bedeviled mojo slop

See the update at the end of this post.

If you're implementing support for comment feeds, it's wfw:commentRSS and not wfw:commentRss, it's wfw:commentRss. Note the capitalization. Or maybe not? Read on.

I checked the wfw namespace elements page, and lo and behold, it's wfw:commentRSS wfw:commentRss. I guess when we had done the Comment API support in blojsom, that page didn't exist. The Comment API support in blojsom was initially done in April, 2003 and that page is dated October, 2003. No matter. All is well. I fixed the RSS 2.0 template in CVS to use the proper capitalization.

Erik Thauvin had pointed me at an issue with empty elements in our Comment API implementation as he was implementing comments and Comment API support as well. And, so that issue is fixed as well.

So, everyone is using wfw:commentRSS wfw:commentRss right?

Chris Sells specification uses wfw:commentRss.
Dare Obasanjo uses wfw:commentRss.
Sam Ruby uses wfw:commentRss.
Joe Gregorio (who wrote the Comment API specification) uses wfw:commentRss.

Wordpress uses wfw:commentRSS (So, there are a lot of Wordpress feeds out there using wfw:commentRSS).
Mark Pilgrim's Feed Parser change history mentions wfw:commentRSS.

One wonders if the namespace element document was following the convention of RSS as all capitals or if it really should be wfw:commentRss and not wfw:commentRSS. I'm erring on the side of the specification and going with wfw:commentRSS. At least for now ...

Update: I sent an e-mail to Joe Gregorio asking him whether it was wfw:commentRSS or wfw:commentRss.

That appears to be a typo on my part. Chris Sells is the
originator of the element and he uses the Rss version.
Sorry about the confusion.

-joe

The namespace elements page has been updated to reflect the proper capitalization of this element.

wfw:commentRss

Technorati Tags: comment api commentRSS commentRss

• SecurityFocus
  There are three fairly interesting flaws in how HTTP cookies were designed and later implemented in various browsers; these shortcomings make it possible (and alarmingly easy) for malicious sites to plant spoofed cookies that will be relayed by unsus
  (tags: security )

Tomorrow - Silverchair

On Friday, I leave for a 10-day trip to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. I'll be snowboarding on the Whistler Blackcomb mountains. A year ago I hadn't stepped on a snowboard, but such is progress.

They've had roughly 15 feet of snow since January 1, 2006. Today they got dumped on with another 16" of snow. The snow report is like a daily slap in the face living here on the east coast. In years past they haven't been as fortunate with all the new snow, but I'm hopeful the weather patterns out there keep new snow falling for the next couple of weeks.

Although the mountain statistics for Whistler Blackcomb are impressive (for example, 8,171 acres of terrain, 200+ trails, 7,494 feet highest lift accessed elevation, 59,007 skiers per hour lift capacity), I was more blown away by the flashimation in their trail maps. In particular, check out the "Compare Acreage" link, where you can overlay terrain from other ski areas such as Aspen, Jackson Hole, or Vail. It's such a subtle way of saying "Whistler Blackcomb kicks your mountain's ass." I'm sure there are bigger mountains out there, Europe perhaps, but this will be a refreshing change for me.

Also, Absinthe is legal in parts of Canada, namely British Columbia. I've heard the Four Seasons Resort in Whistler serves up an Absinthe Cocktail. Yummy!

Technorati Tags: whistler blackcomb canada snowboarding absinthe

Blojsom 2.29 is now available.

Changelog
Upgrading instructions
Download updates
Download Quickstart
Bugs fixed

More little “stuff” than big “stuff” in this release.

The Feed Filter is something I’m using now to clean up the URLs for how people access my syndication feeds.
For example, my RSS 2.0 feed is now located at http://www.blojsom.com/blog/feed/. You can still use http://www.blojsom.com/blog/?flavor=rss2 to access the RSS 2.0 feed.
As another example, my Atom feed is now located at http://www.blojsom.com/blog/feed/atom/.
You can still construct per-category feeds with the filter enabled. For example, my RSS 2.0 feed for the “general” category, http://www.blojsom.com/blog/general/feed/.
Another use for the filter might be alongside the tag cloud plugin, where you could construct tag-specific feeds. For example, an RSS 2.0 feed for posts where I talk about or might talk about the "playstation 2", http://www.blojsom.com/blog/feed/?tq=playstation+2.

