The short-form week of 23–29 Jan 2012

30 Jan 2012

The week in review, 140 characters at a time.

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 Thursday at 11:21am

@kstirman If you want to upgrade me to London next month, I won’t resist :-) Hope the new gig is a blast!—@ndw
@ndw email me your flight info and i'll try.—@kstirman
@kstirman Email me your new email address and I’ll happily do it. :-) Oh, hell, it’s UA 918 on 5 Feb, http://t.co/9PYwmg55 —@ndw

Monday at 06:50am

Good work tends to happen only at the end of day: when the fear of accomplishing nothing finally exceeds fear of doing it badly.—@alaindebotton

Monday at 10:47am

RT @JeniT, @AndySeaborne, et. al., The 700-block of HTTP status codes should totally be a real thing. https://t.co/WaKYIOCm—@ndw

Apologies for the noise. I'll try not to do this too often. Just testing my Google+ archiving script.
→ Google+ Postings Nice epitaph: Beyond the universe there is nothing and within the universe the supernatural does not and cannot exist. Of all deceivers who have plagued mankind, none are so deeply ruinous to human ha...
Google+ post

Monday at 12:52pm

Surely the primary reason for rich people to pay more taxes is because they have more money. Is this really complicated?—@kendall

In a conversation that started on Monday at 12:55pm

Amtrak announcement: "In the event that you need to shout at someone on your phone because you are important, please move to the vestibule."—@liza
@liza I assume you tweeted that from the vestibule.—@siracusa
@siracusa I HAVE MOVED NOW BECAUSE I AM SHOUTING—@liza
@liza I'M NOT SHOUTING YOU'RE SHOUTING (Is that still on the web somewhere?)—@siracusa
@siracusa Apparently not, says Google, though I bet it's on archive.org somewhere.—@liza
@liza Some Steward of Culture you've turned out to be.—@siracusa
@liza that’s perfect.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Monday at 02:00pm

Is "email is dead or dying, a relic of an era before social networks"? Could and WOULD you ditch gmail for Facebook? http://t.co/Aeqa7Wlg —@DolphinBrowser
@ndw Thanks for your input - I would say Dolphin fans largely agree. Sure we like social media but it can not be everything!—@DolphinBrowser

In a conversation that started on Monday at 02:29pm

Am I the only one who has pretty much stopped using the iCal app on Mac Lion? They messed it up bad. Google Calendar taking over.—@xmlgrrl
@xmlgrrl Do you have to sync with a MS Exchange system?—@ndw
@ndw Yes, I do. Is that a new source of extra performance hits? I also hate the new interface and loss of functionaltiy, though.—@xmlgrrl
@xmlgrrl Dunno. I’ve no plans to run 10.7. My reason for running iCal is Exchange sync, but if that can be done with Google, ...—@ndw
@ndw I do run Google Calendar Sync and it (mostly) works! I did like having a good native calendar client on my Mac, tho'. This ain't it.—@xmlgrrl
@xmlgrrl That would appear to be a Windows only solution. :-(—@ndw
@xmlgrrl @ndw I just use OWA for exchange calendar stuff and keep personal separately on my Google calendar. OWA works sorta well enough.—@laurendw

Monday at 02:44pm

HTML5 Please: Use the New and Shiny Responsibly - http://t.co/kixcSqq5 . Easier to say online than in print. Will it be controversial? -SSL—@OReillyMedia

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

please send us your questions for the 'Panel discussion on HTML/XML convergence' #xmlprague #html #xml —@xmlprague
@xmlprague Well, that’s one way to generate questions.—@ndw
@xmlprague re "XML/HTML" convergance. 1) Why cant HTML just become XML—@DALDEI
@DALDEI hehe, knew that was going to come up—@xmlprague

Yes, it bugs me just a bit that the Google+ preview for links to pages on norman.walsh.name include the QRCode that otherwise only appears in the print view. I just don't know if it bothers me enough to do anything about it.
Google+ post

