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The short-form week of 13–19 Dec 2010

20 Dec 2010; last modified 13 Mar 2011

The week in review, 140 characters at a time. This week, 66 messages in 59 conversations. (With 3 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.

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 04:18pm

Luminaries say what's been clear for years: XML is a poor data language. @ndw: http://bit.ly/bUVVdG @james_clark: http://bit.ly/iaF9nd—@toddjonker
@toddjonker Uhm. I think that's a pretty significant overstatement of what I said. I have no trouble with XML for all my data.—@ndw
@ndw Sorry, you're right. Would you agree with "XML isn't always the best-choice structured data language"?—@toddjonker
@toddjonker No, all I said was some folks are using JavaScript instead of XML and I'm not losing any sleep over it.—@ndw

Monday at 09:21am

Gave MarkLogic server 2825 Linux Hugepages. Maybe that'll fix the sporadic performance issues.—@ndw

Monday at 10:05am

Finished Google Maps V2 to V3 conversion early this morning. Except for IE testing. Blech.—@ndw

Monday at 11:24am

Conflict makes me uncomfortable and light-headed. Or maybe I just need to eat some lunch.—@ndw

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

spotlight is an evil, broken cpu hog—@louspringer
@louspringer Ain't that the truth.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 12:45pm

That popping sound you heard a little while ago? That was my head exploding: http://markmail.org/message/c63llbcbr2uphlyu—@ndw
@ndw phew. something is srsly b0rked, and it ain't you or DocBook.—@RepoRat
@ndw Your response is much calmer than I think I would have managed. I remember similar problems with ISO.—@james_clark

Monday at 12:48pm

Circumstances are conspiring to make me think about a new XML standards organization. I must resist these deranged imaginings.—@ndw

Monday at 12:50pm

RT @ndw: Circumstances are conspiring to make me think about a new XML standards organization. I must resist these deranged imaginings.—@arh

Monday at 12:51pm

Oh wow. OASIS, don't do this to @ndwhttp://markmail.org/message/c63llbcbr2uphlyu—@edd

In a conversation that started on Monday at 02:20pm

Forty minutes of wiki editing lost because a lagging UI caused my click to hit the cancel button. Fsck me! Wikis are the suck!—@ndw
@ndw Re Wikis: You should move Google Docs, they wouldnt have the same prob$#!*&#$%#***** ~ NO CARRIER—@DALDEI
@ndw save early, save often, do major edits in a text editor then paste 'em back.—@svgeesus
@svgeesus Amen, brother. It wasn't supposed to be 40 minutes of work when I started... :-/—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 03:58pm

I'm just astonished everytime Vista (which runs like a pig in VMWare, btw) tells me it's going to reboot in 15 minutes unless I stop it.—@ndw
@ndw yeah, I get that in XP, right in the middle of a game of LOTRO too—@jtauber
@ndw Win 7 does it too. Baffling.—@sss4r2

Monday at 05:25pm

Started cooking dinner. Mom called. Left heat under oil. #badchef #smellykitchen #nofire—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 11:30pm

Dear LazyWeb, does the ♫ AKA U+266B symbol display properly in http://goo.gl/C0gGQ on iOS? Thanks in advance.—@timbray
@timbray Looks fine on my old iPhone 3G running, erm, 4.1 (8B117).—@ndw

Tuesday at 02:36am

The ᐸinnovimax/ᐳ Daily is out! http://bit.ly/a7QxZZ ▸ Top stories today by @james_clark @roessler @uogbuji @ndw—@dominiquepere

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 08:30am

Man. Maybe it's just me, but JavaScript's variable scoping rules + closures = several hours of consternation and confusion.—@ndw
@ndw check Crockford's web page (and jslint). He has some good notes there. Helped me a lot.—@pitrp
@ndw JS has actual scoping rules? I thought the runtime just decides on some random thing to do ;-)—@martin_probst
@martin_probst No, I think it only seems that way. I think there are rules. I think.—@ndw
@ndw me too, last summer. "js: the good parts" finally explained how _this works.—@dckc
@ndw No it's not just you: JS just sucks...—@docum3nt
@ndw javascript's lack of (excluding 'let') block scoping rules are indeed lame.—@lizfraley
@ndw I suspect that most professional programmers (including me) should take real JS training classes; we clearly don't know it well enough—@abdelazer
@ndw It's not just you. Variable scoping is probably the one thing you need to learn for JS.—@robinberjon

