20031231
2020
XFN update
- blog
- web
- friends
I must admit I have been surprised at the amount feedback that XFN has received within just two weeks of introduction.
We've gotten a lot of positive feedback and praise, and while I'm still working through all the posts, I want to at least offer a big thanks to everyone for their kind words before I get the chance to go through and link to everyone.
In addition, we've gotten a few posts with constructive criticisms and suggestions for improvement. Thanks to all you folks for taking the time to check out XFN and make suggestions. That's exactly the kind of dialog that we wanted to see happen. We've been taking the critiques and suggestions very seriously and are working on some followups.
There are now dozens of sites that are
, and several tools have either implemented XFN support or in the process of doing so.
And last but not least, XFN made the print media!
The Seattle Times' Paul Andrews wrote a great article in the December 29th 2003 issue titled Social networking beginning to take shape on the Web, where he listed such well known social networking sites as Friendster.com, Tribe.net, and LinkedIn.com, and Meetup.com. But it was this paragraph that made me jump out of my seat:
For Web loggers, XFN — the XHTML Friends Network — enables coding links to other bloggers with a "rel" (relationship) tag. With enough participation, tagging eventually can permit virtual friendship-building.
Thanks to Paul Andrews for such a wonderful endnote for the year.
And for folks who are just now hearing about XFN, how about making it one of your New Year's resolutions to check out XFN, and join the XHTML Friends Network. You may already be a member. Let's make 2004 the year of grass-roots social networking for the rest of us.
Happy New Year.
20031215
0830
XFN
- web
- friends
For more than a year now (most over a year ago), I've been analyzing the markup of blogs, and occasionally writing posts explaining how I think their markup could easily be made simpler, smaller and more semantic. Most of these suggestions also apply to web pages in general. In chronological order:
- Bed and Breakfast. A brief essay describing how to eliminate abusive
<B>old and<BR>reak markup in preference to using Headings (e.g.<h1>...,<h2>...,<h3>...) and<p>aragraphs. - Anorexic Anchors. How to drop obsolete and empty
<a name=".."></a>tags in favor of simply using the 'id' attribute. - A Touch of Class. Proper use of the '
class' attribute and 'class' (.) selector. - Dive into Semantic Markup. A summary of general principles for practical semantic markup.
- Comment markup, presentation and plumbing. A description of good semantic markup and visual presentation for comments attached to blog entries.
- Less is more. Goodbye inaccessible "#" permalinks, hello permalinked headings.
It's taken me a while to come up with another semantic enhancement to blogs, and in particular to blogrolls, and that's what XFN is. Matthew Mullenweg, Eric Meyer and I have been tinkering for months in off hours with a very simple hyperlink and blogroll enhancment which we think is both fun and has quite a bit of potential, and we're finally ready to present it.
Introducing XFN.
Comments:
- Matthew Mullenweg
- Eric Meyer
- Angela Buraglia
- Amit Karmakar
- Min Jung Kim
- Robert Scoble
- Marc Canter
- Tim Brayshaw
- Daniel Glazman has implemented a UI!
- Vishnu Gopal
- WordPress support coming soon.
- François Hodierne
- Tanya Rabourn
- Blozom
- Eric Bessman
- Philippe Janvier
- Thomas Vander Wal
- Peter Saint-Andre
- Jan Beilicke
- Roberto Ortelli
- Adrian Holovaty
- Logicola
- Robert Scoble
- Richard MacManus
- Shawn Michael Miller
- Steve Pilgrim
- Gordon Bonnar
- Richard Rutter
- David Starkoff
- Don Crowley
20031212
1151
Vegas Baby, Vegas!
- personal
- vacation
- web
Taking off this afternoon for a weekend jaunt down to Vegas. Amber is attending an Electronic Music / DJ conference (at which she's presenting tomorrow), and me, well, I'm just going to try to stay out of trouble.
Plus this is an excellent opportunity for me to hide in a hotel room (open wifi is scant to none in Vegas) and hopefully finish up technically editing the book I'm currently technically editing (and very behind on doing so). Somehow sitting in a hotel room in Vegas working on a web book reminds me of the song One Night in Bangkok.
20031209
0336
Hobbies and procrastination trump necessity
- web
...as the mother of invention?
From Anil Dash's recent daily links: CNET: Yahoo co-founder Filo muses on the early days: (emphasis mine)
... Though Filo conceded that Yahoo started merely as a hobby (for Filo and Jerry Yang to navigate the Web) and their primary means to procrastinate on a doctoral degree at Stanford University , it turned out pretty well.