I’m also using the Page Filter to do “non-blog” pages on the site. I posted an “about” page using the filter.

Well, I guess that’s about it.

blojsom became a reality.

Subject: SourceForge.net Project Approved

Your project registration for SourceForge.net has been approved.

Project Information:

Project Descriptive Name: blojsom
Project Unix Name: blojsom

A lot has changed since then ... a lot.

Technorati Tags: blojsom sourceforge

Thanks again to Atlassian for offering open source licenses for JIRA and Confluence. They're used to power blojsom's bug tracking and wiki sites.

Too bad there wasn't a public slogan competition for the 3.x releases of JIRA or Confluence. I still feel my slogan for JIRA 2 was the clear winner.

JIRA 2.0: Well, it ain't Bugzilla.

You've come a long way baby

Technorati Tags: atlassian jira confluence

The Energy - Audiovent

I'm considering dumping Entourage Mail in favor of the standard Mail application in OS X. Here's why ...

If someone leaves a response to one of my blog entries, my blog software sends me an e-mail with a bunch of information about the response. The e-mail also contains links to do things with the response, for example, to delete the response. In Entourage Mail, they show up as hyperlinks after the text that's supposed to be the hyperlink. It makes for an ugly looking e-mail message. I don't want to see hyperlinks. I had chocked it up to the fact that it was my software crafting some weird HTML e-mail, but I'm using standard libraries with no weird HTML. And, if I look at those response e-mails in OS X's Mail application, everything looks fine. Furthermore, I've seen spam e-mails that have embedded links that show up correctly. A security precaution on Microsoft's part? Probably. But, again, spam e-mails with embedded hyperlinks show up correctly. I rest my case.

As this is the only Microsoft application I use on a daily basis under OS X, it seems silly to keep it around. I've got the Office v. X suite, but that's really only for PowerPoint and maybe, on the rare occasion, Excel.

I've already devoted too many cycles to looking at forums as to "why" this might be the case. So far, I've come up with no solution.

Hyperlinks displaying as hyperlinks? Is that too much too ask? Apparently yes. It seems such a trivial reason to dump Entourage Mail, but you've got to draw the line somewhere.

Technorati Tags: entourage mail mail os x

Little Black Backpack - Stroke 9

• Character Conversions from Browser to Database
  (tags: internationalization java )
• Dictionaraoke.org - The Singing Dictionary
  Audio clips from online dictionaries sing the hits of yesterday and today. The fun of karaoke meets the word power of the dictionary.
  (tags: dictionary humor karaoke )

My Goddess - The Exies

Blockquoted text.

1. One
2. Two
3. Three

• Four
• Five
• Six

12:51 - The Strokes

I managed a 3 hour snowboarding session this evening no more worse for the wear.

Tonight I played around on a few of the jumps that were scattered around the face of the mountain. One of those resulted in a nice shoulder tweak as I steadied myself after going into a turn right after landing the jump ... but that's nothing a heating pad and some Advil can't fix. I also made my way into the "terrain park" where there were a few handrails and some benches setup. I'll save the handrail work for another day, but I did manage 3 50-50s on the flat bench. And then there was what I called the "shelf". It was at the split between a part of a trail going downhill and one staying at the same level where they split. Hence, a shelf was created which was maybe 4 - 6 ft in dropoff. Of course I tried that a couple of times, but there wasn't enough fresh snow to make landing all that cushy. I did manage one spectacular 360 spin wipeout on my last run of the evening. I was traveling too fast, popped over a bump, and didn't manage to control myself over the next small bump. The best part of it all is I can laugh at myself, pick myself up, and say, "OK, next time don't do that."

I hadn't even stepped on a snowboard until mid-February 2005.

Progress. Yes, progress.

Technorati Tags: snowboarding

• jQuery: New Wave Javascript
  jQuery is a new type of Javascript library. It is not a huge, bloated, framework promising the best in AJAX - nor is just a set of needlessly complex enhancements - jQuery is designed to change the way that you write Javascript.
  (tags: ajax javascript programming )
• The Simpsomaker
  Create yourself or your friends as Simpsons characters, type in a wacky message and print it off to make a greeting card or a bloody smart poster!!
  (tags: humor simpsons )
• Mozilla Update :: Extensions -- More Info:FireBug - All Releases
  FireBug is a new tool that aids with debugging Javascript, DHTML, and Ajax. It is like a combination of the Javascript Console, DOM Inspector, and a command line Javascript interpreter.
  (tags: ajax firefox javascript )

London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines - Panic! At The Disco

Way back in 1999 ... an update to the XML-RPC Specification ...

