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Sunday, February 22, 2009

How to Capitalize on Free Content From Podcasts

One Godaikin the major challenges for every website owner EC Comics generating compelling content Green Lantern will engage visitors, keep them one your site, and bring them back in the future. Audio and video are great at engaging visitors, but Chatty Cathy everyone has the time, tools and talent required to produce quality audio and video.

Those who don't want to produce their own audio and video content can take advantage of content generated others using syndication technologies. In this article, I'll show you how to syndicate podcasts -- ie. how to enable your website's visitors to listen to someone else's podcast right on your site.

The first step is to find a podcast on a topic that will be of interest to your website's visitors. To do that, use your favorite search engine to search for "podcast directory". You'll find a number of directories listing podcasts covering a variety of topics. You can also find podcasts that may not be listed in the directories by searching for, for example "internet marketing podcast", "human rights podcast", etc.

Be sure to listen to a few episodes of the podcast before you syndicate it - just because it's on the right topic, that doesn't necessarily mean it's interesting! Also be sure to check the publisher's terms to make sure they don't prohibit syndication of their podcast. Most won't because syndication gives them free expose to a wider audience.

Once you've found a podcast, you'll need a script to import it into your website. (Why do it manually when there's software available that will keep your site up-to-date with the latest podcast episodes automatically?) Be sure that the script you choose can display an audio player on your page, and not just a link to the audio file. Otherwise, it will be too cumbersome for the user, as well as taking them away from your site!

One script that does this well is CaRP Evolution. It is an RSS to HTML converter -- a script that takes RSS feeds (which is the format podcasts are published in) and converts them to HTML code so that they can be displayed in webpages. It has a podcast plugin that works with the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player to play podcasts in a customizable Flash-powered audio player. CaRP is a PHP script, so it's used most easily in PHP webpages.

The following describes how to use CaRP Evolution to display a podcast on your website. If you use a different script, the process should be similar, but the details will be different.

Install CaRP Evolution and upload at least "audio-player.js" and "player.swf" from 1 Pixel Out Audio Player to your website (they don't need to be uploaded to the same folder as CaRP).

Then use code like the following to display the podcast you selected. Change the path on the line beginning "require_once" to the path given to your by the CaRP installer, the address on the line where "player-path" is set to the address where you uploaded the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player files, and the address in the line beginning "CarpCacheShow" to the address of the podcast feed you selected. (Be sure to enter the address of the podcast's RSS feed, not the address of the podcast's homepage).

?php require_once '/YOUR/PATH/TO/carp/carp.php'; <br>CarpConf('iorder','link,desc,podcast'); <br>CarpConf('maxidesc',200); <br>CarpLoadPlugin('podcast.php'); <br>$podcastcarpconf['player-path']='exampleaudio-player/'; <br>$podcastcarpconf['player-settings']['leftbg']='0033CC'; <br>$podcastcarpconf['player-settings']['lefticon']='FFFFFF'; <br>$podcastcarpconf['player-settings']['rightbg']='009966'; <br>$podcastcarpconf['player-settings']['righticon']='ffffff'; <br>CarpCacheShow('examplepodcast.rss'); ?

The lines of code beginning with "CarpConf" tell CaRP to display the title link, description and podcast audio for each episode, and to limit the description to 200 characters.

The lines of code setting "leftbg", "lefticon", "rightbg" and "righticon" are customizing the colors of the audio player. The values shown are "hexidecimal" color codes like those used in HTML. but they don't begin with "#".

You'll find instructions in CaRP's documentation describing other ways to customize the audio player and the rest of CaRP's output. You can also do more advanced things like merging multiple podcasts on the same topic together.

Once you have a podcast feed displayed on your site, your work is done! Whenever a new episode is added to the podcast, your webpage will be updated so that visitors can always listen to the latest episode right on your site.

All that's left to do is make sure that you have original textual content on your site for your visitors to read while they're listening or after they're done. You can leave the audio work to someone else.

Antone Roundy is the owner of Gecko Tribe, LLC. He specializes in creating scripts and tools for webmasters, including CaRP Evolution - geckotriberss/carp/geckotriberss/carp/ - as well as various other aspects of internet marketing.

Banksy Posters - Snapshots of Vanishing Art

Fans of Banksy Graffiti are in a strange position. If you don't live in London or any of the various International Cities where he paints his works, you're not likely to see them. Even if you do happen to live in the City, you have to be quick or by the time you reach a new piece of Banksy Art it is more often than not covered in Plexiglas or has been chipped away and flogged on eBay.

Whilst it's understandable, if not mercenary, for people to be removing Banksy Art, I take more exception with those who chase their fifteen seconds of fame by defacing his stencils. A recent example of this was a piece of Banksy Graffiti that the he painted in New Orleans to commemorate the devastation of Hurricane Katrina (and perhaps a timely reminder of the lack of response from the Government just before the national election!). One of the stencils was of a boy swinging on a lifesaver and this has now been blotted out with red paint. You could perhaps understand a kid doing this, but given the placement and height of the Graffiti, it would seem to be someone more 'mature'. I suppose by defacing a piece of art, they know it will be reported and ergo they have their little piece of infamy. The same thing happened in London earlier this year when two of the more prominent pieces were destroyed within days; part roller-painted out, with the words "All the best" painted over them. There is speculation by Banksy Posters on forums that this was actually done by the Artist himself, in answer to the wholesale removal of his public works that were placed on eBay at extortionate prices.

