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Scripting News, the weblog started in 1997 that bootstrapped the blogging revolution...

A YCombinator for research

We're dangerously low on new ideas.

Some of the young people coming out of college these days must be interested in meaty technical stuff. Not just variants on Foursquare, Blogger, Twitter, GMail, Spotify and Groupon.

There are new ideas out there, but there's no funding model for them.

Things that would, today, make a VC's eyes glaze over.

It's where the startups of 2016 will come from.

8/14/2013; 4:57:39 PM

Sing along with Arlo and me!

In May 2005 I recorded a homemade version of Dixie and uploaded it, suggesting that other people might want to sing along. It worked! It became a chain letter, one person would add his or her voice, upload the result, and someone else would download it, sing along, upload and so on. No one knows who all the people were, or how many branches, or how long it went on, but what a trip!

So I was just listening to the original Alice's Restaurant recorded by Arlo Guthrie in 1967, and started singing with him. It's such a great song, and now it takes on new meaning with the problems we're having with the government and Internet service providers.

So I recorded the last verse, with Arlo, me and a few hundred people at the 1967 concert. You can add your voice and upload the result. Feel free to post a link in the comments here, or start your own thread!

Let's have fun.

8/14/2013; 1:03:19 PM

A wicked idea to see how much freedom of speech we really have

It's also an idea that's patriotic, because it will help the NSA improve their algorithms.

1. Do a little research on the net. Find some pages that link to famous freedom fighters or revolutionaries. I'm not going to make any suggestions here, for obvious reasons.

2. Send an email to the support address at an Internet company that you think isn't doing a good-enough job at protecting your Internet communication.

3. Ask them if they've thought about these topics. Include a couple of excerpts and links to the Wikipedia pages. Tell them how you feel about free speech. Wish them a nice day and don't forget to smile!

4. I don't think this should terrorize anyone. Quite the opposite. It's the kind of thing the Yippies would have done back in the 70s. Arlo Guthrie would love it, I think.

5. You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant..

6. 8/14/2013; 12:28:36 PM

The Great Va Va Voom

Originally posted on Facebook.

My dear departed uncle, Ken Kiesler, aka The Great Va Va Voom, became an Internet meme, because of this picture -- along with my great-great grandfather on my mother's side. His last name was Schecter.

A picture named uncleVava.gif

Ken was fun to be around. When I showed him Dancing Hamsters, he feigned confusion. He would have loved the idea that this picture made him famous, even though people had no idea who he actually was.

8/14/2013; 10:52:41 AM


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