Is "boolean" a distinct data type, or can boolean values be interchanged with integers (e.g. zero=false, non-zero=true)?

Yes, boolean is a distinct data type. Some languages/environments allow for an easy coercion from zero to false and one to true, but if you mean true, send a boolean type with the value true, so your intent can't possibly be misunderstood.

Unless you're implementing the original Blogger API or MetaWeblog API for some reason, you probably don't care.

Data types are fun!

Technorati Tags: blogger api metaweblog api boolean

• Mastering Ajax, Part 2: Make asynchronous requests with JavaScript and Ajax
  (tags: ajax javascript )

Low - Cracker

Here's an interesting drink I made up last night. It's called "Bloodshot" and you'll know why in a minute. First, the ingredients for this vodka martini:

3/4 Svedka
1/4 Pearl Persephone

Other ingredients not to be mixed:

Red fool coloring

You can use any vodka you like, just make sure of the following: Shake well with lots of crushed ice! Make sure it's mixed up really well and use chilled martini glasses, if possible. You want the drink to be as cold as possible.

Once you've poured the mix into your glass(es), take your red food coloring and let loose a single drop of the red food coloring in the martini. You'll notice the food coloring sort of suspends and makes these funky vein like entrails in the middle of the drink. Hence, "Bloodshot".

Technorati Tags: vodka martini recipe

Last night I finished Ico. Considering I had started this game Tuesday or Wednesday this week, I'd say it went by pretty quickly. I enjoyed it.

If you've played Shadow of the Colossus before Ico, you'll notice that the games are visually and interactively similar, but quite different in terms of your "mission" during the game. In Shadow of the Colossus, all the puzzle and "work" in the game was in figuring out how to and then defeating each colossus. Riding out to each colossus from the central tower was merely an exercise. In Ico, all the puzzle and "work" in the game was not in any singular bosses that you had to defeat, but in making your way through the various stages. There is a main boss at the end of Ico, the Queen, whom you also have to figure out how to defeat. But, I'd say she was far less troublesome than some of the colossi.

Anyhoo, another game bites the dust.

Technorati Tags: ico shadow of the colossus ps2

• its0505ReqBidi - ESW Wiki
  Generally the Unicode bidirectional algorithm will cause text in scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew to appropriately order mixed script text. Sometimes, however, additional help is needed.
  (tags: bidi internationalization )
• Tagyu / Tagyu4J
  Tagyu4J is a Java API used for interacting with Tagyu REST web services interface.
  (tags: api java tags )

I was one of the many attendees at BarCamp NYC this past weekend. If you haven't heard about BarCamp, well ...

BarCamp is an ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.

When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.

A big thank you again to Amit Gupta and Mike Goelzer for helping to organize the event. Another big thank you to Connected Ventures for providing the office space.

You can check out the list of presentations and there was quite a variety in what people wanted to talk about and/or demo. I attended the following sessions.

Saturday, January 14th, 2005

11 AM - 12: Prospective Search + XMPP (from some folks at PubSub)
12 - 12:30: Thumstacks.com demo
12:30 - 2:45: Mingled with other BarCamp attendees, ate lunch, more discussions
2:45 - 3:45: I presented a Software Internationalization primer
3:45 - ???: Mingled
4:30 - 5:00: Linux/BSD Virtualization - more servers less machines

Sunday, January 15th, 2005
11 AM - 12: Flock, microformats, OSS world domination
12 - 12:30: Simpy
12:30 - 1:45: Mingled, ate lunch
1:45 - 2:45: Educating the next gen of web developers
2:45 - 3:45: "Whose App Is It Anyway?"
3:45 - 4:30: Debunking Flash Myths

Best Session

Duncan Werner demo'd Thumbstacks. Thumbstacks allows you to construct and conduct presentations over the web. "Powerpoint via the web" is the best way to describe the demonstration. You can demo the presentation editor. It was very slick and well put together.

The remote control functionality, although new, allowed people to connect to a presentation after which it could be driven from the presenter's control panel and the changes would display for the people connected to the presentation. If you've ever been in a WebEx or similar meeting where someone else walks you through a presentation, you know what I'm talking about.

