Home → Archives → by month → July 2003
An open letter to Silvio Berlusconi
The Economist publishes an Open Letter to the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and asks some inconvenient questions. Slowly, but surely, things are getting uncomfortable for this gentleman.
To:
Silvio Berlusconi
Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri
Palazzo Chigi
370 Piazza Colonna
Rome 00187
July 30th 2003
Dear Mr Berlusconi,
I am writing to you to pose questions that I believe the public has a right to hear the answers to. As this can no longer occur through the Italian courts, such questions should be posed and answered in public. [...]
On April 28th 2001, we published a cover story entitled Why Silvio Berlusconi is unfit to lead Italy and a four-page investigation An Italian story. We sent you a letter on April 11th 2001, containing 51 questions, that stated: "The Economist intends to publish shortly a feature on your business career and on the various investigations into you and your companies that have been carried out by the Italian magistracy during the last seven years". You did not reply.
On May 2nd 2001, you filed a writ for defamation against The Economist in the Rome court. As you will know, this court has not yet ruled on your suit. In light of the above, we are writing to you by way of open letter and challenge you to answer our further set of questions in a similar open, public fashion. Our letter comprises six sections as follows:
We look forward to your reply
Yours sincerely
Bill Emmott
Editor
The Economist
Permanent link :: 
Tell a friend :: 
Add to del.icio.us
Why RSS is (or should be) as irrelevant as HTML
"Users should never have to think about how RSS or Atom feeds are formed, or even the difference between RSS and Atom. They should click a "syndicate my content" button in their publishing tool and a "fetch content from this source" tool in their aggregator and it should work, whatever the common formats are. If Aunt Mabel even has to remotely think about reading or writing an RSS file in its raw XML form, then the software developers have failed miserably."
Why RSS is (or should be) as irrelevant as HTML
Via OxDECAFBAD
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Nick Finck: The Why and How of Blogging
The Why and How of Blogging
This a very good introduction into blogging by Nick Finck, the maker of Digital Web Magazine. It shows that "sites of all kinds can employ blogs to keep visitors informed and up to date" - and looks great, too. No index though.
Via Phil Wolff
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Some uncommented RDF/FoaF links
REFERENCE SITES
CURRENT LINKS
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Raptor RDF Parser Toolkit
"Raptor is a Open Source C library for parsing RDF syntaxes into RDF triples. It supports the latest revision of RDF/XML (including collections and datatypes), N-Triples, and some XML RSS via a tag soup parser. It handles the RDF/XML used by RDF applications such as RSS 1.0, FOAF, Dublin Core, and OWL. It can use either expat or libxml2 for XML parsing, libcurl when available for URI retrieval, and is portable to many POSIX systems (Unix, GNU/Linux, BSDs, OSX, cygwin, win32).
Raptor [was designed as the parser module of the] Redland RDF Library but is fully separate. Redland is a library that provides a high-level interface for RDF allowing the RDF graph to be parsed from XML, stored, queried and manipulated. Redland implements each of the RDF concepts in its own class via an object based API [and has] Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby and Tcl interfaces for manipulating the RDF graph and parts."
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Make my Day
Motion to Dismiss: The Constitutionality of the F-Word and some variants of it
"Winner of the prestigious Smoking Gun 2003 Legal Document of the Year award, the District Court document is an amusing and profane look at the world's favorite four-letter word, from its origins in 1500 to today's frequent use of the term by Eminem, Chris Rock, and Lenny Kravitz." Read all seven pages. Note:
- that the Court refers to Wikipedia,
- makes use of Google result counts and
- that the use of the F-Word and variants is protected by the First Amendment
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
28 black pages in a 900 page report
Joi on secrets: "I do see the need for secrecy and as someone who is concerned about privacy and security, I think about secrecy a lot. This also ties in with the issue of who should be allowed to have secrecy and that we should limit, if possible, the secrecy of those in power in order to limit their ability to abuse power." Not that one or two western governments and administrations would do that.
Unrelated note: Don't miss Joi's blog these days. Loads of good stories on the FORTUNE/Aspen Institute's Brainstorm conference from a participiant's view.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
NewsMac, OS-X aggregator -Update-
NewsMac is a free RSS aggregator / headline viewer for OS X that uses a Finder like horizontal view to arrange subscribed feeds in "Sections" and "Categories", that has a "Favourites Bar" and that can synchronize with your Palm and iPod for on-the-road consumption.
Show full entry
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
The Sinsheim Concorde has arrived
Concorde F-BVFB, decommissioned by Air France and donated to the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim, safely arrived in its new home on July 20. After its final landing in Baden Airpark, it has been knocked down, trucked to Söllingen, shipped down the Rhine to Speyer, and trucked on the Autobahn A6 to Sinsheim (tour map) where it will be displayed right next to its "Soviet Sister", the Tupolev TU 144 (photo composition). Shipping and trucking alone took nearly three days.
Show full entry
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
:: in category Aviation, Air and Space
Still going strong
Today's Daily Links GaloreTM (see sidebar) might keep you busy for a while. Have fun.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
1 minute, 1 second behind: What a return!
