Art Bell

[Queen]

Why am I hearing an old bellgab show on tune in?? Lol

[PrairieGhost]

Why am I hearing an old bellgab show on tune in?? Lol

It was a Future Theater rerun.

[Jackstar]

Why am I hearing an old bellgab show on tune in?? Lol

[nika01]

try pasting it into the Safari browser or just click on the link. If you do it that way it should open the IOS podcast app, but it will ask you for your use rid and pw twice.

I did it both ways on my iPhone 6 and iPod 2 (both are running 8.4)

Yup. that worked fine. Seemed to require the safari step to get the attention of the podcast app. Thanks for the clarification.

[sbaustin]

Today I will see what special thing needs to be done to support pocket casts. Maybe change the @ for_ in the email or something like that.

[wr250]

here is my old script for getting /combining the MITD shows:
script save_page_as:

Code Select Expand


#!/bin/bash

set -e
set -u
set -o pipefail

# Assert existence of xdotool to begin with
if ! xdotool --help &>/dev/null; then
    printf "ERROR: 'xdotool' is not present (or not in the PATH). Please visit http://www.semicomplete.com/projects/xdotool/ to download it for your platform.\n" >&2
    exit 1
fi

load_wait_time=4
save_wait_time=8
scriptname="$(basename "$0")"
destination="."
browser="google-chrome"
suffix=""
url=""

function print_usage() {
    printf "\n%s: Open the given url in a browser tab/window, perform 'Save As' operation and close the tab/window.\n\n" "${scriptname}" >&2
    printf "USAGE:\n   %s URL [OPTIONS]\n\n" "${scriptname}" >&2
    printf "URL                      The url of the web page to be saved.\n\n" >&2
    printf "options:\n" >&2
    printf "  -d, --destination      Destination path. If a directory, then file is saved with default name inside the directory, else assumed to be full path of target file. Default = '%s'\n" "${destination}" >&2
    printf "  -s, --suffix           An optional suffix string for the target file name (ignored if --destination arg is a full path)\n" >&2
    printf "  -b, --browser          Browser executable to be used (must be one of 'google-chrome', 'chromium-browser' or 'firefox'). Default = '%s'.\n" "${browser}" >&2
    printf "  --load-wait-time       Number of seconds to wait for the page to be loaded (i.e., seconds to sleep before Ctrl+S is 'pressed'). Default = %s\n" "${load_wait_time}" >&2
    printf "  --save-wait-time       Number of seconds to wait for the page to be saved (i.e., seconds to sleep before Ctrl+F4 is 'pressed'). Default = %s\n" "${save_wait_time}" >&2
    printf "  -h, --help             Display this help message and exit.\n" >&2
}

while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]
do
    case "$1" in
        -d | --destination)
            shift;
            destination="$1"
            shift
            ;;
        -s | --suffix)
            shift;
            suffix="$1"
            shift;
            ;;
        -b | --browser)
            shift;
            browser="$1"
            shift
            ;;

        --load-wait-time)
            shift;
            load_wait_time="$1"
            shift
            ;;
        --save-wait-time)
            shift;
            save_wait_time="$1"
            shift
            ;;
        -h | --help)
            print_usage
            exit 0
            ;;
        -*)
            printf "ERROR: Unknown option: %s\n" "${1}">&2
            print_usage
            exit 1
            ;;
        *)  if [ ! -z "$url" ]; then
                printf "ERROR: Expected exactly one positional argument (URL) to be present, but encountered a second one ('%s').\n\n" "${1}" >&2
                print_usage
                exit 1
            fi
            url="$1"
            shift;
            ;;
    esac
done

# Returns 1 if input param contains any non-printable or non-ascii character, else returns 0
# (Inspiration: http://stackoverflow.com/a/13596664/1857518)
function has_non_printable_or_non_ascii() {
    LANG=C
    if printf "%s" "${1}" | grep '[^ -~]\+' &>/dev/null; then
        printf 1
    else
        printf 0
    fi
}

function validate_input() {
    if [[ -z "${url}" ]]; then
        printf "ERROR: URL must be specified." >&2
        print_usage
        exit 1
    fi

    if [[ -d "${destination}" ]]; then
        printf "INFO: The specified destination ('%s') is a directory path, will save file inside it with the default name.\n" "${destination}">&2
    else
        local basedir="$(dirname "${destination}")"
        if [[ ! -d "${basedir}" ]]; then
            printf "ERROR: Directory '%s' does not exist - Will NOT continue.\n" "${basedir}" >&2
            exit 1
        fi
    fi
    destination="$(readlink -f "$destination")"  # Ensure absolute path

