Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with station

Where can I listen to Japanese train station melodies?

avocet — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:38:16 -0800

Where can I listen to Japanese train and bus station melodies and onboard announcements, preferably without installing RealPlayer? My previous go-to archive is 404ing. My Japanese is mediocre but good enough to help me navigate sites.

A bridge to?

monospace — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:23:03 -0800

What are these... bridges? I've been taking the LIRR for years, and I've always wondered. At Woodside station, there are these devices that look like expandable, movable bridges that purportedly go over the tracks. There are at least 8 of them, very close together towards the west side of the platform. I've never seen them in action. What the hell are they for? I get one, two maybe at either side, but this many?

No more wires please.

Jon-o — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:29:04 -0800

Apple AirPort Express wireless music question. I know iTunes has an option to play music via the speaker-output port on the AirPort Express base station. How do I route all of my computer's audio output through that?

Lockers in Nashville Bus Station?

ITheCosmos — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:44:05 -0800

Does the Nashville Greyhound station have lockers?

seeking bargain priced ipod clock radio

jcdill — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:53:10 -0800

seeking a bargain priced ipod clock radio + charging station I tried googling, but the search results are single pages for single items, and I got brain freeze trying to make sense of competing items. I'm hoping someone here has found a solution and can save me hours of searching.

Criteria:

1) Low price. I'm unemployed and spending $$$ on a non-essential is not going to happen.

2) Clock radio, with options to wake to a buzzer, to the radio, or to an iPod playlist.

3) Works with and charges my iPod nano (2nd generation).

Catalogging software for TV station?

miltoncat — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:51:17 -0800

Please help me find a software program that will maintain an inventory and checkout process for a public TV station. I'm freelancing at a public TV station that is about to move into a new building. The idea is being bandied about to have some sort of inventory software where employees can check out all the digital tapes to keep track of who has what. I used to be a school librarian so I know basics of library software, but I'm not sure what would work for a TV station. Being that we're supported mainly by donors, it cannot be a super expensive software, but it must be reliable. Any ideas of where to begin or what would be suitable? I'm not even sure where to begin.

Wierd secret messages on the radio.

debord — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:44:52 -0800

When I was a child there used to be cryptic messages on BBC Radio Four between the news and weather etc. that were weird and cryptic (as in they shouldn't have been on mainstream radio), but dull - stuff like "Mrs. Smith from Doncaster needs to contact her family in Hull". I have been told they were used for spies to communicate - does anyone know any more about this? I think it's something like those code words on the Tube that get announced if there's something going on. And numbers stations of course!

Internet RadioStation in a Box?

er1c — Sat, 02 May 2009 05:48:49 -0800

Trying to find "internet radio station in a box". It is a audio CD set that includes sweeps, liners, and buildable station IDs. I had a bookmark for it until my laptop went up in flames, now I cant find the site to buy it from... Help?

Beams and bolts and washers oh my!

@homer — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:02:04 -0800

Is this an acceptable construction technique in ironwork? The Chicago Transit Authority is finishing up a project to rebuild stations along one of its lines. A few days ago I was waiting for a train and my eyes wandered to the ironwork for the platform. What I saw was interesting and then a wee bit scary. I've been trying to figure out how to explain what I saw but a picture I took can do a much better job that I can.

Bolts and washers.

To my know nothing mind whenever beams go together the bolts go through holes, the edges aren't held down with washers. Most of the cross beams do have holes for bolts like the beam at the top of the picture. Is this technique something unusual? If not why did they do things this way?

Planes, Trains, and Metros

fantine — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:25:25 -0800

ParisFilter: what is the best way to get from the Gare d'Austerlitz to Orly Sud? Tomorrow I'm heading to Berlin, and my flight leaves from Orly Sud. So I'm taking a train from my city into Paris.

I was looking around on the official metro website and it suggested taking the RER C to St. Michel Notre Dame, and then another line south to Orly, including something called the ORLYVAL (?) via Antony. I'm familiar with the metro system in Paris, but mostly only in the center of the city. The trajectory/plan provided was rather confusing.

I'm not opposed to taking a taxi if that's the most efficient way to get into the airport, and as long as it wouldn't be too expensive. As for my timing, the train should arrive at 10h44 in Austerlitz and my flight leaves Orly at 14h30.

Any advice would be greatly appreciate!

When is a weather station not a weather station? (And why do they threaten to shoot me?)

abirae — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:20:42 -0800

What's up with the "weather station" in Tecopa, CA? And why did it threaten to shoot me? Wile visiting the Tecopa Hot Springs (Tecopa, CA) with some friends a few years ago, we saw a cheerful sign on our motel door inviting us to check out the local weather station. It read something like (paraphrasing because it was a while ago):

"You may be wondering what that funny looking thing by the highway is. Its a WEATHER STATION! It is here to help you. You can learn a lot about the weather, like whether it is currently raining. Come visit us any time for more information.
- US Department of Something Or Other"

So when departing the hot spring vacation, we decided to visit the weather station. The road to it was rough and gravely and there was a warning about rough terrain. We kept going until we got to another sigh that warned us not to take pictures, that we were trespassing, and that if we proceeded any further we could be shot. Thanks a lot Weather Station!

