Recent Posts

6101

Living Room / Re: Google: Do no evil (once you're caught)

« Last post by 40hz on February 21, 2012, 02:06 PM »

The 2000 vote in Florida is still being argued as if it were yesterday! Crazy!

-J-Mac (February 21, 2012, 01:23 PM)

Well...it was a watershed event for American politics. And depending on which story you believe, and what side you come down on, it makes all the difference in the world.

And it has left a very bad taste in most people's mouths. Especially in the wake of the former Bush administration's almost unprecedented moves to expand executive privilege and disregard Constitutional checks and balances in the wake of 9/11. (Can you spell Gitmo?)

Where it will eventually lead.

So maybe the fact people are still arguing about the 2000 election is not a bad thing. We're sometimes a little too naive about the integrity of the American political process for our own good.
 

6102

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is not dead... Minimalistic UI Madness Never dies.

« Last post by 40hz on February 21, 2012, 01:09 PM »

The biggest mistake is making Linux what it's not.

-rgdot (February 21, 2012, 12:39 PM)

Fortunately, the only big player in the Linux camp that's doing that is Mark Shuttleworth with Ubuntu.

I personally think all this dumbing-down will eventually backfire. Much like the disco music craze did back in the late 70s and early 80s.

Funny thing too...disco sold millions of albums, and there were several disco clubs in almost any town big enough to support even a rudimentary night life scene.

But once the 90s rolled around, virtually nobody could ever "remember" liking disco, buying the music, practicing the dance moves, or going to the clubs. Pretty funny huh? I guess disguised interplanetary visitors were what floated that multi-billion dollar industry for almost 8 years.

I'm guessing dummy versions of Linux will follow in the same wake of abandonment once people realize it's demeaning to act like you're stupider and more helpless than you really are. This is a cycle we go through about every 25 years.
 

6103

Living Room / Re: Cannot Unsee!

« Last post by 40hz on February 21, 2012, 09:17 AM »

Hmm...I always thought it looked like a duckling trailing a wing in the water - or a puffed-up little sparrow singing its heart out.  

6104

Living Room / Re: Google: Do no evil (once you're caught)

« Last post by 40hz on February 21, 2012, 07:54 AM »

(Side question: Would we still have all this junk if Gore had won the messed up 2000 Hanging Chad campaign? Is that where the Alternate Universe started?)

-TaoPhoenix (February 21, 2012, 07:34 AM)

Probably. You had election officials in Florida very obviously trying to influence if not swing the vote. The Republicans were more interested in winning the election than in following the will of the voters, so the State of Florida resorted to every delaying technicality possible to delay verifications in order to run out the clock and force the election (under law) to be declared by the secretary.

To their mind there was little risk in doing so. If Bush won, they could argue it was resolved in a manner in accordance with Florida's byzantine election laws. If they lost, they could accuse the Democrats of "stealing the presidency" and very likely galvanize enough party support to stonewall or otherwise neutralize Gore's ability to do anything if he did become president.

When this started to stink a little too much, (even the Supreme Court did some uncharacteristic backpedalling after the fact when it became clear the pubic was outraged by their decision) the Republicans immediately pulled the "You're Another" propaganda technique by automatically calling many elections, where Democrats won by a narrow margin, as being "fraudulent." Often with nothing to back up the accusation.

There's a danger to crying "wolf" about voter fraud however. The end effect was that the Republicans stripped whatever former sanctity there was from the election process. And this tactic was repeated so many times following Gore's defeat that many Americans are now deeply suspicious of any election result.

So yes. That's where this post-2K alternate reality began IMHO.

6105

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: App that keeps track of things that have been printed

« Last post by 40hz on February 21, 2012, 07:30 AM »

Take a look at the freebie PaperCut Print Logger. I think that may do what you need.

PaperCut™ Print Logger is a free print logging application for Windows systems designed to provide real-time activity logs detailing all printer use. Information tracked includes:

•    the time of print,
•    the name of the user who printed,
•    the total number of pages,
•    document names and titles,
•    other print job attributes such as paper size, color mode and more.

