Archive for April 2008
A bookshelf full of TV
April 28, 2008, 1:11 amI was pondering the other day - probably in the shower, maybe on the toilet, slim chance I was cleaning the patio which always leaves a portion of my brain unattended and mischievous - why people don’t talk about TV the way they talk about books. As in, why does someone proudly proclaim that they’ve read all of Wodehouse, but not that they’ve seem every season of M*A*S*H? I’m thinking it’s residual snobbishness, that the novel is somehow superior to the tube, but c’mon… there’s just as much shit on paper out there as there is on the telly. The point is, if you’ve slogged through Moby Dick, why isn’t that just as clever of you as having slogged through The Paperchase?
I think part of the problem is that what constitutes strong, if not outright classic literature is well laid out, and by comparison to those standards, new fiction and non-fiction can be measured. TV isn’t as well defined, so nobody knows what it means if you’ve watched every episode of LA Law. In the long run, is LA Law important, or even good TV? It was probably at least good TV, but it takes decades before an academic stamp is given to anything creative, so…
In the meantime, I think I’m going to start listing my TV chops the same as my reading chops. But that list will have to wait, for tonight, I must sleep (that’s when I’m a viking.)
—castewar | 2 comments
(posted in the General category)
Edup USB Wireless adapter
April 21, 2008, 11:49 pmI’m now up to four current generation gaming systems at home (not counting my PC) - it comes in handy, given my line of work. The downside is that meant I now have four systems, each wanting net access.
For a time I ran a network cable from the office to the living room (just around the corner), but it was annoying and in the way. Tripping hazard was high. I could have gotten a wireless router, but then that’s an additional cost of the router and the recievers for the two computers in the house. Not an economical solution.
Then a friend introduced me to a website out of Hong Kong that deals in cheap electronics and accessories. THE place to get cheap light guns for your Wii or HDTV sets and cables or little sticker skins for your DS that has dogs on it. Everything. And shipping is free. Whee!
So, I bought myself the EDUP wireless USB adapter - it looks like a sizable USB thumbstick with an antennae. Under $30. It can do two things - you can plug it into a PC or laptop and use it as a method of connecting to existing wireless networks.
OR
You can plug it into a PC already plugged into the net, and it will act as an access point. And it worked like a charm, or at least 3/4 of a charm, last night. Within 15 minutes of installing, I was able to connect my Wii, my Xbox, and my DS, no problems. The only hold out was the PSP. Bummer.
Then a quick read tonight and I had the solution (thank you infinite internet monkeys doing infinite combinations of fuck-ups with the same equipment I own.) The adapter is an 802.11b&g whatchamawhoozit. Pretty standard, except that the oldest of the four systems is my PSP, which is one of the earlier models (not one of the newer, thin models) and it only accepts 802.11b, whereas the access point was set to mixed. By setting it to b only, it worked. I’m assuming that the other three will be alright with the b only - if not, it’ll mean a little switching now and then, but not often. The PSP isn’t the main surfer system these days.
—castewar | 1 comment
(posted in the General category)
Grok #1 - I helped make a zine
April 18, 2008, 12:19 pmHow? You may well as. You don’t have any spare time.
I totally don’t, but writing and graphical tinkering continues to be my sanity saver of choice. In this case, some super-talented pals in the States and myself, the sole Canadian, put together a PDF zine. The theme was Pon farr (the Vulcan urge to hump ever seven years, for those of you not familiar with Star Trek.) I’m very happy with the results, even if the style-guide needs some work (which would be my fault.)
—castewar | no comments
(posted in the General category)
iPod save #4
April 1, 2008, 9:19 pmI love my iPod nano (first gen, thanks much.) Oh sure, the touchwheel crapped out once ($75 repair) and after traveling to Jamaica, the gel sleeve (slime green - need to re-do the gum wrapper sleeve) has a film on the inside, making me think water got in. But it’s solid and it’s hours of fun. I expect I will upgrade soon, but for now…
However, every once and awhile it needs a rescue. Here’s a little something I just learned today (the hard way.)
1) When the iPod says do not disconnect, really. Don’t. I thought I had “ejected” the pod and yanked out the cord, only to discover it was still thinking about it. End result? All my music data was now regarded as “other” (I have my pod set to act like a removable drive - more manual control… oh, and it can then act like a removable drive.) This means that all .mp4 tracks appear, but won’t play. Sucktastic.
2) When this happens, you’re not screwed yet. Plug it in and explore to the pod - open the iPod_Control directory and then open Music. Inside are all your music folders - Apple randomly scatters your music in these folders (and gives them generic file names to boot) BUT that’s not important. What is important is that you can copy all these off your pod. Then, use iTunes to restore the pod to its factory settings (it resets the pod, but the firmware updates will remain.)
Once you’ve done that, just copy all the files back into iTunes, then back onto your iPod. It’s like they never had a problem.
Whew.
This happened to me before, and I thought I had to reformat and lose all my music, which was a pain to dig up and replace (stuff was scattered over a couple of machines.)
Don’t let this happen to you!
—castewar | no comments
(posted in the General category)
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