Friday, May 30, 2008

msb-0307 The Meaning Of Economics

msb-0307 The Meaning Of Economics

..

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 thinking of cutting the tail down to the last two or three months.

Unless I hear from you, I will get rid of everything else.

What do you think? Drop me an email Charles at MSBPodcast.com.

And today the music is computer based, in one way or another. I felt "techno". So sue me.

I'm featuring select YouTube videos on the website [ http://www.msbpodcast.com/ ] to send some of you from the iTunes from downloads back to the website. (Okay... about 85% of you are getting them from the web already, but I seem to discover another site where I'm listed every week so I'm wondering where you actually heard about this podcast from.)

---- "Computer Bitch" by: "Blood Bank" http://bloodbank.ideasdigital.com/

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"

I am inviting you to log into the "wiki" [at http://wage.packet.org/ ] and help flesh it out, rather much like I am, and to add things as you discover them.

---- "Computer Nation" by: "Voide" http://www.voide.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"

---- "Computer Blues" by: "Ken Tucker and James Swafford" http://www.myspace.com/jamesswafford

"Thesis:"

I'm still reading the book about producing video podcasts. (Its called "Producing Video Podcasts: A Guide for Media Professionals" by "Richard Harrington and Mark Weiser" ISBN: 978-0-240-81029-4.)

Producing video is extremely expensive, labor intensive and, to be honest, it wouldn't bring me a thing more.

Now, for the advertisers, they'll probably want to take advantage of video to demonstrate their products. On this podast, they "can".

Podcasting is the only game in town for which they can get a seat at the table. (Someday, I promise. Its bound to happen. Podcasting is just severely unknown right now and my "No Play, No Pay" ad delivery model is "orders of magnitude cheaper" than the current broadcast "Scatter-shot"model. I fact its so much cheaper that I believe it may suffer from a credibility gap. But its the same gap they crossed when going to "Google AdSense" and Google is now rolling in cash. [Even if it is only in US Dollars. :-])

---- "Duet for Computer and Human" by: "Superboom" http://www.renboy.com/superboom

"Synthesis:"

I must sound like a strange duck, quacking on about the need for socialized medicine on some posts while, uh, parroting, my faith in the capitalist system and in competition in some others.

The two views are "not" incompatible.

"Comparative Advantage" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage ] and "Social Responsibility" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_responsibility ] are "not" mutually exclusive goals.

This time, I'd like to focus on comparative advantage.

If you compare traditional broadcast advertising, or even that which is available on cable stations or networks, podcasts are so much more focused that they almost totally avoid the "tyranny of the masses".

That focus is a feature they share with traditional print media, but with none of the disadvantages of having to produce a dead tree issue, ship it to the subscriber or to retail outlets, deal with returns and so on...

Not to mention that a great many specialized journals eschew, or are precluded by clauses in their charters or because or tax advantages from, accepting commercial advertising.

And more power to them.

I would be be a little leery of research published in a "for profit" journal which solicits ads. (Its a systemantic truism that the very function of keeping a journal alive with advertising interferes with its function as a journal.)

But that still leaves two needs unfilled:
  1. the needs of the advertiser to get the word out about his product, good or service,
  2. the needs of the consumer to hear about the existence of a product which can fill a need which has remained unfilled and possibly unarticulated.
While Google and I can fill the first need, and charge for the privilege, and fill the second need for a "known condition", Google can't suggest that a condition being felt might not be normal and that there might be something that can be done about it.

Furthermore, Google is not going to further define the need by possibly devoting some time and episodes to it and handling feedback from an audience.

I this respect, podcasting is superior at filling its niche.

---- "Computer Chips" by: "aegis" http://www.virb.com/aegis

"Conclusion:"

For makers of products, goods and services that "don't" have the benefit of a large market, which means anybody who's not a well established maker of something with broad appeal, podcasting is really the smartest play.

Unlike Google Ad Sense which can direct ads for competing good and services, podcast ads can inform and suggest goods and services for something that is "not" being searched for but may be needed in the marketplace.

If you play your cards right, like with my "No Play, No Pay" content distribution model, it can also be the right size for whatever market size you're in.

Now for one last piece of techno music...

---- "Dreamcomputer" by: "Ibrahim Reevy" http://music.download.com/ibrahimreevy/3600-8261_32-100598738.html

Outro

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

msb-0306 The Atlantic Pedaler

msb-0306 The Atlantic Pedaler

..

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...

Same pile, different day.

That how is goes some weeks.

The YouTube video at the front of this episode, is fun.nee. (The sort of shit I uses to love to do)

Today, I feel "Ska" mon. [ http://www.ddg.com/LIS/InfoDesignF97/malyce/music.htm ]

---- "Fan of the Bean" by: "The Clintons" http://www.clintonsband.com/

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"

I am inviting you to log into the "wiki" [at http://wage.packet.org/ ] and help flesh it out, rather much like I am, and to add things as you discover them.

---- "Storytellers" by: "Minus Vince" http://www.minusvince.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"

---- "Tokyo" by: "Unsteady" http://www.asianmanrecords.com/bands/uns.html

"Thesis:"

Hmm.

The magazine is called "The Alantic Pedaler".

The Atlantic is the name of an ocean.

So shouldn't it be called "The Atlantic Paddler"? :-)

---- "Wailing Paddle" by: "The Rudiments" http://www.asianmanrecords.com/bands/rud.html

"Synthesis:"

Today, "The Atlantic Pedaler" [ http://www.atlanticpedaler.com/ ] published the first of my columns on biking with MS. The series is a look at how I came to be physically active and my involvement with cycling as recreation as well as exercise. Ken is the publisher of this e-zine and if you are interested in cycling in Atlantic Canada it's free to register. It also has cycling stories from other parts of the world.

Here's my first column.

If it weren't for having MS, I wouldn't be a cyclist. Ken kindly asked me to write about my experiences with cycling and having MS, so until the bike tour I'll be writing a regular column about this illness, my journeys with my bikes, and how I've become a recreational biker.
In January 1998 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. For the past 10 years I have been extremely lucky to have had little effect from this disease and hopefully it will continue to just remain fairly benign.

