The short-form week of 24–30 May 2010

31 May 2010; last modified 13 Mar 2011

The week in review, 140 characters at a time. This week, 42 messages in 49 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 Saturday at 04:40pm

Fuck. When I reboot I get the PGP disk password screen, a flash of the normal login screen, and all those stripes again.—@ndw
@ndw Oh no! So sorry to hear that, sounds abominable.—@abcoates
@ndw is this a #mbp hardware issue?—@dizzzz
@dizzzz No. Booting off my "checkpoint backup" looks fine. Now trying repair to see if it's that simple. Then reinstall if I must.—@ndw
@dizzzz I'm not sure, buy I don't think so. New idea is maybe I can ssh in. Will test later today.—@ndw

Sunday at 11:06pm

@ndw Yes, your bad. If your Mac misbehaves in any way, it is always the user's fault. Isn't that a standard clause in the Apple's EULA?—@avernet

Monday at 05:38am

Mostly ignoring Twitter today. Avoiding spoilers. Lost is on the DVR, but we haven't watched it yet.—@ndw

Monday at 09:12pm

If one begins with the assumption that there were no completely satisfying endings, it could have been worse. #lost—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 09:16am

We need MonasticCamp - where we'd discuss how to free ourselves from crappy 'social' systems and live our lives without 'sharing'.—@tommorris
@tommorris I have some ideas about that, but I'm not going to share them with you.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 10:25am

We recommend putting every piece of metadata into an ePub except price. Is there anything else to leave out?—@abdelazer
@abdelazer why leave price out of an ePub? Maybe I'm weird, but I like to see prices on books, especially old ones.—@simonstl
@simonstl @abedelazer I assume because the price is more mutable over time than other metadata.—@bobdc
@bobdc but does the mutability make any difference once you've bought it? I've bought lots of $2 used books that were 50 cents originally—@simonstl
@simonstl because they're different in every channel/easily discounted. Ever sell higher priced ePubs for $9.99 for a day? Regenerate each?—@abdelazer
@abdelazer if you're trying to avoid regeneration processing, I guess I can see. From strictly metadata perspective, though, would like.—@simonstl
@abdelazer You could store them in a server capable of high performance assembly. #marklogic has one of those :-) I'm with @simonstl on want—@ndw

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

How significant is the negative impact of running a servier in an area of high humidity? Want to move #server to the #basement.—@ndw
@ndw get a humidifier for the basement. It really significantly cuts the humidity—@JeanKaplansky
@ndw Was never a particular issue in Brisbane, which is 100% quite a lot. I expect its own heat will help keep it dry, within reason.—@abcoates
@ndw You could get a #dehumidifier. We have one in our basement.—@bobdc

Tuesday at 03:07pm

I suppose, more to the point, is it higher than the negative impact of *listening* to the damn thing *all day long*.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 04:54pm

@ndw: years ago I visted INRIA Grenoble; all the computers were in closets. Wow. I did it in my office, and yes, it makes HUGE difference.—@dckc
@dckc Yes. I have plans to build a closet for this purpose, but now that summer is here, I'm looking for something shorter-term.—@ndw

Tuesday at 06:04pm

I wonder what percentage of the ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico will die before it's cleaned. How much oil would justify that cost?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 06:12pm

RT @OReillyUG: New Release: DocBook 5: The Definitive Guide http://oreil.ly/9LG2OJ < Congrats, Norm (@ndw)!—@simonstl
@simonstl How far apart are yr kids? Our girls are 18 months, which is a bit rough now, but getting better all the time.—@kendall
@kendall wow, 18 months? Ours are 25 months, and I thought that was close! Though 18 months might almost be easier in some ways.—@simonstl
@simonstl It can be...exhausting. :)—@kendall

Tuesday at 06:24pm

New Release: DocBook 5: The Definitive Guide http://oreil.ly/9LG2OJ from @ndw Congrats on new book! - (via @simonstl via @OReillyUG)—@shelleypowers

Tuesday at 06:43pm

After a clean install, my MPB ran most of a day then locked up and returned to the striped screen of death. [expletive rant elided -ed]—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 06:49pm

Depressed that all his coding plans for the evening are fsckd, @ndw slopes off to seek solace in movies. Buckaroo, perhaps. Or Star Wars?—@ndw
@ndw Buckaroo would be the clear winner for me.—@freddrake

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 09:21pm

Observation: my video issues are roughly coincident with installing drivers for the USB video adapter. DisplayLink drivers the culprit?—@ndw
@ndw Yes. I guess one external monitor will have to do. #firstworldproblems http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11558589—@ndw

