Don't Back Down

Mark continues to enhance the Bloglines service. The latest addition to the service is a blogrolling function, that allows you to pull in your subscriptions for inclusion on a blog. You can pull in your entire list, or only a folder at a time. You can mark individual feeds or entire folders as private so that they won't show in your blogroll. Very cool stuff. Check out the Bloglines share page for some more info on setting this up for yourself.

I continue to wonder how I got along before Bloglines. Prior to using the service, I would have missed days of feeds when I leave town for several days without access to a computer. Sure, there are probably things in most that I wouldn't miss all that much - but because I use Bloglines, it means I missed none of it. When I logged in this morning, all my feeds were waiting to go. And had I had access to a computer while on vacation, I could have caught up from there, since the data is all server-based.

I'm not sure I would consider myself a fan of Rush Limbaugh. I think he likes to hear himself talk too much. Which is really okay. After all, if I didn't like to hear myself talk, I probably wouldn't have a blog. If I could be syndicated in 650 markets and have a moonlighting gig on ESPN, I'd probably do it too. But I digress.

Four years ago, everyone jumped when someone dared to use the word niggardly. Contrary to popular belief, the word actually means to be mean about spending or granting. Ebenezer Scrooge would be proud. But because of the semblance to a racially sensitive word, all manner of hubbub ensued.

Read "Is Rush Right?" »

I'm sure everyone else already knows this stuff, but since I use my blog for reference when I don't feel like trying to look things up, I'm going to do another piece on SQL. Specifically, another piece on SQL subselects.

Read "More AS400 SQL" »

In an interesting development in the cell phone world, it seems that Nokia wants to make sure that everything happens on their equipment, recently agreeing to purchase multiplayer technology from Sega. Now we don't have to worry about kids turning into zombies as they sit in front of the TV. They'll be able to do it anywhere!

We're really seeing a growth of Linux - or at least we're really seeing coverage of the growth of Linux. Seagate is shipping a version of Lindows on their hard drives. Acer is including a version on their new notebook. Everyone's favorite toy for the tube, the Tivo, is even built on Linux. Back in August, Disneyland added a new roving attraction to their stable with the introduction of Lucky the dinosaur. Wonder if he runs on Linux, too?

In quizzes this week, I've found out that I apparently belong in Gryffindor house, should I attend Hogwarts in the future (courtesy of the Sorting Hat). And in case I should turn into a Greek God, I would apparently be Hercules (courtesy of Quizilla). Who knew?

I'm likely as materialistic as the next guy. But even so, we don't spend nearly as much as some. Only rarely will we pay to see professional sports, and typically then only because of an Indian Guides event or perhaps checking out a minor league team (which is still generally affordable). If we see movies, we go to the dollar theater. When we go out to eat for a fancy dinner, we'll use coupons to get something for free and make us feel better about blowing a chunk of money. We're in the minor leagues.

Politicians raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for local elections. Move up to the state and you're talking millions. On the national level, tens of millions is not uncommon - and is, in fact, close to a requirement. Government routinely talks in terms of not millions, but billions, of dollars. Jury awards in certain liability trials amount to hundreds of millions. Lotteries across the country award jackpots of many millions more. The best professional sports players command contracts that pay them millions of dollars each year.

Prior to the 1950s or so, there wasn't much money at all involved in running for office. Certainly not to the scale we see today. Until the 1970s, advertising budgets existed, but not to where a company could blow a couple million on a single 30-second spot to show during the Super Bowl. Where are the stories of lottery winnings and massive jury awards from the 1920s, the blackest of all decades, financially speaking?

You've probably noticed an influx of Javascript-based ads on web sites. You know, these are the windows that display over the page, but aren't really windows of their own, so they can't really be blocked by typical popup-stoppers (not yet, anyway). Sure, you could turn off Javascript, but that's a real inconvenience as it can make things less functional.

I don't really mind those ads, though as they catch on, I'm liking them less and less. Still, I understand that the companies need people to pay them to provide advertising space so that they can, in turn, pay the writers of their content. Despite some of my other posts on the subject, I'm really not against capitalism. I understand the need and the desire to make money. Where I have a problem is when the line is crossed so that it impedes functionality.

Most of these ads have a relatively unobtrusive (and often hard to find) option that allows you to close the window, or to minimize it and move it out of the way. The latest batch, however, doesn't seem to have anything of the kind.

