The short-form week of 7–13 Nov 2011

14 Nov 2011

The week in review, 140 characters at a time. This week, 47 messages in 45 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.

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 05:46pm

I am pleased to report: we have power! The furnace started. Normality will be restored tomorrow after we buy a fridge full of groceries!—@ndw

@ndw Yes, congrats!—@abcoates

@ndw congrats!—@jojobickley

@ndw Good grief that took a long time, welcome back :-)—@docum3nt

@ndw Congrats, glad to hear things are looking up for you :-)—@adamretter

@ndw Nothing like being able to sleep in your own home again—@shelleypowers

@shelleypowers That’ll have to wait until tomorrow, I’m afraid 47F won’t become comfortable in time for bed, but still, a delicious relief.—@ndw

@ndw welcome back to the world of electrons !—@xquery

@xquery Makes me think of Tron :).. ps: welcome back @ndw!—@grtjn

@ndw Great news :)—@JeniT

@ndw 9 days! OMGface!—@davidpriest_ca

@ndw Great! So was it eight days in total, or did it spill out into day nine?—@mdubinko

@mdubinko Spilled into nine; too cold to sleep there last night even w/power. Today, buying whole fridge/freezer of groceries.—@ndw

@ndw Congrats on rejoining modern society! We missed you.—@hunterhacker

@ndw glad to hear things are finally being repaired—@laurendw

@ndw WooHoo! Great to hear power's back!—@peteaven

@ndw :-))—@tigracc

@ndw excellent news, glad you have heat & light again—@jeffsonstein

@ndw awesome! Good to hear.—@molodyets

In a conversation that started on Monday at 09:30pm

You know what's cool? When you flip a switch and the lights come on. That's cool. Oh, and central heating, too.—@ndw

@ndw it is not that bad from time to time to have such an experience, right? It makes you really appreciate what you have. Enjoy the coffee!—@georgebina

@ndw Amazing how such small things mean so much when we've been without!—@molodyets

@ndw Glad to hear that! Is everything ok, now?—@fgeorges

@ndw #Cool indoor toilets—@allanpollock

Monday at 09:32pm

Bonus points for me! Not only did I remember to setup coffee for the morning, I also remembered to fix the clock on the coffee pot.—@ndw

Tuesday at 11:35am

Jury's verdict: why Geert Josten won the XMLHolland Code Challenge.. http://t.co/ANhVLXU9 /CC: @ndw @PeetKes @pmasereeuw —@grtjn

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 03:49pm

.@theguild G+ now allows profiles for organizations?—@ndw

@ndw Yes.—@bortzmeyer

@bortzmeyer Nevermind. I found it.—@ndw

@bortzmeyer Ok. This was announced/described where? Ironically, a quick Google search yielded nothing useful.—@ndw

Tuesday at 04:53pm

.@OReillyMedia Politics ruins everything.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 05:02pm

I think the HD in my laptop is starting to make funny noises. Damn shame big SSDs are so expensive.—@ndw

@ndw Worth the investment if you can afford a 64gb, I can't complain.—@DarkStar851

@DarkStar851 Yeah, except I want 500Gb.—@ndw

@ndw they make 1.3tb SSD's now, actually. I don't want to know how much they cost. my last laptop took two drives, the board may support it—@DarkStar851

Tuesday at 09:00pm

Fuck every single thing about for-profit health care, the single worst idea in the history of ever.—@kendall

Wednesday at 11:00am

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you'll have to answer fucking fish questions the rest of your life."—@shadowsun7

Wednesday at 11:17am

Finally, you can get Growl without having to use the bloody App Store: http://t.co/REmSST2X —@tommorris

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 12:27pm

if #XSLT/#XQuery supported #JSON as primary input/output, #XProc could be nicely extended to process JSONified #XML as well.—@dret

@dret we talked about xproc working with other content-types at last TPAC ;)—@xquery

@xquery is there some coordination between #XProc and #XSLT/#XQuery efforts to somehow embrace #JSON as an alternative #XML serialization?—@dret

@dret yes we all met up (both WG) and discussed the need to do this in the future, positively met from both WG—@xquery

@dret as for json ... I would further superset and say polystructured data, not necc just json—@xquery

@xquery sure, not #JSON only, and there's probably not one #JSON mapping to rule them all, but it must become part of the processing model.—@dret

