Monday, March 31, 2008

msb-0281 Andrea und Galileo

msb-0281 Andrea und Galileo

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

I'm not feeling particularly tall, but, to paraphrase "Newton", [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton ] "I see far because I stand on ye shoulders of giants."

My butt may be stuck firmly to a chair, but I am standing in excellent company. (People who honor me by their very presence in my life.)

---- "Unsung Heroes" by: "A Sunken Ship Irony" http://www.spotlessrecords.com/asunkenshipirony

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "The Last of The Superheros ( of the 1970s)" by: "American Heartbreak" http://www.americanheartbreak.com/

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Accidental Hero" by: "strootker" http://www.btpodshow.com/music/?artist_id=7121

"Thesis:"

Ask any hero, from "Jim Thorpe" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe ] to "Sgt. York", [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt_York ] if they asked for the plaudits heaped on them after they did whatever they did, and the answer is always "No, I just did what did."

So if ever I get a swelled head from doing this, remind me that I said that.

A wiki, a podcast, a blog, collaborative media and all the rest are things I bring to this table because I am fortunate enough to.

---- "Heroes" by: "Jack in the Pulpit" http://www.jackinthepulpit.com/

"Synthesis:"

This synthesis opens on a quote from "The Life Of Galileo" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Galileo ] by "Bertolt Brecht" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brecht ]:
"ANDREA: Unhappy the land that has no heroes!
GALILEO: No, unhappy the land that needs heroes."
We MSers are unfortunate enough, by virtue of having MS, to need several kinds of heroes:
  • the medical researchers,
  • the physicians, the neurologists and the doctors who focus on the immune systems,
  • the nurses and other health care workers,
  • the rehabilitation specialists,
  • the folks who agitate and organize for us,
  • the makers of pharmaceutical products, special cooling vests, special shoes for "drop foot", special chairs, lifts, van modification, uh, stuff, canes, walkers, bus services, hair products(?) who knows, what else,
  • the people who love when we don't feel lovable in the least.
All of them are heroes in their own ways; bringing us what we need to lead fuller lives.

Now we have a great deal to do to get the word out (["sigh"] that's my job I guess,) and to create an environment where these heroes, who never think of themselves as heroes, can come and meet us face to face ... and failing that, mind to mind.

The wiki is a happening thing.

I've started to put together references to all the pages of MS information that I can find on the web. Not the actual content but references to them. This way I don't claim to own the information and the person who does own the information can do whatever he wants or needs to do with it.

I'm going to create pages for every organization, every chapter of every organization, put in the events in the calendar for the North Jersey Chapter of the MS Society, and then email & snail mail every organization and every chapter of every organization to tell them that they too can put in their events.

I'm going to also create pages for some people that are related to the geography of this disease.

Its demographic data painted with a very broad brush.

---- "Ordinary Heroes" by: "Cats or Cars" http://www.renboy.com/catsorcars

"Conclusion:"

The wiki and this podcast are services that I am bringing to all of the organizations, chapters and people all over the planet who have or are caring for (or about) people with MS.

And after me, someone else will be able to run it too.

It will end when it will end, hopefully when this disease is finally conquered and not a day before.

(And damn the RIAA and allthe lawyers for preventing me from playing any "Kurt Weill" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Weill ] for you. I even have a recording of "Brecht" singing "Mac The Knife" [auf Deutsch natürlich. ;-])

---- "Heros Journey" by: "Artist X" http://www.myspace.com/artistxsongs

Outro

Saturday, March 29, 2008

msb-fr-0005 J'ai la Sclérose en Plaques. 'Y a Rien La

msb-fr-0005 J'ai la Sclérose en Plaques. 'Y a Rien La

intro

Désaveu! Désaveu! Désaveu!

MSBPodcast n'est pas aucune sorte de podcast médical.

Il est produit par et pour des SP'cimens.

Son but est de nous garder divertis, d'expliquer nos symptômes, de remarquer à propos de nos découvertes et d'élever la conscience générale envers notre maladie.

Le sentier à la maladie est ombragé, glauque et parsemé de rugueur.

Le sentier à la pleine forme est allumé par la lampe des connaissances.

----

À Moi oûvre le programme...

Je sais que l'expression oû la phrase "À Moi" n'est pas la bonne parceque c'est normalement utilisée pour indiquer un cri de détresse.

Mais si avoir la sclérose en plaque n'est pas une situation de détresse... "eh ben".

La musique prend un tour vers le Teutonique aujourd'hui. (J'ai eu des conseils et des renseignements de provenance Allemande récemment et c'es lui qui a choisi la musique. :-)

---- "Ganz Leise feat. Sylvia Gerlach" par: "KLANGSTEIN" http://www.schallkammer.de/

À Vous suit...

Ceci est votre segment.

Dite ce que vous voulez sur ce segment.

Faites part avec d'autre SPcimens n'importe quoi que vous voulez parteger.

Envoyez moi un courriel: "charles à MSBPodcast.com"

---- "EchtZeit" par: "KLANGSTEIN" http://www.schallkammer.de/

À L'aide est en troisième...

Avez-vous une thérapie, un produit, un bien ou un service qui est d'intérêt aux SP'cimen?

Considérez la publicité sur ce podcast.

Les mémentos sur ce segment coûtent seulement $0.03 par mémento par téléchargement d'une épisode. (Un $30CPM visé à SP'cimen.)

Il peut / devrait causer une annonce complète, en texte, audio ou vidéo, qui coûte $3.00 par téléchargement.

Cela semble cher jusqu'à ce que vous fassiez le calcul et vous vous rendiez compte que si personne ne le télécharge il ne vous coûte rien, à la différence de la presse, où vous ne pouvez pas souvent même placer une annonce dans aux journaux spécialisés, ou la radio ou la TV où vous gaspilleriez votre argent avec un taux de retour de 0.0833% de SP'cimen. (C'est environ six fois "au-dessous" du niveau "de bruit statistique".)

Mais MSBPodcast est 100 % dans votre marché et vous payez seulement par téléchargement de votre matériel.

L'enjeu en vaut la chandelle.

Atteignez les SP'cimens qui achèterait votre thérapie, produit, bien ou service, sans gaspiller votre argent de publicité sur quelqu'un qui n'est "pas" intéressé...

Envoyez moi un courriel: "charles à MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Almost Lover - feat. RamsayGee" par: "KLANGSTEIN" http://www.schallkammer.de/

"Thèse:"

Vous avez probablement remarqués que les segments en Français sont encore très courts.

Mais cette situation ne pourra continuer parceque je ratrappe mon Français de plus en plus rapidement et je devrais ètre en mesure de vous casser les oreilles avec mes opinions sur beaucoup de choses qui traite sur la sclérose en plaques.

