archive for March 2002

2002.03.31 (Sunday)

Productivity is the endgame.

Here's another great way to use the W3C XSLT service:

- Dave's outline

- Jake's outline

- My outline

Outstanding work on the XSLT/JS/CSS renderer, Joshua! It's amazingly cool to be able to export that capability to the world by blogging some URLs, eh?

[Jon's Radio]

Marc Barrot's outline renderer.

The following macro:

<% renderCss ( "C:/Radio/www/instantOutliner/jonUdell.opml", "instant" ) %>

April 19

Doing the goody-goody: 48-hour warning for Palestinians ahead of home demolitions. (Ha'aretz)

Palestinians will be given a 48-hour stay to appeal against destruction of their homes, the IDF told the High Court of Justice yesterday.

Sjoerd Visscher's outline renderer / MS XSLT Server.

Here's another extremely cool outline renderer over at Sjoerd Visscher's W3Future blog. Beautifully done. I love the optional node property display. This renderer also does something subtle but important that Radio's built-in render doesn't. It distinguishes visually between outline-transclusion links and ordinary hyperlinks. As these exhibit different behaviors, I think it makes sense that they should also look different.

Sjoerd notes, by the way:

In the previous version I used client side XML parsing. But all the different versions of MS's XML parser caused some problems, and IE6 does not allow script to load resources from other domains by default.

I've been struggling with this too.  The W3C XLST service is a wonderful way to enable non-server-administrators to compose XSLT-based services. It'd be great to expose the capabilities of MSXML in the same way. Microsoft, how about it? You've got TerraServer running as an example of a heavy-duty MS-based world-accessible service. Why not the MS XSLT Server too?

2002.03.19 (Tuesday)

Protocol 7 is working on OPML to SVG.   [Scripting News]

2002.03.17 (Sunday)

Merkava commanders failed to take precautions, says army. The Israel Defense Forces officers in the Netzarim area in the Gaza Strip have come under severe criticism for failing to take precautions that might have saved the lives of three soldiers killed Thursday when their Merkava tank triggered an explosive device. [Haaretz: News]

"Sources said the officers in this front are under pressure to enable the Netzarim settlers to pursue a normal routine, ensuring that they can get to work and school on time, and that this makes it harder for the IDF troops to follow all of the necessary precautions.

Listing titled items on a storyList page.

If I've got this right, posting this item should update my new storyList page, which enumerates all my titled items in reverse order, so that it also includes this item.

Hey, it worked. Cool. OK, here's how. First, a script which gathers all the posts that have titles:

on storyList()
 {
 local (s = "");
 local (adrblog = radio.weblog.init ());
 local (adrposts = @adrblog^.posts, i);
 for i = sizeof (adrposts^) downto 1
  {
  local (adr = @adrposts^ [i]);
  local (t = adr^);
   try
    {
    local( title = t.title); // if none, skip to next post
    local(d = date.year(t.when) + "/" + string.padWithZeros(date.month(t.when),2) + "/" + string.padWithZeros(date.day(t.when),2));
    local( itemno = nameOf(adr^) );
    regex.subst("^0+","",@itemno);
    s = s + "

" + d + ": " + "http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/";
    s = s + d + ".html#a" + itemno;
    s = s + "\">";
    s = s + title;
    s = s + "

I saved this as /radio/Macros/storyList.txt. Then I wrote a story that contains nothing but a reference to the macro, in other words:

<% storyList() %>

So far so good. But how to make it update when new postings appear? I got the necessary ideas from Russ Lipton and Simon Fell.

From Russ, I got the idea for a script that touches the storyList, so it will re-upstream. From Simon, I learned of the callback that can invoke that script when an item is published. So, I wrote this:

on updateStoryList(adrPost)
    {
    on touch(path)
        {
        try
        { file.touchPath(path) }
        };
    file.visitFolder(user.radio.prefs.wwwfolder + "stories\\2002\\03\\16", infinity, @touch);
    };

And I entered it as a script, called updateStoryList, in the table user.radio.callbacks.publishItem.

Nice. Now, I think I'll have a neat and automatically maintained list of my titled items.

