Terri Schaivo has died, and may she rest in peace. I pray that she’ll find a happier existence in the next world than she found in this one.

I haven’t read or talked much about the case because I just think it’s a deeply personal situation. I cannot presume to know the pain of the husband or of Schaivo’s family. I can’t imagine there was a pain-free outcome that would have pleased everyone. Everyone involved suffered from this tragedy, and the public spectacle only exacerbated the pain.

Better men than I have weighed in already, but here’s what I will say: What appalls me about the radical right’s reaction to this case is how absolutely hypocritically pious it is.

Do you notice how these radicals always rally around the rights of those who have—literally—no voice? These right-wing zealots easily summon the moral certainty to kill or condone the killing of death row inmates, of doctors who perform abortions, of Arab prisoners of war, or of innocent civilians if they happen to be living near good bombing targets. In the name of their god, they will sanction, countenance, and call for the murder of their enemies. But they’ll draw the line at the brain-dead and the fetus. Anybody who can express their own point of view will be either ignored, dismissed, or shouted down with extreme prejudice, but humans whose life states are fuzzy or indeterminate will be defended to the last breath.

Conservatives stay mum as hundreds die every second from AIDs, hunger, preventable diseases, and abject poverty. They support the rights of companies to poison our water and food, to spoil our land, and to consign country and citizen to the poorhouse. They rip great swaths out of our Constitution in the name of preserving national security. But let some vegetative victim come close to peace after umpteen years of extraordinary hospice care and exhaustive legal battles, and suddenly the “sanctity of life” is their number one issue. Suddenly the party of small government is bringing the full weight of the legislature to bear to micromanage a painful, thorny, complex family drama. Suddenly, the party that has fought so hard to preserve the sanctity of marriage is sanctimoniously shrieking at a faithful husband who has been dealt a blow that God forbid any of them should ever come close to understanding.

Terri Schaivo was a wingnut’s wet dream. She represented metaphorically the ideal citizen of a conservative utopia. She was unable to communicate, unable to feel pain or pleasure, unable to respond to those around her, unable to defend herself, unable to participate in the struggle that was taking place over her. Brain-dead, thought-free, choice-free, completely dependent on others for every function, Schaivo could be controlled and manipulated to suit any purpose. She was an empty vessel, to which all manner of ideals could be ascribed, and none refuted.

I wish her peace. I wish her family and her husband peace. And I desperately hope that those who found Schaivo such an inspiration for passionate words about the importance of respecting life will remember that there are millions and millions of conscious, thinking, feeling people on the point of the knife who could really use a few ardent advocates on their side, too.

• This is very funny. Via Boing Boing, here’s a new way to format music lyrics. Those of you with outliners… you’ll understand.
• Seth Godin posted a picture of how people view online search results. Here’s the conclusion of the story at SearchEngineResults.com:

  People continue to favor organic listings over paid search listings, unless the paid search listing is at the top of the page.

  And yet many search engine marketers are ignoring search engine optimization, opting instead to go the “easier” route of buying sponsored listings. The increasing body of research is very clearly saying that it’s a mistake to rely solely on paid listings to drive visitors to a web site. A well-balanced search marketing campaign should incorporate both well-crafted search engine optimization efforts as well as paid listings to capture the full range of searcher behavior.

• I love CSS, but it can be a bitch to tweak. CreativeBits (an indispensable graphic design/OS X site) recently pointed to StyleMaster 4, a new program that promises to make stylesheet editing a little easier. And if you really need to dig in to the code and tweak like a mofo, MacMerc and others have been buzzing about The CSS Anthology. Sure, it’s print, but nothing’s perfect.