So here's my question. Does anyone know what the deal is with this weather station? Is the government very protective of precipitation data? Is it perhaps something (gasp) other than a weather station?

Any info you talented and knowledgeable MeFites may have is very much appreciated. And for what it's worth, the Hot Springs, and China Ranch Date Farm are incredible. I highly recommend them as vacation destinations, and Mr. Abirae recommends trying the date shakes.

Hey, listen to this (and that's it)!

Rykey — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:18:33 -0800

Please help me turn a Windows XP machine into a public listening station to show off our library's music CD collection. Kinda long, sorry Public librarian here. I have an XP machine that will serve as a dedicated standalone station to play snippets of songs from our CD collection (the goal being to increase checkouts of our music CDs, and increase the "cool" factor of our library in general). I'll be ripping a song or two off a given CD from the collection, which will then be displayed in a playlist on a desktop audio player for patrons to listen to. The top of the listening station will only have a mouse for picking songs, headphones for listening, and a monitor to see the player (the rest of the system will live inside the stand, locked up).

For the purposes of this question, let's assume that the listening station must live on the XP desktop (we can't buy a different machine, or just have a CD player for people to pop our CDs into to listen to, for example).

Here are the main challenges:

1) Whatever audio player I use (WMP, iTunes, etc.) must be able to be very customizable. I want to be able to pare the user's options down to just playing songs from playlists, and I'd like to be able to customize the names of the columns (I know how to choose which columns I want to display, but I want to add a column for library call number, for example). If possible, I want to hide every other button or option. Setting Start/End points in songs a la iTunes is also a must.

2) I need to be able to lock the player such that no changes to playlists, settings, etc. can take place (choosing a track, play/pause, rewind/ff, and volume are the only choices). Also, the player window should not be able to be closed or resized. I can lock the rest of the desktop/menus via admin privileges, if that matters.

3) It would be cool to be able to have the player automatically fetch the album art for the currently playing track, and we can connect the machine to the internet to do this. However, this is only an added attraction, and we can forgo this step if necessary.

I'm fine with downloading players, plug-ins, hacks, etc. to allow me to do this, as long as it's legal and legit. Really I just need to make the desktop unchangeable and idiot-proof in the ways I describe above.

Which player, and how to pimp it just so?

Electric shaver?

simplethings — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:26:03 -0800

Can you recommend a specific electric shaver? I've been using my trusty Norelco shaver for the past 6 years and would like to upgrade.
I've read this, this, and this thread and they all have good answers but they're all pretty outdated.

I'm looking for a shaver under $250 that preferably comes with a cleaning/docking station.
I have really thick, straight facial hair and my Norelco has the 3 circle style--this has worked fine. If someone highly recommends a 2 bar model I'd be willing to switch.
While I love a good close shave, an even shave is more important to me (sadly, my Norelco no longer can provide this).

I've noticed that many shavers with docking/cleaning stations run between $100 - $200 but I've also seen shavers sans docking station that are over $100. Are these worth the money?

If you can, please provide a specific model. Thank you!

Publishing N00b Questions

unclejeffy — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:41:26 -0800

I've got a publication I'd like convenience stores and others to sell. How do i get them to do that, and what kind of financial arrangements are involved? Let's just say that I'm publishing a tabloid-sized publication on a subject of great interest locally, and that it sells at retail for $1. Ideally, I'd like it to be sold at convenience stores, gas stations, and the like. (It is the type of thing that, because of the subject matter and price, will likely be purchased on impulse.)

Who do I need to approach? Individual managers at each store? A district manager for the chain stores? Owners?

And what do I need to offer them to make this an enticing deal? I am willing to split the sale 50/50 because I can still make a decent profit. Is that an arrangement that is likely to appeal to them? Do I ask them to buy them from me, or do they take them on consignment?

Answers to these and all of my unasked questions are appreciated!

How far is that from here?

thrako — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:35:56 -0800

How are the distances between stations on the DC Metro website calculated? They do not appear to be tunnel, walking/driving, or even straight-line (great circle) distances. For example, this page gives "distances" between Metro Center and all other stations in the Metrorail system. It says the distance to Rosslyn is 1.36 miles, but the straight-line distance between the stations is more than 2 miles (according to this site and this site). Several other station-pairs appear to have the wrong distances listed. It seems to be worse for stations that are far apart. Some station-pairs have listed distances that are larger than the straight-line distance, which makes a little more sense. I am inclined to think the Google Maps distances are more or less correct, so how did WMATA calculate the distances on the website?

Air conditioning the outdoors?

bystander — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:09:58 -0800

Are gas station forecourts really air conditioned in some places in the USA? I have heard environmentalists use as an example of profligate waste the idea that some US gas station have the area out front where the pumps are air conditioned. Effectively cooling the outdoors.
Is this true? Anyone got a photo/link/citation?