    if [[ "${browser}" != "google-chrome" && "${browser}" != "chromium-browser" && "${browser}" != "firefox" ]]; then
        printf "ERROR: Browser (%s) is not supported, must be one of 'google-chrome', 'chromium-browser' or 'firefox'.\n" "${browser}" >&2
        exit 1
    fi

    if ! command -v "${browser}" &>/dev/null; then
        printf "ERROR: Command '${browser}' not found. Make sure it is installed, and in path.\n" >&2
        exit 1
    fi

    local num_regexp='^.[0-9]+$|^[0-9]+$|^[0-9]+.[0-9]+$'  # Matches a valid number (in decimal notation)
    if [[ ! "${load_wait_time}" =~ $num_regexp || ! "${save_wait_time}" =~ $num_regexp ]]; then
        printf "ERROR: --load-wait-time (='%s'), and --save_wait_time(='%s') must be valid numbers.\n" "${load_wait_time}" "${load_wait_time}" >&2
        exit 1
    fi

    if [[ $(has_non_printable_or_non_ascii "${destination}") -eq 1 || $(has_non_printable_or_non_ascii "${suffix}") -eq 1 ]]; then
        printf "ERROR: Either --destination ('%s') or --suffix ('%s') contains a non ascii or non-printable ascii character(s). " "${destination}" "${suffix}" >&2
        printf "'xdotool' does not mingle well with non-ascii characters (https://code.google.com/p/semicomplete/issues/detail?id=14).\n\n" >&2
        printf '!!!! Will NOT proceed !!!!\n' >&2
        exit 1
    fi
}
validate_input
##############

# Launch ${browser}, and wait for the page to load
"${browser}" "${url}" &>/dev/null &
sleep ${load_wait_time}

# Find the id for the ${browser} window
browser_wid="$(xdotool search --sync --onlyvisible --class "${browser}" | head -n 1)"
wid_re='^[0-9]+$'  # window-id must be a valid integer
if [[ ! "${browser_wid}" =~ ${wid_re} ]]; then
    printf "ERROR: Unable to find X-server window id for browser.\n" >&2
    exit 1
fi

# Activate the ${browser} window, and "press" ctrl+s
xdotool windowactivate "${browser_wid}" key --clearmodifiers "ctrl+s"

sleep 1 # Give 'Save as' dialog box time to show up

# Resolve the expected title name for save file dialog box (chrome & firefox differ in this regard)
if [[ "${browser}" == "firefox" ]]; then
    savefile_dialog_title="Save as"
else
    savefile_dialog_title="Save file"
fi
# Find window id for the "Save file" dialog box
savefile_wid="$(xdotool search --name "$savefile_dialog_title" | head -n 1)"
if [[ ! "${savefile_wid}" =~ ${wid_re}  ]]; then
    printf "ERROR: Unable to find window id for 'Save File' Dialog.\n" >&2
    exit 1
fi

# Fix for Issue #1: Explicitly focus on the "name" field (works on both: gnome, and kde)
xdotool windowactivate "${savefile_wid}" key --delay 20 --clearmodifier "Alt+n"

# Check if we are using kde
is_kde=0
# Don't feel bad if DESKTOP_SESSION env variable is not present
set +u
if [[ "${DESKTOP_SESSION}" =~ ^kde-? ]]; then
    is_kde=1
fi
set -u

if [[ ! -z "${suffix}" ]]; then
    ###########################
    # Make sure that we are at correct position before typing the "suffix"
    #
    # If the user is using 'kde-plasma', then the full name of the file including the extension is highlighted
    # in the name field, so simply pressing a Right key and adding suffix leads to incorrect result.
    # Hence as a special case for 'kde-*' we move back 5 characters Left from the end before adding the suffix.
    # Now this strategy is certainly not full proof and assumes that file extension is always 4 characters long ('html'),
    # but this is the only fix I can think for this special case right now. Of course it's easy to tweak the number of
    # Left key moves you need if you know your file types in advance.
    if [[ "${is_kde}" -eq 1 ]]; then
        printf "INFO: Desktop session is found to be '${DESKTOP_SESSION}', hence the full file name will be highlighted. " >&2
        printf "Assuming extension .html to move back 5 character left before adding suffix (change accordingly if you need to).\n" >&2
        xdotool windowactivate "${savefile_wid}" key --delay 40 --clearmodifier End Left Left Left Left Left
    else
        xdotool windowactivate "${savefile_wid}" key --delay 20 --clearmodifiers Right
    fi
    set -u
    ###########################

    extraarg=""
    if [[ "${suffix::1}}" == "-" ]]; then
        extraarg="-"
    fi
    xdotool type --delay 10 --clearmodifiers "${extraarg}" "${suffix}"
fi

