Trying Firefox. Again.

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I’m giving the Firefox browser another try. Every clued-in person I know of and respect uses Firefox (or something other than IE). So I’m gonna give it another shot. I miss is the little “click” sound you get with Internet Explorer. I know it’s stupid, but I like the click.

Update: As is so often the case, Andy had the answer/link. I’m browsing with Firefox, now with the comforting little click. But now my little flickr badge doesn’t seem to be working. Must be a setting that needs to be changed.

Anniversary of first “right to die” case

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December 26, 2005 marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Nancy Cruzan. Nancy Cruzan was a 25-year old southwest Missouri woman who was thrown from her car in 1983 when it flipped over. Paramedics found and revived her at leat 15 minutes after the crash. She never fully regained consciousness but did achieve a status that came to be called a “Persistent Vegetative State.” Five years after her accident, her family concluded she would never return to full consciousness. Thus began a long legal battle to have her feeding tube removed so she would die. The Cruzan case became the first “right to die” case to reach the United States Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 against the family.

Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy interviewed Bill Colby, the Cruzan family lawyer during the ordeal. Runs 30 minutes but it’s damned fine radio. Before the web, an in-depth piece like this would simply have been tucked away in a desk drawer.

Media Maturity

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Jon Fine (BusinessWeek online) on mature media:

“You can’t imagine letting people leave comments about you for everyone to see. You can’t imagine rank amateurs’ content being more attractive than that produced by a Mature Medium. (You silently scream: “It took me decades to get where I am!”) You can’t see that News Corp. and Suzuki have calculated — zenlike — that the only way to maintain control is to give it up. That they realize media go both ways now. That they can’t hide behind their accustomed walls. To do so may protect your flank, but at the risk of closing yourself off to the Next Big Thing.”

I am making a concerted effort to not talk about “all of this,” because it is simply impossible to grok what’s happening if you are not participating in it. Non-bloggers can’t see the attraction, let alone the implications. Those who aren’t listening to podcasts, can’t understand why anyone would or how it might impact their business. Like they say in the hospital movies, “I’m afraid all we can do now is try to keep him comfortable.”

Good Night, and Good Luck

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Finally saw George Clooney’s movie about Edward Murrrow’s efforts to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy. No car chases. No gunfire. No explosions. No nudity. Just a bunch of guys talking and smoking and looking terrified. In black and white. There were five of us in the theater. Would love to see the movie again, but next time in the White House screening room with W, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove and…maybe John Ashcroft. One of those movies that nobody ever expected to make a lot of money. Just needed to be made.