Everything In Between

• Putzing around with some local HTML5 tests and feeding them into http://validator.w3.org. Don’t worry people, this is for fun AND profit. :) #
• Thankfully it’s still light & sunny out. I’m going to need the vitamins. Tonight’s plan: fight my growing headache, get dinner, do fun work. #
• I’m asked for a private interview to talk on the intersection of economics, youth & sex. I decline cuz I’d prefer to talk on that in public. #
• @misswired A thesis. Given lots of interviews on sex—frustrating that I want to answer publicly but interviewers only want to ask privately. in reply to misswired #
• @misswired Between @ConversioVirium, @KinkForAll, my sex blog, and another as-yet-unnamed project, I have enough sex projects, thank you. :) in reply to misswired #
• @maymaym Hey, self, don’t forget http://MaleSubmissionArt.com. So that’s 5 sex-related projects? Yeah, I think that’s enough at one time. :) in reply to maymaym #
• @nathanaelb HTCPCP makes me afraid one day I’ll need to write CSS to render the way milk swirls…swirl-rotation: 90deg; Will that work in IE? in reply to NathanaelB #
• @NathanaelB Well CSS is actually required to implement SVG, so I’m not sure that theory holds water. Or coffee, as the case may actually be. in reply to NathanaelB #

• @NathanaelB Cool to hear you’ll be @BarCamp on Sat! Say hello to me if you see me? Would love to chat with you re IxD and Web accessibility. #
• You know you’re doing too much at once when you mistype your own email address. It’s even worse when your email address is your own name. :\ #
• Twitpoll: If you’re just starting “learning to program” what resource(s) would you use? IMHO stuff like http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram =best. #
• Updating my @WordPress blogs to use newest release (v1.5) of @alexkingorg’s Twitter Tools plugin, which includes VERY important bugfixes. :D #
• @BloodyLaughter #twitterank = scam? It’s very bad that people feel okay putting their username & password in strange form fields! OAuth NOW! in reply to BloodyLaughter #
• Going to @STUB. Still would love to hear ppl’s opinions re ways to learn code—I’ve been getting that question lots lately. http://tr.im/11k2 #
• So @STUB was great. No answers to “How to keep up w/150+ tweeples?!” tho…. Mixing it up by following new folks, unfollowing others. (Sorry.) #
• @ryancross http://Twitterless.com = unfollow notifier? I re-follow people I’ve stopped following sometimes, like after meeting them tonight! in reply to ryancross #
• @Warlach I get that but I use @Twitter to keep up w/friends; don’t want to lose that! Ironically I’ve just added more ppl than I’ve removed! in reply to Warlach #
• @Warlach I’ve thought long & hard (wank wank wank) about splitting my online personas into different accounts. Chose not to, lotsa reasons…. in reply to Warlach #
• @Warlach I’m a ridiculously slow adopter; only ever used a few Twitter clients. I do appreciate suggestions and will try ‘em all eventually! in reply to Warlach #
• My dreams involved a tidal wave, 4 races of time travelling aliens, and a woman explaining an 18-wheeler “butt clutch.” I so don’t get me. #
• @jdub I couldn’t help but make the “Aww” noise. :) RT @jdub: “RT @piawaugh New blog post: Wesnoth addiction error http://tinyurl.com/6rcxdp” in reply to jdub #
• @BrazenCareerist Welcome back to @Twitter. By the by, do you have any advice re personal vs professional blogging? http://tinyurl.com/5rq9ck in reply to BrazenCareerist #
• @ryancross I LOVE “Sales Guy v Web Dude” I’d actually love it less if it weren’t so frustratingly real so often. http://thewebsiteisdown.com in reply to ryancross #
• @ryancross Influence—not control—is how everything from employee/employer relationships, software dev, social media & more SHOULD be viewed. in reply to ryancross #
• @ryancross I’m a middle school drop-out; my academia is very limited. ;) However, I do a lot of reading+thinking on sociology & ethnography. in reply to ryancross #
• @johnallsopp I see what you mean re http://tinyurl.com/632hat —Is there any precedent for arguing for NEW business models due to innovation? in reply to johnallsopp #
• I’m realizing I’m going to need thicker skins if I’ll continue writing for @SitePointDotCom. That’s a good thing; makes me a better blogger. #