Print audit logs are available in a viewer friendly HTML format, or in CSV or Excel format for advanced users needing the data for further analysis.
Highlights...

    

•    100% free!
•    Easy to use HTML interface.
•    Now available in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Italian and Spanish.
•    Monitor printing on all major printer makes and models.
•    Real-time print logs ensure data is always current and live.
•    Printer usage logs are available in Microsoft Excel format allowing for detailed print analysis and charting.
•    Compatible with both desktop and server versions of Microsoft Windows print queues.
•    Unobtrusive - no need to modify the printing process or configure printers differently.

 

6106

Living Room / Re: On the Synthesis of the Internet

« Last post by 40hz on February 20, 2012, 07:25 PM »

Funny thing is the above synthesized articles read much like and are as comprehensible as most deconstructionist analyses of literary works.

Scary thing is that claptrap is often taken quite seriously in many academic circles.

6107

Living Room / Re: On the Synthesis of the Internet

« Last post by 40hz on February 20, 2012, 07:22 PM »

@mouser- True. Especially if Judge Judy or Dancing with the Stars is on. (kidding!)

6108

Living Room / Re: On the Synthesis of the Internet

« Last post by 40hz on February 20, 2012, 07:15 PM »

These aren't real articles. They are generated by software to look and sound real, but they are fake and generated completely autonomously.

-mouser (February 20, 2012, 06:48 PM)

Spoilsport! I was hoping you'd let the joke run a little bit longer.  

6109

Living Room / Re: On the Synthesis of the Internet

« Last post by 40hz on February 20, 2012, 06:37 PM »

Interesting. Has much in common with some of the later research done by Xerox PARC AI team members Eismann, Cumeth, et al. back in 1968. Eismann was the first to argue for the teleological suspension of ontological fixity as a method for reducing complexity, working models of which were made possible by advances in integrated circuit design. In many respects this anticipated virtual machine technology by a few years.

Cool stuff!

6110

Living Room / Re: Google: Do no evil (once you're caught)

« Last post by 40hz on February 20, 2012, 12:11 PM »

Am I the only person here who looks at this and says...."So what?"

-Josh (February 20, 2012, 11:31 AM)

No.

And you're in good company.

Google, along with everybody else who would like you to have no real expectation of privacy, are counting on most people to feel exactly like you do.

The only problem is, people haven't thought through the full implications of what doing something like this means - and what it could be used for in the future. And once you give up legal or moral rights you formerly held, there is exactly ZERO chance of ever getting them back - no matter what yo may be told or think.

So if your feeling is "so what," about all I can say is: That will only be true until the day somebody decides to use it against you.

And don't think it can't happen. Take a look at whistle-blower laws. They provide legal prohibitions against retaliation taken by government or employers against an employee for revealing abuses of power or other criminal acts.

Problem is - it isn't enforced worth a damn any more.

And people don't really seem to care.

So guess what happens any time some employee goes to the government with information about their company or agency that leads to criminal prosecution and conviction?

The employee almost always gets fired, demoted, transferred, or harassed out of a job. And often gets openly blacklisted by their former employer as much as is practically possible.  And sometimes gets a civil suit or other bogus legal action filed against them. On rare occasions, some have even been found dead under circumstances that merit a much more thorough investigation - or sometimes even just an investigation - than most receive. Truly amazing the number of suicides and single -person/no-witness driving off deserted road accidents experienced by high profile whistle-blowers. Especially government whistle-blowers.

Either way, retaliation is the name of the game.

Illegal?

You bet!

Anybody seem to feel the need to do anything about it?

Nope!

Why?

Because people seem to go along with the usual spin that gets put on whistle-blowing by those who got caught, which is: "These people should have gone to their managers (note: many tried that unsuccessfully btw) and got matters resolved internally. Anybody who tells tales out of school is nothing but a traitor to their employer and coworkers."

Such is the danger of saying *meh*  

6111

Official Announcements / Re: I want to try an experiment on the site for March 2012

« Last post by 40hz on February 20, 2012, 08:57 AM »

Just something I've learned and would like to share based on my experiences when conducting 'studies' or 'experiments' for my own purposes, or on behalf of clients:

In any experiment, the test subjects go through it for real.