# Activate the 'Save File' dialog and type in the appropriate filename (depending on ${destination} value: 1) directory, 2) full path, 3) empty)
if [[ ! -z "${destination}" ]]; then
    if [[ -d "${destination}" ]]; then
        # Case 1: --destination was a directory.
        xdotool windowactivate "${savefile_wid}" key --delay 20 --clearmodifiers Home
        xdotool type --delay 10 --clearmodifiers "${destination}/"
    else
        # Case 2: --destination was full path.
        xdotool windowactivate "${savefile_wid}" key --delay 20 --clearmodifiers "ctrl+a" "BackSpace"
        xdotool type --delay 10 --clearmodifiers "${destination}"
    fi
fi
xdotool windowactivate "${savefile_wid}" key --delay 20 --clearmodifiers Return

printf "INFO: Saving web page ...\n" >&2

# Wait for the file to be completely saved
sleep ${save_wait_time}

# Close the browser tab/window (Ctrl+w for KDE, Ctrl+F4 otherwise)
if [[ "${is_kde}" -eq 1 ]]; then
    xdotool windowactivate "${browser_wid}" key --clearmodifiers "ctrl+w"
else
    xdotool windowactivate "${browser_wid}" key --clearmodifiers "ctrl+F4"
fi
printf "INFO: Done!\n">&2

i didnt write that, i slightly modified a script someone else wrote. it downloads the episodes using chrome.
next:

join them together

Code Select Expand


ls *-1.mp3 >> ls.txt
while read file
do
        a=$(echo $file |awk -F "-" '{print $1}' |awk -F "+" '{print $2}')
        echo $a
        mp3wrap MITD$a.mp3 *$a-1.mp3 *$a-2.mp3 *$a-3.mp3*
        mv *MP3* $(ls *MP3* |sed 's/_MP3WRAP//')
done <ls.txt
rm -r ls.txt
echo "enter show guest"
read guest   
echo "enter comments"
read comment
id3v2 -D MITD*
id3v2 -a "Art Bell" -y "2015" -g 101 -t "Midnight In The Desert" -c "$guest - $comment" MITD*
id3v2 -l MITD*
mv MITD* complete/
rm -r *-*.mp3


then finally put it all together:

Code Select Expand


#!/bin/bash
./save_page_as http://darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/archives/midnight-in-the-desert/page/2
for i in $(cat *.html |grep ".mp3?" | awk -F "\"" '{print $2}'|grep -v controls )
do ./save_page_as $i
done

rm -rf Midnight\ in\ the\ Desert\ _\ Dark\ Matter\ Digital\ Network*
./mitdjoin


that last bit runs the save_page_as script , pulling only the 1st 3 mp3's (last nights episodes, for later joining)
then runs the mitdjoin script  which combines the 3 files and lets you input a few mp3 tags. then moves the complete file to another folder, deletes the original 3 mp3's and the html file(s).
now none of this works,or is needed,  because of the new single file format and the podcast feed

[soulburner]

Windows Phone user here Any tips on how to use the rss feed? The Podcasts app shows "no results", VLC seems like it's doing nothing. Don't tell me Windows Phone is a bad OS, I'm simply missing something

[WavelengthZero]

if you are using an app that doesn't support an authenticated feed like pocket cast, try the url like this:

http://email:password@rss.darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/mitd

It *should* work.  An example would be   http://yomamma@isfat.com:password@rss.darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/mitd

In that example my dmdn login was: yommama@isfat.com with the password "password"...

This works for Podcast Addict on Android.

If I check the url after subscribing it converts the first @ symbol to %40, so like this
http://yomamma%40isfat.com:password@rss.darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/mitd

Maybe the first @ symbol confuses some apps. 40 is the hexadecimal value for @ in ASCII, so maybe just using %40 in place of @ would work on other apps.

Thanks for your help getting this RSS feed working. It makes it a lot easier to keep track of which episodes I've already listened to.

[ChairSpud]

This works for Podcast Addict on Android.