0314
Welcome Carolyn Maxwell Meyer
- friends
Congratulations to Eric and Kat on their new arrival.
20031208
2204
Unable to keep my mouth shut — Go vote!
- city
- anthro
- govt
- citizen
Here in the exceptional city of San Francisco, we are having a mayoral election (technically a run-off) tomorrow between Matt Gonzalez of the Green Party, Supervisor of District 5 (where I live), President of the SF Board of Supervisors and Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party, Supervisor of District 2.
I have never seen so much campaign effort put into a local election, perhaps because this is the first time in 8 years that San Francisco will see a new face in the mayor's office. The good news is that due to the relative low ages of the candidates, the youth of SF are actually getting off their butts to go vote. Here's hoping that carries over to the November 2004 elections.
We interrupt this pleasant election overview to bring you the San Francisco Chronicle's five part series on homelessness in San Francisco:
- 20031130 Island, The hard core stuck on street, Island Photo Series
- 20031201 Families, Families Photo Series
- 20031202 Shelter, Shelter Photo Series
- 20031203 Enablers, Territories of the Homeless, Homeless Geography of S.F., 'Mascots' Live Better, Enablers Photo Series
- 20031204 Solutions, Solutions Photo Series, Candidate's Positions
Depressed yet? Though it is clear there is no simple solution to the problem of homelessness, there are some fairly obvious problems with the "solutions" to date, as the above articles document (see especially Enablers). The numbers point toward one of them.
Thought experiment 1: Imagine you were a street sweeper, and wanted to make as much as you could being a street sweeper. You would of course seek out whichever city pays the highest salary to street sweepers, and find some cheap way (perhaps a one way bus ticket) to get there.
Actual situation 1: The "occupation": not street sweeper, but street sleeper. The city that has the dubious distinction of paying the highest salary to street sleepers: San Francisco, where
checks of up to $410 a month [are] given to the homeless — the biggest in the state
. Should San Francisco be attempting to bear the homeless burden for the whole state? The numbers sure make it look like the city is trying.Thought experiment 2: Imagine you have several troubled teenage children who cannot take care of themselves, whom you give not only shelter, food and clothing, but also an allowance of say $100 a week, each. You soon realize that your troubled teenagers are coming home drunk, or worse, doped up on any number of drugs. Knowing that the allowance you are paying is effectively funding drunkenness and neighborhood drug dealers, it's only obvious what you should do.
Actual situation 2: Homeless, by the very nature of their condition, have demonstrated an inability to take care of themselves. One of the ugly truths about homeless is how many (most?) of them spend their acquired monies from welfare and panhandling on alcohol and drugs. Thus some non-trivial percentage of that monthly check and spare change given to beggars goes toward supporting alcoholism and drug dealers. In this way, many homeless are not that different from troubled teenagers. In fact, many homeless actually are troubled teenagers. They need help. Not money. Help.
And lastly, what happens when parents abandon their troubled teenagers who cannot take care of themselves? The parents are held responsible. Similarly what happens when grown children abandon their elderly parents who cannot take care of themselves? The grown children are held responsible. So what happens when a family abandons a member who cannot take care of themselves? The family is not held responsible, and the (former) member often becomes homeless.
What does all this have to do with the mayoral election?
A few years back, the biggest political issue in San Francisco was housing. The rising cost (and low supply) of rental housing. The rising cost of purchasing a home.
When the dotcom bust (thank you Judge Jackson) resulted in the inevitable market correction in rents, housing etc., a different sort of housing problem rose to the top of the issues list — the growing number of those who lived on the street because they had none.
It's pretty clear to San Franciscans who cannot take a simple walk around the corner without encountering a beggar, that homelessness is perhaps the single biggest problem confronting this city of supposed intelligent liberals.
Homelessness is at the top of Gonzalez's issues list and Newsom's accomplishments list. Note the subtle difference. The difference continues when you look at Gonzalez's policy paper on homelessness vs. Newsom's comprehensive record on homelessness.
Right about now, I should make it clear that among folks I know or have met who live in San Francisco and have dared to voice their opinions online about the mayoral election, they have all stated their support for Matt Gonzalez. One has provided some interesting analysis without showing any obvious preference for a particular candidate.
I can just feel the oncoming ostracism for daring to show leanings for Newsom over Gonzalez. Still, I have decided that the issues surrounding this election are important enough that I am unable to keep my mouth shut. Also, I respect my friends' opinions, even if I don't necessarily agree with them, and believe the reverse to be true as well. With that in mind, here are a few points which have contributed to my preference.