Sometimes there are consequences and lingering issues left in the aftermath, despite informed consent going in, and awareness that "it's only a test" during.

Therefor, to my mind, any experiment involving people, or a community, should be approached with a fair degree of caution. And for a specific reason. Or with a goal in mind.

And...that's about all the input I have to offer on this.

That said, I'll be happy to go along with whatever gets decided.

6112

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on February 19, 2012, 05:31 PM »

^Wow. Didn't take long for that video link to get taken down!

6113

Living Room / Re: Google: Do no evil (once you're caught)

« Last post by 40hz on February 19, 2012, 01:03 PM »

Sweet vindication really does taste sweet.

-Innuendo (February 19, 2012, 10:45 AM)

+1. But it's a very bitter-sweetness. I would rather I had been completely wrong about them. 

Hmm...maybe we need a tinfoil hat forum badge?

Let's ask Mouser!

@Mouser - can we get a member forum badge for 'skeptics and cynics without honor'? And let it be a tinfoil hat?
 

6114

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on February 19, 2012, 08:23 AM »

Well look who's back! Van Halen.

They're a bit older, and heavier, shorter-haired, and slower - with a new recording which sounds considerably more refined and somewhat self-conscious than their earlier manic and borderline out-of-control trademark sound.

Maybe it's a function of age or increased maturity? (Both of which don't slot too well with the entire premise behind Metal.) Either way, it's an enjoyable enough song on it's own. These guys can still sing and play - although I kept hoping they would step up the tempo just a tad since the song seemed to drag slightly in a few places. The drumming, always the weakest link in the VH line-up (and further argument against hiring family members) is certainly much better than it used to be. On second thought - scratch that remark. Eddie's son Wolfgang is far better on bass than Michael Anthony ever was.

About the only real problem I had with the video was some of the choreography. Which is to say it's all very obviously mapped out down to the last move. And David Lee Roth also needs to cut down on the dance antics a bit. What might be amusing and cool for a 20-something to do up on stage in a live rock concert only looks silly to the point of embarrassing when performed by a man of 58 in a carefully edited 'artsy' music video...

But then again, David Lee Roth wouldn't be David Lee Roth if he acted any other way would he?

And it's good to see Eddie up and about with guitar in hand following his bouts with chronic avascular necrosis and cancer.

Welcome back guys! Please don't blow again it this time.
 

6115

Living Room / Google: Do no evil (once you're caught)

« Last post by 40hz on February 19, 2012, 07:25 AM »

Yet another jive move on the part of Google was reported in the February 17th edition of the Wall Street Journal. Since the WSJ doesn't allow quoting of their articles without permission you'll need to go here to read it.

Seems Google (and by extension it's advertisers) has been caught by a researcher over at Stanford using code that deliberately circumvents and overrides the privacy settings on iPhone's Safari browser in order to allow tracking of a user's browsing habits.



Cory Doctorow (he's on a roll this week) did an excellent article on this. Since BoingBoing does allow quoting their articles, here's an excerpt:

iPhone security, tracking users who opted out of third-party cookies

By Cory Doctorow at 7:13 am Friday, Feb 17

Google has been caught circumventing iOS's built-in anti-ad-tracking features in order to add Google Plus functionality within iPhone's Safari browser. The WSJ reports that Google overrode users' privacy settings in order to allow messages like "your friend Suzy +1'ed this ad about candy" to be relayed between Google's different domains, including google.com and doubleclick.net. This also meant that doubleclick.net was tracking every page you landed on with a Doubleclick ad, even if you'd opted out of its tracking.

I believe that Google has created an enormous internal urgency about Google Plus integration, and that this pressure is leading the company to take steps to integrate G+ at the expense of the quality of its other services. Consider the Focus on the User critique of Google's "social ranking" in search results, for example. In my own life, I've been immensely frustrated that my unpublished Gmail account (which I only use to anchor my Android Marketplace purchases for my phone and tablets, and to receive a daily schedule email while I'm travelling) has somehow become visible to G+ users, so that I get many, many G+ updates and invites to this theoretically private address, every day, despite never having opted into a directory and never having joined G+.