---- "Propaganda" par: "Jammin-INC" http://www.jammin-inc.de/

"Synthèse:"

Je remarque que mon "Spelling Checker" n'm'est que totallement "in-u-tile".

Mon orthographie Française est strictement ce qu'il me reste de mon éducation au Québec d'il y a très, très longtemp déja.

Je dois admettre que je depends beaucoup sur tous les avantages que je peut extraire de la technologie. (Et j'ai le nez constamment enfoui dans le "Bescherelle" [ http://www.bescherelle.com/index.php?retour=1 ] et le "Larousse", [ http://www.larousse.fr/#accueil ])

S'il y a un de vous qui a connaissance d'un logiciel pour le Mac pour corriger mon orthophaphe excecrable, envoiez mois un courriel: charles à msbpodcast.com

---- "System Overload" par: "Jammin-INC" http://www.jammin-inc.de/

"Conclusion:"

Donc, pour le mieus oû pour le pire, mon Français me reviens, petit a petit.

Bientôt je devrais vous casser les oreilles avec mon patoi Québecois et mes opinions loufoques.

---- "Jammin" par: "Jammin-INC" http://www.jammin-inc.de/

Outro

Friday, March 28, 2008

msb-0280 Purr fect

msb-0280 Purr fect

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

I'm now testing the crap out of the wiki.

But I'm not going to give out the URL just yet.

It's got no content and I want to give the Societies and the Chapters a reason to go.

----

Hole...ey crap! Who are you people who just showed up on the site and downloaded like mad?

I'll take it was fewer people downloading "all" of the old episodes (But its still and awesome blip to have appear on my stats.)

---- "Fiesta Infernale" by: "Susis Maenner" http://www.susismaenner.de/

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

Okay. I have got some food news for you.

I first heard about "BaconSalt" [ http://www.baconsalt.com/ ] on the March 19, 2008 episode "OtakuGeneration" [ http://otakugeneration.libsyn.com/ ] (#145 in case you want to upload it,) and dang if it didn't sound like a great idea.

It didn't hurt that the guys were taking boring old plastic-tasting packing pop corn and turning them into baco-licious kernels, and talking about how good it was and munching on 'em and ... Well you get the mouth watering idea. [slurp ... droo-ool!]

Now, I'm as curious as the next guy, (okay, maybe a bit more, [okay, okay, a lot more,]) so I got in touch with the makers of Bacon Salt, [ http://www.baconsalt.com/ ] Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow.

I bought a variety pack with my own money, so this not a paid promo or product placement or anything like that. They're not a sponsor or anything like that (if only, if only.["sob"])

I'm friends with a chef who shares my opinion of salt, which is that, salt is fine in moderation and to cook with (when it enhances the flavor,) but once the food is cooked, salt just tastes like salt.

And salt does all kinds of nasty things to your blood pressure.

But what about when the salt is "flavored"?

What about when the salt is flavored with "Bacon"? (Hmm, "Baconny baconness.")

Now, I'm able to watch my salt intake, but this makes it "worth" watching.

No more salting things just because I'm trying to get some flavor out of them, or eating "blah" food. ("Boiling meat" in anything is a terrible thing that I'm convinced only sadists and wastrels do.)

This turns anything, heck, everything into something with "baconny goodness".

Try some, or try a variety pack like I did, of Bacon Salt, [ http://www.baconsalt.com/ ] and reach your own conclusions. And if you do tell 'em you heard it on the MSBPodcast or write is as a comment on the order.

Oh...And this is killer...

Its "Kosher" to boot.

---- "Wasserfall" by: "Susis Maenner" http://www.susismaenner.de/

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Melancholie" by: "Susis Maenner" http://www.susismaenner.de/

"Thesis:"

Ya know, I've been going over some of my old shows and, damn those were good.

I may have been worse off (this was back when I was still pissed off, I "hated" self-injection [I still do but now this podcast lets me vent and to hopefully get beyond just venting,] and I still hadn't discovered anything about neuro-plasticity,) but damn, musically those shows were "good".

---- "Brackwasserrezept - GermanHipHop" by: "Brackwasser" http://www.brackwasser.de/

"Synthesis:"

Now I'm "not" taking any "kudos" for the artists.

They wrote the songs, played the instruments and sang the words.

All I did was gather up the songs into some shows.

But it doesn't take away from the fact that those shows sounded great.

They sounded so great that I've shuffled the deck and I'm bringing some of the tunes back with some new palaver in between the songs.

---- "Nur der Filter - GermanHipHop" by: "Brackwasser" http://www.brackwasser.de/

"Conclusion:"

Damn. I may have my head firmly planted in my butt psychically but there was nothing wrong with my ears.

---- "Salz in Deinen Augen - GermanHipHop" by: "Brackwasser" http://www.brackwasser.de/

Outro

And this episodes music was brought to you courtesy of Christoph [ http://input.podshow.com/ ] who's a German podcaster who was nice enough to reach out. (Man we're really "world wide.")

You'll be hearing some more suggestion by him in later episodes.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

msb-0279 Connecting

msb-0279 Connecting

..

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

I'm busy configuring and testing my wiki to get us all connected.

I have "no" idea why I put up that YouTube "video" [ http://youtube.com/watch?v=mTkp9UqVVHs ] at the front, except that I'm perverted enough to take pleasure in such a vid. ("You can pick me eight" indeed. :-)

---- "Connected" by: "Al Stravinsky" http://www.soundclick.com/alstravinsky

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "connecting" by: "MAXFIELD" http://www.clashuk.com/cometomaxfield

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Connected" by: "Psykosoul" http://www.myspace.com/psykosoulmusic

"Thesis:"

It always all about Relationships and Connections.

This week Shauna discovers what makes a self-winding watch really tick.

---- "Connect Me" by: "Alan Lauris" http://www.alanlauris.com/

"Synthesis:"

Connections

I own a self winding watch that doesn't. Last year I took it to a professional for cleaning and a tune up. He got it up and running again, I took it home, wore it for a day and it stopped. I put it in my purse to take back, and when I pulled it out to show him, it was working again. I put it on and a couple of hours later it stopped again. I took it back and was informed that sometimes self winding watches need actual physical winding.

I was driving with my mother one day when she noticed a knocking sound in the engine of my car. "You should get that checked out", she said. So I take it in to the mechanic and explain about the noise. "When does it make the noise?" he asked. "When my mom's in the car", was my reply. (You should have seen the look he gave me; no sense of humor) He got in the car with me and we took it for a spin. Of course there was no sound.

