Wednesday, September 27, 2006

New DocBook 5.0 test release (beta 8)

Norm Walsh has just posted a new test release of DocBook 5 (beta 8). DocBook 5 is very close to Release Candidate status. Tweaks in this release include: stronger data typing of attributes, and changing inlineequation to allow inlinemediaobject.

You can download the test release here: http://docbook.org/xml/5.0b8/

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Calling all OASIS members! DocBook needs your vote!

DocBook 4.5 has been a committee-approved specification since April 2006. We're trying to get it approved as an OASIS-approved specification. DocBook 4.5 as OASIS Standard went out to vote on Sept 1. So far 10% of members (33) have voted all in favor. (see http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/voting/ballot.php?id=1109). We need as many member reps as possible to vote! If you are a DocBook user, and your company has not yet voted, please contact your representative and urge them to vote now!

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Thursday, September 21, 2006

White and Nerdy

The new song from Weird Al, "White and Nerdy", just cracks me up! I'm afraid it does fit me pretty well, though I've changed a few of the lyrics below (marked in bold) to more closely align with me:

They see me mowin'... my front lawn
I know they're all thinkin' I'm so white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Can't ya see I'm white & nerdy?
Look at me, I'm white & nerdy
I wanna roll with... the gangstas
But so far they all think I'm too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
I'm just too white & nerdy
Really, really white & nerdy

Outstanding grad there at CSU
Got skills, I'm a champion at CCG, too
MC Escher, that's my favorite MC
Keep your 40, I'll just have an Earl Grey tea
My rims never spin - to the contrary
You'll find that they're quite stationary
All of my action figures are cherry
Got DocBook and DITA in my library
My blog page is all totally pimped out
Got people beggin' for my blogroll spaces
Yo, I know pi to a dozen places
Ain't got no grills, but I used to wear braces
I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise
I'm a whiz at Bejeweled, I could play for days
Once you see my sweet moves, you're gonna stay amazed
My fingers movin' so fast, I'll set the place ablaze
There's no killer app I haven't run
At structured markup, well, I'm a Top Gun
Do vector calculus just for fun
I ain't got a gat but I got a soldering gun
"Airwolf" is my favorite theme song
I could sure kick your butt in a game of Atari Pong
I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on
I'm fluent in XSL as well as Klingon
Here's the part I sing on...

They see me building... my Legos
I know in my heart they think I'm white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Can't ya see I'm white & nerdy?
Look at me, I'm white & nerdy
I'd like to build with... the gangstas
Although it's apparent I'm too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
I'm just too white & nerdy
How'd I get so white & nerdy?

I've been browsin', inspectin'
X-Men comics, you know I collect 'em
If it's Sci-Fi, you know I must get 'em
My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored
Shoppin' online for deals on some writable media
I edit Wikipedia
I memorized "Holy Grail" really well
I can recite it right now and have you ROTFLOL
I got a business doin' web sites
When my friends need some code, who do they call?
I do HTML for 'em all
Even made a home page for my mom
Yo, I got myself a Boba jetpack
They were havin' a sale down at the TRU shack
Spend my nights with my family
More bricks, we're Legomaniacs
I'm nerdy in the extreme and whiter than sour cream
I was in Knowledge Bowl and Choir and even the chess team
Only question I ever thought was hard
Was, do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?
Spend money on LOTR, and Trek and Star Wars
Got NASA on my underwear

They see me strollin'... they laughin'
And rollin' their eyes 'cause I'm so white & nerdy
Just because I'm white & nerdy
Just because I'm white & nerdy
All because I'm white & nerdy
Holy cow, I'm white & nerdy
I wanna bowl with... the gangstas
But oh well, it's obvious I'm white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
Think I'm just too white & nerdy
I'm just too white & nerdy
Look at me, I'm white & nerdy

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Sunday, September 17, 2006

That's great, but who are the Chefs?

WooHoo! The Broncos squeaked out the home opener against the Chiefs in OverTime by a field-goal-only game 9-6. My youngest son, Collin, and I were there to cheer them on!

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Monday, September 11, 2006

Scotland slideshow

For those interested, I've posted a slideshow with some pics of my recent trip to Scotland at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shudson310/tags/scotland/show/

If you are looking for an OUTSTANDING travel agency, I would highly recommend The Travel Loft (http://travelloft.biz/). Tell them I sent you!

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DocBook stylesheets 1.71.0 released!

Michael Smith has released the latest DocBook XSL stylesheets (version 1.71.0). This is the experimental release, to be followed shortly with v.1.71.1 if no problems are found.

This release incorporates a number of bug fixes, and also 2 new features:

  • source-code highlighting in output of programlisting instances (controlled through the highlight.source parameter). See http://xmlguru.cz/2006/07/docbook-syntax-highlighting
  • Changes to autoindexing. With this release, none of the code for the 'kimber' or 'kosek' methods is included in the default stylesheets. In order to use one of those methods, your customization layer must import one of the optional stylesheet modules:
    • html/autoidx-kosek.xsl
    • html/autoidx-kimber.xsl
    • fo/autoidx-kosek.xsl
    • fo/autoidx-kimber.xsl

You can download the latest stylesheets here.

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Outstanding Boston DITA User Group!

As you can tell from my moblog pics from today, there was quite a crowd at the Boston DITA User Group meeting tonight! I had the pleasure of attending with David Schell and Michael Priestly from IBM, and Dave was the guest speaker.

I also had the pleasure of meeting both Nancy Harrison (with whom I've known on the DocBook TC for a number of years, but not met in person) and John Hunt (from the DITA Learning SC). I also saw Chris Wong, who is also on the DITA TC, but regretably was not able to meet.

Also in my "interesting new acquaintances" for the evening was Bob Doyle, creater of the Merlinand editor of the CMS Review, among many other notable publications and achievements! Bob also worked as the Coordinator of the NASA Ground-based Observing Program for the SkyLab missions! Bob is a very cool guy in my book!

If you are involved in DITA in the Boston-area, but not involved in the User Group yet, you really missed out tonight! Get more info here: http://dita.xml.org/freelinking/Boston%2520DITA%2520User%2520Group and get involved!

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Bob Doyle at the Boston DITA User Group meeting

John Hunt at the Boston DITA User Group meeting

Dave Schell and Michael Priestley at the Boston DITA User Group meeting