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The short-form week of 19–25 Apr 2010

26 Apr 2010; last modified 13 Mar 2011

The week in review, 140 characters at a time. This week, 76 messages in 71 conversations. (With 4 favorites.)

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.

Monday at 06:22am

♺@xmlcalabash XML Calabash 0.9.21 released, http://xmlcalabash.com/download/—@ndw

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

Tom, as usual, absolutely nails it! RT @dpawsonhttp://is.gd/bzefs Tom on DRM in ebooks. Well said. #ebooks—@ndw
@ndw @dpawson it's a shame Microsoft Press doesn't publish more books then eh? ;)—@frumioj

Monday at 08:19am

Chuckle. RT @bnjmnbck Photo: Android vs iPhone http://tumblr.com/xyh8tgne3—@ndw

Monday at 08:22am

RT @ndw: Chuckle. RT @bnjmnbck Photo: Android vs iPhone http://tumblr.com/xyh8tgne3—@ruidlopes

Monday at 08:34am

RT @ndw Tom, as usual, absolutely nails it! RT @dpawsonhttp://is.gd/bzefs Tom on DRM in ebooks. Well said. #ebooks—@simonstl

Monday at 09:10am

In the end, I just couldn't justify a smaller drive or the 25% bump for SSD. That'll have to wait for an after-market upgrade.—@ndw

Monday at 09:15am

Oh for <bleep>ing <bleep> <bleep>'s <bleep> <bleeping> sake! RT @shelleypowers RT @Medley: ... http://bit.ly/bIXqYq (via )—@ndw

Monday at 09:27am

Dear mag publishers, I'll buy dig eds. I'll pay full price. But not if you make me use your stupid proprietary viewers or plugins. kthxbai.—@ndw

Monday at 09:36am

XML Calabash 0.9.21 released, http://xmlcalabash.com/download/ [ via @ndw @xmlcalabash ]—@peteaven

In a conversation that started on Monday at 12:23pm

Some employee is in very deep shit for letting this happen: http://bit.ly/bVN5Ma—@dsearls
@dsearls Or is being rewarded for doing exactly what the guerilla marketing folks said to do.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 01:28pm

Internal run through of a presentation: that was great, Norm, but could you do something else entirely instead? Yeah, sure. Sigh.—@ndw
@ndw Reminds me of a time when I was billed to speak on XQuery, discovered no-one knew what XML was, so spoke on that instead for an hour.—@michaelhkay
@ndw on the plus side, it implies they were paying attention to the preso—@aloofschipperke
@ndw ah boo. That happened to me last year. Lookin fwd to your presi, whatever it is :)—@peteaven

In a conversation that started on Monday at 02:10pm

@peteaven Servlets on MarkLogic?—@fgeorges
@fgeorges its just awesome that i work with and see @hunterhacker, @ndw, @stephenbuxtion, and micah d. on an regular basis.—@peteaven

In a conversation that started on Monday at 05:03pm

Downside of working at a company filled with great people? No matter who leaves to do their own startup, you're losing someone really great.—@ndw
@ndw That's a great compliment for your company. You must love your job.—@shelleypowers
@shelleypowers It is. I do. Come join us! :-)—@ndw
@ndw I am planning on putting up a Drupal/semantic consulting shingle in the next six mos -- also going to try self-publishing—@shelleypowers
@shelleypowers To my surprise, I just installed drupal7.—@grechaw
@grechaw I need to install the latest myself—@shelleypowers
@ndw Now, why would I want to do that to such nice people like yourself ;-)—@shelleypowers

In a conversation that started on Monday at 05:49pm

am I the only one that can't take mention of "Trident" in UK political news seriously because of Yes Prime Minister?—@jtauber
@jtauber I don't follow UK political news very closely, but that would definitely make me laugh.—@ndw
@ndw I only hear from twitter, but this was the article mentioned most recently: http://bit.ly/b3VmCk—@jtauber

In a conversation that started on Monday at 09:01pm

know what i think of netsuite? -- not much.—@peteaven
@peteaven Clearly you were in a very generous mood when you summarized your experience with netsuite—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 12:18pm

