Archive for June, 2008

I loathe thee, Vista

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Okay, listen: I tried to give Vista a chance, I really did. And if you think about it, it’s not even really Vista’s fault (although maybe it is…) that I plan on going back to XP. Mostly I blame Creative, who can’t seem to get their act together to release a decent set of sound card drivers. I ended up tracking down a set of “unofficial” drivers provided by daniel_k which gave me much better results, but still not perfect.

Time to head back to the OS where everything actually worked.

Shooting oneself in the foot

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

I was greatly surprised when my PC contracted a virus, even more so when I couldn’t easily remove it.

Instead of spending several hours trying to get things back to normal (and afterward not even being sure that everything had been cleaned properly) I decided to reinstall the OS. Instead of re-installing Windows XP I decided to force Windows Vista on myself.

Before the cries of disbelief and rage start being flung my way, let me explain that there is only one reason I am doing this: it will make me use my Mac more.

The DMCA rears its head

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

I just received an e-mail from YouTube that said the following:

“This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by VAN MORRISON / EXILE PRODUCTIONS / EXILE PUBLISHING claiming that this material is infringing:

Hamburg Street Performers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Yj9c66jZE

Since the video is no longer viewable (“This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by VAN MORRISON / EXILE PRODUCTIONS / EXILE PUBLISHING”) I’ll have to summarize its content for you. While I was in Hamburg, Germany I happened across a couple of street performers (one on guitar/drums, the other on upright bass) that were playing various songs. I took a short video of them with my digital camera and uploaded it to YouTube, where it has sat for almost a year. The song they were singing was a Van Morrison tune — regardless, I find this very surprising.

Not being able to take video on a public street without someone claiming copyright is a little too Big Brother for my taste.

Gray day

Monday, June 9th, 2008

Looking out over the green trees and the gray sky

It looks like I just missed the rain. The above image is a picture I took from the front porch just before I went on my semi-regular walk around the neighborhood. The days here have been lovely lately.

My best friend is getting married on Saturday. I can’t believe we’re all grown up… but I’ll continue to enjoy the fact that we’re all still young adults!