ongoing

Spring in White on White

2006-04-26T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Most people would generally prefer a climate where it’s bright michael@0: and warm most of the time. But for Canadians and others who live where it’s michael@0: not, there are compensations, and one is the experience of michael@0: spring. I have a picture.

michael@0: michael@0:

The blossoms are pear in the foreground, cherry behind.

michael@0:

After all the months of 50° North Latitude winter—icy-sharp in most michael@0: of Canada, wet and dark here in Vancouver—the soul, the spirit, and the michael@0: libido all spring to life when the sun comes back. We’ve had a solid year of michael@0: crappy weather, but this last Saturday through Monday were solidly summery, michael@0: bright michael@0: and warm; and in this season the days are already long and each gets michael@0: longer so fast you can feel it.

michael@0:

On the back porch, our pear tree’s branches were silhouetted against the michael@0: neighbors’ big wild old cherry; the cherry yields no edible fruit but who michael@0: cares, it’s beautiful michael@0: tree any time of year.

michael@0:

Scott

2006-04-26T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

I’ve been watching our internal leadership conference and spending quite a michael@0: bit of time talking in the virtual hallways, and I’ve been surprised at michael@0: the intensity of feeling about Mr. McNealy. Yes, there are those michael@0: here saying “About bloody time, now we can make some progress” but there’s a michael@0: much bigger group that is genuinely emotional about this transition. michael@0: Maybe it’s a function of seniority: I never met nor corresponded with Scott, and michael@0: he hasn’t been michael@0: much of a presence in the company’s conversation in the time I’ve been here. michael@0: But there are a lot of smart, seasoned, unsentimental people making it clear michael@0: that michael@0: he’s been a major force in their lives, at a more personal level than I’m michael@0: used to hearing when people speak about executives. I guess also that to a michael@0: lot of people, Sun’s vision, for which Scott gets some of the credit, was a michael@0: radical and wonderful thing. I first used Unix in 1979 and quit a nice michael@0: big-company job michael@0: to become a VAX-bsd sysadmin in 1983, so I’ve always kind of michael@0: lived inside that vision. michael@0: But I’ll tell you one thing, what I’ve been hearing the last couple of days michael@0: makes me really regret that I didn’t get to know Scott.

michael@0:

Jacobs, Pictures, Spartans

2006-04-26T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Jane Jacobs died; michael@0: the city I live in, Vancouver, is pretty solidly Jacobsian both in its current michael@0: shape and its planning dogma. By choosing to live here I’m empirically a michael@0: fan. Oddly, few have remarked how great Jacobs michael@0: looked; her face commanded the eye. Which leads me Alex michael@0: Waterhouse-Hayward’s wonderful michael@0: Jane Jacobs & Viveca Lindfors; michael@0: surprising portraits and thoughts on decoration. W-H’s blog has become one of michael@0: only two or three that I michael@0: stab at excitedly whenever I see something new. For example, see michael@0: Sex Crimes, Homicide and Drugs michael@0: and yes, that’s what it’s about. michael@0: Staying with the death-and-betrayal theme, and apparently (but not really) michael@0: shifting back 2½ millennia, see John Cowan’s michael@0: The michael@0: War (after Simonides), being careful to look closely at the links. michael@0: I’ve michael@0: written michael@0: about those same wars.

michael@0:

LAMP and MARS

2006-04-25T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

At michael@0: that Rails conference, when I michael@0: was michael@0: talking michael@0: to michael@0: Obie Fernandez, he asked, more or michael@0: less “How can Sun love us? We’re not Java” and I said, more or less, “Hey, michael@0: you’re programmers, you write software and there have to be computers to run michael@0: it, we sell computers, why wouldn’t we love you?” Anyhow, we touched on michael@0: parallelism a bit and I talked up the michael@0: T1; michael@0: Obie took that ball and michael@0: ran with it, michael@0: saying all sorts of positive things about synergy between Rails’ michael@0: shared-nothing architecture and our multicore systems. Yeah, well, good in michael@0: theory, but I’m too old to make that kind of prediction without running some michael@0: tests. Hah, it turns out that michael@0: Joyent has been michael@0: doing that, and have michael@0: 76 michael@0: PDF slides on the subject. michael@0: If you care about big-system scaling issues, read the whole thing; a little michael@0: long, but amusing and with hardly any bullet lists. If you’re a Sun michael@0: shareholder looking for a pick-me up, check out slides 40-41, 49, and 52-74. michael@0: Oh, I gather that the T1, Solaris, and ZFS are OK for Java too. michael@0: [Update: The title was just “SAMR”, as in LAMP with two new letters. michael@0: Enough people didn’t get it that I was forced to think about it, and MARS michael@0: works better anyhow.]