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
A la carte
Click = Großansicht
Titelbilder des aktuellen STERN und des beiliegenden TV-Magazins
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Amazon.com - now in your aggregator, too
Called Amazon.com Syndicated Content, "selected categories, subcategories and search results in Amazon.com stores now have RSS [0.91] feeds associated with them, delivering a headline-view of the top 10 bestsellers in that category or set of search results. [...] The RSS feeds generated for Amazon categories and seach results are based on the exisitng XML feeds delivered by Amazon.com's Web Services platform."
Kevin Werbach: "The Internet companies that have thrived while AOL faltered - Microsoft, Amazon.com, eBay, Google - have two things in commons. They are deeply technology-driven, but they see technology not as an end in itself but as a platform."
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
DHTML Magic, IBM Style: Office in your Browser -Update-
Surf Mind Musings, a recommended blog on Mozilla technology, user interfaces and more, points to some impressive cross-browser DHTML applications from IBM:
"A spreadsheet, powerpoint, and editor. The editor, suprisingly, is the least impressive, with lots of other examples around. The powerpoint clone features an impressive tree widget, nicely styled with reordering. The spreadsheet just seems to work - and that's very cool." Indeed.
UPDATE I
Further information is available on the alphaWorks site Simple Browser Productivity Components. Posted in March, those of you involved with IBM software might have seen those demos already.
UPDATE II
Erik Arvidsson of webfx points out: "This is actually the old HalfBrain applications which used to be IE only. HalfBrain was bought by Blox.com and Blox.com shut down a year or so ago. Now it shows up under the IBM flag." Via gemal.dk
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
On this day: Hamburg burns, Kitchen Debate -Update-
History might have seen days less diverse than today, July 24. Born on this day: Simon Bolivar (1783), who freed 6 Latin American republics from Spanish rule, Alexandre Dumas (1802), who told the Count of Monte Christo how to escape, and Amelia Earhart (1898), the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic. Maria Stuart resigned (1567), the city of Detroit founded (1701), Gibraltar captured from Spain (1704), results of the first public opinion poll published in a newspaper (1824), Machu Picchu discovered (1911), Eiger-Nordwand defeated (1938), Mussolini deprived of his power (1943).
Today in the same year, allied Operation Gomorrha starts. Seven air raids between July 24/25 and August 2/3 will leave half Hamburg wiped out, in the July 27/28 night, the first "Firestorm" ever will turn the city into a giant fire, 40,000 die.
This day in 1959, Khrushchev and Nixon have their famous Kitchen Debate: "In the end, Mr Nixon apologised for being a poor host and the two men agreed to thank the exhibit hostess for letting them argue in her kitchen."
UPDATE
Papa Scott points to series on the Hamburg firebombing in the Hamburger Abendblatt (German language) : "The series asks the question that cannot be answered and is even more relevant today: When good fights evil, how evil can good allow itself to become?"
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Quote of the Day II
President Bush "is not a fact checker"
A White House official in a press briefing on made up reports on illegal Uranium purchases in Niger
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Quote of the Day I
A left mouse push fires it. Kinda crazy really. We actually asked for a great big red button, but they wouldn't give us one
A HMS Splendid crew member on how Cruise Missiles are launched from British submarines
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Boys need Toys
The announced Sony Clie UX50 finally seems to be a device that comes close to my ideas what a PDA should look like. With both WLAN and Bluetooth connectivity, ultra-tight packaging and integration, what Wired Magazine calls a groundbreaking new Handheld Engine that is said to be ultra-low in battery consumption and a display with 480 x 320 pixels, the UX50 looks like an amazing exercise in engineering (though the 300k pixels camera seems to be unimpressive). Note the user interface with the menu icons projected onto a cylinder surface. 700 bucks, and it will be yours.
UPDATE
John Robb has a good piece on the UX50, what the pressures on the PDA market are and why The PDA is the Canary in the Coal Mine.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Daily Notes
Instead of putting all those links into the sidebar like I normally do, I today put them into a blog entry - because there are so many and I don't have time for other entries (but there is a lot in the queue)
126 and counting
Welcome to my readers from Macau. You are from the 126th nation or territory this website reached in 2003 so far.
RELATED ENTRIES
2003-06-30: cq cq calling all stations
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Tour de France - blogged
For me as an ex-cyclist, the Tour de France still is one of the most interesting events of the year - though the fascination of Le Tour or other endurance events like 24 Heures du Mans might not be apparent to everyone. As I can't follow the Tour TV coverage, arises the question: where to look on the web for good Tour information? At the BBC, Cycling News, Bicycling Magazine, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the CSC Live Ticker?
At all these sources - and at Tour de France topic blogs. The three I like best so far are Frank Steele's mighty fine Tour de France 2003, Oskar van Rijswijk's LOGos Tour Blog and the collaborative Tourblog.com.