Haven't seen these yet? Try InfoWorld. I was trying to read Cringely's latest article, so head to the site. No sooner am I there than I notice huge ads, and these ads keep me from reading the page. I figure I'll wait a few seconds, as sometimes those Shockwave ads have a built in delay before the "close" option pops up. Hmm. Nothing. Maybe these are those ads that automatically minimize themseves after a few seconds. Still nothing.

I've now been waiting for fifteen minutes. Three ads still obscure the article. Apparently they have to be clicked in order to remove them, as there are no close options as yet. This is ridiculous. Plenty of "click me" options, but no way to close and/or minimize these advertisements. To provide advertising is one thing. To require me to browse advertising is another entirely. Looks like I'll be skipping InfoWorld from now on.

Update: Here's the best part. I clicked one of the ads, it opens in another window. Guess what. I still can't read the article. Talk about moronic. Requiring me to browse advertising won't work, but I recognize that it might for some people. But when you browse the advertising and still can't read the article? Wonder how long it'll take them to figure out why no one is reading.

Update: I received an email reply from Cringe, and he mentions that he's heard of the problem from at least 4 other people just today. While he forwarded my email along to the techie people, as of 12:40 Eastern, the page is still unreadable. Unless you are interested in reading the ads.

MT-Outliner: Access information from OPML files through template tags.
A Plugin for Movable Type

Release 1.0
October 6, 2003

http://www.everitz.com/sol/mt-outliner/index.html

If you find the software useful or even like it, then a simple 'thank you' is always appreciated. A reference back to me is even nicer. If you find a way to make money from the software, do what you feel is right.

Copyright 2003, Everitz Consulting

Licensed under the Open Software License version 2.1

This Movable Type plugin allows you to process an OPML file and pull in the information contained within by using MT template tags.

Installation:

To install, place the Outliner.pl file in your Movable Type "plugins" directory. If you do not have a Movable Type plugins directory, create one, then put the Outliner.pl file in it. Refer to the Movable Type documentationfor more information regarding plugins.

The functionality in Outliner requires the use of the LWP::UserAgent and the HTTP::Request modules, so you'll need to make sure they are installed as well. These modules are fairly common, so you may have them already. You can use something like ModCheck to easily check your installation for the presence of these modules.

You can find both of these modules as a part of the libwww-perl distribution:

http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/

With all modules that you put on your server, make sure that they are executable. Permissions of 755 ought to work fine.

Loading an OPML File for Processing:

<MTOutliner>

This tag offers two attributes for retrieving data in OPML format.

The first attribute makes use of your Bloglines user ID or email address to retrieve your subscriptions from the Export function of Bloglines. If you choose this option, make sure that all subscriptions you'd like to see are made public, or else your OPML file may be incomplete. To retrieve an export from Bloglines, simply add the bloglines attribute to the tag:

<MTOutliner bloglines="userid">

The value specified for the bloglines attribute can be either the user id or the email address associated with your account.

If you would like to use any old OPML file, then you can also specify that by the use of an attribute on the MTOutliner tag. The only catch is that the file must be available via URL:

<MTOutliner opmllink="http://example.com/path/to/file/opml">

*** NOTE: If you specify a value for the bloglines attribute, then the opmllink attribute will be ignored!

Tags to Retrieve Document-level Data:

<$MTOutlinerBloglines$> = The Bloglines user ID specified.
<$MTOutlinerDateCreated$> = The date the document was created.
<$MTOutlinerDateModified$> = The date the document was modified.
<$MTOutlinerOPMLVersion$> = Version of OPML used in the document.
<$MTOutlinerOwnerName$> = The name of the owner of the document.
<$MTOutlinerOwnerEmail$> = The email of the owner of the document.
<$MTOutlinerTitle$> = The title of the document.
<$MTOutlinerXMLVersion$> = Version of XML used in the document.

The OPML file contains some information in the header of the document that may be of interest to you. Using these tags, you can pull that information into your template for display. These tags must be used within the MTOutliner container.

With the exception of the MTOutlinerBloglines tag, each of these values comes from the document itself. So if the values are not included in the document, they are not available through the tags! The two date tags will accept the MT format tags for displaying a variety of values.

The MTOutliner tag accepts one more attribute that allows you to customize the message received when a document-level value has not been specified. By default, when an attribute is missing the tag will return "Not Found".

