Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with atom

How can I determine the width of one molecule of a substance?

jwells — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:57:00 -0800

What is the width of a single molecule of Tartrazine? Brilliant Blue FCF? It's for something I'm writing for my website. I really have no idea how to even start looking into this, though I've gathered it depends greatly on the shape of the molecule and is difficult to pin down to a number due to electrons moving and such. So I'm just looking for a rough estimate.

Video podcasts are supposed to be easy for everyone

bryanjbusch — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:35:41 -0800

I'd like a Flash video player of my video podcast on the web site, and a high-quality (960x540 should work) video file in the podcast feed. I'm currently using WordPress and PodPress to manage the feed and video. But I can see why some people who don't want to install QuickTime might not be able to see the show. PodPress currently makes me very happy with its stats reporting, but if I have to dump it in favor of something else, I will.

I have tried placing the video in the Revver (site currently down) Flash player and including the video file as a "feed only" option with PodPress, but for reasons I can't diagnose, that doesn't work in iTunes.

Ideas?

My best idea so far is just to include an obvious link in each post that redirects the user to a different site (YouTube or Revver or something) to watch the video, but that's not exactly user-friendly. What would be easiest for both me and the viewer?

Slightly morbid science question

snoogles — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:07:38 -0800

Let's say someone dies and is cremated. What are the odds that an atom that was part of their body when they died becomes part of your body over the next 100 years that you live?

I want those entries gone!

misanthropicsarah — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:58:56 -0800

I deleted every single entry from my blog so that I can start fresh. But all the old entries are showing up in RSS and Atom feeds. How can I make those go away too? I use Google Reader and all my old entries are showing up there both in RSS2.0 and Atom.

My blogging platform is Expression Engine. I deleted all the entries manually through the EE control panel, not by doing something with the back end database (because I have no idea how to deal with mysql or phpadmin). As far as I can tell, these entries are gone forever, though I can't check the database to be sure because of said database ineptitudes.

So, how can I clear the feeds or delete the feeds or whatever for those old entries that are still showing up? I will want feeds for when I get back into things, but I don't want these old entries hanging around.

I don't know much about feeds or databases or tech-y things. Dumb it down for me.

Creating a Popurls-like site

elmwood — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:48:54 -0800

How can I create a singlegator site like Popurls? Popurls is one of the few sites on my Firefox bookmarks toolbar. It's a "singlegator" that displays the headlines of RSS feeds from many popular sites, including Metafilter, on one page.

I'd like to create a site with a similar format as Popurls, but with feeds for those sharing my profession. Are there programs or scripts readily available to create a Popurls-like singlegator page for my Web site? (FWIW, the site has a Drupal CMS front end that is integrated with a vBulletin message board.)

Sorry, Slashdot types, but "learn PHP and roll your own" isn't an option. I can make very minor modifications to existing scripts, but forget about creating something from scratch.

metaäggregationfilter

delmoi — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:52:56 -0800

Are there any web sites where you can enter a search term, and get an RSS feed of new results, like Google news alerts but over RSS rather then email? Are there any other interesting tools out for searching the blog sphere (besides technorati) It seems like there must be tools out that there will create feeds by aggregating entries that match certan search criteria, but I don't know what those are, (it's kind of a difficult thing to search for). Beyond getting feeds of search results, I'm also interested in any other novel or innovative blog-searching tools out there.

Nintendo DS news into my Bloglines, please.

Ufez Jones — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:25:53 -0800

Searching through the tags, I don't think this has been asked before. I'm looking for feeds that I can slap into my Bloglines that will keep me updated on Nintendo DS releases and reviews. I don't have the time or commitment to go all around the various gaming sites on a week-by-week basis to keep abreast of all the new releases and/or new games that the DS'ers at large deem worthy of checking out. However, I'm interested in keeping an eye out for titles that I may (eventually) want to pick up.

Feeds need not be DS-exclusive (I can ignore other platform releases and reviews), but I'd like to be able to keep up on what's what regarding DS titles and the simplest way for me to do this is with my feedreader. Anyone have any suggestions?

A Problem of Scale: Halfway in size between an atom and the universe

0bvious — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:10:04 -0800

"A human is halfway in size between an atom and the known universe"... This is a paraphrased quote I have come across several times. I like it. Who said it first? How true is it in the most literal sense? And, finally, what errors arrive in postulating a universe, or an atom, which can be measured AT ALL from our singular, relativistic, perspective? I found this quote from Cosmic Evolution which further complicates the whole relative size issue:

"Roughly halfway in size between an atom and a human, the amoeba has poor awareness and coordination. It generally responds only at the point stimulated, communicating the information sluggishly through the rest of its body. Although amoebas have developed a crude nervous system, living things that aspire to be more agile—and smarter—surely need quicker internal reactions." - link

Kind of sets another stage from which to view this question.

