Friends

http://www.bpdnews.com/2009/12/boston_24_a_look_at_the_last_2_483.html

A look at the last 24 hours in Boston from Tuesday, December 22, 2009 through 10am, Wednesday, December 23, 2009.

Homicides: 0
Non-fatal Shootings: 0
Non-fatal Stabbings: 0

Residential Break-ins: 2
Commercial Break-ins: 4

Note: the information above is preliminary information, and should not be considered official crime statistics. The information is based on an initial review of incident reports and may not be a comprehensive listing of events. It is not a statistical analysis, but rather an initial tally of significant events.

http://xkcd.com/679/

• 14:55 Oh, cool, JetBlue lets you check a bag for free. I don't get a minature
  Zan on my shoulder arguing with me. #
• 20:57 I always say I wish I could have a pet, but it turns out I really do want
  a pet. #

Overtime by Charles Stross.

I almost never actually visit the Facebook web site: I follow it through a feed reader (in my case, NetNewsWire) along with all of my other feeds.

Besides the obvious benefits to this, one great side effect is that you never, ever see the output of applications (e.g., quiz results) or the other useless noise like "so-and-so is now friends with someone else you already know". The only drawback I've found is that you also don't see notifications about photos that your friends have uploaded. (You do see links that they post, however: just not Facebook-hosted photos. It's a bizarre omission.)

Anyway, I just had to explain to someone how to accomplish this feat, which made me realize how completely non-obvious Facebook has made this. Finding these feeds is a complete pain in the ass. They've really gone out of their way to hide the URLs you need to use.

So. You have to subscribe to three or four different feeds.

1. Posts: Find the Posts feed by going to http://www.facebook.com/posted.php. On the upper right of the page is a gray box, and at the bottom of that box is a link entitled "My Friends' Links" with the RSS logo next to it. Copy that URL. Subscribe to it in your feed reader. This is the RSS URL for any links and (external) images that your friends post.

2. Notes: Find the Notes feed by going to http://www.facebook.com/notes.php and repeating the above. This is the RSS URL for things that your friends post via the "Notes" app, which is (I guess) the more blog-like way of posting long things to Facebook.

3. Notifications: Find the Notifications feed by going to http://www.facebook.com/notifications.php and repeating the above. This is the RSS URL for things like "so-and-so commented on your status". You might not care to subscribe to this one because you can get all of these kind of notifications in email.

4. Status Updates: This is the RSS URL for the "What are you doing?" Twitter-like part of Facebook. This is the one you probably care about, and it is trickier, because Facebook no longer links to the feed URL! Nice one guys. You have to construct this URL by editing one of the above URLs. E.g., take the "Notes" URL and change the part of the URL that says "friends_notes" to "friends_status". Keep the parts of the URL before and after that, including the magic numbers at the end.

There. Wasn't that SIMPLE?

Previously: How to use Livejournal with a feed reader.

http://www.bpdnews.com/2009/12/citizen_alert_from_area_c11_in.html

THREE WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH AN ARMED ROBBERY

At about 5:57pm, on Monday, December 21, 2009, officers from Area C-11 (Dorchester) responded to 1735 Dorchester Avenue for a report of an armed robbery. On arrival, officers spoke to the victim who stated that he was walking through the parking lot in the area behind St. Mark's Church when three males approached, surrounded him and showed a firearm. According to the victim, all three suspects were black males in their early teens and were all wearing hooded sweatshirts. Additionally, one of the suspects, according to the victim, had really crooked teeth. The victim says one of the suspects then pointed the firearm at him and demanded money. Victim says the suspects fled on foot after taking his cell phone, his iPod and money.

The Boston Police Department is actively investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident. Anyone with information is urged to contact Area C-11 detectives at (617) 343-4335.

Community members who wish to assist this investigation in an anonymous manner are encouraged to call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1(800) 494-TIPS or text the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME. The Boston Police Department is interested only in your information, not your identity.