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Richard Dooling

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Nebraska’s Nostalgia Trap

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For all of today’s up-to-the-second economic analysis, how are Americans actually doing? The New York Times Op-Ed page asked writers to provide snapshots of their local economies over the course of the year. Here is Richard Dooling’s second dispatch on the state of the economy in Nebraska: Nebraska’s Nostalgia Trap. I’ll be doing two more columns for the New York Times on the Nebraska economy in 2006, so leave any ideas, suggestions, or commentary here. Thank you, Richard Dooling

Revenge of the Cornhuskers

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For all of today’s up-to-the-second economic analysis, how are Americans actually doing? The New York Times Op-Ed page asked writers to provide snapshots of their local economies over the course of the year. Richard Dooling’s first economic postcard from Omaha: Revenge of the Cornhuskers, published Sunday, 2 October 2005.

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User Interfaces Should Teach, Not Hide

Here’s a fresh look at the age-old tension between those who prefer the Command Line Interface (CLI) to the Graphical User Interface (GUI), by way of an example from my favorite text editor, Vim 7.0. Writing in the Free Software Magazine, Terry Hancock argues that user interfaces should teach, not hide. “The key concept here is that we should view GUIs not as an opaque layer to separate the digital classes, but as a convenience to make learning easier”. Probably the best essay on what some call “Interface Zen” is still Neal Stephenson’s In the Beginning was the Command Line, although it’s officially dated (written in 1999). Stephenson’s favorite operating system at the time was BeOS (now nearly extinct), but in a 2004 Slashdot interview, Stephenson wrote: “I embraced OS X as soon as it was available and have never looked back. So a lot of ‘In the Beginning was the Command Line’ is now obsolete. I keep meaning to update it, but if I’m honest with myself, I have to say this is unlikely.” In 2004, Garrett Birkel (with Neal Stephenson’s permission) republished Command Line, interspersing his own notes and comments, in an effort to bring the essay up […]

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Good Books On Screenwriting

“In Hollywood, writers are considered only the first draft of human beings.” –Frank Deford On Screenwriting The best resource for screenwriters seeking “official information” about Hollywood is the Writers’ Guild Of America website. If you want inside information about how writers survive in the business, you are in luck. A dozen or so professional screenwriters maintain excellent websites and blogs featuring everything you need to know about how to write and sell screenplays. Even five or six years ago, this information was impossible to get unless you lived in Los Angeles and worked in the business. Start with screenwriter John August (Go, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), who runs a popular blog featuring “a ton of useful information about screenwriting” at John August.com. He and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl, Hangover II) also run the popular podcast, ScriptNotes, with frequent guests discussing how they broke in, what to do in your first meeting with the studio, and many other useful topics. When you visit these sites, leave a thank you note: They’re funny, useful, and well-maintained. Aspiring television writers belong at the always excellent Jane Espenson site. Done Deal is a great resource for screenwriters, especially for those not living […]

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Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital

Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital Richard Dooling served as producer, writer, and medical consultant for Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital. Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment has released Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital on DVD. Order your copy of Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital from Amazon. For more information visit Stephen King’s Official Website. For a primer on Mrs. Druse and Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital read The Journals of Eleanor Druse: My Investigation of the Kingdom Hospital Incident, by Eleanor Druse. Now available from Amazon. Consult the Internet Movie Database for more details on Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital.

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