I also found this quote from Holmes Rolston which further complicates things:

"The human world stands about midway between the infinitesimal and the immense. The size of our planet is near the geometric mean of the size of the known universe and the size of the atom. The mass of a human being is the geometric mean of the mass of the earth and the mass of a proton. A person contains about 10²⁸ atoms, more atoms than there are stars in the universe. Such considerations yield perhaps only a relative location. Still, questions of place and proportion arise." - link

Who first made this often used statement? My earlier questions still stand :-)

Thanks...

Kilimanjaro weather feed?

o2b — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:34:40 -0800

Is there an RSS feed from which I can pull updating weather information for Mount Kilimanjaro's summit?

Simple single-page aggregation?

symbebekos — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 12:37:52 -0800

I want to aggregate some RSS feeds for a group of not-tech-savvy people... ...and I like the single page apporach best, where a bunch of feeds are rendered on one page with pop-up article previews - you know, like Popurls or Original Signal. My question: are there any CC- or GNU-licensed templates to get the job done? I could write everything myself, but I'm lazy and I'd rather tweak than work from scratch. (Also, I know setting up RSS to Javascript or however you render the feeds needs to be set up on a server; no big deal.)

Sell short online and on phone

andrewyakovlev — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:25:28 -0800

Digital Distribution Filter: It seems that the video on the internet can be put in two groups - the DIY (low production value) and the "produced" (iTunes, etc.) content. I'm pretty sure DIY content producers don't make any $, whereis "produced" content always needs to recoup. What kind of deals do iTunes or AtomFilms make for independently "produced" short film content, e.g. how much of that $1.99 does Apple keep? This question is coming from a short film maker reseraching the potential investor return on an independently produced short to be distributed on-line and for mobile devices. Any insight would be helpfull. It seems like there's a boom happening, but what does it mean for the indie? How does that extra source of income affect the ideal budget for a short? How forward looking can I make my forward looking statement ? :]

Take a picture, if you can.

anonpeon — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 17:58:04 -0800

Does an actual photos of small things like atoms, molecules or DNA? Google didn't show anything for photo, just lots of models. I am looking for real bona fide made from reality image captures. Is it even possible to do photograph these things? If not, are we moving to a point where we weill be able to take such photos or even movies?

Duck and Cover

interrobang — Wed, 03 May 2006 11:53:37 -0800

Did children actually believe that "Duck and Cover" would work? Was the program met with any cynicism, or did Americans simply not know enough about the bomb to know any better? Did it make the atom bomb less scary?

I know this was all before the Kennedy assassination and Watergate, but did the public really believe the things the government was saying about the dangers of the atom bomb?

Blogs: Best syndication standard for a newsfeed?

cadge — Tue, 02 May 2006 09:38:56 -0800

Blog syndication: What standard (RSS, Atom, etc.) is best for syndicating full blog post contents? My blog has a simple RSS 0.91 feed with descriptions of blog entries. My system is hand-rolled - a PHP script rewrites the XML file with MySQL content for every new entry (I want to keep it this way and not use external feed services).

Now I want to publish the full contents of each entry to people's newsreaders, not just short descriptions. I'm stumped about what kind of feed to offer and what problems I might run into, though.

What standard should I use - RSS, Atom, both, other?
Are there any special character issues I should keep an eye out for? Can anyone recommend any resources online for more reading?

atomchip real or hoax?

blueyellow — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 14:48:35 -0800

Is the atom chip vaporware? A few months ago there was a great deal of speculation about whether the quantum-optical computers from atomchip.com were real or a hoax. They are supposed to be presenting their product at the current CES 2006, but I can not find any coverage. Does anyone have any new infromation?

RSS Implementation Help

madmath — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 14:30:19 -0800

Basic RSS question-- I'm trying to add RSS to my site, and since I'm teaching this to myself, I'm confused. I tried to use this template-- http://www.kriyayoga.com/cgi-bin/rss_editor/rssedit.pl
I don't understand about the 15 separate items. My blog has more than 15 posts. Do I update the RSS template instead of posting straight from blogger?

NewsFeeds. Just don't get it. Help me to. Get it, that is.

nevercalm — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 06:26:35 -0800

Please help me get the most out of newsfeeds/RSS/Atom/etc in order to best utilize my limited web time. I switched careers about 6 months ago, and my new job allows me zero internet access during work hours. I'm finding that I'm spending an uncomfortable number of my non-work hours online, just to try to catch up on the numerous sites I like to read.

