Halley Suitt:  Can anyone help me out with an RSS error?  Short answer: turn off smart-quotes.

The RSS validator will provide a clearer error message.  The problem is that your weblog contains characters which will not be read the same by everybody on all platforms.  You can fess up by changing the first line of your RSS feed to declare the character set, i.e., something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252"?>

Or, you can simply change the characters to something more universal.  There are even tools that can help.

  1:13:52 PM   Comment 

It looks like people are starting to wake up to the notion that XML is, well, extensible.  You don't need separate syndication and archiving formats.  You don't need separate syndication and display formats.  The most extreme example I have seen to date is still this one - a blog that validates as RSS.

My weblog validates as XTML 1.0.  If recommendations emerge as to CSS class names for aggregation purposes, I will comply.

  10:15:28 AM   Comment 

Hello, my name is Sam Ruby, and I'm not afraid to admit that I read Shelley Power's weblog  (Hi Sam!)

Speaking of what people are afraid to admit, apparently a large number of people prefer not to cry in public.  Some of the male of the species say that it's because it is not perceived as masculine to do so.  Some of the female of the species say that it's because it is perceived as too feminine to do so.

I believe that in most cases, it is because the person does not wish to appear vulnerable (or perhaps, in Shelley's case, exploitative).  Unfortunately, the reasons people state for this behavior perpetuate the myth that the female gender is the weaker sex.

Those that believe that the female is the weaker sex have not met my wife.  I can guarantee that those who are reading this weblog and have met my wife have a knowing smile on their faces right now.  For the rest, let me describe a shirt that she often wears.  It has a snarling cat on it.  The caption reads "don't mess with me, I draw blood".

It is not an idle threat.

  9:42:35 AM   Comment