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(Via Adrants.)

First, thanks for a great discussion yesterday. The best part was there was only a little ad hominem bashing, much less than we used to have whenever we have a sprited discussion of technology. I remember when I couldn’t say anything without getting surrounded by a bunch of really nasty personal stuff. Didn’t happen yesterday. Almost from the beginning I started learning, and that’s always appreciated. So thanks! Good work.

I might have felt a bit differently right off the top, about JSON if I hadn’t read this bit of anti-XML propoganda on site that appears to be a JSON advocacy site. If I didn’t know to question such things, given the domain name, json.org, it appears to be the advocacy site. Even if it isn’t JSON-central, clearly there is some reinvention going on here.

Back in the mid-90s, my first reaction to XML was to retch in horror at the inevitable politics that such a beast would certainly evoke. Back then I was very happy to be working on the web, I thought of it as the platform with no platform vendor, and I saw XML as a way of inviting all the would-be and former platform vendors back in to rule our lives, and prevent us from having any fun or making any money. Eventually I was won over, for one main reason — interop is important. If I make software that has an open and easy to understand protocol for communicating with other instances of itself, then other people can write plug-compatible software, and users can choose between products based on features, performance and price, not compatibility. I had already seen the world melt down several times as the technology industry fought to form lock-in through various schemes to delude people into thinking they were open to being replaced, when they were anything but.

Fast-forward to 2006, after a lot of time was put in by a lot of people to get a teeny little bit of interop here and there, and predictably, it’s being erased, of course, by the tech industry. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. This just happens to be the week I took a look. I don’t know why. Maybe I was bored. Maybe it was meant to be.

Les Orchard, who I admire, and have worked with several times, says I shredded his product. I didn’t mean to. However I did mean to shred the idea that everything can be redone at any time. Sure there are always lots of arguments in favor of starting over, but the one argument against it, imho, is the strongest, interop is sacred, and anything that throws out interop is highly suspect. One way to do things, no matter how flawed, is better than two, no matter how much better the new way is. The Perl community has a different motto, god bless em, but in the space where all languages interop, the less-is-more and worse-is-better approach is what makes things work.

So JSON isn’t evil. It’s just the internal object serialization format for JavaScript. No problem. But using it as a basis for interop, when there were already good ways to achieve interop is evil, imho. I don’t think that’s what del.icio.us did, but I do see some people advocating that, and I think they’re wrong. Am I going to do anything more about it? No fucking way. There’s a nasty war in Iraq, a national election next year, I just bought a house, I may want to write a book, and I’m fighting other battles that demand more of my attention. But I’m glad we could have this discussion, and please continue, I enjoy learning new stuff.

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(Via Scripting News.)

Officials, who declined to release the 56-year-old woman’s name, said she spoke Spanish and apparently did not understand English.

She initially didn’t want the baby transported to a hospital, but security officials called paramedics and insisted that the child be examined by a doctor…

‘Rather than focus on the radiation dose, which is a small amount, we need to focus on why this happened, so it doesn’t happen again,’ said Dr. James Borgstede, a diagnostic radiologist at Penrose-St. Francis Health Systems in Colorado Springs, Colo., and president of the American College of Radiology. ‘Human beings weren’t meant to go through those things.’

In the several seconds the baby spent in the machine, the doctor added, he was exposed to as much radiation as he would naturally get from cosmic rays — or high energy from outer space — in a day.

Link (Thanks, Jennifer Lum!)

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(Via Boing Boing.)

THEATER: Sentimental hogwash! Following in the tradition of the one-man theatrical renditions of Star Wars and The Godfather Trilogy, comic actor/impressionist Jason Grossman presents his It’s a Wonderful (One Man Show) Life! tonight. Time Out NY called it ‘a guaranteed laugh riot.’ We’re just excited to see how he handles the Charleston contest! – John Del Signore

9pm // Manhattan Theatre Source [177 MacDougal St] // $15

COMEDY: Join SNL’s Horatio Sanz at his Ho Ho Horatio Sanz Christmas Special, tonight and tomorrow night at UCB. David Bazan, Brett Gelmen and Edgar Oliver are amongst the merry comedy elves joining him on stage to help you laugh your little hearts out.

Wednesday and Thursday // 9:30pm // UCB [307 W 26th St] // $8

MUSIC: Leave it to a music marketing company to throw a ‘Hot Mistletoe Makeout Party’ with bands galore, free Sparks, and an open bar from 12 to 2am. The lineup: Nous Non Plus, Autodrome and Aarktica.

One Night in Paris.mp3 – Nous Non Plus

10pm // Lit [93 2nd Ave] // Free

EVENT: It’s a ‘Hedwig Hanukkah’ tonight, as the cult classic is celebrated yet one more time. Dress as your favorite character – there will be prizes, latkes and original burlesque pieces inspired by the movie. Ah, holidays.

10pm // Slipper Room [167 Orchard St] // $5

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(Via Gothamist.)