Scripting News: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
news.scripting.com continues to grow. There must be some word of mouth. Or perhaps people are refreshing it more often. I have no analytics except for a hit counter. Maybe I should do a little work on the site. Let me know if you have any feature requests. #
The last few days we've been exploring the ideas behind the web, to decide what, if anything that we're doing today is either on the web or of the web. On the web seemed relatively easy. But of the web is a bit more elusive. Until Ken Smith found this quote of Ted Nelson in the original 1989 proposal by Tim Berners-Lee for what would become the web. "Human-readable information linked together in an unconstrained way." I like this, because it, like the definition I came up with for weblog, talks about the activity as opposed to the technology. Human-readable is essential. And most essential is "unconstrained." If something requires a link, you should link to it. If you don't it ain't the web. #I want a ChatGPT pref that lets me turn off human impersonation. I want it to behave like a search engine. I ask questions, it answers. Period. #
It's the future, and the great power of the X galaxy, on the planet Y of star Z, has accidentally elected a despotic prime minister who also happens to be an excellent standup comic. Kind of like Robin Williams, from the planet you come from, but he's a centipede and only breathes what you would think of as Chef Boyardee lasagna, but it's not really that, it's different. #- Anyway, he's old, 757 centuries give or take, and they're expecting him to die soon, and they can elect someone boring so they can forget about politics. Everyone is looking forward to the relaxation. #
- And then one day he does die, and everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief, until later that night, on the 10-screen equivalent of what you would think of as TV, hilarity ensues when the "dead" PM showed up, looking fit, young and dashing, doing slapstick and talking about how he's going to make a mess of something. #
Everyone was furious and then puzzled, we thought he was dead -- until the rumor started going around that the scientists had invented a sort of "artificial" thing that could perfectly emulate anyone or anything, including a Lasagna-breathing centipede comic despot from planet Y of star Z in the X galaxy. Everyone was pissed, but mostly agreed the PM was still pretty funny.#- End of pilot. #
Linkblog items for the day
Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force. nytimes.com
CDC director being ousted just weeks after Senate confirmation. She aligned with evidence-based public health community and had support of experts. arstechnica.com
Typepad Shutdown Announcement. distlib.blogs.com
Siskel & Ebert's Enthusiastic Review for Fargo (1996). youtube.com
Scripting News: Plot for a political sci fi movie. scripting.com
A collaborative effort, spread over a bunch of social media sites, to try to say what the web is, in 2025. this.how
TBL's original proposal for the web from 1989. w3.org
The death of the review? Cultural criticism is at risk of erasure. theguardian.com
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's engagement is the Super Bowl of celebrity news. poynter.org
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