michael@0:

Real-Time Journalism

2006-04-25T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

I got email late yesterday from michael@0: David Berlind: “Hey, can michael@0: I call you for a minute?” He wanted commentary on michael@0: a story he was writing that I michael@0: think is about the potential for intellectual-property lock-ins on RSS and Atom michael@0: extensions. I say “I think is about” because the headline is “Will or could michael@0: RSS get forked?”. After a few minutes’ chat, David asked if he could record michael@0: for a podcast, and even though I only had a cellphone, the audio came out OK. michael@0: The conversation was rhythmic: David brought up a succession of potential michael@0: issues and answered each along the lines of “Yes, it’s reasonable to worry michael@0: about that, but in this michael@0: case I don’t see any particular problems.” michael@0: Plus I emitted a mercifully-brief rant on the difference between protocols, michael@0: data, and software. michael@0: On the one hand, I thought David could have been a michael@0: little clearer that I was pushing back against the thrust of his story, but on michael@0: the other hand he included the whole conversation right michael@0: there in the piece, so anyone who actually cares can listen and find out what michael@0: I actually said, not what I think I said nor what David reported I said. michael@0: I find this raw barely-intermediated journalism (we michael@0: talk on the phone this afternoon, it’s on the Web in hours) a little michael@0: shocking still. michael@0: On balance, it’s better than the way we used to do things.

michael@0:

The Transition Explained

2006-04-24T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

It’s not that complicated, really. michael@0: Bloggers are michael@0: taking over the world. michael@0: Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated.

michael@0:

5✭♫: One More Cup of Coffee

2006-04-24T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

I’m not really a michael@0: Bob Dylan fan. A voice michael@0: like that, and a tunesmithing talent like that, come along only a few times michael@0: per century, but he’s still kind of irritating. michael@0: That aside, the song One More Cup of Coffee, from the 1976 album michael@0: Desire, can’t be michael@0: ignored; wonderful tune, wonderful orchestration, wonderful performance. michael@0: (“5✭♫” series introduction here; michael@0: with an michael@0: explanation of why the title may look broken.)

michael@0: michael@0:

The Context

michael@0:

Nothing I can possibly write will add any wisdom to the michael@0: millions of words, some 90% of them in excess of needs, written on the subject michael@0: of this particular person.

michael@0:

A personal statement: Bob Dylan has long irritated me for, during the first michael@0: thirty years or michael@0: so of his career, never having given a straight answer to a straight question, michael@0: and for writing songs with dozens of boring verses. But they’ll still be michael@0: listening michael@0: to lots of his performances long after I’m dead, and in recent years he’s michael@0: become a better, more direct, interview.

michael@0:

My taste in Dylan is a little unusual: once you get past One More Cup michael@0: of Coffee, my favorites would be Baby Let Me Follow You michael@0: Down (from the Last Waltz soundtrack) and michael@0: Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) from michael@0: The Basement michael@0: Tapes.

michael@0:

Desire, the record, is hit and miss. Joey, michael@0: glorification of the life of some mafioso, is flawed in concept michael@0: and unlistenable in execution. Hurricane, whatever you think michael@0: about michael@0: Mr. Carter, that song michael@0: rocks; and Isis hits pretty hard too.

michael@0:

The Music

michael@0:

Is there anything in One More Cup of Coffee that’s not michael@0: perfect? Well yes, in the verses, the michael@0: lyrics on occasion drag (“He oversees his kingdom / So no stranger does michael@0: intrude / His voice it trembles as he calls out / For another plate of food”). michael@0: But apart from that, the sentiment is compelling, michael@0: Scarlet Rivera’s michael@0: violin is beautifully scored and played, the tune is to die for, and the michael@0: backing vocals are by Emmylou Harris, who you can bet is going to be here in michael@0: the 5-✭ series one of these days. michael@0: And while there’s not much middle ground on the subject of Dylan’s singing, if michael@0: you like it, you’ll really like this song.

michael@0:

Listen to the choruses: Bob and Emmylou veer wildly around the rhythm, then michael@0: coalesce on the beat when it matters, and they’re making it michael@0: up as they go along, they’re wholly inhabiting the moment, and it’s michael@0: quite, quite perfect.

michael@0:

Sampling It

michael@0:

Oh yeah, it’s out there. And there’s a live version too; but the smart michael@0: thing would be to go buy the un-compressed un-DRM’ed shiny round silver michael@0: version of Desire; it’s a keeper.

michael@0:

Atomic Monday

2006-04-24T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

First of all, implementors of anything Atom-related need to spend some time michael@0: chez michael@0: Jacques Distler; in particular, the conversation that plays out in the michael@0: comments. Second, there’s this piece of software called michael@0: Planet Planet that allows you to michael@0: make an aggregate web page by reading lots of feeds; for example, see michael@0: Planet Apache or michael@0: Planet Sun. michael@0: Sam Ruby decided that its Atom support needed some work, so michael@0: he did michael@0: it. Now, here’s the exciting part: he pinged me over the weekend and said michael@0: “Hey, look at this” wanting to show me his cleverly-Atomized michael@0: Planet Intertwingly feed. michael@0: I looked at it in michael@0: NetNewsWire and was puzzled for michael@0: a moment; some but not all of the michael@0: things in the feed were highlighted as unread, even though this was the first michael@0: time I’d seen it. Then the light went on. michael@0: This michael@0: is Atom doing exactly what we went to all that trouble to make it do. michael@0: NetNewsWire has good Atom support and, because Atom entries all have unique michael@0: IDs and timestamps, it can michael@0: tell that it’s seen lots of those entries before in other feeds that I michael@0: subscribe to. That’s how I found Jacques’ piece. This is huge; anyone who michael@0: uses synthetic or aggregated feeds knows that dupes are a big problem, showing michael@0: up all over the place. michael@0: No longer, Atom makes that problem go away.

michael@0:

Hyatt on the High-Res Web

2006-04-22T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Check out Dave Hyatt’s michael@0: excellent write-up on michael@0: designing and rendering Web pages so they take advantage of the michael@0: higher-resolution screens that may be coming our way. michael@0: I emphasize “may” because I’ve seen how slowly we’ve picked up pixels over michael@0: the years. The first really substantial screen I ever worked on was a michael@0: 1988-vintage Sun workstation with about a million pixels. The Mac on my michael@0: lap right now, which has 125 times as much memory as that workstation, has michael@0: only 1.38 million pixels. michael@0: Anyhow, Hyatt has some smart things to say on the issues, michael@0: which are trickier than you might think. I suspect that sometime in a couple of michael@0: years, if I still care about ongoing, I’m going to michael@0: have to go back and reprocess all the images so that higher-res versions are michael@0: available for those who have the screens and don’t mind downloading bigger michael@0: files. michael@0: Anyhow, Dave’s piece may be slightly misleading in that he talks about SVG michael@0: as though michael@0: it’s something coming in the future. Not so, check out michael@0: this nifty SVG Atom michael@0: logo, which works fine in all the Mozilla browsers I have here. michael@0: Load it up, resize the window, and watch what happens. Then do a “view michael@0: source”. michael@0: [Update: michael@0: Jeff Schiller writes to tell me that michael@0: Opera 9 does SVG (and Opera 8 “SVG Tiny”) too.] michael@0: [Dave Walker writes: Though the shipping version of Safari doesn’t support SVG, michael@0: the michael@0: nightlies do.] michael@0: [Dave Lemen michael@0: points to michael@0: JPEG 2000 as possibly michael@0: useful in a high-res context.]

michael@0:

Wrong About the Infield Fly Rule

2006-04-23T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

My brother michael@0: Rob is really taking to michael@0: this blogging medium. Check out his recent michael@0: Credo, michael@0: and also the only instance I’ve seen of michael@0: Anglo-Saxon alliterative poetry michael@0: applied to a mini-van.

michael@0:

Statistics

2004-12-12T12:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Almost every Sunday I grab the week’s ongoing michael@0: logfiles and update my numbers. michael@0: I find it interesting michael@0: and maybe others will too, so michael@0: this entry is now the charts’ permanent home. I’ll update it most weeks, michael@0: probably. michael@0: [Updated: 2006/04/23.]

michael@0: michael@0:

Browsers visiting ongoing, michael@0: percent.

