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iRiver mp3 players in UMS mode (operating as standard USB/removable disk) have problems with playback ordering. Files are played in the order they were created, not in alphabetical order or some order based on tags. There's some discussion of this problem on nabble.
Here's a script that sorts files before writing them to the player … so files are written in the correct order, and played back in the correct order.
Usage:
mount player somewhere ("/mnt" is the default).
"iriver <path-to-directory> …" installs all files from that directory onto the player
"iriver" on it's own installs all subdirectories/files rooted at the current directory onto the player
Arguments:
-i <path> — to specify path to player (default "/mnt")
-d <path> — same, for those who can't remember -i
-f — force; this disables checking for the existence of VOICE and RECORD subdirectories
The script uses "find", "sort" and "tar" (bsdtar). It was written for FreeBSD, but I'm hoping that the same combination of arguments works also on Linux.
When I was young optical illusions used to just involve looking at two lines of apparently different lengths, measuring them … and "going wow! they're actually the same, that's weird".
Today, though, many kinds of other illusions can be constructed. My kids particularly likes this one, which creates an effect like something out of Doctor Who.
Blind spots.
Two happy dogs.
More and more fun with stop motion.
Some fun with lights, and more fun with lights.
Some stop-motion fun with trains, blocks, and stuff.
Long time no post.
Podcasts are usually either from large, established, commercial broadcasters (such as the BBC), or are … well … not very good.
Here are two exceptions.
Storynory is a podcast of new and traditional children's stories. Super for kids in the five-to-ten age group.
Skeptoid is a podcast by Brian Dunning. In each episode, podcaster Brian Dunning provides a rational, scientific analysis of some (usually non-scientific) popular phenomenon.
(Anfield is the home of United's arch-rival Liverpool FC.)
The BBC is currently running a new, serialised adaptation of Robin Hood.
From a recent episode:
Another one "doing the rounds, source unknown": the demolition Dubliner. This appears to come from a Dublin radio station.
Several views of Zidane's moment of World Cup madness.
A BBC news program was recently covering the case of Apple Records versus Apple Computers, and invited a technical expert to the studio to comment. A cabbie had also been sent along to pick up the guest after the interview. So that the guest could find his driver after the interview, the cabbie was wearing a badge with the guest's name.
Somehow, a mixup occurred.
The BBC mistook the cabbie for the guest, and whisked him into the studio. In a matter of minutes, our hero (the cabbie, of course) was live on air.
Here's the ensuing interview.
The emotions that cross the cabbie's face as he realises his predicament are priceless.
It seems the version of the story above is not strictly correct. The BBC has its version of the story up now — apparently the guy was at the BBC for a job interview.
Here are some notes on a very simple approach to streaming mp3 audio from a soundcard.
The SSH server on my machine at home was attacked with a dictionary attack. Here's the list of names that was used before I put a stop to the nonsense.
Spelling Teacher, an extract from BBC Radio 4's Another Case of Milton Jones, September 22nd, 2005.
Free sheet music for classical guitar. And here.
Here's the bread recipe that I use in my bread machine.
Where is that dozer?
(This seems to be doing the rounds be email, I'm not sure of the source.)
Here's another funny video, this time in the fitness studio (source unknown).
Here's a su doku solver (and some information about heuristics) for solving su doku puzzles.
BBC Radio 4's Quote UnQuote programme recently featured the following quotes.
On collective decision making:
And on academia:
Unfortunately, I don't recall the sources.
For the academically minded: here's an easy way to write impressive-sounding papers. There's an example here.
Classical listening recommendations.
These are apparently genuine — though no doubt apocryphal — logged maintenance complaints and problems as supposedly submitted by Qantas pilots.
What's wrong here?
Though no brilliant punctuator myself, particularly poor punctuation — and spelling, too — can be infuriating.
Here's an Unix utility that may be useful to others. And, based on that, here's an unusual, keyboard-based file manager.
BBC Radio 4 recently did a programme discussing the limitations of many Microsoft Powerpoint presentations. Here's a brief extract spoofing Powerpoint and Winston Churchill's famous "We shall never surrender" speech.
In a similar vein, Peter Norvig has a Powerpoint parody of the Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
A must-have: Slim Devices.
Here's somewhere with lots of colouring for the kids.
I heard about a funny advert for Ford's Ka and a cat (warning: some viewers may find this offensive!) — presumably it's a spoof. This site from Al Lowe has lots of similar stuff. Here's another one with Ford's Ka and a bird.
The Times (London) is featuring Su Doku puzzles every Monday through Saturday. The goal of Su Doku is to complete a 9x9 grid such that every column, row and major 3x3 box contains all of the digits from 1 to 9. The resulting puzzles are extremely simple conceptually yet can require a substantial amount of logical reasoning to solve. Take a look at The Times' site (under "games") for a daily puzzle or www.sudoku.com for the more information and software.
These puzzles are the copyright of and provided to The Times by Wayne Gould.
Fun adverts: John West's Salmon and Bears, and Sony Playstation 2 adverts featuring golfers, ventriloquists, and traders.
My son Nicholas's Rubik's Cube has been out of whack since about two minutes after he received.
So I cheated to get it back into shape.
Is your name in the first four billion binary digits of Pi?
Check here.
"Blott" shows up at position number 3,616,587,696.
As a tea drinker, I've often wondered about the tea-has-more-caffeine-than-coffee story that one frequently hears. It certainly doesn't feel like it, so I thought I'd see what Google has to say.
According to here and here (and many other places): tea has more caffeine than coffee pound for pound, but only about a third or a half of the caffeine of coffee cup for cup.
So now you know!
For some reason, conversation turned to old TV themes. It all started with Z Cars. And here's another that you'll recognise if you're around my age and grew up in the UK (remember Tucker Jenkins?).
US presidential elections are a fine spectator sport. Here's an e-voting parody (source unknown).
The Guardian's Euro 2004 football advertisement.
Google's 2004 US Puzzle Championship: the puzzles and the solutions (and the solutions in postscript).
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