Slashdot - Microsoft on Tuesday won a patent for launching a certain kind of HTML application within Windows. The patent, "Method and apparatus for writing a Windows application in HTML" (Hypertext Markup Language), describes Microsoft's way of opening up HTML applications in a window free of navigation and other interface elements, known as "chrome," and browser security restrictions.' Wow, I haven't written on a specific patent in a long time, because there's nothing much new to say.

I tend to work on larger writing projects; deep down I don't believe that anybody cares to hear me say "[Link to something].... Hmmm...." on an hourly basis (w/ a tip o' the hat to Instapundit, who had two seperate "Hmm" messages on the front-page for me to choose). I think my next project is going to be "Critical Listening Fallacies"; these are the complement of the more traditional argument fallacies where the listener fails in their part of a debate.

If you're all exposed to any kind of public music, you're probably already tired of Christmas music. After all, there are at best around 20 to 30 Christmas carols, and that's counting quite a few things like "Still, Still, Still", which I recognize but rarely hear in public. And it's the same 20 every year. But if you can get past the repetitive nature of the melodies, I've been noticing how innovative Christmas songs get harmonically.

iRights is dead. The mission of this weblog since Jan. 2000 has been to track the development of rights on the Internet. I've been eclipsed in every significant way by people with more time and perhaps more importantly, more real domain knowlege. LawMeme, Groklaw, Privacy Digest, and many other sites are doing a better job then I can. With the publication of my Communication Ethics essay, I no longer have very much significant to say in this domain, other then occasional references to the essay.

I thought it would be interesting to summarize my experiences with Atkins to date, since I haven't posted on it for a while. First, so far I've lost about 30 pounds, out of a projected 50 or so I want to lose. The reason I'm not there yet is that I have not been on it full time. Some observations: Falling Off the Diet Once I'm on the diet, I tend to stay there unless something knocks me off.

It was obvious that the democratization of the media would bring new voices into the field, but who knew that so many of those voices would be conservative, libertarian, or just cantankerously opposed to entrenched liberal doctrine? The conservative side is far from winning the culture wars, but the debate is broader and fairer now. The near monopoly is over. This article re-affirms why I think the whole Second Superpower meme is true, but backwards.

Third, this is going to be a product, not one that I plan to sell (although I may give it to UserLand and they might sell it). It's a new kind of outliner-based Web CMS, that does weblogs and all the other stuff you see popping up here on Scripting. I spent much of the day exploring ideas for how to package, test and then ship this. Should it be a Manila plug-in?

Thanks to the ability of Apple's iTunes to share music collections over local networks, it is now possible to judge someone's taste in music -- or lack of it -- in a way that previously required a certain level of intimacy. The ability to examine the music collections of co-workers, neighbors or fellow students is akin to peering into their souls: Someone who appears cool and interesting from the outside is revealed as a cultural nincompoop through the poor sap's terrible taste in music.

Communication Ethics book part for Appendix: The Technical Lawyer Cirriculum. (This is an automatically generated summary to avoid having huge posts on this page. Click through to read this post.)

Communication Ethics book part for Conclusion. (This is an automatically generated summary to avoid having huge posts on this page. Click through to read this post.)