Because blog posts are random…

• Hugh Macleod claims that advertisers no longer have control over their message. In order to compete in the future, companies will need to “improve the conversation.”
• I didn’t know my friend Michele Corey had a blog about marketing, entrepreneurship, coaching, and business stuff. Well, she does! It’s called Knee Deep, and it’s pretty damn good.
• Creating Passionate Users continues to be one of my favorite sites. See the posts Creating Passionate Fans, The Power of One, and How to Break Through…
• If you’re interested in increasing your website’s visibility on Search Engines, here’s a short primer on SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. SEO seems to lie more in art than in science, but the few simple tips collected at the SEO and Affiliate Marketing Blog can help.
• This is pretty cool Intelliseek’s BlogPulse tracks “weblog conversations.” From what I can tell, this is basically an index of posts related to a certain topic. It’s a way of looking at a lot of blogs as if the bloggers were participating in a forum or bulletin board.
• Make sure your press release gets seen online. (Online Marketing Blog)
• Jason Kottke’s business influences. Not a bad list.
• Work Boxers is a blog on making money online. The site was formerly titled Big Money Tips, and that site still hosts this article on creating Massive Keyword Lists.
• A wrap-up of the Blog Business Summit.
• The Applied Improv Blog tracks the use and teaching of improvisation in a business setting. Now, why didn’t I think of that?
• Seth Godin has a great take on a lot of business and marketing stuff. Recently, he nailed why it’s so hard to break in on another company’s established market: because very good is not nearly good enough.
• Dave Taylor tells you how to make tons of money with Google AdSense. Well, he hints at it, anyway. Points you to some resources you can buy, in order to make more money.
• Atrios has some really good advice for new bloggers.
• David Pollard’s blog is called “How to Save the World.” See his recent posts, When Will BUsiness Embrace Blogs and How to Make Money by Giving Stuff Away Free.
• Freelancers: Artsy Fartsy Weblog has some advice for you: The Ten Commandments of Freelancing.
• And, here’s how Patty Ayers got her first 39 clients.
• Looking for a job? Run the interview. (Management craft, via Lifehacker).

Cleaning out the old link bank today. This is the first of several posts, loosely organized by catagory. First up: random links…

• Merlin Mann has cranked up the 43 Folders Wiki, an incredibly useful adjunct to his 43 folders blog. Mann tracks the latest in productivity tips and tricks, including information about applications for OS X.
• Here’s more on Merlin Mann and getting things done on the Mac from MacDevCenter.
• Speaking of productivity, I use AquaMinds’ NoteTaker to help me organize my work and writing, and I’m loathe to change, but Steven Berlin Johnson has a pretty cool system going on with DevonThink.
• Not to be confused with 43 folders, 43 Things is a nifty new site for setting, sharing, and tracking your life goals. Who’d’a thunk it? Sign up and visit. It’s weirdly compelling.
• Wicked cool. Via CoolGov, here’s a movie that shows the flight paths of every airplane flying over the US in a 24-hour period.
• Via Boing Boing, here’s an article on writing better emails. Very helpful. (HBS Working Knowledge)
• Very interesting: The Matrix online game hires actors to hang out online and provide “local color.” (Boing Boing)
• The Google Tutor on Google Print.

A few weeks ago I linked to the photograph of a young girl wailing and covered in blood after her parents had been killed by American soldiers at a checkpoint in Iraq. There is now a website collecting funds to help the family. I urge you to visit the Hassan Family Relief Fund to read more, and to kick in a few dollars to help the victims of this horrible tragedy.

Thanks to J. Tony for tracking me down and letting me know about the fund.

I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I’ve posted. For the last six weeks or so I’ve been consumed with a job search. I spent almost every waking hour writing emails, revising my resume, writing cover letters, investigating networking opportunities, conducting informational interviews, soliciting freelance clients… anything and everything I could think of to generate an income.

I wanted to do more, of course, than just finding a job. One of my requirements for making a living was that I would make it doing something creative. Over the past year of developing The Louverture Project and working on this blog, and getting more in touch with the areas of gadgetry and technology that I really enjoy, I got a much greater sense of what I want to be doing with my life for the next 30 or 40 years. I left a very creative career a few years ago, and now, having addressed security and safety and personal growth issues for long enough, I’m hungry to re-connect with my expressive self.

I am lucky to been offered a short-term position with the company I left a year and a half ago. The job puts me back in touch with an incredibly generous and professional group of people, and gives me the support, freedom, and flexibility to continue the long-term search for a job in creative services. It also means I can return some of my attention to my personal projects, like this blog. I’ve missed it.

Thanks to my lovely wife, Louise, for being so generous and supportive over the last couple of months. And thanks to all the people who have given me feedback, encouragement, contacts, and work. I’m not through leaning on you yet, but I’m a bit more upright.

Now, let’s get back to work…