The short-form week of 8–14 Aug 2011

15 Aug 2011

The week in review, 140 characters at a time. This week, 69 messages in 58 conversations. (With 7 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.

Sunday at 11:49am

RT @dalapeyre: From the podium: "The one way to be sure to get it absolutely wrong is to say [or do] nothing." --CM SperbergMcQueen at # ...—@ndw

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

Chilly here this morning -- got down to 79°F last night. Brrrr! #stcroix—@wmperry
@wmperry Oh, har de har har!—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 06:39am

Signed by the patient's what, exactly? http://yfrog.com/gycuygjj—@ndw
I think the pen is appropriate here. @ndw Signed by the patient's what, exactly? http://t.co/fptaDEd—@docum3nt

In a conversation that started on Monday at 08:51am

Kind of weird, though, that USG got downgraded when it's the Eurozone that looks even more politically fragile & unsustainable, structurally—@kendall
@kendall Weird how? As you noted earlier, it was a mostly political analysis.—@ndw
@ndw Because our political bullshit *could* be transitory; the Eurozone's structural problems *aren't*.—@kendall

In a conversation that started on Monday at 09:43am

Weekend accomplishment: successfully dragged 231,000+ lines of Frame-produced XML uphill to DocBook. #xproc #xslt #docbook—@ndw
@ndw kicking and screaming?—@christo4ferris
@christo4ferris More of a sort of half-hearted struggle, really, for the most part. But there are still pockets of resistance.—@ndw
@ndw Now that is a real accomplishment. Congrats!—@scohenadler

In a conversation that started on Monday at 09:53am

writing a presentation from a .odp template? don't make the mistake of imagining that's an open, portable, document format. It's not.—@psd
@psd I’m planning to reuse XHTML/CSS templates from last year, you’re free to borrow/steal/hack/etc. if you wish.—@ndw
@ndw: I think I could use your XHTML/CSS templates too.—@MenteaXML
@MenteaXML @psd Yes, @laurendw suggested I make them more widely available. Will do. This week if I can. #xmlsummerschool.—@ndw
@ndw ah great! Thanks!—@psd

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 04:56am

2 words for everyone who thinks Apple products are so damn sexy and lickable: Xcode. Four.—@spencerpieters
@spencerpieters I have never in my life wanted to lick and Apple product, no matter how much I liked it. Or not. :-)—@ndw
@ndw Can’t talk now, licking my iPad.—@spencerpieters

Tuesday at 11:35am

Playbook never varies: bailout the rich 1st, since they're not parasites. Then refuse to bailout everyone else because that wld be unfair.—@kendall

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 11:40am

Since most actions Obama could take to grow jobs require Congressional approval, it's not a leap to think GOP is hurting us to hurt him.—@kendall
@kendall Hi Kendall - you have that right.—@scohenadler
@kendall @ndw ... Previously holding tounge but now cant. So exactly what would Obama do to "Grow Jobs" ?—@DALDEI
@DALDEI On his own? Very little. That's the point: he mostly needs Congress's cooperation. Which isn't forthcoming.—@kendall

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 12:31pm

First Draft of HTML5: Edition for Web Authors Published http://ow.ly/1eapct—@w3c
@w3c I can haz un-chunked, single page version, plz? kthxbai.—@ndw
@ndw @w3c Can't tell if you were joking? http://t.co/RwGefKq l—@gcarothers
@gcarothers @w3c No. Just blind. <blush>Thank you</blush>—@ndw

Tuesday at 07:02pm

"It only gets worse." --Gwen Cooper—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 05:56am

Amazon: web-based kindle reader. Optimized for iPad, works offline, avoids Apple's purchasing system. http://zite.to/qrQDXK—@mikeloukides
@mikeloukides Nice to see the internet routing around censorship again.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 06:36am

Successful identification of looter using facial recognition software : http://t.co/HYx2zCR #londonriots #bigbrotherftw—@danja
@ndw spot on Norm!—@danja

Wednesday at 06:37am

The intersection of markup induced from Frame and EPUB2 is not the empty set. But it's not a happy place, either.—@ndw

Wednesday at 08:16am

There's twenty minutes of my life I won't get back. The node order test in #XPath is "<<" not "<".—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 08:44am