I been using Thunderbird on a Mac for email and, when it was first available as a feature, I set up a bunch of feeds from my favorite sites. But it just never felt natural or intuitive to me....there's some block there that's keeping me from adopting it fully. Maybe it's not the best reader for me? It's also downloading the same article numerous times, which is a drag to constantly have to delete.

So, please help me optimize my feedreading experience...what's everyone's favorite software? Is Thunderbird worthwhile? Would I be better off using a Google homepage? Money is an object. What are your favorite tips and tricks? I need my life back, damnit!

Shrinking text in bloglines?

callmejay — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 06:31:32 -0800

Why does the text to a particular feed get smaller and smaller in bloglines? It looks like a vision test, where each paragraph is smaller than the previous one. Can I do anything about this? The feed in question is http://OneDrunktoAnother.blogspot.com/atom.xml

It happens for no other feed.

How to fix an Atom feed?

misteraitch — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 01:58:58 -0800

I'm told that my weblog's atom feed is broken: according to feedvalidator.org this is because 'my feed appears to be encoded as "utf-8", but my server is reporting "US-ASCII". Is it advisable that I should persuade my server to report an 'utf-8', ecoding, and, if so, how? Here's the feed in question. I'm running MT 3.2: it's only since I upgraded to this version of MT that the site has been trying to encode in utf-8. According to the feedvalidator site, I should 'either ensure that the charset parameter of the HTTP Content-Type header matches the encoding declaration,' or 'ensure that the server makes no claims about the encoding.' How do I do this? I have limited (CPanelX) access to my webserver and a decidedly faint and incomplete grasp of the technicalities involved.

Why don't Amazon and Typepad play nice together?

Servo5678 — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 09:43:25 -0800

Amazon links and Typepad blogs don't play nice together. Let me explain the issue that I'm experiencing with posting links generated by Amazon Associates on my Typepad blog. The problem is that Amazon links contain the & symbol, and when that symbol is pasted into Typepad the Rich Text Editor converts it to a & amp; which is the proper code in HTML for the & symbol. Amazon links do not like seeing & amp; in a URL instead of &, so my Amazon links are broken on my blog. Even if I remove the amp; by hand, Typepad restores it when I switch between text view modes. Even opening an existing post for editing restores the amp; text.

I thought I had a way around this by composing my posts in Rich Text mode and then switching to plain text for posting, but it turns out that posting as plain text sends unformatted HTML code into my Atom feed which is annoying my readers, to say the least.

So, after all of this, my question: how can I keep Typepad from changing the links that Amazon generates?

Synchronizing FeedDemon and NetNewsWire?

dnm — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 21:17:36 -0800

How do I easily keep my feed subscriptions the same bewteen FeedDemon on Windows and NetNewsWire on Mac OS X? Right now, I export my FeedDemon subscriptions to OPML and then import them into NetNewsWire, which works fine, but I wonder if there's a better way, even if it's just doing a bit more with the OPML export (like putting it on a web server both readers can fetch it from) or something else. Extra points if there's a way to keep individual posts between feeds in both readers synchronized, but I don't suspect there's a simple way to do that.

Suggestions for Parsing Blog Feeds Using PHP?

jeanmari — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 21:15:26 -0800

Can anyone suggest good PHP books or existing scripts that can help me successfully parse RSS 1.0, 2.0 and Atom 0.3 feeds, then save them to a MySQL database? I'm developing a website that aggregates entries from various blogs dedicated to a specific topic. (Blog authors have agreed to participate.) I've currently got a version working using Ari Paparo's RSStoMySQL script, but it only seems to work with RSS 1.0 feeds. I'm successfully converting some non-1.0 feeds using FeedBurner.com, but it isn't working for others. Basically the script seems very particular. Any suggestions on other ways I can also successfully scrape Atom and RSS 2.0 feeds? To be clear, my solution needs to save entries to a MySQL database so I can manage entries in several ways.

Question number 7236

djacobs — Thu, 13 May 2004 13:56:42 -0800

The W3C has invited Atom to create a formal working group as a part of their organization, as opposed to the IETF. What are the major differences, politically and historically, between the IETF and W3C?

Question number 6159

swank6 — Mon, 29 Mar 2004 21:31:14 -0800

I don't understand RSS, and even less so, Atom. Can anyone provide a simple layman's explanation of them?

Question number 5208

mmangano — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 23:15:30 -0800

I'm trying to write a short Perl script under Mac OS X (Panther) to post to a Moveable Type weblog using the Atom API. After some initial problems with installing packages, I'm having this issue. [more inside]