By adding the notfound attribute to the tag, you can say whatever you like:

<MTOutliner bloglines="userid" notfound="Where Is It?">

This attribute applies only to these document-level tags.

The Folders Container:

<MTOutlinerFolders>

Within the MTOutliner tag, you'll likely want to display something. Using the MTOutlinerFolders container, you can list each of the folders found in your document.

The MTOutlinerFolders tag accepts two attributes.

The first is to indicate if you want to include "unfiled" entries. Unfiled entries are those entries that are not found within a particular folder. By default, unfiled entries are not included in any further output. To enable the display of these entries, add the unfiled attribute to this tag:

<MTOutlinerFolders unfiled="1">

The second tag is to specify a folder or a list of folders to include in the output. By default, all folders are included. If you'd like to limit the folders, specify them by using this attribute:

<MTOutlinerFolders folders="Folder 1:Folder 2:Folder 3">

Separate multiple folders with colons. You can use the folders attribute to select folders and also use the unfiled attribute to include the top-level entries that are not filed in folders.

Within this container, there are several conditional tags to control the data that is output:

<MTOutlinerFolderIfItems> = Display if the current folder contains items.
<MTOutlinerFolderIfNoItems> = Display if the current folder contains no items.
<MTOutlinerFolderFiled> = Display if the current items are filed (in a folder).
<MTOutlinerFolderUnfiled> = Display if the current items are unfiled.

While this plugin ought to work with subfolders (folders within folders), that configuration hasn't been tested. Your results with subfolders may vary.

Tags to Retrieve Folder-level Data:

<$MTOutlinerFolderText$> = The text value of the folder (title used if no text).
<$MTOutlinerFolderItemCount$> = The count of items within the folder.

The Items Container:

<MTOutlinerItems>

This tag can be used on it's own inside the MTOutliner tag, in which case it will display all individual items (but no folder information), or it can be used within the MTOutlinerFolder container, in which case it will display the items contained within that folder.

There are no attributes to this container.

Tags to Retrieve Item-level Data:

<$MTOutlinerItemText$> = The text value of the item (title used if no text).
<$MTOutlinerItemDesc$> = The description value of the item.
<$MTOutlinerItemHTML$> = The htmlurl value of the item (url user if no htmlurl).
<$MTOutlinerItemXML$> = The xmlurl value of the item.

You can use this plugin to create a simple blogroll from your OPML file:

<MTOutliner opmllink="http://example.com/path/to/file/opml">
<MTOutlinerItems>
<a href="<$MTOutlinerItemHTML$>"><$MTOutlinerItemText$></a>
<a href="<$MTOutlinerItemXML$>">Syndicate this Site</a><br />
</MTOutlinerItems>
</MTOutliner>

By making use of the folder container, the conditional tags and the other attributes, you can customize your blogroll in most any way you can imagine!

I've tested this plugin with the Bloglines export, some Manila-generated OPML files, a file I believe came from SharpReader's export function, and even the OPML file generated by Feedster's search. If you come across any problems in these formats, or if you have another format that doesn't seem to be working, please send me the information so I can fix the plugin or add support for the format you use.

"US Airways can plan on whatever they want. We plan on taking them to court."

An interesting quote indeed. Who said it? You'd think it was a jilted partner, or maybe even a competitor who felt that they lost out to USAirways in the battle for gate space at an airport. I could maybe even see a city that felt slighted that USAirways reneged on a perceived promise to the city. No such luck though.

This quote came from Joe Tiberi, spokesman for the International Association of Machinists. What does he have to do with USAirways? Little, really. But the IAM apparently represents about 5000 mechanics with the airline, who would seem peeved about the decision to outsource some heavy maintenance to a third party.

I can understand the unease with the issue. If heavy maintenance on the newer planes is being outsourced, then as the newer planes replace old planes, and old planes are retired, jobs will be lost. But why is the first reaction to take the company to court? Shouldn't people working for the same company share the same interests? These days, it would seem all too often that the management of the company is on one side of the fence and the employees are on the other. Probably not a good sign.

I adjusted my links list (to the left) to make use of the MT-Outliner plugin that I released yesterday. While at first I built this piece of the page from a basic OPML file on my site, then I couldn't figure out why in the world I would do that, when I've already got the information elsewhere. So instead of using the opmllink attribute, I used bloglines instead.

