Posted by bronson Wed, 07 Dec 2005 15:04:00 GMT
You know how Visual SourceSafe works, right? You know what the VSS “server” is, right? It’s a file share. A *file share.* Maintaining data integrity is the responsibility of the *client.* The CLIENT. In what kind of topsy-turvy world where cats eat dogs is that acceptable in a *SOURCE CONTROL* system?
Posted by bronson Mon, 05 Dec 2005 23:01:00 GMT
All I want is a bone-simple program that copies an entire DVD (menus, subtitles, everything) to a folder on my hard drive. It could re-encode the video and audio (XviD and MP3?) to get similar quality at half the bitrate but that’s optional. After all, what’s an additional 500 MB these days?
Please, no GUI! You just tell it one thing: “Go”. OK fine, maybe two things (“go –medium-quality”), but that’s it.
It looks like nothing like this exists for Linux. Which is strange because the big problems (DVD-CSS, DVD nav, regions, transcoding) have all been solved. Somebody just needs to pull it all together into one good ripper.
The project that appears to come the closest is k9copy. I tried using it but it just hangs for 45 minutes and then buserrors. (libdvdread 0.9.4-5, k9copy 1.0.1b)
I can’t find anything else that even tries. Why not? And would gstreamer 0.10 facilitate this sort of transcoding?
Posted by bronson Fri, 02 Dec 2005 15:49:00 GMT
I’m now averaging about 350 spams per day. SpamAssassin catches maybe 15% (spammers are getting pretty sharp) leaving somewhere over 300. It’s pretty easy to go through by hand each day but when I miss a few days it gets really painful. And when I miss two weeks (the Drive + Thanksgiving) and now have 9570 “special offers” to delete, I crumple. I can’t bring myself to go through this mess. Something must be done.
The problem is, changing a mail configuration always leads to a few months of instability. Always. Ah well, like the heater core, better now than later. Thank goodness for unemployment!
Posted by bronson Thu, 01 Dec 2005 14:33:00 GMT
Last night Cassie, Kristi and I went to see a lecture by Marc W. Kirschner on facilitated variation. Though we’d rather walk, we drove the two miles because the Rover needed to stretch its legs a bit. It hadn’t been used since the cross-coutry trip.
First we learned the hard way that you really, really do not want to drive into Cambridge on JFK at 6:30 pm. Then we heard a pop, steam started shooting everywhere, and the floor was covered in hot coolant. So we parked and went to the lecture. It was packed. We had to perch behind the stairs. It was a good lecture but, maybe because we arrived late, I didn’t understand enough to comment. I did think that Mr. Ten Minute Question should take his acid soil soapbox, worthy as it may be, somewhere else.
And dinner… Yes!!! A truly good Mexican place does exist in Boston. Go to the Border Cafe. Great chips, decent salsa, darn good meal. And they serve New Orleans food too. The remarkably weak ritas are unfortunate but that’s secondary in my book. Thank you Cheridy. (The other suggestions: El Pelon is a pretty good taqueria though their carne asada was somewhat stringy. We still need to try Picante.)
So, the heater core blew. Ouch. Well at least it didn’t do this in the middle of Nebraska. We drove back with the windows down, constantly stopping to fill the radiator, hot boxin like rock stars. This is, of course, how the less fortunate warp a cylinder head. Beware.
The heater box is the kind of repair that is straightforward enough when you’ve got space and at least a day to do it. But try to attempt it from my narrow parking spot? Pay someone the $500 labor to rip out the dash and put it all back wrong? Ugh. Not sure what I’m going to do… Bypass it for now and pray that the part arrives before the ice storms?
Posted by bronson Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:34:00 GMT
Some pics from the feast. This was definitely worth hurrying back for.
Posted by bronson Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:04:00 GMT
Niagara falls really is beautiful.
Except that when you turn around, this is what you see:
It’s definitely worth stopping for an hour or two. The “Behind the Falls” exhibit should be called “Beside the Falls.” This picture shows how close you can get: a small opening at the end of a long hallway. How disappointing. However, they do have a deck that offers a stunning view of the base of the falls. Too bad they try to sell you a fake photo with you green-screened directly in front of the falls. Was the deck worth the $10 Canadian? Maybe. Just barely.
Unfortunately Maid of the Mist was closed for the season.
Posted by bronson Tue, 22 Nov 2005 17:13:00 GMT
The cross-country trip went off without a hitch. It wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be. It didn’t have many photo ops though. I’ll take the Southern route next time.
Best state to drive through: Utah
Worst state to drive through: Nebraska
It was really windy and really icy heading off the summit in Nebraska so I stopped for a few hours in the middle of the night. When I got started again I saw around 25 crashed trucks and 8 autos all the way into Des Moines. Not a single one looked like an injury crash. They all just spun off the road. It was a a tow truck driver’s dream.
I ended up in Illinois a day early so I got to visit Chris Love and meet his girlfriend for the first time. Is the Bible good literature? What do taxidermists want done with their bodies when the die? I need to figure out a way of seeing them more often.
How to make a banzai road trip more tolerable:
Gas station stops: 13
Total spent on gas: $453.44
Mileage: 16.8 MPG. Ouch. Sorry, environment.
Gas price (min avg max): $2.08 $2.31 $2.70
Posted by bronson Mon, 14 Nov 2005 16:00:00 GMT
(notes) A quick rundown of the mapping packages that I’m aware of. None of these quite serve my needs but Roadster looks very promising.
Posted by bronson Sat, 12 Nov 2005 21:08:00 GMT
The car computer somewhat works one day before leaving on the long trip. I should start documenting it.
First, I didn’t like any of the existing Epia cases that I could find. They’re too big, too flimsy, or too hard to work on. The case that’s running Trestle would never ever stand up to the vibration in a car. So I figured I could make what I wanted out of $30 of plastic and $10 of brass fasteners.
Here’s a picture from a few weeks ago: the case under construction on the dining room table. Behind it is the cardboard mockup I used to figure out dimensions. So far I’m happy with the result. A solid, compact, open-flat case… I think somebody should manufacture this.
Posted by bronson Sat, 12 Nov 2005 19:40:00 GMT
And my baby. Taken 3 weeks ago, the day before I left.
