Blog posts

Warning: This entry contains comments that could be construed as ‘spoilers’ (thanks to Colin for the reminder) The blog world is awash with conversation about last night’s West Wing, due in part to the portrayal of noted lawyer Larry Lessig by Christpher Lloyd. Joi Ito was the first I saw with the news that Lessig’s role in the story was connected with real life events, and now Larry has chimed in himself with some reflections on the experience. ...

With an existing blog going strong it may come as a surprise to some that I’m starting a new one. Thing is, there are a lot of people who read my other blog who have little to no interest in my occasional comments on web development work, and I have a hankering to write about that a little more. So I decide to start another blog here, to sit alongside the rest of my work site. ...

I have launched a new development blog to document the work I’m doing.

For a few weeks I’ve been meaning to mention Call That News, an entertaining overview of British news reporting written by a character named Franz. I’ve been enjoying reading these reports since they launched. And for those that might be interested, I’ve just launched a new blog. a work in process is a space to write about the work I’m doing building web sites and experimenting with web technologies. It won’t entirely displace thinking about the web from this blog, but it’ll allow me to keep the thoughts here more focussed on social implications. ...

It’ll come as no surprise to anyone who knows me or who has read this blog with any regularity that I wasn’t a fan of the choice of Condoleeza Rice for the new US Secretary of State. On top of her many failings around the Iraq war, her very clear partiality and lack of fans overseas don’t mark her out as someone who’d make for a good diplomat. It’s not come as much surprise to see her quickly demonstrating her knack for double-speak on that new stage. ...

With the initial stages of all three current projects out the door, it seemed like time to get my Technorati API implementation up to date. There have been quite a few changes to the API since I released the last version at the beginning of October and I felt it was time to begin catching up. In the end, I opted for a complete rewrite, following the PEAR coding standards as I intend to propose it for inclusion in PEAR soon. Having benefitted so much lately from the tools included in PEAR I decided it was a good idea to give something back and this seems an obvious starting point. ...

The initial reports emerging from this week’s meeting of G7 finance ministers were unsurprising but a little worrying for those of us eager to see the growth of momentum from the Make Poverty History rally and the World Economic Forum meeting. The US delegation seems to have refused to entertain the suggestions of a tax on (currently entirely untaxed) airline fuel to provide more funding for international development initiatives, selling of bonds, or of revaluing IMF gold reserves to provide funding for debt cancellation. ...

I’d been looking forward to a new upgrade to my computer and some new CDs that arrived today, but one letter arrived that left all that as mere distraction. In technical terms it was an I-797C Notice Of Action. In simpler terms, I finally have a date for my Green Card interview. I am to be in Detroit at 8am on April 19th for the interview (I don’t know what they’ll ask) and if all goes well will have my Green Card shortly after that. ...

Bite’s staff know how to brew their (starbucks) espresso drinks well, and their connection is a very reasonable 300kbps up/212kbps down, but other than that it’s hard to recommend the downtown Grand Rapids bistro as a destination for WiFi usage. With prices rather higher than most of my usual wifi haunts, a complete absence of power outlets (short of unplugging some of the lamps) and small tables, Bite is one of the more disappointing offerings in the downtown area. It definitely has a charm and would likely be a good destination for lunch, but the prices and the lack of amenities rule it out for regular, serious usage. ...

GRWifi.net now features RDF metadata about all locations, as well as the option to search by proximity and view all points on a map.