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Archives for April 2004
There’s [a post][1] on MySQL backup procedures over at Sitepoint and a couple of scripts I wrote are reprinted. [1]: http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=166920
Apple Lossless
I downloaded the new version of iTunes this morning and was pleased to find a new encoding option in the Preferences panel. Audio can now be encoded using the “Apple Lossless Encoder,” which yields crystal-clear files that are approximately 650-850 kbps.
Why did Apple feel the need to create it’s own lossless format when APE, FLAC, and SHN were all perfectly good options?
I hope the answer lies in future plans to sell DRM protected lossless files through the iTunes Music Store. That would just about make the iTMS the option for audiophiles.
Now I have to re-encode everything from CD, but at least this should be the last time. Now where did I put that 250GB hard disk?
The Experiment Demands That You Must Continue Teaching
The story sounds too crazy to be true. A schoolteacher’s argument with a 14-year-old girl ends when the teacher orders two boys to throw the girl out a window.
The boys do as instructed, because they “did not want to be written up for disobeying a teacher.”
The obedience of the boys really doesn’t surprise me at all. One need only look at the authority experiments of Stanley Milgram to see evidence of our innate willingness to subjugate ourselves to the will of authority figures. Hasn’t history clearly shown us that ordinary people are capable of unspeakable acts when placed in the right conditions?
Why the Ewoks Spoke Tibetan?
So there are all these Metro bus posters around town for the new “Return of the Buddha” exhibit at the Sackler Gallery.
One of my friends saw the original design, back when the exhibit was called “Revenge of the Buddha.” That was, of course, before George Lucas decided that the Buddha is not vengeful.
These Folk-Music Consumers, Birkenstock-ed Baby-Boomers…
Tonight I went to see Susan Werner perform at the Wolf Trap Barns with my wife and my friend Steve. Susan Werner is a tremendously talented singer/songwriter and her shows tend to attract the typical folk-concert crowd.
Before the show started, I turned to Steve and poked fun at my fellow concert-goers: “It looks like everybody here in the audience probably has an opinion regarding NPR’s decision to replace Bob Edwards on Morning Edition.”
The woman sitting next to him, who probably only heard the end of my remark, immediately felt a need to chime-in:
“I can’t believe they got rid of him! Have you seen SaveBobEdwards.com?”
And I thought it was a joke…
Sed Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
I don’t know how I missed this, but the Chicago Sun-Times printed some wonderful news two weeks ago in an article covering the box-office success of Hellboy:
“Hellboy” came in at No. 1, which means the producers of that film are busy getting another comic book adaptation to the big screen. “We’re going to do ‘The Watchmen,’” says producer Lloyd Levin. “It’s about a group of superheroes who reunite to figure out who is trying to kill them off.”
Now that I’ve got you twitching with anticipation I will suggest you go read the Sam Hamm screenplay–which I doubt they will actually use. The word on the street is that David Hayter has written an amazing adaptation.
Way Too X-Treme
My wife returned from Safeway today bearing X-TREME JELL-O® Pudding Sticks.
I now want to personally track down the marketing executive with the $1400-a-day cocaine habit who conceived of pocket-sized pudding tubes so I can pin a medal on his chest. This is exactly the kind of shit we should be using to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.
I’ll Wait for the Second ‘Rev’
I currently use several large external firewire drives as the primary component in my office backup system. The solution is far from ideal. They are relatively heavy and they can be a pain in the ass to schlep offsite, which is unavoidable.
I’ve explored my alternatives, but there always seems to be a problem:
- Tape sucks. I don’t want to wait 20 minutes to retrieve a file in a pinch.
- Magneto-Optical sucks. The drives are too expensive and the capacity is too limited.
- Recordable DVD sucks. The media is too fragile and the capacity is too limited for my needs.
And so I was rather excited when I first read about Iomega’s new 35GB removable media REV drives a few months ago. The media is essentially a hard drive platter in a sealed cartridge and the drive unit contains the heads.
Unfortunately, the reviews are a little mixed. The cost seems a little too high. Why pay $1.71/GB for media when external firewire and USB 2.0 drives–which don’t even require a separate drive unit–are available for $1.10/GB.
I’m not going to touch this until they get the media under $1.00/GB.
The Standard of Weights and Measures
The computer industry deserves to get a memo from Congress (which has the authority to fix the standard for weights and measures) regarding data capacity measurement.
The hardware industry (in general) uses metric units to quantify capacity. When you buy a 200 GigaByte hard disk, it will hold 200 * 1,000,000,000 bytes.
The software industry (in general) uses binary units to quantify capacity. 200 GigaBytes generally means 200 * 1,073,741,824 bytes.
It’s a 7.4% difference that creates massive consumer confusion among the unwashed masses–and, as a libertarian, I don’t have a problem with a little regulation on this one.
Life Isn’t Fair
Playfair is a program that strips the FairPlay DRM from AAC tracks purchased from the iTunes Music Store. I’m sure it won’t be long before the site is taken down at the bequest of Apple’s attorneys, but they really should consider turning a blind eye.
The availability of this application only makes me more likely to continue buying music from Apple. I consider it to be an insurance policy against the iTunes Music Store losing the online music war.
