Friday, February 24, 2023

How-To make Trunking Recorder Play Audio Faster

If you're running trunking recorder on a system that has lots of calls, you may have an issue where the calls are coming in faster than playback and a backlog of calls piles up and you have to either have to pick and choose what calls you want to hear or get far behind realtime.

I don't like either choice, so I spent a fair bit of time researching how the software works, reading through the javascript files and such and found that if you add a single line to trunkingrecorder.js you can change the default playback speed!

I'm not good enough at coding to modify it so that there's a dropdown menu to change the speed at will, but for my case, I changed the playback speed to 1.5x and find that's the perfect speed to keep up with the system I'm monitoring, Bell Fleetnet Zone 2 in Ottawa.

So how do you do this:

Open TrunkingRecorder.js in a text editor, it's located by default at:

C:\Program Files\Trunking Recorder\Website\js\TrunkingRecorder.js

Go to line 1375, where it says:

1372            audio.addEventListener('timeupdate', AudioTimeUpdated);

1372            audio.addEventListener('ended', PlayerEnded);

1373            audio.addEventListener('pause', PlayerPaused);

1374            audio.addEventListener('play', PlayerPlay);

1375            audio.addEventListener('error', PlayerError);

And add a new line:

1376            audio.defaultPlaybackRate = 1.5;

Where 1.5 is the playback rate you want to use, this could be 1.25, 1.75, 3.20 or whatever playback speed you want.


Save the file and refresh the page and VOILA!! It should now be playing faster!

Hope this helps, leave a comment if it did!

While you're at it, check out my scanner feed at https://www.youtube.com/nathanaelnewton

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Why Atheism is not a religion

 Atheism is referred to as a lack of religion, rather than a religion in itself. This distinction is important because atheism is defined as the disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of a god or gods. In contrast, a religion is typically defined as a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, often involving devotional and ritual practices and a moral code.


Therefore, it can be argued that atheism cannot be considered a religion because it does not have a belief system, set of practices, or moral code that unites its followers. It is simply a rejection of the idea of a god or gods. For example, just as the lack of belief in ghosts is not considered a religion, the lack of belief in a deity is not considered a religion either.


Furthermore, the concept of atheism itself is not cohesive enough to be considered a religion. Atheism can take on many different forms, from strong atheism, which asserts that there is no god, to weak atheism, which merely states that there is not enough evidence to support the existence of a god. These differing beliefs and perspectives among atheists do not provide a common foundation for a religion.


Atheism can also be differentiated from religion in terms of its origins. Religions typically have a history, tradition, and cultural background that shape their beliefs and practices, whereas atheism is a relatively modern concept that emerged as a response to organized religion. Many atheists may have personal reasons for their lack of belief in a deity, but these reasons do not form the basis for a religion.


Additionally, atheism does not provide a framework for understanding the world or for making moral decisions. While some individuals who identify as atheist may have a personal moral code, there is no universally accepted ethical system among atheists. This contrasts with religious systems, which often include codes of conduct and moral guidance for followers.


Another important aspect to consider is the role of community. Religions often bring people together and provide a sense of belonging and social support. Atheism, on the other hand, does not typically provide the same level of community or social organization. While there are atheist organizations and communities, they are often centered around activism, education, or political advocacy, rather than around religious beliefs and practices.


Finally, it is worth noting that the idea of atheism being a religion has often been used as a criticism or as a means of marginalizing atheism. Some religious groups may argue that atheism is a religion in order to discredit it or to deny the validity of atheist beliefs. However, this argument is flawed, as atheism simply lacks the defining characteristics of a religion, such as a belief system, a moral code, and communal practices.


So, the lack of a belief in a deity, combined with the absence of a belief system, moral code, communal practices, and historical tradition, distinguish atheism from religion. While some may argue that atheism is a religion, this argument is not supported by the definition of religion and the absence of key elements that are present in established religious systems.