Sunday, January 25, 2009

Last bit on Internal Recording for a while, I swear

So I went ahead and put the tutorials up on Instructables. It should be easier now. (Note: the PC one still needs some work.)

Mac Version
PC Version

I must get this.

If you can read this, click here.

That amazing 1474-megapizel picture was taken with the help of this incredible machine. I must have one. Buy me one. Now.

Captchas Gone Wild




"Type the characters you see." Seriously, what the fuck?

Saturday, January 24, 2009

.sit Files on a Mac

Running .sit files requires StuffIt Expander, a program which you can get for free on their website...but only after you subscribe to their newsletter.

From now on, just go here. Someone screwed up when they designed the site, and now you can just go directly ot the download page.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Notes on Inauguration

1. Joseph Biden was sworn in as Vice-President of the United States of America at 11:57 AM EST. Although Barack Obama was sworn in at 12:05 PM EST, the Constitution states that his Presidency officially begins at noon. That means between 11:57 and 12:00, George Walker Bush was President of the Untied States, and Joseph Robinette Biden was Vice-President of the United States. So, did everyone enjoy the three-minute Bush-Biden presidency?

2. Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution states:
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."


If we follow the letter of the law, Barack Obama said today:
"I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear, that I will execute -- the office of the President of the United States faithfully, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."


He moved the faithfully! He hasn't officially taken the oath of office! He's not the president! He's a witch! Burn him! [Just kidding.]

3. ABC News: you fucked up, big time. Seriously, what the fuck? This is one of the biggest stories of the decade, and you fuck it up. Skipped audio and video, botched footage, mangled transitions, interrupted speeches, annoying inappropriate graphics (I'm watching Obama right now; no, I don't want to go to ABCnews.com), corny America shots (you show the Golden Gate, the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, but where was Mount Rushmore?): all these and more tied together to show that really, ABC was not on its game today. Then again, Obama did stuble a tad as well, so no harm, no foul.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Inaugural Insurance

The world currently sits and waits until Barack Hussein Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States of America. In less than 38 hours, a black man will become the leader of the free world.

I find this truly incredible. However, I find it important to take out a little...insurance. This post is an attempt to bottle up some of the current emotion running through he country, should that emotion ever be needed again.

Nanotube Radio

This is amazing.

http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/MSD-nanoradio.html

These scientists have bult a radio out of a single nanotube.



Also be sure to clikc the video, which shows the nano-radio in action.

------------

Unrelated: After a little computation, I ahev discovered that I am Jesus' 117th cousin, 80 times removed.

Friday, January 16, 2009

iTunes Simplification

While you're exploding your iTunes library with your newly recorded music, you'll inevitably face the daunting task of matching album art and lyrics to those songs. Here are two Dashboard widgets that makes that process much, much easier.

Harmonic
quickly and easily finds lyrics for all of your iTunes music, and displays the lyrics for the songs playing.

widgetFoundry has made a wonderful little widget that makes it stupidly easy to set album art. Believe me, you'll be using this one a lot.

A friend sent me this

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/tutorial/mspaint

I learned a lot about MS Paint. It's awesome.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

In other news

My "Days Left in the Bush Presidency" counter in my browser has switched to counting in hours, minutes, and seconds. Huzzah!

Also, /b/ had DDoS'd itself. The internet is better now.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Internal Recording for the PC

Finally, I've found it! (This has been around for a while, but whatever. I just found it now.)

How to internally record audio on a PC:

1. Make sure you have Audacity on your computer.

2. Go to Recording Controls (Control Panel --> Sounds and Audio Devices --> Audio --> Sound Recording --> Volume...)

3. Click Options --> Properties, and make sure that Stereo Mix is checked in the list of available recording inputs, and that Volume is adjusted for "Recording."

4. Click "OK," and under the Stereo Mix slider, click "Select" and raise the Stereo Mix volume all the way up.

That's it! You can now record internally.

For more help, click here.

Have fun!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

How Copyright Should Work

1. Copyright, as it is currently understood, should be abolished.

2. An internationally-recognized organization is set up, named perhaps the International Copyright Bureau (ICB).

3. When an artist makes a piece of artwork/music/software/whatever, he/she can decide to apply a copyright to it. If he/she decides to apply a copyright, he/she sends a copy of the artwork (hi-quality photographs of 3d-artwork are fine) to the ICB, along wiht contact information and other important info (like a title, description, tags for easy location in a database, what information may be allowed to be made public, etc.)

4. Much like an ISBN number, the artist in return receives a ICB-copyright number. These numbers should encode within them certain information, such as what # copyright this artwork is, and the time and date the artwork was copyrighted. (Perhaps some kind of hash could be used?) Anyway, Wherever the artist publishes the artwork/music/software/whatever, they should include a copy of this ICB #.

5. The ICB's database could be placed online, allowing anyone to locate and submit copywrited works and get in contact with artists.

6. Here's the controversial part: the artist has no rights controlling non-commercial distribution of the artwork. If, however, commercial distribution takes place, it can easily and quickly be shown that the artwork is copyrights and has been copyrighted for a period of time. Furthermore, companies interested in using the artwork commercially could quickly find out where they should send royalties and obtain permission from.

7. The ICB could employ pattern-checking software on incoming work with similar tags to make sure that it's unique.

8. The ICB would settle all disputes over copyright claims, therefore acting as an international copyright court.

9. Artists can still make money off their work: think about all of those artists that make money even though they release their music for free online. (Examples: The Capitol Steps, any band on MySpace, etc.)

Well?

Best. Response. Ever.

So I took a nerd test

I don't normally take these kinds of quizzes, but I was curious about how I would score.



Huzzah!

Linky to quiz

Friday, January 2, 2009

Internal Recording - Update

I've managed to hack together an application (for Macs only, sorry) which automates most of the IR process.

You still need Audacity and Soundflower in order to run the program, but now try my app, downloading it from here.

Lemme know if it doesn't work. That's certainly possible.

UPDATE: It's up and working! Yay! *parties*