Here's what Doc says: He was originally diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism — blockage of an artery. That's what could've killed him. It didn't. He's on blood thinners now. But he's had bad reactions to the process of being hospitalized for the "PE." He's got a partially collapsed lung. He's retaining water. Most painful, a fairly standard exploratory procedure gave him pancreatitis — inflammation of the pancreas. You have a pancreas, but most of the time you can't feel it. Doc can tell you all about his right now.

Prognosis? Honestly, between Doc's painkillers and our own crying into the keyboard, we lost track of all the talk about cystic lesion this and endoscopic that. But here's the takeaway: Doc is going to suffer a lot for a few more days. In theory, he'll get better. In practice, he hurts like hell. He asked that we not name his hospital or give out his contact info. If you worry, he says, just send good thoughts his way. He'll keep posting updates. One thing's sure: When he's better, he's going to have a better metaphor for Web 2.0 accidentally killing the patient that anyone's ever dreamed of.

(Photo by dsifry)

37 Signals software zen mastah Jason Fried is shutting down a blog thread somewhere. Last spotted turning this comment thread into a ghost town. Last comment before the thread got wiped: "I am betting that in 10 minutes this post will be closed to comments." Just keepin' it real.

Chris Messina is packing up and shipping out of Flock. The designer will leave the social-browser startup as soon as he's done making flight metaphors. From Chris's "I'm heading out" entry:

I ve been in constant motion, bouncing along in the cockpit, weathering turbulent times

And:

The past nine months have been getting us down the runway, and now that we ve taken to flight

And he's:

ready...to surface the next horizon

Bon voyage, dude.

Mega-tech-blogger Doc Searls (a man who wants to stay atop a Technorati list, please Technorati, please) is chilling at home in Santa Barbara. As Paul Boutin (left) says, "Look, he's not working —- right now now now! Take the picture quick honey!"

The O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference (or ETech for the impatient) is in full swing today, after a rousing start on Monday. The event sold out ages ago, but through the magic of Scott Beale's photography, we can pretend we made it in. (If you want to pretend you met Cory Doctorow and he loved your sci-fi story idea, have that fantasy on your own.) Here are highlights from Scott's meticulous Monday photojournalism.

BBC blogger Ben Metcalfe is so tired of your bullshit.

"Just stand very still and do not make eye contact, and Tom Coates will walk away."

After the jump, Doc Searls kills a man with one bare fist.

UI designer Ben Cerveny chills with, I assume, a White Russian in a coffee cup.

Gavin Bell to Cal Henderson: "For the last time, I know that you are Cal. Now stop. Saying. It."

Cory Doctorow: "Ohhh man, this post is gonna need a unicorn chaser."

"I am pleased to see my 'impress the ladies with the clever nametag job title' plan has succeeded."

Moments later, Technorati's Kevin Marks tragically rolled over and was crushed by a surprisingly heavy inflata-chair.

"Look, it's okay if you want to wear a kilt too, but bow to the superiority of my tartan, okay?"

TailRank's Kevin Burton waits for the perfect "So, wanna buy me?" moment.

Blogfather Doc Searls answers all dumb questions with a jab to the face.

ETech 2006 Photos [Laughing Squid]

Tired of camps about actual from-scratch products, Valley developers, pundits, and businessfolk mixed it up at Mashup Camp, the two-day "unconference" about remixed tech. Laughing Squid tentaclemaster Scott Beale kindly let me abuse his pics from Monday.

Blogger Doc Searls rocks out the Microsoft-lanyard-Firefox-shirt mashup: business in front, party in the back.

"You'd think I'd shave it off, but when I'm in my bowler and three-piece it looks divine."

White-hat lawyers, Mucho Camp invasion, and the hippest user-experience expert in the Valley — all after the jump.

Technorati's Niall Kennedy: "Seriously, you say it through that thing and I'll pay you ten bucks." David Berlind: "For ten bucks? You're on."

"Larry Lessig totally hearts the RIAA!"

He didn't even see the hand until his face was firm in its grip.

The goatse-ing of an entire audience proves disappointing.

Scott visits the nearby Meebo headquarters. "I don't know how he got in here, but I need him evacuated before he takes a photo of the blank whiteboard."

Preserved for posterity, a dot-com geek.

Lawyer Larry Lessig cannot believe you asked about the Eldred case.

Members of the nearby Mucho Camp join the Mashup crowd. But they are still indie, so they will code standing up.

When it's time to blog the camp, everyone cheats off ZDNet's Dan Farber.

Doc Searls: "Hey, my award, don't touch!"

"Psst. You. Wanna buy a mashup of Marilyn Manson and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?"

That's not even special ice. That is the bioluminescence of Jonathan Grubb's face.

Mashup Camp photos [Laughing Squid]
Mashup Camp [MashupCamp.com]

Here's the Register of Interests:

Feels like the WSJ is just sniping at bloggers. Rather embarrassing to see them stretch this far. Is there a grudge they're not disclosing?

Incidentally, let's flesh this register out. Which other bloggers are tied to outside interests? Comment or e-mail.

Blog Buzz on High-Tech Start-Ups Causes Some Static [WSJ]