One gripe, which I noticed again while doing this: the permalink's target (e.g., ) has been in the wrong place since the advent of titles. It should come before, not after, the title.

Israel hit by new attacks. A gunman opens fire on passers-by near Tel Aviv, and a suicide bomber blows himself up in Jerusalem, setting back hopes of a ceasefire. [BBC News: world]

Mid-East ceasefire talks on hold. Israel pulls back on an earlier announcement of ceasefire talks, after Palestinian demands for a major military withdrawal. [BBC News: world]

Sharon to meet top Palestinian officials. Top Israeli and Palestinian officials will meet US envoy Anthony Zinni on Sunday, with the aim of reaching a ceasefire. [BBC News: world]

Gerry Spence. "I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Deaths overshadow Zinni mission. US envoy Anthony Zinni meets Israeli and Palestinian leaders as a Palestinian woman and four children die in an explosion in Gaza. [BBC News: world]

Israelis pull out of West Bank towns. Israeli forces say they have withdrawn from a number of Palestinian areas as US envoy Anthony Zinni begins efforts to broker a ceasefire. [BBC News: world]

Israelis pull out of Ramallah. Israeli forces are withdrawing from Yasser Arafat's West Bank base, as US peace envoy Anthony Zinni tries to broker a ceasefire. [BBC News: world]

US envoy begins Mid-East tour. Anthony Zinni arrives in Israel faced with the challenge of brokering a ceasefire amid fresh violence and the threat of more attacks. [BBC News: world]

Gaza bomb kills three Israelis. A roadside bomb kills three Israelis in the Gaza Strip as US special envoy Anthony Zinni heads for the region to push for a ceasefire. [BBC News: world]

US criticises Israeli actions. President Bush says Israel's military actions against the Palestinians are 'not helpful' as US envoy Anthony Zinni embarks on a new mission. [BBC News: world]

What price tznius? Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue (BBC)

Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers.

According to the al-Eqtisadiah daily, firemen confronted police after they tried to keep the girls inside because they were not wearing the headscarves and abayas (black robes) required by the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam.

One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".

The Saudi Gazette quoted witnesses as saying that the police - known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - had stopped men who tried to help the girls and warned "it is a sinful to approach them".

The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out.

"Lives could have been saved had they not been stopped by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," the newspaper concluded.

For those of you that are new to Radio, please visit this directory of resources.  I am going to put it in my menu bar to the right as a reminder. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

2002.03.14 (Thursday)

The orbit of the people: Russia unveils tourists' spaceship. (BBC News: world)

Russia presents the prototype of the world's first reusable space ship, designed to make space tourism widely accessible.

Cops and crooks shake hands; populace should cower (Jon Robb)

Reuters.  Microsoft reveals they are working with the DoJ to fight cybercrime (terrorism).  Bing!  Dave and I took a tough stand on this a couple of months ago when we couldn't figure out why the DoJ threw away 6 years of work on the Microsoft case and sided with Microsoft.  Here is the reason.  Ashcroft turned the DoJ into a war-time agency.  Microsoft could provide him with a way to get into networks through a backdoor (keylogging software etc.).  Microsoft is trying to craft the same deal with the Euros. 

>>>``As we think about private and public partnerships, we have to say that this (partnership) is key,'' said Ballmer, as he outlined the dangers of cyber-crime to the European Policy Centre, a private think-tank.

``We've worked very closely, for example, with the Department of Justice in the United States to get additional funding for FBI efforts to target cyber-crime,'' he said.

``They simply didn't have enough people who were technically expert,'' he added. ``We've loaned our experts but we also think it's very important that government have its own experts as part of the policy process in these issues.''

Microsoft still faces a continuing investigation by the European Commission for allegedly violating European antitrust laws, but Ballmer declined to say whether he would be holding discussions about those problems during his stay in Brussels.

``Those (talks) are always confidential, of course, between us and the appropriate governmental authorities,'' he said.<<<   This is scary stuff (thanks Michael for the heads-up on this). [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

2002.03.13 (Wednesday)

New Feature: Titles and Links in Radio-generated RSS. [Dave Winer: Radio UserLand]

New feature: Google-It! Macro for Item Templates. [Dave Winer: Radio UserLand]

Zero Tolerance: Indian Rebels Shoot Exam Cheats  (Tehran Times)

GUWAHATI, India -- Separatist rebels in India's northeastern Manipur state have taken to shooting exam cheats in the leg in a draconian attempt to clean up the education system, officials said Tuesday. Manipur police said at least 10 people had been shot in the past few days.

