The short-form week of 18–24 May 2009

25 May 2009; last modified 13 Mar 2011

The week in review, 140 characters at a time. This week, 57 messages in 50 conversations.

This document was created automatically from my archive of my Twitter stream. Due to limitations in the Twitter API and occasional glitches in my archiving system, it may not be 100% complete.

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 02:27pm

Pondering a NAS for shared storage/backup across Deb's Windows boxes and my Mac and Linux boxes—@ndw

@ndw Just putting together my own home low power NAZ based on ZFS - hope to blog on it soon—@adamretter

@adamretter Yeah, maybe I should roll my own. I'd like a better in-house server anyway.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 01:31am

At the first day of the XQuery WG face-to-face in Bucharest. Good weather, lovely meal last night.—@jpcs

@jpcs Please pass along my "hellos". I'd have joined you in Bucharest if I could have...—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 01:49am

Kip Addotta's Wet Dream has to be the most cringe inducing pun-tastic song ever http://bit.ly/7kvdr—@codinghorror

@codinghorror Then you haven't heard his "Life in the Slaw Lane", have you?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 05:44am

@ndw @xmlcalabash can xproc/calabash be used to process a huge xml file ? e.g. http://tinyurl.com/qdxfb7 ( 5Go gzipped ) ? thanks ?—@yokofakun

@yokofakun XProc, certainly, but I'm not sure how my impl would hold up. I didn't make proper streaming a priority.—@ndw

@ndw thanks , so xproc can stream xml ? e.g. can I simulate a stream of N 'Book' documents from a big XML file like /Library/Books/(Book)*—@yokofakun

@yokofakun Many XProc steps can be implemented in a streaming fashion. Certainly we tried hard not to do anything that prevented it.—@ndw

Monday at 06:32am

@eliasisrael Drobo does look nice, but Drobo+DroboShare+drives adds up $$$ pretty quick—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 06:59am

is evaluating XML reader http://is.gd/AYux—@datatomato

@datatomato "No Unicode / Utf8 (sic)" = Not XML. Not that it doesn't sound a little bit interesting anyway.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 08:05am

Fun with a macro lens: http://bit.ly/fMyAA—@elharo

@elharo: http://tr.im/lEHu fun aren't they! dof get's a bit tricky though!—@dpawson

@dpawson Apparently, Adobe CS4 can "stitch" multiple DOF exposures just like it can panorama exposures. Looking forward to trying it.—@ndw

Monday at 08:27am

Shell wants 15c/gal more for credit card puchases. #fail—@ndw

Monday at 10:37am

FYI: Zapping Firefox and reinstalling seems to have fixed perf problems, even with same extn. Must be bit rot.—@ndw

Monday at 01:00pm

@dpawson I hear you. OTOH, CS3/4 really is worth the price of admission. CS4/Lightroom will probably keep me on a Mac indefinitely.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 01:35pm

Speaking of Docbook, I know Norm Walsh has a beef with CSS, but am I the only one that thinks XSL-FO is inelegant?—@dalanhurst

@dalanhurst I think CSS is a fine thing, I just don't think it's sufficient to the task of all STM publishing—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 02:11pm

@ndw: am a newbie on NAS stuff, but take a look http://bit.ly/ruDiz—@bdarcus

@bdarcus Very useful pointers, thanks!—@ndw

Monday at 04:29pm

@burningbird Never ask questions to which you don't want to hear the answer.—@ndw

Monday at 04:55pm

How bad is humidity? Can I run a server in the basement, or would that just make me an asshat?—@ndw

Monday at 04:59pm

@burningbird Fate's in cahoots with Murphy.—@ndw

Monday at 06:19pm

In the course of restoring Deb's machine from Windows bitrot, discovered it hadn't been backed up...ever. Mea culpa!—@ndw

Monday at 06:19pm

JungleDisk is happily backing it up now.—@ndw

Monday at 06:25pm

Bah. Missed BSG. Thought I might try it with NetFlix "watch instantly" but it's not available that way.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 06:27pm

Oh for frick's sake, watch instantly requires Silverlight? #FAIL—@ndw

@ndw what, it's better if it requires Flash? Or was there some other streaming solution you'd prefer?—@cwilso

@cwilso Sigh. Perhaps you're right. I'd prefer if they just let me d/l the damned file, preferably in some unencumbered codec.—@ndw

Monday at 06:30pm

Oh, and since I'm on a roll, NetFlix: not allowing profiles to watch instantly: #FAIL—@ndw

Tuesday at 06:16am

They make compound bows. For children. In pink. Who knew? http://tinyurl.com/o6qjky—@ndw

Tuesday at 07:02am

Amtrak claims this is the last week of bus service between HFD and NHV. Faster trains FTW!—@ndw

Tuesday at 08:20am

The most amusing part of mugshots is beard length—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 03:24pm

Listening to NetKernel 4 "Jump Start" web presentation. Apparently intermediate result caching, one of its strengths, much better in 4.—@abcoates