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 10:07am

No matter how creatively you query the wrong database, the results are never what you expect.—@ndw
@ndw Funny how that works... (and I've done it too)—@RepoRat

Tuesday at 10:12am

Norm's law. RT @ndw: No matter how creatively you query the wrong database, the results are never what you expect.—@roessler

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 10:24am

Bah, it took me too long to return to some games so Words With Friends resigned me! Shucks!—@robinberjon
@robinberjon Feel free to start 'em up again!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 03:36pm

Trying Chrome. Accidentally closed window. Apparently no way to recover all my tabs. Boo hoo!—@ndw
@ndw #chrome. No XML support :(—@pmvallone
@pmvallone Bleh. I hadn't noticed.—@ndw
@ndw but it's very nice when a page on a tab is slow to load, or it crashes, and everything else keeps on running smoothly.—@bdarcus
@ndw Chrome homepage has 'recently closed' at the bottom. If multiple tabs were open, should see a folder icon. click to restore—@trevormunoz
@trevormunoz Ah, sweet. Win!—@ndw
@ndw reopen closed tab from File menu of course (will reopen window as well)—@regnauld
@ndw sounds like an extension in the making—@Paul_Kinlan
@ndw Chrome is actually pretty good about tab restoration (esp on crash). Aslo, History-Recently Closed & ⌘-Shift-t (translate from Mac-ish)—@abdelazer
@ndw sure there is. open a new chrome tab and see the offers to restore all sorts of recent history.—@dckc
@dckc Yes, thanks. I'd overlooked that.—@ndw
@ndw Really? Chrome is able to restore pretty much everything in my experience. Cmd-shift-T.—@ebruchez

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 04:26pm

I can't help but wonder if that's not also true of adults - that great peers make you great and bad peers or bad management make you crappy.—@tomcoates
@tomcoates You know, I wouldn't be surprised. Great peers & mgmt are energizing. The other kind, soul destroying.—@ndw

Tuesday at 06:08pm

Speaking of great peers and management...we're hiring. :-)—@ndw

Wednesday at 07:39am

Email is protected speech under the fourth ammendment. On the one hand, YAAAY!!! On the other, DUH!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 07:57am

McDonalds data hacked. Wait. There are people who gave data to McDonalds?—@ndw
@ndw people value their privacy - I assume they got soemthing like 3 free fries in return.—@martin_probst
@ndw More like McData, am I right?—@pfhawkins
@ndw [There are people who gave data to McDonalds?] Isn't the credit card numbers people are paying with -- "data"?—@dnovatchev
@dnovatchev I suppose. I wonder if I've ever done that. I'm *sure* I never gave them permission to hold onto my CC data!—@ndw

Wednesday at 07:58am

RT @ndw McDonalds data hacked. Wait. There are people who gave data to McDonalds?—@eternaltyro

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 08:42am

Wow. Flash in Chrome brought down my whole machine. Wouldn't have thought that likely.—@ndw
@ndw i can't use flash on my netbook for that reason.—@hughmcguire

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 11:08am

Opera 11 is out very soon. What's on your WISHLIST for the next version?—@karlpro
@karlpro get me XSLT 2.0, or at least more from exslt—@jreschke
@jreschke @karlpro Seconded. XSLT 2.0 support in Opera would definitely make me switch.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 02:54pm

I have been lazy. I have been foolish. I have reused passwords, simple passwords. But no more. I have mended my ways.—@ndw
@ndw Same resolution here. Takes something like the Gawker incident to remind everyone why it's necessary.—@MattioV
@ndw re passwords. What a coincidence. I just this week started the process to replace my *decade old* practice of using the same password—@DALDEI

Wednesday at 03:20pm

Supernatural morality gives priority to imaginary souls in an imaginary afterlife based on revelations from imaginary gods—@micknugent

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 05:34pm

The annoying full-screen ads the Bing is using in ad-supported Android apps is not generating any love for Bing on my part. Just sayin'.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 03:15am

transclusion, transclusion, never never never gonna speed again, slip the blood to me bud http://bit.ly/i6pTi2http://bit.ly/hyrIy9 #docbook—@peteaven
@peteaven ROTFL! Hey man, dig that, was that an undeclared math sign? ... I cross the center line, man you gotta parse fine ...—@ndw
@ndw :) yeah, i spent some time re-writing the lyrics in my head too. but seriously, good post sir, found it very interesting.—@peteaven