Since my diagnosis I have been a volunteer with the MS Society Atlantic Division in many capacities, mostly as a speaker or MC at events like the Super Cities Walk. Last year, though, I participated in the Rona MS Bike Tour, biking 100 k over two days. Considering that I had been a couch potato until the year before that, it was a great accomplishment. I also managed to raise over $15,000 for the MS Society in the process.

My quest to ride began when my boyfriend, John, decided to ride in the 2006 bike tour. I said I would train with him so I hit the gym for two months before even getting on a bicycle. I have never been exercise-friendly; even going for a walk was difficult as I would easily be distracted by bugs, rocks, plants, and anything of that sort, stopping to inspect anything of interest to my nature-loving mind.

Two months at the gym and it was time to get a bike. A Canadian Tire Supercycle seemed like a good place to start (after all, I had those as a kid) so I got one - a mountain bike. I soon discovered that biking was my sport. We hit the trails around HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality)and pretty soon it was nothing for me to do 20k rides. And I was beginning to think that a 100 k ride for me was feasible.

John did the bike tour in 2006 and I signed up to do the one in 2007. We biked after the tour including a trek to Jack's Lake in Bedford where I had my first fall off the bike. I was so proud of my "battle scars" that I got more a couple of days later doing the Whopper Dropper in Bayer's Lake.

The physical activity was proving to be a good thing for me and my MS. I was getting in shape. Riding in the woods or on trails was a mind clearing activity. And I was addicted to riding. Going down rock strewn hills at top speed was a little disconcerting to the boyfriend, mind you. He had visions of having to explain to my parents why I was in hospital with broken bones.
MS can play havoc with your internal temperature gauge. I would over heat quite easily and that would zonk me out too fast so I began searching for something to help keep me cool (besides the tons of water I was drinking). I had a neck bandana that I put in cold water before a ride. The gel beads in the bandana would swell and retain the water, so that helped. But there was nothing out there I could put in my helmet to keep my head cool. If my head is cool, the rest of my body follows that lead. Then I discovered the inserts road crews wear under their helmets. One of those would work! I found a company that sold them, but only in cases of 12. A great guy (Stan) at K and D Pratt managed to get me a sample from the company that makes them. What a great invention!

As you all know, riding a mountain bike on pavement is tough going. So I decided to continue to train with it but was going to get myself a touring bike, too, for the actual Bike Tour. Christmas came and I got myself a Specialized touring bike from Cyclesmith. I also got a trainer so I could keep cycling until the weather cleared a little bit.

I also had to undertake fundraising. A friend I ran into one day donated $5,000! He had been looking for something for a tax break and my timing was impeccable. I harrassed my friends, neighbours and co-workers for another 5 grand.

The weather improved and pretty soon I was taking the bike out after work and on the weekends John and I would do 20-30 k rides on the trails. And we would bike with teammates from our team, the Cycledelics.

A few days before the tour, my generous friend called me to ask if I wanted another $5,000. Of course! Suddenly I had $15,000 for the Bike Tour. I was walking on air, my excitement level was almost unbearable. I was going to do this. I was going to bike 100k!

Two nights before the tour I had an "almost" panic attack. What if the heat got to me? What if I couldn't bike those hills? What if, what if, what if....I think the adrenaline rush I had experienced for an extended period of time just overwhelmed me. I calmed myself down by saying, "I'm just going for another bike ride" and pretty soon it was the morning of July 28th. I had decided to head out right away on the route as it was going to be very hot and I wanted to take advantage of the early morning coolness. Good thing, too, as the temps were at 30 by 11 in the morning.

I left Windsor at 8:10 after registration and arrived at Acadia at 12:15. I had been worried about Mount Denson, but that wasn't a tough hill. It was the last hill from the Gaspereau to the top of Ridge Road that almost did me in. I ended up walking the last 100 metres to the top and cruised down the last little bit into Acadia. I did it! It took me 4 hours and more than 3 litres of water but I did it. The next morning I would do it in reverse. In the pouring rain. Glorious, cool, wet rain that soaked me completely and kept my body at a very comfortable temperature. I had a tire flatten as I was pulling into the rest stop in Hantsport, but after it was fixed, I set out again. The return was a little slower for me and some of my teammates caught up with me, so a bunch of us were able to cross the finish line together. I did it! Former couch potato and person with MS. An athlete!

I am signed up again for this year's tour so I'm on a quest to fundraise. If you'd like to contribute to my quest, click on the link for fundraising. If you'd like to join my bike tour visit "msofs.mssociety.ca/" [ https://msofs.mssociety.ca/2008bike/sponsor.aspx?l=2&pid=980453 ]

---- "Terrifying Lee" by: "Dan Elson" http://www.myspace.com/danelsonmusic

"Conclusion:"

I sit corrected.

Shauna can be the MSers on wheels.

And if I ever make a dime doing these podcasts, I'll do the tithe thing and contribute.

---- "Losing My Edge" by: "TVs Kyle" http://tvskyle.web.aplus.net/

Outro

Monday, May 26, 2008

msb-0305 Why I Don't Want To Do Video

msb-0305 Why I Don't Want To Do Video

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 in a pensive mood these days.

I've got over 70,000 downloads and I'm wondering who you all are. (talk about the long tail of podcasting, some of my shows are over a year old and they're still getting downloaded off of the web, [Podcasting it truly wonderful but I'm thinking of cutting the tail down to the last two or three months.])

What do you think? Drop me an email Charles at MSBPodcast.com.

---- "Video Virus" by: "Nalts" http://www.willvideoforfood.com/

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"

I am inviting you to log into the "wiki" [at http://wage.packet.org/ ] and help flesh it out, rather much like I am, and to add things as you discover them.

And some good news (though the drug trials are about as fast a molasses in January, [but its better than the alternative,]) about "ingestible" as opposed to "injectable" drugs therapies for MS.

For more info, you can go to "Health Talk | Multiple Sclerosis" "podcast/webcast" [ http://www2.healthtalk.com/go/multiple-sclerosis/webcasts/no-more-needles-an-update-on-pills-to-treat-ms ].