In the iPhone case, it's likely that Google has gone beyond lowering the quality of its service for its users and customers, and has now started to violate the law, and certainly to undermine the trust that the company depends on. This is much more invasive than the time Google accidentally captured some WiFi traffic and didn't do anything with it, much more invasive than Google taking pictures of publicly visible buildings -- both practices that drew enormous and enduring criticism at the expense of the company's global credibility. I wonder if this will cause the company to slow its full-court press to make G+ part of every corner of Google.
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Read Cory's full article here

6116

Living Room / The Real Problem with DRM and Walled Gardens

« Last post by 40hz on February 19, 2012, 06:24 AM »

Not to be outdone by Microsoft's announced intent to wall in Metro applications on all desktop platforms, Apple has launched a bellwether in it's latest and greatest iteration of OSX.

A new 'feature' of OSX Mountain Lion Edition called Gatekeeper "encourages" Macintosh application developers to register their software with Apple. Macintosh owners installing software that was not registered with Apple through a process Apple claims will be both "simple" and "inexpensive" were originally to be greeted with this rather frightening dialog box:



In the wake of complaints by developers, this original wording has since been toned down.

Gatekeeper does not (at this point) prevent a Mac owner from installing any software. But I think it's fairly obvious what Gatekeeper was created to accomplish. And also where it ultimately plans on going.

A Cory Doctorow piece was recently posted on Boing Boing. In it he makes a case for what the real problem is with DRM and where the more recent moves on the part of Apple and Microsoft to wall in the desktop will eventually take us if they succeed.

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The law has always recognized that interoperability is good for competition, markets, and the public. From generic windshield-wiper blades and hubcaps to third-party hard-drives and keyboards and inkjet toner, and software like Pages and Keynote, the law recognizes that there is a legitimate reason to reverse-engineer a competitor's products and make new products that replace, expand and augment them.

Companies don't like this. It interferes with the "razor blade" business model of subsidizing one part of a product and charging high margins on some other part. It undermines efforts to corner markets and freeze out disruptive innovation. It lowers prices and forces you to spend more money on R&D to get the next product out because the profits have started to fall on the old products.

But these are not bugs, they're features. High prices on inkjet cartridges and proprietary cables and other consumables and accessories hold us back from realizing the full utility of our property. Allowing carriers to lock handsets to prevent the introduction of VoIP and tethering software to preserve high tariffs is good for telco investors, but bad for those of us who buy their products, and it removes the incentive to improve voice-call quality to compete with VoIP. Artificially prolonging the profitability of last year's invention means that this year's invention doesn't get made as quickly -- or at all.

Locking devices to only accept software that has been blessed by the vendor has been a profitable anticompetitive strategy. It's allowed the iOS App Store to command high commissions on sales, and to expand those commissions to cover transactions after the initial sale (if you spend money within an iOS App, Apple takes 30% of that transaction as well -- like a cash-register manufacturer demanding a slice of each transaction after you've bought the register). It allows the company to freeze out apps it doesn't like, even if customers want them. It undermines copyright by making it illegal for someone to create and sell their copyrighted software to willing buyers without the approval of the company that made the hardware the software will run on -- because the unblessed software won't run without breaking the DRM, and breaking DRM is illegal.
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Well worth reading. Full article here.

 

6117

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me choose an online backup service

« Last post by 40hz on February 17, 2012, 08:19 AM »

@highend01 - Hi! Since you took the time to comment to my comment on an item by item basis, I thought it would be polite that I make a similar effort to do the same.

@40hz

If it take my time to test a new software you can be rest assured that I do it thoroughly

-highend01 (February 16, 2012, 06:04 PM)

Um...I have no way of knowing what you do when you test new software, but I'm glad for you that you're very thorough about it. Proud of you even! But I think you misunderstood my comment. I was simply making a suggestion and entering into some dialog. If you joined in with the intent of giving answers rather than entering into a discussion about solutions, I apologize for not realizing that earlier.