Can everyone that runs a dumb wordtrigger twitterbot RT'er, please print out its code on 200gsm paper and self-insert it rectally? plzkthx—@benosteen
@benosteen But mine is written in APL, so it fits on a postal stamp! ;)—@tommorris
@tommorris You know *that* image isn't really much of an improvement—@ndw
@tommorris it'll have a bunch of libraries, at least one runtime, kernel hooks, kernel, device drivers... that's a good amount of paper ;)—@benosteen

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 01:50pm

@ndw now doubly wish I'd seen your presentation on semantic web/topics. Did you post your slides? (disappointing RDF preso at cmsdita2010)—@lizfraley
@lizfraley I usually post my slides, unless I forget, but I can't remember the last time I talked about semweb topics...—@ndw

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

If they sold it in a can labeled BEER, I'd buy it. RT @BreakingNews 7-Eleven to begin selling its own label of beer http://bit.ly/cxljHM—@MattioV
@MattioV I remember the generic craze of the '70s. Plain white cans labelled "BEER". I wasn't old enough to drink it, though. Lucky me.—@ndw
@ndw I know the generic BEER label through movies only, but it always gives me a chuckle.—@MattioV

Tuesday at 06:32pm

Went to great length to get listings pretty printed with line #s using CSS, only to find using a table would make cut&paste easier. #cantwin—@ndw

Tuesday at 06:46pm

Sigh. Time to think about moving? #policestate RT @EFF Washington Times editorial on "legal" TSA laptop searches. http://j.mp/ch273L—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 06:47pm

@EFF, if my HD is encrypted, I wonder if they can compel me to reveal the pass phrase?—@ndw
@ndw you are familiar with the term "rubber hose cryptography"?—@whump
@whump Hard to imagine a judge that would uphold *that* violation of my rights. Unfortunately, not hard enough.—@ndw

Wednesday at 01:08am

"Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when it first works out the reason for its own existence" -@RichardDawkins—@iTod

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 01:52am

Benchmarks for HDD and SSD choices for new MacBook Pro http://bit.ly/czaDTj—@james_clark
@james_clark Wow, the Apple 512G SSD gets really bad scores compared to other SSD. Like @ebruchez, I'm wondering how the 256G would do.—@avernet
@james_clark It's the lack of TRIM support in the OS and the consequences of writes after the disk is full that I couldn't get a handle on.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 05:49am

My new laptop shipped. Yay! From Shanghai. Boo! ETA: your guess is as good as FedEx's #ashtag—@ndw
@ndw Barbara's laptop also shipped from Shanghai. Via Kazakhstan, where it sat for 5 days! Volcanus interruptus? FedEx ain't talkin'.—@SheltieJim
@ndw Are they flying westward from China to the East Coast? It's eastward to California. No ashes there AFAIK!—@ebruchez
@ebruchez Don't know yet. All I've got is the departure from the origin facility. Next stop europe: bad, next stop further east: good.—@ndw
@ndw So what laptop did you buy?—@james_clark
@james_clark The 17" MBP with all the knobs turned to 11, except for the HD. Fast spinning metal. I'll update to SSD after market. Later.—@ndw
@ndw Glossy or antiglare? I'm still paralyzed by indecision on size/glossiness/ssd.—@james_clark
@james_clark I've got the glossy screen now and it's never bothered me, glare-wise. I prefer the more saturated colors for photo editing.—@ndw
@james_clark @ndw an ssd is the best upgrade you can make - you really notice it when going back to hdd.—@andrewwelch
@ndw good choice—@migueldemelo
@ndw Folks, I declare a ban on you guys announcing that your new MacBook Pro shipped. (That is, at least until mine did.)—@avernet

Wednesday at 06:02am

It's coincidence that the HD in *this* laptop started making upleasant noises moments after I tweeted about its replacement. Right? Right!?—@ndw

Wednesday at 06:12am

Wednesday at 07:13am

Yes, noises do equal failing. Yay, me. Not!—@ndw

Wednesday at 07:44am

"Loyalty card" discount for gas at S&S, 5c/gal. No prizes for guessing exactly how much more their regular price is compared to surr. statns—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 08:06am

My health ins number changed by one digit in Nov. Every transaction now involves a 45min phone call to fix a spurious rejection. #notmyday—@ndw
@ndw so now your ndx—@DALDEI

