Truth Like The Dark

You’ll know from previous posts that I love NPR. I wanted to listen to the pieces I found via their copious RSS feeds on my PDA, but alas, these are streams, not downloadable files.

But, with a bit of surfing, I figured it out. Should work for anything where you can get RealMedia streams. Here are the steps.

0) Get yourself a download manager that can download “rtsp” links. I’m using Net Transport, which is free, easy to use, and effective.
1) Make sure you’ve configured NPR audio to use RealPlayer (I haven’t figured how to do this trick with Windows Media Streams).
2) Find a “Listen Now” link you’d like to download.
3) Save this link to a file. This file will be of type “.smil”. With Firefox, you can do this saving operation easily.
4) Edit the resulting file with a text editor. Locate the quoted link that begins “rtsp” and that points to something of type “.rm”.
5) Use Net Transport (or whatever download manager you have) to download the “rstp” link.
6) Put the resulting file on your PDA, and enjoy. If you don’t have anything that plays Real files, Realplayer for PocketPC is free. There are also a number of programs out there which will allow you to convert to other audio file formats.

This procedure works, but it is a bit fiddly. That’s why I’ve created a roundtuit, hoping someone creates a GreaseMonkey script that does the whole job.

Hope I’ve helped to share the joy of NPR, and other media that is only available as streams.

froginside

Originally uploaded by re6smith.

Fullfilling everyone’s deepest desire.

Just wanted to tell someone:

I started a conversation thread on my high school mailing list about a teacher at our school who (as I recall):
1) used “independent study” as a means of doing less teaching
2) got another teacher fired for personal reasons by agitating religious parents
3) banned a mildly political valedictorian speech
4) and, as I was told by another faculty member at the school, years later, made it known that she would “ruin anyone’s career who crossed her” through friends at the board of education.

And I’ve got nothing but flak from people who remember this teacher as their personal fave.

I made a general complaint about how personal touchy-feeley is too often preferred over facts, and how nostalgia is the death of good sense. That really upped the ante.

I’ve been accused of “making up” the things I recall, and been told to feltch another member of the group.

This is pretty normal fare for our list.

But then, the moderator instated a new policy. If anyone says anything more about this matter (or about the new policy), they’ll be warned, then banned for a week, then expelled from the list. Three strikes and you’re out.

It’s amazing how easily the ring of power slides onto the finger.

I got banned within minutes, or course. And I intend to be expelled as soon as I’m able.

Well, bless my stars, Newsweek says my old high school is the best in the USA (click non-US to skip registration).

Of course, when I was there, the school was in a different location (the Rosedale Campus, now home of The Birmingham Islamic Society Muslim Community Center), under a different name (The Resource Learning Center), in a different time (when dinosaur rock bands roamed freely across the Earth).

To be honest with myself, if that was top school in the USA then, we’d now be living in a scary, near-apocalyptic time, with our country spiraling towards international disaster, led by boobs and crooks, voted in by a zombie-like population.

Oh.

I usually don’t geek out here, but I’ve now got so many cool del.icio.us tools that I’m sure to tell everyone about, I thought it was worth recording them here.

If you’re still using bookmarks, you need to put down the cave paints, the mastodon meat, and then move on, Tondor.
Tagging is where it’s at.

I’ll assume you are using Firefox (I’m giving you some credit). Given that, here’s the way to setup del.icio.us.

First, go to del.icio.us and get yourself an account.

Then, put a “post to del.icio.us” bookmarklet on your toolbar.
Drag these words to your toolbar. This is my own modification, combining the “experimental” version on the del.icio.us site, with a post here. Not only does this offer a cool interface, with selectable and suggested tags (once you’ve built a list, you’ll never have to type in tags at all), any selected text on your current page will go in the items “extended” description at del.icio.us.

Setup a bookmark link to your del.icio.us account, as well. Use this syntax: http://del.icio.us/new/yourusernamehere. It’s the cool “hidden” new del.icio.us interface.

But then move on to bigger things. Make a del.icio.us folder for some other bookmarklets (as del.icio.us improves, your sure to have lots more of these, so a folder is necessary). Drag some of these to the folder:

This one prompts for a tag word to search for in your bookmarks account (that’s bookmarks, not tags).
This one prompts for a tag to search for in everyone’s accounts.
Here’s one that prompts for multiple tags to search for in your account.
This one gives a popup of all the people who have tagged the current page.
This one uses the current selected text as the tag to search for.
This one does the same as the previous, but searches popular del.icio.us sites.

Add a couple of “live bookmarks” as well (you may have to use Bookmarks/Manage Bookmarks/File/New Live Bookmark).
“http://del.icio.us/rss/tags/yourusernamehere” will give you all your tags (dynamically updated).
“http://del.icio.us/rss/yourusernamehere” will give you all your recently posted items.
The live bookmark features in Firefox are basically useless for blogreading, but for this sort of thing, they are perfect. For the “my tags” live feed described above, a little-used feature comes in handy: when looking at a long list of items in a Firefox live bookmark, typing a letter takes you to the first item (in this case, tag) that begins with that letter!

This may all seem like geek stuff, but if you bookmark much at all, you should try this out. You’ll never go back to bookmarks again. And just think when the graphical tools start getting cool!

What I love about America is a diner. On this specific occasion, I mean The Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown, MA.

I’ve been coming here for years. There are always the same three Latin American guys who work the grill. And they must be psychic. The coordination is amazing. Even with hundreds of orders flying in like red hot shrapnel, these troopers dispatch every tasty item like a precision munition. Butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths, but it will do so deliciously on the highly recommended sweet potato pancakes with pecans.

Everything from the grill is amazing, and oh so American. If you’d rather choose something not made on sizzling steel, I’d suggest the Cod Cakes Florentine.

Sit at the counter, watch the display of high-precision grill arts, and chat with Lauren, perhaps the best looking waitress in Bean Town.

This is the America I love, served up on warm white plates.

What I love about America is National Public Radio.

When I come to America, I rent a car (I haven’t owned a car since I moved to the UK 8 years ago). Since my Europeanization, I’m completely maddened by any time spent sitting behind SUVs bearing John Lennon and Bob Marley bumperstickers.

Yeah, pal, give this piece a chance!

I hate the necessity of driving in America. All except for drivetime NPR.

NPR is the best radio in the world. Yes, Russell, it kicks the BBC’s ass (specifically the ass of Radio 4). NPR strikes an amazing (and particularly American) balance of the intelligencia and the common man.

Don’t believe me? Well, start off my getting one of the copious NPR RSS Feeds. Note the amazing array of feed topics. One of NPR’s many virtues is its thorough embrace of the blogsphere.

Take the music category, as an example. For interesting, obscure music, NPR can’t be beat. Over the past two days, I’ve discovered Savina Yannatou (Greek woman who sings in 13 languages) Petra Haden Sings The Who Sells Out (yes, the whole album, every instrument via acapella interpretation) and a Swiss Alpine Horn Electronica Band (that I now can’t find any signs of, dammit. I think it was mentioned on a local Boston program).

The RSS feeds will give you a feel for topics. But you can’t get the real experience without listening in.

I guess I could listen to the internet feeds of NPR. But then I wouldn’t have as much to look forward to when I come home.