Okay they're a day late and a dollar short in my case but it still great that they're addressing the resistance to self-injection. (Like they said. "The patients sometimes get up and say: 'I just can't do it anymore. That's it! I just can't!' ")

Its not an inhalable, but at least its not another injectable.

---- "Small Video" by: "dfg" http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=a1a9729b1aa7718d088add008b1d0550

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"

---- "02 Videotape" by: "the priddle concern" http://thepriddleconcern.com/

"Thesis:"

I'm reading a book about producing video podcasts.

The book is called "Producing Video Podcasts: A Guide for Media Professionals" by "Richard Harrington and Mark Weiser" ISBN: 978-0-240-81029-4.

I can see the allure of it but I can also see why I don't want to do it except for very special occasions and under very specific circumstances.

Face it, even the best video recording of a wedding has an extremely limited distribution, is just more crap to toss out when you get divorced (or hang on to so you can get maudlin, hug your knees to your chest and chow down on a quart of "Häagen-Dazs®" once a year when you try to remember "The Good Times.©®™") and apart from the parties involved, nobody cares.

You've got either the perennial favorites of self-help instructional films, (like those great old embarrassing animations about "Perry Penis and Vicky Vagina" that they made the entire school troop into the gymnasium to watch, in lip service to sex education,) or you've got entertainment movies and other ephemera which soak up your attention for a little while and, as "Tom Lehrer" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer ] put it all those years ago, "help you relieve your drab, wretched little lives." (Incidentally check out the Flash animation by "Mike Stanfill" of Tom Lehrer's song "The Elements". [ http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html ])

No ... I'll stick to audio.

Least, I don't have to get dressed up to entertain you. :-)

---- "Beta Video Tape Head" by: "SOL 3" http://www.myspace.com/sol3canada

"Synthesis:"

Video is orders of magnitude more than I need to deliver on my goal of carving out a niche where there was none before, in the wall of human apathy and greed. (Its not that I haven't thought thought of it but that its vastly more complex and vastly more expensive.)

Just like architecture isn't about the buildings, its about the space between the walls, the moving image isn't about the subject, its about the play of light on its surfaces.

Music is about the interplay of sound and your imagination and, once that imagination is engaged imagery, even entirely inappropriate imagery.

I have a nice home-office and while its not perfect, it can do adequately to record my shows. (And interview are just an internet Skype connection to one of my computers.)

But I would have to rent a warehouse to be able to record the same kind stuff that I do in my little 11 foot wide by 17 foot long by 8 foot tall office.

The minimum amount of space to professionally record a two person interview, (like I did recently with "Joel Goldman" [ http://www.joelgoldman.com/content/index.asp ] and a long time ago with "Allison Reynolds" [ http://netxperiment.com/wordpress/ ],) eats up more space than the width of my whole condo.

I'd need a soundproof and sound baffled room about 25 feet wide by 15 feet deep and at least 8 feet high, but preferably higher, from one backdrop (or wall) to the other, with:
  • a 300 Watt Fresnel light about 5 feet from "both end walls",
  • shining through "cookie" lenses,
  • onto the backdrops,
  • a 5 foot square "conversation pit" in the center of the space with,
  • two chairs opposite each other with
  • a 100 Watt Fresnel spot shining on the back of "both" subjects,
  • a rack of pole-mounted incandescent on one side of each subject and
  • a bounce board on the other side and then
  • two cameras about 7 feet back of the subjects
  • both of which are Lavalier miked, prepped, made up and dressed.
You're out thousands of dollars in equipment and people time (the latter being actually more valuable, [you can always reuse the equipment,]) and you haven't said a friggin' word yet.

And that's just what you need to record a simple, easy-as-pie video set up for a simple, easy-as-pie interview.

And we haven't even covered the audio recording, which requires a two track recorder, an editing suite, some form of mastering set up and production equipment to slice and dice the raw footage you've recorded and put into a show format.

(What? You don't think what you see is what was shot, do you? It gets cut up; segments get reordered; some music may get dropped in in between the segments; commercials or sponsorship advertisements may get interspersed in between them. All of those shots of the host nodding sagely and pretending to look interested are pre-recorded to cover up editing out of prolonged "uhhs", "emms", "dohs", nose-picking "Brain Farts" and other, uh, mental "faux pas" from either chair. Many of the host's segments may get cut out of the show entirely if the guest is truly interesting. [Then you better hope it even gets on the air. {That last step is not a problem with podcasting.}])

---- "videogamez" by: "deceptakahn" http://deceptakahn.com/

"Conclusion:"

In audio, I sweat the songs, the text of the show the segments some of which are obviously prerecorded, and you can listen without me having to worry about getting a sponsorship from "Perry Ellis", [ http://www.perryellis.com/ped/index.jsp?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=perry%20ellis ] or "Yves St. Laurent". [ http://www.ysl.com/us/en/onlineBoutique/Men.aspx ]

I'll stick to audio podcasts for now, thank you very much.

That way I can bring you things like the "wiki" and not go broke trying to merely look good.

---- "Videology" by: "The Digital Motion" http://www.download.com/digitalmotion

Outro

Sunday, May 25, 2008

msb-fr-0013 Encore

msb-fr-0013 Encore

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...

Au fait, le programme est dédié a vous, donc je me la ferme.

---- "I'm Here" par: "LiVahn" http://www.myspace.com/foxsknobrecording

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"

---- "Falling Apart" par: "LiVahn" http://www.myspace.com/foxsknobrecording

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"

---- "Long Road" par: "LiVahn" http://www.myspace.com/foxsknobrecording

"Thèse:"

Comme j'ai déja dis, le programme est dédié a vous.

J'essaie de créer un sens de communauté chez les SPecimens et, je sais que ca prend du temps, mais l'enjeux en vaut la chandelle, parcequ'on en vaut la chandelle.

---- "The Roving Habitual Blues" par: "LiVahn" http://www.myspace.com/foxsknobrecording

"Synthèse:"

J'ai structuré ces podcasts pour nous donner plusieur chances de participer, plusieur chances a des publicitaires de nous offrir ce qu'ils peuvent, et pour de la musique.

