Cox Crow
Asking the Stupid Questions Since 1971
Monday, June 30, 2003Cool Hand Luke in the Panopticon
A world of informational transparency will necessarily be one of deliriously multiple viewpoints, shot through with misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories and a quotidian degree of madness. We may be able to see what's going on more quickly, but that doesn't mean we'll agree about it any more readily. — William Gibson, "The Road to Oceania," The New York Times, June 25, 2003
3:49:48 PM # Google It!
categories: Language
More Wood for the Fire
This comment is not productive, and, since I don't care to find the documents backing my memory, may be wrong.
In 2001, the UserLand RSS version was 0.92, and all elements of item were made optional. Specifically, title and link became optional. This is the version of RSS that I became acquainted with from using Radio. The earliest sample I have is this one from April, 2002.
On March 12, 2002, the Radio application was enhanced to allow users to specify a title and a link for each item. Prior to that enhancement, users could specify only the description (and category); everything else was programmatically generated.
The link element that users specified was not necessarily the same as the URI for the HTML rendering of the item. It could be any URI, though in practice it was either the URI of the item's rendering, or of some thing referenced by the text in the description.
Radio stuffed this user-specified link into the RSS link element, and the title into the RSS title element. In rendering the HTML version, the title was styled, and the link added. Here is a sample 0.92 file from June, 2002. Some items have no title, while others do. Each item has a link.
This change to Radio caused a problem. Before, the aggregator could assume that the link element referred to the HTML version, and could act in a particular fashion based on that assumption. Making the link element user-editable invalidated this assumption.
This could be resolved in two ways. First, Radio could use the specified link only in the HTML rendering, while using the HTML URI in the RSS link element. Alternately, realizing the need for a means of identifying the item itself, the RSS specification could be revised.
The second option was chosen. This additional element is the guid.
3:45:46 PM # Google It!
categories: Writing Online
The General Purpose Advantage
I saw an advertisement for MSN TV the other day. I still don't think a television is a good display device for web pages. However, there can be significant advantages to having an Internet-attached device that is able to send data to what is, for some people, an always-on, large screen display. If this device is, at heart, a general-purpose device, that's even better.
1:33:12 PM # Google It!
categories: Industry
The Great Communicators
Jim McGee writes
One reason that kids learn languages so readily is that they really, really want that cookie up on the counter and they have yet to learn the strange idea that mistakes are bad. Success or failure is about whether they manage to get the cookie.
The Little Sister is a cookie monster. While the Big Sister enthusiastically adopted the sign for "more", the Little One much prefers to remind you verbally. Either method has the desired result.
The Big Sister's linguistic skills are fantastic. She has a knack. Lately I've noticed that she has discovered the foibles of English conjugation: there are exceptions. While she used to except correctly, now she's conjugating verbs according to pattern. She knew, now she knowed.
Yet we understand.
Language requires two, a listener as well as a speaker. It links thought to action. And it is precise inasmuch as the action is the desired result. That is understanding.
12:29:25 PM # Google It!
categories: Family, Language
Product Placement the Way it Should Be -- as a plot device
TiVo product placement in Sex & the City last night. Though Steve-o fixed the broken TiVo, Miranda still has not mentioned her love for Brady's dad.
Last Night's TiVo Feature Used: Rewind. After the girls went to bed, we worked in the yard until dusk. Dusk arrived around 21:00 EDT — the same time that HBO expects me to sit placidly on my couch awaiting their transmission. I had better things to do; I needed a shower.
11:58:30 AM # Google It!
categories: Media
Who Could Be Calling at This Hour?
Some states have seen 40 percent of wired telephone users sign up for anti-telemarketing registries in their regions. Torok said he anticipates similar interest among the 166 million residential telephone users in the United States. By year's end, he said, the FTC expects 60 million people will have signed up for the service. [c|net]
It must be difficult to go through life being so hated.
8:53:18 AM # Google It!
