Day: December 18, 2002

Categories
Writing

Practical RDF Weblog—Back in Action

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

The Practical RDF book weblog is back in action. I’ll be posting chapters, slowly, starting in the next couple of days. We’re trying to get the book into the publication process by end of the year, which means less weblogging, more book writing, and more coding.

Discipline. Aren’t INTJ’s supposed to be disciplined?

The material has been altered, considerably, from the first draft. I’ve added coverage of additional technologies, refocused the audience a bit, and updated the material to reflect the newest edition of the RDF specification documents. Still, the material is in draft form, which means no editorial polish and the usual Burningbirdisms. In between releases of chapters, I’ll also be covering other RDF-related topics, to add a bit of variety. Keep you all hungry for more.

The release of the chapters will also signify the release of some new goodies I’ve been playing around with for a time. All open source, of course. Many are weblog or web site-related so I hope that they might be of interest.

Categories
Just Shelley

The Letter

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I received a rare letter from my Father today. He doesn’t write too many letters now because his hand writing has become increasingly bad over the years. What with the stroke and all the cancers and the radiation overdose I’m glad just to be getting a letter, much less one that’s legible.

Of course, my father’s hand writing never was good. It’s a version of printing I call the Powers Print — a combination of upper and lower case block-like print letters, lightly scrawled as if the writer is too impatient with the slowness of the ink and the inefficiency of the pen and paper. Hasty marks barely touching the page.

Reading my Dad’s letters requires intuition, imagination, and no little detective skill. I usually only attempt the process when I can get my roommate to help me with the deciphering.

“‘I went to the doctor ______.’ Does that look like a Tuesday or Thursday to you?”

“Looks like a Sunday.”

“Can’t be. You don’t go to the doctor on Sunday.”

“You’re right. It’s probably Thursday. I think that’s a ‘ur’ not a ‘ue’.”

“I think you’re right. ‘I went to the doctor Thursday. He said that I need to consider getting a _____’. I have no idea what this word is. Can you recognize it?”

“Hmmm. Rocker? Do you think it says ‘rocker’?”

“Why would a doctor recommend a rocker? Must be something else. ‘I went to the doctor Tuesday. He said I need to consider getting a ‘blank’. He’s concerned I’m going to’, does this look like ‘fall’ to you?”

“I’d say it was fall. If that’s fall, then the previous word could be ‘walker’. That would make sense.”

And on it goes, in an exercise that provides both news and entertainment until just before his usual signoff of ‘Love, Dad’, when he writes with unusual clarity:

“I bet you can’t read half this letter.”

Categories
Technology

Babes in the markup

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I have really been enjoying Liz’s XML Class Weblog. It’s so refreshing ‘hearing’ all these voices newly exposed to XML, RSS, RDF, Schemas and so on. With the weblog, I feel as if I’m peeking into Liz’s class, itself. This posting on the students’ personal weblogs already demonstrates that some of Liz’s students are getting the real spirit of commenting.

Wouldn’t it be nice to preserve that innocent introduction to, and joy of, XML and its related children? Before the voices become jaded, contentious, semi-religious in fervor, biting, cutting, suppressing, picky, snippy, grumpy, and bored?

The thing is, I keep having this almost obsessive desire to post comments in the weblog. Start a nice, lovely, Burningbird style of conversation with Liz’s students.

Hee.