Le prochain programme, en Anglais, (msb-0305,) traite de pourquois je ne veut pas faires de video, et si vous pouvez y ecouter, vous allez voire que ce n'est pas par mesquinerie mais par necessité que je me limite a la, hum, radio.

Mais c'est "ma" limitation, et non celle de la technologie dont je me sert.

Si vous avez besoin de vidéo pour dire n'importe quoi a n'importe qui, faitent comme chez vous et créez un vidéo.

J'ai aussi crée un "wiki" [ http://wage.packet.org ] pour qu'on puisse déposer toutes nos connaissances et j'ai ouvert un compte sur "Twitter" [ http://www.twitter.com/msbpodcast/ ] ou l'on peut envoyer de court messages pour rester en contact.

Vous n'avez qu'a me suivre ("Follow") et vous pouvez voir tous les messages qui me croisent entre les pattes.

---- "The Argument" par: "LiVahn" http://www.myspace.com/foxsknobrecording

"Conclusion:"

J'espère que vous viendrez prendre avantage et que vous vous joinderez a MSBPodcast.

Ce programme a compris de la musique provenant d'un seul artiste Li'Vahn.

Li'van provient de "Chapell Hill" en "Caroline du Nord" et il chante et joue tres bien, non?

---- "Sweet Jessica" par: "LiVahn" http://www.myspace.com/foxsknobrecording

Outro

Friday, May 23, 2008

msb-0304 I can't complain

msb-0304 I can't complain

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...

After watching the cyclone news from "Myanmar" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma ] (the country formerly known as "Burma", home of a xenophobic, self-congratulatory, inept, bumbling and murderously idiotic military regime,) and the earthquake news from China, I have "nothing" to complain about.

As I sit here in my dry, intact, almost affordable condo, hundreds of feet above sea level, on a solid piece of one of the most stable land masses on earth (its stable, but its not the "Nullarbor" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor_National_Park ] plain of Australia,) in a land without bombs going off, where there are more people killed by their own stupidity than by guns and where hate crimes are the laughably inept knocking over of gravestones, I "really" can't complain.

---- "Blue Days" by: "2AM" http://www.2amband.com/

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"

I am inviting you to log into the "wiki" [at http://wage.packet.org/ ] and help flesh it out, rather much like I am, and to add things as you discover them.

---- "Some Days Intro" by: "Pete Scafidi" http://petescafidi.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"

---- "Some Days" by: "Pete Scafidi" http://petescafidi.com/

"Thesis:"

I've had people complain to me that I don't seem to have a lot of medical information on this podcast.

Apart from me describing my symptoms and how I'm coping with them, you "won't" hear me pretend that "I'm" any sort of a doctor.

There are a lot of reasons for that, chief among these is the fact that I respect you too much to lead you astray, and I hope you respect me too much to ask me to work miracles.

The best I can hope to achieve is to work towards some redress of the underrepresentation in the media that MSers all "also" suffer from.

---- "8 Days Down" by: "Jen Elliott" http://www.citycanyons.com/jenElliott/index.html

"Synthesis:"

We've got a real problem we MSers, we one in twelve hundred, we 0.0833% of the population.

(Apart from the obvious, I mean. Yes, we got clobbered by a bus with the license plates MS. Shit happened. And we're all trying to "get over it", thank you very much.)

But its a problem we share with the remainder of the 15% of the population that the World Health Organization, (the W.H.O.)

Apart from very infrequent guest spots on "Oprah" or as the tragic love interest to some or other cinematic or TV hero, we're an invisible minority.

Oh there are all those curb cuts that the FedEx and UPS men use to move their dollies from the street to the sidewalk and all those spots that people aren't "supposed" to park their God damn cars in ("Yeah, lady in the green Jaguar. I would have parked my car there but you were where you had no business. If I could've, I would've parked right behind you, but I would have been blocking traffic, and two wrongs don't make a right.")

But we, the handicapped, never mind the MSers, are all but forgotten in the media that's made for the other 85%.

"That" is why I was so taken with "Joel Goldman" [ http://www.joelgoldman.com/content/index.asp and http://media.libsyn.com/media/msb/msb-0287_Shake_Down.m4a ] and his fictional hero "Jack Davis."

If I had the time and the talent, I would write a character with MS into a piece of fiction concerning a possible aftermath of 9/11. But, sadly, I don't.

We want for heroes and heroines who can act as role models for us, the 15%ers. (Face it, when's the last time you saw a "Marlee Matlin" movie? [ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0559144/ {and her handicap is not at all visible. Its not even audible until she opens her mouth to speak. (Its not like having to watch her struggle with a cane. Then I don't care how cute you are, boyfriends are dust trail vanishing in the distance.)}])

I'm not going to denigrate the everyday heroes who triumph every day by getting up and doing the things that the 85%ers do without a thought, but I do feel we're too invisible for our own good.

The blogs and the podcast are here to remind us that we "are" here, that we "do" exist, "if anybody reads them", and I'm no "Gutzon Borglum", [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutzon_Borglum ] but I'm trying to carve out of the solid granite in people heads a "Mount Rushmore" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore ] with "our" faces on it.

And so I keep on using "Wikipedia" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page ] to inspire you and I keep "Twittering" [ http://twitter.com/msbpodcast ] to try and build a network of people like you.

Its not competitive, its collaborative.

And we're all the stronger for it.

---- "My Yesterdays" by: "Eddie Ramirez" http://www.eddie-ramirez.com/

"Conclusion:"

I've had people complain to me that I don't seem to have a lot of medical information on this podcast.

Apart from me describing my symptoms and how I'm coping with them, you "won't" hear me pretend that "I'm" any sort of a doctor.

And that's not likely to change.

But if I can make any difference in peoples' perception of disability in general and MS in specific, I'll consider that a major achievement.

---- "Sweet Vineyard Days" by: "Ben Willmott" http://www.benwillmottmusic.com/

Outro

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

msb-0303 Its Wednesday, Its Shauna's Show

msb-0303 Its Wednesday, Its Shauna's Show

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...