If you represent nested lists with flat lists using continued numeration, it's very hard to construct the inferred nesting. #justsayin—@ndw
@ndw Talk to XHTML1.1, not EPUB2 (per se)—@abdelazer
@abdelazer Fair enough.—@ndw
@ndw Did you say "maps"? ;-)—@fgeorges
@fgeorges I’m not sure how they’d help: https://plus.google.com/112652695581272951676/posts/gSZuxswSmka—@ndw
@ndw @fgeorges If only some form of hierachical structure existed...—@andrewwelch

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 08:53am

Wednesday at 11:01am

All "calls for togetherness" about the economy, in a country with inequality closer to Namibia's than to Sweden's, are deeply offensive.—@kendall

Wednesday at 11:41am

. @zeldman @jeffmckeand Huh? What does that even mean?—@ndw

Wednesday at 11:45am

To print in landscape orientation, I have to create a custom paper size in Page Setup? Really, #Firefox? #atleastitworked—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 11:46am

In other news, CSS media queries and page break properties turned my interactive, HTML presentation into paper with remarkable ease.—@ndw
@ndw I'll guess that this took 0.5% of the effort to do the same with XSL-FO?—@arh
@arh For a small fraction of the functionality. But enough for this document.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 12:24pm

And NOW there's a FB petition 'Say no to legal aid for rioters'. Repeat after me-equality under the law is the mark of a civilized society.—@langtry_girl
@langtry_girl @ndw I thought lack of rioting was a mark of a civilized society.—@dierken
@dierken @langtry_girl Yeah, that too. Though I’m inclined to say lack of rioting is the mark of a civilized individual.—@ndw

Wednesday at 01:42pm

Oh Apple, you make very pretty things - why do you have to be such tools otherwise? http://bit.ly/p9yRWl—@dcm

Wednesday at 01:52pm

Very handy indeed! RT @anthonybruno http://copypastecharacter.com is awesome for character encodings as well. #aea—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 01:55pm

Yuck! RT @karlpro: do you have a linkedin account? Time for you to (un)check your settings http://c8l.ca/1e6—@ndw
@ndw Thanks for the info about Linkedin social advertising setting.—@lcahlander

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 01:58pm

“Who will be first to offer an HTML 5 app store for iPad? The race is on!” —@webmink http://wmk.me/qm3Nt0—@ndw
@ndw and how long before Apple rewrites it's rules for iOS use to limit it.—@kingargyle
@kingargyle I’m sure they’ve got the lawyers working on it now. The ones who aren’t engaged in putrid patent trolling, anyway.—@ndw

Wednesday at 02:21pm

@ndw the worst is when you have run out of landscape paper and have to go out and buy some. For a small fee they'll convert portrait paper.—@barefootliam

Wednesday at 10:35pm

RT @ndw @anthonybruno Very handy indeed! http://t.co/rhs12qU is awesome. But how 'bout s'more characters? #unicodesnowman is nice, though—@Klortho

Thursday at 01:27am

#protip When reading any technical or academic document, you can safely replace all instances of "virtually" with "not".—@mdubinko

Thursday at 01:28am

It works in virtually all cases.—@mdubinko

Thursday at 02:35am

The ᐸinnovimax/ᐳ Daily is out! http://bit.ly/a7Qy04 ▸ Top stories today via @ndw @jobsatintel @dizzzz—@dominiquepere

Thursday at 10:47am

RT @peteaven Dear everyone reinventing SQL-the-query-language on top of NoSQL databases: Just what in the fuck is wrong with you? /via ieure—@ndw

Thursday at 10:48am

Amen, brother. RT @kendall The freedom to film police publicly is now as fundamental as freedom of speech.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 10:51am

@xmlgrrl Hmm. I was going to comment on the cost/cup, but it’s actually not that bad. I wonder how many cups I get from my 1lb (12oz!) bag.—@ndw
@ndw @xmlgrrl re #keurig cost per cup is about 50 cents, unless you reuse a kcup (weak).—@DALDEI

Thursday at 10:56am

Nicely done! RT @QuixProc The XProc Quine http://t.co/TLvIU8Y—@ndw

Thursday at 12:26pm

Thoughts on hanging punctuation in CSS3. http://recoveringphysicist.com/21/hanging-punctuation-in-css3—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 04:17pm

Well. @foursquare drop their XML API at about the same time that I can start using Google Latitude. I should switch to the V2 API why?—@ndw
@ndw Time for JSONProc? ;)—@ebruchez
@ebruchez No, but like the XSLT WG, I think easier, smoother JSON support is a good V.next topic. #XProc—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 09:39pm

