Weekend Artifact 3: Spider Plant

Weekend Artifact 3

Posted on Sunday, February 19th, 2012.

Reading List integration for Vienna

Vienna is a desktop newsreader for OS X. Here is an AppleScript to add the article currently selected in Vienna to Safari’s Reading List:

Paste it in Applescript Editor, save it in ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Vienna, and run it with your script runner to read some articles.


Note: As of the Vienna 3 beta, something like this is now built in to the app: see the “Add to Safari reading list” item in the Article menu.

Posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2012.

Custom Kindle Screensaver Images with kite

The Kindle comes with a set of “screensaver” images that appear on the screen when the device is asleep. Most of the images are portraits of famous authors; a few are images of other artwork. All are appropriate choices for the cover of a reading device – but I’d rather use my own images.

Out of the box, it isn’t possible to customize the Kindle screensaver. However, there are couple of unsupported tools that can enable this feature. I tried installing one called kite and was pleased to find that it worked as described. So I picked out some old drawings and now my Kindle’s got some fresh new faces:

Custom Kindle Screensaver

Continue reading for a step-by-step setup guide…

Posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2012.

Handlebar Gadgets Pop Quiz

Here’s an only-slightly-fuzzy photo of my handlebars:

Handlebars

Four accessory mounts are visible. Can you identify what they are?

Update: Congratulations to jaster on Flickr for correctly identifying the types of mounts! From left to right, they are: minor light mount, computer (speedometer/odometer/clock) mount, phone mount (on stem), and major light mount.

Posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2012.

Reading List Reader

I’ve written a standalone script called readinglistreader.py derived from my ebook recipe for Safari Reading List. This script simply lists the contents of your Safari Reading List. It has many options to allow detailed control of the output list. By default, output is formatted as a CSV table, but it can also be formatted as a bookmarks file suitable for importing into other programs or services. In fact, since there seems to be no other easy way to grab the contents of  Reading List (besides Safari’s interface), this script is intended is to help export your Reading List bookmarks to other services, presumably as part of some other script you write.

Get it at Github.

Posted on Monday, February 13th, 2012.

A Moment in Motion

A haiku about running in the winter, composed while running in the winter:

Footprints in the snow:
I’m tracking other runners,
racing against ghosts.

(Running west into a bracing flurry on Clifton, I noticed another runner behind me. Our paths soon diverged. Coming down Fuller Hollow twenty minutes later, I saw recent prints, stride-lengths apart, smoothed by just a dusting of snow, and knew I had come upon the trail of my pursuer. As I ran where the other had ran before we met, I came up with these lines to remember the moment.)

Posted on Sunday, February 12th, 2012.

Weekend Artifact 2

Weekend Artifact 2

Posted on Sunday, February 12th, 2012.

Ebook Recipe for Safari Reading List

Reading List is a Safari browser feature that helps you bookmark articles you want to read later. Calibre is an ebook utility program. I wrote a script for Calibre that generates an ebook of the articles in your Reading List, so you can read them at your leisure on the device of your choice.

Click here for a more detailed introduction and instructions…

Posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2012.

Neighborhood Pizzeria

Happy to discover a new pizza place has opened up nearby (Me-Ma’s Pizzeria, 286 Conklin Ave). I stopped in for a slice this afternoon and enjoyed some February sunshine from the window seat.

Posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2012.

Bike Locks

New U-Lock

I’ve got a new bike lock. I upgraded from a combination cable lock to a U-lock with a key. It’s an OnGuard Bulldog and it is charged with the defense of the realm (the realm being my bicycle).

I derive an inordinate amount of pleasure from figuring out how to mount equipment on bikes. In this case, I’ve “holstered” the lock between the seat tube and the rear rack. It sits flush with the outermost tubing of the rack and inside the plane of the crank. It’s out of the way while pedaling but easy to access when needed.

I am uncertain how sturdy the plastic mounting clip will prove to be in the long run, but it’s a clever three-piece design that permits installation in nearly any orientation. The lock snaps into place with a reassuringly positive click, but releases smoothly when the yellow tab is pressed.

locksnipThe purchase of this lock was prompted by the mutinous dereliction of duty exhibited by its predecessor. After years of faithful service, one morning it refused to release my steed as ordered. (Actually, I suspect I must have accidentally reset the combination while fumbling with it in the dark the night before.) Having no choice but to dance with the dark side in order to free my own ride, I cut the lock.

It was alarmingly easy. I consider locks of any sort a deterrent to opportunistic theft only, but even so I decided a beefier lock was a worthwhile investment. A cable lock can be cut quickly with a pair of snips that fit in your pocket.

Posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012.