Good grief, things take a long time to coordinate.

I'm as frustrated as ever.

So the theme this time is a little Latin music. "Andele andele, arriba!"

---- "Me Llaman Calle" by: "Manu Chao" http://www.myspace.com/manuchao

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"

I am inviting you to log into the "wiki" [at http://wage.packet.org/ ] and help flesh it out, rather much like I am, and to add things as you discover them.

---- "Chica In A Hurry" by: "ATL Producers" http://www.atlproducers.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"

---- "Begin The Baiao" by: "Kerry Politzer" http://www.kerrypolitzer.com/

"Thesis:"

May the saints that look out for fools and little children give me the patience, the strength and wisdom that I need to sit on my hand as I wait and wait for things.

Here is Shauna to regale us with yet another tale of how the extremely uncapitalistic, undemocratic and authoritarian meritocracy (mostly ... I "do" listen to Tom Wisker on "Weaponry" [ http://wbai.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=336&Itemid=142 ] at WBAI so that colors my views,) ahem, that is the U.S. military is coping with, returning as they are, people severely injured fighting in the two wars on the far side of the world.

I'm convinced that we should stay in touch with Twitter. It would save me so much heartburn and worry. [Its like my friend the SysAdmin with his ailing mother who would have made life, both his and mine, so much easier with a few Tweets.])

Now I only have the Amazon Ads thingy to get up and running on the "wiki". [ http://wage.packet.org ]

Everything else, Google Maps, YouTube videos and the Calendar extensions are running. (And if you find some more [at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:AllPages/Extension: ] that you think would be a benefit to us all, fell free to drop me an "email" at charles at MSBPodcast.com.

Now enough yakking from me and lets get back to some music and to Shauna.

---- "Maria Marisol" by: "Los Gallos" http://www.losgallos.com/

"Synthesis:"

When I was diagnosed with MS I asked my docs about supplements or a specific diet that might help. I was told that the typical low fat high, fiber route was the way to go, that there was little in the scientific literature to support one diet or another. My family doc recommended that I use sunflower seed oil when cooking, as that oil might aid with the regrowth of myelin that had been destroyed. As far as other supplements and vitamins go, I sometimes take vitamin D, calcium and magnesium, as I know for a fact I don't get enough of those in my regular diet and living in the Northern hemisphere I am robbed of any helpful sunlight for several months of the year. I also take fish oil and Vitamin C, only during the winter.

I used to go for massage therapy on a fairly regular basis, as we have two schools in my city that offer "neuro clinics" conducted by students, so they're inexpensive. And the students are supervised. I stopped going when I felt the benefit for me was no longer what it used to be. I will go from time to time as the need arises. I am also embarking on a regime of yoga to supplement my biking as exercise.

I am not a proponent of CAM, complimentary and alternative medicine, as there has not been enough scientific study of these methods of treatment. (Please don't send me links to "studies" by people or companies that have investigated their own product. They are not unbiased.) But, if you have a large study conducted by a reputable organization or institution, with a large sample size, large control group, and reproducable results, then let's talk. It's not that I don't believe that some of these treatments have merit. It just hasn't been demonstrated yet. I would be the first one to jump on the bandwagon if something worked. If you use CAMs and they work for you, then good. For you.

Today, I read an "article" [ http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/army-bioenergy.html ] from "Wired" [ http://www.wired.com/ ] magazine. In it, the "author" details plans the U.S. Army has of offering money to researchers who study alternative therapies and treatments for trauma spectrum disorders including Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I am excited about this. Why? Well, first of all, the Defense Department "is dedicated to supporting evidence-based approaches to medical treatment and wants to support the use of alternative therapies if they are proven efficacious," notes a recently-issued request for proposals. One way or another the U. S. Army may be able to put to rest claims of CAM success or they may disprove those claims. What is the Army's bias? They want their personnel to be treated with something that works and possibly to be put back in an active role. They are willing to spend the money to find out if something works, whether it's transcendental meditation or art therapy or nutritional supplements to improve cognitive functioning.

Secondly, medical science progresses in spurts, and we are at the beginning of another spurt with the war in Iraq, the conflict in Afghanistan, and the numerous other fights going on these days. Every time there is a major conflict on this planet we find new ways of injuring each other. As a result, military docs are on the forefront of treating the "new" casualties. The treatments they devise get passed along to the general public. After World War 1, the field of plastic surgery progressed very quickly. Men were returning from war, missing huge parts of their faces or bodies. As a result of the wounds that surgeons were facing, they developed new techniques of repair for the soldiers that were then applied to civilians. The docs fixed 'em, or tried to, then we civilians reaped the benefits.

What benefits could there be for people like me, with MS? In the past, the study of the effects of injury has greatly increased our knowledge of how a body part is supposed to work. Traumatic brain injuries of soldiers may give us more insight into how our brain recovers and rewires, which is directly related to MS, stroke, and other neurological conditions. Unknowingly, soldiers will be contributing to our wealth of knowledge about function. And they will also contribute to our knowledge of treatment of dysfunction.

The Army will be allocating $4 million for these studies. In the grand scheme of things, that's not a lot. But let's say 20 studies are approved and out of those 20, 3 are found to be quite promising. Those 3 would then be investigated further and so on. Perhaps the Army will discover a type of effective treatment previously dismissed because of inadequate research. I look forward to their findings, because we civilians will be the lucky recipients of the results. After the soldiers, of course.

S.

---- "Ala sola" by: "Daiki and Little Wings" http://daiki-soulcafe.blogspot.com/

"Conclusion:"

Thanks Shauna. I needed the distraction as I go back to waiting and waiting for those who decide to finally, uh, decide.

This is as bad as waiting for my diagnosis.

Actually, when I was diagnosed I was already bound for neuro-ICU, so the diagnosis was a kind of anticlimactic non-issue.

So now, I'm a podcaster (though the the 85% of my audience who pick up my shows directly off of the web, I'm a webcaster.)