• RT @halans: “BarCamp Sydney, alway free (as in speech), Movember 15, 2008! http://barcamp.org/BarCampSydney4 ” I’ll be there, my first. You? #
• RT @emilylewis: ” http://shouldiusetablesforlayout.com/ (from @codepo8)” Also, “View Source…” to read the easter eggs! Chuck Norris said so! #
• @suziam You seem to be participating in some AWESOME involving Hyrulian role play & chatting up ranch girls that I’m sad I’m missing out on. #
• @emilylewis One of the (many) ways I know I’M a total dork: I compliment people on their markup. Another: I read web sites via View Source…. #
• @JohnBaku I second that strongly. “Dating” sounds rigid & formal but “meeting someone” sounds organic & fun & open to all the possibilities. #
• Google introduces GMail Video & Voice chat. All you need is a plugin. http://tinyurl.com/6yr9jl It uses XMPP, RTP, and H.264! (via everyone) #
• @karlw3c New CSS validator in JavaScript? I commented on the blog: Perhaps show me oldest compatible CSS profile for each rule with Firebug? #
• @TimGasper Glad I helped. Good luck w/your preso. I still don’t know what you mean by “Web 3.0″ but then I again I still don’t grok Web 2.0. #
• @visafirst Thanks but it’s sorted now. New plan: quit current employer next month then travel+write on web dev for 3mo+move to SF+find work. #
• @karlw3c That’s a great idea, too. Let’s put the hypermedia back into hypertext document development tools! :D re: http://tinyurl.com/65o439 #
• @pennyhagen Cool! That’s @jdub & @piawaugh’s work. Also check out http://BeTheSignal.org & http://twit.tv/floss16 Look Jeff more pimpage! :D #
• @EssinEm Meeting people while in a primary relationship is also a fuck-ton of work. Looking for a third/more seems helluva lot more complex. #
• How do ppl who follow 150+ keep up with everything? I love the idea of following everyone but can no longer keep up w/folk I really want to. #
• @viviane212 Wish I could go to your sex blog preso at @conversiovirium this Mon. Where’s the @conversiovirium love in your tweet, though? :P #
• Some advice for how to write “magnetic headlines” http://tinyurl.com/5ttsny Lots to read but well worth it. (via @mattymcg) #
• @pennyhagen Connections are what it’s all about. “Social media” is a marketer’s equivalent of a techie’s “open source.” They’re both social. #
• Hi new followers. Since some folks keep forgetting this, remember that @maymay is a girl in Maine, not me. ;) Also, I am NSFW so enjoy that. #
• @rogerkondrat No; OSI/GNU/FSF et al have also propelled philosophical ideals well beyond tech audience. This is also part of “social media.” #
• @mattymcg The Mac OS X green window button is not a “maximize” but rather a “smart size.” That said, it does think it’s smarter than it is. #
• @lachlanhardy I’m your exact opposite: Last month my $350+ Rx glasses got run over by traffic (thrice!) yet I waited for the light to change #
• Last wknd @BloodyLaughter met a woman at a party who said she & I just haven’t found the queer kink scene yet. Tonight we test this theory. #
• So fucking sick of bar culture I could deafen more people than the bar music does. OTOH, cool bunch of dykes. Wish they weren’t at a bar. #
• Just moved the Oomph @microformats toolkit @WordPress plugin from my own server to the Plugin Directory. Sweeet! http://tinyurl.com/wp-oomph #
• @laughingrhoda Why edit things? I’ve said & posted stuff I no longer believe but I prefer integrity of showcasing my own evolution publicly. #