I have problems with electronic equipment at work. One day I crashed 3 different computers, one just by sitting down next to it. For the longest time I was having anomalous things happen when I was on the air...computer screens going dark, sound monitors in the control room turning themselves off, and the channel for the microphone turning itself off (usually while in the middle of speaking). It turns out I seem to have an inordinate amount of static electricity build-up in my body and simply waving my hand over the board that controls everything on air can turn off a channel.

For a while, it seemed that every time an alarm sounded at work (to indicate we were off air), it was my fault somehow. In fact, the head tech guy asked me one day if I had been in Newfoundland over the weekend (another province over where we have a sister station). I said no and asked him why. "Because the transmitter burned down", he said.

Over the years I have collected a number of these stories. Maybe they happen with the same frequency for other people but they don't take note of them. Maybe I just notice them because I see connections everywhere. And that is actually the point of this post, if you're still with me.

I have been contemplating doing a post on the "connectedness" of things. I can take almost any subject and find a way to relate it to myself. That's how I learn. but while researching "coincidence" and "synchronicity" I came across the Pauli Effect:
a tongue-in-cheek reference to the apparently mysterious failure of technical equipment in the presence of certain people, particularly theoretical physicists. It is named after the Austrian theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli. The Pauli effect was named after his (Wolfgang Pauli) bizarre ability to break experimental equipment simply by being in the vicinity. Pauli himself was aware of his reputation, and delighted whenever the Pauli effect manifested. (from Wikipedia).
OMG!! There's a name for it! The engine sounds disappearing in the presence of a mechanic or the channels and monitors turning themselves off but never in the presence of a tech guy (until finally one day when one happened to be standing right behind me). It's the Pauli Effect.

How excited was I to learn about this? Over the moon doesn't even come close. It happens to other people, too! I'm not an idiot! I'm not jinxed! I was thrilled to make this discovery for a couple of reasons. First, it meant that this phenomena is not the universe trying to get me. Second, it turns out that this guy Pauli became a patient and then friend of psychotherapist Carl Jung who's best known for his ideas of a collective unconscious and his theory of synchronicity.

Synchronicty! Aha! That's what I was looking for to begin with.

Coincidence is a noteworthy occurrence of two or more events or circumstances that don't have an obvious causal connection. For example, my co-worker Mary's birthday is February 28th. Her older sister Christine was a leap year baby. It would be more of a coincidence if they were both born on February 29th, but throughout their lives they have celebrated their birthdays together.

Synchronicity is also the occurrence of two or more events or circumstances that don't have an obvious causal connection, but they occur in a meaningful manner. My co-worker's sister, Christine, gave birth last week on February 29th! A leap year baby having a leap year baby! It's not unusual for women to give birth on their birthday, but to give birth on a birthday that only happens once every four years is...synchronous.

Over the years I have experienced this type of synchronicity many times. At university during my first year (1980), one of my biology lab partners was Grant, who hailed from Ontario, halfway across the country. I haven't seen him since we graduated in '84, but I met his uncle in 1998. His uncle is my neurologist.

Shortly after I was diagnosed I was at the local office of the MS Society and noticed a picture on the wall of a guy who had just finished his term as Pres of the Atlantic Division of the MS Society (or Chairman or some such). He was the brother of a former boyfriend.

Even the events surrounding my diagnosis were rather synchronous...I've blogged about it before: The Monkey's Paw and Insert Horseshoe Here.

I meet a lot of people in my line of work. Actually, I talk to more people than I meet, but some I do eventually meet face to face. One woman I talked to just before Christmas and I hit it off on the phone, then through e-mail, and finally in person. Kathy just seemed like good people. Turns out, she and I had a person in common, another MSer I knew through MS activities and who Kathy knew through a bible study they both belong to. Kathy and I and our respective significant others (Jane and John[aka Wookie]) got together for dinner a couple of weeks ago. Turns out Jane and a friend of mine from university ( a gazillion years ago) worked together until a few years ago.

I attended a university with a rather significant and recognizable school ring. Almost every social occassion I attend there is someone else there with the same ring. We instantly have a connection (even if it's just the rash that sometimes pops up under it). And even if there's no one else with that ring at the event, someone always comments on it to tell me their son or daughter or dad went there.

Last week I began putting on paper, so to speak, my ideas about coincidence, and doing some research on the subject while Lost was on TV. That is one interconnected show. Everyone is connected to everyone else even before they ended up on the island together. I realized after last night's episode that this is what attracts me to the show in the first place, and what keeps me getting sucked back in every time I aver to never watch it again. I am waiting for the resolution of how and why everyone is connected. I really want to know.

And when discussing this show with a co-worker and my upcoming post about coincidence, he said that with technology moving at the speed it is, it's no wonder the world is getting smaller. More and more connections are being made, even if it is on the internet. Kind of like pen pals, only faster.

So what has all this to do with MS? Simple really. I'm looking for the connections we MSers have with each other. And to do that I blog, I volunteer with the MS Society, and I raise funds for research. I also take part in studies relating to this disease because I have GOT to know HOW this disease works. MS is not a magic trick I can figure out or a mechanical device I can learn about. It is an as yet unsolvable logic puzzle. And everything I read, write, or research leads me a little closer to understanding.

I don't know why I have MS but I know what to do with it. And I promise to only use this power for good.

S.

---- "Disconnected" by: "Katy Pfaffl" http://www.myspace.com/katypfaffl

"Conclusion:"

Only use this power for good :-)

---- "Soul Connection" by: "RockDownBaby" http://www.myspace.com/rockdownbabyok

Outro

Monday, March 24, 2008

msb-0278 Iron In My Ears

msb-0278 Iron In My Ears

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

You know what I find incredible is that so many of you come back for this boring auditory abuse. I mean really... I'm humbled. I play some good tunes now and then but, really, I'm humbled.

----

And nobody had better tell me squat about the "French" episodes because those episodes are almost "twice" as popular, getting twice the number of downloads, as the "English" ones for the same amount of time. There is a hunger for, something, in the French speakers.

----

Okay, I'm here again with my MSers to gird my loins like "Finley Peter Dunne" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finley_Peter_Dunne ] and getting ready to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" [ more of the quote can be found at: http://www.accd.edu/sac/j-p/comfort.html ].

I am trying not to, but I'm being inevitably drawn into the role of a kind of journalist.

On the wiki front, I can report some success..ss..ss. Yess.ss.ss.

Now I have to configure the bugger. ("OUCH!")

----

The shows are getting posted up later because I'm having to record them later because the building next door is having its bricks repointed (And they're drilling out the old mortar with this loud, LOUD power-saw reciprocating thing.)