Room For Improvement Session

The "Whose App Is It Anyway?" session was conducted in the kitchen area. The idea behind this presentation was, "The audience will pick an app that I will build in realtime using Ruby on Rails." I'm sure Matt Pelletier is great with Ruby on Rails, but the session failed miserably. He was supposed to do an application in 10 minutes. The audience picked "Monitor Craigslist for some search terms." After 10 minutes I think Matt was still in the code to create the database tables to monitor the Craigslist RSS feed with the search term. At the end of the session, I guess there was something built, but quite lackluster and not particularly illustrative of the power of Ruby on Rails.

I just felt that the session didn't have that "wow" factor that some Ruby on Rails presentations do, where if you make database changes or change relationships among objects, your application interface changes in real time. Also, Matt wasn't really explaining things as he went along. Maybe most of the attendees had already seen the screencast where DHH walked the audience through the development of a weblog application in 15 minutes, but for anyone not versed in Ruby on Rails, I think they were left underwhelmed.

For another session like this, I'd stick with a simple application and build up from there with discussion about what you're doing. I just don't want a session of projected Ruby code on the kitchen wall.

Most Lively Discussion Session

The session on "Educating the next gen of web developers" had the most discussion of attendees of the sessions I had gone to that weekend. I can't find the session leader's name, but I believe she was a professor at Johnson & Wales?

The basic message that I got out of the session was that colleges need to do a better job at preparing students for critical thinking and problem solving as opposed to being versed specifically in technology X, Y, or Z. I asked whether or not the session leader had a class in "Software Engineering" at her campus. Of nearly all the classes I had as an undergraduate in college, software engineering was one of the best. Our project team went through a compressed lifecycle interacting with the professor playing various customer roles. Software development can be treated with the same rigor and structure (even flexible structure - Agile development) like any other engineering discipline.

Session Most Impactful to Future of BarCamp

Chris Messina of Flock talked on Sunday morning about Community Marks in his Flock, Microformats, and OSSWD session. Read Chris' post on Community Marks.

Executive summary: In recommending the establishment of Community Marks, I propose that an alternative to trademarks is needed for community-based projects like Bar Camp and Microformats. The need for Community Marks stems from the non-commercial focus of these projects and the way these projects spread virally on the web. While we need to protect the integrity of a brand like Bar Camp, licensing and legal enforcement is too costly in terms of time and money to make sense for loosely joined communities. Therefore, if we can leave enforcement up to the community via the Community Marks denotation, we will be able to serve the vital function of identifying a community's work and projects without burdening that community with undue legal process and enforcement costs.

It will be interesting to see how Community Marks pan out.

Also, I believe Chris is organizing WineCamp, to connect social software developers with non-profit groups. It's supposed to be at a winery in California. That sounds like it'll be fun. "I'm not drinking any fucking Merlot!"

I finally got to meet Otis Gospodnetić of Simpy. After maybe a year or so of corresponding about blojsom, Simpy, having put out the Simpy Java API, etc... it was good to connect in the real world. He was also rockin' the blojsom t-shirt on Sunday.

Hopefully BarCamp NYC will happen again in 2007 or at a much warmer time in 2006

Technorati Tags: barcampnyc

At BarCamp NYC. Sitting in the session on Prospective Search and XMPP given by Malcom Pollack of PubSub. Met Otis of Simpy.

Check the tag "barcampnyc" in your favorite social software application.

For example, the barcampnyc photo stream from Flickr or the del.icio.us barcampnyc bookmark stream.

Technorati Tags: barcampnyc

Bouncing Off The Walls - Sugarcult

• Little Snitch
  Little Snitch tells you when a program tries to send info to the internet so you can see whats going on in the background!
  (tags: osx software )

I think sometimes my hands and brain work too quickly. I was typing an e-mail about a "stack trace" error and originally typed it as "strack trace". Notice the extra 'r' in the second phrase.

I like new words though. Simplification is good.

Is it wrong that there are 15 bottles of vodka downstairs?

44 North
Absolut Vanilla
Absolut Peppar
Charbay
Chopin
Grey Goose
Grey Goose L'Orange
Hangar One
Hangar One Citron
Hangar One Kaffir Lime
Pearl Persephone
Svedka
Türi
Van Gogh Coconut
Wokka Saki

I just checked the Hangar One site on a whim, and damned if they aren't coming out with a wasabi infused vodka (check towards the bottom of the page) ... due January 2006!