Anything on my C: drive isn't data that should be backup-ed. Why not? I already decided over 20 years
ago that I separate all of my data from the partition, where the os is installed. Apart from that 95%
of my used software is portable and stores it's settings and data on a different drive (and the only
Software that needs to be installed is forced to write everything it wants to save to a different drive as well).

I'm also glad of that. This very same topic has been discussed at length in previous DC forum threads. And all of the things you're currently doing are what many of us are also doing, And have been doing for quite a while. But I'd suspect anybody who had some experience with PCs and computers (in my case going back to punched cards) would independently come to realize that too given sufficient interest and time. How does that saying go? Nothing "new" under the sun. Just some things that are "new" to some people.

if you first just let it 'do its thing' to see exactly how long it took - and then logged in to check and see exactly what got backed up.

You don't need to. You can see this kind of information before it actually begins the real backup. Look at the last rightmost tabs.

Here I think you and I will have to agree to disagree. While it's nice for software to provide such an estimate, I don't ever really trust it until I've run a few real world iterations. Many of these time estimates are little more than marketing ploys. In the case of Backblaze, I'm happy to say they weren't just hype and wishful thinking. They are quite accurate estimates in fact. Unless something happens on your network that causes communication issues. As a personal user you probably don't have to deal with that. But my perspective is more from a server farm and heterogeneous corporate network management perspective, where things can and do go wrong when we least expect despite all due diligence on our part. As a result I test everything under differing scenarios whenever possible before I'll say: "Ok, I'll buy that."

So once the initial mirror takes place, subsequent backups only require a fraction of the original time unless major changes have taken place on your local drive.

Delta-backup. Atm it's hard to find reasonable sync/backup providers that DON'T support this technology.

Yes. I'm sure many, if not most of us, are also aware of that.  But I mentioned it because I suspect most people here aren't familiar with Backblaze so I put it in purely for informational purposes. If I toned down the techspeak, it was because many DC members without a lot of technical background also read these threads. So I usually make it a point to write in plain English as much as possible when I'm here. I've been told my conversation at work and among fellow professionals is virtually unintelligible to a layman. Alphabet soup one client (not in IT) called it.

It also keeps deleted and changed files for up to 30 days - so it also acts as a sort of versioning backup system

That's the case, right. The currently used HiDrive account allows me to configure for how long old / deleted versions are kept and these settings can be changed for different folders and users (I use a 5 user account with 500gb of storage).

Can't comment. I'm not personally familiar with HiDrive since I've never used it. But if it does what you want the way you want it done that's great. In Mouser's case, what I understood he was looking for was an online storage provider that could handle a very large data collection at a reasonable price. And that bells & whistles weren't needed or wanted since this was just a final fallback in the event of an emergency. So to me the criteria was:

• pure backup - no sharing or other features
• reliable provider
• reasonable cost
• good performance
• basically set & forget
• flexible recovery options in the event a restore was needed.

Backblaze fits that bill quite nicely. And I have direct experience with it so I'm comfortable recommending it.

That's why I suggested Backblaze.

Regarding the huge amount of data that can be backuped with a slow uplink: I'm storing atm 150 GB on my user account at HiDrive. With non throttled upload speed this takes about 18 days (24h/day) if you don't want to pay the extra fee if you send in a hdd.

Can't say much to that other than "your mileage may vary." Whatever happens with you, HiDrive, and your connection through your ISP would be for you to talk about. I was only talking about Carbonite and Backblaze.

PS.: I like intelligent software. As long as it let's me reconfigure it's behavior when it does things that I don't want it to do.

Me too. Glad we agree on that point!

We're also wandering a bit off topic with this so I'm going to bow out here.

Best!

6118

Living Room / Re: Who's up for a DonationCoder talk show?

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2012, 06:00 PM »

IMHO, this should be an 'as-and-when' project, as in....as and when we have time to get together and talk...opposed to the "This WILL be out at 19:00 every Monday" type thing.