In a conversation that started on Monday at 05:48pm

Where are people staying in Prague? /cc @robinberjon @ndw —@JeniT
@JeniT @robinberjon I booked ages ago and got a good rate at the Boscolo. I'm arriving Thu at 6:30ish pm if anyone wants to share a ride.—@ndw
@ndw @JeniT I arrive Friday at 16:25 and have my trip to the Ariston booked if you're interested.—@robinberjon
@JeniT That said: I have no idea if the Ariston is good, I just picked it from someone else. @ndw —@robinberjon
@robinberjon If you're there, it's bound to be good ;)—@JeniT
@JeniT Awwwwww! If you're there too it'll be double-good!—@robinberjon
@robinberjon @JeniT @ndw Ariston is probably the closest one. In past few people attending XSLT WG F2F were there quite satisfied.—@jirkakosek

It's still inexcusably rude, even if the performer is clever and funny.
→ Violinist Responds to Concert Interruption by Cell Phone With Improvised Nokia Ringtone Song http://youtu.be/uub0z8wJfhU When a cell phone ringtone interrupted his viola recital, Slovak musician Lukáš Kmit responded by improvising his own classical version of the Nokia ringtone. The v...
Google+ post

Speaking of Google APIs, how about a Google Voice API? Guys? Is this thing on? Before I enabled two-phase authentication, I was sometimes/mostly successful with the pygooglevoice. Not so much since. And it really was handy.
→ pygooglevoice Python Bindings for Google Voice "API"
Google+ post

Holy cow! "On September 1–2, 1859, the largest recorded geomagnetic storm occurred. Aurorae were seen around the world, most notably over the Caribbean; also noteworthy were those over the Rocky Mountains that were so bright that their glow awoke gold miners, who began preparing breakfast because they thought it was morning. ... 'people in the northeastern U.S. could read newspaper print just from the light of the aurora.'" For context: I saw reference to a "Carrington event" on another page and that led me to the Wikipedia article linked here.
→ Solar storm of 1859 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [edit] History. Ice cores contain thin nitrate-rich layers that can be used to reconstruct a history of past events before reliable observations. These show evidence that events of this magnitude—as m...
Google+ post

Tuesday at 11:33am

RT @w3c Last Call: XML processor profiles http://t.co/1Mx8elnJ —@ndw

Tuesday at 11:44am

Oh. Dear. $DIETY. RT @gridinoc, @aral, @WadeWegner RT @ganson: We're doomed. #walmart http://t.co/BUWmb0oQ —@ndw

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

So. If we're going to have the Web platform fully compete with native, we're going to have to integrate with DRM at some level. Discuss!—@robinberjon
@robinberjon No.—@ndw
@ndw Discuss!—@robinberjon
@robinberjon It’s pointless. It frustrates legitimate users, guarantees that your data is ephemeral, and doesn’t even slow down illegal use.—@ndw
@ndw I know that DRM sucks. But I also know that the Web should take over the world. Hence the question.—@robinberjon
@robinberjon It might be that development of the Web platform will be so slow that DRM will be obsoleted at that time.—@jirkakosek
@jirkakosek It could be, but I would hope not. I'm thinking a two-year time frame tops.—@robinberjon
@jirkakosek @robinberjon give an example of successful DRM in any computing context (thats not just obfuscation/compilation)—@xquery
@xquery Define successful? For instance, AFAIK Netflix uses it. Or the Kindle. @jirkakosek —@robinberjon
@robinberjon well, then you could say iplayer from BBC (prob the best of the whole lot ... written in Perl I may add)—@xquery
@xquery Yes, inlayer is cool. But people will reply that the BBC is "special".—@robinberjon
@robinberjon @jirkakosek the prob I have with DRM is the enourmous waste of energy (as in burning fossil fuel) it represents, its criminal—@xquery
@xquery That's definitely a real argument. And from users' POV, battery life is also important. @jirkakosek —@robinberjon
@robinberjon Big Content licenses movies for DRMless DVB-T (in SD). Thus, if the Web is big enough a platform, they'll go DRMless eventually—@hsivonen
@hsivonen Do you have a pointer for that?—@robinberjon
@robinberjon The channels marked in blue at http://t.co/3EDeJwZH are unscrambled. You can see movies in the schedule: http://t.co/EJZpw11t —@hsivonen
@hsivonen Very interesting, thanks!—@robinberjon

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 03:52pm

NO! RT @robinberjon: @ndw Discuss!—@kiphampton
@kiphampton Discuss more! @ndw —@robinberjon

