It's even worse than it appears.
I've been working on a readme for the JSON feed for this blog. Should have a draft to review tomorrow or Monday. By design, it's very short. It just explains how to map an XML file with namespaces onto a JSON file. The semantics are RSS 2.0. The syntax is JSON. That's all there is. A haiku of a tech spec. #Just did a rollover of screen2.io. Starting fresh. I have a few ideas I want to try out. To start, it could do what we're doing with Slack, but with more control because I have the source code for both the client and server. ;-)#
I don't use the N-word. Never. And I wouldn't have made the joke Maher made. And I totally don't like the guy.#- But this gives me a chance to say something I've wanted to say. The way he used the N-word is the same way it's used in pop culture. It's on TV, in some of the best shows. The N-word is a regular on The Wire, imho the best series ever. So the word gets into our minds. Our white minds. In the way blacks use it. Not in a negative way. In the voice of characters of all kinds, some of whom we love and admire, like Omar for example. #
- I'm not saying what the answer is and I don't like Maher, but I think it was inevitable this was going to happen, and I'm pretty sure it's not fair to blame him. #
- Thanks for listening. #
On Twitter a friend laments that Wired was right about the web being "dead." #- This gives me a sick feeling, because there's no objective truth to evaluate. A doctor could declare an animal dead, sometimes even that's debatable, but a concept, which is all the web is, never lived, so it could never die.#
- It's the fakest of fake news. There's no there there. Impossible to argue with, only possible to hurt. The only people who gain from it are those who wish it were dead. Who work to make it dead. #
- Journalists widely said Apple was dead in the mid-90s. It didn't kill Apple, but it did put a lot of developers out of business, and set the art of software development back probably by a decade or more. So journalist-based hype has a practical effect in addition to selling magazines. (BTW, they still say Apple is dead.)#
- The web is our commons, it's the Central Park of the internet. Yes progress happened quicker a number of years ago. But as with Apple, we know that sometimes things that feel like they aren't growing actually are, we just couldn't see it.#
- The web actually is big, and getting bigger. We use it all the time. Dead is absolute. In no way does that word apply to the web. And I wish people would stop and think before using it. #
- Dan Gillmor just pointed to John Gruber's digest of my piece about not linking to blog posts on Facebook. It's a good time to say that Gruber's gripe is deeper than mine. Facebook can get back in my good graces by supporting four things in common posts:#
- 1. Linking.#
- 2. Simple styles.#
- 3. Titles.#
- 4. Enclosures (for podcasting).#
- If they did that I will become a Facebook evangelist. I want Facebook to become an excellent blogging surface. It would be good for blogging. Possibly very good. And it would help Facebook and the open web hook up. We could become friends. ;-)#
- I use Facebook, have no plans of stopping. I simply can't link to posts on Facebook for the reasons I outlined. And I only post links to my stories there, I've given up on trying to post full text. I simply can't write without the basic language of the web, the four items listed above. #
- TL;DR: Just support Markdown in Facebook and Dave is happy.#
- Yesterday I posted a short item that was kind of a tease -- #
- Maybe it's fair that other countries are able to influence our elections. Maybe next time France and Germany can get involved. No sarcasm. #
- And there were a bunch of questions. What did I mean?#
- Okay -- look at it this way.#
- 1. Russia interfered in our last election. #
- 2. Was this surprising? Yes. Predictable? In hindsight, yes. Our communication system in the US is open. With the advent of social media and trolls, interference could be systematized and scaled, and it was, and they managed to elect a president who is very bad for us and very good for Russia. #
- 3. Is it avoidable in the future? Hmmm. Hard to see how, if we're going to have universal suffrage and respect the First Amendment. So it's fair to expect that Russia will play a role in future elections. And they will keep innovating, finding new ways to infect our discourse with their depravity. #
- 4. So, if it's unavoidable, what to do? Well, at least we could invite in some foreign influences that push us in a good direction. France and Germany, for example.#
- 5. One more thing, it's always bothered me that our elections determine so much about the future of the world, esp when we start unnecessary wars in far-away places. Should the people of Iraq and Afghanistan have had a say in past American elections? There's a case to be made for that, imho. #
- Anyway that was the thought behind that post. #
It really is morning, a little after midnight in NYC.#- Yesterday I wrote about getting Frontier's object database archive on GitHub.#
- Well I got some stuff working and have a prototype people can look at. It's the userlandSamples table in workspace. A place where I've been releasing bits of example code over the years. There's quite a bit of variety. Experimenting with it to figure out what the issues are. #
- If you see anything worth noting, feel free to post an issue. #
- And if you were/are a Frontier user, here's a sign of life. #
- Something may yet come of this! 🎈#