• @mrsexsmith How is it that poetic words sound so goddamn awful? “Pulchritude?” Sorry that doesn’t sound like it means “poetic beauty” to me. #
• @BloodyLaughter That’s a silly conversation; there are links between every career path & caffeine abuse. Just like most other addictions. ;) #
• @BloodyLaughter re caffeine pills: What’s to enjoy in that? re unifying your Internet personas: Everyone agrees, it’s the way of the future. #
• Easiest bit of Google hacking: combine the `inurl:` & `site:` operators to find a domain’s subdomains when `dig example.com axfr` fails you. #
• @suziam IMHO people still need to figure out a way to reconcile the distinctions and similarities of grid-based layout versus display:table. #
• @grantyoung My experiences at Aussie restaurants have been similar. $2 for ½ spoon of guacamole, $7 burger but with any sauce it’s +$4. WTF? #
• Fuckworth of holy fucking shit! I am SO looking forward to doing my own thing in 4wks…. (& whoring it for homepage of http://Cursebird.com.) #
• I’m drooling over new @RaphaelJS demo http://raphaeljs.com/australia.html I so, so have to start using SVG more seriously in day-to-day dev. #
• @TimGasper Where is your “Web 3.0 & Semantic Web” preso happening? Re resources, check out @davidseth’s @SitePointDotCom blog for semantics. #
• @joeschmitt You’re backwards. @Twitter is made for grammar jokes. Especially with a 140 character limits you’d better get ur grammars on! ;) #
• Thought of the day: I took to @Twitter like a fish to water. Why? Probably because reading my archives=decent way to monitor mood swings. :) #
• @karlw3c Right on! I second giving all programs with “so much coupling on display” big X ratings! :D http://soa.dzone.com/articles/rest-http #
• @SaraEileen Congrats re http://SaraEileen.com/blog I like your approach to projecting your online self naturally. Social media+branding FTW! #
• @jacobshare Do you have any advice re using social media tools other than @Twitter or advice for using it to find work that’s not a 9-5 gig? #
• Checking out Oomph, doing some @WordPress hacking and trying not to get distracted by the beautiful naked boys @BloodyLaughter’s looking at. #
• @troyorleans ‘Lubricious’ is my new favorite word of the year! It’s all Viva-La-Revolución-esque while still sounding sexy in its own right. #
• Coolest stupid web trick I learned today: Embed http://YouTube.com videos with `&start=30` appended to URL to start the video 30 seconds in. #
• @shellynoel Liked your post, “Social Media is Taking Over the World.” http://bit.ly/4uNe2G I want to move to SF this Spring…140 char advice? #
• RT @emilylewis: women in web 2.0(via @ryancarson) http://bit.ly/10DLq Contrasted w/stupid male geek culture(via @vdebolt) http://bit.ly/eZbP #
• @emilylewis You’re doing more good w/your @microformats series than I am w/my @WordPress plugin! Also we just retweeted each other & I LOLed #
• http://twitpic.com/l6p2 – Instant retweet replay! AKA you know you’re addicted to @Twitter when…. Also when you tweet at someone in the … #
• @maidchaste Been to SF for almost 2 wks+again for 4 days. Didn’t want to leave either time+kink & tech scene is there, ala #ArseElektronika. #
• @maidchaste I’ve spent years dreaming of living in San Francisco; can’t really understand why I’m not there yet. Tonight, tho, more dreams. #

I’ve just developed a completely idiotic (by which I mean brain-dead simple) plugin for WordPress that will add the Oomph Microformat Toolkit to all WordPress-generated pages. If you use a WordPress template that encodes your data with valid microformats anywhere on your page, this means when you install the plugin your users will see the Oomph microformat overlay and will be able to instantly export this encoded data.

This page is a live example, so if you’re using a JavaScript-enabled browser you should see a microformat icon on the top-left of the viewport that is pulling data from (at least) my “The bio” section in my sidebar. Go ahead, click it. I’ll wait.

Pretty nifty, isn’t it? Naturally, all of the credit for this functionality belongs to the Oomph team, not me. If you want to learn how to add microformats to your blog, I’d recommend Emily Lewis’s latest series of blog posts, Getting Semantic with Microformats. If you want to learn how to easily add the Oomph microformat overlay to your WordPress blog, read on.

The backstory

After Ask.com’s announcement that they are adding semantic search capabilities to their search engine, there’s little doubt in anyone’s mind that the semantic web is the future’s web. As far as I know, Google has yet to reveal similar initiatives but they are clearly in the know as well. Mark Birbeck, one of the smart folks who devised RDFa, recently gave a Google Tech Talk that made the point that semantics are the next big thing in the Internet search engine game.