On the issue of homelessness, AFAICT, one candidate actually has a record of making some progress in addition to a plan, while the other only has a plan. One candidate supported (as did the voters of San Francisco) reducing cash payments, a big portion of which end up in drug dealers' pockets, while the other candidate opposed it. Many critics have pointed out that programs funded by the savings from the cash payment reductions will be insufficient to solve homelessness. Perhaps. Reducing the cash payment will solve only part of the problem (government enabled addictions). Unless the people see noticeable improvement in the homelessness situation, I very much doubt that a mayor who has made homelessness such a big issue will be reelected. Thus at a minimum, Newsom will be compelled to show measurable progress toward solving homelessness. I don't see Matt Gonzalez being held to that level of accountability.
San Francisco residents have received a tremendous amount of campaign mail in the past week (nevermind the doorhandle flyers). These flyers have taken one of two distinctive tones. There are the maroon and navy themed flyers which for the most part have a positive message (i.e. reasons to vote for Newsom), and only recently a few critical (attacking) statements about Gonzalez. Then there are the somewhat yellow themed flyers which seem to focus more on attacking Newsom than promoting Gonzalez.
I am not a fan of negative campaigners. I prefer candidates who focus on their accomplishments and their plans for improvement.
Perhaps least relevant of all, despite the fact that Neither Newsom, nor Gonzalez uses valid HTML, at least Newsom's style sheets validate!, while Gonzalez's style sheets don't validate, though just barely, due to what looks like a vestigial invalid clip declaration: "
clip: rect( )". Sad to say, both candidates sites unnecessarily use table-based layouts.However, while Gonzalez clearly provides advocacy materials, Newsom's site provides no clear page of image resources.
You have to dig through his /images directory to find anything resembling a button.
During these last few days of the campaign, Newsom has held endorsement events with Gore and Clinton. Watching and reading the news coverage of these events, there is almost an air of desperation permeating the Democractic Party, like they are really afraid of having someone other than a Democrat in the mayor's office. Such a defeat would only add to the series of Democratic embarrassments in recent history. Perhaps one more embarrassment is what the Democratic Party needs to be motivated to get its act together.
Finally, it's pretty clear that no matter who is elected mayor (Newsom or Gonzalez) of San Francisco, there's a good chance we'll see some non-trivial changes in San Francisco — for the better. So if you're registered to vote in San Francisco, please go vote tomorrow. It's your civic duty, and no matter who you vote for, democracy wins.
20031207
1510
Recent periodical reads
- media
There are a handful of magazines that I don't subscribe to, but pick up once in a while at the newstand/bookstore.
Adbusters — "Journal of the Mental Environment" — is one of them. More often than not their content tends to be a bit immature — you can almost see the frustrated pimplenosed teenager typing away with some sort of anti-WTO/PTO etc. poster on the wall behind them. However, their latest issue is a nice exception. It covers issues of media concentration, free speech and democracy without beeing too inflammatory. Check it out.
Wallpaper* is quite a contrast to Adbusters. Where Adbusters shuns consumption, Wallpaper encourages it, albeit in a very picky manner. Categorized on the cover as "interiors architecture art fashion entertaining travel", they cover (or uncover) all that and then some. The November 2003 issue (which you might still be able to find because it's imported) in particular had a a great article on "Crash pads" (pp.049-052). Many of their suggestions would work quite well for a small San Francisco apartment. Interesting how they present plasma televisions as the norm. I know of only three friends who have plasma screens. I've been curmudgeonly sticking with my five year old 27" SONY tube and patiently waiting for plasma prices to drop to something reasonable and/or competitive (DLP,LCD) technologies to improve. I'm hoping that we'll see some drastic price-cuts and sales in the weeks before the Super Bowl, since that's a big reason people upgrade their TVs.
20031205
0639
In transit
- personal
Hours ago I left my yellow room for the last time. Days from now I return to the green. Will something grow?
0206
Seasonal stupidity
- anthro
It must be that time of the year again, as a teacher follows in the year old footsteps of a vicar.
I would have also linked to the Yahoo news story if their URLs didn't self-destruct after a week plus or minus. Any Yahoos out there reading this? Go read this: Cool URIs don't change.
Back to the subject at hand. Folks, it's just cruel and mean to tell kids that Santa is make-believe — just like it's cruel and mean to tell religious folks that their deity (or deities) is (are) make-believe. All it does is upset folks and maybe even get them angry. There's really more cooperative and productive ways we can spend our time than arguing about whose mythology is right or wrong or has been around longer. Like arguing about whose syndication format is right or wrong or has been around longer. </sarcasm> (the start tag is always implied).