---- "Our Truth" by: "Lacuna Coil" http://www.centurymedia.com/us/single_artist.php?ID=31

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

----

Somebody heard me and dropped me an email. (See, you're "not" just listening to the lone rantings of a solitary lunatic, [with kick-ass taste in music. :-])

Manon Husman of "icyou" [ http://www.icyou.com ] dropped me a note telling me of their new service. To quote from the email:
"Hello, I am an outreach coordinator for the healthcare website icyou <http://www.icyou.com>. I'm contacting you because March is National Multiple Sclerosis Education & Awareness Month and we are working to help spread information and raise awareness about MS. icyou is a health-oriented, user-generated video aggregator and content producer covering a wide variety of health topics; everything from video definitions of common diseases and conditions to stories about cancer patients to coverage of health policy and politics. You may be interested in seeing some videos of Lauren Parrott, one of icyou’s contributors who is living with Multiple Sclerosis. You can view these videos and others by clicking on this link [ http://www.icyou.com/search/node/multiple+sclerosis ]. All of our videos are free, and we'd love for you to embed them and feature any of these videos on your website. Our goal is to simply spread the information as far and wide as we can. Also, while we have your attention, we want to let you know that icyou.com makes it easy for anyone to post their own health-oriented video. We'd love for you and your readers to sign up and join our healthcare video community. It's free to join and upload as many videos as you want, and the more voices, the more healthcare information is available and the stronger the community becomes. If you have any questions or comments about these videos or icyou in general, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks very much for your time. Regards, Manon Husman
There you have it folks, (complete with hot links for my iTunes audience!)

Got a digital video camera or even a digital camera that can also record video?

You can send her email and see if what you might have to say might be relevant.

It is certainly important, even if only to you.

And if its important to you, who knows who else it might be important to.

---- "HeavensaLie" by: "Lacuna Coil" http://www.centurymedia.com/us/single_artist.php?ID=31

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Medusas Coil" by: "HIGHLORD" http://www.highlord.it/

"Thesis:"

If we were represented proportionally in the media, we should get a little over a minute of air of TV air time per day. (1,440 minutes in a day, 1 in 1,200 people with MS ... Do the math. It works out to 72 seconds a day.)

But we're disabled, so we're part of a minority that is so underrepresented that its criminal.

When is the last time you turned on your TV so you could watch a show about you and the problems you face as you struggle with MS?

How about "nev...ver"?

---- "Closer" by: "Lacuna Coil" http://www.centurymedia.com/us/single_artist.php?ID=31

"Synthesis:"

I am angry at the all-too-human tendency to ignore problems until its "half-past-too-late" but I'm realistic enough to not waste my time trying to change it.

The mainstream media will forever remain closed to us. (Screw 'em anyway. Who need 'em?)

We have the internet and we have podcasting.

I've had audio shows, video shows and even put up a PDF to prove that it could distribute all kinds of media.

I know my limitations, but they're "my" limitations, not podcastings'.

I'm sitting here drinking a "Pacifico Clara" [ http://www.beerpal.com/Pacifico-Clara-Beer/880/ ] brewed by "La Cerveza del Pacifico" [ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/business/media/27adco.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1206209505-A1YEOvmmoNEsE/U/d1oVkg ] and getting as quietly rocked as I would from any other beer that advertised on "big media" [ http://www.mediawatch.com/ ].

Like I said: "Screw 'em anyway. Who need 'em?"

We're people on the fringe, skirting the edge of everything and anything because we represent something outside the 85% ("Hell", the 15%) of what the media want to appeal to.

To paraphrase "Richard Millhouse Nixon," [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon ] (a man that I might have hated in his day, but when the proper "tour de phrase" was required, he hired the right speech writer,) we are part of a "silent minority".

Well, I'm sick and tired of being part of that silent and ig-friggin'-nored minority.

On this here intarweb with its infinite series of pipes, this trucker wants to shove the pedestrians off the road and get my "Winnebago" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnebago_Industries ] through.

---- "Swamped" by: "Lacuna Coil" http://www.centurymedia.com/us/single_artist.php?ID=31

"Conclusion:"

We don't even friggin' "exist" to the media and we can expect that situation to continue "for-friggin'-ever".

Now, I am "not" trying to make them pay attention and take notice. (Frankly, we couldn't make enough noise if we marched, or wheeled, into line at an airport, fired off cap pistols and and made, like, loud "boom" sounds. [ http://zealous1.com/dc/collaboc1de/11%20Headshot.mp3 and episode msb-0132 Nerdcore {but the original video is at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4382766522092008539 and Doug is a "sad head case".}])

What I "am" saying is that we have the opportunity to exploit the same technology and the same internet to make our own media, our own shows.

We have the opportunity to have our own piece of the internet, competing for our "attention ", "our" attention, instead of the current oblivion we now face.

I'd "love" for somebody to see what I see, that there's money to be made here, and that there advantages to be drawn from paying attention to "us" MSers.

---- "Photosensitivity" by: "Solstice Coil" http://www.solstice.co.il/

Outro

Saturday, March 22, 2008

msb-fr-0004 Un Peu De Serieux, Quoi?

msb-fr-0004 Un Peu De Serieux, Quoi?

intro

Désaveu! Désaveu! Désaveu!

MSBPodcast n'est pas aucune sorte de podcast médical.

Il est produit par et pour des SP'cimens.

Son but est de nous garder divertis, d'expliquer nos symptômes, de remarquer à propos de nos découvertes et d'élever la conscience générale envers notre maladie.

Le sentier à la maladie est ombragé, glauque et parsemé de rugueur.

Le sentier à la pleine forme est allumé par la lampe des connaissances.

----

À Moi oûvre le programme...

Je me sens à la frontière de la réalité et je n'ai rien a déclarer.

---- "TAKE ME SERIOUS" by: "BROOKE GLOVER" http://www.myspace.com/brookeglovermusic

À Vous suit...

Ceci est votre segment.

Dite ce que vous voulez sur ce segment.

Faites part avec d'autre SPcimens n'importe quoi que vous voulez parteger.

Envoyez moi un courriel: "charles à MSBPodcast.com"

---- "She Wants To get Serious - 2007 remix" by: "Hudson Cerone" http://www.youtube.com/Kraftman63

À L'aide est en troisième...

Avez-vous une thérapie, un produit, un bien ou un service qui est d'intérêt aux SP'cimen?

Considérez la publicité sur ce podcast.

Les mémentos sur ce segment coûtent seulement $0.03 par mémento par téléchargement d'une épisode. (Un $30CPM visé à SP'cimen.)

Il peut / devrait causer une annonce complète, en texte, audio ou vidéo, qui coûte $3.00 par téléchargement.

