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351

Living Room / Re: I need help coming up with a plan to fix my NTFS security permissions problems

« Last post by 40hz on August 15, 2015, 10:12 PM »

i've been managing it for years, and i'm getting tired of it.  I'm looking forward to having a box or two where everything goes.  And i'm also interested in unifying all my increasing number of devices i'm using for different reasons.  You were right, having a server is great...kind of a turning point.

i've been reading about hard drives a lot.  Thanks for recommending the enterprise drives, i wasn't convinced previously.  it's still confusing...take western digital...they've added so many colors the past few years, it's so confusing.  I liked their black caviar drives previously because of the 5 year warranty.  These used to be considered their enterprise drives.  but now they are calling it their "desktop performance" drives.  They also have their NAS drives, which are Red.  And a Red Pro, which is like more enterprise but still desktop, lol.  Their new line of real enterprise drives are called RE, funny enough ("real enterprise?").  the 4TB ones are running around $245 on newegg.  I'm not familiar with the enterprise line of other brands.  I'm fine with the cost, I experienced the deathstars in the early 2000s and have since tried to not compromise on hard drive quality for any kind of cost purpose.

oy...so much stuff.

-superboyac (August 15, 2015, 05:45 PM)

You betcha there's so much stuff. Welcome to my world.

Seagate and Hitachi also do enterprise grade. I've used the WDs, Samsungs, and Seagates e-drives with good result. Haven't tried HItachis in a server yet.

For business clients I always recommend they go with the disks that come from the manufacturers of their servers. They pay a premium (sometimes a significant premium) for those. But those babies get QC beyond what the prosumer world has any expectation of getting - and they're priced accordingly. And single sourcing a business server from a major manufacturer also simplifies warranty claims and service contract agreements by having everything come from one manufacturer. It eliminates finger pointing for one thing. And for big companies, that extra convenience and additional assurance alone is worth the higher cost.

I'll probably build one more server for myself before I call it a day with all this. If I do, I'm seriously considering using 2.5" drives and loading them into an ICY DOCK ToughArmour enclosure of some sort. Whatever I decide to build, it will be running a hypervisor with all the servers under it running as VMs. That way, I can setup a new server, or reallocate physical resources anytime I want to. Intel is doing some interesting stuff with their Xeon line lately.

Scope out this monster. It's expensive with it's $4500 est. selling price - until you think about what you're getting: 18 cores supporting hyperthreading and 36 threads.

Running it with a selectable boot from either a drive that configures the who shebang as a DAW/Synthesis workstation; or off a second drive setup to run a hypervisor for a fully virtualized server farm the rest of the time is where I'd like to go eventually. I've outgrown my fascination with rooms full of blinking lights and the roar of fans.

352

Living Room / Re: I need help coming up with a plan to fix my NTFS security permissions problems

« Last post by 40hz on August 15, 2015, 05:31 PM »

@SB - I forgot to ask...which version of Windows Server do you have? Standard, Essentials, etc.?

353

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Windows 10 a trojan?

« Last post by 40hz on August 15, 2015, 05:25 PM »

Two words: Linux Mint. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

354

Living Room / Re: I need help coming up with a plan to fix my NTFS security permissions problems

« Last post by 40hz on August 15, 2015, 05:07 PM »

also 40...you said to use ntfs permissions to control users...the dev says the opposite.  he says to use sharing permissions and leave ntfs fairly wide open.  and i think that's because of the way he has designed his software, in his words, to play "fast and loose" with ntfs permissions.  this raid solution is like this...you can pull out a drive and access the files no problem any time.  so all his raid is doing is like merging the same directories on different drives together (like windows libraries).  so i think that has to do with why he recommends the sharing.

-superboyac (August 15, 2015, 12:54 PM)

If he does, that doesn't give me warm fuzzies about his technology...but what can you do?

Ok...if that's the case, do it his way. My point was, when implementing access security, primarily use NTFS permissions - or share permissions - but don't get too fancy with both. Keep one side dirt simple. There are arguments for both approaches. I prefer NTFS permissions, but it would take me a while to explain why. And it's mostly because I'm more familiar and comfortable with that approach.

If you're getting drives, maybe consider opting for "server grade" or "enterprise" drives if you're getting big ones. They're not that much more expensive. A few bucks at most - and they're far better built and reliable. These are the drives primarily engineered for NAS and related applications. A 4TB runs for around $200 - $225 (street) last I looked.

I'd check with your RAID solution first to see if these are a potential problem for it. Because it's generally best to go with the recommended brands and model numbers when doing RAID. Some cards are extremely fussy about the drives that get plugged into them.

Maybe somebody can shake JavaJones's tree and see what he thinks about all this? He's in the "biz" too. But he deals with a greater variety of client types - and sees a broader range of oddball projects - than I do.

Luck!

P.S. Your first act after you have a server up and running, plus all the Microsoft updates installed, and all your hardware drivers checked and updated, is to make a system image and create a recovery repair disk. Do it before you add any users, create shares, etc. You want a pure vanilla "known good configuration" and properly functioning server image to fall back on if your project one day decides to all go sideways. That way, if you (or somebody else) borks something big time, you have a "genesis image" to reload and be on your merry way with. Figure twenty minutes to put your server back up vs several hours doing it from scratch.

355

Living Room / Re: I need help coming up with a plan to fix my NTFS security permissions problems

« Last post by 40hz on August 14, 2015, 06:02 PM »

What x16wda said.

I'd actually take it a bit further at this point and probably just copy off the data and redo the server. It doesn't take that long. And at least that way you'll be sure to annihilate whatever gremlins may still be lurking in your present setup. I'm also not super happy with how that RAID is behaving right now, so I'd probably want to wipe and reinitialize the array while I was at it  - and check for the most recent firmware and drivers for the card.

Besides, it's all good exercise. Because many times you'll need to do a server twice when you're starting out with Windows server. One time to gain experience. The second time to set it up the way you now realize you should have done it in the first place.

I must have redone the first NT Server I ever built six times in the course of three days before I was happy with it. (It used something like 18+ 3.5" floppys to do the install. So it took a loooong time back then.) Novell was even worse if you decided to format and certify your own HD instead of buying one already formatted and ready to use. That alone could take the better part of a day.

We've all been there so it's no reflection on you. Just part of the entry fee to get in the game.

356

Living Room / Re: I need help coming up with a plan to fix my NTFS security permissions problems

« Last post by 40hz on August 14, 2015, 11:12 AM »

Ok...I think I understand what the dev is telling you.

Standard NTFS permissions on a folder are:

• Full Control
• Modify
• Read & Execute
• List Folder Contents
• Read
• Write

Standard file permissions are:
 

• Full Control
• Modify
• Read & Execute
• Read
• Write

Note: Standard file permissions are the same as NTFS folder permissions but don't include List Folder Contents.  (Duh! right?)

For convenience, Sharing permissions should be set to Full Control for the Everyone group. After that, only use NTFS permissions to control access. Otherwise you're going to go crazy.

When assigning permissions, get in the habit of putting users (even if it's just you) into groups - and assign permissions to the groups. That way, if you add another person to your circle of trust, you just have to put their UserID into the group with appropriate permissions rather than individually grant them access privileges on a resource by resource basis. Or troubleshoot them individually if something goes wrong. It's hard to completely grok why until you've used a server for a while - but always use groups to control access. Even if you have to set up a group with only one user in it. Trust me. Groups are sanity savers. Because once you get a group set up properly for file access, adding or removing your user's access becomes a piece of cake. I use names like TrustedUsers, Staff, Legal, Finance, etc. for my "company" groups. (Think of groups as style sheets for user access if you need a bad analogy.)

Hope this gets you fixed. If not, let us know.

Luck!

P.S. Once you get your permissions, groups and sharing squared away, you can get quick and easy access to your shared resources by typing \\{server_name} in your start menu search box. That will pop up a window with all the shared folders and resources you have access to. You can open them up and use them just like local folders with no need to map them as network drives unless you want to. But if you do, you can also right-click and map them very easily. Same goes for shared printers. Right-click and select Connect - and Bob's yer uncle!

Additional recommended reading - even if this guy disagrees with some of what I said above because he's talking about a business environment in his article rather than a home server: Part-1  Part-2

357

Living Room / Re: I need help coming up with a plan to fix my NTFS security permissions problems

« Last post by 40hz on August 13, 2015, 08:59 AM »

Did you also check your share permissions?

There are two separate security mechanisms (besides group policies) on Wndows server: NTFS permissions and share permissions. If the two permission levels conflict, Windows server will chose the more restrictive permissions granted.