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 10:00am

♺@dsearls If we see the Net as a medium rather than as a place, we risk losing it. Here's why: http://bit.ly/95n7oA #fiberfete—@ndw
RT @ndw: ♺@dsearls If we see the Net as a medium rather than as a place, we risk losing it. Here's why: http://bit.ly/95n7oA #fiberfete—@svgeesus

Wednesday at 10:01am

Seagate's idea of free warranty replacement is you pay for the shipping. #unimpressed—@ndw

Wednesday at 02:13pm

When I have to convey the extent of my hate for MS Word, words usally fail me—@zaphgod

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 02:51pm

Isn't it surprising how well a bolted on technology like RDFa is doing?—@shelleypowers
@shelleypowers It almost makes you think that independent invention and distributed extensibility might, you know, actually be a good thing—@ndw
@ndw A totally open web, where our every move isn't controlled by some committee...Boggles, doesn't it?—@shelleypowers

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 04:47pm

Rethinking my decision not to go to MarkLogic Users Conference. I learned a lot last year and had a really good time to boot! More travel!—@harveybetty
@harveybetty we'd love to have you at #MLUC10 ... hope you decide to come out again this year!—@Kellblog
@harveybetty Come and join us! You know you want to! #mluc10—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 04:50pm

RT @shelleypowers: The JavaScript Cookbook was my 18th book < Whoa, Shelley! That's way ahead of me! And you have fewer co-authors.—@simonstl
@simonstl I am a writing fool ;-)—@shelleypowers
@shelleypowers And here's me working on lowly number 3.—@ndw
@ndw But they're three _good_ books!—@shelleypowers
@shelleypowers Well, two perhaps, the verdict is still out on the third, surely. And that still puts you fifteen good books ahead :-)—@ndw
@ndw Your third will be good. I feel it in my bones.—@shelleypowers

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 05:10pm

Whoa! Surveillance Society ++: New Speed Camera Works From Space http://bit.ly/b5dPhX (via @slashdot)—@timoreilly
@timoreilly Sad coverage about it though; fails to join the dots and understand the true privacy threat from triangulation.—@webmink
@webmink Indeed. This has been a year of #fail for privacy and democracy so far.—@ndw

Thursday at 06:23am

If you're going to tweet or re-tweet a link, try not to let the link get truncated because you can't count to 140, ok?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 08:49am

@ndw RE: border stops & data violations w/o warrants. One guy's answer: http://su.pr/8gDxrS Don't carry your data with you.—@lizfraley
@lizfraley Yes. I don't actually care if someone wants to read the content of my laptop, but on principle...encrypted cloud storage FTW!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 10:37am

Banging my head against yet another JavaScript framework. Sigh.—@ndw
@ndw Which framework, what problem?—@robinberjon
@ndw: Are you using a framework by choice or compulsion?—@david_megginson

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 11:45am

@david_megginson @robinberjon YUI instead of jQuery for a particular project. Just newbie frustrations getting the scaffolding up—@ndw
@ndw YUI is inordinately sensitive to the markup around elements you're augmenting (e.g. being in a td instead of a div). That might bite...—@robinberjon

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 12:56pm

What's the YUI equivalent of jQuery's $(document).ready(function() { .. });—@ndw
@ndw that depends on if you are using YUI2 or YUI3 /cc @dajobe—@sh1mmer
@sh1mmer YUI 2.8 in this particular case, and upgrading is not an option.—@ndw
@sh1mmer The problem is, there's no YAHOO object at the point where I want to do this. For complicated reasons, it hasn't loaded yet.—@ndw
@ndw that's an issue, but it would be the same issue with jQuery. Sorry. If you have more details I might be able to help more.—@sh1mmer
@sh1mmer Yeah, you're right. My brain hurts. I think it might be time to stop for the day. Thanks for trying to help!—@ndw
@ndw Dunno if someone replied, but most of the time putting the script after </body> and doing YUI().use('deps', function () {...}) is good.—@robinberjon
@ndw There's onAvailable for element, onContentReady, and onDOMReady - check first, I haven't used in a while—@shelleypowers
@shelleypowers Yeah, I found those. The particular problem I'm having is that the YAHOO object is available (yet) where I am...—@ndw
@ndw OK. Sorry I couldn't help.—@shelleypowers

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 02:21pm

@ndw now we know which framework you're banging your head against ;-)—@dckc
@dckc Oh! For the blessed relief of a rough stone wall.—@ndw
@dckc Or another two weeks in the schedule. I've nothing against the framework per se, just the pressure of confronting it at T-minus days—@ndw

Thursday at 02:35pm

Mktg GENIUS! RT @timbray RT @Lufthansa_USA:..get in touch with Gray Powell, we'd like to fly him to Munich http://twitpic.com/1hjhmv—@ndw

Thursday at 02:39pm

Note to self: on those rare times when you visit FB, always explicitly *logout* RT @bphogan To my facebook friends... http://bit.ly/bO9oQG—@ndw

Thursday at 02:40pm

RT @ndw Mktg GENIUS! RT @timbray RT @Lufthansa_USA:..get in touch with Gray Powell, we'd like to fly him to Munich http://twitpic.com/1hjhmv—@ruidlopes

Thursday at 03:31pm

New laptop arrived Anchorage, AK! It's going east! No #ashtag worries for me!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 03:54pm

I hope the first telecom to try this gets simultaneously sued into oblivion and utterly destroyed by the competition. http://bit.ly/9BdRNN—@lmorchard
@lmorchard No reason to be optimistic about it though. It won't be that obvious at first.—@ndw

Thursday at 05:33pm

♺ @ndw: Mktg GENIUS! RT @timbray RT @Lufthansa_USA:..get in touch with Gray Powell, we'd like to fly him to Munich http://twitpic.com/1hjhmv—@gcarothers

Thursday at 06:52pm

@ndw agreed on the principle, but I like the cloud solution too!—@lizfraley

Friday at 08:57am

♺@docbook Digital vers of _DocBook: The Definitive Guide_ (2nd edition, covering DocBook V5.0) are available now! http://oreil.ly/9zR9IX—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 11:19am

Hey. Some poor tech left his Apple diagnostic DVD in my laptop. Not their week, really, is it?—@ndw
@ndw If it's just TechTool Deluxe, that can be just downloaded from Apple: http://tinyurl.com/erwk2 Or do they have their own secret stuff?—@ebruchez
@ndw srsly? Guard that puppy carefully. You never know when you'll need to figure out your HD. Or your fans. ;)—@JeanKaplansky
@ndw wonder how much Gizmodo would pay you for it ;)—@aspyker
@ndw I bet that particular mistake happens a lot—@jtauber

Friday at 12:57pm

The intellectual foundations of religion have been so undermined that the only argument left seems to be "well, we can outbreed atheists".—@tommorris

In a conversation that started on Friday at 04:30pm

wish 1 - that this wasn't true, wish 2 - that I could explain it to my Web Sci students w/o getting in trouble - http://bit.ly/dh2Pa2—@jahendler
@jahendler it could be worse, technological innovation could be driven by war...oh, wait...—@ndw
@ndw norm, I started laughing at that one until the truth hit me -- We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when...—@jahendler

In a conversation that started on Friday at 05:04pm

Wrestled YUI and related JS to the ground, in one browser anyway. Next: martini.—@ndw
@ndw ouch now you can move on from YUI to more palatable frameworks like jQuery. Does anyone go the other direction?—@grechaw
@grechaw Yeah. I'm used to jQuery but this particular project uses YUI and the deadline's too tight to spend time arguing about it.—@ndw
@ndw ah but maybe you needed an excuse for the martini...—@grechaw
@grechaw Breathing is sufficient excuse for a martini, I think.—@ndw
@ndw cheers! I have to cure nights spent with xmlsec and ms crypto by half of hennessy bottle at my parents ;-)—@jirkakosek

Friday at 05:14pm

A little harsh, perhaps, but apt RT @whump Dear companies "using facebook to personalize my experience" please die in a fire.—@ndw

Friday at 05:52pm

RT @ndw: A little harsh, perhaps, but apt RT @whump Dear companies "using facebook to personalize my experience" please die in a fire. <+1—@fiberartisan