However, for semantic web stuff to really take hold, two things need to happen first. I think these things need to look like this:

1. Developers must create tools, plugins, and other software that makes it possible for the wider community to create compelling, interoperable applications that support semantic encoding. Thankfully, we are already at this point, with toolkits like the Oomph Microformat toolkit coming out of MixLabs.
2. Armed with these software tools, CMS and other publishing platforms need to adopt semantics as first-class features of their platforms, and build interfaces that end-users can make immediate use of. This is where we still need to go, though some platforms like Drupal have begun to pave the way for this.

Drupal 7 will be fantastic, I’m sure, but we live in the here and now. I saw the Oomph microformat overlay on Emily Lewis’s blog and was more convinced than ever that if everyone—programmers and laymen alike—had easy access to these tools, they’d simply be pounding down the doors to use them. So that’s why I sat down and wrote a completely idiotic plugin for WordPress that makes it completely, utterly, brain-dead simple for anyone with a microformats-enabled WordPress theme to add the overlay to their site.

WP-Oomph: Download the plugin

My request to add the plugin to the WordPress.org Plugin Directory has not yet been completed, so in the mean time I’m hosting the plugin right here. (When/if it’s accepted it’ll end up being The plugin is hosted on that site permanently.)

The latest version is: 0.1.1.

Download the latest version of the WP-Oomph plugin.

Thanks to the Oomph team’s work, the plugin is a ridiculous 1-liner (for now) that uses WordPress’s wp_enqueue_script() function to call both its included jQuery library and the Oomph library itself. And, well, that’s it. I told you it was idiotic, but at least now the whole process of microformat-enabling a WordPress blog is 100% point-and-click.

WP-Oomph: Frequently Asked Questions

I installed and activated the plugin, but nothing is different. How come?

First, view the source of your WordPres-generated page and make sure you see a line similar to the following near the top:

<script type='text/javascript' src='http://visitmix.com/labs/oomph/1.0/Client/oomph.min.js?ver=1.0'></script>

If you see that but there’s still nothing different about your page, then you probably don’t have any (valid) microformats. You might consider switching to a WordPress theme with built-in microformat support, or modifying your theme’s code to add some of your own. You can learn more about the support WordPress offers for microformats in the Microformat wiki.

The plugin does let me do X thing that I want to do! Why not?

Most likely because I haven’t taken X thing into account. Sorry, I’m not a psychic (as much as I wish I were). However, you’re encouraged to leave a comment on this post or to contact me elsewhere to request that I add capabilities to the plugin. Better yet, if you’re comfortable doing so, send me a patch.

• @Neek_ I could say something terrible now but I won’t. Instead I’ll just IMPLY that I’ve said something terrible by mentioning that I COULD. #
• @EssinEm That sucks, but isn’t technically wrong unless you’ve got an employment contract that explicitly specifies terms of termination. :( #
• I have an INTENSE headache. I bet it results from not eating+new plan for Visa issues. Up side=in 4 wks, LOTS more writing+tech events time. #
• @BloodyLaughter @katebornstein Do either of you know if 1Password.app integrates with the Mac OS X Keychain? If it doesn’t, I’d not use it…. #
• @katebornstein @maidchaste Thanks for the info. I use the OS X Keychain as my single (synched) store of passwords: http://tinyurl.com/5972hb #
• Goddamn headache will not go away even after 2 hour nap & @BloodyLaughter’s kind care. Really wanted to write but may just succumb to sleep. #
• @ProblmLikeMaria Which Star Trek did you watch that you switched away from? Yes History Channel is interesting but Star Trek has better sex. #
• @aagblog My blog’s been the center of “Please be quiet on this particular subject” two different times now+one recently. I say speak freely. #
• I 2nd @katebornstein’s sentiment “Overturn Prop 8, but Fuck Marriage Anyway” strongly. Marriage=Special Tax Status http://tinyurl.com/67jaym #
• @JohnBaku Your dad doesn’t want you to be the best son in the world he only wants you to love him. (And you’re likely a better son than me.) #
• @mrsexsmith If I write you a @WordPress plugin, can you do some graphic design work for me? I need something appropriate for a new minisite. #
• @SaschaK Reports of a “severe maelstrom” of productivity due to an Internet outage in America: http://icanhaz.com/nointernets Try it out? :) #