If I check the url after subscribing it converts the first @ symbol to %40, so like this
http://yomamma%40isfat.com:password@rss.darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/mitd

Maybe the first @ symbol confuses some apps. 40 is the hexadecimal value for @ in ASCII, so maybe just using %40 in place of @ would work on other apps.

Thanks for your help getting this RSS feed working. It makes it a lot easier to keep track of which episodes I've already listened to.

Thank you so much for sharing this, POCKET CASTS NOW WORKS.

[dan7800]

Podcasts seem to work VERY well on my iPhone.

I am using the default podcast app. Does anyone have any experience using any other podcasts apps for the iPhone and if they are advantageous to the default app?

Thanks to SBAustin for this. He will forever be in the folklore of BellGab.

[Mebee]

Hi kids. I joined to ask this question: I signed up on the first day for the Time Traveler thing. Does that mean I'm already  on automatic payment status for future months?

[SredniVashtar]

Hi kids. I joined to ask this question: I signed up on the first day for the Time Traveler thing. Does that mean I'm already  on automatic payment status for future months?

Yes, it comes out of PayPal automatically from now on, unless you cancel.

[Mebee]

Yes, it comes out of PayPal automatically from now on, unless you cancel.

Thanks. Been lurking here for a while and listening to Art for a long time.

I wonder... does anybody here know that the original radio show host on this general subject matter was actually a guy called Billy Goodman on KVEG out of Las Vegas in, I think, 1988 or 9? I believe he did some of the very first interviews with Bob Lazar. I may have recordings of that. His show was called the "Billy Goodman Happening". I don't know what became of him.

[HumanBeing]

The guest tonight on MITD is Seth Shostak.
I can only wish Art dumps him after, at most, an hour.

Steven Greer while speaking to a group of people said that Frank Drake had told him personally that SETI already received an alien signal.
So after hearing this Art may have his hopes up thinking Seth will confirm this in some way. Not a chance.
There is more of a chance of Elvis, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin landing in Vegas in a UFO and playing a full week of shows.

Seth will not spill any revelatory information. It will be the same song and dance from the usual playbook  :

[dan7800]

The guest tonight on MITD is Seth Shostak.
I can only wish Art dumps him after, at most, an hour.

Seth will not spill any revelatory information. It will be the same song and dance from the usual playbook  :

Seth has always been one of my favorite guests, I am looking forward to the show tonight.

Seth is a smart guy who speaks rationally. I always enjoy guests like that.

[ChairSpud]

Podcasts seem to work VERY well on my iPhone.

I am using the default podcast app. Does anyone have any experience using any other podcasts apps for the iPhone and if they are advantageous to the default app?

Thanks to SBAustin for this. He will forever be in the folklore of BellGab.

Ditto on the praise for SBAustin.

Have only recent experience with RSS podcast apps for iOS but from my limited experience, the Apple app is probably the easiest and simplest to use and has all the features most would probably use or want. Other apps have more advanced features, for example RSSRadio (free) allows me to control playback by tapping or swiping the screen and allows me to pause, fast forward and rewind via the EarPods remote control buttons and I can also replace the podcast icon with any pic I want with a long tap.

[AppealPlay]

I'm using the default podcast app (called, in typical Apple fashion, "Podcasts") on my iPhone 6+ and it works perfectly for both Art and RCH's shows as well as my other favorite podcasts.

[Cwn Annwn]

Seth Shostak seems like a decent guy, and he is certainly intelligent. I hope this evening's show is interesting, but so far every show I've heard him on has felt like the same show. His ideas are very linear and bounded (and therefore rational), but rationality has little (and more likely nothing) to do with whatever will be true in the long run.

[Freyja]

The guest tonight on MITD is Seth Shostak.
I can only wish Art dumps him after, at most, an hour.

Steven Greer while speaking to a group of people said that Frank Drake had told him personally that SETI already received an alien signal.
So after hearing this Art may have his hopes up thinking Seth will confirm this in some way. Not a chance.
There is more of a chance of Elvis, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin landing in Vegas in a UFO and playing a full week of shows.

Seth will not spill any revelatory information. It will be the same song and dance from the usual playbook  :

Agreed, however I hope Art really takes him to task about the Greer revelation and doesn't drop it. Better yet, have Greer on as well to confront him, unless of course Greer was lying.

I have never liked Shostak. Should be interesting to hear what Art does with him tonight.

[sbaustin]

Thank you so much for sharing this, POCKET CASTS NOW WORKS.