I'm not the only one who finds publication of the CSS Namespaces Module PR while the browsers are working to discard XML ironic, right?—@ndw
@ndw Nope, the WG does too. But hey, it's done and Rec-able, so why not?—@tabatkins
@ndw we are still using namespace spec for css and xml in the #Vex project at #eclipse—@kingargyle
@ndw But don't worry! HTML5 will make it allll better. Google and Apple's technical marketing people tell me so. :)—@pointybrackets
@ndw Absolutely right. It's pretty hilarious.—@pointybrackets

In a conversation that started on Friday at 01:26am

"By declaring falsifiable beliefs to be central tenets of Christianity, Mohler warps our faith into a superstition. " - http://bit.ly/n7Qnbu—@simonstl
@simonstl That is a deeply confusing essay—@kendall
@kendall not sure why. Do you believe everything true at least theoretically provable?—@simonstl
@simonstl I spent 10 years full time doing work in the areas that essay discusses, and I can't make any sense of what is being said there.—@kendall
@kendall or something else - more choices possible—@simonstl
@kendall epistemology or theology?—@simonstl
@simonstl Systematic theology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, epistemic nature of religious belief, etc etc.—@kendall
@simonstl No warping was required. It started out that way.—@ndw
@ndw oh hell, Norm. You actually believe in XSLT. Talk about warped...—@simonstl
@simonstl I don’t believe in XSLT any more than I believe in hammers and screwdrivers, sed and grep, or bicycles and automobiles.—@ndw
@ndw nor do I, actually. Epistemological nihilism is surprising comfortable.—@simonstl

In a conversation that started on Friday at 07:00am

Controlling list numeration with CSS (a) doesn't work, (b) is wrong, and (c) is broken as designed. #HTML #CSS—@ndw
@ndw At least it's Friday?—@MattioV
@ndw #HTML #CSS that's what #JavaScript is for :)—@agentgt

Friday at 07:09am

Is there any way to use CSS to do list numeration that works (w/o adding a bogus newline) if the first item in the list is a block?—@ndw

Friday at 07:09am

this. RT @ndw: Controlling list numeration with CSS (a) doesn't work, (b) is wrong, and (c) is broken as designed. #HTML #CSS—@RepoRat

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

Styling list numerations with CSS: http://norman.walsh.name/2011/08/12/styleThis #HTML #CSS #rant—@ndw
@ndw Good rant. I've run into that issue when preparing and styling EPUBs. I agree that it is a semantic as much as a presentational issue.—@adamwitwer
@adamwitwer @ndw though I'd bet complex semantic/presentation cases are often (not always) symptom of overly complex writing—@andrewsavikas
@andrewsavikas @adamwitwer @ndw and you must often start the whole semantics/presentation discussion over with every content supplier/author—@MarieBilde
@andrewsavikas @adamwitwer Sure, but I don’t think continued numeration is that complex. And all I want is to number blocks w/o line breaks!—@ndw
@ndw @andrewsavikas @adamwitwer I assume removing the displayed list numbers and numbering them yourself is just too painful? ;)—@gcarothers
@gcarothers @andrewsavikas @adamwitwer Doing the numbering myself suffers from the same alignment problems. And would be less accessible.—@ndw
@andrewsavikas Fair point, but my big use case is images in lists in Missing Manual books, which I'd argue is simple, not complex @ndw—@adamwitwer
@andrewsavikas @adamwitwer @ndw as well as arguing wether markup is too complex or not. We discus these issues in lexicography all the time—@MarieBilde
@ndw li > *{display: inline-block;}—@karlpro
@karlpro That almost works. The number aligns with the bottom of the block and there’s still extra vertical space.—@ndw
@karlpro Firefox and Chrome both get that wrong: http://twitpic.com/64wd40—@ndw
@ndw ahah. I had tested only in Opera and it is working.—@karlpro
@ndw check the paddings and the margins too.—@karlpro
@ndw If those headers aren't overlapping semantic, you should consider to put them inside the list. Otherwise, float your bullets.—@eloscurodeefeso

Friday at 08:17am

Styling list numerations with CSS: http://norman.walsh.name/2011/08/12/styleThis #HTML #CSS #rant RT @ndw: Styling list numerations w...—@carbide25

Friday at 08:52am

@ndw Trufax: I worked on a book once that started a numbered list in one footnote and ended it in another. OMG what a markup mess.—@RepoRat

In a conversation that started on Friday at 10:09am

If I were rich, I would rather pay higher taxes to live in a well-ordered, modern, efficient civilization than keep more of my $ to myself.—@kendall
@kendall You and me both, pal.—@ndw
@ndw I should have said, whatever my status w/r/t "rich", I would rather pay higher taxes for common wealth, etc.—@kendall

In a conversation that started on Friday at 10:22am

I have high hopes for the about-to-arrive 7" Honeycomb tablets. The original Galaxy Tab remains my face Android device to this day.—@timbray
@timbray I’m in the market, pointers most appreciated.—@ndw
@ndw I recommend checking out the Asus Eee Pad Transformer. It's 10.1 inch but a nice machine. can get 16 hrs battery life with keyboard.—@kingargyle
@kingargyle thanks, but 10 inch is too big.—@ndw
@ndw Acer Aconia Tab A100 might fit your needs then.—@kingargyle

In a conversation that started on Friday at 01:57pm

GOP has come unstuck from its traditional moorings; I'd think that my GOP friends are as scared of this as I am: http://t.co/dAVTUC1—@kendall
@kendall cf. Amer Family Assoc view that 1st ammendment freedom of religion only holds for Christianity- yow! http://t.co/CZxi1Bj—@jahendler
@jahendler There is no depth to their extremism: we haven't touched bottom yet because there isn't one. #americantaliban—@kendall
@kendall I’m afraid that’s true. And, generally speaking, I’m afraid of them.—@ndw
@ndw I think it's an opening for a robust, aggressive American liberalism that crushes them in every legal way. Punch a bully & he crumbles!—@kendall
@kendall Your optimism is inspiring.—@ndw
@kendall I wish I didn't believe you are right. #americantaliban—@jahendler
@jahendler No more than I wish I weren't right! :(—@kendall

In a conversation that started on Friday at 04:21pm

@kendall @ndw @jahendler Did you see this about Fox News: http://t.co/XDMEgwU—@JeniT
@JeniT scary, but no surprise...—@jahendler
@JeniT Thx—@kendall
@JeniT I hadn't. And I swear to $DIETY we aren't all fucking insane, no matter what the evidence suggests.—@ndw
@ndw @jenit the participants in the current thread are playing in an entirely different class as far as "sanity" is concerned. cf Oxford.—@roessler
@roessler @jenit That was praise, right? I'm going to assume that was praise.—@ndw
@ndw @jenit you have to ask?—@roessler

In a conversation that started on Friday at 06:32pm

Do you know why heirloom tomatoes are popular? Because they're awesome!—@ndw
@ndw Enjoyed Brandwine (orange) and Marglobe in my tomato, garlic, mushroom pasta tonight :) Do have probs with blight though—@EileenOttawa
@ndw +1 had some tonite from local farm stand - delish!—@christo4ferris

Saturday at 02:35am

The ᐸinnovimax/ᐳ Daily is out! http://t.co/bGpVFOL ▸ Top stories today via @i_montaigne @shelleypowers @w3c_wai @ndw @koztoujours—@dominiquepere

Sunday at 01:19am

"The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer." ~ Edward R. Murrow—@HannesSiebert

Sunday at 07:29am

Holy cow! RT @pigsonthewing: I blogged: "The BBC’s fundamental misunderstanding of copyright": http://t.co/GZQXAkp /via @libbymiller—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 10:27am

Oh freaking jeebus! http://t.co/btD0kMs #xml #insanity—@ndw
@ndw friends don't let friends use XML...—@dhmspector
@dhmspector Uhm. No. That’s not the lesson.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 11:23am

plumbing is a pain in the ass—@christo4ferris
@christo4ferris You said it! Replaced the kitchen sink and faucet yesterday. What a PITA.—@ndw

Sunday at 03:11pm

“with no apparent esthetic(sic) value” Fuck you! RT @aaronsw LAPD says anyone who takes photos a suspected terrorist: http://t.co/Y5Ey4L7—@ndw

Sunday at 03:34pm

Heh. I'd forgotten that House's Wilson was in Branagh's adaptation of Shakespeare's _Much Ado about Nothing_. #great #play #fun #film—@ndw

Sunday at 04:10pm

If Benedick cavorting in the fountain doesn't make you smile, you must have died and not noticed. #muchadoaboutnothing—@ndw