Here’s another little Rails code snippet for getting video details, this time from Youtube. The code simply retrieves an XML details object for a given video. Enjoy. . .

YOUTUBE_URL_REGEX = /(www.)?youtube\.com\/watch\?v=([^&]*)/i
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az-8Z1skhLs&feature=channel_page

begin
if YOUTUBE_URL_REGEX.match(url)
vid_id = YOUTUBE_URL_REGEX.match(resource_locator)[2]
youtube_url = "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/#{vid_id}"

response = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse(youtube_url))
results = Hash.from_xml(response.body)

@description = results["entry"]["group"]["description"]
@thumbnail_url = results["entry"]["group"]["thumbnail"][0]["url"]
end
rescue Exception => exc
# DNS failed...
end

See also: Getting Vimeo Video Information in JSON

Here’s a little Rails code snippet, posted here for posterity or until Vimeo changes their developer API. The code simply retrieves a JSON details object for a given video. Enjoy. . .

VIMEO_URL_REGEX = /(www.)?vimeo\.com.*?\/(\d+?)$/
url = "http://www.vimeo.com/2233379"

begin
if VIMEO_REGEX.match(url)
vid_id = VIMEO_URL_REGEX.match(url)[2]
vimeo_url = "http://vimeo.com/api/v2/video/#{vid_id}.json"

response = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse(vimeo_url))
results = JSON.parse(response.body)[0]

@description = results["description"]
@thumbnail_url = results["thumbnail_small"]
end
rescue Exception => exc
# DNS failed...
end

There are two kinds of knowledge, or rather two feelings its acquisition towards a subject will produce. Knowledge that:

(1) the more you learn, the more certain you feel, and;

(2) the more you learn, the less certain you feel.

Botany would be an example of the first kind, while something like epistemology itself, the second. Although both kinds of knowledge are important, I’m inclined to treat knowledge that produces uncertainty as more noble somehow, no matter that it seems strange to me that I would prefer knowledge which spreads doubt.