RSS 2.0 Specification (version 2.0.8) Published

The RSS Advisory Board proposal to revise the RSS specification has passed 7-0 with members Matthew Bookspan, Rogers Cadenhead, Loïc Le Meur, Jenny Levine, Eric Lunt, Randy Charles Morin and Greg Smith voting in favor.

The specification has been edited to reflect http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification as the document's permanent URL and RSS-Public as the mailing list where users should post RSS-related questions and comments. No other changes were made.

All edits to the specification are logged. This revision of the document has the version number 2.0.8.

Rss · 2006/08/12 · 1 COMMENT · Link

Flying Under Security Level Red

Arriving for a flight out of Boston's Logan Airport at 4:30 a.m., Doc Searls caught the leading edge of the London terror story:

Something bad happened (they won't tell us), and now the TSA won't let you carry any liquids, gels, pastes or fluids of any kind (pens?) through security checkpoints. Gotta check your medicines, sunblock, water bottels, whatever. This directive went down this morning (it's 4:30am here at Logan in Boston) and has caused a huge backup at the ticket counters and the security checkpoints. ...

Source: "This is the real deal."

What are they not saying? Gives me the creeps.

The Department of Homeland Security declared the highest possible threat level on "flights originating in the United Kingdom bound for the United States," which is the first time the terror alert swatch has gone red.

I thought they were saving red for another horrific day like 9/11, when there's such a heightened state of emergency that planes are grounded, government officials head for safety, people scramble to account for loved ones and TV goes 24/7 terror.

Politics · 2006/08/10 · 12 COMMENTS · Link

Most Major U.S. Papers Offer RSS Feeds

The Bivings Group has issued a study on RSS, podcast and blog adoption at the top 100 American newspapers:

• 76 of the newspapers offer RSS feeds
• 0 of those feeds contain the full text of articles
• 0 of the feeds contain ads
• 31 offer podcasts
• 80 offer reporter blogs
• 19 publish reader comments
• 77 don't require registration

I'd love to have the study's list of papers that offer RSS and don't require registration, because they're the best sources for news articles to pass along on blogs like the Drudge Retort. I hate sending readers to media sites that require registration.

Three no-registration, feed-publishing papers I read regularly: the Cincinnati Enquirer, Houston Chronicle and in Canada, the Toronto Star.

Rss · Podcasting · 2006/08/07 · 3 COMMENTS · Link

Why Lieberman Will Lose Tuesday's Primary

Joe Lieberman in December:

It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the commander in chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril,

Joe Lieberman yesterday:

What I don't think is right, as I've said over and over again, are many of the Bush administration's decisions regarding the conduct of the war. The fact is I have openly and clearly disagreed with and criticized the president. ...

I not only respect your right to disagree or question the president or anyone else -- including me -- I value your right to disagree.

Though I eagerly supported his vice presidential candidacy in 2000, I won't miss Sen. Lieberman when he loses Tuesday's Connecticut primary and is defeated in the general election (or drops out beforehand).

Lieberman lost the primary when he said he'd run as an independent. This announcement legitimized the possibility he'd be defeated by challenger Ned Lamont, showed disloyalty to his party and indicated he's a sore loser. This gave his opponent all of the joementum, and Lieberman's been in free fall ever since.

I keep reading how angry Lieberman has been over Lamont's opposition, which demonstrates one of the reasons he's in such trouble. A three-term senator with all the advantages of incumbency, he can't get over the fact that this election wasn't just handed to him.

Politics · 2006/08/07 · 29 COMMENTS · Link

U.S. Troops Secured Baghdad Rally for Hezbollah

U.S. troops provided some of the security for the rally in Baghdad today where thousands of Iraqi Shiites demonstrated for Hezbollah:

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr summoned his followers around the country to attend a mass rally today in the city's Sadr City district in support of the Shiite militants of Hezbollah battling Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

Iraqi government television said the Defense Ministry had approved the demonstration, a sign of the public anger over Israel's offensive in Lebanon and of al-Sadr's stature as a major player in Iraqi politics.

Crowds of young men began arriving in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City late Thursday and were housed in mosques and Shiite community centers. U.S. Army vehicles guarded approaches to the slum to prevent clashes between Shiite and Sunni extremists.

Dressed in white shrouds to indicate their willingness to die for the cause, demonstrators waved Hezbollah flags and chanted "death to Israel" and "death to America":

"I consider my participation in this rally a religious duty. I am proud to join this crowd and I am ready to die for the sake of Lebanon," said Khazim al-Ibadi, 40, a government employee from Hillah.

Al-Sadr followers painted U.S. and Israeli flags on the main road leading to the rally site, and demonstrators stepped on them with relish. Alongside the painted flags was written: "These are the terrorists."

So the U.S. is simultaneously supplying bombs to Israel for use against Hezbollah; encouraging a ceasefire to stop the bombing; working with Sunni Arab states who fear a Shiite alliance across Iran, Iraq and Lebanon; propping up a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government; and protecting Iraqis eager to join Hezbollah and wipe Israel off the map.

No matter which side you've taken in the Middle East, America is on your side.

Politics · 2006/08/04 · 27 COMMENTS · Link

Minor Edits Proposed to RSS Specification

An RSS Advisory Board vote has begun on minor edits to the RSS specification:

1. Revise the specification to reflect http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification as the permanent URL of the document and RSS-Public as the mailing list where users can pose questions about the format.
2. Give this version of the specification document the revision number "RSS 2.0.8".

Rss · 2006/08/04 · Comment · Link

Grand Jury Will Investigate Gretna Bridge Blockade

One of the reasons things got so bad in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was because of the Gretna bridge blockade. Hundreds of desperate people were prevented from leaving the city on foot by armed police from the city of Gretna, who feared property damage and violence. Although they had no state or federal authority to do so, police left the boundaries of their city and blocked the bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River and provided the closest route out of New Orleans from the Superdome and Convention Center.

The blockade will be the subject of a grand jury investigation in Orleans Parish, the local district attorney announced yesterday.

Gretna, a city of 17,000 that is the seat of Jefferson Parish, was described in 2003 as "Louisiana's most notoriously racist parish" by the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center, a group that provides legal defense for indigent suspects in death penalty trials.

In October, the city of Gretna is encouraging thousands of New Orleans residents to cross the bridge and attend GretnaFest, a music and heritage festival that features performances by Eddie Money, Grand Funk Railroad and the Charlie Daniels Band.

Hurricane Katrina · Politics · 2006/08/04 · 8 COMMENTS · Link

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