---- "Chile Relleno" by: "Ritchie Hernandez" http://www.myspace.com/ritchiehernandez

Outro

Monday, May 19, 2008

msb-0302 Locus and Nexus

msb-0302 Locus and Nexus

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 is likely going to be a strange posting/podcast. (This is me. When "don't" I do strange? :-)

This episode was caused by something I read on C|Net called "How Valuable Are You On Twitter"? [ http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9942297-52.html?tag=nefd.lede ]

As it turns out, they miss the point entirely... :-)

And I can still tell when some people join through iTunes and have it set to "download all episodes" because my downloads stats go a bit crazy for a few hours.

But welcome anyway.

My friend the SysAdmin's mom is sick and that's why the wiki's hasn't been updated.

That points out on advantage of Twitter over email.

Just a short Tweet to that effect would have served me a lot better than the weeks of me sending emails asking for status updates that never seemed to be coming with no explanation why not.

Now that I know, I understand... There is no rush for the updates.

I will be in beta for a while longer while I try to install them myself.

When I was feeling like I was just left hanging, I was getting a little cross.

---- "Our Place Among" by: "Out Of The Cold" http://www.myspace.com/outofthecold

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"

I am inviting you to log into the "wiki" [at http://wage.packet.org/ ] and help flesh it out, rather much like I am, and to add things as you discover them.

---- "My Place" by: "Amy Ayres" http://www.amyayres.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 Better Place" by: "tony vani and debbie hoskin" http://www.soulretrieval-cd.com/

"Thesis:"

Well the Wiki beta is off to, ahem, a rousing start.

(You're still very shy about leaving stuff.

And yes, you have to register and make your updates after responding to an initial email.

Its so far the only effective way to staunch the Niagara of "Viagara."

You would not "believe" some of the spam I capture everyday, as these scum try to infest the blog and podcast rolls.)

And how is this supposed to tie in to "Twitter" [ http://twitter.com/ ] exactly?

The latter is a "stream" of consciousness (a "nexus" [ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nexus ]) while the former is a "pool" of consciousness (a "locus" [ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/locus ]).

Both are repositories of perceptions and information.

Because of the majority of its users being desperate to say something in response the the question "What are you doing?", "Twitter" is a stream of mere babble instead of being status updates. "Doing" is the point. Very little thought seems to be given to "why" and you doing what ever it is that you're doing.

Wikis on the other hand are repositories of data, most which is meaningless, except that it is valuable to a select few who need it.

---- "Take me to this place" by: "Josh Lopez" http://www.joshlopez.com/

"Synthesis:"

Twitter and wiki represent "nexi" and "loci" in the sphere of social networking.

Wikis represent destinations in the communal collective collaborative brain while Tweets represent the "corpus callosum" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_callosum ] of activities required to get from one idea to the next.

Both are indispensable and both are complimentary in the same way that the "Eisenberg Uncertainty principle" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle ] is essential to quantum mechanics. (You can know the position or the momentum of a particle but never both simultaneously because knowledge of one removes knowledge of the other.)

I hope that MSers use twitter to weave themselves into a wide social network and use the wiki as a destination for all of the information they care to share.

I am of course aware of the "impedance mismatch" [ http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/impedance.htm ] between myself, as a for profit, (eventually, some day, I hope, please, :-) and the various associations out there, who have a lot riding on their "not" making any money.

Now they have their own limited advertising, carried by their affiliated or associated publications, but they tend to be extremely constrained. Some of the state and local ones can't (not "wont" but "can't") carry any ads for stuff that their state or chapter local merchants make or carry to help out their own members.

That's why the wiki is an indispensable resource because anybody can join in and because its a destination, a sense of place, a "locus" in the myriad conversations, the "nexi" that we MSers carry on in the process of living out lives.

Here's an example of a question that "all" of you could answer in the wiki "if" you already know the answer but that "none" of you can answer if you don't; if you haven't already had to walk that walk:
"Where and when is the self-help group meeting in your neck of the woods?"
Its a simple question ... but if you don't know, like the newly diagnosed, you need to know.

Likewise when do they meet?

Who all showed up?

What did they talk about last month, the month before that, the month before that, who did they have as a speaker, (yaddah, yaddah, yadah...)

Check out the "wiki". [ http://wage.packet.org/ ]

Its got the self help groups for my town in there because I put it in there.

Now how about you put yours in there?

There's also calendars of events etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. :-)


---- "Replaced By Robots" by: "Lejeune" http://www.lejeunemusic.com/

"Conclusion:"

I hope MSers start using Twitter to keep in touch and using the wiki for whatever the heck they want to, just keeping in mind what each is best at doing for communication.

---- "A Better Place" by: "garyseven" http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=a17e9684a7336d4e9b3fa4012b8fa81b


Outro

Sunday, May 18, 2008

msb-fr-0012 Trésor

msb-fr-0012 Trésor

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 construis un Wiki pour les SPcimens. It est encore en "béta" (a http://wage.packet.org ) et je dois admettre que j'apprend encore comment my prendre pour supporter les diffferent languages.

---- "Treasure" par: "Alyssa Hendrix" http://web.mac.com/hxquarter/iweb

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"

---- "Where Your Treasure Is" par: "Canopy" http://www.canopymusic.net/

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"

---- "Treasure Trauma" par: "Dormitious" http://www.myspace.com/dormitious

"Thèse:"

J'essai toujour de fonder une communautée de SPcimen comme un anodin envers l'ignorance pénible de tous les media envers nous, et de quel on souffre tous les jours.

L'idée est de devenir visible, de se libérer des tenèbres et do pouvoir commencer a respirer.

---- "Hidden Treasure" par: "Jonny Kaplan And The Lazy Stars" http://www.jonnykaplan.com/

"Synthèse:"

L'idée n'est pas d'alleger nos soufrances, c'est franchement aux docteurs et aux chercheurs de decouvrir le necessaire, mais l'idée est de rendre tous les efforts par toutes ces personnes et d'autre encore, plus visible.

Nous avons des besoins, nous les Spcimens, et il a du monde qui font leur metier, leur besogne, a prendre soin de nous ... si on connais déja d'eux.

