Computers: October 2004 Archives
I put up some new music yesterday. It's a song inspired by Isaac Asimov's Caves of Steel that I first recorded in the early 90s. It's a very different thing for me, since it is all electronic, except for the vocals (and even they are largely electronic).
Note I also have a song on there about how the New York Yankees suck, a Zambonis cover called "Johnny Got Suspended."
And for those of you who want some political content, I have a cover of a Randy Newman song, "Political Science."
Note I also have a song on there about how the New York Yankees suck, a Zambonis cover called "Johnny Got Suspended."
And for those of you who want some political content, I have a cover of a Randy Newman song, "Political Science."
When I watch sports, I record them on the TiVo, even I am watching live, so I don't change channel by mistake and miss something. I set it to record for an additional three hours, which is the maximum possible for an event.
Normally, this is enough. Saturday's Sox-Yankees game was the longest nine-inning game in ALCS history, at 4+ hours, and it was enough. Sunday's game was the longest extra-innings game in ALCS history at 5+ hours, and it was enough.
Monday's game was the longest postseason game in baseball history, approaching 6 hours. Bottom of the 14th, 2 outs, Ortiz at bat and Damon on second. Ortiz hits it up the middle. Damon rounds third, and ... the TiVo stops. It's six hours.
I was watching live, so it keeps playing, but there is a pause, right in between Damon rounding third and the celebration on the field. I miss the actual score. It does not exist on my TiVo.
Grrrrrrrrr.
Normally, this is enough. Saturday's Sox-Yankees game was the longest nine-inning game in ALCS history, at 4+ hours, and it was enough. Sunday's game was the longest extra-innings game in ALCS history at 5+ hours, and it was enough.
Monday's game was the longest postseason game in baseball history, approaching 6 hours. Bottom of the 14th, 2 outs, Ortiz at bat and Damon on second. Ortiz hits it up the middle. Damon rounds third, and ... the TiVo stops. It's six hours.
I was watching live, so it keeps playing, but there is a pause, right in between Damon rounding third and the celebration on the field. I miss the actual score. It does not exist on my TiVo.
Grrrrrrrrr.
I just uploaded a new version of happening, my perl script that can update iChat status with what program you are running, what you are listening to, etc.
This release makes one feature work better (setting iChat image) and adds a new feature (screen saver images).
I added one feature a little while ago, and made it work better this time: making your iChat icon match the album cover of the track you are listening to in iTunes. I just ripped my entire CD collection to lossless and put in album covers for all but a few of the CDs, so that's kinda nice to have.
And while on the subject of album covers, I added a related new feature. See, I have a laptop in my stereo closet, and it is hooked up to the amp and to the TV. When I press the "Music" button on my Harmony Remote, the TV shows the laptop screen and the amp switches to the USB digital output from the laptop.
Just looking at the iTunes interface gets boring, and while I can see the small album cover in the bottom of the screen, I wanted it big. So now the album cover not only gets set as the iChat icon, but it gets saved to a temp folder. Then I set my screen saver to come on in the shortest interval (3 minutes), and to randomly select a picture from that folder. Now the screen saver is showing the album cover of the song I am listening to.
There's probably better ways to do that, but I couldn't find any, and I figured this would be fun to play with.
So now if you see a big album cover on my TV or you see my iChat icon changing regularly to match what I am listening to, you know why.
Coming up next is a script I use to rip my entire iTunes collection to a new library at a lower bitrate, that I use to sync to my iPod. But it is running on a PowerBook G3/500, and so it is going to take about week to finish converting my 130+ GB of tunes, and then I have some more work to do on the script to clean it all up.
This release makes one feature work better (setting iChat image) and adds a new feature (screen saver images).
I added one feature a little while ago, and made it work better this time: making your iChat icon match the album cover of the track you are listening to in iTunes. I just ripped my entire CD collection to lossless and put in album covers for all but a few of the CDs, so that's kinda nice to have.
And while on the subject of album covers, I added a related new feature. See, I have a laptop in my stereo closet, and it is hooked up to the amp and to the TV. When I press the "Music" button on my Harmony Remote, the TV shows the laptop screen and the amp switches to the USB digital output from the laptop.
Just looking at the iTunes interface gets boring, and while I can see the small album cover in the bottom of the screen, I wanted it big. So now the album cover not only gets set as the iChat icon, but it gets saved to a temp folder. Then I set my screen saver to come on in the shortest interval (3 minutes), and to randomly select a picture from that folder. Now the screen saver is showing the album cover of the song I am listening to.
There's probably better ways to do that, but I couldn't find any, and I figured this would be fun to play with.
So now if you see a big album cover on my TV or you see my iChat icon changing regularly to match what I am listening to, you know why.
Coming up next is a script I use to rip my entire iTunes collection to a new library at a lower bitrate, that I use to sync to my iPod. But it is running on a PowerBook G3/500, and so it is going to take about week to finish converting my 130+ GB of tunes, and then I have some more work to do on the script to clean it all up.
I think it is great Stern is moving to Sirius satellite radio. The public airwaves are owned by the public, so the public should get to say if they want them to be censored. Overwhelmingly, people do want such limits. But I am all for free speech, so what's the answer? Satellite radio.
Feb 26 17:39:42 <pudge> i would love to see Stern on XM.It was a given that they would try this. Stern would get to be uncensored, and make a ton of money as the foremost on-air pioneer of a somewhat new medium. How could he pass it up? The only question was whether one of the providers would pony up the money for it; certainly they would want to do it, but the price was the key. I figured XM had the most to offer, having more subscribers, but that only means Sirius had more incentive. And in the end Sirius did it, and in the end, might have more subscribers because of it.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