michael@0: michael@0:

Browsers visiting ongoing via michael@0: search engines, percent.

michael@0: michael@0:

Search referrals to ongoing .

michael@0: michael@0:

Fetches of the RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 feeds.

michael@0:

The notes on usage and source code will return in coming weeks when I get michael@0: the cycles to rewrite this whole article.

michael@0:

What a “Hit” Means

michael@0:

I recently michael@0: updated the michael@0: ongoing software michael@0: (but haven’t updated the Colophon I see, oops). michael@0: Anyhow, the XMLHttpRequest now issued by each page seems to be a michael@0: pretty reliable counter of the number of actual browsers with humans behind michael@0: them reading the pages. I checked against michael@0: Google Analytics michael@0: and the numbers agreed to within a dozen or two on days with 5,000 to 10,000 michael@0: page views; interestingly, Google Analytics was always 10 or 20 views michael@0: higher.

michael@0:

Anyhow, do not conclude that now I know how many people are michael@0: reading whatever it is I write here; because I publish lots of short pieces michael@0: that are all there in my RSS feed, and anyone reading my Atom feed gets the michael@0: full content of everything. michael@0: I and I have no #&*!$ idea how many people look at my feeds.

michael@0:

By the way, this was the first time in weeks and weeks that I’d looked at the michael@0: Analytics numbers, and they showed almost exactly zero change from the report michael@0: linked above. So I’m going to turn them off; they’re a little too intrusive michael@0: and I think may be slowing page loads.

michael@0:

Anyhow, I ran some detailed statistics on the traffic for Wednesday, michael@0: February 8th, 2006.

michael@0: michael@0: michael@0: michael@0: michael@0: michael@0: michael@0: michael@0: michael@0:

Total connections to the server	180,428
Total successful GET transactions	155,507
Total fetches of the RSS and Atom feeds	88,450
Total GET transactions that actually fetched data (i.e. status code michael@0: 200 as opposed to 304)	87,271
Total GETs of actual ongoing pages (i.e. not CSS, js, or michael@0: images)	18,444
Actual human page-views	6,348

michael@0:

So, there you have it. Doing a bit of rounding, if you take the 180K michael@0: transactions and subtract the 90K feed fetches and the 6000 actual human page michael@0: views, you’re left with 84,000 or so “Web overhead” transactions, mostly michael@0: stylesheets and graphics and so on. michael@0: For every human who viewed a page, it was fetched almost twice again by michael@0: various kinds of robots and non-browser automated agents.

michael@0:

It’s amazing that the whole thing works at all.

michael@0:

XML Automaton

2006-04-18T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

In December of 1996 I released a piece of software called michael@0: Lark, which was michael@0: the world’s first michael@0: XML Processor (as the michael@0: term is defined in the michael@0: XML Specification). michael@0: It was successful, but I stopped maintaining it in 1998 because lots of other michael@0: smart people, and some big companies like Microsoft, were shipping perfectly michael@0: good processors. I never quite open-sourced it, holding back one michael@0: clever bit in the moronic idea that I could make money out of Lark somehow. michael@0: The magic sauce is a finite state machine that can be used to parse XML 1.0. michael@0: Recently, someone out there needed one of those, so I thought I’d publish michael@0: it, with some commentary on Lark’s construction and an amusing anecdote about michael@0: the name. michael@0: I doubt there are more than twelve people on the planet who care about michael@0: this kind of parsing arcana. michael@0: [Rick Jelliffe michael@0: has michael@0: upgraded the machine].

michael@0:

Why “Lark”?

michael@0:

Lauren and I went to michael@0: Australia in late 1996 to visit her mother and to get married, which we michael@0: did on November 30th. Forty-eight hours later, Lauren twisted her knee michael@0: badly enough that she was pretty well michael@0: confined to a sofa for the rest of our Australian vacation.

michael@0:

So I broke out my computer and finished the work I’d already started on my michael@0: XML processor, and decided to call it Lark for Lauren’s Right michael@0: Knee.

michael@0:

How Lark Worked

michael@0:

Lark was a pure michael@0: deterministic michael@0: finite automaton (DFA) michael@0: parser, with a little teeny state stack. michael@0: Some of its transitions were labeled with named “events” that would provoke michael@0: the parser to do something if, for example, it had just recognized a start tag michael@0: or whatever.

michael@0:

DFA-driven parsers are a common enough design pattern, although I think michael@0: Lark is the only example in the XML space. michael@0: There are well-known parser generators such as michael@0: yacc, michael@0: GNU bison, and michael@0: javacc, michael@0: usually used in combination with lexical scanners such as michael@0: flex so that michael@0: you can write your grammar in terms of tokens not characters. michael@0: Also, they handle LALR langauges, so the parsing technique is quite a bit michael@0: richer than a pure state machine.

michael@0:

I thought I had a better idea. The grammar of XML is simple michael@0: enough, and the syntax characters few enough, that I thought I could just michael@0: write down the state machine by hand. michael@0: So that’s what I did, inventing a special-purpose DFA-description michael@0: language for the purpose.

michael@0:

Then I had a file called Lark.jin which was really a Java michael@0: program that used the state machine to parse XML. The transition “events” michael@0: in the machine were mapped to case labels in a huge michael@0: switch construct. Then there was a horrible, horrible michael@0: Perl program that read the Lark.jin and the automaton, michael@0: generated the DFA tables in Java syntax, inserted them into the code and michael@0: produced Lark.java, which you actually compiled michael@0: to make the parser.

michael@0:

So while Java doesn’t have a preprocessor, Lark did, which made quite a few michael@0: things easier.

michael@0:

There were a lot of tricks; some of the state transitions michael@0: weren’t on characters, they were on XML character classes such as michael@0: NameChar and so on. michael@0: This made the automaton easier to write, and in fact, to keep the class files michael@0: small, the character-class transitions persisted into the Java form, and the michael@0: real DFA was built at startup time. michael@0: These days, quick startup might be more important than .class michael@0: file size.

michael@0:

What Was Good

michael@0:

It was damn fast. James Clark managed to hand-craft a michael@0: Java-language XML parser called michael@0: XP that was a little faster michael@0: than Lark, but he did that by clever I/O buffering, and I was determined to michael@0: leapfrog him by improving my I/O.

michael@0:

This was before the time of standardized XML APIs, but Lark had a stream API michael@0: that influenced SAX, and a DOM-like tree API; both worked just fine. michael@0: Lark is one of very few parsers ever to have survived the michael@0: billion michael@0: laughs attack.

michael@0:

Lark was put into production in quite a few deployments, and the flow of michael@0: bug reports slowed to a trickle. michael@0: Then in 1998 I noticed that IBM and Microsoft and BEA and everyone else michael@0: were building XML Processors, so I decided that it wasn’t worthwhile michael@0: maintaining mine.

michael@0:

What Was Bad

michael@0:

I never got around to teaching it namespaces, which means it wouldn’t be michael@0: real useful today.

michael@0:

It had one serious bug that would have been real work to fix and since michael@0: nobody ever encountered it in practice, I kept putting it off and never did. michael@0: If you had an internal parsed entity reference in an attribute value and the michael@0: replacement text included the attribute delimiter (' or michael@0: "), it would scream and claim you had a busted XML document.

michael@0:

That Automaton

michael@0:

What happened was, michael@0: Rick Jelliffe, who is a michael@0: Good Person, was michael@0: looking for michael@0: a FSM for XML and I eventually noticed, and so I sent him mine.

michael@0:

There’s no reason whatsoever to keep it a secret: michael@0: here it is. michael@0: Be warned: it’s ugly.

michael@0:

Fortunately, there were only 227 states and 8732 transitions, so the state michael@0: number fit into a michael@0: byte; that and the associated event index pack into a short. michael@0: To make things even tighter, the transitions were only keyed by characters up michael@0: to 127, as in 7-bit ASCII. michael@0: Characters higher than that can’t be XML syntax characters, so we’re only michael@0: interested whether they fall into classes like NameChar and michael@0: NameStartChar and so on. A 64K byte[] array takes michael@0: care of that, each byte having a class bitmask.

michael@0:

As a result of all this jiggery-pokery, the DFA ends up, believe it michael@0: or not, constituting a short[227][128].

michael@0:

Here’s a typical chunk of the automaton:

michael@0:

1. # in Start tag GI
michael@0: 2. State StagGI BustedMarkup {in element type}
michael@0: 3. T $NameC StagGI
michael@0: 4. T $S InStag !EndGI
michael@0: 5. T > InDoc !EndGI !ReportSTag
michael@0: 6. T / EmptyClose !EndGI

michael@0:

This state, called StagGI, is the state where we’re actually michael@0: reading the name of a tag, we got here by seeing a < followed michael@0: by a NameStart character.
michael@0: Line 1 is a comment.
michael@0: In line 2 we name the state, and support error reporting, providing the name michael@0: of another state to fall back into in case of error, and in the curly braces, michael@0: some text to help build an error message.
michael@0: Line 3 says that if we see a valid XML Name character, we just stay in this michael@0: state.
michael@0: Line 4 says that if we see an XML space character, we move to state michael@0: InStag and process an EndGI event, which would stash michael@0: the characters in the start tag.
And so on.

michael@0:

Other Hackery

michael@0:

An early cut of Lark used String and StringBuffer objects to hold all the michael@0: bits and pieces of the XML. This might be a viable strategy today, but in michael@0: 1996’s Java it was painfully slow. michael@0: So the code goes to heroic lengths to live in the land of character arrays at michael@0: all times, making Strings only when a client program asks for one through the michael@0: API. The performance difference was mind-boggling.

michael@0:

An Evil Idea

michael@0:

If you look at the automaton, and the Lark code, at least half—I’d bet michael@0: three quarters—is there to deal with parsing the DTD and then dealing with michael@0: entity wrangling. michael@0: A whole bunch more is there to support DOM-building and walking.

michael@0:

I bet if I went through and simply removed support for anything coming out michael@0: of the , including all entity processing, michael@0: then discarded michael@0: the DOM stuff, then added namespace support and SAX and StAX APIs, it would be michael@0: less than half its current size. michael@0: Then if I reworked the I/O, knowing what I know now and stealing some tricks michael@0: that James Clark uses in michael@0: expat, I bet it would michael@0: be the fastest Java XML parser on the planet for XML docs without a michael@0: DOCTYPE; by a wide margin. It’s hard to beat a DFA.

michael@0:

And it would still be fully XML 1.0 compliant. Because (snicker) this is michael@0: Java, and your basic core Java now includes an XML parser, so I could simply michael@0: instrument Larkette to buffer the prologue and if it saw a DOCTYPE with an michael@0: internal subset, defer to Java’s built-in parser.

michael@0:

I’ll probably never do it. But the thought brings a smile to my face.

michael@0:

Just A Kid

2006-04-22T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Last weekend, Lauren felt like cooking up home-made Easter eggs, so michael@0: the shopping list included “chocolate chips (large bag)”. I was heading down michael@0: the bulk-foods aisle and realized one of the vertical acrylic bins was full of michael@0: them. Someone had been sloppy, and there was a little heap of chocolate chips michael@0: on the shelf underneath it. For a second, I flashed into pure eight-year-old michael@0: mode, thinking “Holy cow, there’s a whole bin full of chocolate michael@0: chips, and more just lying there!” I popped a few in my mouth and they were michael@0: excellent; semi-sweet, dark, strong, and firm. I was still in the state that michael@0: Buddhists don’t mean when they say “Child’s Mind”, thinking “I michael@0: can get as many as I want!” The list did say “large bag” after all, so I put michael@0: a bag under the spout and gleefully jammed the lever all the way michael@0: over. At home, Lauren said “You went overboard, a bit, didn’t you?” michael@0: and now we have a plastic canister-full in the pantry which should last us michael@0: into 2007. It’s a good feeling.

michael@0:

Goddess

2006-04-22T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

That would be my wife michael@0: Lauren. After michael@0: I b0rked our michael@0: Win2K gamebox, I tried re-installing the OS and eventually reduced it to michael@0: complete brick-ness, it recognized neither the video adapter nor the network michael@0: card. So Lauren brushed me aside and started wrestling with the problem, and michael@0: to make a long story short, it almost completely works again. At one point michael@0: she seemed nearly infinite in her capabilities, sitting in front of the michael@0: computer wrangling software updates while knitting baby stuff and looking up michael@0: words in a German dictionary for the kid’s homework. Some of the German nouns michael@0: and muttered curses at the Windows install sounded remarkably like each other. michael@0: Why would anyone not marry a geek? The only problem is that Win2K won’t michael@0: auto-switch resolutions to play games any more, it gets the frequency wrong michael@0: and the LCD goes pear-shaped, you have to hand-select the frequency and michael@0: switch into the right resolution first. LazyWeb?

michael@0:

Routing Around Spotlight

2006-04-21T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Herewith two hideously ugly little shell scripts for use when Spotlight michael@0: refuses to search your mail. michael@0: Spotlight is a flawed v1.0 implementation of a really good idea and will, I’m michael@0: sure, be debugged in a near-future release. michael@0: [Update: The LazyWeb is educating me... these are moving targets.]

michael@0:

My problem is that whereas Mail.app will search my To/From/Subject michael@0: lines (slowly, and with a michael@0: really irritating GUI), michael@0: the “Entire Message” option just doesn’t work, it returns instantly with no michael@0: results. Yes, I’ve read the hints about making Spotlight re-index, michael@0: but it just flatly refuses to work for me. Mind you, I have a lot of michael@0: email, but still, it should at least try.

michael@0:

It turns out I had never really figured out the -print0 and michael@0: -0 idioms that a lot of the shell-command stalwarts now have. michael@0: Thanks to Malcolm Tredinnick for raising my consciousness.

michael@0:

This lives in $HOME/bin under the name michael@0: mailgrep:

michael@0:

#!/bin/sh
michael@0: find $HOME/Library/Mail/IMAP* -name '*.emlx' -print0 | \
michael@0:   xargs -0 fgrep -i $@

michael@0:

Isn’t xargs a funny command? I’ve discovered that it’s nearly michael@0: impossible to describe what does, and then why what it does is necessary, but michael@0: there are just a whole bunch of places where you’d be lost without it.

michael@0:

This lives in $HOME/bin/mailview:

michael@0:

#!/bin/sh
michael@0: find $HOME/Library/Mail/IMAP* -name '*.emlx'  -print0 | \
michael@0:   xargs -0 fgrep -i -l -Z $@ | \
michael@0:   xargs -0 open

michael@0:

The first cut of this dodged xargs and used an michael@0: incredibly-inefficient and slow chain of -exec arguments to open michael@0: the files one at a time with michael@0: view (aka vim), to work around michael@0: a well-known vim misfeature; it complained about the input michael@0: not being a terminal and left my Terminal.app keystrokes borked.

michael@0:

But Malcolm, confirming my belief in the broken-ness of vim, michael@0: said “Oh, *that* ‘view’. I thought it was some sexy Mac ‘view my email’ app”. michael@0: D’oh, of course; the magic OS X open command does just the right michael@0: thing. michael@0: Erm, you might want to run mailgrep before you run michael@0: mailview; I’m not sure what would happen if you asked OS X to michael@0: open three or four thousand email messages at once.

michael@0:

FSS: Pink Flowers

2006-04-21T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Friday Slide Scan #28 is two Eighties florals, one interior, one michael@0: exterior. With a confession.

michael@0:

First some spring flowers fallen from a tree, just as now in our front michael@0: yard, at dusk.

michael@0: michael@0:

I’m not sure what these are, but look at the light in the center. Rewards michael@0: enlarging.

michael@0: michael@0:

Here’s the confession. Sometimes on Fridays when I’m feeling kinda michael@0: burned-out, I knock off work and do these slide scans in the office, because michael@0: this is where I have the michael@0: big michael@0: screen. michael@0: Blowing these pictures up to mega-huge, picking away at the old-slide crud and michael@0: scanning artifacts, tinkering with the colour balance, and listening; I never michael@0: play music while I’m writing or coding seriously, but I play it real loud while michael@0: photo-editing. It’s all pretty well pure pleasure; you just can’t imagine michael@0: how good that second one above looks at near-native size. michael@0: It reconstitutes the part of my mind that I earn my living with; that’s my michael@0: story and I’m sticking to it.

michael@0:

Images in the Friday Slide Scans are from 35mm slides taken between 1953 michael@0: and 2003 by (in rough chronological order) michael@0: Bill Bray, michael@0: Jean Bray, Tim Bray, Cath michael@0: Bray, and michael@0: Lauren Wood; when I know michael@0: exactly who took one, I’ll say; in this case, at least one is by Cath Bray. michael@0: Most but not all of the slides were on Kodachrome; they were digitized using michael@0: a Nikon CoolScan 4000 ED scanner and cleaned up by a combination of the Nikon michael@0: scanning software and PhotoShop Elements.

michael@0:

Spring Pix

2006-04-20T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Three pictures around Vancouver; one of a fresh green springtime tree, two michael@0: of rotten old buildings being torn down.

