That's the kind of distance that makes discourse civilized. I post in my space, you post in yours, and link the two when appropriate.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:34:33 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a143433</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a143433</guid>
<source:markdown>We used to have great multi-cross-blog debates. That's the kind of distance that makes discourse civilized. I post in my space, you post in yours, and link the two when appropriate.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="We used to have great multi-cross-blog debates. That's the kind of distance that makes discourse civilized. I post in my space, you post in yours, and link the two when appropriate." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:34:33 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a143433"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/01/housePlant.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I had to learn to be a developer if I wanted to make new media types out of computer networks, but soon it may not be necessary. We've been stuck in a rut of online sameness for a couple of decades now. One benefit of AI is the exclusivity that programmers have had, for all of history, is being broken. Thank goodness. It's way past time. (I hope.) It's also possible we're in the process of inventing <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22">The Matrix</a>. Ooops. That's what makes life so interesting, you don't know if the future is boring or exciting. But in my experience it's almost always unforeseen.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:53:28 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a145328</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a145328</guid>
<source:markdown>I had to learn to be a developer if I wanted to make new media types out of computer networks, but soon it may not be necessary. We've been stuck in a rut of online sameness for a couple of decades now. One benefit of AI is the exclusivity that programmers have had, for all of history, is being broken. Thank goodness. It's way past time. (I hope.) It's also possible we're in the process of inventing [The Matrix](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22). Ooops. That's what makes life so interesting, you don't know if the future is boring or exciting. But in my experience it's almost always unforeseen.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I had to learn to be a developer if I wanted to make new media types out of computer networks, but soon it may not be necessary. We've been stuck in a rut of online sameness for a couple of decades now. One benefit of AI is the exclusivity that programmers have had, for all of history, is being broken. Thank goodness. It's way past time. (I hope.) It's also possible we're in the process of inventing <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22">The Matrix</a>. Ooops. That's what makes life so interesting, you don't know if the future is boring or exciting. But in my experience it's almost always unforeseen." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:53:28 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/01/housePlant.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a145328"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Good morning and welcome to December. The November archive has been <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2025/11.opml">safely stored</a> on GitHub along with the <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/tree/master/blog/opml/2025">rest of 2025</a>. And now we will resume our normal schedule of winter weather in the Catskills, so please dress warmly and have a good song to sing.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:18:10 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a141810</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a141810</guid>
<source:markdown>Good morning and welcome to December. The November archive has been [safely stored](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2025/11.opml) on GitHub along with the [rest of 2025](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/tree/master/blog/opml/2025). And now we will resume our normal schedule of winter weather in the Catskills, so please dress warmly and have a good song to sing.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Good morning and welcome to December. The November archive has been <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2025/11.opml">safely stored</a> on GitHub along with the <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/tree/master/blog/opml/2025">rest of 2025</a>. And now we will resume our normal schedule of winter weather in the Catskills, so please dress warmly and have a good song to sing." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:18:10 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a141810"/>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
Raw text
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!-- RSS generated by oldSchool v0.8.16 on Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:20:31 GMT --> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:source="http://source.scripting.com/"> <channel> <title>Scripting News</title> <link>http://scripting.com/</link> <description>Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:09:49 GMT</pubDate> <language>en-us</language> <generator>oldSchool v0.8.16</generator> <copyright>&copy; copyright 1994-2024 Dave Winer.</copyright> <docs>http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html</docs> <lastBuildDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:20:31 GMT</lastBuildDate> <cloud domain="rpc.rsscloud.io" port="5337" path="/pleaseNotify" registerProcedure="" protocol="http-post" /> <image> <title>Scripting News</title> <url>https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/04/curly.png</url> <link>http://scripting.com/</link> <description>Scripting News gets an image because it's part of a network that uses them. 6/4/25 by DW</description> </image> <source:account service="twitter">davewiner</source:account> <source:localTime>Sat, December 6, 2025 5:20 PM EST</source:localTime> <source:self>http://scripting.com/rss.xml</source:self> <source:blogroll>https://feedland.social/opml?screenname=davewiner&catname=blogroll</source:blogroll> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/byte.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">If we really want tech to get <a href="https://resonantcomputing.org/">back to basics</a> we need pubs that function as product reviewers, like we have entertainment <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-house-of-dynamite/">reviewers</a>. There's so much software and so many isolated bubbles of developers, when there's a development that shakes the world less than ChatGPT, I might not hear about it for ten years, or might never hear about it. In the 80s we had lots of pubs that covered all kinds of products at a user level. There were 15 popular word processing apps, for example -- all made a decent living, and remember there were a lot fewer users then. Three spreadsheets on the PC and two on the Mac. It was possible because we had PC Week, MacWEEK, MacUser, MacWorld, PC Mag, PC World, <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2007/03/25/infoworldWeHardlyKnewYe.html">InfoWorld</a>, Dr Dobbs, BYTE, Popular Computing, Creative Computing, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Some great <a href="https://www.jerrypournelle.com/">writers</a>, and insightful reviews about what it's like to actually use the stuff. I had a product reviewed in the NY Times if you can believe that, and at the same time InfoWorld did a similar review. If you want to rock, we need good, thoughtful reviewers, with no conflicts, and enough time to put into each product.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:09:49 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150949</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150949</guid> <source:markdown>If we really want tech to get [back to basics](https://resonantcomputing.org/) we need pubs that function as product reviewers, like we have entertainment [reviewers](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-house-of-dynamite/). There's so much software and so many isolated bubbles of developers, when there's a development that shakes the world less than ChatGPT, I might not hear about it for ten years, or might never hear about it. In the 80s we had lots of pubs that covered all kinds of products at a user level. There were 15 popular word processing apps, for example -- all made a decent living, and remember there were a lot fewer users then. Three spreadsheets on the PC and two on the Mac. It was possible because we had PC Week, MacWEEK, MacUser, MacWorld, PC Mag, PC World, [InfoWorld](http://scripting.com/stories/2007/03/25/infoworldWeHardlyKnewYe.html), Dr Dobbs, BYTE, Popular Computing, Creative Computing, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Some great [writers](https://www.jerrypournelle.com/), and insightful reviews about what it's like to actually use the stuff. I had a product reviewed in the NY Times if you can believe that, and at the same time InfoWorld did a similar review. If you want to rock, we need good, thoughtful reviewers, with no conflicts, and enough time to put into each product.