Derek Burt's Weblog - Weblogs category

A post about XML feeds

If an item in your XML feed is a link to your website article or blog entry, I don't read it - it's that simple.

I don't know about anyone else, but there are lots of times when I read the contents of my RSS aggregator offline. My favourite thing to do when I'm on the plane is catching up on what's happening out there in Java and Internet land that I simply haven't had time to check out during the week. It's a great way to catch up and take advantage of some downtime. The problem is that so many posts from JavaBlogs and others are simply titles with a link to the actual entry, which means I can't read them - which means I don't read them!

I'm new to RSS-aggregator-land, but since I have a Windows XP laptop that I am mandated to use, the best RSS reader for me that I’ve found so far is SharpReader, so that's what I've been using. It serves my purposes okay, especially for the price. I don't know if there are any RSS aggregators out there that will follow all the links there and download them for offline reading, so maybe it's just the client I'm using. With that being said, forget about the client side of things for a moment - just having a "headlines" XML feed makes no sense when folks are terrible at coming up with headlines. For a newspaper, sure, you can usually get the gist of it from the headline, but for blogs "my thoughts on the economy" usually doesn’t cut it. I don't have a problem with summaries - I can at least understand where you're going with it and mark it for later online viewing (or like many you've got revenue models to meet and need folks to see your advertisements), but I just don't have time to do that with the millions of web sites out there that don't include any content in their feeds.

Wil Wheaton has seen the light, so why haven't you?

Turd Sandwich defeats Giant Douche

As usual, the most insightful political commentary of this past election season (aside from Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire) was provided by South Park's season premiere - check it out if you haven't already.

It's been two weeks since the end of the US elections, and I for one could not be happier, both in terms of the result and because it's finally fucking over! I have spent the bulk of the last year in the USA and I gotta tell you, there were times when I was so sick of the process I just wanted to cry.

It absolutely amazes me the time, effort, and energy spent not only by the politicians and their parties, but all of America in their entire political process. It's an absolute shame that they devote most of their time talking and pontificating about different sides of issues when all they have to do is wake up and realize they are all on the same side - conservative America. As an outsider living in the country, it is painfully obvious to me that there is very little distinction between the two major political parties other than their rhetoric. The Republicans espouse right-wing beliefs and platforms and act on them. The Democrats sometimes espouse liberal left-wing beliefs but always act conservatively. I heard a great quote from Robert Novak during a post-election scrum on CNN: “[America] is a conservative country, and the fact is that John Kerry, he wouldn't even call himself a liberal." It's time for people in and outside the USA to realize that.

There are reasons why America is united through their actions as a nation in conservativism, and it boils down to the unabashed belief in capitalism as not only an economic system, but as the guiding principle of American life. If you work hard, you'll be rewarded, or at least have a fighting chance to get ahead. If don't work hard, you won’t. Anybody who can't stand on their own two feet does not deserve to stand up. Why do people in the USA work longer than anyone else in the rest of the world and take fewer vacations? Because that's what Americans do - work in pursuit of the almighty dollar. The only critics of the free market system in the USA are those who live in the ivory towers of universities and Hollywood, where the cold, hard consequences of the real world no longer apply to them.

It's also time for "liberals" in the USA to realize that if they truly believe in progressive platforms and causes, that they are going to have to start electing politicians and forming parties that actually believe and act on those ideas. America is not a two party system, it's worse: it's a one party system. If they are going to get anywhere with their ideals, they are going to have to do something about that first.

However, there was a big upside to the election this time around, thanks to all of the idiot hippies and haters who got thoroughly crushed on Election Day. To me, it was amazing how many people HATED Bush and how organized and dedicated so very many people were to get him out of office. How he still could have won is beyond me - unless you consider that every time some jackass said "Bush is a fucking moron and so is anyone who doesn't realize that" those of us who would choose Bush over Kerry didn't take it as an attack on Bush, but as an attack on ourselves. That's the key point in this election that the media has completely glossed over. People don't like to be called stupid. They will listen to an alternative point of view, but not if they are told it repeatedly ad nauseum and it is prefaced with "you are stupid and he's why ..."! Those folks took it personally and showed up to the polls!

That was only part of the reason why it was funny to me. The most hilarity came from the fact that people didn't understand or realize how little difference there was between the two candidates in the first place. To see a girl on the news holding her "Kerry/Edwards" sign in the verge of tears before the election at how angry she was at George Bush was hilarious. Thinking of that lady working to elect John Kerry, the senator in Washington who took the most special-interest money of anybody over the past twenty years, because she just didn't know any better brought me to tears - tears of laughter. It wasn't just that lady, either - thousands of some of the smartest and most influential people on our planet were doing the same thing. It was all very funny to me because most of everything I read on the Internet and otherwise from the "left" of America spoke of two things after they lost: their rage and their hate. Sorry folks, don’t need no hateration! I wish they could all take a step back and think of the last political movement based on an ideology of hate ...

