All the standard templates that show how to construct a basic XHTML page include a public identifier of http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd and often a namespace name of http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml. As the blog points out, these are not actually hyperlinks, they only play them on TV. Huge quantities of software are requesting these URLs 24×7, putting a load on their servers. Often times this results from unfortunate defaults in off-the-shelf XML components such as parsers.

But what did you expect?

This is the web equivalent of having a front-desk receptionist hand out a stacks of self-addressed, stamped postcards, then complaining about how much mail the company gets from all around the world.

HTTP URLs are great for identifiers on a technical basis: they are based on DNS names and have the important qualities of uniqueness and persistence. But as far as human factors go, they are a terrible choice (though with a great deal of inertia at this point). -m

My standard test search–a little offbeat but still plausible–for mead near Sunnyvale produced disappointing results. The meadery within walking distance didn’t show, and of the top 6, two were duplicates. Scrolling down to the 10th result, though, did show an interesting, useful result, albeit 60.15 miles away: Knowne World Meads. I wanted to visit the web site, but here lies another problem: there’s no web integration. None of the search results include a URL or clickable link.

For all the hassle, I’ll stick with Opera Mini and my favorite search engine, thank you. -m

The interesting thing about these URLs is that they don’t end in .mobi. There are technical advantages (cookies) to staying with an established domain name. What are your plans, if any, for dot-mobi domains? -m

Until very recently, I was doing the same. For me, posting links is a way of keeping the ‘pilot light’ burning when I didn’t have enough time to do full postings–on del.icio.us, posting a link, writing a short description, and clicking in a few tags takes 30 seconds. One can do it without interrupting whatever task led you to an interesting URL. But only once in over six months was that enough to stir up some discussion.
And discussion is what I want to stir up again, hence more focus on the blog. Thoughts? -m

Go to about:config and change editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines setting to 3 or add: user_pref(“editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines”, 3); to your user.js file.

Excellent! -m

I can’t be the only one for whom this document makes no sense, which I mean in the broader sense of ‘how does this fit in to the rest of the world’. Many times, looking at the testimonials gives some idea what’s going on. Let’s see…

…frees Web services from the classic HTTP request/response

Huh?

Many other specifications, such as WS-Trust, WS-ReliableMessaging, and WS-Coordination, leverage this facility…

This calls for a new category, WS-Whatever. Sigh. -m

P.S. Looks like Mark Baker has similar thoughts.