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="If we really want tech to get <a href="https://resonantcomputing.org/">back to basics</a> we need pubs that function as product reviewers, like we have entertainment <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-house-of-dynamite/">reviewers</a>. There's so much software and so many isolated bubbles of developers, when there's a development that shakes the world less than ChatGPT, I might not hear about it for ten years, or might never hear about it. In the 80s we had lots of pubs that covered all kinds of products at a user level. There were 15 popular word processing apps, for example -- all made a decent living, and remember there were a lot fewer users then. Three spreadsheets on the PC and two on the Mac. It was possible because we had PC Week, MacWEEK, MacUser, MacWorld, PC Mag, PC World, <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2007/03/25/infoworldWeHardlyKnewYe.html">InfoWorld</a>, Dr Dobbs, BYTE, Popular Computing, Creative Computing, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Some great <a href="https://www.jerrypournelle.com/">writers</a>, and insightful reviews about what it's like to actually use the stuff. I had a product reviewed in the NY Times if you can believe that, and at the same time InfoWorld did a similar review. If you want to rock, we need good, thoughtful reviewers, with no conflicts, and enough time to put into each product." created="Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:09:49 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/byte.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150949"/> </item> <item> <description>People seem to like <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=telex+wordpress">Telex</a> which makes developing WordPress user interfaces easier, via AI. Software is gradually adjusting this way, putting the AI where the problem is. For example I wanted to do a Google Form a few months ago and the best Gemini could do was tell me what commands to choose. But now if you go to <a href="https://forms.google.com/">make a form</a>, using the Forms app, it <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/helloDave.png">offers to do it</a> via AI.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:02:00 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150200</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150200</guid> <source:markdown>People seem to like [Telex](https://www.google.com/search?q=telex+wordpress) which makes developing WordPress user interfaces easier, via AI. Software is gradually adjusting this way, putting the AI where the problem is. For example I wanted to do a Google Form a few months ago and the best Gemini could do was tell me what commands to choose. But now if you go to [make a form](https://forms.google.com/), using the Forms app, it [offers to do it](https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/helloDave.png) via AI.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="People seem to like <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=telex+wordpress">Telex</a> which makes developing WordPress user interfaces easier, via AI. Software is gradually adjusting this way, putting the AI where the problem is. For example I wanted to do a Google Form a few months ago and the best Gemini could do was tell me what commands to choose. But now if you go to <a href="https://forms.google.com/">make a form</a>, using the Forms app, it <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/helloDave.png">offers to do it</a> via AI." created="Sat, 06 Dec 2025 15:02:00 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150200"/> </item> <item> <description>People using <a href="https://feedland.org/?river=true&screenname=scripting">feedland.org</a> -- may notice that some old items will appear in your timelines. I just installed a version of <a href="https://feedland.org/">FeedLand</a> on that server that does a better job of figuring out if a feed item has changed. There will be fewer false positives, which makes the software considerably more efficient, and means that you don't have to see things that didn't change. It should settle down fairly quickly, but it may be a little chatty for a while. Still diggin! (Also these changes will come to feedland.com as well.)</description> <pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 14:44:00 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a144400</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a144400</guid> <source:markdown>People using [feedland.org](https://feedland.org/?river=true&screenname=scripting) -- may notice that some old items will appear in your timelines. I just installed a version of [FeedLand](https://feedland.org/) on that server that does a better job of figuring out if a feed item has changed. There will be fewer false positives, which makes the software considerably more efficient, and means that you don't have to see things that didn't change. It should settle down fairly quickly, but it may be a little chatty for a while. Still diggin! (Also these changes will come to feedland.com as well.)</source:markdown> <source:outline text="People using <a href="https://feedland.org/?river=true&screenname=scripting">feedland.org</a> -- may notice that some old items will appear in your timelines. I just installed a version of <a href="https://feedland.org/">FeedLand</a> on that server that does a better job of figuring out if a feed item has changed. There will be fewer false positives, which makes the software considerably more efficient, and means that you don't have to see things that didn't change. It should settle down fairly quickly, but it may be a little chatty for a while. Still diggin! (Also these changes will come to feedland.com as well.)" created="Sat, 06 Dec 2025 14:44:00 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a144400"/> </item> <item> <description>I've come to see WordPress as an API with a widely deployed and stable implementation behind it, where the user is in control and developers can build apps without having to get into the storage-selling business.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2025 14:29:48 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a142948</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a142948</guid> <source:markdown>I've come to see WordPress as an API with a widely deployed and stable implementation behind it, where the user is in control and developers can build apps without having to get into the storage-selling business.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I've come to see WordPress as an API with a widely deployed and stable implementation behind it, where the user is in control and developers can build apps without having to get into the storage-selling business." created="Fri, 05 Dec 2025 14:29:48 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a142948"/> </item> <item> <description>When they say AI is just <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22autocomplete+on+steroids%22">autocomplete on steroids</a>, that's like saying a human is just a product of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur on steroids. It may be true, but it doesn't say anything useful. It's also like saying that a computer is just a collection of on and off switches.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:05:15 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a150515</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a150515</guid> <source:markdown>When they say AI is just [autocomplete on steroids](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22autocomplete+on+steroids%22), that's like saying a human is just a product of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur on steroids. It may be true, but it doesn't say anything useful. It's also like saying that a computer is just a collection of on and off switches.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="When they say AI is just <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22autocomplete+on+steroids%22">autocomplete on steroids</a>, that's like saying a human is just a product of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur on steroids. It may be true, but it doesn't say anything useful. It's also like saying that a computer is just a collection of on and off switches." created="Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:05:15 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a150515"/> </item> <item> <description>Funny thing about yesterday's Supreme Court decision, if Texas goes ahead with their gerrymandering plan, it probably will backfire on them, cause them to lose a few seats instead of gain them. The <a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251204/p132#a251204p132">news reports</a> generally leave that out, probably figuring the sports fans who can understand the gambling on football and baseball couldn't understand that gerrymandering is a bet that you know which voters will turn out and who they'll vote for <i>a year in the future.</i> In fact <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-redrawn-congressional-map-favorable-to-gop-in-2026">NPR reports</a> it as a victory for Repubs. Right now it looks very much like it is not.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:36:18 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a153618</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a153618</guid> <source:markdown>Funny thing about yesterday's Supreme Court decision, if Texas goes ahead with their gerrymandering plan, it probably will backfire on them, cause them to lose a few seats instead of gain them. The [news reports](https://www.memeorandum.com/251204/p132#a251204p132) generally leave that out, probably figuring the sports fans who can understand the gambling on football and baseball couldn't understand that gerrymandering is a bet that you know which voters will turn out and who they'll vote for _a year in the future._ In fact [NPR reports](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-redrawn-congressional-map-favorable-to-gop-in-2026) it as a victory for Repubs. Right now it looks very much like it is not.