@abcoates Interesting. @xmlcalabash caches intermediate results, but mostly as an afterthought. Didn't expect that to be a big deal.—@ndw

Tuesday at 05:17pm

Trying to watch The Ribos Operation on the train, not really winning.—@ndw

Tuesday at 09:02pm

Will my next DSLR have a full-frame sensor?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 09:03pm

Does that have any impact on whether or not I ask for the 35mm f/1.8G DX lens for my birthday?—@ndw

@ndw I was disappointed they made that lens a DX... because I'm a d700 owner—@dcm

@dcm For the D700, the 50mm/1.8 is even less expensive.—@ndw

@ndw yes - DX lensees aren't full-frame—@mnot

@mnot Exactly my dilemma, Mark. DX lens for my DX camera today (a D80) or wait ...—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 11:27am

What do you see at http://xfrml.orgg? What IP do you think that website has...—@abdelazer

@abdelazer Someone managed to get xfrml.org assigned the IP 127.0.0.1. There's no place like home.—@ndw

Wednesday at 02:01pm

@burningbird No clue, but I appreciate your efforts!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 03:24pm

Moving a box of cheap, nasty sugar free mints off my desk so that I'll Stop. Eating. Them.—@ndw

@ndw Hmm, does it happen to say "Virtusa" on the tin (from #mluc09). I need to do the same thing...—@evanlenz

@evanlenz Nope. These were a givaway my better half brought home.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 06:21pm

ok, back to powerpoint, mapping the object model to the xml serialization hurts my head.—@peteaven

@peteaven We're pulling for you, Pete! Bring on the PPTX toolkit!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 11:26pm

Need to remember to reduce the ISO when shifting from bugs to birds.—@elharo

@elharo Indeed. I shot half a day in the full Egyptian sun at 1600 because I'd been trying street scenes the previous evening.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 06:41am

hmmm, an #xproc step that could be scripted with #groovy would be ... very tasty—@al3xbrown

@al3xbrown In theory, it could be done. The tricky bit looks to be giving the #groovy script useful access to the XML docs flowing through.—@ndw

Thursday at 10:03am

@xmlcalabash ignore this silly test #twtbizcard—@ndw

Thursday at 01:12pm

I hate it when I have to search #W3C lists not available on #markmail. So much fail.—@ndw

Thursday at 01:26pm

Every shortcut you take in V1 comes back to bite you on the *ss in V.next—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 01:43pm

Speaking of shortcuts biting me in the *ss, parsing XML in Perl with regexp...—@ndw

@ndw Why regexps, when #perl has such a simple XML::Parser package?—@david_megginson

@david_megginson See previous tweet about shortcuts biting one in the ass. I "only needed one bit of data" in V1. /me #fail—@ndw

Thursday at 02:57pm

"localhost: journal commit I/O error" in one of my Linux VMs. That can't be good.—@ndw

Thursday at 02:58pm

Ah. That error occurred while a forest was being committed to disk. Seriously not good.—@ndw

Thursday at 02:59pm

So, is this a borked VM, or an indication of some deeper problem on the physical hardware underneath?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 02:51am

"All job content must be inside CDATA sections to avoid issues processing your XML feed". #fail. http://www.indeed.com/intl/en/xmlinfo.html—@michaelhkay

@michaelhkay File that under "unclear on the concept"—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 12:21pm

Want to decorate/enhance/badge the outside of my new MacBook to distinguish it from my spouse's identical computer. Suggestions?—@timbray

@timbray I went with oval three-letter stickers to start: XML, XSL, XQY, XPL. I'll prolly add the Fielding has a Posse back again too. #geek—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 07:19pm

The Plan: hike up long way (5k ft) eleven gain. Spend night in temple. Watch sunrise above clouds. Hike down the steeper route in morning.—@jonathanmarsh

@jonathanmarsh That green glow you see around me is envy. I'm just saying.—@ndw

Friday at 10:20pm

Apple really are making asses of themselves. http://is.gd/CjZR—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Saturday at 05:25am

Chasing the Light (photo blog entry) http://is.gd/CEck—@al3xbrown

@al3xbrown Gorgeous. HDR or just straight off the D300? One of the things that draws me to an FX sensor is faster ISO and dyn. range.—@ndw

Saturday at 09:38am

Got my Mac back, bum heat sensor in the top case—@ndw

Saturday at 09:56am

Wandering the internets in Borders while Deb shops. I think I might have to give SkypeIn a try...—@ndw

Saturday at 03:55pm

Two words: watermelon mojito—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 02:12pm

This is why sites that ask for username/password are nothing but #fail: http://htxt.it/iAMv (via @ronkjeffries)—@ndw

@ndw And the solution would be....? OpenID/OAuth?—@bmanley

@bmanley OAuth, maybe. Some sort of authentication for third party apps that doesn't involve me giving them my login credentials.—@ndw

Sunday at 04:04pm

Implementing a 'fileutils' library (exists, is-file, delete, etc.) in #xmlcalabash, #xproc—@ndw