Cela semble cher jusqu'à ce que vous fassiez le calcul et vous vous rendiez compte que si personne ne le télécharge il ne vous coûte rien, à la différence de la presse, où vous ne pouvez pas souvent même placer une annonce dans aux journaux spécialisés, ou la radio ou la TV où vous gaspilleriez votre argent avec un taux de retour de 0.0833% de SP'cimen. (C'est environ six fois "au-dessous" du niveau "de bruit statistique".)

Mais MSBPodcast est 100 % dans votre marché et vous payez seulement par téléchargement de votre matériel.

L'enjeu en vaut la chandelle.

Atteignez les SP'cimens qui achèterait votre thérapie, produit, bien ou service, sans gaspiller votre argent de publicité sur quelqu'un qui n'est "pas" intéressé...

Envoyez moi un courriel: "charles à MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Dead Serious" by: "Prepare for War" http://www.prepareforwar.net/

"Thèse:"

Si il y avait de quoi de sérieux a la vie, la sclérose en plaque serais cette chose...

Rien ne peut ruiner votre journée come la cécité, la surdité, la paralysie de quelque partie de votre corp, oû pire encore, les sensations phantôme qui rangent de l'agacant au lacinant.

---- "Worm Quartet - I Want To Be Taken Seriously As An Artist" by: "The FuMP" http://www.thefump.com/

"Synthèse:"

C'est toujour très aggacant de ne plus faire confience en ce que son corps nous dit.

Presqu'aussi agacant que d'essaier d'expliquer ce qu'on ressent a quelqu'un qui ne comprend pas.

C'est toujour très désagreable de se trouver incapable de ramasser quelque chose sauf si cette chose soit cachetée parcequ'elle serait renversée par nos mouvements spasmodiques.

Des fois sont pire que d'autre et expliquer cá au monde demande toute notre patience, specialment quand on fait face a une expression d'incredulité ("Ben, 'tu sur que t'est malade, ou quoi?")

---- "Serious Comedy" by: "Three Man" http://www.3man.net/

"Conclusion:"

La situation avec la sclérose en plaques est serieuse mais elle n'est pas désespérée.

Des traitements existe et on peu encore espérer.

---- "A Serious Dub" by: "Quantum Soul" http://www.myspace.com/quantumsoul

Outro

Friday, March 21, 2008

msb-0277 The Carnival of MS Bloggers

msb-0277 The Carnival of MS Bloggers

..

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

Herrad may be coming back to the podcast. "Yea!" She's had quite a struggle with her MS lately (and an even worse one with her idiot of a neurologist.)

----

My stats are looking great. I'm showing month over month growth. I'm reaching more and more of us.

The new stats package is great.

AJAX performance is truly impressive.

----

I'm about to install MediaWiki on a server that I have access to this week-end.

Why do you care?

Because it not just for me.

Wist me luck because if this works, we'll have a place that will be accessible to any and all MSers on the planet to get all kinds of MS Chapter News and events, calendars, with Google maps, and any YouTube videos of the events.

Information about events will be set up using a simple and easy to use form so that anyone will be able to describe their event (with pictures if any, with a Google map to the event, with YouTube videos of the event, if any) for a given language, country, zip/postal code, as of a given date. and it will be accessible by location, by event, by event type, by chapter (basically, whatever we've provided.)

It will be updateable by anyone who sends me their chapter info. (There will be a form on the wiki to fill out for update access. Nothing too onerous but it'll keep the "viagara" and "replica Rolex" pushing spammers "off" of the site.)

I'm going to be using beta testers to see how detailed I need to make the update instructions.

----

I admire thoroughness, like the thoroughness of the linking of research scientists in the YouTube video attached to the front of this episode's blog entry, and the linking at "The Carnival of MS Bloggers" is certainly that.

That is a list of MS Bloggers as thorough as any I've ever seen in all my years.

Lisa either has way to much time on her hands or she must have some means of organizing them all and the links from one to the next.

Like "Wow!"

What do you think got me off of my butt to create the MSers wiki? :-)

---- "carnival" by: "henning ohlenbusch" http://rockumentary.net/

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "The Carnival" by: "Jennifer Avalon" http://www.jenniferavalon.net/

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "a funeral will follow the carnival" by: "the pet ghost project" http://www.myspace.com/thepetghostproject

"Thesis:"

I could sing peons to/for/about "The Carnival Of MS Bloggers".

Lisa has managed to list a whole buch of Bloggers (182 of them as of 2008/03/15) but that is only a very small portion of the MSers one there (I've had hits from all over the planet and from a whole lot more than 182 bloggers [heck, its had hits from almost that many countries] because, as exhaustive as her list is, its limited to those who are rich enough to afford the technology, and bold enough to write and to speak.)

---- "Carnival" by: "Jerry Criner aka Cryout" http://unemploymentrecords.tripod.com/

"Synthesis:"

Though Lisa's List is admirable (frankly, I'm a little awestruck,) it does not represent us in any way shape or form.

The ratio of 182 blogggers to the estimated 5,000,000 MSer (themselves a 1 in 1,200 ratio of the estimated 6,000,000,000 people on this planet) works out to 27,473 people who have MS for every one of those who blog about their having MS. (About 23 times fewer than even have MS in the general population...)

Okay, we know we computer literate are a scarce commodity, but there are about 50 million iPods out there world wide still in use. (We've probably all bought more than one since they first came out. [I own three of different vintages and different capacities and my wife owns one too.])

That means that there in a shi... uh, a whole bunch of MSers who can benefit from having a podcast (If we apply the 1 in 1,200 guesstimate of the MS society, that works out to over 40,000 MSers from the general iPod using population. [Since the majority of people {5.9 to 1} aren't even using an iPod to get these show episodes, the 40,000 is quite likely to be an underestimate and gives an overall population size of 236,000. {Which means that I still haven't reached but 1 out of 20 or the merest 5% of them.}])

This show is aimed at "them", the rest of us.

---- "Carnival Days" by: "Phil Ayoub" http://philayoub.com/

"Conclusion:"

The 182 bloggers is a start, but there are over "five million" of us MSers on this planet.

Most of those five million will never even talk to anyone about having MS, never blog, (many of them don't even know about blogs, [they don't have the chance {and it is "chance", and don't you forget it,}]) certainly never podcast, though perhaps, they might not fear a microphone as much as a keyboard, (at least until they discover how "different" they sound. "That" is truly shocking. :-)

Let's get ourselves used to hearing about us and from us...

"That" is the aim of this podcast.

---- "Carnival Funhouse" by: "Seve vs. Evan" http://myspace.com/sevevsevan

Outro

Oh, for all of you people who hear me on the web without having iTunes, or maybe you've got rid an an old episode and would like to hear a song again, you can send me an email about it and I'll gladly, gladly play a song again.

