2009 Jun 10, 3:36
I've made an OpenSearchDescriptionToHTML XSLT that given an OpenSearch description file produces
HTML that describes that file, lets you install it, or search with it. For example, here's a Google OpenSearch description that uses my
OpenSearchDescriptionToHTML XSLT.
I had just created an OpenSearch description for WolframAlpha at work and was going about the process of adding another install link to my search provider
page so that I could install it. Thinking about it, I realized I could apply an XSLT to the OpenSearch description XML to produce the HTML automatically so I wouldn't have to modify additional
documents everytime I create and want to install a new OpenSearch description. While I was in there writing the XSLT I figure why not let the user try out searching with the OpenSearch description
file too. And lastly I made the XSLT apply to itself to produce HTML describing its own usage.
Incidentally, I added WolframAlpha at work to replace my FileInfo search provider for the purposes of searching for information about
particular Unicode characters. For instance, look at WolframAlpha's lovely output for this search for "Bopomofo zh".
technical xml wolframalpha opensearchdescriptiontohtml xslt opensearch 2009 Jun 10, 12:17"Bruce pointed out in his return email that while the fraud pattern was a good match for escrow, the transaction size wasn't: since the item exchanged in the eBay transaction he highlighted was sold
for only $500, the price of an escrow agent would have been hard to justify. He's right."
blog security economics article bruce-schneier Bob-Blakley ebay 2009 Jun 10, 11:55"Six years after getting axed by Fox, Futurama is being resurrected on Comedy Central"
tv news futurama 2009 Jun 3, 3:40The New Super Mario Bros for the Wii looks cool. I always wanted the multiplayer featured here in the previous games.
for:hellosarah mario wii nintendo video videogame 2009 Jun 2, 12:51"The Artvertiser is an urban, hand-held, augmented-reality project exploring on-site substitution of advertising content for the purposes of exhibiting art." There's some videos on the site of their
prototype software. I've got a similar idea I want to try with my G1.
video art design advertising aug augmented-reality 2009 Jun 1, 2:30
sequelguy posted a photo:
california eileensparty 2009 Jun 1, 2:30
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california eileensparty 2009 Jun 1, 11:07
When I heard that
Live Search is now Bing one of my initial thoughts was how'd they get that domain
name given
the unavailability of pronouncable four letter .COM domain names. Well, the names been used in the past.
Here now, via the
Wayback Machine is a brief, somewhat speculative, and ultimately anticlimactic
history
of bing.com:
-
2003 July: The first archived version of bing.com features "bing! is a small device (e.g., possibly even a small
Band-Aid(R)-like sticker!) that vibrates when a person's cell phone rings." I can't recall 2003 cell phones, were they big enough to require this device?
-
2004 August: Site for the same device is rewritten and looks much better, IMHO.
-
2006 June: The domain is now parked by easyDNS. I guess the "bing!" device didn't work out?
-
2006 November: Its now "BING*" and they won't say what they're working on ("we're still in stealth mode") but they are
hiring C#/.NET developers.
-
2007 January: And they're gone. Without even exiting stealth mode. Too bad, I liked their logo. Their domain is now for
sale...
-
2007 February: Looks like EasyMail buys the domain and offers a physical mailing service in Australia: "By simply clicking
a button on your computer, mail is beamed electronically to a bing post office. Your mail is automatically printed, folded, enveloped and dispatched into the Australia Post network the very same
day."
-
Present: Now its the new home for Live Search of course.
The new name reminds me of the show Friends. Also, I hope they get a new favicon - I don't enjoy the stretched 'b' nor its color scheme.
microsoft technical domain history search archive dns bing 2009 May 31, 8:29"When on a hot summer's day you buy a carbonated beverage to quench your thirst, how do you order it? Do you ask for a soda, a pop or something else? That question lay at the basis of an article in
the Journal of English Linguistics (Soda or Pop?, #24, 1996) and of a map, showing the regional variation in American English of the names given to that type of drink."
map language visualization statistics english culture soda coke for:hellosarah 2009 May 27, 3:39A fancy tab completion script for Vim that does neat things for Java. Links to other Java+Vim tips as wel.
vim java script reference 2009 May 26, 11:28"But Data.gov is different. It is primarily for machines, not people, at least as a first step. It is a catalog of various sets of data from government agencies. And the idea is to offer the data in
one of several standardized formats, ranging from a simple text file that can be read by a spreadsheet program to the XML format widely used these days for the exchange of information between Web
services. Other data is presented in formats that are meant to feed into mapping programs."
data nytimes xml government 2009 May 25, 10:19"Wallace and Gromit return-this time as purveyors of the Top Bun bakery, despite the fact that 12 other local bakers have disappeared in the previous year. Now it's up to Gromit to solve the mystery
while Wallace woos new love interest Piella Bakewell."
humor movie wallace-and-gromit animation claymation for:hellosarah 2009 May 22, 6:59"...but we do know enough to say that if time travel were possible, certain rules would have to be obeyed. ... So if you wanted to create a fictional world involving travel through time, here are
10+1 rules by which you should try to play." I always liked Bill & Ted's time travel mechanics better than Back to the Future's - not that it made for a better movie of course. I'd like to see a
chart comparing the time travel mechanics of well known fiction that features time travel.
time-travel movie fiction bttf 2009 May 22, 6:55"So many of our grandparents were racist, and some of our parents are homophobes. Which of our own closely held beliefs will our own children and grandchildren by appalled by?" I thought about this
too but didn't come up with as good answers.
racism via:kottke 2009 May 22, 12:10
sequelguy posted a photo:
2009 May 22, 12:10
sequelguy posted a photo:
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