20031204
2148
Infant and Child CPR certified
- health
At my sister's request, I just successfully completed (tonight) a course on Infant and Child CPR at the Palo Alto Red Cross which means I'm officially trained, and have my little wallet card (valid for 1 year) to prove it.
2147
Restyling...
- web
- blog
... in progress. Contents may shift. Variation in product coloring is to be expected.
20031203
2043
McCafe in Mountain View
- lunch
- cafe
- valley
Yesterday Steve sent me an email announcing the opening of the second McCafe in the US right here in Mountain View. McCafe is an experiment by McDonald's which can be summed up as cloning a Starbucks, tinting all colors tan, adding a sandwich press, and embedding it neatly inside a McDonalds, displacing about half of the "normal" seating area. We decided to try it out. Once there it was obvious that the event and concept for that matter was novel enough to justify a few photographs.
When you turn onto El Monte from El Camino, the McDonald's sign proudly betrays the new addition. Though it doesn't appear that different from the street, that changes quickly.
Entering the parking lot, the new sign and decor on the building make it even more clear. Notice the conspicuous lack of any bright yellow or red.
Inside it looks like an average McDonald's, except that half of the normal seating area is gone, replaced with nothing less than an interior design rewrite.
And just to make it obvious where to go, a standup billboard announcing "now inside, a coffeehouse without a superiority complex". I'm not sure if that's a knock against Starbucks or a knock against high-end independent coffeehouses.
Just inside, there's a "coffee prep" stand with varieties of sugar packets, straws, stirrers and napkins, very similar to the Starbucks equivalent.
The line to order is delimited by a mid-height barrier.
The counter has that upscale cafe look: a nice lit refrigerated display case of sandwiches and desserts (including espresso brownies), black countertop, nice shiny espresso machine (the real kind, not the push-button variety deployed by Starbucks).
The menu is displayed in light tan on a black reflective background with details in yellow and brown dividers between the items.
Many folks have criticized Starbucks for their use of tall, grande and venti drink sizes. Near the top of the menu you can see that McCafe chose to use "old school" drink sizes: small, medium and large. The menu's black background was reflective enough to clearly show the fellow taking the picture. Note to self: go through my photos from this year and submit the Mirror Project candidates.
After ordering we grabbed a nice table in the seating area.
As you can see from the photo, there are also nice leather covered bar stools next to a counter, which is what this guy chose. 
This guy is stylin' — check out the belt holstered cell phone, and the white socks with black sneakers. A classic Silicon Valley outfit.
When you order they give you a little number on a stand to put on your table, and then the nice server person brings your food to you on a tray and takes the number back.
Because they didn't have any vegetarian or seafood sandwich options (a serious limitation for the Bay Area) at the McCafe, I went to the 'classic' side and ordered a filet-o-fish. We also picked up some fries.
The end result was quite confusing to say the least. They were giving out free medium coffees so I ordered a "chocolate lovers spoon cake" as well.
Nevermind that they gave me a small silver fork to eat it with. They also provided full-size silver forks with the sandwiches.
What was amazing was that it was actually quite good. The espresso drinks were served in real china mugs. And even more scary, the espresso drinks (mochas and lattes are what we tried) were very good. Remember how I mentioned the real espresso machine? The push-button machines at Starbucks, while assuring a certain decent level of espresso quality, are not optimal, and a properly trained barista can do a better job with a manual pull. And it seems that the Australian/NewZealand managers (apparently this concept has already succeeded down under, so they flew a few of them out to help) did a good job training the new baristas. The cake was also quite good, and it too was served on a china plate, and with real silverware. There weren't many kind words about the sandwiches however, so they have some work to do before they can hope to fulfill the destiny prophesized for Taco Bell in the movie Demolition Man.
Cognitive dissonance is the only way to describe the feeling of reconciling the consumption of such fare while dipping fries into little micro paper cups filled with ketchup and eating a paper wrapped sandwich. As if that wasn't enough, there is Wifi access via the Wayport paid service, and as you can see from the photo of the seating area above, power outlets as well.
This particular location is just across the street from a Starbucks. However, doesn't McDonald's stay open later than Starbucks? Isn't staying open later an advantage for cafes? Oh the irony: McDonalds Starbucking Starbucks. There's always a bigger fish, or in this case, filet-o-fish.
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