Wednesday at 06:00am

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 10:26am

6yo's first wobbly tooth has *finally* come out (with the help of a toffee). Yes, the same one that started wobbling weeks and weeks ago.—@JeniT
@JeniT lesson: don't withhold the toffees—@iand
@iand The toffee was an act of desperation. Couldn't stand seeing it flopping about in her mouth any more.—@JeniT
@JeniT I thought desperation was string and a doorknob. But maybe only on this side of the pond.—@ndw
@ndw @JeniT String and doorknob worked for my son on this side of the pond.—@abcoates
@ndw We discussed that as an option. She found the idea of a toffee much more palatable.—@JeniT
@JeniT @ndw string and doorknob is for adults :) At my age they just fall out while having soup...—@docum3nt
@JeniT i completely understand. It can be hideous sometimes #shudder—@iand

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 11:39am

Trying to decide if I should pitch a DocBook paper to XML 2010.—@ndw
@ndw Who still goes to XML >= 2008?—@abdelazer
@ndw >>Trying to decide if I should pitch a DocBook paper to XML 2010.<< - Please do.—@xmluser

Wednesday at 11:49am

RT @ndw: Trying to decide if I should pitch a DocBook paper to XML 2010. <<= If you're looking for input, I say yes.—@richardhamilton

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 04:04am

From the #usability archives: what #Word would look like if you wanted most of the things #LaTeX has available: http://is.gd/cr1xD :-)—@docum3nt
@docum3nt Isn't that basically what Word looks like now?—@ndw
@ndw Dunno, never touch the stuff :)—@docum3nt

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 06:18am

trying to implement a lightweight mini version control system in #marklogic with #xquery only #fun—@migueldemelo
@migueldemelo get an XML database that has built-in versioning ;-) http://bit.ly/aSwLXG—@martin_probst
@martin_probst @migueldemelo Document Library Services in #marklogic isn't what you're looking for?—@ndw
@ndw also using 4 triggers to abstract operations from webdav users. on create(add); update(checkout); update(commit); delete(remove)—@migueldemelo
@martin_probst I am . . . ;)—@migueldemelo

Thursday at 06:28am

RT @docbook RT @richardhamilton DocBook 5: The Definitive Guide is officially released today: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596805012—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 08:23am

New MBP came up nicely, runs great. But the right-angle mag power connector sort of sucks--covers ethernet and firewire.—@mikeloukides
@mikeloukides Uh, Mike, point it the other way :-)—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 08:24am

The DocBook stylesheets support *sixty-five* languages. Not just languages I can't understand, languages I didn't know existed.—@ndw
@ndw that is awesome. I missed noticing that. Is that in the docs?—@lizfraley
@ndw Because everyone needs to write technical documentation in Cuneiform. Just in case. :)—@JeanKaplansky

Thursday at 08:24am

RT @ndw The DocBook stylesheets support *sixty-five* languages. Not just languages I can't understand, languages I didn't know existed.—@docbook

Thursday at 08:57am

@ndw yes, that's exactly what I am using, see my earlier reply to @jasoncbooth—@migueldemelo

Thursday at 09:16am

@ndw Yeah, I don't like it pointed the other way.... (or, maybe more important, I don't like having to think about it.)—@mikeloukides

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 11:10am

In short, I don't like Lost because it was the old fight between reason & faith, and reason lost. Ugh.—@kendall
@kendall That's actually a good summary of LOST. I gave up in Season 1, but I think I would have liked that faith won ;-)—@svrc
@svrc I'm an Enlightenment, ecrasez l'infame type, myself, so it went all squirrely IMO. But, eh, it's just TV. :>—@kendall
@kendall I tend to appreciate works (even pop culture) that emphasize faith without confusing it with morality, as modern religion is prone—@svrc
@svrc "Faith" as basic trust in the meaningfulness of life: that's good. Mystifying mumbo-jumbo: eh, not so much.—@kendall
@kendall sure , agreed there :>—@svrc
@svrc That's 1 reason why "faith v. reason" is misleading; that sense of faith is req'd to do science or think rationally. Ecrasez l'infame!—@kendall
@kendall I was fond of Isaiah Berlin's work on the counter-enlightenment. Also, Voltaire's Bastards by J.R. Saul.—@svrc
@svrc Eh... that Saul book is seriously whack; I love me some Isaiah Berlin, though. :>—@kendall
@kendall Saul's book was too long, but it (and the other two in the trilogy) were pretty important in Canada during the 90s—@svrc
@svrc Yep an American analogue: Alan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind -- enormously popular & total rubbish.—@kendall
@kendall Ooo, them's fightin words. Probably for beer someday, I could not disagree more with the comparison.—@svrc
@kendall Bah. Life has no meaning. "...there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but pitiless indifference."—@ndw
@ndw It's more complicated than that. :>—@kendall
@kendall Perhaps. But I've yet to be convinced.—@ndw
@ndw There's nothing in the structure of reality that makes life meaningful; but we can adopt that attitude, which may be sufficient.—@kendall
@ndw source of that quote? :)—@thebrianmanley
@thebrianmanley Richard Dawkins. It begins "The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, ..."—@ndw
@svrc You should watch the last two seasons, then, I suspect. :>—@kendall
@kendall Yeah, I'm with you there, but I accepted that as inevitable and tried to enjoy the ride. Superstitious mumbo-jumbo is common on TV.—@ndw