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 04:27am

Turns out that centralised version control really sucks when you can't trust the central server to work when you need it. Who knew?—@JeniT
@JeniT Uhm...all the folks working on distributed version control?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 10:58am

Is it just me, or do the batteries in all the cordless headsets die at the same time for everyone?—@ndw
@ndw pro tip: only exchange the batteries in one headset now, do the other in two weeks ;-)—@martin_probst
@martin_probst But they're all dead now! I suppose the real trick would be to remember to replace half of them in a year or so.—@ndw

Thursday at 03:25pm

I have complete and comprehensive backups, but if Yahoo borks Flickr, it's still gonna suck. Or should I say "when"?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 03:43pm

bummed about Yahoo killing delicious #weak oh well, guess that's just one of the benefits of using a *free* service on the internets—@peteaven
@peteaven I've been a happy @pinboard user for some time. Not free, but inexpensive and maybe also longer lasting.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 04:01pm

@peteaven Er, make that @PinboardIN user.—@ndw
@ndw thanks for the tip. I'll check it out.—@peteaven

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 04:48pm

If I was going to be proactive and migrate off of Flickr, is there an obvious alternative or should I go back to rolling my own?—@ndw
@ndw re flickr, I personally still like Gallery. I know your familiar with it because I found your name tagged with an extraction script—@DALDEI
@ndw Why are you leaving Flickr?—@sss4r2
@sss4r2 I'm just thinking about it in the wake of other services closures by Yahoo! I pay $$$ for Flickr so presumably it safe(r), but...—@ndw
@ndw *nod* Compared to Delicious, Flickr is "too big to fail" but independence is smart.—@sss4r2
@ndw A lot of people like SmugMug, but I haven't tried it myself.—@abcoates
@ndw I run my own instance of http://gallery.menalto.com/ Works for me (but my needs are basic, not sure what you're looking for).—@vambenepe
@ndw I have had a lot of luck with Shutterfly.—@harveybetty
@ndw smugmug is quite nice.—@rajivmordani
@ndw Picassa would integrate automatically with an #Android phone.—@david_megginson

Thursday at 07:07pm

@ndw I had the same Flickr thought...if you find a good alternative, I'm all ears—@collwhit

In a conversation that started on Friday at 05:16am

Yahoo are cutting the only service of theirs that I actually use! What are the good alternatives to delicious? http://tcrn.ch/ev1PLq—@jpcs
@jpcs I'll repeat my endorsement of @pinboardin—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 05:46am

I'm completely stunned by Word Lens, is that for real? http://bit.ly/dFhtKj—@martin_probst
@martin_probst I'm very suspicious. OTOH, if it works half as well as the video suggests, it'd still be pretty amazing.—@ndw

Friday at 09:16am

@marjoleink re: "really clever", a period after "email" would have been sufficient. Not that they didn't demonstrate extra bone headedness.—@ndw

Friday at 09:26am

RT @xmlprague: [ANN] XML Prague 2011 registration is open http://bit.ly/hObQPx—@ndw

Friday at 10:24am

OMFG! Awesome! RT @iand RT @kierdavis: awesome game: shift - http://bit.ly/f2rbxO—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 10:36am

@RovioMobile FYI, I'd happily pay cold, hard cash for ad-free versions of Angry Birds on Android.—@ndw
@ndw we hear you—@RovioMobile

In a conversation that started on Friday at 02:45pm

Suffering with a big ball of XQuery over which I'd like to do a little automation. If only XQuery had a rational XML syntax... #sigh—@ndw
@ndw what about using #XQueryX and strategically ignoring the verbose parts? maybe a mix of XQueryX with XPaths still in #XPath syntax?—@dret
@dret Yes, in this case, I think I could get what I want with XQueryX, if I could be bothered. Perl, baby, perl!—@ndw
@ndw regexes often are your best friend, but they will betray you badly if you try to do anything context-sensitive. #grammarism—@dret
@dret Yes. And ()'s in function declarations are context-sensitive. But, "if brute force doesn't work, you aren't using enough brute force."—@ndw
@ndw /sigh if only XML had a sane syntax…—@etymon
@ndw assuming you dont think xqueryx is not rational ... it does come in handy every once in a while—@xquery
@ndw re xquery. rebut: If only XSLT had a rational human readable syntax.—@DALDEI
@DALDEI I find XSLT entirely, transparently readable. But I'm weird. This isn't news.—@ndw
@ndw I partially jest. I do agree XQuery would benifit from a *simple* XML syntax for the occasional perverse needs—@DALDEI