First, I created a new folder on my Bloglines account. I called this folder Blogroll, but you can use whatever you like (just remember to change it in the code below if you use something different). Next, I added the bloglines="jayseae" attribute to my MTOutliner tag (my Bloglines user ID). You would want to change the user ID to your own. Or you could use mine too if you really want to do that sort of thing.

Finally, I made use of the MTOutlinerFolders tag, as it allows me to select data by the folder (or folders) in which it resides. I used the folders="Blogroll" attribute for this purpose. If you used a different folder name above, then this is where you'd change it. Separate multiple folders with colons (ie, folders="Folder:Another Folder:Still One More Folder").

<MTOutliner bloglines="jayseae">
<MTOutlinerFolders folders="Blogroll">
<MTOutlinerItems>
<a href="<$MTOutlinerItemHTML$>" title="<$MTOutlinerItemDesc$>"><$MTOutlinerItemText$></a> :: <a href="<$MTOutlinerItemXML$>" title="Syndicate this Site">rss</a><br />
</MTOutlinerItems>
</MTOutlinerFolders>
</MTOutliner>

Let me know about your implementations of MT-Outliner!

Prior to its integration into Movable Type, the MT-Search module allowed the ability to toggle between full-word and partial-word searches. For instance, if you searched on full words for out, you would get out in the results. But not outdoors, outliner or even outrageous. Unfortunately, that functionality isn't currently available in Movable Type. This describes how to add it back.

Read "Movable Type Full Word Search" »

I'm sure that there are many of you out there who don't read Robert X. Cringely. And that's okay. I'm equally sure that he isn't for everyone. Often, his ramblings tend to lean towards technology in one way or another. Many instances are implementations of technology in decidedly non-technological arenas. Many other instances are just about the tech.

Nonetheless, he's had an interesting series of articles lately. About a month ago (on 9/11, in case you're fond of tracking those things), the first of the articles appeared, about identitiy theft. Specifically, some of Bob's mail was stolen, when it was supposed to be on hold at the Post Office. This raised all sorts of questions about responsibility and actually getting the Post Office to investigate things, but that's not where I'm going.

Two weeks ago, another article on identify theft went into some more detail on why it's likely that this crime will continue to get worse. Even if you don't think you have much to worry about - even if you actually don't have much to worry about - these two articles make for some interesting reading. If you're of the criminal mind, then perhaps they will make for some useful career tips. If you're just a regular person who wants to try and avoid that group, it will make for some interesting tips on possibly making yourself more secure from identity theft.

Today, Bob published another article (okay, it was actually published yesterday). While not so much a direct continuation of the prior articles, this definitely continued the thought process, discussing how we can make things more secure in our dealings with one another. Very interesting how the illustration was drawn from a tribal society where everyone knew each other to today's sprawling communities, and how we may need to restore some sort of tribal effect on top of that in order to get back to the level of security present when everyone else really did know your name.

Did you hear about the Nokia phone that exploded in a woman's face? Now it appears to have some company. Maybe having that phone next to your head isn't a good idea. Bluetooth headset, anyone?

And while I don't personally have anything Bluetooth, I do hear that it's important that you change the default password on the devices. Should you forget to do so, make sure you realize that your neighbors might be able to enjoy your wireless communications.

It seems that PayPal is sitting pretty as the leader in online payment systems. Of course you remember that P-squared was acquired by eBay a little over a year ago. This resulted in the shuttering of eBay's own system, Billpoint. Now, it seems that Citibank's competing c2it service is closing, leaving Western Union's BidPay as the only decent-sized competitor in the space.

In the what will they come up with next department, we see an online generator of names from middle-earth. This one's actually pretty detailed when compared to some smaller implementations, such as the Star Wars name generator. Also, this one doesn't appear to have rules for generating your names manually. Still, it's good for some laughs.

I can choose from Azgash the Sleek (orc), Brillachion (elf), Fundin Rockfist (dwarf) or Largo Baggins from The Far Downs (hobbit). Not a bad batch of names, if I do say so myself. Meanwhile, Denise gets the apropos Bubaluk the Toothless (orc). I'm going to pay for that, so I better give you the rest of her list: Rinromeniel (elf), Nain Stoneboot (dwarf), Mentha Grenthumb from LongCleeve (hobbit).

I've now been blogging for nearly four months (108 days, if my calculations are correct). According to at least one survey, that means I'm nearing the danger zone. By their estimates, some 1.63 million blogs were abandoned on average 126 days after being started. Don't hold your breath. I've got a lot of rambling left in me.