Frank aggregates stories of major news outlets and adds own commentary, Oskar has short summaries of each day and collects relevant links from other sources. Tourblog.com not only has an excellent sidebar, it also invites everyone to submit own stories - great.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Adam Curry, Standard Prices
Adam Curry, who invested 10 Kilo-Dollars into a default placement of his feed in the UserLand aggregator, seems to be a bit upset about how things develop and now wants to give another ten grands to those aggregator developers that do not plan to support Echo.
Adam, for 10 grands, you can surely have your feed linked to by many blogs, or even have it displayed on many blogs. Incidentially, Ben and I have the same standard price: a 30 gig Apple iPod. We here at hebig.org also accept Apple PowerBooks, IBM ThinkPads, Tablet PCs, vintage books on engines and engineering, round-the-world flight tickets and watches made by certain small manufacturers. If you cover expenses for a PPL-E/CFVR/VFR-Night helicopter license, you get an individual package of content syndication/weblogging consulting and services.
Or just invest those 10 grands you want to waste on bribing aggregator developers (their software will support Echo anyway) into a good counselling on the state of things and how to make the most of it. Just ask.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Peer Review
What's good about getting mentioned on Zeldman (in a story on the future of A List Apart) is that your link gets spread more widely through blogosphere - and that people peer review your work. Thanks to everyone who left comments and notes over at Simon Willison's Weblog.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Swords into plowshares, trains into reefs
Click to read story
The hollowed hulks of 50 obsolete New York City subway cars were dumped into the Cape May Reef Site, approximately 8.5 miles off South Jersey in the Atlantic Ocean, to begin a watery new life as a haven for fish. The remaining 200 cars will go to the Atlantic City Reef, the Deep Water Reef off Ocean City, the Garden State North Reef, and Shark River Reef.
It is unclear why the Environmental Conservation Commissioner took only 250 of the 400 subway cars originally offered to him. The decommissioned 51-foot Redbird workhorses have been in use since the 1964 World's Fair. Stories at NYT and The Star Ledger
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
MT Plugin Manager Public Beta is out
The first public beta of David Raynes' Movable Type Plugin Manager is out. It allows you to manage, install, uninstall and upgrade MT plugins and to check plugin requirements, using data retrieved from the MT Plugin Directory's XML archive file - no more manual file handling on your server necessary. And now that the infrastructure and functionalities are there, the Trotts could include the Manager right into one of the next MT releases.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Jeff Jarvis on the AOL blogging tool
AOL gave a presentation of their upcoming blogging tool to Meg Hourihan, Nick Denton, Anil Dash, Clay Shirky and Jeff Jarvis. Beside the obvious - posting via AIM - they seem to get a couple of things right. Read Jeff's story
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Goodbye, Transrapid - Teil 2
Noch buhlen Siemens und ThyssenKrupp ja um die 1300 km lange Schnelltrasse Peking - Shanghai, die langfristig zu einem 8000 km langen Netz wachsen soll - aber daß der Zug in Deutschland schon wieder zum Spielball der Politik wurde, steigert die Erfolgschance nicht sonderlich. Siemens: "China beobachtet sehr genau, was in Deutschland passiert. Nach der Entscheidung in Nordrhein-Westfalen ist das Mißtrauen wieder gewachsen. Die Chinesen haben Angst, daß sie mit der Technologie allein gelassen werden."
Praktisch heißt das: die Schnelltrasse wird höchstwahrscheinlich im konventionellen Rad-Schiene-System ausgelegt (schließlich gibts auch in China Eisenbahnminister, und auch die hängen an dem System), die Technik wird in Form von Shinkansens aus Japan importiert, die 200 km lange Verlängerung der Flughafentrasse in Schanghai gibts vielleicht - wenn der Alltagsbetrieb auf dem 30 Kilometer-Stückchen erfolgreich verläuft, der Anteil lokaler Wertschöpfung deutlich erhöht wird, die Preise deutlich gesenkt und vor allem der Technologietransfer noch weiter verstärkt werden.
ThyssenKrupp und Siemens stehen am Ende ziemlich einsam und mit leeren Händen da, und das abwechselnde Geschachere und tatenlose Zuschauen der deutschen Politik trug wesentlich dazu bei - kein Wunder, daß Peking (nach Know-How-Abzug) wo anders einkaufen geht. Das gelegentlich Buhlen deutscher Provinzfürsten um ein Musterbähnle, und seien die Vorschläge noch so sinnfrei, tut sein Übriges.
IM ARCHIV
27. Juni 2003: Goodbye, Transrapid
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
SharpReader, NetNewsWire rule them all
Index.xml is the most requested file of this website, it gets three times more request than index.php - time to have a look what News Aggregators people use.
Though the variety of available aggregators is huge, the top five aggregators have a market share of 75%: Most popular on Windows is SharpReader, most popular on Mac - unsurprisingly - NetNewsWire. Together, they have a 40% market share. Note how popular the newcomer FeedOnFeeds and the Outlook-plugin NewsGator are, and that the veterans AmphetaDesk and Radio UserLand play minor roles only.
So lets have a look at the CSS bar graph:
Show full entry
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