-Stephen66515 (February 16, 2012, 04:05 PM)

That could work for a more magazine type talk - like a special guest or somebody with a lot worth listening to. Software developers and engineering types come to mind. But it would have to be something a little deeper than a current events discussion since those need to happen in close proximity to the event in order to remain meaningful. More along the lines of a TED talk or a Charlie Rose interview than a morning with Howard Stern. (*gag*)

Its a bloody good idea though, and I am sure a whole lot of people here would enjoy pitching in and listening to the talks

Agree. I'm a big fan of podcasts and streams. As my eyes get weaker and more fatigue prone I find myself preferring to listen to things more and more. I also like being read to. Thank Buddha for audioboooks or I'd never get to "read" much fiction any more.
 

6119

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me choose an online backup service

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2012, 05:48 PM »

I drooled over the original about 2 years ago and yeah, it does provoke crazy thoughts, especially if you are a digital packrat. Just think of the amount of crap I could download and store on one of those babies!

-app103 (February 16, 2012, 02:20 PM)

Don't let superboyac hear you! That might be all the motivation he needs to go out and build one of these bloody things. (I really could see him doing it too. Seriously...I could.)
 

6120

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me choose an online backup service

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2012, 05:23 PM »

Why should I let it backup things that don't need to be backuped (e.g. parts of my C: drive)? Why should I waste my upload bandwidth (1MBit) for such a task?

-highend01 (February 16, 2012, 04:14 PM)

Why indeed? But it's kinda moot since it doesn't backup anything other than your data by default. If you look at the website:

What does Backblaze Backup?
Our philosophy: backup all data so you don't have to pick and choose.

All Your Data
With the exception of your operating system, applications, and temporary files.

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

What We Don't Backup

Backblaze does not want to waste your bandwidth or Backblaze datacenter disk space. Thus, we do not backup your operating system, application files, or temporary internet files that are transient and would not be useful in the future. Backblaze also excludes podcasts in iTunes.

Certain Filetypes
You can see these exclusions by clicking on “Settings…” in the Backblaze Control Panel and selecting the Exclusions tab. They can be removed in Backblaze 2.0! Some of these excluded files are:

• ISO (Disk Images)
• VMC VHD VMSN (Virtual Drives)
• SYS (System Configuration & Drivers)
• EXE (Application Files).
• Other Backup Programs
• Backblaze also doesn't backup backups like Time Machine and Retrospect RDB.

Deleted Files
Backblaze will keep versions of a file that changes for up to 30 days. However, Backblaze is not designed as an additional storage system when you run out of space. Backblaze mirrors your drive. If you delete your data, it will be deleted from Backblaze after 30 days.

When you tried it out, as you mentioned earlier, it might have been enlightening if you first just let it 'do its thing' to see exactly how long it took - and then logged in to check and see exactly what got backed up.

I doubt you would have seen much there you wouldn't have selected anyway.

It's also fairly intelligent. So once the initial mirror takes place, subsequent backups only require a fraction of the original time unless major changes have taken place on your local drive.

Again from the website:

Backblaze has developed a unique 'single-read' engine that ensures no slowdown of your computer. Backblaze provides an automatic throttle that most efficiently uses your Internet connection. Typical home connections can backup online 2 - 4 GB per day. Backblaze provides a throttle option if you want to use more or less of your Internet connection.

There's also a handy speedtest utility they have that will let you know what you can expect on your connection. Even on a slow residential grade ADSL with a 39.1 Kb/sec uplink (via a wifi connection no less!) you'll be able to backup a huge amount of data in a 24-hour period. This laptop I just ran it on estimates 3,300 Mb worth of data per day as the absolute capacity.

It also keeps deleted and changed files for up to 30 days - so it also acts as a sort of versioning backup system. That alone is sometimes worth its weight in gold.

Dunno...I don't think it comes any more "pro" or "advanced user" than this. Just my humble opinion anyway.

6121

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2012, 02:58 PM »

@tomos - We've apparently come a long way from the days when it was only Boris Grebenshchikov you'd hear about from Russia.