"It seems that the outlawed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) is targeting people who use unfair means to help students in examinations," the state's additional police chief A.K. Parashar told AFP. According to Parashar, the rebels were hoping to "win the sympathy" of local people who complain of corruption in the state education system. The KYKL is fighting for an independent homeland for the predominantly Hindu Metei community in Manipur.

UN backs Palestinian state. The UN Security Council passes an historic resolution calling for a Palestinian state, as Israel's West Bank offensive continues. [BBC News: world]

Israel in massive new offensive. Up to 30 Palestinians and seven Israelis are killed as the Israeli army mounts its biggest ground offensive for 20 years. [BBC News: world]

2002.03.12 (Tuesday)

Catching up with Yossi Klein Halevi

Prisoner of War (The New Republic, 03.07.02)

"The humiliations experienced by the army in the last three weeks--from the destruction of a Merkava tank in Gaza to the killing of seven soldiers and three civilians by a lone sniper with an antiquated rifle--recall the setbacks endured by the nascent Israeli army in the early 1950s. Then, a young officer named Arik Sharon emerged to head the anti-terrorist commando unit that became the army's model of initiative and daring. Now, though, the elderly leader of a military power is forced to concede the limits of force.

"One possible danger of Sharon's lack of clear direction is that lunatics on the right will be tempted to emulate Dr. Baruch Goldstein, the settler who in 1994 murdered 29 Muslims during prayer in Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs. Indeed, the bombing of an Arab school in East Jerusalem--in apparent retaliation for the recent terrorist attack against ultra-Orthodox Jews--could be an indication of worse to come. And a Jewish atrocity against Palestinians would almost certainly summon international pressure against Israel--perhaps even the insertion of foreign "observers" into the territories, fulfilling Arafat's fantasy of transforming Israel into Serbia in international perception.

"It wasn't supposed to happen this way. During last year's election, Sharon promised peace and security. ("I feel secure with Sharon's peace," went the slogan.)

"It wasn't demagoguery: Sharon was prepared to be the Israeli prime minister on whose watch a sovereign Palestine emerged, and to concede that his long campaign to prevent a PLO state had failed. A Palestinian state, he argued, already existed in all but name; his mission would be to minimize the dangers of its inevitable birth. He called for a Palestinian state on the territories the P.A. already controlled, followed by a lengthy testing period, after which final borders would be negotiated. And while Sharon was offering substantially less than Ehud Barak had already put on the table, he thought the Palestinians might be tempted to accept the deal because he was demanding less in return--not an end to the conflict but merely a prolonged cease-fire.

"But Sharon badly misread the Palestinians. According to recently released documents seized by the Israeli army from Orient House, the P.A.'s former headquarters in Jerusalem, the Palestinian leadership decided one year ago to bring down Sharon by intensifying terror attacks that would convince the Israeli public he was a failure. Arafat had already destroyed the political careers of two previous prime ministers, Peres and Barak. Now it's Sharon's turn."

A Nation Ready to Compromise Must Be Ready to Fight (LA Times, March 8)

"This isn't a war for settlements but for the inviolate principle that the Middle East dispute can be resolved only through negotiations, not suicide bombings.

"Withdrawal under fire will only draw greater fire. In the post-Sept. 11 world, there should be no place for indulging terrorism, even when it speaks the beguiling language of national liberation.

"It is precisely those of us who believe in reconciliation with the Palestinians and who are prepared to make the necessary concessions for real peace who must resist the temptation to surrender to blackmail. A nation ready to compromise must also be ready to fight. Otherwise, the longing for peace becomes appeasement of terror. "

Rabbi Lau: Men can also be agunot. (Ha'aretz)

]In a precedent-setting decision, Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau has ruled that a man cannot remarry before attaining the consent of his current wife to a divorce (get).

The decision stipulates that the same coercive measures used to force a man to grant a get to his wife (including imprisonment) can also be applied to a wife who refuses to accept a divorce from her husband.

