When I upgraded the Drudge Retort, I wanted to simpify things by offering a single feed in RSS 2.0 format. Any halfway decent aggregator supports RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom, so offering all three on a site just gives you two more things that can break.

I quickly discovered that the Retort has 212 subscribers to its Atom feed on Bloglines, none of whom were getting updates when I redirected the URL to the RSS feed. So I added Atom support to Wordzilla and recreated the feed.

Bloglines won't poll it, reporting an error. At first, I thought it was because I redirected the old URL to a new one that better supports caching. But no matter where I offer the feed, which is valid Atom 0.3, Bloglines refuses to check it.

Wordzilla · Rss · 2005/05/27 · Comment · Link

FeedBurner Plants a Bug

FeedBurner has begun adding web bugs to syndicated feeds that enable the service to track use of individual items. I noticed them recently in RSS feeds for The Nation:

Priscilla Owen's confirmation is the bitter fruit of the unprincipled "compromise" on judical nominations.

The img tag at the end of this description loads the web bug, a transparent one-by-one pixel graphic. Niall Kennedy wrote earlier this month that they're part of a paid statistics package.

Every time a bugged item is viewed in an aggregator, FeedBurner can track the IP address and user agent making the request. If a blog republishes an item verbatim, that also shows up in the usage stats.

Web bugs have privacy implications but have become commonplace in web sites and e-mail.

This is the first time I've seen one in RSS. I wrote some PHP code to squash the bugs before I pass along any stories from The Nation on my sites.

Rss · Publishing · 2005/05/26 · 10 COMMENTS · Link

David Asman is Damn Right

Media Matters and a few liberal bloggers are spreading a gotcha moment for Fox News anchor David Asman, who accidentally revealed his we-ness while interviewing Sen. Trent Lott about the filibuster deal:

So, Senator, if we should have done it and if we had the votes to do it in the Senate -- if you guys in the Republican Party did -- then why did you need a compromise?

It's funny to see the guy talking like a Republican homer, but anyone who knows Asman's biography doesn't need to be told where his politics lie. He's a former senior editor for the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

Asman also shared his beliefs on Issues USA, a cable talk show he hosted from 1995-96. I was among the miniscule audience for the daily program, which aired on the not-long-for-this -world News Talk Television channel, because I worked as its webmaster.

The show's web site demonstrates why I wasn't able to find work in web design and began writing computer books. So much ugly crammed into so few pages -- shadowed graphics on a grotesque tile background inside completely unnecessary frames -- you'd think I was intentionally sabotaging the program.

The original title for Asman's show was Damn Right, but complaints by offended viewers scared them into a more wholesome title.

Television · Politics · 2005/05/26 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

Changing Weblog Software is Drudge Work

I just finished moving the Drudge Retort from Movable Type to Wordzilla, my PHP/MySQL software that runs Workbench, giving all 14,400 weblog entries and 233,000 user comments a new home. The project took 10 days, around eight more than I expected.

The Retort is emulating Daily Kos by giving site visitors the tools to create their own blogs. I'm going to choose interesting user blog entries for the main page and home page to run alongside my own blog entries -- I've always wanted to give the kids a chance to drive the family car.

There are 270 users who've written blog entries. One of the most active is by Niceville, a relentless contributor whose politics lie to the right of Alan Keyes, even though the Retort leans left. User blogs support visitor comments, RSS feeds, page caching, membership, and ping notification. Anyone who wants to try it out can join the site and begin blogging.

From now on, I'll be multiplying all project time estimates by five. My next book, an irreverent beginner's title on Java 2 version 1.4, will be completed in November 2007. Pre-order it today.

Wordzilla · Php · Mysql · Movable Type · 2005/05/25 · 12 COMMENTS · Link

Even Further Down South

Rex Hammock has become the fifth member of the Creative Commons Choir, adding his voice to the singalong podcast of "Dixie."

My vocals were receding deeper into the background with each version, so I'm pleasantly surprised to hear more of myself in Rex's edit. I also like the shotgun blast sound he makes at the end, which I interpret as a metaphorical attempt to put a sick dog out of its misery.

He'd love to hear an asynchronous podcasting choir that had the sense to exclude the five of us:

... this is a great idea for some serious choral folks and acapella enthusiasts (translation: people with talent) to experiment with. Post the music arrangement and some MP3 masters for each vocal part, and then invite folks to send in their part.

Podcasting · Music · 2005/05/22 · Comment · Link

Paul Ford bucks the trend, complimenting the New York Times for its plan to charge $49.95 a year for archives and the op-ed section:

Look at the quality of premium cable TV over the last two decades, when compared to the quality of network TV over the same timespan, to see what happens to content when advertisers are the main source of cash.

Interesting comparison, but I think it's far easier for HBO to beat six broadcast networks than for the Times to beat a teeming horde of free online papers and bloggers.

Journalism · 2005/05/21 · 1 COMMENT · Link

Stevie Does Dallas

Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzi are best friends. While together in Dallas, they liked to hit dive bars to eat Tex-Mex food and knock back enough beers to produce photos like this, which I presume helps them reconstruct their activities after a blackout. I think they're holding hands for structural support.

There ought to be a smoldering crater where the American Airlines Center in Dallas once stood, with a sign next to it that reads "Steve Nash was here."

How do you back off Nash at the three point line, leading by three points, with five seconds left? A Dallas playoff game hasn't ended with a move that boneheaded since Derek Harper ran out the clock against the Lakers in 1984 in a tied game, thinking the Mavs were up by one.

This has to be the most devastating defeat ever dealt to Dallas fans by one of our former heroes. It's like Roger Staubach coming back with the 49ers to throw The Catch to Dwight Clark.

Insert Charlie Brown "Auuuugh!" here.

I agreed with owner Mark Cuban's decision that the price for resigning Nash was too high. Now the only thing that stops the guy is catching something antibiotic-resistant from his disturbing habit of licking his fingers before free throws and while he drives the ball up the court.

Sports · 2005/05/21 · 2 COMMENTS · Link

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