I've also been wrestling with personal demons throughout this process, and I think I have grown as a person. I used to have a GeorgeWBush.com election banner on my website, which I now would like to think was more of a knee-jerk reaction to all the haters who don't like the man. Lord knows I agree with a ton of his policies because I agree with the principles behind them, but I also disagree with a lot of the execution of those policies, to speak nothing of the things he's done or might do that I disagree with completely. I still stand behind my support for his re-election, because a choice between George W. Bush and John Kerry is really no choice at all. What I am beginning to learn (something exacerbated by being in a country constantly debating itself when everyone is really on the same side) is to personally stop using labels to describe my political beliefs. This right-wing/left-wing nonsense is all bullshit. Most folks want to improve the world, so I'd like to move beyond that and start thinking in terms of how to solve problems instead of cutting the "other guys" down. Enough of this Crossfire he said/she said reductio ad absurdum, we gotta move the discussion to a higher level. Even further beyond that, the best lesson I learned from the idiots supporting Kerry is that for us all to get ahead, we gotta lose the rage and start thinking positive. THE RANT that has become so commonplace in cyberspace is really moving past its life expectancy for me. With that being said, this all might prove to be difficult since this post alone proves I'm having trouble eating my own dog food! :)

Getting out of spin alley

If you haven't seen it, check out Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire (Slashdot link). It's about time that people start taking the media to task about the way they operate. As I've said before, the vast majority of journalists are people who are either too cowardly or too incompetent to make their own news, so instead they report on it. They weren't good enough to get the power they crave through political, financial, or social means, so instead they are left to participate in the only way they know how - being the unwitting instruments of those really in control.

Some would call it a sad time in our history when the most politically insightful show on television today is South Park (new episodes start Oct 27!). That shouldn't come as much of a surprise, when you can spend days watching today's news and information channels without learning a single thing. Call me naive, but for a brief moment Jon's appearance really felt like the start of something - like a first baby step in the direction of a society based on discourse instead of ideology.

While my politics have jumped around over the years based on my experiences and the things I've learned, my unwavering belief in technology has never abated. If we really are in age of change, it promises to be very exciting, because while social revolutions have happened in the past, this time every person on this earth now has the ability to publish their opinions to everyone across the planet. Whatever happens, this is new, and the results will be different - get ready for it.

Super bon

The Minifie lecture on Wednesday night was awesome. I met Mike there just before it started and I had a great time, even though it went longer than I expected. I thought Evan Solomon was a great speaker and seemed to be a great guy, the kind of guy you would want to go out for beers with on the weekend. Basically, his talk was about something that I've been looking for for a long time - he discussed defending the media as a relevant and important institution. My feelings have always been that journalists are people that for whatever reason, whethey they didn't have the courage or the brains, could not be movers and shakers in this world, so they decided to cover it instead. It is in this covering of events that they try to make their mark in this world, through their biased coverage to fit whatever personal agenda they have. Evan did a good job of explaining why the media is very important because of the functions they serve in society. I'm really not doing it justice, but it was a good presentation. I especially liked what he had to say about new technology forcing old mediums to find efficiencies. The one thing that he didn't touch on, though, was that no matter what virtues the media might have, 95% of "journalists" out there are not helping the cause, but hurting it. I think what he had to say was right, and important, but he didn't justify why no one out there is doing it nor did he talk about any ideas to change it. I actually got up and asked a question about what he thought the impact of weblogging is having both as part of the media and just part of society. He basically thought that while you can get some unique stuff in weblogs, it will never be a mainstream part of society's information gathering, rightly pointing out that the proliferation of the Internet has only given rise to more centralization, rather than the opposite.

There have been a lot of things going on lately that really piss me off, and some parts of the lecture reminded me of that, namely the two crazy people who got up to ask questions. One guy was some kind of conspiracy-theorist who thought he had an earth-shattering story that everyone needed to hear when really the reason no one would take his story is because he had obvious mental problems. The second guy quoted stuff most people haven't even heard of before, so you'd think he was smart, but he just raged at Evan over something that Evan didn't even say and when Evan explained it, he got even more mad. It was surreal. The bottom line is, there is a significant amount of the population that has legitimate mental problems and for some reason I seem to run into them all the time. Whether it is people losing their minds over Janet Jackson or people reacting like The Carillon raped and murdered people when all they did was print a harmless and perfectly legal (albeit "tasteless" - whatever that means - it's usually the people who find things "tasteless" that have their heads up their ass the most) article, I seem to run into these types daily. The message I am trying to give you is this - if you spend your life worrying about what other people are doing to your society's sensibilities or your personal space, then you fall into one of two catagories: 1) you have serious mental problems or 2) you have way to much time on your hands. Grow the fuck up - this is life, not academia - people like me who can get through the day without losing it don't need your bullshit.

Anyways, Mike and I went out after the lecture, and it was a bitch to find somewhere to go! It was St. Patty's Day, so, of course, every place was packed full. We stopped at like 4 places in the south end before we finally decided to wait 20 mins at BP's for a table. We were both starving but afterwards I think I had eaten too fast because I wasn't feeling too good - it was time for bed and I didn't even enjoy a green beer or a Guinness!

Thursday nights' union meeting wasn't too eventful. Today I worked from home as there were guys here in the morning to start work fixing the blinds on the solar-arium that weren't working. They had to order some parts so hopefully they'll be fixed within the next few weeks. I went to Laval tonight for supper with Azure-Dee for the "Cinq a Sept" (5-7) as they call it. We had some great food for cheap and talked in French the whole time. I'm really looking forward to getting involved with this French conversation group to brush up, because, boy, do I ever need it!

Otherwise, I don't have anything planned for this weekend. I've got work stuff to do and some personal computer-type fooling around and I just want to lay low. I have never been closer to personal bankruptcy in my whole life so I'd like to lay low. It's for all the right reasons, and it's nice to relax and save some cash!

What blog posts really mean

Diego has written a great piece on the nature of blog posts and what people are trying to say with them. I think it's a great read. For me, my posts are snapshots of what's happening in my life and what I think about things. It's not like writing an essay - I just don't have time for that nor the inclination. I'm not about representing both sides of an issue or being too verbose about anything; I shoot from the hip and what you see is what you get - usually. I do try to stay away from the slander and what-not, but lately I've been really thinking about what others who don't know I have a website would think about me if they started reading this.

While Russell and thousands of others are profiting big-time from the public visibility they get on their site, I don't think my site is quite the same, it's a lot more personal - and a lot more irrelevant ;)