• @sanbeiji Trader Joe’s at NYC’s Union Square was first store I shopped at with a sommelier & I asked him for “the booziest Shiraz, please.” #
• @echomikeromeo You’re clearly hanging out with the breed of girl that doesn’t make masturbation jokes. I’d suggest making the joke just cuz. #
• @BloodyLaughter & I check out the Newtown Festival. I wasn’t expecting it to be so big! That was all the out-of-the-house I needed today. #
• Updating various Trac sites to version 0.11.2, newly released today. Include security fixes+speed & search enhancements. http://tr.im/trac11 #
• After a few house cleaning chores, @BloodyLaughter & I sit down to focus on our respective writing tasks for the day. But before THAT, food! #
• Hi new followers @randomphrase, @juliobiason. @randomphrase presented Bazaar at last http://SyPy.org backed by @sourcefrog and @juliobiason. #
• @factorypreset When I feel “exhausted” like that the cure is often something that’s EMOTIONALLY recharging. Doing “nothing” is never enough. #
• Robin’s http://icanhaz.com/naughtycomics It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No it’s @BloodyLaughter LAUGHING HER ASS OFF at http://Superdickery.com. #

I did a brief talk on Git at SyPy recently. I had a great time learning about the differences between Git, Bazaar, Mercurial, and even some other tools like BitKeeper that got mentioned and were before my time. Both my co-presenter, Alistair (who I sadly have no personal web address for!), and Martin Pool had some really interesting things to say about DSCM tools and Bazaar in particular.

So anyway, my talk was pretty dense and unfortunately I had major issues with Keynote (WTF happened to presenter notes?!) while giving the presentation. I don’t feel like I did as well as I could have. That, and I’ve learned the lesson of practice, practice, practice before doing a live demo. Ugh.

That said, I did actually prepare a bunch of slides so I figured I’d share them with everyone here. The slides are available as a downloadable PDF with my presenter notes, or a ZIP archive of the Keynote file, if you’ve got that installed on your Mac.

I got some fantastic feedback from the great folks at the SyPy meeting. One particular piece of advice I thought was exceptionally poignant was that in the context of a “which tool to use” presentation, my presentation is very technical—probably too technical. Instead, I should have said more about the different ways and applications I used Git with or for.

I could have talked about how I use git as a core tool in the change management process for server configurations. Since git’s big selling point is scalability, this process also turns out to be really useful for larger server deployments. When (appropriately privileged) coworkers need configuration changes to a particular machine, they can actually send me a pull request and I can review their configuration change. I also could have talked about the various different binary file types I often store in git repositories, such as image, Flash, and other video assets for web development purposes. Git handles binaries exceptionally well!

None of these things made it into the presentation slides, so I tweaked the title to reflect the more fundamental technical thrust of its contents. Perhaps this means another git talk is in the works. Or maybe a sequel to this one called Git Fundamentals in 45 Minutes or Less. In any event, if you have any feedback or suggestions, constructive comments are always appreciated. :)

Download presentation

• Git Fundamentals in 30 Minutes or Less (PDF)
• Git Fundamentals in 30 Minutes or Less (Zipped Keynote)

• My bathroom’s light is flickering, reminding me of an old warehouse or rundown bar toilet. Now I’m having elaborate fantasies when I shower. #
• My follower count keeps going up somehow. Hi @halans, @lachlanhardy, @joeschmitt, @Entregreeneur, @wpmag, @likeomg. FYI: I’m not wholly SFW. #
• @likeomg I started following you months ago. You started following me yesterday. I can still say hello and welcome and all that, can’t I? :( #
• OMG! After git submodules, SVN’s vendor branch management schemes feel like I’m driving nails into my skull. http://icanhaz.com/nailsinskull #
• @alexkingorg Q: When I re-save old @WordPress posts Twitter Tools thinks they’re new & tweets them, but I’d rather it not. Did I miss a FAQ? #
• @sushimonster I’ve been having trouble enjoying bacon since I got sucked into whole “chicken and pigs” Scrum terminology. Feels self-hating. #
• Pet hate on @WordPress: Its “Insert into post” button creates (X)HTML that single-quotes attribute values which is syntactically broken XML. #
• @unspeakableaxe I once shared porn w/ a friend who said, “This stuff is hot. Once you get past the fact that everyone—EVERYONE—has a penis.” #
• @mvizdos The comics are painfully poignant. What I like is the emphasis on human factors. I say similar things on http://maymay.net/blog :) #
• Making some edits after going over @sanbeiji’s excellent additions to our next book & finally feeling the past week’s negativity going away. #
• @Entregreeneur “Quite odd and quirky in a good spirited kind of way” could be the best description of myself I’ve heard in a very long time. #
• ZOMFG! http://vimeo.com/2131612 just gave me a simultaneous Zelda+Link/HCI/tech-gasm. Details are at http://ocarina.smule.com. (via @suziam) #