Friday at 02:45pm

Regexes, you're my friend.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 03:10pm

Does the Galaxy Tab offer wifi tethering? If one roots it first? #lazyweb—@ndw
@ndw mine has it as an option under a menu. Not tried it yet and and not rooted the tab—@iand

Friday at 03:56pm

According to Verizon, I can tether with the Tab and I can transfer my existing Mifi account to that device. Interestinger and interestinger.—@ndw

Friday at 05:43pm

504 @ndw—@dret

Friday at 06:53pm

@ndw think you wanted to know when this was published (Hackintosh): http://bit.ly/f6AYC2—@tommorris

Saturday at 07:07am

Hugepages didn't fix the occasional performance issues. Maybe I should go from 8G to 16G.—@ndw

Saturday at 10:34am

Holy crap, it turns out some tv networks are lying to us! http://bit.ly/fbRD0Y (via @GuyKawasaki).—@jstogdill

Saturday at 11:31am

we programmers are suckers for solving problems, this is a reminder to my future self to spend more time choosing the right problem to solve—@xquery

In a conversation that started on Saturday at 12:36pm

Hey, @pandora_radio why does your Android app want access to my phone info?—@ndw
@ndw Isn't it to get phone status? They want to pause the music while you talk.—@fribeiro1
@fribeiro1 Oh. Duh. I guess I'm getting over sensitive about what apps ask for.—@ndw
@ndw That's allright, it may actually serve as advice to app developers and the Android team, you shouldn't need to ask.—@fribeiro1

Saturday at 05:16pm

Yes, norman.walsh.name is timing out some today. Working on it. Should resolve itself...soon.—@ndw

Sunday at 04:47am

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 03:56pm

JSONObject parser says JSON must start with "{" and first API I try returns an anonymous array. Just fscking wonderful!—@ndw
@ndw Bug in that library: spec explicitly states that "A JSON text is a serialized object or array" http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4627.txt—@NickFitz
@ndw Urgh. Returned kinda-JSON that is an Array object is vulnerable to security problems. Avoid (or embarass) like the plague.—@malcolmt
@malcolmt <sarcasm>Well, at least it's nice to know the folks abandoning XML (Twitter in this case) have got the JSON bits right.</sarcasm>—@ndw
@ndw Yes, there is no problem for JSON with Javascript but with other programming languages... it might be worse than XML :-(—@AlainCouthures
@AlainCouthures Might? It looks like a total mess at first glance.—@ndw
@ndw Well, nobody said that JSON should be human readable ;-)—@AlainCouthures
@AlainCouthures Human readable? I'm trying to get a fucking computer to read it.—@ndw
@ndw Mmm, starting with an array is perfectly legit JSON, whatever parser you're using is broken.—@robinberjon
@robinberjon No, I just wasn't using it right. PEBKAC.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 04:14pm

RT @ndw: JSONObject parser says JSON must start with "{" and first API I try returns an anonymous array. Just fscking wonderful!—@isofarro
@ndw @isofarro — " A JSON text is a serialized object or array." — bug in the parser.—@dorward

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 04:32pm

Fuck it. So much for my plans to integrate some JSON support into XML Calabash. I'm going to make a drink and play Angry Birds instead.—@ndw
@ndw Maybe your challeneges are a message from above saying you should take a chill and watch some football—@Kellblog
@Kellblog that's the one that's played with the prolate spheroid, right?—@ndw
@ndw that has to be one of the best replies ever!—@peteaven
@ndw I like JSON for tightly-coupled server-browser AJAXy stuff; prefer XML or even CSV for general data interchange.—@david_megginson
@ndw Either way should talk with @AlainCouthures as he is working on proposal for JSON support in XForms.—@ebruchez

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 08:55pm

There is so much irony in @ndw giving up on integrating JSON into XML Calabash http://bit.ly/gUZ7L4—@hexmode
@hexmode Not defeated, but more than a wee bit frustrated.—@ndw
@ndw yeah, I overstated it, sorry. But I still think it is funny after how frustrated anyone who has to dive into XML parsing gets.—@hexmode