Heck I might even feature all of the music from an old show all over again. (I keep everything so if you've it played once, you can hear it played again.)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

msb-0276 Another Inconvenient Truth

msb-0276 Another Inconvenient Truth

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

I'm still going through the new stats package and I can safely report that the old shows are "stubborn" as hell (How? I mean what are people using to get to 'em? The episodes are gone from my web site altogether!?!)

Talk about episodes having a "long tail" ...

---- "One Way Ticket Back To The Truth" by: "Yellow Express" http://www.yellowexpress.nu/

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Truth" by: "A Band Called Quinn" http://www.myspace.com/abandcalledquinn

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Cobalt Truth" by: "Daniel Adam Johnson" http://www.rodaband.com/

"Thesis:"

Of all the ways I have heard Shauna described, (plucky, gutsy, ornery, funny,) I have never thought of her as anything other than a hard working person who just drew a "short straw"
in the universal lottery we call life.

---- "This Time I Want the Truth" by: "Jeff DeHerdt" http://www.jeffdeherdt.com/

"Synthesis:"

An Inconvenient truth

It is difficult to maintain optimism when reality can be so pessimistic for many. I've been referred to (though not directly)as Polyann-ish at times and I'm really not. I'm very lucky, as I have often said, with my MS, and life in general.

That being said, I have my dark depressing moments, too, so I can understand that point of view. But focusing on the bad can only bring more bad. It is a self fulfilling prophecy. Think bad things will happen to you and you're more attentive to them when they do.

There was a woman I went to university with who was one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She was kind, empathetic, funny, and always willing to help you with whatever was in her ability to do.

She also had the worst luck of anyone I have ever met. If something could go wrong for Liz, it did. She was working really hard to put herself through school (engineering no less) and in her second year of a 3 year program she became sick and ended up missing a lot of class time. As a result, she had to do a make-up year, so to speak. She buckled down to do just that, though financially it was difficult. Her parents had little extra money, so she was her only source for dollars.

At Christmas time in her third year, her father, a traveling salesman who was also deaf, was attacked in a hotel elevator, beaten with a pipe and left for dead. (I had met the man the year before when he was passing through town and came to dinner with Liz one night in the cafeteria of our residence. He was a small, quiet man, who nodded politely at everyone as we raised our voices so he could hear us. The police believe the animals who attacked him had probably approached him from behind,said something to him and not hearing them, he didn't respond.) He ended up in a coma for a short time before finally succumbing to his injuries. As far as I know, in the 20 some years since that happened no one was ever caught for that crime.

Liz came back to school again. A couple of months go by and Liz develops some sort of rash that a doctor diagnoses as scabies. She spends a couple of hundred dollars (that she can ill afford) on washing everything she owns and applying whatever ointment the doc prescribes and recovers. A month later it's back. She sees her regular doc (who had been away when the rash initially started) and is told it's not scabies, but some other eczema type illness that will get better on its own. And it did.

She was in my room one day when I received a call at the pay phone down the hall. I was out for a couple of minutes and left Liz in my room. When I returned, she said, "I fixed your candle for you. It was going to burn right over the edge". I had been given a candle that came with instructions on how to shape the edges so it would burn down in a specific pattern and I had been patiently shaping it for several hours. There was no way I could tell Liz that she shouldn't have done that. I just thanked her for her attention.

Liz eventually graduated with her engineering diploma and though I lost track of her for 20 years or so, I did learn she went on to get her degree and obtain employment as an engineer.

The entire time I knew Liz, even through the darkest days, she maintained a niceness about her, an empathy for any who were going through a rough patch, and an easy laugh and really cute giggle. We all saw her weep at the news of her father, but then buck up after that incident and carry on. We saw her frustration at the scabies incident, but again, we observed her carry on. She never once had the attitude of "poor me". She never once said, "Why me". Those of us who knew her all said those things for her, but never to her.

Liz did not ignore the truth of the crap she went through. When told she had scabies, she said she had visited relatives one weekend who had a farm so it was within the realm of possibilities for her to have picked up the little buggers.

When asked about her father's hospitalization and subsequent death, she told us she was angry and sad, but she said, I have to do what I can for my mother and little sister now, and that means finishing school. She fixed on the best possible outcome and strove for it.

Liz never focussed on the bad things that happened to her. She always had hope for whatever was going to happen.

And that is what I try to do as well (though I have a post bubbling at the surface as to how I seem to attract negative electronic events in my life) with my MS. People who hear me speak about MS at fund raisers or just one on one, know that I tell the inconvenient truth (sorry, Al) that while I look great today and appear to have all my physical and mental faculties, the disability of MS lurks in the background every day of my life.

A specific drug may be helping me to achieve what I accomplish, but so do the little (and big) naps and rests I frequently take. So does eating a relatively balanced diet and all the little treats I allow myself (good for the mental health). So does not beating myself up for perceived failures like a divorce or bad relationships, or for forgetting my shopping bags when I go to the grocery store. There are many things I do to maintain my current status. Is putting hope in the mix part of it? Yes, indeed, because I hope for a future without MS. It doesn't appear that it will be in my life time, but I strive for the future anyway.

Most of this post has been fueled by a recent posting of Lisa's on Brass and Ivory about PR campaigns for MS drugs. I have nothing against PR campaigns in general, or PR companies. I'm in the PR business myself.

What I want is "transparency".

When I speak to groups about my experiences I tell them who I am, who my employer is, and the good and bad of my experiences. It's the truth. And isn't that what we need?

---- "Pure Truth" by: "Still Nameless" http://www.stillweb.it/

"Conclusion:"

I too am trying to be as transparent about my MS, my motivation and my goals for this podcast.

Yes I'm trying to make a dollar bill from advertisers in the very limited sphere of MS products. (Why not? I've "got" it. Why not make it work for "us" instead of being ignored, whimpering in a corner.)

Yes, I happen to think that, as media shrinks from the huge expenses involved in the mass market arena (the world of the "Media Concentration" [ http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/ ] where the "ClearChannel"s and the "Infinity Broadcasting"s rule the airwaves [that control being handed to them on a plate by the FCC,] ) and finds its way onto the internet and the web, where the FCC has no sway, and cheap is the law of the land, I have a customer relationship model which they might look at.

Yes, the media companies could use some humanization, some other way to see us, "as people!" (What a "novel idea".)

And this podcast has been doing that for over two years...

---- "Our Truth" by: "Lacuna Coil" http://www.centurymedia.com/us/single_artist.php?ID=31

Outro

Monday, March 17, 2008

msb-0275 Funny Ol' Thing

msb-0275 Funny Ol' Thing

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

"This" list at "The 213 Things Skippy Is No Longer Allowed To Do In The U.S. Army" [ http://skippyslist.com/list/ ] had me breaking up.