Rabbi Lau noted in his decision that a man may be permitted to remarry without attaining his wife's consent to a divorce only in cases where there are objective obstacles preventing the marriage from being dissolved, such as mental illness or long disappearance.

2002.03.11 (Monday)

Israeli maintains pressure on Arafat. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he favours easing restrictions on Yasser Arafat, as the Israeli army moves into Qalqilya in the West Bank. [BBC News: world]

Israel hits Gaza after suicide blast. Israeli missiles destroy Yasser Arafat's Gaza headquarters, after a suicide bomber kills 11 people at a cafe in Jerusalem. [BBC News: world]

Suicide attack hits Jerusalem cafe. At least 11 people die in a suicide bomb attack on a cafe in West Jerusalem, near the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. [BBC News: world]

The Fighting Next Time. Why reformers believe that preparing the military for next-generation warfare is radical and crucial — and one more casualty of 9/11. [New York Times: International News]

David Berry: Working with FrontPage and Radio. [Dave Winer: Radio UserLand]

I Got Mine, Fuck You Very Much
Once again, Congress has dealt away health care coverage to pass a budget. Why not? Everybody in the House, the Senate, the White House, or the Supreme Court has health care coverage. Why should they worry? Or care? [ViewFromTheHeart]

2002.03.10 (Sunday)

Israel renews assault on Palestinians. Israeli helicopters launch fresh strikes on Palestinian security targets after the bloodiest day in 17 months of violence. [BBC News: world]

Cops: Teachers tried to hire students to beat up girl [Romenesko's Obscure Store]

Sharon ready to talk under fire. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he will hold talks with the Palestinians even if hostilities continue, after at least 45 die in one day. [BBC News: world]

Eldon Brown sent me an email to point out that category-specific stories do not carry the category's name or description in the banner. Eldon is right! I did a little digging around and have a nice quick fix.

To get the category name and description on your story banner edit your category's #prefs.txt file. There should be a #categoryName entry present. If not, add one (e.g. #categoryName "My Good Category"). Also add a categoryDescription directive (e.g. #categoryDescription "Everything You'll Ever Need"). Save #prefs.txt. Now edit the #template.txt file - you will probably need just one of these, shared across all of your categories (so plop it in the "category" directory). Look for the <%siteName%> macro. Change it to <%categoryName%>. Close by you will find a <%description%> macro. Change it to <%categoryDescription%>. That should do it.

A Busy Writers Guide to Radio Renderers

 GOD NAMES NEXT "CHOSEN PEOPLE"; IT'S JEWS AGAIN

Jerusalem — Jews, whose troubled, 10,000-year term as God's "chosen people" finally expired last night, woke up this morning to find that they had once again been hand-picked by the Almighty. Synagogues across the globe declared a day of mourning.

Orthodox woman rabbi speaks

Although she received smicha (rabbinic ordination) in 1994 from Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, she kept it a secret from most people. And it remained that way until a reporter from the Jewish Week in New York followed up on a rumor. Feigelson was outed as having Orthodox smicha in December of 2000, shortly after an Orthodox rabbi granted smicha to Eveline Goodman-Thau.

Mid-East sees bloodiest day. Violence between Palestinians and Israelis leaves 64 dead - the highest toll for a single day since the current Palestinian uprising began. [BBC News: world]

Suicide bomber blasts West Bank settlement. At least five Israelis are reported to have been injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. [BBC News: world]

2002.03.09 (Saturday)

Israel pounds Palestinian towns. Israel steps up air, sea and land attacks on Palestinian areas, despite unusually strong US criticism of Ariel Sharon's policy of attrition. [BBC News: world]

Israeli troops storm into Gaza. At least seven Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers die in one of the most intensive Israeli assaults on Gaza since the intifada began. [BBC News: world]

2002.03.06 (Wednesday)

Bush pledges Mid-East peace moves. The US president says he will redouble efforts to end Middle East violence, as bloodshed in the region continues unabated. [BBC News: world]

2002.03.05 (Tuesday)

Maybe things can get worse: Leading Israel to a needless war (Ha'aretz)

"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's statement that the Israel Defense Forces' primary purpose from now on will be "to increase casualties" on the Palestinian side could bring onto the battlefield another 40,000 armed soldiers, who are tensely waiting on the sidelines to enter the fray. These soldiers are not members of the IDF's Givati or Golani Brigade, but rather the members of the Palestinian police force, who, up until now, have not actively participated in the fighting against the IDF as an organized force.

