bogen.org

If all has gone according to plan, Sarah and I are now on board an Air India 747 en route to Frankfurt, Germany.

For the next two weeks, we’ll be stumbling around German, Swiss, and Austrian cities and countrysides.

For the interim, you’re on your own. Try to keep the ruckus to a dull roar.

Since I learned how to do this once, promptly forgot, and then had to learn all over again, it only makes sense to document this procedure so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel again and again and again.

Heck, maybe other people can benefit from this, as well. There does not seem to be one particular site on the Internet that strings these commands together towards this same purpose.To make a one minute mp3 sample from another, full length, mp3, you’ll need something to decode the mp3 into raw audio, something else to process the raw audio, and finally, something to encode the resulting audio back into the mp3 format.

I use mpg123 to decode the particular portion of the mp3 I wish to sample.

sox is used to massage the sample and add fades. Apparently, there is an mp3 plugin module for sox that might allow one to skip using mpg123. However, I’m not sure you would have the same control over where to start playing the mp3 and how much to play.

lame is the mp3 encoder I installed on my system. Most likely, any other would work just fine.

The general form of the command line looks like this:

mpg123 -s -v --skip 3216 --frames 2340 <input.mp3> \
  | sox -t raw -r44100 -sw -c 2 - -t .wav - fade t 3 60 5 \
  | /usr/local/lame/bin/lame - <output.mp3>

The mpg123 command line reads like this: Use mpg123; send its output to stdout; use verbose output; skip ahead x-number of frames before starting to play; play x-number of frames. There are somewhere in the range of 38-39 frames per second of audio. So, in the example above, I’m skipping ahead roughly 83 seconds in the audio stream, and playing for roughly sixty-one seconds.

The sox command line tells sox that audio input is coming in raw, sample rate of 44100 Hertz, 16-bit words, signed-linear encoding, two channels on stdin. The audio should be sent to stdout in .wav format. Fade the audio using a linear fade. Fade in for three seconds, play for sixty seconds, and start a fade out 55 seconds into the audio.

This is the easiest part. Tell lame to take the incoming audio on stdin, encode it into mp3, and then stream it into the filename given on the command line.

Several songs have been running through my head in an endless loop over the last couple of weeks.The oldest, by far, is Al Stewart’s 1976 hit, “Year of the Cat.” [mp3 sample]. The song reminds of me our trip to Brazil, though I’m not entirely certain that it is a country “where they’ve turn back time.” The song speaks to me of distant shores, and throwing cares to the winds. Given our impending trip to distant shores, and our concurrent discarding of cares, it is perhaps only natural that the song resonate with me of late.

Recent pop hit “Vindicated” [mp3 sample]by Dashboard Confessional has also been cycling through my mental stereo on a regular rotation. It is not as clear to me why that song is sticking around so long, but it does not seem inclined to leave any time soon.

Depeche Mode’s “Policy of Truth” [mp3 sample] is one that gets me in trouble time and time again. For whatever reason, I’ve been generally unable to shake that song since I first heard it years and years ago. Fortunately, I haven’t been exposed to it more than a few times in the intervening years, as it always takes a month or so to clean it out of my internal audio rotation. July did me in, however, when I heard it again. Hopefully, I’ll have it cleaned out of my head by September. Today, the thought occurred to me that this particular song must be very popular with many current politicians (of both major parties), given that the lyrics advocate a policy of deception, rather than truthfulness:

You had something to hide
Should have hidden it, shouldn't you
Now you're not satisfied
With what you're being put through

It's just time to pay the price
For not listening to advice
And deciding in your youth
On the policy of truth

Things could be so different now
It used to be so civilised
You will always wonder how
It could have been if you'd only lied

It's too late to change events
It's time to face the consequence
For delivering the proof
In the policy of truth

Never again
Is what you swore
The time before
Never again
Is what you swore
The time before

Now you're standing there tongue tied
You'd better learn your lesson well
Hide what you have to hide
And tell what you have to tell

You'll see your problems multiplied
If you continually decide
To faithfully pursue
The policy of truth

Finally, this folk number has been popping to mind of late. Deb Talan’s “Saturn’s Light” [mp3 sample] has a very percussive, and persuasive guitar line. If I knew how to play guitar, I’d be trying to learn that song.

After double and triple checking the facts, I can affirm that yesterday was, in fact, August 11, 2004. I can also affirm that the high temperature yesterday in Madison was 59°F. That is a new record low high temperature. It seems that Fall has been moved up a bit this year.

Information about our trip to Europe.Our trip starts with a bus ride from Madison to Chicago O’Hare on Van Galder Bus lines.

We’re flying to Frankfurt and back on Air India out of Chicago O’Hare.

Mon, Aug 16-Tue, Aug 17:
  Air India Ltd., AI  0126
  From: 	Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD)
  Departs: 	7:00pm
  To: 	        Frankfurt, German (FRA)
  Arrives: 	10:15am
  Flight Time: 	8  hours and  15  minutes
Mon, Aug 30:
  Air India Ltd., AI  0127
  From: 	Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
  Departs: 	2:00pm
  To: 	        Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD)
  Arrives: 	3:50pm
  Flight Time: 	8  hours and  50  minutes   	 	

At one time, we planned on staying one night in Frankfurt (17 Aug 04). Now, however, our plans call for us to immediately head for the train station. Once there, we’ll catch a train to Munich, where we’ll find lodging.

After that, no one knows where we’ll be or what we’ll be doing.

• “I could care less if Alan knows immediately how to find Paulina Street or Damen Avenue.”
• “It’s over with and I could care less to be honest with you”
• “Unlike some on the left, I’m not going to use this as an opportunity to call for a boycott on Heinz products, because I really could care less.”
• “I could care less. It’s not about me. It’s about creating wonderful places where people gather and want to live.”
• “How are lenders dealing with these unconventional pairings? ‘Lenders could care less.’”
• “To get right to the point: terrorists could care less who they kill.”
• “We’re seeing that the majority of those who send unsolicited e-mail could care less about CAN-SPAM”
• “I could care less and the sheriff could care less about where they get the authority for their cars.”
• “I can sell three records or 3 million, I could care less.”

An open letter to everyone that currently speaks the English language, may someday speak the English language, or is even aware that the English language exists:If, in the course of conversation, you wish to express disdain for a person, object, or concept, you may consider using the phrase, “I could not care less.” The use of said phrase implies that you cannot spare the tiniest iota of thought or concern for the health, well-being, or make-up of the phrase’s object.

As a general rule, the phrase “I could care less” is not what you seek. The use of that phrase implies that you do, in fact, ponder, reflect, or otherwise contemplate just how the phrase’s subject is faring. It also implies that you are personally affected by the well-being of the object of the phrase.

While omitting the “not” from the target phrase might be excused in conversation as a slip of the tongue, the same offense committed on the printed page is inexcusable and should be cause for a public flogging.

If the subtle distinction between the improper and proper forms of the phrase are too much for your feeble mind to handle, allow me to offer up some simple alternatives:

• “To hell with that.”
• “I don’t give a damn.”
• “Puhleeze…”
• “Whatever…”
• “It doesn’t matter to me.”
  Those of you watching closely may notice how closely that resembles the troublesome twosome mentioned above. However, for reasons completely beyond me, I’ve never heard anyone misuse the “doesn’t matter” form of the phrase. Well, other than swapping “don’t” for “doesn’t,” obviously, which fails to change the overall meaning, but certainly fails most grammar tests.

Please, folks. Let’s get this right. We’ve harnessed the atom. We’ve walked on the moon. We’ve cloned sheep. We’ve synthesized food colorings in our laboratories that have no analogs in the natural world. Let’s not look like shambling, mumbling mounds of water, carbon, iron, and trace elements just because we cannot remember to include a three letter adverb in a commonly used phrase.

Let’s look sharp out there. And no, I could not care less if you’re a prime offender of the nature described above and you were offended by the words in the space.

Yeah, we’ve been back for several days, and I’ve been meaning to post something about our Minneapolis trip, but I just haven’t gotten around to it until now.For the most part, we had a great time in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

We arrived there just short of 13:00 on Saturday, found parking in a surface lot near our destination, and walked the two blocks to complete the journey. Sarah and I met my parents at Zelo (831 Nicollet Mall), which is in downtown Minneapolis on a pedestrian corridor named the Nicollet Mall. While we had the option of sitting outdoors, the skies threathened rain, so we chose to sit indoors.

The restaurant itself is easy on the eye and the food to price ratio is generally reasonable. Sarah had a pizza, I had risotto with mushrooms and chicken (good), my father had a tomato basil soup and a grilled sandwich, while my mom had a salad of greens, meat, and the like. I’d steer clear of the chianti they sell by the glass. It is thoroughly average, and not worth $9.00/glass. If you find yourself with just a touch of space left in your belly after a meal, try their gelato sampler for a great end to the meal.

After lunch, we found accomodation at the Marriot downtown. We first tried the Radisson across the street, but the Red Sox were staying there, and all their other rooms were booked. We decided that the Red Sox were staying there because of the number of autograph seekers waiting outside of the hotel at all hours.

After a brief rest, it was off to the Metrodome where we saw Brad Radke and the Twins defeat Derek Lowe and Red Sox in a close game. Doug Mientkiewicz, the Twins first baseman, had been traded to the Red Sox earlier in the day, so he started at first base for the Red Sox. The Twins won the game after Jacque Jones hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eigth innning to break a tie.

After the game, my parents returned to South Dakota. Sarah and I wandered the Warehouse District for a while, looking for a light dinner (as it was already 21:30, we didn’t want to eat a whole meal).

Eventually, we found a table at a restaurant named Bellanotte which is located across from the Target Center. What a weird place. The restaurant has this very nice pation with wicker sofas, coffee tables, a fountain, a bar, and the usual tables and chairs. It was staffed by people wearing the expected black wardrobe and was populated by many people clearly out to see and be seen. Over all of this, however, was blasting completely incongrous music. Occasionally, seventies funk, sometimes bad jazz, othertimes music that defied categorization but that was still really bad.

We had a light dinner and drinks there but would never go back. The food and drinks are wildly overpriced. And, while the patio itself could be nice, the music ruins whatever ambiance would normally exist.

Sunday morning, I made the completely unsurprising discovery the downtown Minneapolis is dead, dead, dead. Nothing is really open and there aren’t many people out and about.

Sarah and I found ourselves at Hell’s Kitchen for breakfast. It was there that I had the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten. They were light, golden, ever so slightly crunchy, and wonderfully flavored. Clearly, some mystery ingredient goes into the batter, but I couldn’t decipher what it was. In addition, I had a bowl of the Mahnomin Porridge — native wild rice with blueberries, sweetened cranberries, roasted hazelnuts, maple syrup and fresh cream. Really, really good stuff.

Sarah had the bison sausage bread, which is a bread that has bison sausage, currents, nuts, cinnamon, and sugar baked into it. She said it also was really good.

If you go there, avoid the maple glazed bison sausage. They obviously make it in house and it was so awful that I couldn’t eat more than one bite. Maybe others who like really strong onion flavor and crunchy onion bits in their sausage will like it, but I found it disgusting.

In addition, if you go, make sure to get an order of toast. They make their own peanut butter and jams. I didn’t like the peanut butter very much (their secret is to add cinnamon sugar), but the jams were really, really, really good.

The staff at Hell’s Kitchen is funky, to say the least. They serve breakfast in their PJ’s and many of the staff have more interesting hair styles than waitstaff normally do in Midwestern restaurants.

After breakfast, we waddled over to the Twins game where we met our friends Sheri, Bryan, and Josh. There, we watched the Twins, behind Johan Santana, beat the Red Sox and Pedro Martinez in yet another close, exciting game where the deciding run was scored in the bottom of the eigth.

After the game, we visited Josh’s home to see his new dog, Carmen. No one knows exactly what sort of breeds make up Carmen, but our guess was that she is golden retriever and greyhound.

After a couple of hours there, it was time to hit the road and get back to Madison.

Even thought SpamAssassin was doing a reasonable job, I was still spending time every day dealing with spam.

So, this morning, I upped the ante and deployed TMDA (Tagged Message Delivery Agent).TMDA works like this:

1. An e-mail comes into the system.
2. If that e-mail matches a whitelist, it is delivered.
3. If that e-mail was sent to an e-mail address that contains a special date string, and if that date string is active, then the e-mail is delivered.
4. If the e-mail matches any of numerous other flexible, user-established criteria, it is delivered.
5. If it matches none of these criteria, the incoming e-mail is quarantined. At the same time, an e-mail is sent back to the seeming originator of the e-mail, asking them to confirm that they sent the e-mail in question.
6. If a proper confirmation is received, the original e-mail is released and delivered.
7. If an improper confirmation is received, the e-mail is destroyed.
8. If no confirmation is received, the e-mail is destroyed.
   

TMDA is often derided as a solution that is nearly as bad as the problem it solves. At some level, I buy the arguments behind that statement. It does create more message traffic on the Internet and it can seemingly spam people with confirmation requests whose addresses were appropriated by spammers to affix to spam.

Using TDMA in partnership with SpamAssassin, as I’m doing, seems to be the right approach. TDMA only send confirmations about messages that SpamAssassin marks as ham (i.e., not spam). That reduces the number of confirmations sent by TDMA to one or two a week.

If you’re someone with whom I regularly correspond, you will most likely never even notice that I’m using TDMA. If you were to change e-mail addresses, and use the new e-mail address to e-mail me out of the blue, then you would notice as the new address would not be on one of my whitelists.

One of my favorite aspects of TDMA is the ability to created so-called dated e-mail addresses. Dated e-mail addresses seemingly expire after a pre-determined period of time. So, while the e-mail address is in the active window, e-mail flows through the address transparently. However, once that window closes, e-mail sent to the address will be subject to either destruction, bouncing, or confirmation. Now, I’m using dated e-mail addresses when I purchase something from someone on-line. If they get frisky with sending me newsletters I don’t want, the address they have will expire after a period of time (I generally choose a week) and I don’t have to worry about seeing their goofy, unwanted newsletters.

By the same token, I can now create e-mail addresses that only work for certain domains. So, I can use one address to buy tickets from United Airlines, but if they turn around and sell my e-mail address to someone else, that address will not function for the third party. Again, that is an excellent defense against spam as it prevents the third party from spamming me if my address is sold.