There was a time, when Banksy works in Bristol and London were left up and you could go and view them on the walls and in the Street, the very places where they were intended to be seen. Now it seems that with the press attention and the dislike in some quarters of the Artist due to his perceived commercialisation, new works are fleeting, temporary things. Graffiti by its very nature is of course temporary, but this isn't just tags and scrawls, Banksy's work is Art. He comments on society and issues. His work, more often then not, is brilliantly situated and executed and is a stark commentary on our age and contrasts the relentless advertising which bombards us as soon as we leave our homes.

Others modern Artists are lauded in galleries and whilst there have been a few exhibitions of Banksy's work, they are from private collections, art that the public no longer has access to, pieces that were removed or taken from the streets, Banksy's gallery of choice. Whilst I can see this as the nature of street art, a part of me mourns the fact that soon the only records left will be Banksy Posters and Prints.

Jonathan Childermass
Fan and Collector of Banksy Posters and Prints
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Acquaintance With Online Casino Vocabulary is Important

Online gambling games use several words that can be a bit difficult to understand especially when you have just G I Joe a room. It might appear to you as an alien language. The word, which most 1933 DeLong baseball cards the new players understands is 'bet'. However, there are many other words that you should know to be at par with your competitors.

A large number of players play online casino games without knowing the meaning of these words properly. However, you should never commit a mistake of asking other players in the game about it as that will make others take advantage of the situation to pull out cash from your pocket.

Online casino and gambling games uses several jargons that can create a lot of confusion. In order to keep away confusions and get the most out of a game, you should first learn about them before getting started with a game. Some of the words that you will get to hear often are action, wad, aggregate limit, and aggregate winnings.

Action is a term that is used when a player wagers cash in the game. By this term is meant to activate the cash or to put the cash into the game by betting. Aggregate limit means the amount of pay-outs that the casino has Captain America in a game. Aggregate winnings are the money that you have lost to the casino or the summation of your casino winnings.

A wad or a bankroll means the total online casino six million dollar man amount. As real money is not used for putting bets in online casino sites, the bankroll happens to be a big support and hence you should never lose it. You won't be able to put whole wads in one single bet as most of the online gambling games have their betting limits.

If ever a player asks you that whether you are an active player in the game or not, avoid telling him that you are new to the game. Whenever you are playing a game, you are an active player. When you are declared the banker or the dealer of the game, you should immediately make your move to deal the cards to other players.

The players being barred means that they are no more eligible to play the online casino game. These are the various essential things that you should know as that will always help you to be in competition.

For any kind of online casino games, visit onlinexcasinosonlinexcasinos. This is the best site where you will come across various onlinexcasinosCasino_Games/Arcade_games_c5arcade games, table games, slots, video poker, etc.

Fun Math Games That Develop Strategic Thinking

Strategic thinking is a most valuable skill for children to develop. It requires the ability to observe, take in different pieces of information, analyze information, plan and analyze possible solutions and select appropriate actions.

Strategic thinking is a form of problem solving. Everyday we are required to solve problems. Everyday we need solutions. Problem solving is an essential skill in our work life, home life and social life.

Games like chess and backgammon are ideal for teaching strategic thinking. However these games require the game equipment and have complex rules that can take some time to learn and master. They are also games that take some time to play.

Instead of using these complex games there are some math games that are much simpler for children to learn and play. Have a go at teaching these games to children and you'll find that you'll be hooked on playing too.

Corners
This is a challenging game of strategy for two people. It is simple to learn and quick to play and children love to play again and again.
To play Corners draw a 10 by 10 grid. Each player uses a different colored pen.
- Both players start in opposite corners.
- Players take turns at coloring a block of 2 squares that are joined by a side.
- Every block that is colored after the first one must join to one of the other colored blocks that has been colored by that player, but only at the corner.
- A player can not have 2 of their colored blocks joined along a side.
- When a player is unable to color a block of 2 squares, he is out and the other player is the winner.

Sprouts
This is a simple but challenging game for 2 people.
To play Sprouts draw three random dots on a sheet of paper.
- Each player takes turns at drawing a curved line to link 2 dots then placing another dot somewhere along the line.
- There are 2 rules for this game - no line can cross another line and no dot can have more than 3 lines leaving it.
- The last player who is able to make a join is the winner.

These games can be played in different ways in different situations.
- Use pencil and paper to play or play on a whiteboard or blackboard.
- Play on the computer by drawing a table in a Microsoft Word doc for Corners or by drawing dots and lines for Sprouts. This will also give practice at computer skills at the same time.
- Play in the classroom on the board with one side of the room challenging the other side.
- In the classroom, have a tournament by pairing students off to play against each other. Winners of each game can play again in the next round and then continue until a class champ is found.

There are many other simple strategy games that kids love to play.
At first children may choose to play in a random manner but they can be encouraged to develop strategies that will improve their chance of winning.

If you are looking for a great strategy to develop strategic thinking - start looking at math games.

Teresa Evans is a teacher and parent who uses math games to get kids excited about math. She shares her favorite math games at makingmathmorefunMakingMathMoreFun. Game sheets for Sprouts and Corners can be printed from the Making Math More Fun. You can receive your own 7 part math games collection when you visit makingmathmorefunmakingmathmorefun