What do I need to know to stream a TV station to between 500 and 100 people?

asnowballschance — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:29:44 -0800

How do I set up a server to stream media ? A client has contacted us about developing a website with a streaming TV station and a streaming radio station. The stations will run 24/7 with a great deal of duplicated content. Content items will run from 15 minutes to 2 hours. The client wants to set it up as a broadcast, so that if someone tunes in at 8am, he sees the same program as everyone else, just like with regular stations. Because of the need for playlists, it looks like progressive (http) downloads won't work; however, if there are alternatives to setting up a streaming server, I'd love to hear about them.

Right now, I'm getting a handle on hardware and coding requirements so that we can put a team together. We're in West Africa, so the budget is thousands of dollars, not tens of thousands of dollars. We're also looking at a maximum of about 1000 simultaneous users, but hoping to average between 100 and 500.

What kind of hardware should I be looking at for (managed dedicated) servers? And where can we find the Terabytes of bandwidth we'll need?

What do I need to know about compressing media (into Flash)? Best practices?

Anything else I should generally be aware of?

Licensing, content, and profitability are not my problems. Putting together a plan, a budget, and hiring people to do this are.

Weather station for extreme conditions?

unSane — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:37:36 -0800

Wireless weather station for extreme conditions? Last fall I purchased a Weather Channel branded Weather Station made by LaCrosse. It worked fine for a while and we really liked having it, but the winter up here (top of a hill in Ontario) destroyed it. The anemometer blew off in the first storm, the thermometer stopped working and the rain gauge froze and cracked. The barometer still works fine though...

So I guess we need something more robust. The weather up here is really f'n extreme. It needs to be wireless and handle gusts up to about 100 mph, heavy snowfall, temperatures down to -35C or so, freezing rain, and all the rest of it. Any suggestions?

What's the name of that American Competition TV show...?

russ9595 — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:56:49 -0800

What's the name of that American TV show where a woman draped the American flag into a stunning dress without cutting it, and did the photo shoot inside Grand Central Station? I think it was some kind of photographers competition.

Looking for a "YouTube for Audio"

jurczyk — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:43:16 -0800

I'm looking for the audio equivalent of YouTube. That is, where can I post and share radio interviews at no cost? I'm working for a local political candidate who has recorded a lot of radio interviews, but the space on our web site is limited. Plus I want the material to be searchable and available to the general public.

Layover fun

yellowbkpk — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 10:22:57 -0800

What can I do today that is within walking distance of King station in Seattle? I'm arriving at King Station in Seattle in about half an hour on an Amtrak train and have a layover of several hours while I wait for my next train. What can I walk to to entertain myself in that time span?

Thanks!

Atomic Clock synchronization

543DoublePlay — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:26:25 -0800

Will an Oregon Scientific Weather, Temperature and Humidity Station be able to receive the Atomic Clock signal if it is used in Toronto?

recommendations for home weather station?

klanawa — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:25:29 -0800

i'm looking for recommendations for good brands or distributors of home weather station equipment. i'm thinking of an anemometer, rain gauge, air pressure and temperature sensors. the mission includes piping the output into a server to be broadcast on the web, preferably in real-time.

i'm looking for recommendations for reasonably inexpensive but hardy gear available in canada, and able to survive and record some violent wind/rain storms.

note that it's not critical that this equipment be accurate or precise enough for scientific work, it's more to entertain my inner weather geek and build real-time reporting applications for the web.

Origin of a drastically false assumption about actual alarm system status?

Quarter Pincher — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:55:23 -0800

Where does the idea come from that an alarm company can actually tell whether the system actually is armed? I've worked for an alarm system monitoring company for 6 years. In all my experience, there's only been one single system (that 98% of customers do NOT have) that a dispatcher can actually go into right that moment and determine whether the system is armed or not. Very very few people have this system, yet it is "common knowledge" that alarm companies are able to do this, despite being absolutely untrue. Where does the idea come from that alarm companies can tell? Movies?

On all the rest of the systems, the status is only determined by the signals the central station has received in the past even if that was moments ago. There is no way to actually tell if the system is actually armed right this second. If there is a severed connection, such as a clipped phone line (with no radio-based backup)(among thousands of other possibilities), the system very well could be disarmed and we simply wouldn't know. The fact that an alarm company says "the system is armed" is purely a guess providing for an absurd number of assumptions such as the phones being in proper order, etc.

We've had so many cases of people simply failing to hang up their phone properly that prevented the alarm signal from reaching us (because it couldn't dial out), that when we tell them "it isn't armed" they go back to check to discover that it really is armed (and thus get mad at us), we've had to resort to "we show it is not armed" or "the building may not be armed."

Every time we explain why we only "show" that it isn't armed or why it "may not" be, it's like they're brand new every time, and to a lot of people we have to explain it multiple times, as if the "we actually know" assumption is the automatic default.

Or is this simply not the case at other alarm company central stations?

Why do Central Line trains sometimes jolt as they're leaving the station?

chrismear — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:16:01 -0800

On the London Underground, on the Central line, why does the train sometimes jolt as if it's lost power for a second as it's leaving the station? Sometimes it happens just once, sometimes it happens two or three times. It doesn't seem to happen consistently at particular stations, and it feels like it's more likely to happen when the train is crowded (although that might just be my own confirmation bias). My hunch is that it's a safety feature of some kind, but if so I can't figure out what might be triggering it. Anybody in the know?