RSS Update

So far my RSS experiment has been something of a hit and miss - partly because I'm so conditioned to checking sets of sites (especially comics) via my Firefox bookmarks, and partly because it's one more window to check.  Maybe when I eventually get Office 2007 and can get feeds directly in Outlook with my email it'll be different.

I don't have a ton of feeds yet, and some of the sites I expected to have jumped on the RSS bandwagon (read: libraries) were surprisingly devoid of it.  Some of the ones that are just handy, though, are below.

• Weather.com - You can add your local weather; it updates with the precipitation/cloud coverage and the temperature in the abstract.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has alerts updates, but theirs isn't as easy to parse as Weather.com's.  (Scroll down to the bottom of the NOAA's RSS feeds page, though, and you can get feeds from the USGS on earthquakes!)


• Snopes - You get updates of new urban legends.  Maybe you'll get a heads-up before someone forwards you the next one.  (And, of course, you can look oh-so-smart by replying to their forward with the appropriate Snopes link.)


• FDA Recalls - You get updates on the most recent recalls.  The idea is similar to subscribing to the Snopes feed, except you hopefully avoid illness or injury instead of just pre-empting the latest falsehood floating around the email servers.

Most of the rest of my feeds are news (generally just the front page headlines of various sites - CNN, BBC, etc. - since if I have time I'll go to the site and flip through their sections), comics (alas, not all of what I read have RSS updates, but it's great for the ones which do and update sporadically), and various library sites.  The UCC and Overheard in New York also have feeds - I have the URLs for those at home, though, so hopefully I'll remember to update when I get home.

Some of the feeds that aren't there yet that I want?

1. The local library - it would be great if I could get updates of new books they've gotten in via RSS.


2. Amazon - pretty much the same idea, but more like getting updates of when an author, band, etc., that I've subscribed to (or some similar system) has something new out (and not via email).

Okay, I guess the feeds I want are mostly about book and music availability.  Sigh.