I'm not much of one for military humor but I had an hilarious moment after discovering this web site via the "Otaku Generation" podcast. [http://www.otakugeneration.net ]

And, despite the fact that it desperately needs rerecording and remixing (can somebody please step up to the plate and offer to rerecord it with them, please? This song could be a Monster hit!) , the next song has such a haunting quality that, when I found myself hearing it in my "mind's ear" on and off for days, I realized that "Monster" by "Broken Feather" deserves another play.

---- "Monster" by: "Broken Feather" http://www.myspace.com/brokenfeather1

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Old Broken Will" by: "Tim Ratcliff and Ken Bailey" http://www.westfieldrecording.com/

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Broken Wings - For Chet" by: "Melissa Forbes" http://www.melissaforbes.com/

"Thesis:"

I've been doing this podcast for over two years now.

I think I've gotten to know my audience a bit and what we need a little bit more.

I've also reached a conclusion about what I'm going to have to do to get us what we need.

Basically, if anything is going to happen, I'm going to have to start the ball rolling myself.

---- "Broken Windbreak" by: "Kwyjibo" http://www.acmerecords.com/kwyjibo.php

"Synthesis:"

Part of what you have taught me over the past two years, (as I slowly got my head out of my butt and took a look around, :-) is that we need not only need some form of media presence but that we need some form of information vehicle to get the news out and back.

What we need is a united presence in addition to all of the individual expressions of angst, passion, triumph, anger, resignation, fire-in-the-belly and leave-me-the-hell-alone ... all of these blogs out here as a cry that we exist, were people and we matter.

Some form of presence where the internet is the transmission medium and text, audio or video are the content media.

The internet is perfect for exquisitely focused advertising and, because of my demand-based "pull" ad model, its even better.

Amongst my many sources for information (no I'm not going to bore you with a list of providers and their websites,) I like to quote from "The New York Times" because its a really mass market publication (and if "they" cover it, you "know" is really got to have mass appeal and it also has to have the patina of verifiability.)

They just ran an "article" [ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/business/media/14adco.html?ref=technology ] which should scare the bee-jeesus off of traditional media.

Pepsi Cola has just launched a new brand (with its own web site at "http://tava.com/") purely on the internet and with on-site product promotion.

Its no guarantee that the stuff is any good or that its going to take off sales wise, but its an opportunity to find out "without" having to bet the farm on it because its an affordable proposition for Pepsi.

They can launch a product and the campaign without having to get into major debt at any point along the line. They can pay for such a campaign from some flack's entertainment budget for a week.

If the thing takes off like an "Outpost.com" [ http://www.outpost.com/ ] gerbil .. its just a question of getting more bandwidth and a bigger production run.

Sounds like a win-win to me...

So I'm sending some emails and making some phone calls to speak to some, uh, "prepared minds".

What?

Am I supposed to sit in my figgin' corner with a friggin' tin cup and hope that some friggin' charitable soul deigns cast a friggin' glance, and tosses a few friggin' ducats my way?

Screw that, Bub!

Not only does the squeaky wheel get the grease, but this wheel wants to make things "hap...pen".

---- "Broken Wings" by: "Dave Lambert Band" http://davelambertband.com/

"Conclusion:"

I the course of doing this podcast for over two years I've gotten to know my audience and what we all need.

I've also come to a conclusion about what I'm going to have to do to get what we need and that I'm going to have to start the ball rolling.

But I can't do it alone.

"You MSers" and "your MS organizations" are going to have to:
  1. tell me what "you" are doing, next week, next month, in the near future, so that I can run features on whatever you're planning to help you get the word out, and,
  2. tell me whatever "you" have just done, so I can feature it in some chapter type news
As much as I'd like to, I can't keep on doing it for free.

This podcast has become my entire job and a sump pump for all my time and whatever money I can scrape up to keep it going and growing.

So I am starting this podcast in two versions, one free, and one with all the news features for some money. (I haven't settled on a final figure but its probably going to run about $1/week or $50/year.)

For this you will get full access to whatever chapter news I can get from whatever sources I can find, where ever the chapters happen to be, whatever diagnostic and pharmacological reports I can find to bring you.

The idea is to have a clearing house, divided first by language, then by country, then by region-slash-state-slash-province-slash-prefecture (its your country, you divide it up however you want,) accessed by whatever postal-code-slash-zip code you use.

This will permit me to handle local events while also enabling me to handle regional or national of inter-national events.

You'll be able to put up news (in text only, or via PDF, audio or video,) about your MS event by language, by country, by region and/or zip/postal code from a date to a date, for "free" (which should interest the chapters and event planners) and be able to search for the same (which should interest members everywhere.)

This will be worldwide and accessible via the internet for updating the info in the database and/or via podcasts.

I've already started coding and I am soon going to be recruiting from my audience for some, uh, beta testers.

I'm going to use a "Wiki" [ http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki ] with specially templated pages to collect and disseminate the information.

---- "Help Me" by: "Broken Feather" http://www.myspace.com/brokenfeather1

Outro

Saturday, March 15, 2008

msb-fr-0003 Je Vais Au Restaurant

msb-fr-0003 Je Vais Au Restaurant

intro

..

Désaveu! Désaveu! Désaveu!

MSBPodcast n'est pas aucune sorte de podcast médical.

Il est produit par et pour des SP'cimens.

Son but est de nous garder divertis, d'expliquer nos symptômes, de remarquer à propos de nos découvertes et d'élever la conscience générale envers notre maladie.

Le sentier à la maladie est ombragé, glauque et parsemé de rugueur.

Le sentier à la pleine forme est allumé par la lampe des connaissances.

----

À Moi oûvre le programme...

Je vais á un restaurant Français a New York, (ce qui ne devrais vous laisser ni chaud ni froid,) mais c'est encore merveilleux que la cuisine Française soit si bien distribuée a travers le monde.

---- "Critical" par: "The Creamsicles" http://www.thecreamsicles.com/

À Vous suit...

Ceci est votre segment.

Dite ce que vous voulez sur ce segment.

Faites part avec d'autre SPcimens n'importe quoi que vous voulez parteger.

Envoyez moi un courriel: "charles à MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Livin 4 the Nite" par: "The Creamsicles" http://www.thecreamsicles.com/

À L'aide est en troisième...

Avez-vous une thérapie, un produit, un bien ou un service qui est d'intérêt aux SP'cimen?

Considérez la publicité sur ce podcast.

Les mémentos sur ce segment coûtent seulement $0.03 par mémento par téléchargement d'une épisode. (Un $30CPM visé à SP'cimen.)

Il peut / devrait causer une annonce complète, en texte, audio ou vidéo, qui coûte $3.00 par téléchargement.

Cela semble cher jusqu'à ce que vous fassiez le calcul et vous vous rendiez compte que si personne ne le télécharge il ne vous coûte rien, à la différence de la presse, où vous ne pouvez pas souvent même placer une annonce dans aux journaux spécialisés, ou la radio ou la TV où vous gaspilleriez votre argent avec un taux de retour de 0.0833% de SP'cimen. (C'est environ six fois "au-dessous" du niveau "de bruit statistique".)

Mais MSBPodcast est 100 % dans votre marché et vous payez seulement par téléchargement de votre matériel.

L'enjeu en vaut la chandelle.

Atteignez les SP'cimens qui achèterait votre thérapie, produit, bien ou service, sans gaspiller votre argent de publicité sur quelqu'un qui n'est "pas" intéressé...

Envoyez moi un courriel: "charles à MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Wrong Again" par: "The Creamsicles" http://www.thecreamsicles.com/

"Thèse:"

La cuisine Française est le meillieur cadeaux que la France a fait au monde.

Le système métrique, les lois du "Code Napoleon," la diplomacie et tout le reste doive prendre place derrière la plus humble de ces fermieres de campagne, suivi par le fromager, le cultivateur de champagne et de Pastis et le boulanger qui font tous des miracles pour s'assurer que l'on mange bien.

---- "Iron Woman" par: "The Creamsicles" http://www.thecreamsicles.com/

"Synthèse:"

Au risque de parraitre comme un grand gourmand (quand je ne suit qu'un petit affamé :-) la gastronomie est une passion que je professe depuis des années.

Les portions non pas besoins d'ètre enorme mais ca doit ètre de la plus haute qualitée.

Ce soir nous sommes partis à Manhattan pour bouffer.

---- "Rock on Rock" par: "The Creamsicles" http://www.thecreamsicles.com/

"Conclusion:"

En écoutant ce programme je regrette que je n'ai pas une traduction pour la phrase "Kick-ass rock 'n roll!"

---- "The Consequences" par: "The Creamsicles" http://www.thecreamsicles.com/

Outro

Friday, March 14, 2008

msb-0274 Back To The Topic At Ear, uh, Hand

msb-0274 Back To The Topic At Ear, uh, Hand

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

You may have noticed the clickable icon on my blog [ http://multiplesclerosisblog.blogspot.com/ ] site for the "Carnival of MS Bloggers."

They have a new post up.

You really should go over there and check "it" [ http://brassandivory.blogspot.com/2008/03/carnival-of-ms-bloggers-6-country-of.html ] out.

Its got a rather poignant story of life in a strange country: "MS".

I'm also trying to get a clickable icon or badge on Linda's site for the MSBPodcast.

The more we're cross linked, the better, but then the problem is one of keeping current. (She mentioned the fact that I actually repodcast at msb.podshow.com and now I'm gonna have a whole 'nother set of stats to integrate. (Awwww. Too friggin' bad. Success 's gonna suck, eh? [Its a good thing my commercial model can take multiple download points since the ads are done using a separate feed and server.])

----

A year or so ago, I was delighted to discover MDMHvonPA's "site" [ http://mdmhvonpa.blogspot.com/ ] which featured the "Haupertonian MS Cabal".

You can tell that MDMH is a techie because he tracks people by their last post date as well.

I hesitate to bother MDMH and ask him to put the same kind of badge for MSBPodcast on his site, but I think will. :-)

I think I'd like to see a single place where we MSers can reach out to each other as often and as openly as we want, or "not".

We're already making divisions along linguistic lines instead of national ones. (Take a look at my map if you want to see how far afield we MSers are spread.)

Oh ... If only there was a human being involved in sending all that spam, they'd hear this:
"To all of the makers of fake watches, fake meds, fake penis extensions and all of those fake Nigerian widows, you're all ending up in my trash before I even get to look at you."
I go to my mail servers once every couple of weeks and check on how accurate my spam filters are and they are quite astonishing. 100% rejection and narry a valid message amongst them. I can purge the whole lot without losing any legitimate traffic.

When IPv6 becomes standard, we should see the end of this plague of lies. (The new internet protocol will require authentication at every hop identifying the specific computer and will abort forwarding if the address is spoofed at any point along the chain, [which will ruin all of the botnets as well. Each computer, and the path to it, will be clearly identified.])

Messages originating from a computer will carry the identity of that computer and there is no way that the operator of the computer will be able to evade it. (And if it doesn't, the message stops right at the challenge point. Most spam would not be able to make a second hop past its own SMTP server.)

----

Onto a more relevant rant,

I am dealing with an updated stats package from LibSyn.

Its giving me different numbers than the earlier package. (I am showing about 56,300+ downloads with the new package but only 52,250+ downloads with the old package. That may be due to reporting partial downloads.)

I'm now trying to reconcile these numbers, but the new package is an Ajax based one and much, much faster.

Its also much more capable one and its giving me stats reporting capabilities that will save me a lot of work.

---- "Festival" by: "The Groove Mine" http://www.myspace.com/thegroovemine

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"


---- "Dark Sky" by: "The Groove Mine" http://www.myspace.com/thegroovemine

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Somber" by: "The Groove Mine" http://www.myspace.com/thegroovemine

"Thesis:"

This podcast episode is about the musicians that I am fortunate enough to discover on my various peregrinations through the collections at the PMN (the Podsafe Music Network.)

I am often lucky enough to come across some artist or other who is really really worth listening to, so I create a 'cast featuring them; like this one...

---- "Razor Concerto" by: "The Groove Mine" http://www.myspace.com/thegroovemine

"Synthesis:"

Part of my fascination with musicians is because of my personal history, (I gave up on music back in the seventies because of the contracts that they wanted me to sign, [{I wasn't born yesterday so ...} I read them first and they were all, just thinly disguised legalized theft.])

Being a musician is long, thankless hours of hard work, and requires dedication as well as talent. We don't need these no-talent scavengers trying to eat at our entrails while we're trying to perfect our selves and our skills.

I really think that these people deserve your support (as well as mine, 'cause my CD collection keeps growing and growing. :-)

---- "Malignus" by: "The Groove Mine" http://www.myspace.com/thegroovemine

"Conclusion:"

It is with delight that I create these "solo" shows which feature more than only one track by an artist.

I hope that by showing you that they are capable of the effort, you are capable of supporting them by clicking on the link (or going to the web page at my blog or in the show notes and getting the address off of there,) and buying their music.

(Why should I be the only one with a growing music collection. :-)

---- "Mello-D" by: "The Groove Mine" http://www.myspace.com/thegroovemine


Outro