michael@0:

There’s nothing quite as fresh as just-sprouted deciduous leaves; michael@0: another few weeks and this tree will be just a tree.

michael@0: michael@0:

I have a thing about demolition. michael@0: The first is a rotten dingy old one-story on Main Street near 23rd, the second michael@0: is an unlovely grey mid-rise being torn down to build still more condos at michael@0: Homer and Helmcken.

michael@0: michael@0: michael@0:

Totten’s Trip

2006-04-20T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Michael J. Totten is a michael@0: journalist and blogger who’s back and forth to the michael@0: Middle East and writes about it, quite well in my opinion; he supports this by michael@0: freelancing and with his blog’s tip jar. He gets lots of michael@0: link love from the right-wing blogosphere, which is puzzling because Totten is michael@0: balanced and clear-eyed and doesn’t seem to have any particular axe to grind. michael@0: Recently, he and a friend were michael@0: having fun in michael@0: Istanbul and, on a random drive out into the country, decided on impulse to michael@0: keep going, all the way across Turkey and into Iraq; into the Kurdish michael@0: mini-state in Iraq’s north, to michael@0: be precise. It makes a heck of a story, with lots of pictures, in six parts: michael@0: I, michael@0: II, michael@0: III, michael@0: IV, michael@0: V, and michael@0: VI. michael@0:

michael@0:

The Cost of AJAX

2006-04-19T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

James Governor michael@0: relays a michael@0: question that sounds important michael@0: but I think is actively dangerous: do AJAX apps present more of michael@0: a server-side load? The question is dangerous because it’s meaningless and michael@0: unanswerable. Your typical Web page will, in the process of michael@0: loading, call back to the server for a bunch of stylesheets and graphics and michael@0: scripts and so on: for example, this ongoing page calls michael@0: out to three different graphics, one stylesheet, and one JavaScript file. michael@0: It also has one “AJAXy” XMLHttpRequest call. michael@0: From the server’s point of view, those are all just requests to dereference michael@0: one URI or another. In the case michael@0: of ongoing, the AJAX request is for a static file less michael@0: than 200 bytes in size (i.e. cheap). michael@0: On the other hand, it could have been for something that required a michael@0: complex outer join on two ten-million-row tables (i.e. very michael@0: expensive). And one of the virtues of michael@0: the Web Architecture is that it hides those differences, the “U” in URI stands michael@0: for “Uniform”, it’s a Uniform interface to a resource on the Web that could michael@0: be, well, anything. michael@0: So saying “AJAX is expensive” (or that it’s cheap) is like saying “A mountain michael@0: bike is slower than a battle tank” (or that it’s faster). michael@0: The truth depends on what you’re doing with it. michael@0: In the case of web sites, it depends on how many fetches you do and michael@0: where you have to go to get the data to satisfy them. michael@0: ongoing is a pretty quick web site, even though it runs michael@0: on a fairly modest server, but michael@0: that has nothing to do with AJAX-or-not; it’s because of the particular way michael@0: I’ve set up the Web resources that make the pages here. michael@0: I’ve michael@0: argued elsewhere michael@0: that AJAX can be a performance win, system-wide; but that argument too is michael@0: contingent on context, lots of context.

michael@0:

Hao Wu and Graham McMynn

2006-04-18T13:00:00-08:00

michael@0:

Graham McMynn is a teenager who was kidnapped in Vancouver on April 4th and michael@0: freed, in a large, noisy, and michael@0: newsworthy michael@0: police operation, on April 12th. michael@0: Hao Wu is a Chinese michael@0: film-maker and michael@0: blogger who was kidnapped in michael@0: Beijing on February 22nd in a michael@0: small, quiet police operation not intended to be newsworthy, and who has not michael@0: been freed. michael@0: Read about it michael@0: here, michael@0: here, and michael@0: here. michael@0: Making noise about it might influence the government of China to michael@0: moderate its actions against Mr. Wu, and can’t do any harm. michael@0: Mr. McMynn’s kidnappers were a gaggle of small-time hoodlums, one of whom was michael@0: out on bail while awaiting trial for another kidnapping (!). michael@0: Mr. Wu’s were police. michael@0: In a civilized country, the function of the police force is to deter such michael@0: people and arrest them. A nation where they are the same people? Nobody michael@0: could call it “civilized”.

michael@0: