Month: September 2004

more on affiliate links and metadata

After my experiments of last night with linking my “Now playing” tags to tracks at iTMS, I realize it will work too rarely to be useful to anyone. See the graphic: from that album, only one track is available and it’s not the one that’s playing. (and on the track playing now — listed below — the only tracks I could find by searching for “magazine” were audiobook selections from Penthouse magazine [now you can even skip reading the articles and have them read to you?], nothing by the artist.)

9.tiff

So I suppose the best way to do this would be to extend what I already do and embed the affiliate-linked URL in the Comment ID3 tag and let ecto drop that in when the iTunes button is pressed. But since a. I already have Amazon metadata for my existing library, and b. so few tracks are available, why bother?

And on a related note, why doesn’t Apple include that information in the tracks it sells through iTMS? I bought Elvis Costello’s “Delivery Man” today and the only way I can link to iTMS so you might buy it (and credit me) is to track down the affiliate program link maker, not the other one. If they even included the product ID, we could build the HTML around that. As it is now, I have a custom tag that, given an ASIN number (B0002VEPL2), will build an Amazon affiliate link.

Now playing: Stuck by Magazine from the album “The Correct Use Of Soap” | Buy it

the valor of ignorance

Home improvement time here at Thistle Dew. I had a spot for a light fixture (a gaping hole with wires in it, to put it plainly) and when this one showed up on freecycle, I grabbed it. It came sealed in its original plastic with new bulbs . . .

_PIAimages_06642_PE082420_S3.jpg

Installing it was pretty easy: the core part wasn’t big enough to cover the hole so a trip to the Big Box hardware emporium was called for. They didn’t have anything quite large enough, so the job isn’t finished.
So why the title of this post? On my first attempt to install it, I dutifully shut off the breakers I thought controlled that circuit, but as I hit the light switch on afterwards, I realized they weren’t the right ones. I was careful to turn off the switch (though dimmers add a certain variability) so it wasn’t really dangerous, but even so, the knowledge that those wires could be live was worrying.

So far, so good: it looks like a three-legged octopus, but it works fine.

Now playing:U.S.L.S. 1 by Public Image Ltd. from the album “9” | Buy it

the “debate”

I have seen a few drinking games suggested to accompany the debate tonight: let’s just say that taking a drink everytime the president said “steadfast”, “resolute”, or referred to Saddam Hussein as a danger would have had all but the most experienced drunks out of the game before halftime . . . .

The next debate will be on during my wife’s book club meeting: I expect the book under discussion will be shelved in favor of yelling obscenities at the TV.

Continue reading “the “debate””

shrill? maybe. accurate? apparently.

Poynter Online – Forums

I asked a 28-year-old engineer if he and his family would participate in the Iraqi elections since it was the first time Iraqis could to some degree elect a leadership. His response summed it all: “Go and vote and risk being blown into pieces or followed by the insurgents and murdered for cooperating with the Americans? For what? To practice democracy? Are you joking?”

The truth will out: no matter how hard the ideologues try to manage information, the facts will come out, their incompetence and hubris revealed. It’s very late, with thousands killed to save face for a few armchair warriors: I hope it’s not too late.

topical music from a local composer

Now playing:I. Andante – Sym No.50 ‘Mount St. Helens’ Op.360 by Seattle Symphony from the album “Sym 50 ‘Mount St. Helens’/Symphony 22 ‘City Of Light'” | Buy it
I just made two CDs from this for some teachers . . . . Hovhaness was a local artist and used local themes and elements in his work. This one just seemed apropos, written as it was in the wake the 1980 eruption and on the cusp of another (70% chance, at last report).

Springsteen on why he’s taking a stand

Salon.com News | The rising

I think that this particular election is, at the core, a debate about the soul of the nation. I think we can move toward greater economic justice for all of our citizens, or we cannot. I think we can move toward a sane, responsible foreign policy, or we cannot. For me, these are issues that go right to the heart of the spiritual life of the nation.

A very thoughtful look at why he’s coming out with a stand on the war(s): the war in Iraq, the war on freedom of speech, the war on core American values.

testing iTunes affiliation

If this works (and I think it will, thanks to Michael Hanscom’s diligence), my “now playing” links will now link through to the iTunes Music Store, meaning almost instant gratification for you and a penny or two for me.

Well, it looks like this hinges on whether or not the iTunes Music Store’s catalog is deep enough: early returns are not good. I’ll offer the Amazon link as well.

Now playing:Mandolin Wind by Rod Stewart from the album “Every Picture Tells A Story” | Buy it

And I keep screwing it up somehow: too late in the day to try to make sense of all those escaped HTML entities . . . . you’d almost think they didn’t want you to market their stuff.