Omaha man saves own life with self-tracheotomy

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“An Omaha man apparently saved his own life by performing an emergency surgery on himself. Fifty-five-year-old Steve Wilder awoke in the middle of the night last week and couldn’t breathe. He’d had breathing trouble after a bout with throat cancer several years ago and his windpipe had swollen shut as he slept. Wilder says he knew he only had one option, as an ambulance would never arrive in time, so he gave himself a tracheotomy. He used a steak knife and poked a hole in his throat, which brought a gush of blood — and a rush of air. He could breathe. He says it didn’t hurt. Doctors say it saved Wilder’s life but they don’t recommend what he did — call 911 instead.”

[Radio Iowa – Nebraska Radio Network]

Google Reader ads nifty Notes feature

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Google Reader is my RSS reader of choice. It makes it possible for me to keep up with about 100 blogs and websites. The “Share” feature (which I mention here from time to time) let’s me flag and post a story to my “shared stories” page. Just click the “more stories” link at the bottom of the little blue box on the right side of this page.

Google has added a Notes feature that let’s me share a story AND include a brief note about it. I can also highlight text on a web page, click the “Note” button in my browser toolbar and add the text… with my note… to my shared page.

I know, it’s a little confusing. But this is good shit. There’s a social networking aspect to this but let’s not go there right now.

If you use Google Reader, check out the notes feature. You can get a better explanation at Techcrunch and the Google Blog.

New report calls podcasting growth “massive”

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The guys at Podcasting News share highlights from a new report by Universal McCann that suggests new media is becoming mainstream media. Among the research highlights:

“Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and a collective rival to traditional media (184m bloggers world-wide, China has the largest blogging community in the world with 42m bloggers) – 73% have read a blog, 45% have started a blog.”

Key social platforms mentioned in the report: Blogging; Micro Blogging; RSS; Widgets; Chat Rooms; Message Boards; Podcasts; Video Sharing; Photo Sharing.

If you’re in media now and these terms are foreign to you, or seem silly and pointless, the Cluetrain doesn’t stop here anymore.

Scott Adams: Israel Defeats the Entire Middle East

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Scott Adams thinks Israel will eventually create the technology that will make oil irrelevant:

“The oh-my-God moment came when I realized that Israel can destroy all of its local enemies by inventing solar technology that makes oil uneconomical. Such an invention would do more harm than any military attack. And it’s all legal and moral. The politicians and business people in Israel have all the right incentives times a thousand. Their very survival is at risk. Israel is one patent away from crushing every oil producing country in the world.”

In his post, he links to the article that provided his ah-ha moment.

Geek Wannabe Botches Webcast

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Well, that sucked. Great video… shitty audio. Yes, we DID test equipment first, but thanks for asking. Even with George (he’s brilliant) on site, we couldn’t pull it off. But it was my party so I can’t blame him. No idea what happened but we shall not rest until we figure it out and pull off a decent webcast.