Recent Posts

2776

General Software Discussion / Re: Why 24-bit/192kHz music files make no sense - and may be bad for you!

« Last post by 40hz on September 24, 2013, 07:36 PM »

^If they did, they were using an old studio trick from back in the early 60s. The story (as I heard it) was that a mix wasn't finalized until it sounded good played both through a car radio and a small hand-held transistor radio. (Not much was stereo back then.)

   

Since it was estimated that 90% of the USA's music listening was done either in a car, or with a small radio, it made good sense to optimize the mix for the lowest common denominator - with the sure knowledge that if it sounded good there, it would sound even better on a home stereo or the family Victorola.

2777

General Software Discussion / Re: Why 24-bit/192kHz music files make no sense - and may be bad for you!

« Last post by 40hz on September 24, 2013, 03:08 PM »

Too bad everybody's ears, tastes, and sonic preferences weren't identical.

It would simplify matters greatly. 

2778

Living Room / Re: send many emails

« Last post by 40hz on September 23, 2013, 06:58 PM »

^I had one client that got blacklisted by one of those self-nominated watchdog organizations for having an open relay. It was due to an overlooked default setting following an upgrade to their email server.

It was a major nightmare getting off that list since there wasn't anyone to talk to. All communication was by email. The watchdog wouldn't budge. My client had to petition for removal from the blacklist and wait about six weeks before the watchdog's robots checked again and reported the relay was gone.

2779

Living Room / Re: send many emails

« Last post by 40hz on September 23, 2013, 06:46 PM »

Take a look at MailChimp. They allow up to 2000 subscribers and a total of 12,000 emails per month on a free personal account.

They do make sure, however, that you aren't spamming and your mailings comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. So be sure to read their rules about how to populate your mailing lists. Anybody you're e-mailing will need to opt-in after being queried.

It is possible and easy to do a shotgun mass mailing via SMTP running from your own PC. Unfortunately (or fortunately) most major ISPs won't allow you to do that because of widespread abuses. Most now require you to send via their own SMTP servers - and will shut you off if you send too many emails a month - or too many at one time.

And as you noted, doing it that way is also a good way to get robo-blacklisted even if you aren't spamming.

I'd try MailChimp. They offer a great service and also have several informational booklets about all aspects of list emailing you can download for free.  Worth a look.

2780

General Software Discussion / Re: Alternative to Linkman

« Last post by 40hz on September 22, 2013, 07:10 AM »

Link Collector looks very nice. Unfortunately, it's for Windows only so my search continues...

2781

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: spring cleaning

« Last post by 40hz on September 21, 2013, 08:11 AM »

^Not so much "no use" as "no demand,"

So it goes.

2782

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: spring cleaning

« Last post by 40hz on September 21, 2013, 07:26 AM »

Figures...

Just emptied out two Westy storage cubes last month that were packed to the gills with perfectly workable electronics that nobody local wanted.

One thing I've learned the hard way: if somebody says they want something you're giving away - but don't swing by to get it immediately - they'll change their mind once you start pushing them to pick it up. And at $300+/mo. for storage space, that form of procrastination gets expensive pretty fast. Even more expensive than the recycling fees you'll pay to responsibly get rid of the stuff if you wait long enough. Like I did.
 

I'll have to check around to see if anything survived that tech-apocalypse.

2783

Living Room / Re: Cross-platform apps?

« Last post by 40hz on September 21, 2013, 07:11 AM »

It's hard to make recommendations for software in a vacuum. And cross-platform is such a big playing field that unless you know what something is going to be used for, it quickly becomes yet another long rambling software list. Which is not th same thing as recommendations.

Perhaps if you could give us some idea of what your new venture will involve it might be easier to make software recommendations. I spec and source a lot of software for my client's businesses - many of which are in the pre-launch or start-up stage. And one thing I've learned is "one size does not fit all" when it comes to software for business use.

Best would be to share your requirements checklist if you've done one already. (I suspect you have.) It would include items such as specifically which OSs need to be supported along with specifically what hardware platforms to support. (Android is not the same Android across different devices).

Also a list of major functions needed (i.e. planning, standard office productivity apps, communications, collaboration, web, database, vertical business apps, security, etc.)

That might help frame this thread a little better.

You know the drill.
 

2784

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on September 20, 2013, 07:11 PM »

Finally got a chance to watch Die Farbe (The Color) a B&W indie based fairly closely on H.P. Lovecraft's short story The Colour Out of Space. This movie was part of one of those humble bundle deals a while back.

All in all - not bad. Not bad at all. Plays out and looks just like a Bergman movie. You can really feel the influence of Bergman's The Seventh Seal in both the look and the framing story.

Pretty well done for the most part. And it adheres to Lovecraft's story better than most films that are supposedly based on his works. I did have a little disconnect since Lovecraft is permanently linked in my mind with New England - so the German setting threw me for a loop at first. But it worked out rather well once I stopped analyzing everything and just sat back and enjoyed it.

If you're expecting special effects or a lot of action, you're going to be disappointed. This movie moves at a very sedate (my GF characterized it as "glacial" in places) pace. And the cinematography can best be thought of as vintage Euro-Arthouse. Some very creepy moments and visuals. And all of it refreshingly low-key as opposed to the over-the-top "gore" approach most modern horror movies are taking. Truth is, it takes a certain talent with a camera to make a slow pan of an empty field or the exterior of a well maintained farmhouse look and feel sinister.
Good flick IMHO. Even if the ending didn't really quite cut it (for me) since it didn't completely follow plot-wise - and seemed both rushed and almost tacked on as an afterthought.



That aside, this is probably one of the better Lovecraft "inspired" movies done to date. Not the definitive Lovecraft effort by any stretch. But still an enjoyable movie if you're an HPL fan. Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!

2785

Living Room / Re: Do you like short films? Of course you do! Shortoftheweek.com

« Last post by 40hz on September 20, 2013, 06:29 PM »

Another great animated short is La Maison en Petits Cubes (The House of Small Cubes).

An old man lives by himself in a cubical apartment in a world of gradually rising water. As a result his home consists of one cube built on top of another. When he drops his favorite pipe he is forced to don diving gear and go down through the previous cubes that were once his home to recover it. On the way down he begins to recall memories - both happy and sad - of each stage of his life.

A lovely bittersweet parable about living and the process of aging. Captivating, dreamlike - and ultimately heartbreaking.

One of the best 12 minutes in animation.

2786

Living Room / Re: Do you like short films? Of course you do! Shortoftheweek.com

« Last post by 40hz on September 20, 2013, 06:17 PM »

I started, but couldn't bear to look at anything with snow in it yet. I'll set a reminder for in a couple of months

-tomos (September 20, 2013, 01:22 PM)

2787

Living Room / Re: Do you like short films? Of course you do! Shortoftheweek.com

« Last post by 40hz on September 20, 2013, 10:36 AM »

Dark but wonderful animated short: Jeff Le Bars' short piece called Carn.



Watch it on Vimeo here.

2788

Living Room / Re: The Constitution: Analysis & Interpretation available for download free

« Last post by 40hz on September 19, 2013, 06:41 PM »

Just downloaded the PDF, and since it won't open properly

-Renegade (September 18, 2013, 08:17 PM)

Opened just fine for me under both Windows and Linux using two different PDF readers.

Might want to try downloading it again.

2789

General Software Discussion / Re: Alternative to Linkman

« Last post by 40hz on September 19, 2013, 06:39 PM »

All I'd really like is a standalone and portable bookmark manager that just saves the site names and URLs (with an optional notes field) in a tree list - and invokes your default browser when you click on one. Some keyword or tag feature might be nice - plus the ability to sort them and use folders - plus print the list out as a CSV.

Linkman is very nice. But it's way beyond what I need or want.

That pyBKM rjbull pointed to above is looks promising although it's appearance leaves a lot to be desired at this stage.

2790

General Software Discussion / Re: Alternative to Linkman

« Last post by 40hz on September 19, 2013, 01:56 PM »

Are there any other alternatives to Linkman or LinkStash?

-rgdot (September 19, 2013, 01:30 PM)

+1 - I'd be interested in knowing that too.

2791

Living Room / Re: Getting Things Done revisited

« Last post by 40hz on September 18, 2013, 07:57 PM »

Quick note - I'm partial to the Piccadilly brand of notebooks. I know Moleskine notebooks are the de facto standard - but at a little less than half the price (i.e. $4/$6/$8) of a comparable Moleskine, the Piccadilly Essential Notebooks are very well made and compare quite favorably against them.



They're available in three sizes - with blank, ruled, and graph pages. And there is also a soft cover version with ruled pages.

If you want more pages, their Primo line of notebooks pack 288 acid-free ruled pages in three sizes for $6/$8/$11 respectively.



Barnes & Noble frequently puts them on their sale rack. I stock up whenever they do. I recently picked up five of the large (7.2" x 9.6") size Primos for $4 each that way.
 

2792

Living Room / The Constitution: Analysis & Interpretation available for download free

« Last post by 40hz on September 18, 2013, 04:25 PM »

Your tax dollars at work - and the United States Library of Congress comes through with a 2830 page reference volume on the U.S. Constitution you can download (approx 21 Mb) for free!

From the Volokh Conspiracy law site comes this announcement:

Conan the Librarian
By Eugene Volokh on September 17, 2013 11:13 pm in Constitutional Law

The Library of Congress’s The Constitution: Analysis & Interpretation — a clause-by-clause treatise summarizing U.S. constitutional law and citing to relevant cases — is now out. (The URL is http://www.gpo.gov/f...f/GPO-CONAN-2013.pdf.) The PDF is huge; if it’s taking too long for you to load, go here and follow the link you need for the particular Article or Amendment. Thanks to Prof. Seth Tillman for the pointer.

Now you can know what you're talking about whenever you cite the U.S. Constitution. Right click here or in the link in the above quoted article and do a 'save as' to get your own local copy.

Awesome!

2793

Living Room / Re: Getting Things Done revisited

« Last post by 40hz on September 18, 2013, 04:08 PM »

Grist for the mill: Ryder Carroll's Bullet Journal at www.bulletjournal.com

Here's the video:

With thanks to Tomasz Tunguz's post over at Svbtle for the find.

I particularly liked this one because I use a a very similar process and notebook myself.

2794

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by 40hz on September 17, 2013, 06:28 PM »

Greetings to Middle-Earth ...er, sorry, New Zealand - and welcome to Donation Coder ilikefree09!

Be sure to join in the discussions. Lots of stuff to talk about around here. And a new perspective or opinion is always welcome. So don't be a stranger.

2795

General Software Discussion / Re: nauseating problem seeking creative solution?

« Last post by 40hz on September 17, 2013, 04:49 PM »

Hmm...

NPI number 1326247313 is assigned to Antonio Ernesto Rivera. Antonio Ernesto Rivera is practice in Albany, NY 12208 with phone number 5182625000. The number of page view of Antonio Ernesto Rivera is 2.

The NPI number above is maintained by the NPPES. To update the information please contact the National Plan & Provider Enumeration System.

-----------------

No complaints in 800notes.com about it yet....



-----------------

Definitely a weird one. Mr. Rivera is not in LinkedIn. Very odd for a pharmacist.

Possibly the person gave the Albany Medical Center e-mail system the wrong address - subsequently corrected it or forgot about it and it keeps hammering you to confirm the e-mail if the header indicates it originated from there? (Possible to spoof it - but unlikely since nobody is asking you to buy anything.)

You could just try forwarding a copy of the e-mail to amc.edu's office of the president or public relations department with a note explaining what is happening, your inability to get it resolved through their system, and formally requesting that they stop badgering you. Their public relations number is: 518-262-3421



Luck.

2796

General Software Discussion / Re: memory use and reason

« Last post by 40hz on September 16, 2013, 12:57 PM »

But skype?
How hard could it be just to provide a chat facility? (at the moment I saw the 160MB memory consumption, there was no audio/video business, just plain old keyboard chat with two friends.)

Not being a serious coder, I'm the wrong person to ask. But there are enough of them around here that maybe somebody might actually know.  

One thing I've learned from what coding I have done however, has taught me that many times  the answer to questions such as "How hard can it be?" is: "Surprisingly difficult."
 

2797

General Software Discussion / Re: memory use and reason

« Last post by 40hz on September 16, 2013, 10:58 AM »

Considering Firefox starts with around that and easily climbs to 3X or more the longer it runs, I wouldn't be too surprised or concerned if you're not concerned about using Skype to begin with.

2798

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Knowledgebase software

« Last post by 40hz on September 16, 2013, 06:01 AM »

^Please don't spam or astroturf the forum.

2799

Living Room / Re: The Best Job Around the World

« Last post by 40hz on September 16, 2013, 04:57 AM »

Forgot to say I did.

I was #39

Good luck to her!

2800

Living Room / Re: Hardware Question: Baseboard Management Controller communication failure

« Last post by 40hz on September 14, 2013, 07:05 PM »

^I could be wrong, but AFAIK the VRAM reset happens on the next boot, not just from switching the jumper.


Luck!