Archive for June, 2005
Another reason I adore eMusic
Posted by Biffster in Digital music on June 29th, 2005
Here’s another reason I love eMusic: I downloaded a Catie Curtis album from eMusic a few months ago on the recommendation of a friend. After listening to the album on-and-off for the last couple of months, I’ve decide that I quite like Ms. Curtis’s music. So I logged onto eMusic and downloaded the rest of her discography. So now I have the complete Catie Curtis collection.
Not bad for $20 a month!
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Titan dark spot may be large lake
Is this a picture of a lake on Saturn’s moon Titan? Researches are saying, Maybe, maybe not: “A dark, lake-like feature on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has been imaged by the US-European Cassini spacecraft.
“Researchers have long speculated that Titan might harbour open bodies of liquid methane – and the 235km by 75km target is the best candidate to date.”
Linux rescue CDs
Posted by Biffster in Debian/Linux on June 29th, 2005
Linux.com is running a great article that reviews three Linux rescue CDs. What is a Linux rescue CD, you asK? The article does a great job of explaining:
We’ve all had this nightmare. You turn on your functioning Windows/Linux PC, and all you get is a blank screen, or a message telling you that certain files are missing, or the kernel has panicked for some obscure reason. Nothing works, and you need the data on your machine…The world of open source has many wonderful tools for just such a life-or-death situation. Think of them as paramedics for your computer. While they may not be able to restore your machine to full functionality, they are a quick way of running tests and diagnostics on the disabled machine. In a pinch, you can use them to save important files on a different machine on the network, or burn a CD, before sending the machine off to be fixed.
I am going to keep a copy of the System Rescue CD in my toolchest. It’s an invaluable tool for those of us who take care of a number of computers.
Sleep inertia
Wow, imagine that. There is an actual, documented medical condition which explains why I can’t take naps. Well, I can take a nap, but when I wake up I feel even more tired than I did before napping. I feel like I can’t think clearly, and I feel very clumsy. It’s a horrible feeling, bad enough that I almost never take naps – even when I really need some extra sleep.
Turns out, this is a fairly-well-known phenomenon known as Sleep Inertia. Per Psychcentral.com: “Sleep inertia is a physiological state characterised by a decline in motor dexterity and a subjective feeling of grogginess, immediately following an abrupt awakening from deep sleep. Typically, sleep inertia lasts between 1 and 30 minutes.”
I guess I had always assumed this was due to my sleep apnea. Though I feel like crap after a nap even if I hook myself up to the CPAP machine, so I guess I should’ve realized it wasn’t that.
I swear… maybe Dao is trying to tell me that I shouldn’t sleep! That means more time for video games. [grin]
Another playlist website – Webjay
Posted by Biffster in Digital music, Web on June 24th, 2005
Here’s another web community for creating playlists/mixtapes: Webjay. Webjay takes things from a slightly-different viewpoint: it helps users create playlists of freely-available music. Users can actually listen to playlists on the website.
Tiny Mix Tapes
Posted by Biffster in Digital music, Web on June 24th, 2005
I think that the concept behind Tiny Mix Tapes is pure genius: “Here’s the deal: You send us a style, genre, word, phrase, emotion, or whatever else, and if one of our mix tape robots fancies your suggestion, that crazy set of circuits might just make a mix tape out of it — well, at least a tracklisting for a mix tape out of it. “
Browsing through the various playlists that were created is just plain fun. And it makes me want to start putting together some of these mixes and listen to them Right Now. This seems like a great way to be introduced to new music, and is definitely a good way to get into the whole mixtape mindset.
DVzine.org – THE ZINE
Posted by Biffster in Miscellany on June 15th, 2005
Ultra-cool: Some dedicated Dvorak fans published a comic which tries to convince users to change their keyboard layout to Dvorak. “‘The Dvorak Zine’ is a 24 page self-published zine that uses the power of COMICS to help promote The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard Layout. It is broken down into three chapters: 1) The history of the typewriter and how QWERTY was developed 2) An explanation of the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard Layout and its many benefits and 3) Easy-to-follow steps for setting up Dvorak on your computer and tips for how to learn it! Even if you don’t start typing Dvorak you will learn a bit about Keyboards and have some fun while doing it!”
I typed my part of this entry using Dvorak. I was less than brilliant doing so. My normal 80-wpm rate is down to like 5. Hmmmm….