@dret btw @ndw XPRoc impl calabash already handles JSON—@xquery

@xquery "polystructured"! my vocabulary has just been extended! how does that relate to "unstructured", "structured", and "semi-structured"?—@dret

@dret I got tired of saying all those words, Curt Monash (and a few others) have been using the term, I think its apropos—@xquery

@xquery that may be the case because #MarkLogic uses the marketing approach of saying that an *XML database* is for *unstructured data*. ;-)—@dret

@dret ummm, most xml database's I know can contain text, binary, and xml ... probably time to update our thinking on this—@xquery

@xquery by that definition, #RDB and #XDB are identical, because RDBs often support BLOB and XML types. it's about the primary abstraction.—@dret

@dret I would disagree that #RDB and #XDB are same, BLOB within #RDB are severely limited ... lets move this conversation to xquery-talk ;)—@xquery

@dret when does a 'digital watch' become just a watch again, this is the thinking I am applying to XML Database, e.g. its a Database—@xquery

@dret @xquery I know what all the words in “#JSON as an alternative #XML serialization” mean, but the sentence fragment baffles me.—@ndw

@ndw or are you saying this is simply wrong? should i rather say "#JSON as an alternative (and severely limited) #XDM serialization"?—@dret

@ndw it's a simple observation that a lot of data being managed or represented in #XML is served to clients that would prefer it in #JSON.—@dret

@dret Yeah. Fair enough. #grouchy #day It’s a fine serialization for small amounts of data in a subset of the data I care about.—@ndw

@ndw them's @dret s words not mine ... but I think we all get the meaning—@xquery

@xquery All except me, apparently.—@ndw

@xquery @ndw @dret does "#JSON as an alternative #XML serialization" just mean human readable structure markup simpler for serialization?—@jonathan_robie

@jonathan_robie @xquery @dret Not more readable to me. #luddite —@ndw

@jonathan_robie @xquery @ndw @dret There are still people who consider #JSON as not very human readable, especially on larger data chunks.—@jirkakosek

@jirkakosek @xquery @ndw @dret agree - #JSON is not more readable than #XML for large hierarchies of data & especially for human documents—@jonathan_robie

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 01:13pm

@adamwitwer @shelleypowers Could you post it, please, rather than send it. There might, ahem, be other folks interested :-)—@ndw

@ndw Sure. :) http://t.co/VyutCjmd (user: guest; leave pw blank). Will email you more info, @shelleypowers —@adamwitwer

Wednesday at 01:19pm

Awesome. http://t.co/HdQbBbLE /via @flickr —@ndw

Wednesday at 01:36pm

@ndw sorry, more specifically: http://t.co/HlEvJJfA @shelleypowers —@adamwitwer

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 02:43pm

Waiting for compile on 3 branches. Yawn. That's what I get for touching the one header file used everywhere.—@mathling

Header file, shmeader file, @mathling I've touched src/.options three times today. [Silly programmer, don't do that, -ed]—@ndw

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

And yes @ndw this is All Your Fault.—@mathling

@mathling It’s always my fault, Mary, you know that. OTOH, I only reported the bug, right? If it’d been done right the first time...*ducks*—@ndw

Wednesday at 03:39pm

I prefer real lego, but still pretty stunning work! RT @ndw: Awesome. http://t.co/vrajEMGz /via @flickr —@grtjn

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

@xquery @ndw @dret #JSON is simpler & less baggage for Python or JavaScript objects, easy to read if used for objects, bad for XML documents—@jonathan_robie

@jonathan_robie @xquery @dret That’s true, but doesn’t speak to me of ease of readability. I also mostly care about mixed content.—@ndw

@ndw for mixed content #XML all of this is a non-discussion, #JSON is simply not capable of handling this is a reasonable way.—@dret

@ndw @xquery @dret mixed content is important. #JSON is a non-starter for mixed content, that's #XML. but simple objects are important too.—@jonathan_robie

Thursday at 08:10am

Happy birthday, @docbook http://t.co/vPiENOMf —@ndw

Thursday at 11:02am

Dear advertisers: if you agree to force me to sit through a 30 second spot before I can see some video clip, I won’t buy your stuff. Ever.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 11:22am

In other words, Hixie tells everyone they're wrong but him http://t.co/Re6bR6tV —@shelleypowers

@shelleypowers That's literally not newsworthy because it happens *all the time*.—@kendall

@kendall True, too true. But it's blunt and out in the open and impossible for the W3C to ignore.—@shelleypowers

@shelleypowers You use "impossible for the W3C to ignore" in a way that I'm not familiar with. :>—@kendall

@shelleypowers @kendall Wanna bet? And in other news: are you volunteering to take over as editor?—@ndw

Thursday at 11:55am

Conflicts of interest. http://t.co/KPzWjkjL —@ndw

Thursday at 12:20pm

What a joke "Church & State founded on enforcing morality" They want to rule the world.. RT @ndw Conflicts of interest. http://t.co/antZ8Z0y —@grtjn

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

Wait, is tomorrow 11/11/11 or 11/11/11?—@kendall

@kendall 11/11/11 of course, except for you idiot yanks ;)—@JeniT

@kendall 2011-11-11 as learned in Y2K ;)—@gcarothers

@kendall You got it in reverse...—@shelleypowers

@shelleypowers By the way, why doesn't *Google* step in and say enough is enough?—@kendall

@kendall @shelleypowers That is at least as interesting a question.—@ndw

@ndw Hey, you finally realized that @shelleypowers and I don't have exactly the same view on this mess. :>—@kendall

@kendall @shelleypowers I don't believe I ever thought you had the same views. That said, I give you both credit for having rational views.—@ndw

@ndw @kendall I think we maybe agree that chaos is to Google's advantage. Ultimately, though, the spec is in W3C space--W3C's problem.—@shelleypowers

@shelleypowers @kendall I don’t know if it’s too their advantage or not, but I’m prepared to believe they absolutely don’t care.—@ndw

@ndw @kendall And genuinely don't care. "We know what's best, you don't, and you're in our way" sort of attitude.—@shelleypowers

Thursday at 01:15pm

“I sympathize..., but text modeling is a complex problem, and simple solutions...are hard to engineer.” http://t.co/xQuO8byS /via @hcayless —@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 01:33pm

@ndw @hcayless My issue with TEI is scope creep. It's really Document encoding, not just the text. Completely fails do one thing well test.—@azaroth42

@azaroth42 @ndw It has certainly become that, and I've publicly whined about its capabilities more than once :-). But +—@hcayless

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

@ndw @hcayless HTML5 vs XML is (IMO) a side effect of the unnecessary complexity, and not about the formats themselves.—@azaroth42

@azaroth42 @hcayless Which complexity is unnecessary?—@ndw

@ndw @hcayless Distinguish physical document from the semantics of the text in that document. Don't try to encode both at once. #imo —@azaroth42

@azaroth42 @ndw The stuff that deals with recording document attributes is indeed immature, in my opinion.—@hcayless

@hcayless @ndw I'd go one further to say it shouldn't be in a *Text* encoding schema. Esp in XML w/ single tree structure. <lb type="fail"/>—@azaroth42

@azaroth42 @ndw I'm not sure the complexity is unnecessary. It could certainly be handled better in many cases...—@hcayless

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

Permanent Trauma to Dozens of Kids, 0; Joe Paterno's legacy, 1. Or so it looks here: http://t.co/Pf3Pvsqi —@dsearls

@dsearls Uh, that’s The Onion, Doc.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 10:56pm

very interesting to read about #XSLT3 maps. #XSLT keys on steroids, allowing functions as values. maps can also be passed as arguments.—@dret

@dret: Maps making Dimitre happy!—@dpawson

@dret Unfortunately not in XPath 3.0 I believe. A language without maps and sets: unbelievable. I hope they change their mind on this.—@ebruchez

@ebruchez #XSLT had keys from the very beginning; don't they fit your definition of maps?—@dret

@dret Keys are maps but their use is very limited: can't add/remove, declare within functions etc. Plus limited to XSLT, not XPath feature.—@ebruchez

@ebruchez @dret Don’t we all. Not that I think there’s much chance.—@ndw

@ndw @dret I wonder why? The boundary between XPath and XQuery/XSLT seems arbitrarily (and incorrectly) placed.—@ebruchez

@ebruchez the X* landscape is messy. it's mostly history with #XSLT/#XPath 1.0 being there first & then XPath being super-sized for #XQuery.—@dret

@dret @ebruchez as an aside, what technical 'landscape' is not messy ?—@xquery

@xquery sure, but #XSLT has a particularly good excuse. i started as a client-targeted DSL and has morphed into something very different.—@dret

@ebruchez @ndw @dret I find XPath, XSLT and XForms should live in perfect harmony. Why not have xsl:key in XForms?—@RobbertAtWork

@RobbertAtWork @ebruchez @ndw @dret Yes, xf:key support in #xforms is a good idea for performance—@AlainCouthures

In a conversation that started on Friday at 02:30am

Welcome to the real world Kid. http://t.co/7meV6VhA —@0x9900

@0x9900 Only “sometimes”?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 08:12am

Google+ added "people you may know" sometime during the night.—@mikeloukides

@mikeloukides Must be rolling it out slowly, I noticed it a few days ago.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 11:13am

Dear @linuxjournal the unique-identifier “bookid” is not a unique identifier if you use it in every single EPUB file. #EPIC #FAIL —@ndw

@ndw Universal Identical Identifier?—@kiphampton

Friday at 11:39am

By the way @linuxjournal, the empty string in dc:identifier is equally full of #FAIL as a unique identifier.—@ndw

Friday at 11:41am

And finally, @linuxjournal, dlj211.epub is a #FAIL: you’ve left href=“http://t.co/wIuqdHvb” style links in the HTML which aren't relative—@ndw

Friday at 11:43am

Sorry @linuxjournal, I'm still not done. What's with all the encrypted fonts in the EPUB files?—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 03:27pm

It must be somebody’s law that the longer you wait to do an expense report, the longer it takes to do it. #KMN —@ndw

@ndw that's now Norm's Law of Expense Reports—@jonathan_robie

@ndw re expense reports. Yes and the longer you wait the more receipts you lose—@DALDEI

Saturday at 12:25pm

I agree: Penn St jokes are in bad taste. Know what's in worse taste? Covering up child abuse for 10+ years.—@BorowitzReport

In a conversation that started on Saturday at 03:42pm

Most honey on sale in stores isn't: http://t.co/EyHd5BDX Food industry must be regulated to the max cause they'll cheat at every chance.—@timbray

@timbray All industries need to be regulated or they'll cheat.—@davidpriest_ca

@timbray probably why people should grow more of their own food ... its not as hard as it may appear—@xquery

@xquery @timbray Well, it ain’t exactly easy either, at the pace of modern life. Not that that pace couldn’t use knocking back a few pegs.—@ndw

@ndw @timbray you just need a mother in law like I have .... she works me like horse (#rightlyso) in the garden—@xquery

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

Houston airport: same as every other airport I've been through lately, could be anywhere.—@collwhit

@collwhit That so sadly true of almost everywhere that it almost breaks my heart.—@ndw

Saturday at 05:37pm

Giving "Mint" Linux a try.—@ndw

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

Official Dr. Who convention in Cardiff, 24-25 March 2012. Anyone in Wales want an XML talk in March?—@ndw

@ndw Is that a free XML talk? I can ask our CS department.—@ceri

@ndw Hehe—@aamelnikov

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

After 10 minutes with Linux "Mint", color me impressed.—@ndw

@ndw Curious: does mint have a "live" CD to try without installing? Took quick look yesterday didn't find answer. Need 2 look harder.—@noahmendelsohn

@noahmendelsohn Yes, the std 64 bit version version I d/l was a live CD.—@ndw

@ndw cool, I am looking around at distros as well, build quality in laptops have increased and next machine will be (li|u)nix—@xquery

@xquery @ndw Interesting, since I bought my first one, a Unix-like laptop means a Mac Book Pro...—@fgeorges

@fgeorges @ndw sure but that was like 10 yrs ago, build quality has caught up ... looking specifically at asus zenbook—@xquery

@xquery @ndw Interesting... Keep me posted on what you find, I guess I'll buy my mext laptop in 6 months ;-)—@fgeorges

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

@fgeorges @xquery @ndw I'm addiced to IBM (aka Levono) Thinkpad series. currently typing on a X201 .. Seriously made for actual use.—@DALDEI

@DALDEI Yes. I had a couple of Thinkpads before the Mac. They were great. Company std Dell "elitebook" is awful by comparison.—@ndw

Saturday at 08:11pm

“@ndw: After 10 minutes with Linux "Mint", color me impressed.” I agree.—@lcahlander

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 02:37pm

1. Carry large desk upstairs. 2. Build closet on upstairs landing. 3. Attempt to move desk back down. 4. Contemplate unexpected consequences—@ndw

@ndw FWIW, we did manage to get the desk down. Just. If the closet door had been in a different place...—@ndw