The other day I gave a brief (and overly-hyper) talk about git, the (very) dumb, (very) fast version control system. It was part of SyPy’s Git vs. Hg vs. Bzr night. Rather than be flamingly competitive, however, I had a lot of fun that night learning about the differences between the DSCM tools, which was especially interesting since I’ve only ever used Git in real life scenarios.

Since I’m a Subversion refugee, my only experience with different version control systems is mostly with the distinctions between the centralized versus the distributed models, not between the various tools you can use in either paradigm. What struck me when I first began using git was how conceptually similar it felt to using Subversion when I was using it by myself (as a lone developer) but how radically different it suddenly felt the moment I was sharing my code with someone else.

Now, I’m a die-hard individualist. I want things to happen my way as much as possible, and I don’t really care what happens for anyone else as long as when I interact with other people those interactions are as mutually beneficial as they can possibly be. That’s why I love DSCM tools so much.

Distributed source code management systems feel much more like translator tools between the ways in which people work as opposed to feeling like a dogma of workflow management processes, like centralized systems do. This paradigm appeals both to my preferred way to work and, as it turns out, helps more people stay more productive all at the same time.

This is also why I’m a firm believer that most of the people I’ve worked with in the past completely missed the point of using version control systems. It seems to me that most developers I’ve worked with have thought of SCM tools as “the ‘Save As…’ button on steroids.” While these developers are technically correct, their narrow view of what a VCS does means they aren’t taking advantage of the full potential of the concept.

The power of a version control system isn’t just in that it gives you the ability to easily hit the proverbial “Save As…” button as much as you want, but rather in that you get to retrieve those other versions when you’re ready for them, regardless of what your fellow developers are doing to the code on their machines. This means that a version control system’s real purpose is to insulate you from changes of any sort until you’re ready to deal with them. A good tool also does this reciprocally; it will insulate your fellow developers from the changes you’re making until they’re ready for them.

Admittedly, that’s not a very concrete “feature.” It’s more like a fundamental philosophical principle, which is probably why it’s so hard to encode into the physical manifestation of a tool. Then on top of all of that complicatedness you have to add things like usability and interoperability and resource efficiency. That’s where I learned about the majority of the distinctions between the various DSCM tools discussed in SyPy’s presentation.

However, for me, all of those things ultimately get evaluated against the following question: Does Feature X help insulate me from change (does it help in persisting my view of the state of the world until I’m ready for it to change), or not?

For example, Bazaar’s interesting notion of “nested commits” with dotted revision numbers is really intriguing because it’s much (much) more user-friendly than git’s notion of exposing SHA-1 hashes to (mere mortal) end user’s eyes. Yet, while it’s certainly less painful than copying-and-pasting hashes all over the place, there’s little fundamental difference in the way these mechanisms actually portray the state of the world to me. Any given SHA-1 will always be the exact same commit object. Any given dotted revision number will also always be the same commit (within one’s own unchanged repository).

In contrast, I learned from Martin Pool that Bazaar has a “push over SFTP” feature to let you “export” or “archive” a version of code by transmitting it over an SFTP connection. Now that really caught my attention because it’s an example of the version control tool acting like that translator I was mentioning earlier; the interoperability helps people not need to change until they want to. In this case, it means you never have to install Bazaar on a remote server to get your content there via the tool. That’s very cool—much cooler than the mundane technical fact that bzr supports the SFTP protocol out of the box.

Of course, it’s technically pretty trivial to write an expect or shell script wrapper to enable git (or whatever other tool you want to use) mimic this behavior. And that’s exactly the point: technology is always the easy part. It’s doing it right at a fundamental level that’s actually really difficult to do correctly.