A Couple Heart-Stopping Days

The younger members of my family have given me a hard time. It seems I have done something many people didn't think was possible. I made a MacBook Pro slow down. That, and this week I crashed iPhoto. I went to open iPhoto on Tuesday to do some updating and posting- and it crashed. It "unexpectedly closed." I tried everything normal (and abnormal) to get it running again. I even did the insanity thing- you know, doing the same thing over and over (trying to start the program) hoping for different results.

Then I went to the Internet for ideas. Did a couple of those- nada! I tried rebuilding through Mac programs. Mas nada! I set up a new library (option-start) and that go things working, but not with my library. That meant it wasn't the program which I already figured out, it was the iPhoto library and database.

In case you're wondering, it has been my pictures that have slowed down the MacBook. I have over 38,000 pictures- about 163 gig of data. Hence the heart-stopping- 38,000 pictures! Lost? Gone forever?

I am not one who has ever done a great deal of back-up with my computers. I have been working with personal computers for 26 years and back-ups have been, at best sporadic. Recently I have been using Dropbox for some of my important backups that I can use between computers, but 163 Gig of data is far too much for Dropbox use.

In these 26 years I have had two death-inducing crashes. One was the disk I had copied all the pictures from our trip to Spain. I went to load it and it wouldn't. I paid some good money to an IT company in the Twin Cities to get those for me. The other was when my desktop died. In that case, I had been doing most of my work on the laptop so the important stuff was saved.

Well, I must live right- either that or grace is looking out for me. A year ago I had bought a 1TB external drive. It sat around for a year, still in all its original packaging. Two weeks ago I decided it was time to do some housecleaning and make sure I had a backup. I made a complete backup through Time Machine. (Words of thanksgiving and gratitude added here!!)

So, I made a copy of the current, corrupted library then deleted it. With the space left I could restore the backup from two weeks earlier.

Voila, hallelujah, and pass the gigabytes! Currently, as I write this, iPhoto is rebuilding its library and thumbnails.

And I am breathing again.

Next step? Become more efficient about backups and see what I can do about the overwhelming size of my photo library.

You Can't Do This With an eBook

eBooks are quite an invention. I really enjoy my Nook Color. You don't have to make a decision before traveling which one of 20 books you want to take. Nor do we have to do what we used to do- pack a whole box of books to take on that two-week vacation. The only extra weight with an eBook reader is the electrons (or whatever they are) that go on the chip in the reader. One book or my whole collection.

But there is one thing that I miss. I read this on someone's Facebook post and I had to agree. (Sorry, I don't remember when or who. If you read this, let me know.)

When you come to the end of one of those great books that you hate to see end, I remember the wonder of closing the book, holding it in my hand, turning it over as I get that feel of the book in my hands. I would ponder the ability to put that kind of story into words while holding the book, sensing a connection. It was a fine way to bring closure that hitting a screen button just doesn't cut.

A computer tablet just doesn't do that. I wonder if it is because a computer is a machine, even one that can do amazing things and, with the words on the screen, take me to amazing places. No, I will not give up my Nook Color, but nostalgia does have its place.

Good-bye to an Old Old Cyber-friend

Cory reported the end of one of the first true cyber-communities- CompuServe. (To be honest I didn't even know it was still around.)

It started in 1979, 30 years ago as the forerunner to AOL and, in essence the World Wide Web. I first went on CompuServe in October of 1984. I bought my first "real" computer, a Tandy (Radio Shack) which was a surprisingly good computer. I bought a modem and the first night after purchasing a CompuServe membership I was online.

No graphics. Slow modem over a normal telephone line. Did I say no graphics? Just text on a blue screen (I think). But what a rush. It was the beginning of a long- and still active- hobby. Now we take it all for granted.

CompuServe- thank you. You were one of the true pioneers!

Infinity Awesome

First fond on Awesomer.com this truly is time-lapse CG at its most awesome. It was created by Japan-based creative studio WOW for Citizen’s booth at Baselworld.

Google Art

A few weeks ago it was announced that Google Earth had partnered with the great Spanish museum, the Prado, to post zoomable images of some of its great works. Say what you will about Google, it has pioneered at bringing the world- literally and figuratively- to your desk. One of these works of art is the one at right in a picture that I took when in Madrid in 2002. It is Velazquez's Las Meninas considered one of the great artworks of history.

Try it and see what it's like. I never fail to be amazed at what is happening in the computer world!

Too Much Time On Their Hands

Mark at BoingBoing led me to another one of those You Tube videos that prove that too many people have too much time on their hands. Who would have ever thought of Dice Stacking and something to perfect? Here's the link.



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And I came across this from Wired Magazine. I guess that Microsoft is having trouble with Vista? I know now why I haven't switched yet.

Microsoft Buckles, Gives Windows XP A Life Extension
By Scott Gilbertson September 28, 2007

The people have spoken and Microsoft is listening. The company has decided to continue selling Windows XP through the end of June 2008, which is five months past the original deadline. The extension applies to both retail sales of XP and the company's OEM deals with major manufacturers.

“There are some customers who need a little more time to make the switch to Windows Vista,” says Mike Nash, the head of Windows product management, in an interview on the Microsoft PR site. “We’re responding to feedback we have gotten from our OEM partners that some customers will benefit by extending availability of Windows XP.”

There’s been much ado about Windows Vista and it’s hardware requirements versus XP, and the web is filled with tales of disgruntled users “upgrading” back to XP after experiencing problems with Vista. CNet recently ran an editorial calling for Microsoft to abandon Vista, or the OS “will bring the software giant to its knees.”
--Wired Blogs