Ok, I just pushed a fix for those other podcast programs that were having issues.

You can try the following:

* http://rss.darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/mitd   if your app allows or supports login
* http://email@domain.com:password@rss.darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/mitd   
* http://email__domain.com:password@rss.darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/mitd     - replace @ with two _

In the event your domain or email contains two underscores, use this last version:

* http://email___domain.com:password@rss.darkmatterdigitalnetwork.com/mitd   - replace @ with three _

If your domain or email contains three underscores I think you might be screwed.

I figured it was easier to do a couple underscores than url encoding the @ for a user. Let me know if you have any issues.

[zeebo]

The guest tonight on MITD is Seth Shostak.
I can only wish Art dumps him after, at most, an hour.

Have to disagree with you on this one - he's one of my fave guests.  No matter how hard Art or anyone else presses him he won't budge on the science - he doesn't have that luxury, being a professional scientist and all.  (Also, being a public figure of SETI, whatever he says can affect their fundraising so he has to be realistic about the project.)

He's intelligent and articulate and a pretty good sport considering the kinds of speculative questions he knows he'll get.  Looking forward to it Art!

[flimflam384]

Seth Shostak is awesome.  I love when Art covers the genuinely scientific perspective, and Seth is one of my favorite guests.

[GravitySucks]

Is anybody else getting "403" errors on some of the RSS downloads?

[sbaustin]

Is anybody else getting "403" errors on some of the RSS downloads?

The links expire after 15 mins. You may need to refresh the podcast, most apps have a way to do that.  And then try again.

[PaulAtreides]

Windows Phone user here Any tips on how to use the rss feed? The Podcasts app shows "no results", VLC seems like it's doing nothing. Don't tell me Windows Phone is a bad OS, I'm simply missing something

Or, you could buy a grown up phone. 

[Skunk Ape]

Does anyone have any experience using any other podcasts apps for the iPhone and if they are advantageous to the default app?

The default iPhone Podcasts app used to be okay from what I hear, but I abandoned it very quickly after I found out it didn't handle all the shows I was throwing at it. The interface was clunky and it had a problem remembering where I left off after coming back to a show after it being paused.

I've said it a few times, but Downcast works very well with iOS and it will sync across multiple devices so you can pause on your iPhone and pick up the iPad and have it start where you left it. (I'm not sure if that's incorporated with Podcasts currently)

It isn't free, but if you're willing to pay for an app that works consistently, I'd say go for it.

[sbaustin]

Windows Phone user here Any tips on how to use the rss feed? The Podcasts app shows "no results", VLC seems like it's doing nothing. Don't tell me Windows Phone is a bad OS, I'm simply missing something

I bought two lumia phones last year to test out windows and I lasted a month.  The OS isn't all that bad, but the lack of app development on it makes the platform pretty terrible. If I can find those devices I'll try to figure something out but it won't be soon!

[SaucyRossy]

I bought two lumia phones last year to test out windows and I lasted a month.  The OS isn't all that bad, but the lack of app development on it makes the platform pretty terrible. If I can find those devices I'll try to figure something out but it won't be soon!

Yeah, windows mobile os has always been in this weird region of doing things first but never having ANY app support. Which is kind of mind blowing when you think about it.

I still remember my friend showing of his windows phone that had a stylus, it was pretty cool back in the day. Way before the iPhone showed up.

[boxman]

Yeah, windows mobile os has always been in this weird region of doing things first but never having ANY app support. Which is kind of mind blowing when you think about it.

I still remember my friend showing of his windows phone that had a stylus, it was pretty cool back in the day. Way before the iPhone showed up.

At least with WP6 they had a somewhat healthy homebrew scene, but of course microsoft wanted to be "cool" like apple with WP7 and decided to close down the entire system with a walled garden, so that you can only run microsoft approved software which means no support for anything at all..

[albrecht]

Yeah, windows mobile os has always been in this weird region of doing things first but never having ANY app support. Which is kind of mind blowing when you think about it.

I still remember my friend showing of his windows phone that had a stylus, it was pretty cool back in the day. Way before the iPhone showed up.

It is like the American version of SONY. They come up with all kinds of cool things (E-Reader, Mini-Disc, HD-DVD, Beta, gaming systems, Memory stick, etc) some take off (CDs, PlayStation, Jumbotrons, BlueRay, Walkman, etc) but others often failed, even if better tech, because screw up by making it so proprietary or not marketing it correctly.