One of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me
was that I "looked for the mystery in computers." I'm not seeing a whole lot of mystery these days.
Towards the end of the trip
I realized what it is about Italy, in the cities atleast, that can be so intimidating. Everyone wears closes that are fitted, regardless of whether they are dressing up or dressing down. People may just be bumming around town but their t-shirts are square with their shoulders. I'm told that there is a dark side to this "simple elegance" but it's hard -- even if you are perfectly secure in your self-image and don't give a lick about fashion -- not to feel like a bit of a boob and a slob standing next to it.
developerWorks : Transforming XML documents
into HTML, SVG and PDF documents. "In the future we'll expand this tutorial to include TeX, the emerging VoiceXML standard, and Wireless Markup Language (WML). Although this isn’t an exhaustive list of target formats you might want to support, it’s enough to show you how transformations work. Our range of sample targets include online, printed, and audio formats. Some convert one XML vocabulary to another, while the rest convert XML documents into non-markup language formats." ( bobo-level registration )
LA Weekly : Better Living Through Electro-Politics
"If I’m elected, and if they ever repair City Hall, there will be a Webcam in my office whenever I’m working ... [we] need a drastic change from total behind-the-curtain to total open-the-curtain. I don’t think there’s a middle ground on this one. If a contractor is in my office negotiating a bid, he’s not negotiating with me, but with the citizens of Los Angeles. And he has to be prepared to tell those citizens what he’s doing."