In a conversation that started on Friday at 06:24pm

@fiberartisan - I really dislike the flight to the west coast but I couldn't resist #mhuc!—@harveybetty
@harveybetty @fiberartisan y'all know you mean #mluc, right? #mluc10 to be precise, though I hope you come every year!—@ndw
@ndw @harveybetty #mluc #mluc10 yeah, the cool thing that Betty gets to go to and I don't. I'll see you in Montreal.—@fiberartisan

Friday at 09:13pm

@ndw what can I say it is either Alzheimer's for 'fat finger' syndrome! That is one reason why I don't like using 'hash' marks!—@harveybetty

Saturday at 01:57pm

Must learn this. RT @markbirbeck New post: Issue-driven development with Mercurial patch queues and Google Code http://bit.ly/b2mk3N—@ndw

Saturday at 02:08pm

Does git have something equivalent to hg patch queues?—@ndw

Saturday at 02:38pm

Now there's a FireFox bug I haven't seen before: opened a new link and it discarded *all* my tabs. Kill, restart, and recover, I hope.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Saturday at 02:57pm

Tea Party member wants "gov't to stay out of my life" while half the movement supports a federal law banning equal marriage rights.—@sss4r
@sss4r Right. "stay out of my life", not out of *yours*. You might have ideas or opinions or beliefs that differ from the right ones.—@ndw
@ndw *nod* if timothy mcveigh had the right idea, then I'm wrong and that's a FACT.—@sss4r

In a conversation that started on Saturday at 03:07pm

Just completed my first hand-laid HO train switch, soldered, filed,points, frogs, switch bar. And it WORKS—@DALDEI
@DALDEI I like the HO scale the best. As kids we used to have a beautiful layout at home. I remember making hills from polystyrene, trees...—@vojtechtoman
@vojtechtoman HO is indeed the best. This time in life (35 years later) I'm going for 100% "hand laid" track.. Wood ties, Micro spikes.—@DALDEI
@DALDEI Model trains are just after R/C planes and 'copters on my todo list. Alas, well over the forseable horizon.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Saturday at 05:56pm

Finally saw the new Dr Who. I had low expectations from the trailers, but think he could grow on me.—@ndw
@ndw I have mixed feelings. I really liked Tennant. At the same time, rather impressed with his handling of the aliens. Not used to that.—@shelleypowers

Saturday at 08:13pm

And, for that matter, @daverooneyca "Fix it when you NEED to" is a loophole big enough to drive a Visitor pattern through... (@bigballofmud)—@lizfraley

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 01:22am

Getting ready to leave for #www2010 #ldow2010—@JeniT
@JeniT #www2010 #ldow2010 have a great trip, see you there—@jahendler
@JeniT we should meeting up while you're in Raleigh. Have you considered coming to our XML/XQuery meetup? http://bit.ly/aSSLkx—@aspyker
@aspyker Damn I regret not being able to get to WWW 2010. Too much to finish before week after next, alas.—@ndw
@ndw Yeh, I couldn't manage it if it wasn't in my back yard. Especially with #ibmimpact the week following with me presenting 6 times—@aspyker

Sunday at 11:49am

Waiting for NT Live broadcast of The Habit of Art to begin—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 01:06pm

Any device that fits in a pocket/purse has a large advantage over any device that doesn't.—@timbray
@timbray On the other hand, any device with a usefully large screen has an advantage over any device that doesn't.—@ndw
@ndw @timbray. How about a device that fits in my pocket, with a 21" projected screen, and a roll-up keyboard?—@michaelhkay
@michaelhkay perhaps, but I expect I'll just get uses to carrying something slightly larger around.—@ndw
@michaelhkay @ndw @timbray pocket device: I've been able to do that for 3 yrs with any projector #nokian800—@docum3nt

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 03:01pm

Watching NASCAR in the bar. What is the point if there are no crashes?—@dajobe
@dajobe you had me at "point"—@ndw
@ndw there were several crashes after I tweeted that so I was sorted.—@dajobe

Sunday at 04:30pm

@JeniT Welcome to the USA. Sorry our paths won't cross on this side of the pond.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 04:31pm

DITA-Hell: @amslotnik you warned of DITA tool issues. You were right. Inconsistencies, especially in DTD location and schema support.—@harveybetty
@harveybetty ah, the joys of architectural forms...—@ndw