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

To further that thought, I wonder if by excluding DRM we aren't maintaining the ecosystem that sustains it.—@robinberjon
@robinberjon How could including it do any less to maintain it?—@ndw
@ndw If it's a reason to stick to native apps, it doesn't bring those apps into the web, and therefore may shelter them from disruption.—@robinberjon
@robinberjon I’m sort of hoping they’ll all get disrupted together. DRM would require UA collusion so would maintain shelter I think.—@ndw
@ndw I think UAs would most likely link to lower-layer implementations (if only for licensing reasong).—@robinberjon
@robinberjon @ndw DRM industries are in the process of killing themselves right now anyway. Solving their problems seems unnecessary.—@tabatkins
@tabatkins I wish I were so convinced. I don't want to solve their problems, I just want world domination. @ndw —@robinberjon

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 04:02pm

Whereas by bringing it in, we could perform some clean and simple disrupt and destroy operation the likes of which the Web's good at.—@robinberjon
@robinberjon oh and I think DRM is pointless, the problem is that we need new business models (and possibly new forms of doing business)—@xquery
@xquery *Exactly* But I'm wondering if those may not be given birth to by bringing DRM into a disruptive environment.—@robinberjon
@robinberjon perhaps all we need to do is redefine the term DRM and associated expectations—@xquery
@xquery Yes, I think that that could be a useful step.—@robinberjon
@robinberjon wondering which of those is ripe for disruption—@xquery
@robinberjon if we redefine DRM, then it follows that we redefine our 18th century notions of copyright, patents & property ownership—@xquery
@robinberjon Ah. Well, I don’t see how. But I’m willing to accept that you have better ideas than I do.—@ndw
@ndw I don't think that I have better ideas than you do :-p It's just a question that I think deserves better than outright rejection.—@robinberjon

Remember to dance, everyone. Dance! ... So it is, and so it must be When so much depends on chance But… Since the music plays so briefly, Can you blame me if I dance? Follow the link for some wonderful verse from Cuttlefish.
→ An Atheist Is A Man Who Believes Himself To Be An Accident | The Digital Cuttlefish My apologies for repeating myself, but when the foes of atheism repeat themselves, what am I to do? This past week, I have seen the phrase which is this post's
Google+ post

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

Cool visualizations. RT @TripIt "Reverse Time Machine" travel data...by @gem_ray and see all your trips in a tree map: http://t.co/664gdBhY —@ndw
@PatrickTweeting @ndw thank you! :)—@gem_ray

In a conversation that started on Tuesday at 08:29pm

Hibari 1.5 is here! Multiple accounts, new notifications & shortcuts, block/mute from timeline, t.co link support: http://t.co/srfHCghs —@HibariApp
.@HibariApp Congratulations! Looking forward to trying it out tomorrow.—@ndw
@ndw thanks!—@HibariApp

Wednesday at 02:49am

Le Journal de mes abonnements is out! http://t.co/Y2xhmyXq ▸ Top stories today via @writebuzz @ndw @fabsintes —@dominiquepere

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

Okay, whoever thought that DocBook should use <para> instead of <p>, you're not very popular with my fingers right now.—@robinberjon
@xquery Whoa, an article about someone using Emacs! In the XXIst century! That's *so* steampunk!—@robinberjon
@robinberjon Yeah. We almost changed that in DocBook 5, but decided it was a bridge too far. Heh. No pun intended.—@ndw
@ndw Maybe we should have a DocBook / HTML convergence task force!—@robinberjon
@robinberjon Now you're just trolling @ndw. Bad TAG member! No supercookie!—@kiphampton
@kiphampton I think that if I stopped trolling @ndw about DocBook he'd be a bit disoriented. There's value in consistency.—@robinberjon
@robinberjon @kiphampton Oh, go on, try me.—@ndw
@ndw I have to admit that so far I haven't come up with a decent DocBook s(n)ide-comment for XML Prague. I'm worried. @kiphampton —@robinberjon
@robinberjon I have every confidence in you, Robin.—@ndw
@robinberjon, what do you think about whoever thought we should use DocBook instead of XHTML then?—@evlist
@evlist Why even use XHTML? We could go with HTML5 + ReSpec, it'd rock! ;-)—@robinberjon
@robinberjon I feel your 'para'-pain, and raise you 'emphasis' vs. 'em'.—@adamretter
@adamretter At least there's a value in "emphasis" which is that you're not going to overuse it ;)—@robinberjon