The whole topic of shares vs NTFS permissions can get a little complicated if you let it. And there's some subtleties involved so you may want to Google and read up on them if you're not familiar with the topic. If you're not careful about how and where to use them, you can create a real file access quagmire for yourself on a Windows server. Even the "pros" get confused from time to time when using them.

Find a good overview here: https://technet.micr...-us/library/Cc754178.

tl;dr version:

If permission conflicts are causing the problem, the following from the above link is the short easy solution most of us will use in order to fix a mess enough to redo it (and sometimes screw it up even worse if we try to get too fancy afterwards):

The following table suggests equivalent permissions that an administrator can grant to the Users group for certain shared folder types. Another approach is to set share permissions to Full Control for the Everyone group and to rely entirely on NTFS permissions to restrict access.

Note: if it's just you - and only you - who will ever be accessing the server, you can also simply grant Full Control permission for the Everyone group across the board and be done with it. Later on, if you decide to give someone else access, you can alway redo your NTFS permissions to add any needed restrictions. Most personal standalone file servers are set up that way. Once you're in - you're in!

You'll want to be a little careful with Internet access if you go that route however. With that arrangement, about the only time that fileserver should be allowed to connect to the Internet is to get Microsoft and AV updates.

358

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by 40hz on August 11, 2015, 07:31 AM »

Not so much a book, but worth sharing.

Arthur C. Clark's 31-word scifi story (courtesy of OpenCulture):

359

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by 40hz on August 07, 2015, 04:15 PM »

Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation; Authority; Acceptance - the omnibus edition of Jeff VanderMeer's weird trilogy about the "Southern Reach" a bizarre and somewhat sinister manifestation of reality that lurks behind some sort of dimensional barrier along the southern coast of the United States. With elements of an implied eco-disaster, government cover-ups, conspiracy, psycho-drama, and surrealism, Area X is utterly unclassifiable as to story genre.



From the blurb accompanying the first book Annihilation:

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

This is the twelfth expedition.

Definitely not for everyone. Especially those who like all the mysteries they encounter in a novel either explained or tied up with a neat bow. In some respects it's almost an experimental novel - with all that implies.

I thought it was rather brilliant overall despite being flawed in a several places. Worth a read IMO. But be forewarned, my taste in fiction runs towards the eldritch, the ironic, and the metaphysical.

Here's the opening of the first book to give you an idea of the tone and style.

from Annihilation

Chapter 1

The tower, which was not supposed to be there, plunges into the earth in a place just before the black pine forest begins to give way to swamp and then the reeds and wind-gnarled trees of the marsh flats. Beyond the marsh flats and the natural canals lies the ocean and, a little farther down the coast, a derelict lighthouse. All of this part of the country had been abandoned for decades, for reasons that are not easy to relate. Our expedition was the first to enter Area X for more than two years, and much of our predecessors’ equipment had rusted, their tents and sheds little more than husks. Looking out over that untroubled landscape, I do not believe any of us could yet see the threat.

There were four of us: a biologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a psychologist. I was the biologist. All of us were women this time, chosen as part of the complex set of variables that governed sending the expeditions. The psychologist, who was older than the rest of us, served as the expedition’s leader. She had put us all under hypnosis to cross the border, to make sure we remained calm. It took four days of hard hiking after crossing the border to reach the coast.

Our mission was simple: to continue the government’s investigation into the mysteries of Area X, slowly working our way out from base camp.

The expedition could last days, months, or even years, depending on various stimuli and conditions. We had supplies with us for six months, and another two years’ worth of supplies had already been stored at the base camp. We had also been assured that it was safe to live off the land if necessary. All of our foodstuffs were smoked or canned or in packets. Our most outlandish equipment consisted of a measuring device that had been issued to each of us, which hung from a strap on our belts: a small rectangle of black metal with a glass-covered hole in the middle. If the hole glowed red, we had thirty minutes to remove ourselves to “a safe place.” We were not told what the device measured or why we should be afraid should it glow red. After the first few hours, I had grown so used to it that I hadn’t looked at it again. We had been forbidden watches and compasses.

When we reached the camp, we set about replacing obsolete or damaged equipment with what we had brought and putting up our own tents. We would rebuild the sheds later, once we were sure that Area X had not affected us. The members of the last expedition had eventually drifted off, one by one. Over time, they had returned to their families, so strictly speaking they did not vanish. They simply disappeared from Area X and, by unknown means, reappeared back in the world beyond the border. They could not relate the specifics of that journey. This transference had taken place across a period of eighteen months, and it was not something that had been experienced by prior expeditions. But other phenomena could also result in “premature dissolution of expeditions,” as our superiors put it, so we needed to test our stamina for that place.

We also needed to acclimate ourselves to the environment. In the forest near base camp one might encounter black bears or coyotes. You might hear a sudden croak and watch a night heron startle from a tree branch and, distracted, step on a poisonous snake, of which there were at least six varieties. Bogs and streams hid huge aquatic reptiles, and so we were careful not to wade too deep to collect our water samples. Still, these aspects of the ecosystem did not really concern any of us. Other elements had the ability to unsettle, however. Long ago, towns had existed here, and we encountered eerie signs of human habitation: rotting cabins with sunken, red-tinged roofs, rusted wagon-wheel spokes half-buried in the dirt, and the barely seen outlines of what used to be enclosures for livestock, now mere ornament for layers of pine-needle loam.

Far worse, though, was a low, powerful moaning at dusk. The wind off the sea and the odd interior stillness dulled our ability to gauge direction, so that the sound seemed to infiltrate the black water that soaked the cypress trees. This water was so dark we could see our faces in it, and it never stirred, set like glass, reflecting the beards of gray moss that smothered the cypress trees. If you looked out through these areas, toward the ocean, all you saw was the black water, the gray of the cypress trunks, and the constant, motionless rain of moss flowing down. All you heard was the low moaning. The effect of this cannot be understood without being there. The beauty of it cannot be understood, either, and when you see beauty in desolation it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.

As noted, we found the tower in a place just before the forest became waterlogged and then turned to salt marsh. This occurred on our fourth day after reaching base camp, by which time we had almost gotten our bearings. We did not expect to find anything there, based on both the maps that we brought with us and the water-stained, pine-dust-smeared documents our predecessors had left behind. But there it was, surrounded by a fringe of scrub grass, half-hidden by fallen moss off to the left of the trail: a circular block of some grayish stone seeming to mix cement and ground-up seashells. It measured roughly sixty feet in diameter, this circular block, and was raised from ground level by about eight inches. Nothing had been etched into or written on its surface that could in any way reveal its purpose or the identity of its makers. Starting at due north, a rectangular opening set into the surface of the block revealed stairs spiraling down into darkness. The entrance was obscured by the webs of banana spiders and debris from storms, but a cool draft came from below.

At first, only I saw it as a tower. I don’t know why the word tower came to me, given that it tunneled into the ground. I could as easily have considered it a bunker or a submerged building. Yet as soon as I saw the staircase, I remembered the lighthouse on the coast and had a sudden vision of the last expedition drifting off, one by one, and sometime thereafter the ground shifting in a uniform and preplanned way to leave the lighthouse standing where it had always been but depositing this underground part of it inland. I saw this in vast and intricate detail as we all stood there, and, looking back, I mark it as the first irrational thought I had once we had reached our destination.

“This is impossible,” said the surveyor, staring at her maps. The solid shade of late afternoon cast her in cool darkness and lent the words more urgency than they would have had otherwise. The sun was telling us soon we’d have to use our flashlights to interrogate the impossible, although I’d have been perfectly happy doing it in the dark.

“And yet there it is,” I said. “Unless we are having a mass hallucination.”

“The architectural model is hard to identify,” the anthropologist said. “The materials are ambiguous, indicating local origin but not necessarily local construction. Without going inside, we will not know if it is primitive or modern, or something in between. I’m not sure I would want to guess at how old it is, either.”

We had no way to inform our superiors about this discovery. One rule for an expedition into Area X was that we were to attempt no outside contact, for fear of some irrevocable contamination. We also took little with us that matched our current level of technology. We had no cell or satellite phones, no computers, no camcorders, no complex measuring instruments except for those strange black boxes hanging from our belts. Our cameras required a makeshift darkroom. The absence of cell phones in particular made the real world seem very far away to the others, but I had always preferred to live without them. For weapons, we had knives, a locked container of antique handguns, and one assault rifle, this last a reluctant concession to current security standards.

It was expected simply that we would keep a record, like this one, in a journal, like this one: lightweight but nearly indestructible, with waterproof paper, a flexible black-and-white cover, and the blue horizontal lines for writing and the red line to the left to mark the margin. These journals would either return with us or be recovered by the next expedition. We had been cautioned to provide maximum context, so that anyone ignorant of Area X could understand our accounts. We had also been ordered not to share our journal entries with one another. Too much shared information could skew our observations, our superiors believed. But I knew from experience how hopeless this pursuit, this attempt to weed out bias, was. Nothing that lived and breathed was truly objective—even in a vacuum, even if all that possessed the brain was a self-immolating desire for the truth.

“I’m excited by this discovery,” the psychologist interjected before we had discussed the tower much further. “Are you excited, too?” She had not asked us that particular question before. During training, she had tended to ask questions more like “How calm do you think you might be in an emergency?” Back then, I had felt as if she were a bad actor, playing a role. Now it seemed even more apparent, as if being our leader somehow made her nervous.

“It is definitely exciting . . . and unexpected,” I said, trying not to mock her and failing, a little. I was surprised to feel a sense of growing unease, mostly because in my imagination, my dreams, this discovery would have been among the more banal. In my head, before we had crossed the border, I had seen so many things: vast cities, peculiar animals, and, once, during a period of illness, an enormous monster that rose from the waves to bear down on our camp.

The surveyor, meanwhile, just shrugged and would not answer the psychologist’s question. The anthropologist nodded as if she agreed with me. The entrance to the tower leading down exerted a kind of presence, a blank surface that let us write so many things upon it. This presence manifested like a low-grade fever, pressing down on all of us.

360

Living Room / Re: I need help coming up with a plan to fix my NTFS security permissions problems

« Last post by 40hz on August 06, 2015, 07:45 PM »

Did you try taking ownership of the folder using your admin account? Go to <Properties><Security tab> <Advanced button><Ownership Change link> to do that. You should be able to do anything you want with the root and subfolders afterwards.

361

Living Room / Re: Want to backup your music collection? Tough...It's illegal.

« Last post by 40hz on August 06, 2015, 01:29 PM »

If the law is an ass, it's because an ass is frequently The Law.

Evey so often nine asses are gathered together to form an 'asinine' - or Supreme Court. 

(Can't remember where I first saw the above.)

362

General Software Discussion / Re: Pls recommend 32-bit software for old WinXP machine I'm giving an elderly woman

« Last post by 40hz on August 04, 2015, 02:21 PM »

If she has spiritual inclinations, there's a huge archive of sacred and spiritual texts available for free download over at
www.sacred-texts.com. All the major religions are well represented along with dozens of other more esoteric traditions. Everything for Angels to Zoroastrianism.



Especially good is a story written in 1897 by John Uri Lloyd titled ETIDORHPA. It's a good adventure yarn about a fantastic spiritual journey (much like Dante's)  to "the end of earth" - and places stranger. Highly recommended.

363

Non-Windows Software / Re: LINUX: In-place upgrade of Mint 17.0 Qiana to Mint 17.1 Rebecca

« Last post by 40hz on August 01, 2015, 05:56 PM »

Did you check and see if Mint has identified any 3rd party drivers it can load?

364

Non-Windows Software / Re: LINUX: In-place upgrade of Mint 17.0 Qiana to Mint 17.1 Rebecca

« Last post by 40hz on July 31, 2015, 09:14 PM »

hi  I would like to go from cinnamon  13.04 to 17.2  what is the easiest way to do it . I have a seperate home directory ..
 Thanks

-whippy (July 26, 2015, 04:06 AM)

Did you mean Mint 13.04 to 17.2? The Cinnamon desktop is only up to version 2.6.13+ (Rafaela).

That's a big version jump for you. In-place upgrades began with Mint 17.0 so your only real alternative is to backup your home directory and do a clean install. Then migrate your data back. Also don't forget to export your favorites and back that file up too.

Luck!

365

General Software Discussion / Re: Question regarding Win10 upgrade

« Last post by 40hz on July 31, 2015, 09:01 PM »

@tomos - hello!

@Stoic - good to be somewhat back!

He doesn't object to the upgrade. He just doesn't want it to happen now. He's got some proprietary software he uses extensively where the devs advised against the upgrade until they can get their act together with Win 10. Apparently they're having a lot of issues with the latest favorite son of Microsoft. It works. Then Redmond does some updates and it breaks. Then the devs fix it. Then Microsoft does another update...and so it goes.

New stable release isn't expected to be completed for another several weeks. So my pal figures since he's got a year, there's no rush to go ahead.

And yes, I checked out 10. I'm not crazy about some of the decisions driving it (especially the fact it's heading towards an exclusively "by  subscription" model like Office365 is rolling with) but what are you going to do? For myself I'll stick with NIX for day to day productivity. About the only thing I may still need Windows for is some music software I have. And if I do run it under Windows (as opposed to NIX or OSX) it will be an extremely stripped down install since the machine will be exclusively used as a DAW. In fact, it won't even get a network card or ever be upgraded as long as the app I run on it (Harrison Consoles: Mixbus 3.0) is happy. (More about Mixbus - and see it in action - here in case anybody's interested.

And yes, Win 10 is a pretty nice OS. They did a very good job with it. I just hope they don't end up mucking it up like they did Win 8 - which was also a really nice OS until they wrapped all of their "Windows Experience" crap around it. Microsoft is still NOT Apple. You'd think they'd have lost their fruit envy by now and just did their own thing rather than try to play catch-up on the interface front.

366

General Software Discussion / Re: Question regarding Win10 upgrade

« Last post by 40hz on July 31, 2015, 04:38 PM »

@SB - Thankee! Good to be back.

@Curt - whatever he did, I think it's a little late for that. There's something he's got on his machine now that wants to roll ahead with it.

So far:

I suggested he remove KB2976978 and also run this: http://www.microsoft...etails.aspx?id=47734

I understand there's also a directory containing the downloaded update for 10 that can be removed to prevent it from happening, but I don't know what that directory is. Or if that will fix Windows Update to start showing Win7 updates again.

367

General Software Discussion / Question regarding Win10 upgrade

« Last post by 40hz on July 31, 2015, 03:29 PM »

Hi troops! It's been awhile.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with this one since I've been out of the Windows environment for awhile and haven't been paying much attention to 10 at all.

Got a friend (bit of a noob to Windows since he's a long-time Mac man) who put in for the Windows 10 reservation. Seems like it's now trying to force the upgrade to 10. He's currently on Win 7 and wants to stay there for the foreseeable future. But every time he goes into Windows Update it starts "counting down" (as he puts it) to load Win10. It's also n longer showing any of the Windows 7 updates. Just wants to load 10...

I haven't seen that one before. Deleting KB 3035583 doesn't seem to stop it. So I'm guessing somewhere along the line he told it to download or do something even though he says he's sure he didn't.

Any help with this one or should he just backup his stuff using the Win Migration Tool, reinstall 7, put it all back, and try to be more careful next time?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. What says the collective wisdom of DC? 

368

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2015, 09:04 PM »

Thinking, Fast and Slow by David Kahneman.



A book on how we think (duh!). It's excellent. Read it!

369

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2015, 09:00 PM »

^Nice! Very nice. (Like that vocalist too!)

370

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

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2015, 02:22 PM »

@Ren - Start with their books. Poppy Z. has done some new Lovecraftian inspired stories that stand up to the originals. They're not the usual pastiches either. They do interesting things with Lovecraft's concepts. But they're fully modern treatments. Beyond that, all her(?) stuff is good. Excellent writer. Probably the best thing currently going for modern horror.

Tom Ligotti's stuff is flat-out surreal, to say nothing of eerie and weird. He'll take a simple event or phenomena and spin it into something beyond sinister at the drop of a hat. His appropriately named The Nightmare Factory is a good starting anthology.

Matheson is famous for the Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.. (That's the one with the airliner and the gremlin.) His anthology by the same name is one place to start. He's one terrific writer, and more mainstream than the previous two.

371

Living Room / Re: Peer Review and the Scientific Process

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2015, 02:04 PM »

@Mouser - if you agreed with everything I thought, I'd be very worried about your better judgement. You're far more understanding and patient then I'll ever be. And you don't share my unfortunate tendency towards the sharp rejoinder. Be glad for that. Because I certainly am - as I'm sure we all are.
 

my basement spider senses start to tingle when I walk into the room and see a whole bunch of horse dust and Renegade sitting in the corner with some baseball bats and a pint of homebrew.

-mouser (February 13, 2015, 01:51 PM)

Now there's an image that I'll never get out of my head! Bravo!

372

Living Room / Re: Peer Review and the Scientific Process

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2015, 01:45 PM »

+1 w/IainB. This "move it to the basement" thing is starting to get a little out of hand, I think.

I'd like to suggest a close reading of Ken White's polemic entitled Ten Short Rants About #GamerGate.. I think it offers excellent insights and some direction about how adults should be able to handle their differences on the web.

There are certainly times when some comments may need to be taken down because they risk disrupting the entire community's social contract. Liberal though I am, I'm still not one to argue that repeated and deliberate bad behavoir must be tolerated - or allowed to go unchallenged. But when 'disruption' starts being equated with somebody merely becoming uncomfortable because they got challenged by somebody else over of something they said...well...that's the way it goes when you're speaking to adults.

I personally think the whole 'Basement' concept was a bad one despite the obviously good and noble intentions behind it. First, because it's similar to a certain disciplinary technique you'd use with a 3-year old child: "Be nice or you'll be sent to your room." Second, because it unfairly deals with the posts of other thread participants who did nothing to merit having their words sent to a place reserved for inappropriate comments or subject matter. Third, because the very existence of something like the Basement tends to greenlight certain subjects, language choices, and behaviors that most particiants already knew were inappropriate for this forum. Holding a Mardi Gras every so often may help relieve some social steam. But keeping one around as a permanent red light district is far less beneficial. Because that can easily encourage the sort of antics you're trying to keep a lid on.

My feeling is, if something is not considered appropriate in the main venue - it's not appropriate at all, and shouldn't be here. If there's enough interest in the sort of thing that's not appropriate at one site, it only takes a few bucks a month at GoDaddy to set up your own forum where you get to make the rules. But when you're sitting at the table playing somebody else's game, the grownup thing to do is play by the rules of the house.

My suggestion? There's nothing wrong with some corrective moderation should the situation warrant. A place I once co-modded had a policy of pulling the occasional ill-considered post and suggest (via PM) that the contributor consider rewriting and resubmitting it. (The software we used had a good moderation feature that allowed us to do that with minimal fuss.) Most people agreed when they were totally out of line. A few even thanked us for pulling their comment before the rest of the forum piled on them for talking trash.

Not being perfect ourselves, there were also a few times when a mod got a little too trigger-happy and had to back down once they better understood where the poster was coming from. In those cases, the OP stood as written - accompanied by an apology from the mod for behaving "holier than thou."

It was a bit of work since that forum was even busier with regulars than DoCo is. But it was doable. And after a very brief period of time, the norms and mores of the site were both understood and respected by 99.9% of its members and visitors. It was only the occasional newcomer who needed to be gently educated in ettiquet after that. Most people, however, quickly picked up what the expected standard of behavior was all on thier own. Probably because most people are on their best behavior when they first start frequenting a forum. The problems tend to start mostly after they've been participating for a year or two. That's when they sometimes need a reminder they're still guests in somebody's house. And that those hosting them still have the right to decide what's acceptable as long as they're footing the bill.

And...that's about all I have to say about this subject - which is relevant - but completely OT to this thread.

373

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2015, 12:11 PM »

I would, however, like to get a good compressor pedal, and the Keeley seems to be the one that gets the best reviews. My old Trace head has built in compressor that sounds surprisingly good at a minimal setting. Of course, there are no fine tuning options, and, unlike a pedal, it's not exactly portable to another amp.

-Vurbal (February 13, 2015, 10:28 AM)

My high wattage SWR head has a built-in compressor too. It's actually rather nice sounding. But it's of the single knob variety which doesn't allow much in the way of fine tuning to get it to sound exactly your way. For normal and sane volumes however, there's always my old and beloved Ampeg B-15N. Being all tube it provides that wonderful natural (by way of physics) compression instrument tube amps do so well.

It always amuses me that the hardcore "vintage tone" freaks love to diss outboard compressors. ("It's just unnatural dude. I'll only plug straight into my Twin 'verb cuz I want to hear pure unadulterated guitar!") And they'll argue at length about it without realizing a compressed signal IS "vintage tone." Those old amps they love and praise so much also compress the living heck out of their signal. But these tubeheads have heard that ol' 12AX7-driven preamp and tube compression so often (and for so long) that they've now come to accept it as uncolored. Which is fine. That trace of distortion and compression is a lot of what makes all-tube amps so musical. So even if the tube freaks underlying premise is wrong, at least the amps they swear by sound good.

Beyond judicious use of compression, I've also had good luck adding the tiniest trace of reverb and the least hint of some very slow tremolo to my bass signal chain. It's so subtle it's virtually inaudible since it only adds a touch of moving air and an indefinable "liveliness" to the overall sound. You can feel a similar sensation of motion when you're in the same room with somebody playing the double bass. Enhancer devices will also give you some of that. I have a lot of respect for the BBE Sonic Maximizer, which I've used in the past even though I rarely use it now. Same goes for the Aphex Aural Exciter which does much the same in stereo. The Aphex also included a feature called Optical Big Bottom which really made it shine for use with electric bass. I have one of those in my rack too. But like the BBE, I seldom use it these days. 

The whole "exciter" thing can be a little hard to get your head and ears around. There's a lot of bad marketing fluff surrounding them. And there's even more flat-out wrong information posted on the web about how they work - along with crazy claims about what  they can do for your sound. However, this video below does a good job demonstrating AND correctly explaining the BBE. Especially impressive (and why I like Nick Jaffee so much) is that this is a redo of his original video. He redid it because BBE contacted him after he posted originally to politely suggest his presentation wasn't clear - and his explanation about how the device worked "wasn't entirely accurate." Most video bloggers wouldn't be so upfront about being wrong when they redid their video. Far too many would double down and start insisting their explanation was "more correct" than the manufacturer's was. But whatever. Put your headphones on and check out what Nick has to say and show you about the BBE Sonic Stomp Maximizer. Fast forward to the 1:00 mark to skip the opening if you want to get right to the demo and explanations:

374

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2015, 07:50 AM »

^Really like that CP10. It adds a bit more coloration. But it's a lovely butterscotch sort of coloration. Which on guitar works very well. And the absence of noise in a compressor that old is amazing. (Remember the ubiquitous MXR DynaComp anyone?)

Guitarists have a definite advantage over bass players when it comes to their tone palette. All those extra high frequencies give effects (and our ears) so much more to work with. And while I have seldom heard bass benefit much from using an 'effect' pedal (beyond "remedial" signal processors such as a limiters or compressors), most guitars can gain a whole new dimension by their judicious employment. They key word here being "judicious."

So little time (and money!)...so many interesting things to try. Wha' fe do, Mon...wha' fe do?

Tom Hughes did a very fine book on effects called Analog Man's Guide to Vintage Effects, which covers over 150 different manufacturer's devices. It's a history book, a collector's wish-list/catalog, and a tech guide all rolled into one. The $45 asking price may be a bit of a put-off. And what's covered will likely only appeal to the diehard effect users, "gear-geeks," and serious collectors out there. But it's well worth it IMO. This book is as good as guitar-porn gets. If you love stomp boxes, look no further. Here is bedrock.

375

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by 40hz on February 12, 2015, 08:31 PM »

(Note: the first part of this post will likely only be of interest to actual bass players. You have been warned!  )

Are you a bass player? As in a bass player doing some serious recording work? If so, check out one of these bad boys - a Keeley Bassist Limiting Amplifier (also known as a compressor/limiter):



I have wanted to find a very subtle and musical compressor-type device specifically designed for electric bass for some time now. And I think I probably tried out at least dozen or so before I stumbled on this one. It's surprisingly affordable for the signal quality and transparency it offers. As good as what you'd find in a recording studio rack IMO. And it's usable too. Great sound plus simple logical controls that behave the way you'd think they would. (Not every similar device can make that claim.) And it doesn't get in the way of your sound like so many of these devices sometimes can.

If you're a bassist who knows what a compressor is used for - and you're in the market for a really good one - look no further. Highly recommended.

(Note: the standard disclaimer applies here. I'm not affiliated with Keeley Engineering in any way, shape, or form. I bought mine with my own money through the regular retail channels.)

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

For those who are curious as to exactly what a compressor does, this video explores some of the sonic benefits such devices can bring to the party. You'll need headphones or decent speakers to really hear the difference in this video because (when properly used) most applications of this 'effect' will be fairly subtle. And you may need a few repeated listens before your ear becomes attentive enough to clearly hear some of them.

But do you actually need one? The next video gets into that thorny and subjective question in some depth.

Skip forward to the 1:00 mark to get right into the explanations and demos.

Cool tools! Check it out!