I've always been a big fan of Eastern Bloc Metal, but... accordians!  :Thmbsup

-Edvard (February 16, 2012, 01:27 PM)

Wow, an accordion that looks like the front of a 1953 Cadillac, a balalaika, a set of Ludwig drums, and a Fender Jaguar bass...doing a Bon Jovi piece in Russian (mostly) in the Ukraine on TV!

Anybody have any doubts it's a small world?

And it gets even crazier. This is Abigale Washburn, a traditional and roots player (along with her own stuff) who is popular over in China.

 

NPR has her in for one of their Tiny Desk Concerts. (Note: I really like the Tiny Desk series because it pares everything down to the basics. Much like a private "living-room concert," Tiny Desk is just the band or performer setting up and playing in NPR's offices to a small audience of people who really know music. There's no lights, or exotic sound tech, or stage sets - so there's absolutely no place to hide. It's musical performance stripped down to its absolute essence. If you really want to see what a musician or group is made of, just have them perform in a similar setting, and you'll soon discover who really 'has it' - and who just gets away with it.)

From the NPR website:

Abigail Washburn's music career, now 10 years old, had an unlikely start. Washburn had plans to study law at Beijing University in China. She'd also recently bought a banjo — she wanted to take something to China that was American — and she'd fallen in love with the music of the legendary Doc Watson, in particular his banjo playing in the classic folk tune "Shady Grove."

So Washburn decided to embark on a road trip to study the banjo, and to learn tunes. She found her way to the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia, then to North Carolina and then Kentucky to the International Bluegrass Association. It was there that she sat down with a few women to play music, and right then and there was offered a record deal.

So her plans changed and she canceled her journey to China. Still, even though Washburn began a music career instead, the country remains in her heart. Her career has since taken her to China, and she now mixes American bluegrass and folk with Chinese folk music.

You can watch it and find out more about her here. (Sorry. NPR doesn't allow you to embed video like YouTube does.) There's also a bunch of videos of varying quality of her up on YouTube.

This isn't the sort of music I usually listen too. But I must admit her music has grown on me with repeated listening. It's got a certain simplicity and purity of sound that masks the sophistication of the music and the group that performs it. It's a subtle thing they do. And they pull it off brilliantly.

Breath of fresh air AFAIC. And just the thing to clear the head after a busy day.

6122

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me choose an online backup service

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2012, 02:51 PM »

I get about 38Kbs upstream ...

-Carol Haynes (February 16, 2012, 02:37 PM)

OMG! I'd go absolutely nuts with that. I guess the UK doesn't plan on getting much on board with SaS and "cloud" do they? Or are those speeds just because of where you're located in the UK?

6123

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

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2012, 02:47 PM »

No, the image isn't for my order; it is a symbol for the Blessed Virgin.  Our web site is: http://www.sspx.org.

-BGM (February 16, 2012, 02:10 PM)

Thanks! You'd think after eight years of Dominican nuns in grammar school - and eight years of Jesuits between High School and undergraduate College I'd know that wouldn't you?
 

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

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2012, 02:00 PM »

@BGM - welcome indeed! For once somebody with an unusual (for me at least) occupation. I don't recognize the crest however. Is that your Order or just something you use?

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General Software Discussion / Re: Help me choose an online backup service

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2012, 01:39 PM »

Tried it today. Maybe it's a cheap solution but for an advanced or pro user this isn't probably the way to go. You can exclude folders / drives but it's a cumbersome task if you have a nested folder structure and want to sync several folders inside this structure.

It is _really_ not possible to reverse it and say: Only include these specified folders that I want to sync, no matter what.

-highend01 (February 16, 2012, 01:07 PM)

@h - Not quite sure what you mean by a "pro" or "advanced" user unless you mean more like a desktop 'power user.' Backspace is a high data volume and enterprise backup service. And as was mentioned previously, it's not set up like a traditional backup. It's more a mirror solution. It's also geared for large storage collections, so not a lot of emphasis was placed on having their client software provide lots of individual file and folder sync tricks.

For a home user or SB, Dropbox or Box.net or one of the other personal backup services would definitely be a more flexible and appropriate way to go.