so…

22 Sep 2020

Published by Norman Walsh

So. I’m starting over.

This weblog⊕ is my space to ramble on in bursts longer than 140 characters. The opinions are my own^†. If you’d like to follow along, you can subscribe to one or more of several feeds. Or just click the links below, that works too. So does searching.

Recent microblogs

22 Sep 2020 at 07:20 UTC

TIL: When the Tesseract OCR tool parses my PDF bank statement, it turns the mobile phone provider “O2” (Oh Two) into “02” (Zero Two). Because, yes, alas, in 2020, OCRing a PDF is the most reliable way to get transaction details out of financial institutions.

21 Sep 2020 at 18:50 UTC

What cost spam? The energy to create, transmit, filter, store, and ultimately delete it is probably a rounding error in terms of climate change, but there’s also an emotional and intellectual cost spread across countless millions. With no redeeming value whatsoever.

20 Sep 2020 at 18:54 UTC

Walkers Max Double Crunch Chicken & Chorizo #crisps

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Recent posts

OCRing financial statements, 22 Sep 2020
In XSLT: Sometimes (always, AFAICT) OCRing a PDF is the most reliable way to get transaction details out of financial institutions.
Catalog resolver migration, 07 Aug 2020
In XML Resolver: Migrating your application from the Apache Commons catalog resolver to XML Resolver.
DocBook themes, 03 Aug 2020
In DocBook: Adding support for dark mode as an aid to accessibility.
DocBook XSL: The Next Generation, 25 Jul 2020
In Conferences, Balisage, XML, XSLT, DocBook: A new implementation of transformations for DocBook in XSLT 3.0
An XInclude API for Saxon, 09 Jul 2020
In Conferences, Balisage, XML, DocBook: An XInclude processor for Saxon, including an extension function that can be called from XSLT stylesheets (and XQuery? I haven’t tried).
Dynamic profiles, 08 Jul 2020
In DocBook: Composing documents based on run time parameter values.
What font is that in?, 07 Jul 2020
In Conferences, Balisage, DocBook: Missing glyph U+2BC3, you say? Ok. Where is it?
Documents that format themselves, 05 Jul 2020
In XSLT: The xsl:evaluate instruction is interesting.
Five Interesting Things, 29 Jun 2020
In Conferences, Balisage, DocBook: A screencast teaser for my Balisage paper and a new project.
Documentation improves code, 20 Jun 2020
In Activities, Interests, Programming, Conferences, Balisage: It is an underappreciated fact that writing documentation improves your code.
XSLT Explorer, 03 Jun 2020
In XSLT: Better understanding through static analysis. Not deep, serious static analysis, but a bit of XSLT on XSLT static analysis.
Unicode and Emoji, 28 May 2020
In Unicode, Emoji: This morning, I tweeted about Unicode and emoji. Here’s a little back story and a few things I learned along the way.
DocBook Documentation, 27 Apr 2020
In DocBook: Not documentation in DocBook, documentation about DocBook. Well, actually Documentation about DocBook in DocBook, but it’s the “about” part that’s most relevant.
“Chunking” DocBook, 27 Apr 2020
In XML, XSLT, DocBook: Breaking large DocBook documents into pages for the web is just a little non-trivial. I’ve rewritten how it works in the DocBook XSLT 2.0 Stylesheets.
Dash docset updates, 18 Apr 2020
In Emacs, MacOS, XML: Updates and additions to the Dash docsets I mentioned recently.
Creating Dash docsets, 12 Apr 2020
In MacOS, XML: Making a collection of XML specifications available for the “Dash” documentation browser.
XML Calabash 1.2.1 for Saxon 10.0, 06 Apr 2020
In XML Calabash: A first attempt at Saxon 10.0 support.
Update all the things!, 29 Mar 2020
In Gradle, XML Calabash: Right then. In for a penny, in for a pound. I’ve upgraded all of the XML Calabash 1.x extensions. (And XML Calabash 1.x, come to think of it.)
DocBook XSLT 2.0 updates, 26 Mar 2020
In Gradle, DocBook: Different repo, same Gradle update.
XML Calabash updates, 24 Mar 2020 (updated 26 Mar 2020)
In Gradle, XML Calabash: Slow but steady, and a Gradle update.
Shuffled Ink, 08 Mar 2020
In Weddings: Wedding review: Shuffled Ink playing cards.
Docker explorer, 05 Mar 2020
In Organizations, MarkLogic, Emacs, Docker: A small hack combining Emacs, docker, and MarkLogic log files.
O.M.G., 04 Mar 2020
In EMail: The spam! It burns!
Wedding photography, 03 Mar 2020
In Weddings: Wedding review: Liga Stevenson Photography
My .emacs, 29 Feb 2020
In Conferences, XML Prague, Emacs: Configuring emacs is part art, part science. I’m carrying around customizations that date back more than 20 years.
Dotfiles, 29 Feb 2020
In Emacs, Org mode: My configuration files.
Presenting in Org, 29 Feb 2020
In Conferences, XML Prague, Org mode: There are lots of popular tools for giving presentations. I hate them all. Usually, I use the web. For XML Prague, I decided to use Emacs.
XProc 3.0: Ready or Not, 18 Feb 2020
In Conferences, XML Prague, XProc: My presentation from XML Prague about XProc 3.0.
Photoblogging Challenge, 01 Feb 2020
In Activities, Interests, Photography, Org mode: Gearing up for the Micro.blog 2020 February photoblogging challenge! With Emacs and Org-mode, of course!
Adaptive fill mode, 31 Jan 2020
In Emacs, Org mode: To fill or not to fill, that is the question. Well. No. It’s to fill or unfill, really. Which is just…oh, nevermind.

Alternatively · You might be looking for my previous weblog, my home page, my photos, or my itineraries. Or maybe you’re looking for my Micro.blog, Twitter, or GitHub pages? The XML Guild? Balisage? XML Summer School? Goodness, I don’t know. Is it silly travel maps you’re after? Or timezone details? Home made calendars? A clock? A countdown timer? Shoes or ships or sealing wax? Cabbages or kings? Maybe Google could help?

^†I work for Saxonica, but the opinions expressed here are my own, and no other party necessarily agrees with them. A full disclosure of my professional interests can be found on the author page.