Two words: Hea-ven!

Technorati Tags: vodka

I'm now using the Akismet Moderation Plugin to handle comment and trackback spam with the Akismet service. Further revisions to the plugin will add support for submitting comment spam and ham (false positives) back to Akismet to help the system learn.

Although the plugin is written for blojsom, one could easily use the Akismet Java API library for handling comment and trackback spam in other Java software packages.

Not using Java? There are other language libraries to interact with Akismet available. I wrote the Akismet Ruby library as well.

Technorati Tags: akismet blojsom

On Sunday I struck my last blow into the magical spot of the last colossus. As such, Shadow of the Colossus is now finished.

I just purchased Ico. Shadow of the Colossus is supposed to be the "spiritual successor" to Ico. However the wikipedia entries for Shadow of the Colossus and Ico indicate that Shadow of the Colossus may in fact be a prequel, albeit released after, to Ico.

Technorati Tags: shadow of the colossus ico playstation 2

Shelf In The Room - Days Of The New

I've created a SourceForge project for my Akismet Java API. The javadocs for the API are still available.

Technorati Tags: akismet

Get Free - The Vines

All of this is inconsequential, but I've added a filter for better serving of different flavors. This is most useful for removing URL "cruft" for the syndication feeds. All of this was previously possibly without the filter, but now the URLs aren't as "odd". The old ?flavor=xxx style URLs work as well.

Main Feed

My main RSS 2.0 feed is now http://www.blojsom.com/blog/feed/.
My main Atom feed is now http://www.blojsom.com/blog/feed/atom/.

The filter is configurable, so if you wanted to serve Atom as your default flavor when accessing a /feed/ link, that's an option.

Per-Category Feed

As blojsom supports per-category feeds, all you need to do is tack on /feed/ to the end of the URL for the entries in a given category.

If you wanted an RSS 2.0 feed of only my Java postings, you could use the link, http://www.blojsom.com/blog/java/feed/.
Or, you could also get an Atom feed for the Java postings using the link, http://www.blojsom.com/blog/java/feed/atom/.

Entry Comments Feed

You could also use this filter to allow people to track comments on an entry in their newsreader.

Maybe you wanted to follow the comments feed for my JBoss Installer Feedback entry, you could use the link, http://www.blojsom.com/blog/java/2005/11/08/JBoss-Installer-Feedback.html/feed/comments/. The link, http://www.blojsom.com/blog/java/JBoss-Installer-Feedback.html/feed/comments/, works as well. I just like the date represented in the permalink.

Filter-by-Date Feed

You could subscribe to a feed for my November 2004 entries with the link, http://www.blojsom.com/blog/2004/11/feed/.

This assumes you're using the calendar filter plugin for your syndication feed(s). Also, since I'm using a limiter plugin, you're only going to see the 15 latest entries from that November 2004 feed.

Technorati Tags: blojsom filter syndication

Burton Cargo Pants and Burton Wheelie Gig Bag

Both will prove quite useful over the next month!

Technorati Tags: burton snowboard

• Why you should use a BSD-style license
  (tags: bsd licensing opensource )

I'd love it if Microsoft Word had a default paste mode that you could set. This way I wouldn't have to use the "Paste Special" menu for paste operations where I'm using the same paste mode over and over. Most, if not all, of the times I'm using the "Paste Special" menu, it's because I want to paste something as "Unformatted Text".

It's just one of those little things that annoyed me today.

Strasbourg - The Rakes

It's 2006 and if you've got source code or other documents referencing the year in the copyright, you'll need to update the copyright.

* Copyright (c) 2003-2006, David A. Czarnecki

Mass search and replace is your friend!

• Where to Eat in 2006 -- Top 101 New York Restaurants -- New York Magazine
  (tags: nyc restaurants )

If you're going to be at the BarCamp NYC on Saturday and Sunday, January 14-15, 2006, you should also fill out this brief form. As the site says, "We're trying to get a more accurate headcount for our venue, t-shirts, etc."

See you there!

Technorati Tags: barcamp barcamp nyc

• Strength Training - Workouts For Size & Strength!
  (tags: fitness workout )