Wednesday at 12:30pm

I wonder if there’s any hope that I can put something together for this: http://t.co/uaUEpP6d —@ndw

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 12:49pm

Knuth’s “Computer Musings” lectures require Silverlight!? [expletives deleted -ed]—@ndw
@ndw This seems appropriate http://t.co/fOWIEPGm —@stand

Wednesday at 01:12pm

Q: What is conservatism? A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.—@kendall

In a conversation that started on Wednesday at 03:34pm

Linux Mint w/o NVIDIA driver: display fails after suspend. w/NVIDIA driver, text borked after suspend. #sigh —@ndw
@ndw Running Windows (any version) is worse. I have to pop the lid repeatedly to get login screen. If that fails, system froze.. :(—@grtjn
@grtjn Ah. Yes. Well. The first sentence of that tweet is a universal truism, I think.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 05:15am

New book (http://t.co/rbKwKuLSS) launches today - along with ad campaign to reposition atheism. http://t.co/dCyDmrb9 —@alaindebotton
@alaindebotton I doubt it. I fear the best bits are inextricably tied to woo, repression of critical thought, etc. Nice architecture, though—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 07:56am

"I think there's just too much XML processing in there for this day and age." -- Looks like I have just found the right #Scala book to buy.—@vojtechtoman
@vojtechtoman Which one?—@ndw
@ndw http://t.co/GPYUU17SS, but I think I'll go for Odersky's "official" one in the end.—@vojtechtoman
@vojtechtoman I got the O’Reilly one. Worked for me.—@ndw
@vojtechtoman :), but the Odersky book is better than Subramaniam's—@inigos
@inigos I just liked that quote. But I think you are right.—@vojtechtoman

Thursday at 11:04am

"@NDW:Nothing is permanent. When you understand this, you can do anything you wish because you're not trying to hold onto anything anymore."—@takacid

In a conversation that started on Thursday at 12:41pm

I love http://t.co/s4o25xua although a version where it would make whizzy "I'm hacking your bank account" graphics would be better.—@tommorris
@tommorris Only problem I have with that site is that I'd have to trust that it isn't phishing for my password.—@pfhawkins
@pfhawkins that's why Firebug exists. ;-)—@tommorris
@tommorris Fine for you and me, but otherwise this teaches n00bs to put their password into any old website.—@pfhawkins
@tommorris Ugh. My “I thought I was doing quite well” password falls in 12 minutes. Time to reset that one.—@ndw
@ndw 770 billion years for mine.—@tommorris

Thursday at 03:09pm

OMG! It’s 3:08p and I think I might finally be able to start getting some work done. #telcon #madness —@ndw

Thursday at 04:43pm

"We're not just voting for a president; we're voting for the continuation of Western Civilization." -- Don Wildmon /via @kendall —@ndw

Thursday at 04:46pm

Like the time I lost change behind the sofa cushions. Romney says omitting $3M from financial disclosures was "trivial" http://t.co/bqKq0HnQ —@ndw

Bloody heck. My better half finally enters the 21st centuray and gets smart phone: T-Mobile myTouch. Why the hell doesn't it have an option to limit which groups of contacts sync with the phone? (I've looked around on the web, but not yet found a technique that appears to work for this phone. SIGH)
Google+ post

Friday at 01:11am

@ndw Thanks for your input - I would say Dolphin fans largely agree. Sure we like social media but it can not be everything!—@jacintor9

Friday at 01:11am

@ndw email me your flight info and i'll try.—@mathijsu7

In a conversation that started on Friday at 03:30am

Question is: could non-believers learn from some (note some) of the best practices of believers? Religionforatheists.com—@alaindebotton
@alaindebotton of course, such as the capacity to allow awe—@JohnDobbin
@alaindebotton I suppose if they happened to have some practical skill independent of their belief in imaginary things, they could teach it.—@ndw

Friday at 04:57am

Xml Techno is out! http://t.co/uKBUc9XK ▸ Top stories today via @arth2o @ndw @assuran_coding @czantany @raphox —@dominiquepere

