I've got yet another microformat implemented on my site. The newest one is Vote Links, which adds a relationship to a link to indicate the author's approval/disapproval of the thing at the other end of the link. WiLiKi's nice macro system has worked for me again; it took me about 20 minutes to implement and test this macro.
I haven't actually seen much use of this microformat, but I think it could be quite useful for making quick summations of support/opposition of particular blog posts, views, ideas, products, companies, organisations, or whatever. I think a vote processor should have some sort of trust model such that it can identify and rely upon the author of a vote. I don't think it has to be too careful, but one-URL-one-vote is probably not going to work.
All I care about is that I've twiddled the stylesheet on the site so that for-votes get a little heart after them, and against votes get a little skull-and-crossbones. That's about all I need in life. Unicode's Miscellaneous Symbols are the best part of wakin' up.
tags: microformats vote links wiliki macro unicode miscellaneous symbols
Gnus of the world
So, do you think that the guys who made the Gnoos blog search engine had any idea about the Gnus newsreader? I haven't checked, but it's not unlikely that Gnus includes a blog search engine.
tags: gnus gnoos emacs blogs search engine
Happy 40th Meg
Happy Birthday, Mama Cyberbilly! One nice thing about Piglog is that I keep up with people's personal news now.
It seems like just yesterday my friends were all turning 30 or so. Now 40's coming up fast. I got about 2 years left; jeez.
Net Neutrality
I'm having a hard time caring about Net Neutrality. I know I should really, really, really care, but maybe it's just getting a lecture from Moby on the nature of IP routing algoritms strikes me as condescending. Isn't the whole point of net neutrality that big superstars like Moby shouldn't get all the attention?
Still, Lawrence Lessig seems to think it's real important, so I'll go with him. He notes a big push in Congress for NN legislation, and mentions Save the Internet and It's Our Net. OK then.
tags: net neutrality lawrence lessig save the internet its our net moby
Rainy Saturday
It's a rainy Saturday, for which I am Primary Care Giver for our child, so Amita June and I decided to go down to SAT this afternoon to check out the the placard headphone festival, a coolio experimental sound performance that's associated with Mutek.
I decided to take the Metro so we wouldn't have to find a parking space downtown, but this had its own complications. We had to walk through about 12 blocks of rain to get to Mont Royal station, which kind of sucks. We're about 10-12 blocks away from 3 different metro stations, and none of them is easy to get to.
But we did OK, and it was the first time Amita June and I were on the train together. I talked to her about going down underground to get on the train -- which is like a big car that lots of people can ride in -- and I think she just dug seeing lots of people. We got off at St. Laurent station, which I hadn't really noticed but man there are a lot of strip clubs and sex shops down there. I felt really creepy walking around with AJ there. Like, who brings his baby daughter to the strip club? Weirdo.
But we got down to see our friend tobias c. van veen's performance at 1330h. Placard seemed to me to be about the perfect performance to take a baby to. All the people who were there were listening to the sound art on (supplied) headphones, so the room was mostly silent. The noise wouldn't be so loud as to bother little AJ's growing eardrums, but also her occasional squeaks squawks and squeals wouldn't bother audience or performers (blissfully isolated in sonic headgear).
Best of all, the room was set up with about 20 low tables -- perfect for a 9-month-old cruiser to walk with -- and big gym pads that made falling on her bum unexceptional. Considering that she was fascinated by the sounds leaking from the earphones, and by the video screens, I suspect that the entire event was designed for toddlers.
Tobias was there, as well as Cato, and I got to meet their friends photographer Tara from Vancouver and Sophie, who works with tobias on The Upgrade Montreal. After about 1-1/2 hours Amita June was getting kind of tired and cranky and making wailing noises that could be heard above the (kind of quiet) sounds. So as not to be marked as a Permanent Enemy of Sound, I decided to beat a quick retreat. We rode the metro just fine, and when we came up out of the underground at Sherbrooke station Amita fell asleep in the sling. So we had a nice quiet walk back through Parc La Fontaine under the trees, alone almost the entire time, listening to the rain on the umbrella and snoozing. Nice for both of us.
tags: montreal mutek sat amitajune placard sound rainy saturday