Tuesday, 7th October 2003
Unstructured linkage
- Tom Gilder: Absolutely fucking nuts
- Get ready for IE changes
- Score Higher in Google Search Engine (and why Google is saving the web)
- High performance XML-RPC
- Juggling with packets: floating data storage (via Ned)
- Taking the Pulse of XML Editing
- Beware the dangers of generic Exceptions
- Blogging for Dollars
- Resign Patterns: Ailments of Unsuitable Project-Disoriented Software
- PatchDayReview.com—Explaining Microsoft’s Weekly Patches in Non-Technical Terms
- XML Application Objects (via the SitePoint Forums)
- Chapter 17 of the XML Bible: XSL Transformations
- Radiohead, as drawn by 5th graders
- Telephone Preference Service, the UK Do Not Call list
PHP’s date() function in Python
In switching from PHP to Python I’m discovering an increasing number of PHP functions that I’ve learnt to rely on but have no direct equivalent in the Python standard library. Often Python simply provides a different way of approaching the problem, but old habits die hard and I’ve been replicating some of PHP’s functionality in Python for my own personal use.
[... 422 words]How I obtained my US Visa
I received my J-1 Visa for 11 months in the US this morning, accompanied by my certificate of eligibility for J-1 status. I promptly cut the certificate in half with a pair of scissors while opening the envelope, but a call to the Embassy has confirmed that it’s still valid and will still get me in to the country.
[... 970 words]Opening times for online forums?
Here’s something I’ve never seen before. The BBC’s Neighbours messageboard currently has a note up saying “This messageboard is currently closed”, with a link to the opening times: 9am until 10pm weekdays, opening 10am at weekends. You can still read the forums but you can’t post anything. This is obviously a moderation tactic to ensure there is always an administrator available to delete offensive material should any be posted—I’m writing about it here because I’ve never seen this approach used before.
[... 158 words]