In a conversation that started on Friday at 07:54am

Here's what I want to know: wd Twitter censor #occupy tweets in NYC? Davis? Oakland? Play this game & you lose. http://t.co/du1k05hu —@mikeloukides
@mikeloukides Yes, they would. They will if pressured sufficiently. There’s no other interpretation of the changes.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 08:01am

"Nothing gets the ladies hotter than software development analogies." - Dr. Leonard Leakey Hofstatder, #tbbt —@mollydotcom
@mollydotcom *chuckle* Love those guys.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 09:34am

Dressed as a member of the buttoning class for three days in a row. What is the world coming to?—@abdelazer
@abdelazer cufflinks.—@simonstl
@simonstl @abdelazer Hey. I’m anxiously awaiting a chance to wear my Tardis cufflinks.—@ndw

Friday at 09:55am

I can hardly run away fast enough. RT @macappstorm Is iOS the Future of the Mac? http://t.co/GiOIZcJb —@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 11:01am

@hibariapp Any chance we’ll get the ability to change API endpoints so that Hibari can be pointed at, for example, http://t.co/VM3IeXfGG?—@ndw
@ndw No plans for it now, but that could change depending on how bad Twitter gets.—@HibariApp

In a conversation that started on Friday at 11:36am

Newt is factually wrong to call gay marriage "pagan"; but even if you showed him that he's wrong, he wouldn't stop saying it.—@kendall
@kendall A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth.—@ndw
@ndw Well, no, it's still a lie. :>—@kendall
@kendall Fair point. Alas, lots of folks believe lots of lies.—@ndw

Friday at 12:51pm

This is a galaxy. http://t.co/66IZWVg2 —@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 01:25pm

I swore I’d never fly them again after encountering them. Not that I think my boycott had any impact. http://t.co/uZbOiMlg —@ndw
@ndw I boycotted for the same reason starting back in '96 or so. I wrote a letter of complaint and they never bothered responding.—@kiniry

In a conversation that started on Friday at 01:51pm

Grrr, annoyed that 0 is falsey in Python—@edd
@edd You wanted 0 to be truthy?—@ndw
@ndw happiest in a world where only None and False are falsey—@edd
@edd @ndw http://t.co/8gpM9zyp “Ruby is right to allow, and Java wrong to forbid, the use of nil as false and non-nil as true”—@timbray

In a conversation that started on Friday at 01:53pm

What if you could go back to Nixon's 71 declaration of War on Drugs & explain the disaster that prohibition would entail?—@doctorow
@doctorow thousands of lives would've been saved in Mexico—@gabrielsaldana
@gabrielsaldana @doctorow Tens of thousands at least, world wide, at a guess.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 03:16pm

Fast survey: Is your main development PC a laptop, desktop or tablet? Is your main pointing device mouse, trackpad or touch screen? Thanks.—@petecordell
@petecordell A PC with a trackpad.—@ndw
@ndw Ah, an exception (so far). Thanks Norman.—@petecordell

Friday at 03:18pm

Maybe.—@ndw

In a conversation that started on Friday at 03:50pm

@ndw is there still a release of CatalogResolver that caches copies locally somewhere?—@pumba_lt
@pumba_lt The version at https://t.co/4u0d88gB has that ability.—@ndw
@ndw But it's not on Maven, is it?—@pumba_lt
@pumba_lt No. I’ve got nothing on Maven.—@ndw

Saturday at 04:50pm

Found six bottles of my Imperial Stout in the basement. Aged for ~16 months, it’s really quite good. #ifidosaysomyself —@ndw

In a conversation that started on Sunday at 03:32pm

Oh my God. Check where CNN has put London on the map. http://t.co/TRg2hP9V —@mrlukerobinson
@benosteen @mrlukerobinson LOL. I had no idea my mom lived so close to London. That’s going to make the commute next Monday so much nicer!—@ndw

Sunday at 05:02pm

RT @xmlcalabash XML Calabash V1.0.2 released, http://t.co/d644fonQ —@ndw

Sunday at 05:36pm

Odd. Stopped following someone and days later they’re *still* turning up in my tweet stream. And still wrong, but that’s not surprising.—@ndw