Mathemagenic

For Thomas and others: Radio macro to get Technorati cosmos for a post (see this post in browser for an example).

From Matt Mower via IM:

• save http://matt.blogs.it/gems/postCosmos.txt into your Macros folder
• edit #itemTemplate.txt adding <%postCosmos( <%itemNum%> )%>
• publish

I also edited macro to display "Technorati cosmos" instead of "What other blogs are saying about this post", you'll find it easily in the text.

I forgot to mention, you can change the text by passing a parameter (easier than editing the macro), e.g. use:

<%postCosmos( [Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "itemNum" hasn't been defined.] , "Technorati Cosmos" )%>

instead.

Also: the same for Movable Type (+ other tricks), some other systems and more Technorati add-ons.

It didn't take us long: BlogWalk 2.0, 28 May, Nürnberg, Germany, hometown of Sebastian Fiedler. This time the fun and conversations will be around the role of personal Webpublishing for self-organized and informal learning.

This post also appears on channel weblog research

Usually I prefer sharing insights and not frustrations, but this time it's too much to keep for myself.

For a few days I was trying to reach Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst or IND) to find out about extension of my residence permit. I'm here for almost three years (btw, paying taxes and contributing to Dutch economy), I sent all my papers two months back and I even paid all what they want (285 euro; this is only for extending the permit, it's 430 when you first apply)... No way I can reach them - I get through the phone menus only to hear "everyone is busy, please call later" and then hanging.

Fine. I change my tactics. I go to expat web-site only to find our that others managed to get through and were told that now permits would take anything between 3 to 7 month to arrive (a little detail - it serves as a visa, so you are not able to travel without it).

Great. Since I have to travel in a week this means getting return visa. I'm calling IND again. This time I choose another option, so after a few minutes waiting I'm getting a person, she connects me to the right line (why do they need all the menus then?) and I wait for ages again. Several calls like that (my record - 20 minutes waiting patiently) and I get someone on the phone: they will call me next week to say when I can come (btw, to another city 1,5h away). I'll have to pay travel costs and 40 euro for a visa and they don't promise that I can get it in time.

Some small details: since I came here permit prices were raised from 50 to 430 euro, rules, responsible organisations and phone numbers were changed several times, IND web-site got several fancy redesigns (including special site of about the authenticity features of the Dutch identity cards for aliens), I've lost countless hours trying to find out about progress of my documents and I've got none of my permits in time.

Who talks about mobility and knowledge economy? It's about survival of the fittest.

There is only one funny thing in it - imagining myself as an alien :)

A Topic Sharing Infrastructure for Weblog Networks by Sebastien Paquet & Phillip Pearson (via Sebastien Paquet)

Abstract. Weblogs have recently emerged as a popular means of sharing information on the Web. While they effectively foster the networking of participants on a one-to-one basis, so far they have been lacking the capacity of allowing the establishment of many-to-many communication relationships. This paper describes recent work on facilitating group-forming processes and the sharing of content among weblog authors with shared interests. We have designed, implemented and tested the Internet Topic Exchange, a system that enables weblog posts to be shared among open groups in the form that we call topic channels. After nearly a year of operation, more than 200 topic channels have been created; several of them have been very active and have brought together many participants. This suggests that our approach to enabling weblog authors and topical content to cluster while retaining the advantages of personal publishing is a viable one.

This post also appears on channel weblog research