mnot’s Web log

Design depends largely on constraints.” — Charles Eames

Thursday, August 26 2004

HTTP Authentication and Forms

It's no secret that HTTP authentication isn't used as often as it should be.

( 21 comments )

Wednesday, August 25 2004

“It seems that the housing party is over”

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article, “Hot Housing Market Simmers Down.” I can’t reference it directly because I’m not a subscriber, but it basically notes that, according to the...

( 2 comments )

Saturday, August 21 2004

sparta.py 0.5: RDF made easy

Version 0.5 of sparta.py is now available; with this release, it's roughly feature-complete.

( 1 comment )

Thursday, August 19 2004

On Jargon and Applicability

Alfred Marshall, who is credited with turning economics from a sideline to a proper discipline of its own, had this to say: (1) Use mathematics as a shorthand language, rather than as an engine of inquiry. (2) Keep to them till you have done.... (4) Then illustrate by examples that are important in real life.

( 1 comment )

Sunday, August 8 2004

Preliminary Experimentation Indicates...

Baileys Irish Cream (2 measures) Kahlúa (3 measures) Macadamia nut liquor, or dark rum (e.g., Myer’s) (1 measure) Coconut Milk (4 measures) Cream, or half and half (3 measures) Banana...

( 1 comment )

Resistance is Futile

Bill points out the inevitability of the Pythonification of the world. I couldn’t agree more; if you listen to the whispers in the halls, all of the old objections are...

( 17 comments )

Thursday, August 5 2004

The ‘Document’ in Document-Oriented Messaging

(Another instalment in “XML Heresies.”) One of the foundations of most vendors’ approach to Web services is called document-oriented messaging. This is the notion that interoperability is improved by describing...

( 10 comments )

ComputerSpeakerPhone

Oh LazyWeb, please give me software that lets me use my Powerbook as a Bluetooth speakerphone…...

Monday, August 2 2004

The Age Gets RSS Feeds

Melbourne’s The Age now has RSS feeds available — hooray! I’ve been scraping them and bugging the staff for a while, so it’s nice to see that Fairfax (now “Fairfax...