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Funny thing about yesterday's Supreme Court decision, if Texas goes ahead with their gerrymandering plan, it probably will backfire on them, cause them to lose a few seats instead of gain them. The <a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251204/p132#a251204p132">news reports</a> generally leave that out, probably figuring the sports fans who can understand the gambling on football and baseball couldn't understand that gerrymandering is a bet that you know which voters will turn out and who they'll vote for <i>a year in the future.</i> In fact <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-redrawn-congressional-map-favorable-to-gop-in-2026">NPR reports</a> it as a victory for Repubs. Right now it looks very much like it is not." created="Fri, 05 Dec 2025 15:36:18 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a153618"/> </item> <item> <title>Flip switches</title> <description><p>In software, I like to have multiple ways to view the same data. In one context it's an outline, then flip a switch and now it's a graphic. </p> <ul> <li><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2023/02/28/presidentCarter.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MORE_(application)">MORE</a> shipped at <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22living%20videotext%22">Living Videotext</a> for the Mac in 1986. You start with an outline and flip a switch to turn it into a tree chart. Flip it back to make a change, then flip it again to see the change in a tree chart. Or flip the outline to reveal a set of presentation slides. People loved the idea that they could create graphics entirely by writing and reorganizing and then flipping a switch. That was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application">killer feature</a> in the demos we did at trade shows. </li> <li><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/04/ucsdPascal.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">Before that in <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=lbbs">LBBS</a>, a bulletin board system I wrote and ran on an Apple II in my Menlo Park living room in the early 80s, I had two views of the message structure, reverse chronologic and a hierarchic thread structure. You could always flip a switch and see the post you're looking at in the other view. If you're catching up and want to see where in the tree this message lives you, flip the switch. If you've come across a two year old post in the tree, and want to see what else was going on in 1982 (for example), flip the switch into the message scanner, and you've gone back in time. And the flip-switch was instantaneous and required one gesture, no thinking on your part. </li> <li><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/03/14/goodbyeBlueMonday.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">And then <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Manila">Manila</a>, many years later, written in <a href="http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout">Frontier</a>, started as a discussion group. It was the software behind <a href="https://discuss.userland.com/msg000001.html">discuss.userland.com</a>, which was where the initial blogosphere formed in 1998 and 1999. Go through the archive to see for yourself. But then we had the idea that hey this could be a blog, so when you created a blog post, unwittingly behind the scenes, it just created a discussion post. So all you had to do was flip a switch when you were reading a post, and see the post in the discussion group. There's that duality again. </li> </ul> <p>I'm working on discourse with <a href="https://wordland.social/">WordLand</a> in the middle, and <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=wordpress">WordPress</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory#Directed_graph">edges</a>, where a comment is also a blog post. Readers might not know that they're reading something that has a dual life as a comment linked to someone else's post. There can be a flip-switch in both views that lets you go back and forth. I can only guarantee that the flip switch will be in my software, since this will be an open network, there can be any number of different ways to view the content. </p> <p>As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki">someone</a> famous once <a href="http://scripting.com/davenet/1994/11/26/letathousandflowersbloom.html">said</a> "Let a thousand flowers bloom." </p> <p>Why should comment writing not have all the features of blog post writing? Why invent a new more limited text type instead of reusing the one you created for blogging? That's where <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=factoring">factoring</a> comes in. </p> </description> <pubDate>Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:21:43 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html?title=flipSwitches</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html</guid> <source:markdown>In software, I like to have multiple ways to view the same data. In one context it's an outline, then flip a switch and now it's a graphic. * [MORE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MORE_\(application\)) shipped at [Living Videotext](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22living%20videotext%22) for the Mac in 1986. You start with an outline and flip a switch to turn it into a tree chart. Flip it back to make a change, then flip it again to see the change in a tree chart. Or flip the outline to reveal a set of presentation slides. People loved the idea that they could create graphics entirely by writing and reorganizing and then flipping a switch. That was the [killer feature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application) in the demos we did at trade shows. * Before that in [LBBS](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=lbbs), a bulletin board system I wrote and ran on an Apple II in my Menlo Park living room in the early 80s, I had two views of the message structure, reverse chronologic and a hierarchic thread structure. You could always flip a switch and see the post you're looking at in the other view. If you're catching up and want to see where in the tree this message lives you, flip the switch. If you've come across a two year old post in the tree, and want to see what else was going on in 1982 (for example), flip the switch into the message scanner, and you've gone back in time. And the flip-switch was instantaneous and required one gesture, no thinking on your part. * And then [Manila](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Manila), many years later, written in [Frontier](http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout), started as a discussion group. It was the software behind [discuss.userland.com](https://discuss.userland.com/msg000001.html), which was where the initial blogosphere formed in 1998 and 1999. Go through the archive to see for yourself. But then we had the idea that hey this could be a blog, so when you created a blog post, unwittingly behind the scenes, it just created a discussion post. So all you had to do was flip a switch when you were reading a post, and see the post in the discussion group. There's that duality again. I'm working on discourse with [WordLand](https://wordland.social/) in the middle, and [WordPress](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=wordpress) at the [edges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory#Directed_graph), where a comment is also a blog post. Readers might not know that they're reading something that has a dual life as a comment linked to someone else's post. There can be a flip-switch in both views that lets you go back and forth. I can only guarantee that the flip switch will be in my software, since this will be an open network, there can be any number of different ways to view the content. As [someone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki) famous once [said](http://scripting.com/davenet/1994/11/26/letathousandflowersbloom.html) "Let a thousand flowers bloom." Why should comment writing not have all the features of blog post writing? Why invent a new more limited text type instead of reusing the one you created for blogging? That's where [factoring](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=factoring) comes in.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Flip switches" created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:21:43 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html"> <source:outline text="In software, I like to have multiple ways to view the same data. In one context it's an outline, then flip a switch and now it's a graphic." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:22:38 GMT" flBulletedSubs="true" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a212238"> <source:outline text="<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MORE_(application)">MORE</a> shipped at <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22living%20videotext%22">Living Videotext</a> for the Mac in 1986. You start with an outline and flip a switch to turn it into a tree chart. Flip it back to make a change, then flip it again to see the change in a tree chart. Or flip the outline to reveal a set of presentation slides. People loved the idea that they could create graphics entirely by writing and reorganizing and then flipping a switch. That was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application">killer feature</a> in the demos we did at trade shows." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:23:08 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2023/02/28/presidentCarter.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a212308"/> <source:outline text="Before that in <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=lbbs">LBBS</a>, a bulletin board system I wrote and ran on an Apple II in my Menlo Park living room in the early 80s, I had two views of the message structure, reverse chronologic and a hierarchic thread structure. You could always flip a switch and see the post you're looking at in the other view. If you're catching up and want to see where in the tree this message lives you, flip the switch. If you've come across a two year old post in the tree, and want to see what else was going on in 1982 (for example), flip the switch into the message scanner, and you've gone back in time. And the flip-switch was instantaneous and required one gesture, no thinking on your part." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:25:36 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/04/ucsdPascal.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a212536"/> <source:outline text="And then <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Manila">Manila</a>, many years later, written in <a href="http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout">Frontier</a>, started as a discussion group. It was the software behind <a href="https://discuss.userland.com/msg000001.html">discuss.userland.com</a>, which was where the initial blogosphere formed in 1998 and 1999. Go through the archive to see for yourself. But then we had the idea that hey this could be a blog, so when you created a blog post, unwittingly behind the scenes, it just created a discussion post. So all you had to do was flip a switch when you were reading a post, and see the post in the discussion group. There's that duality again." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:26:40 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/03/14/goodbyeBlueMonday.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a212640"/> </source:outline> <source:outline text="I'm working on discourse with <a href="https://wordland.social/">WordLand</a> in the middle, and <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=wordpress">WordPress</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory#Directed_graph">edges</a>, where a comment is also a blog post. Readers might not know that they're reading something that has a dual life as a comment linked to someone else's post. There can be a flip-switch in both views that lets you go back and forth. I can only guarantee that the flip switch will be in my software, since this will be an open network, there can be any number of different ways to view the content." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:40:36 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a214036"/> <source:outline text="As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki">someone</a> famous once <a href="http://scripting.com/davenet/1994/11/26/letathousandflowersbloom.html">said</a> "Let a thousand flowers bloom."" created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 22:08:29 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a220829"/> <source:outline text="Why should comment writing not have all the features of blog post writing? Why invent a new more limited text type instead of reusing the one you created for blogging? That's where <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=factoring">factoring</a> comes in." created="Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:45:36 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html#a214536"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">The <a href="https://subscribe.scripting.com/">nightly emails</a> didn't go out last night. It was easy to fix, a server needed to be rebooted. The problems cascaded from there, long story, but in the end I had to move one of my virtual-virtual servers (two levels of virtuality) to another virtual server. Upgrading versions of Node is a tricky process that I have never mastered or understood, and every time it takes almost a full day to do it. Something I hope to someday be able to find the time to sort out. Not today, though -- I have a fun project planned out. Really looking forward to doing the work and seeing the result.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:33:22 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143322</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143322</guid> <source:markdown>The [nightly emails](https://subscribe.scripting.com/) didn't go out last night. It was easy to fix, a server needed to be rebooted. The problems cascaded from there, long story, but in the end I had to move one of my virtual-virtual servers (two levels of virtuality) to another virtual server. Upgrading versions of Node is a tricky process that I have never mastered or understood, and every time it takes almost a full day to do it. Something I hope to someday be able to find the time to sort out. Not today, though -- I have a fun project planned out. Really looking forward to doing the work and seeing the result.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="The <a href="https://subscribe.scripting.com/">nightly emails</a> didn't go out last night. It was easy to fix, a server needed to be rebooted. The problems cascaded from there, long story, but in the end I had to move one of my virtual-virtual servers (two levels of virtuality) to another virtual server. Upgrading versions of Node is a tricky process that I have never mastered or understood, and every time it takes almost a full day to do it. Something I hope to someday be able to find the time to sort out. Not today, though -- I have a fun project planned out. Really looking forward to doing the work and seeing the result." created="Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:33:22 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143322"/> </item> <item> <description>They should make a version of bash on Linux that also accepts ChatGPT commands. As always <i>they</i> is someone other than me.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:31:49 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143149</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143149</guid> <source:markdown>They should make a version of bash on Linux that also accepts ChatGPT commands. As always _they_ is someone other than me.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="They should make a version of bash on Linux that also accepts ChatGPT commands. As always <i>they</i> is someone other than me." created="Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:31:49 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143149"/> </item> <item> <description>Today's song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHcGkGdiEHc">Old Folks Boogie</a>. <i>Sooooo</i> you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:47:19 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a024719</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a024719</guid> <source:markdown>Today's song: [Old Folks Boogie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHcGkGdiEHc). _Sooooo_ you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Today's song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHcGkGdiEHc">Old Folks Boogie</a>. <i>Sooooo</i> you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill." created="Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:47:19 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a024719"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2019/09/14/rssCoffeeCup.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">There's a question going around in WordPressLand as to whether there are any RSS apps. Yes, of course there are. Have a <a href="http://scripting.com/images/2025/12/02/blogroll.png">look</a> at <a href="https://daveverse.org/">daveverse</a>, in the right margin. That's a feed reader. All the feeds I follow personally. When one of them updates it goes to the top. You can see the five most recent posts by clicking on the wedge next to the title, and from there, you can go to the website by clicking the link. That's available as a <a href="https://github.com/a8cteam51/feedland-blogroll">WordPress plug-in</a>.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:30:28 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a023028</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a023028</guid> <source:markdown>There's a question going around in WordPressLand as to whether there are any RSS apps. Yes, of course there are. Have a [look](http://scripting.com/images/2025/12/02/blogroll.png) at [daveverse](https://daveverse.org/), in the right margin. That's a feed reader. All the feeds I follow personally. When one of them updates it goes to the top. You can see the five most recent posts by clicking on the wedge next to the title, and from there, you can go to the website by clicking the link. That's available as a [WordPress plug-in](https://github.com/a8cteam51/feedland-blogroll).</source:markdown> <source:outline text="There's a question going around in WordPressLand as to whether there are any RSS apps. Yes, of course there are. Have a <a href="http://scripting.com/images/2025/12/02/blogroll.png">look</a> at <a href="https://daveverse.org/">daveverse</a>, in the right margin. That's a feed reader. All the feeds I follow personally. When one of them updates it goes to the top. You can see the five most recent posts by clicking on the wedge next to the title, and from there, you can go to the website by clicking the link. That's available as a <a href="https://github.com/a8cteam51/feedland-blogroll">WordPress plug-in</a>." created="Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:30:28 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2019/09/14/rssCoffeeCup.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a023028"/> </item> <item> <description>On Saturday I <a href="http://scripting.com/2025/11/29/165203.html">reported</a> a problem with WordPress feeds that created a problem for the software I was working on. It's Tuesday now, and <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/342#issuecomment-3592400879">it's fixed</a>. This really feels good. Thanks Jeremy! The WordPress community is special. Never seen a big product like WordPress respond so quickly.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2025 19:12:25 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a191225</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a191225</guid> <source:markdown>On Saturday I [reported](http://scripting.com/2025/11/29/165203.html) a problem with WordPress feeds that created a problem for the software I was working on. It's Tuesday now, and [it's fixed](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/342#issuecomment-3592400879). This really feels good. Thanks Jeremy! The WordPress community is special. Never seen a big product like WordPress respond so quickly.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="On Saturday I <a href="http://scripting.com/2025/11/29/165203.html">reported</a> a problem with WordPress feeds that created a problem for the software I was working on. It's Tuesday now, and <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/342#issuecomment-3592400879">it's fixed</a>. This really feels good. Thanks Jeremy! The WordPress community is special. Never seen a big product like WordPress respond so quickly." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 19:12:25 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a191225"/> </item> <item> <description>I asked ChatGPT to <a href="https://gist.github.com/scripting/43a643d52f52a6074d4a5488bfe65c5e">write an email</a> to Sam Altman for me. It's about a possible way to compete with Google.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2025 23:48:05 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a234805</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a234805</guid> <source:markdown>I asked ChatGPT to [write an email](https://gist.github.com/scripting/43a643d52f52a6074d4a5488bfe65c5e) to Sam Altman for me. It's about a possible way to compete with Google.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I asked ChatGPT to <a href="https://gist.github.com/scripting/43a643d52f52a6074d4a5488bfe65c5e">write an email</a> to Sam Altman for me. It's about a possible way to compete with Google." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 23:48:05 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a234805"/> </item> <item> <title>Pluribus spoilers below</title> <description><p>Theories on what's actually going on. </p> <ul> <li>It's a love story between Carol and Zosia. You <i>can</i> fall in love with a person with no sense of self. They plotted to have Helen killed, and waited until Carol's "f*ckable" judgment turns into real love. They get married and everyone lives happily ever after.</li> <li>Alternate theory -- the original people are still in their bodies, suppressed to keep quiet. Inside they're screaming to be saved, as pissed off as Carol. They want their bodies back. They have the ability to write messages on their skin, so what Carol saw at the end of the last episode was a corpse with the words HELP ME! visible on the body's belly.</li> <li>Another alternate theory about the end of the last episode -- it took a moment for Carol to recognize her own body, possibly dead, and realizing this is all a dream. It's another version of <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22">The Matrix</a>, where this is the fake reality that we've been seeing. None of this is really happening. (Like the end of the Bob Newhart show?)</li> </ul> <p>Also is Plur1bus like Saul Goodman, in that if you say it a different way it has a message encoded? The 1 instead of an i seems like a clue.</p> </description> <pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:06:44 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html?title=pluribusSpoilersBelow</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html</guid> <source:markdown>Theories on what's actually going on. * It's a love story between Carol and Zosia. You _can_ fall in love with a person with no sense of self. They plotted to have Helen killed, and waited until Carol's "f\*ckable" judgment turns into real love. They get married and everyone lives happily ever after. * Alternate theory -- the original people are still in their bodies, suppressed to keep quiet. Inside they're screaming to be saved, as pissed off as Carol. They want their bodies back. They have the ability to write messages on their skin, so what Carol saw at the end of the last episode was a corpse with the words HELP ME! visible on the body's belly. * Another alternate theory about the end of the last episode -- it took a moment for Carol to recognize her own body, possibly dead, and realizing this is all a dream. It's another version of [The Matrix](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22), where this is the fake reality that we've been seeing. None of this is really happening. (Like the end of the Bob Newhart show?) Also is Plur1bus like Saul Goodman, in that if you say it a different way it has a message encoded? The 1 instead of an i seems like a clue.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Pluribus spoilers below" created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:06:44 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html"> <source:outline text="Theories on what's actually going on." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:06:52 GMT" flBulletedSubs="true" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a160652"> <source:outline text="It's a love story between Carol and Zosia. You <i>can</i> fall in love with a person with no sense of self. They plotted to have Helen killed, and waited until Carol's "f*ckable" judgment turns into real love. They get married and everyone lives happily ever after." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:07:03 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a160703"/> <source:outline text="Alternate theory -- the original people are still in their bodies, suppressed to keep quiet. Inside they're screaming to be saved, as pissed off as Carol. They want their bodies back. They have the ability to write messages on their skin, so what Carol saw at the end of the last episode was a corpse with the words HELP ME! visible on the body's belly." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:07:50 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a160750"/> <source:outline text="Another alternate theory about the end of the last episode -- it took a moment for Carol to recognize her own body, possibly dead, and realizing this is all a dream. It's another version of <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22">The Matrix</a>, where this is the fake reality that we've been seeing. None of this is really happening. (Like the end of the Bob Newhart show?)" created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:07:02 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a160702"/> </source:outline> <source:outline text="Also is Plur1bus like Saul Goodman, in that if you say it a different way it has a message encoded? The 1 instead of an i seems like a clue." created="Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:12:30 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html#a161230"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <description>We've forgotten how important <a href="http://scripting.com/scripting/manila/bloggerCon/ruleoflinks.html">links</a> are.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:43:37 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a144337</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a144337</guid> <source:markdown>We've forgotten how important [links](http://scripting.com/scripting/manila/bloggerCon/ruleoflinks.html) are.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="We've forgotten how important <a href="http://scripting.com/scripting/manila/bloggerCon/ruleoflinks.html">links</a> are." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:43:37 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a144337"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/12/01/metrocard.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I was able to use my Android phone to get on the NYC subway a few days ago. Turn the phone on, point it at the reader on the turnstyle, and just keep walking. It's that fast and a lot better than with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCard">MetroCard</a>. Sometimes things <i>do</i> get better.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:53:17 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a205317</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a205317</guid> <source:markdown>I was able to use my Android phone to get on the NYC subway a few days ago. Turn the phone on, point it at the reader on the turnstyle, and just keep walking. It's that fast and a lot better than with the [MetroCard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCard). Sometimes things _do_ get better.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I was able to use my Android phone to get on the NYC subway a few days ago. Turn the phone on, point it at the reader on the turnstyle, and just keep walking. It's that fast and a lot better than with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCard">MetroCard</a>. Sometimes things <i>do</i> get better." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:53:17 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/12/01/metrocard.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a205317"/> </item> <item> <description><a href="http://scripting.com/2022/12/01.html#a165312">2014</a>: "The great thing about the web is/was that I could create any feature I could implement without getting permission from anyone. Before the web, with compuserve or applelink, only employees of those companies could. Here we are again."</description> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:49:17 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a204917</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a204917</guid> <source:markdown>[2014](http://scripting.com/2022/12/01.html#a165312): "The great thing about the web is/was that I could create any feature I could implement without getting permission from anyone. Before the web, with compuserve or applelink, only employees of those companies could. Here we are again."</source:markdown> <source:outline text="<a href="http://scripting.com/2022/12/01.html#a165312">2014</a>: "The great thing about the web is/was that I could create any feature I could implement without getting permission from anyone. Before the web, with compuserve or applelink, only employees of those companies could. Here we are again."" created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 20:49:17 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a204917"/> </item> <item> <description>Turns out we can influence the RSS feed we emit from a WordPress site by editing its theme, so it appears we should be able to get WordLand to work for linkblogs without resorting to a special feed.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:22:23 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a142223</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a142223</guid> <source:markdown>Turns out we can influence the RSS feed we emit from a WordPress site by editing its theme, so it appears we should be able to get WordLand to work for linkblogs without resorting to a special feed.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Turns out we can influence the RSS feed we emit from a WordPress site by editing its theme, so it appears we should be able to get WordLand to work for linkblogs without resorting to a special feed." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:22:23 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a142223"/> </item> <item> <description>We used to have great multi-cross-blog debates. That's the kind of distance that makes discourse civilized. I post in my space, you post in yours, and link the two when appropriate.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:34:33 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a143433</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a143433</guid> <source:markdown>We used to have great multi-cross-blog debates. That's the kind of distance that makes discourse civilized. I post in my space, you post in yours, and link the two when appropriate.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="We used to have great multi-cross-blog debates. That's the kind of distance that makes discourse civilized. I post in my space, you post in yours, and link the two when appropriate." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:34:33 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a143433"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/01/housePlant.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I had to learn to be a developer if I wanted to make new media types out of computer networks, but soon it may not be necessary. We've been stuck in a rut of online sameness for a couple of decades now. One benefit of AI is the exclusivity that programmers have had, for all of history, is being broken. Thank goodness. It's way past time. (I hope.) It's also possible we're in the process of inventing <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22">The Matrix</a>. Ooops. That's what makes life so interesting, you don't know if the future is boring or exciting. But in my experience it's almost always unforeseen.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:53:28 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a145328</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a145328</guid> <source:markdown>I had to learn to be a developer if I wanted to make new media types out of computer networks, but soon it may not be necessary. We've been stuck in a rut of online sameness for a couple of decades now. One benefit of AI is the exclusivity that programmers have had, for all of history, is being broken. Thank goodness. It's way past time. (I hope.) It's also possible we're in the process of inventing [The Matrix](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22). Ooops. That's what makes life so interesting, you don't know if the future is boring or exciting. But in my experience it's almost always unforeseen.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I had to learn to be a developer if I wanted to make new media types out of computer networks, but soon it may not be necessary. We've been stuck in a rut of online sameness for a couple of decades now. One benefit of AI is the exclusivity that programmers have had, for all of history, is being broken. Thank goodness. It's way past time. (I hope.) It's also possible we're in the process of inventing <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22">The Matrix</a>. Ooops. That's what makes life so interesting, you don't know if the future is boring or exciting. But in my experience it's almost always unforeseen." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:53:28 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/01/housePlant.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a145328"/> </item> <item> <description>Good morning and welcome to December. The November archive has been <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2025/11.opml">safely stored</a> on GitHub along with the <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/tree/master/blog/opml/2025">rest of 2025</a>. And now we will resume our normal schedule of winter weather in the Catskills, so please dress warmly and have a good song to sing.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:18:10 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a141810</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a141810</guid> <source:markdown>Good morning and welcome to December. The November archive has been [safely stored](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2025/11.opml) on GitHub along with the [rest of 2025](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/tree/master/blog/opml/2025). And now we will resume our normal schedule of winter weather in the Catskills, so please dress warmly and have a good song to sing.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Good morning and welcome to December. The November archive has been <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2025/11.opml">safely stored</a> on GitHub along with the <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/tree/master/blog/opml/2025">rest of 2025</a>. And now we will resume our normal schedule of winter weather in the Catskills, so please dress warmly and have a good song to sing." created="Mon, 01 Dec 2025 14:18:10 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a141810"/> </item> </channel> </rss>
Raw headers
{
"cf-cache-status": "DYNAMIC",
"cf-ray": "9aa235a5a47c022a-ORD",
"connection": "keep-alive",
"content-length": "55949",
"content-type": "text/xml",
"date": "Sun, 07 Dec 2025 07:11:32 GMT",
"etag": "\"eedaf8b0feac3a278524c1f86b9d0606\"",
"last-modified": "Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:20:32 GMT",
"server": "cloudflare",
"x-amz-id-2": "qCBmKv81TEeIbuPSsEgGz/1H4Ud996Zh7SdIIf1u52eDmxiwEMZ43FEOyiHBj1FqgXdUeoX/E4YFSksd05fvr7wv0BrTpK5m0U8Sg4MjscI=",
"x-amz-request-id": "51R6JCBV236PCBN7",
"x-amz-version-id": "MdwGlAHev2CGLk2y9romtu7AC3pw0rC1"
}
Parsed with @rowanmanning/feed-parser
{
"meta": {
"type": "rss",
"version": "2.0"
},
"language": "en-us",
"title": "Scripting News",
"description": "Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.",
"copyright": "© copyright 1994-2024 Dave Winer.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/",
"self": null,
"published": "2025-12-06T15:09:49.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-06T22:20:31.000Z",
"generator": {
"label": "oldSchool v0.8.16",
"version": null,
"url": null
},
"image": {
"title": "Scripting News",
"url": "https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/04/curly.png"
},
"authors": [],
"categories": [],
"items": [
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150949",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/byte.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">If we really want tech to get <a href=\"https://resonantcomputing.org/\">back to basics</a> we need pubs that function as product reviewers, like we have entertainment <a href=\"https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-house-of-dynamite/\">reviewers</a>. There's so much software and so many isolated bubbles of developers, when there's a development that shakes the world less than ChatGPT, I might not hear about it for ten years, or might never hear about it. In the 80s we had lots of pubs that covered all kinds of products at a user level. There were 15 popular word processing apps, for example -- all made a decent living, and remember there were a lot fewer users then. Three spreadsheets on the PC and two on the Mac. It was possible because we had PC Week, MacWEEK, MacUser, MacWorld, PC Mag, PC World, <a href=\"http://scripting.com/stories/2007/03/25/infoworldWeHardlyKnewYe.html\">InfoWorld</a>, Dr Dobbs, BYTE, Popular Computing, Creative Computing, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Some great <a href=\"https://www.jerrypournelle.com/\">writers</a>, and insightful reviews about what it's like to actually use the stuff. I had a product reviewed in the NY Times if you can believe that, and at the same time InfoWorld did a similar review. If you want to rock, we need good, thoughtful reviewers, with no conflicts, and enough time to put into each product.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150949",
"published": "2025-12-06T15:09:49.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-06T15:09:49.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150200",
"title": null,
"description": "People seem to like <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=telex+wordpress\">Telex</a> which makes developing WordPress user interfaces easier, via AI. Software is gradually adjusting this way, putting the AI where the problem is. For example I wanted to do a Google Form a few months ago and the best Gemini could do was tell me what commands to choose. But now if you go to <a href=\"https://forms.google.com/\">make a form</a>, using the Forms app, it <a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/06/helloDave.png\">offers to do it</a> via AI.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a150200",
"published": "2025-12-06T15:02:00.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-06T15:02:00.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a144400",
"title": null,
"description": "People using <a href=\"https://feedland.org/?river=true&screenname=scripting\">feedland.org</a> -- may notice that some old items will appear in your timelines. I just installed a version of <a href=\"https://feedland.org/\">FeedLand</a> on that server that does a better job of figuring out if a feed item has changed. There will be fewer false positives, which makes the software considerably more efficient, and means that you don't have to see things that didn't change. It should settle down fairly quickly, but it may be a little chatty for a while. Still diggin! (Also these changes will come to feedland.com as well.)",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/06.html#a144400",
"published": "2025-12-06T14:44:00.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-06T14:44:00.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a142948",
"title": null,
"description": "I've come to see WordPress as an API with a widely deployed and stable implementation behind it, where the user is in control and developers can build apps without having to get into the storage-selling business.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a142948",
"published": "2025-12-05T14:29:48.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-05T14:29:48.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a150515",
"title": null,
"description": "When they say AI is just <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=%22autocomplete+on+steroids%22\">autocomplete on steroids</a>, that's like saying a human is just a product of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur on steroids. It may be true, but it doesn't say anything useful. It's also like saying that a computer is just a collection of on and off switches.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a150515",
"published": "2025-12-05T15:05:15.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-05T15:05:15.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a153618",
"title": null,
"description": "Funny thing about yesterday's Supreme Court decision, if Texas goes ahead with their gerrymandering plan, it probably will backfire on them, cause them to lose a few seats instead of gain them. The <a href=\"https://www.memeorandum.com/251204/p132#a251204p132\">news reports</a> generally leave that out, probably figuring the sports fans who can understand the gambling on football and baseball couldn't understand that gerrymandering is a bet that you know which voters will turn out and who they'll vote for <i>a year in the future.</i> In fact <a href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-redrawn-congressional-map-favorable-to-gop-in-2026\">NPR reports</a> it as a victory for Repubs. Right now it looks very much like it is not.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/05.html#a153618",
"published": "2025-12-05T15:36:18.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-05T15:36:18.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html",
"title": "Flip switches",
"description": "<p>In software, I like to have multiple ways to view the same data. In one context it's an outline, then flip a switch and now it's a graphic. </p>\n<ul>\n<li><img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2023/02/28/presidentCarter.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\"><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MORE_(application)\">MORE</a> shipped at <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22living%20videotext%22\">Living Videotext</a> for the Mac in 1986. You start with an outline and flip a switch to turn it into a tree chart. Flip it back to make a change, then flip it again to see the change in a tree chart. Or flip the outline to reveal a set of presentation slides. People loved the idea that they could create graphics entirely by writing and reorganizing and then flipping a switch. That was the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application\">killer feature</a> in the demos we did at trade shows. </li>\n<li><img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/04/ucsdPascal.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">Before that in <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=lbbs\">LBBS</a>, a bulletin board system I wrote and ran on an Apple II in my Menlo Park living room in the early 80s, I had two views of the message structure, reverse chronologic and a hierarchic thread structure. You could always flip a switch and see the post you're looking at in the other view. If you're catching up and want to see where in the tree this message lives you, flip the switch. If you've come across a two year old post in the tree, and want to see what else was going on in 1982 (for example), flip the switch into the message scanner, and you've gone back in time. And the flip-switch was instantaneous and required one gesture, no thinking on your part. </li>\n<li><img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/03/14/goodbyeBlueMonday.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">And then <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Manila\">Manila</a>, many years later, written in <a href=\"http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout\">Frontier</a>, started as a discussion group. It was the software behind <a href=\"https://discuss.userland.com/msg000001.html\">discuss.userland.com</a>, which was where the initial blogosphere formed in 1998 and 1999. Go through the archive to see for yourself. But then we had the idea that hey this could be a blog, so when you created a blog post, unwittingly behind the scenes, it just created a discussion post. So all you had to do was flip a switch when you were reading a post, and see the post in the discussion group. There's that duality again. </li>\n</ul>\n<p>I'm working on discourse with <a href=\"https://wordland.social/\">WordLand</a> in the middle, and <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=wordpress\">WordPress</a> at the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory#Directed_graph\">edges</a>, where a comment is also a blog post. Readers might not know that they're reading something that has a dual life as a comment linked to someone else's post. There can be a flip-switch in both views that lets you go back and forth. I can only guarantee that the flip switch will be in my software, since this will be an open network, there can be any number of different ways to view the content. </p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki\">someone</a> famous once <a href=\"http://scripting.com/davenet/1994/11/26/letathousandflowersbloom.html\">said</a> \"Let a thousand flowers bloom.\" </p>\n<p>Why should comment writing not have all the features of blog post writing? Why invent a new more limited text type instead of reusing the one you created for blogging? That's where <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=factoring\">factoring</a> comes in. </p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/04/212143.html?title=flipSwitches",
"published": "2025-12-04T21:21:43.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-04T21:21:43.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143322",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">The <a href=\"https://subscribe.scripting.com/\">nightly emails</a> didn't go out last night. It was easy to fix, a server needed to be rebooted. The problems cascaded from there, long story, but in the end I had to move one of my virtual-virtual servers (two levels of virtuality) to another virtual server. Upgrading versions of Node is a tricky process that I have never mastered or understood, and every time it takes almost a full day to do it. Something I hope to someday be able to find the time to sort out. Not today, though -- I have a fun project planned out. Really looking forward to doing the work and seeing the result.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143322",
"published": "2025-12-03T14:33:22.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-03T14:33:22.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143149",
"title": null,
"description": "They should make a version of bash on Linux that also accepts ChatGPT commands. As always <i>they</i> is someone other than me.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/03.html#a143149",
"published": "2025-12-03T14:31:49.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-03T14:31:49.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a024719",
"title": null,
"description": "Today's song: <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHcGkGdiEHc\">Old Folks Boogie</a>. <i>Sooooo</i> you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a024719",
"published": "2025-12-03T02:47:19.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-03T02:47:19.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a023028",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2019/09/14/rssCoffeeCup.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">There's a question going around in WordPressLand as to whether there are any RSS apps. Yes, of course there are. Have a <a href=\"http://scripting.com/images/2025/12/02/blogroll.png\">look</a> at <a href=\"https://daveverse.org/\">daveverse</a>, in the right margin. That's a feed reader. All the feeds I follow personally. When one of them updates it goes to the top. You can see the five most recent posts by clicking on the wedge next to the title, and from there, you can go to the website by clicking the link. That's available as a <a href=\"https://github.com/a8cteam51/feedland-blogroll\">WordPress plug-in</a>.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a023028",
"published": "2025-12-03T02:30:28.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-03T02:30:28.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a191225",
"title": null,
"description": "On Saturday I <a href=\"http://scripting.com/2025/11/29/165203.html\">reported</a> a problem with WordPress feeds that created a problem for the software I was working on. It's Tuesday now, and <a href=\"https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/342#issuecomment-3592400879\">it's fixed</a>. This really feels good. Thanks Jeremy! The WordPress community is special. Never seen a big product like WordPress respond so quickly.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a191225",
"published": "2025-12-02T19:12:25.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-02T19:12:25.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a234805",
"title": null,
"description": "I asked ChatGPT to <a href=\"https://gist.github.com/scripting/43a643d52f52a6074d4a5488bfe65c5e\">write an email</a> to Sam Altman for me. It's about a possible way to compete with Google.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02.html#a234805",
"published": "2025-12-02T23:48:05.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-02T23:48:05.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html",
"title": "Pluribus spoilers below",
"description": "<p>Theories on what's actually going on. </p>\n<ul>\n<li>It's a love story between Carol and Zosia. You <i>can</i> fall in love with a person with no sense of self. They plotted to have Helen killed, and waited until Carol's \"f*ckable\" judgment turns into real love. They get married and everyone lives happily ever after.</li>\n<li>Alternate theory -- the original people are still in their bodies, suppressed to keep quiet. Inside they're screaming to be saved, as pissed off as Carol. They want their bodies back. They have the ability to write messages on their skin, so what Carol saw at the end of the last episode was a corpse with the words HELP ME! visible on the body's belly.</li>\n<li>Another alternate theory about the end of the last episode -- it took a moment for Carol to recognize her own body, possibly dead, and realizing this is all a dream. It's another version of <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22\">The Matrix</a>, where this is the fake reality that we've been seeing. None of this is really happening. (Like the end of the Bob Newhart show?)</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Also is Plur1bus like Saul Goodman, in that if you say it a different way it has a message encoded? The 1 instead of an i seems like a clue.</p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/02/160644.html?title=pluribusSpoilersBelow",
"published": "2025-12-02T16:06:44.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-02T16:06:44.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a144337",
"title": null,
"description": "We've forgotten how important <a href=\"http://scripting.com/scripting/manila/bloggerCon/ruleoflinks.html\">links</a> are.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a144337",
"published": "2025-12-01T14:43:37.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-01T14:43:37.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a205317",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2022/12/01/metrocard.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">I was able to use my Android phone to get on the NYC subway a few days ago. Turn the phone on, point it at the reader on the turnstyle, and just keep walking. It's that fast and a lot better than with the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCard\">MetroCard</a>. Sometimes things <i>do</i> get better.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a205317",
"published": "2025-12-01T20:53:17.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-01T20:53:17.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a204917",
"title": null,
"description": "<a href=\"http://scripting.com/2022/12/01.html#a165312\">2014</a>: \"The great thing about the web is/was that I could create any feature I could implement without getting permission from anyone. Before the web, with compuserve or applelink, only employees of those companies could. Here we are again.\"",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a204917",
"published": "2025-12-01T20:49:17.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-01T20:49:17.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a142223",
"title": null,
"description": "Turns out we can influence the RSS feed we emit from a WordPress site by editing its theme, so it appears we should be able to get WordLand to work for linkblogs without resorting to a special feed.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a142223",
"published": "2025-12-01T14:22:23.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-01T14:22:23.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a143433",
"title": null,
"description": "We used to have great multi-cross-blog debates. That's the kind of distance that makes discourse civilized. I post in my space, you post in yours, and link the two when appropriate.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a143433",
"published": "2025-12-01T14:34:33.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-01T14:34:33.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a145328",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/01/housePlant.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">I had to learn to be a developer if I wanted to make new media types out of computer networks, but soon it may not be necessary. We've been stuck in a rut of online sameness for a couple of decades now. One benefit of AI is the exclusivity that programmers have had, for all of history, is being broken. Thank goodness. It's way past time. (I hope.) It's also possible we're in the process of inventing <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=%22the%20matrix%22\">The Matrix</a>. Ooops. That's what makes life so interesting, you don't know if the future is boring or exciting. But in my experience it's almost always unforeseen.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a145328",
"published": "2025-12-01T14:53:28.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-01T14:53:28.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a141810",
"title": null,
"description": "Good morning and welcome to December. The November archive has been <a href=\"https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2025/11.opml\">safely stored</a> on GitHub along with the <a href=\"https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/tree/master/blog/opml/2025\">rest of 2025</a>. And now we will resume our normal schedule of winter weather in the Catskills, so please dress warmly and have a good song to sing.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2025/12/01.html#a141810",
"published": "2025-12-01T14:18:10.000Z",
"updated": "2025-12-01T14:18:10.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
}
]
}