Thursday at 11:26am

RT @davidjhinson @SocialMedia411 BP wants Twitter to shut down fake acct mocking it. Twitter wants BP to shut down oil leak ruining ocean.—@ndw

Thursday at 11:51am

RT @ndw: RT @SocialMedia411 BP wants Twitter to shut down fake acct mocking it. Twitter wants BP to shut down oil leak ruining ocean. <-amen—@fiberartisan

Thursday at 01:34pm

@ndw Thomas Nagel's new book, Secular Philosophy and the Religious Temperament, is good on teasing out the distinctions hereabouts.—@kendall

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 01:38pm

@ndw @kendall I suddenly feel like I'm back in Freshman Philosophy. Which also what Lost Season 2 was like ;) I stopped at Season 2.—@gcarothers
@gcarothers Ooh, well aren't you super sophisticated and urbane! :>—@kendall
@kendall Yeah, very sophisticated. Switched watching Angle and Buffy on DVD ;)—@gcarothers

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 04:07pm

Feature wishlist for the Penultimate note application http://post.ly/hbN4—@edd
@edd In Penultimate, is the illusion that you're writing on paper really successful?—@ndw
@ndw no, you're writing on an iPad that looks a bit like paper. But, you're writing :)—@edd

In a conversation that started on Friday at 06:13am

I have always wanted to visit Mongolia, but Mongolian real estate spam just seems weird. What odds I'm looking to rent in Ulan Bator today?—@ndw
@ndw can you forward the re spam to me, wish to see if a pattern exists and if education or a policy is needed to prevent this in the future—@coreyleong
@coreyleong Sent!—@ndw
@ndw got it thanks!—@coreyleong
@ndw It might be cheap enough that you might want to rent something just in case you get stranded there? I'd love to go to Ulan Bator!—@robinberjon

Friday at 09:56am

In a conversation that started on Friday at 10:02am

Went to 2 diff biz websites, left puzzled by total failure to desc WTF they *do*. Then realized, it was prob all in the blocked Flash. #FAIL—@ndw
@ndw For a big enough company, the first sentence of the Wikipedia page on them usually describes them better than their own web site does.—@bobdc

Friday at 10:36am

From my experience of trawling web sites, the info probably wasnt in the flash. RT @ndw: Went to 2 biz websites, left puzzled WTF they *do*.—@StephenBuxton

Friday at 03:50pm

#FollowFriday @reybango (jQuery) @ndw (XML) @kellblog (MarkLogic CEO)—@jasoncbooth

In a conversation that started on Friday at 05:20pm

Damn power cuts. I'm getting closer and closer to buying a UPS.—@tommorris
@tommorris definitely worth getting—@ndw
@ndw I figure £100 / 25 times a year more than makes up for the hour of frustration I have after each outage.—@tommorris
@tommorris Absolutely. The first time the lights flickered and I didn't have to fret over getting three boxes back online, I knew it.—@ndw

Saturday at 10:25am

Next up: King Tut in 3D!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Saturday at 11:52pm

What's wrong with case-insensitive filesystems? MediaWikis redirect e.g. "Postscript" to "PostScript" (etc.) - can't store in filesystem.—@tommorris
@tommorris There's a case sensitive option. I've always wanted it, but never had the nerve. Who knows what would break, devs using default.—@ndw
@ndw yep, it'd be useful if you could declare some directories to be case sensitive though. May have to do case-sensitive stuff in a DMG.—@tommorris

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 11:51am

Hot Tub Time Machine was LEGIONS better than it deserved to be. I can't imagine I appealing to people under 35 or over 50, though.—@textfiles
@textfiles Yeah, that's a pretty fair summary, I think.—@ndw

Sunday at 12:13pm

Observation: I am not in the target demographic of a mall with a Sotheby's International Realty "store".—@ndw

Sunday at 02:43pm

Buy a $2 soda from the vending machine on the 5th floor with a $5 bill, get four $1 coins and 8 quarters in change. #machinesbadatmath—@ndw

Sunday at 02:45pm

In other news: the John Tyler $1 coin has nothing particularly to recommend it. As in previous attempts: too much like a quarter.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 02:58pm

Another visit to an Apple store, another day successfully resisting an iPad. Whether I should feel proud or stupid, I couldn't say.—@ndw
@ndw: Proud for resisting, and perhaps a little stupid for even needing to resist. :)—@david_megginson

Sunday at 05:50pm

Blasts from the past. Motoring out of Glen Island Sound. #rowing #boozecruise—@ndw

Sunday at 08:13pm

Sunday at 08:14pm

Awesome! RT @ndw: Lady Liberty http://yfrog.com/jmcjoj—@jasoncbooth