"If thousands of armed Palestinian police officers were to capture a Jewish settlement, the ministers in the Israeli cabinet would be taken by surprise. However, if they had bothered to study the scenarios discussed in the IDF, they would have discovered that the top brass understands all too well that, within the near future, the soldiers of the Palestinian police - a full-fledged army in every respect - will soon jump down from the fence and become an organized fighting force under a central command.

"...Quite possibly, that is precisely what the prime minister wants. When thousands of Palestinian police officers capture Jewish settlements or when they spread out at night along the Petah Tikva-Rosh Ha'ayin highway and then in the morning begin firing at dozens of vehicles, the way will be clear for a decision to occupy the entire West Bank.

"...Only after Nablus, Hebron and Bethlehem have been occupied and thousands and thousands have paid for that occupation with their lives, will it emerge that no one has won but both sides have lost."

Bush vows Mid-East peace moves. President Bush says he will redouble efforts to end Middle East violence, as bloodshed in the region continues unabated. [BBC News: world]

Suicide attacks trigger Israeli raids. Israeli helicopters hit Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after militants killed five Israelis in separate attacks. [BBC News: world]

2002.03.04 (Monday)

Israel shooting leaves three dead. A gunman opens fire on a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing three and injuring about 25, after a day of Israeli raids on Palestinian targets. [BBC News: world]

Today's woe: Websites aren't appearing on my server.

Could it be a dns problem? Seemingly no.

Something in the apache config file? Haven't found it yet.

Keep on diggin'

Israeli strikes kill 16. Israel launches tank, aircraft and naval attacks against Palestinian targets, killing at least 16 people, as the latest violence spirals. [BBC News: world]

West Bank car blast kills four. At least four people, including two children, die in a car explosion apparently aimed at a Hamas activist in the town of Ramallah. [BBC News: world]

Israel storms refugee camps. Three Palestinians are killed as Israeli troops force their way into two refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza hoping to end a tide of militant attacks. [BBC News: world]

Welcome to the slighly-modified YudelLine. I've switched to new software, and there are still a few kinks I'm shaking out. I'm hoping that the result will be a much more frequently updated site.

2002.03.03 (Sunday)

Israel to step up military operations. Israel says it will put the Palestinians under "continuous military pressure" following a series of militant attacks that leave at least 20 Israelis dead. [BBC News: world]

What Would Jesus Surf?. The Catholic Church gives its blessings to the Internet, saying it’s a 'marvelous technological tool.' But it also says that the 'ideology of radical libertarianism is both mistaken and harmful.' By Farhad Manjoo. [Wired News]

Israel hits back over Palestinian attacks. The Israelis launch strikes against Palestinian targets after a series of devastating attacks leave 20 soldiers and civilians dead. [BBC News: world]

Seven Israelis die in shooting. A Palestinian gun attack in the West Bank leaves seven Israelis dead and several others wounded. [BBC News: world]

Israel hits back after suicide bombing. Israel sends attack helicopters to bomb Palestinian targets in Bethlehem after a suicide bomber kills nine Israelis in a crowded Jerusalem street. [BBC News: world]

Suicide bomber hits Jerusalem. A suicide bomber strikes in west Jerusalem, killing at least nine, including a baby girl, as residents were on the streets at the end of the Sabbath. [BBC News: world]

Saturday, March 2, 2002

Israel pulls back from Jenin. Israel withdraws its forces from one of two Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, after two days and nights of heavy fighting. [BBC News: world]

Israel presses on with camps assault. Israel resists international pressure to withdraw its forces from two refugee camps where two days of fighting have left at least 22 people dead. [BBC News: world]

Friday, March 1, 2002

Israel intensifies refugee camp raids. The Israeli army has entered the heart of a Palestinian refugee camp in one of the biggest offensives against militants since fighting began. [BBC News: world]