Mais la sclérose en plaques c'est une maladie relativement rare (seulement one personne sur douze cent en est affligée,) et le grand mégaphone des media, des magazines, de la radio et de la télévision, se fiche de nous. Nous sommes pas suffisament nombreux, et donc trop pauvres collectivement, pour mériter de leur attention.

Mais sur l'internet, il est possible de connecter n'importe quelles deux personnes ensemble mais seulement si elle connaissait déja.

Podcasting est le moyen de faire ces connaissances, ces rencontres, pour introduire ces individus, l'un à l'autre.

Et les programmes du MSBPodcast ne son't pas des programmes médicaux pour la mème raison que la majeure portion des programes dans les médias ne son't pas des programmes médicaux, nous ne somme pas des docteurs, nos sommes les affligés et nous avons d'autres choses a l'idée que la maladie, la médecine et tout le tra-la-la medical.

Nous sommes plus que notre maladie.

Nous sommes plus mais nous serions très interressé a avoir des nouvellles de ce qui nous concerne en plus de de ce qu'on peut decouvrir quotidiennement dans les médias réguliers.

---- "Treasured Times" par: "Michael McGinty" http://myspace.com/mikemcgintyofficial

"Conclusion:"

MSBPodcast.com est un service adjoin pour découvrir et disseminer de l'information, bien sur; mais on est aussi ici parcequ'un peut de musique, c'est plaisant.

---- "Anathema" par: "Treasure Junkie" http://www.treasurejunkieband.com/

Outro

Friday, May 16, 2008

msb-0301 The Inequitable Distribution of Luck

msb-0301 The Inequitable Distribution of Luck

..

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 just saw a video on "YouTube" [ http://youtube.com/watch?v=LHtNFZ6K0pE ] which I am featuring at the front of these posts. Its an hour long so sit in front of your computers on a comfy chair with a drinkable and your favorite munchable at hand because it is well worth watching.

In it I found the phrase "The Inequitable Distribution of Luck", 24 minutes into it, which describes our situation to a tee.

---- "stuck in an office" by: "Edmund's Crown" http://edmundscrown.com/

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 wiki is out in beta on my "home server" [at http://wage.packet.org/ ] (I will eventually give it a real name, [ www.msbwiki.com, unless somebody sweeps in and steals it. {It doesn't matter if anyone does because we'll all be able to Google it, or get to it through links. (so I could call it by its IP address and it wouldn't matter,)}] we'll get some real bandwidth from an industrial strength server, and I'll put in any and all of the missing multi-media, Google and Amazon apps features. (I've even got myself a "Flip video" [ http://www.theflip.com/products.shtml ] to try out the multimedia portions. [Yup, you'll get to see my ugly mug.])

You're invited to come and hammer at it, make any changes you feel are required and have fun. (And don't worry. Every version of a page is kept, so I can always go back to an older version.)

You will all be required to login and the verification will be done through email so we can eliminate all the spammers and other nasties.

----

I've been tasked by my "self-help group" [ http://wage.packet.org/mediawiki/index.php/UsaNewJerseyHudsonCountySelfHelpGroup ] of the local chapter of the "NMSS (National Multiple Sclerosis Society)" [ http://www.nationalmssociety.org/index.aspx ] to handle the notification of the media about the society's meetings. Press releases.

They handed me a few sheets of paper stapled together. What the Hell do you want me to do with that? I immediately put them on the wiki, with hot-links to the local newspaper's and peoples' email addresses, (which I am still gathering, and adding in.)

The press releases will be going out by email from now on and be a whole lot easier for the papers to handle and make "camera ready" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_ready ] for printing.

----

Maybe you will want to create your own pages, fill in your own calendars, guide people to your events through Google maps, take pictures or shoot videos of your own events.

That's what the wiki's for...

----

And, just so's you don't think that I'm all talk and no action, I'm giving a lecture to the group in September about the web and the disabled, (and going to give away one of my old computers to help one person get connected.)

I see the "OLPC" [ http://laptop.org/ ] (One Laptop Per Child) initiative as needing some expansion to OLPD (One Laptop Per Disabled) because the disabled need the internet every bit as much as, (and arguably they need it much more than,) the heathy. (In fact they need it to make the "differences" between differently abled people irrelevant, [just like the internet makes distance and time irrelevant.])

There is nothing quite as useless as information printed out on a piece of paper. Its all unlinked; devoid of context and, like us, quite pathetic when alone.

But together, in a network, it (and we,) becomes part of a nexus of revelations, of relationships and connections.

---- "Post Office Jesus" by: "Little Fish Big Pond" http://myspace.com/littlefishbigpond

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"

---- "Officer Downe" by: "Matt Mays" http://mattmays.com/

"Thesis:"

"The Inequitable Distribution of Luck" is such a good phrase that I wish I had thought of it. (Or maybe I did as I was shlepping around Metropolitan College with my red cane studying Vilfredo Pareto and the "principles of economic efficiency" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_efficiency ] but never thought I ever use it again. :-)

Getting MS is due not to the tyranny of place referred to in the video, but it is due to something far more random than that.

Through sheer happenstance, I just got blindsided by a bus with the license plate "MS."


---- "Officer Barry" by: "Rich and Royal" http://www.richandroyal.com/

"Synthesis:"

The inequitable distribution of luck tell us that, no matter well how one plans, strives, works for and even achieves in this life, the sad fact of it is that the odds are that 15% of the time, he (or she, [lets not be sexist here,]) is S.O.L.

Now, if you're a captain of industry, you wish you cloud just jettison the burden of taking care of your employees and be able to focus on the bottom line. This burden is fiduciary and its interfering with your fiduciary responsibilities to your share holders.

That's just an unfair legacy from the days of "Tricky Dick" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon ] when he was making a deal for "pals" he never knew he had, over at "Humana." [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humana ]

Now that the HMOs aren't growing anymore and starting to pay out they're becoming an unacceptable burden on the corporations who aren't in the business of doing anything for people.

So who's going to pay for health care?

Well, if companies and corporations aren't going to take write the checks, I guess if falls to the same people who write the checks for most of defense, most of transportation and most of the legal system.

"Congratulations!"

You've just arrived at a single payer national health care policy, by default.

Unless you "want" to go back to the social situation of the sixties, where Kennedy and Johnson were struggling with forces that were just about revolutionary and people were dying left and right, once their life's savings had been wiped out, (and in this the "richest nation on earth", [we certainly weren't supposed to die like bloody bushmen living in bloody Papua-New bloody Guinea, {after being cannibalized.}])

Nah. I think a single payer system would streamline things and get rid of enough frau... uh, sorry, redundant, confusing, and error-prone systems, to leverage a great many more benefits from the system and rationalize the benefits for the current and for the future generations.

(After all, once you've got everybody, there's nobody left, is there? [Well, there are always those outside the United States, like in the North American Union, the OAS, and South America, later you can go after some sort of harmonization with Europe and then there's ... well you get the idea. here's an entire planet to organize. No one should feel his ambitions are being thwarted...])

This new gummin agency doesn't make decisions except at a kind of macro level.

Either it falls on one side of an overall cost/benefit analysis razor or it doesn't.

Hey ... "Everybody" dies.

Deal with it. (If you can't deal with it, I just hope you're rich enough to buy the few extra days, weeks or months that it would buy. ["Joe DiMaggio" died anyway and you know his estate got stuck with the bill.])

---- "Office Suite, Part I" by: "the matthew show" http://www.thematthewshow.com/

"Conclusion:"

I won't bemoan my fate (I could have been born a hundred years ago, in "Papua-New Guinea",) [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea ] but getting MS is still a bitchin' turn of events.

"The Inequitable Distribution of Luck" isn't totally working ag'in' me though.

I live "here", [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States ] instead of in Papua-New Guinea, now, instead of then, and you "are" reading/listening to my words.

Lets build on what we've got, with what we've got.

---- "The Loneliest Boy In Toyland" by: "the matthew show" http://www.thematthewshow.com/

Outro

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

msb-0300 Third Time Around The Century Dial

msb-0300 Third Time Around The Century Dial

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...

Well here we are, watching the Century Dial roll over for a third time.

But I am not doing it alone, Shauna's here to regale us with an apt numeric review of "The 300"

This Friday, I promise that I'll have an announcement to make that we can all join in.

The stuff with Mevio didn't work. Sucks to be them.

---- "In my dreams" by: "Strangers in Wonderland" http://www.strangersinwonderland.com/

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"

---- "Still standing" by: "Strangers in Wonderland" http://www.strangersinwonderland.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"

---- "Behind The Mask" by: "Strangers in Wonderland" http://www.strangersinwonderland.com/

"Thesis:"

We've got something unusual from Shauna this time, a movie review.

In keeping with the number of the show episode, it about the movie "300" [ http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=300&x=0&y=0 ]

(Which was a remake of "The 300 Spartans" [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055719/ ] which I actually saw at the local "Bijou" theater in "Ville LaSalle" while it was descending into "kitch", "Sci-Fi", "Horror" and eventually a "porno theater" before being being put to a merciful death by a developer who turned it into a strip mall...

"Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" (Which means "So passes away the glory of the world", [ not "You don't wanna get in a car with Gloria".])

---- "As long as I dont cry" by: "Strangers in Wonderland" http://www.strangersinwonderland.com/

"Synthesis:"

I'm not a movie reviewer. I have to admit to having tried my hand at it a couple of times over the years, but Charles asked me to review 300 in celebration of his 300th MSB Podcast, so I consented.

Full disclosure: my family doctor is of Greek descent and I lived in Montreal, where the movie was filmed. OK. so that wasn't really necessary, but I had to make mention of the Canadian connection and that was the only way I could do that.

This is Sparta! So says King Leonidas to Xerxes' messengers. Imagine, those foreigners coming to Sparta and suggesting that King Leonidas submit to Xerxes. Well, Leo wanted nothing to do with that and since Xerxes was threatening to move in, he consulted with the Ephors (supposedly wise councillors), who in turn consult the Oracle. She tells everyone that Leo must stay home.

Of course he doesn't. You don't threaten this man, his people, and his land. With 300 Spartan soldiers he marches to Thermopolye, the hot Gates. And that's where he takes his stand. He holds out for a couple of days, but in the end superior numbers and an angry hunchback defeat Leo and his 300 Spartans.

There's a lot of gore, bloodshed, infidelity (though that was coerced), and a couple of traitors thrown into the mix.

And the movie, though made with real actors, has the look and feel of a comic book, which was the intent. If you like comic books or you enjoyed Sin City, then you'll like 300. I enjoyed both Sin City and 300.

Of course, the movie isn't entirely historically correct. But that's not the point. I believe the point was taking a stand for what you believe in and backing it up. Leo did that for sure. And here's where the parallels wih MS come in.

This is my brain! That should be our rallying cry as MSers. As we begin to endure symptoms like numbness, tingling, paralysis, and vision disturbance, we don't want to submit to Xerxes-like invaders in our central nervous system. We consult our Ephors, our neurologists. They in turn consult the Oracle. Well, actually, they don't. But sometimes it seems like they do. The neuros suggest a course of treatment to keep Xerxes...I mean MS, at bay. And for some of us, we can make a stand for a long time. We may have to acquiesce to the symptoms from time to time, but there's no reason why we can't sand up to Xerxes for the rest of our lives. There's still a lot of fun and frivolity to be had. Rally the fun and frivolity like 300 Spartans to keep Xerxes' Persians from getting through the Hot Gates to your brain.

---- "House Of Dreams" by: "Strangers in Wonderland" http://www.strangersinwonderland.com/

"Conclusion:"

Well, when I told Shauna that she was doing show #300, she certainly took the number to heart.

And we're going to end with one more tune by "Strangers in Wonderland" who are a group from Sweden that I found while scavenging (which it sometimes feels like,) or panning for gold on the PMN (the Podsafe Music Network.)

---- "I like it" by: "Strangers in Wonderland" http://www.strangersinwonderland.com/

Outro