Zotero Assignment

This took a bit longer than I hoped it would.  The assignment was to make a tutorial for installing and setting Zotero using a screen capture tool called Jing.  Although it wasn't hard, I have a hard time speaking without a script.  I tend to trip over words and stutter a little.  Once I rehearse a bit, I don't have much of a problem.  All that opera and acting training kicks in and I'm ready to go.

The only real problem I had was with Firefox crashing.  Several times it decided to simply not install the plug-in or open a web page will Jing was running.  You can almost hear me hold my breath a few times in the final version, waiting to see if I have to start over again.

Besides all that, I don't think I'll ever use Zotero.  I use Evernote for almost everything and this seems to replicate that function.  Jing, however, might become quite useful.  Most obviously in my current library job, but I'm also curious to test it out during a game.  The free version only captures 5 minutes at a time, but that may be enough to get some good shots to edit together.  If it works, I can pass the information on to my boyfriend who is dying to get some footage of his Star Trek Online fleet in action.

Well, I feel safer about Facebook...

There are people that think Facebook, since it is so large and popular, is the safest social networking site around.  I can't say that I've ever been that confident in Facebook and, as a result, typically don't put anything I wouldn't want the rest of the internet to see on the site.  Well, my cynicism was reaffirmed when Mark Zuckerburg's public page was hacked.  Yep, the same Zuckerburg who helped found the site.  The hacker only posted this message:

Let the hacking begin: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it? [link edited out] What do you think? #hackercup2011

Seems like the hacker wanted to send a message more than actually disrupt Facebook.  Either way, it just goes to show that there isn't enough security precautions.  Usually, these public figure pages have a team of people moderating and creating content.  Maybe someone just picked a bad password?  Or, someone on the team sold it to the hacker.  Its hard to say and Facebook hasn't released exactly how the hack occurred.  Let's hope they figure it out soon because if Zuckerberg's page is vulnerable, than so are ours.

(via Sophos Naked Security)

For Once, Graffiti Makes My Day

(via reddit)

Konami code, for the win.  

When people claim that one of the evils of modern technology is the invention of the video game, I will show them this.  It even looks like they painted over some gang member's tag - brave souls, these nerds. 

I may strangle Assignment #2

First, let me say that I finally did work out all the problems.  Second, I am inclined never to go through the remote server again.  Yes, I'm exaggerating, but it was a pretty frustrating experience. 

For those of you who don't know, assignment #2 requires us to use Refworks to organize and export 15 citations each from Scopus and Google Scholar.  Considering that I already do some reference work at my library, this did not seem threatening.  What I did not count on was my school's remote server logging me out every 5 minutes.  I almost switched over to my workplace's server except that I was determined to make the other one work.  After an hour, I had my Scopus citations.

The next day, I worked on the Google Scholar portion.  That, thankfully, was only dependent on Refworks staying logged in.  Someone posted in our Blackboard forum about problems with exporting into Refworks, so I only had to have a few minutes of frustration when that happened. 

The assignment is done, but I don't see myself using Refworks unless I have a massive amount of citations.  It just seems faster to save the citations to my Evernote account and adjust them myself.

Linux: A Cautionary Tale by xkcd

I thought this might be appropriate for this week's lecture:

XKCD.com typically provides my tri-weekly source of techy laughter.  I'm not a Linux user myself, but I know several of them.  A few have even had experiences like the girl in the comic.  Granted, this knowledge may be what's keeping me from being a Linux user, but I'm usually happy with my Mac anyhow. 

So, am I still allowed to have a stuffed penguin by my desk or will I just have to settle for Spock?

Pogo Remixes: The Next Step in Digital Music?

One of the things I love most about computer technology is the unexpected ways people have found to use it creatively.  Pogo aka "Fagottron" on YouTube.com has managed to make some of the most interesting music I've heard in a while.  As someone with two degrees in music, this hopefully means a lot.

The uniqueness of Pogo's music is centered in his remixing techniques.  He takes a series of sound clips, either from movies or found sounds, and rearranges them into a musical work all its own.  Before you call me out on condoning copyright infringement, this guy has been paid by Pixar and others to create these works.

 

For me, as a musician, digital/electronic music is nothing new.  Mashups, techno and conventional remixes have existed for years.  But, I have to admit that Pogo has gone a step further.  Instead of simply creating a new version of an existing song, he is composing whole new works using the same audio editing technology.  Apparently, I'm not the only one impressed.  Pogo has shown up in the Wall Street Journal and performed at the Guggenhein Museum.

Check out his YouTube page and website for more information.

The Mac Hardware Rant

Let me first say that I use both Macs and Microsoft.  I tend to prefer Macs because of the ease of use and obvious paucity of the Blue Screen of Death.  My rant today is not about the software.  Oh, no.  I shall be criticizing Apple's incredibly stupid policy of making every piece of hardware incompatible with standard components.  Well, I'm sure its not stupid for Apple - it allows every compatible piece of equipment to be marked up tremendously.

This week's example is based on my desire to connect my laptop, a January 2010 MacBook Pro, to a HDTV.  My boyfriend, SophistiGamer, had received an new 42" monstrosity/beauty of a TV for Christmas and determined that my small apartment should be the place to house it until we get married.  To those women who say that men never express their trust of their girlfriends, I say that you obviously never had a guy - who was as much in love with gaming and ESPN as he was with you - deposit his new TV at your place. 

So, with this in mind, he bought an HDMI cable for his laptop in order to connect Star Trek Online to the TV.  That idea seemed intriguing and I started doing the research on what cable my Mac would need.  I already knew that I didn't have a standard HDMI port, but surely, something would be around to do the job, right?

No.  Of course not.  Apparently, my laptop has a mini-DisplayPort plug and although their is a mini-DP to HDMI cable, I bought my computer a few months too early for it to work.  MacBook Pros made in April of 2010 have mini-DP ports that support HD video and audio.  Mine simply transfers video.  A separate cable running from the headphone jack to the TV is needed for the audio to work.  That wouldn't be too bad except the TV (and most others) doesn't have a way for you to link up the HDMI input port with a composite audio port in order to use them at the same time. 

Luckily, there is a third-party cable that will fix this problem, but it is $30.  SophistiGamer's HDMI cable is under $5 at Amazon.com.  *considers shoving pencil in mini-DP port instead*

I know what some of you are thinking.  "Why is Overclocked using a Mac to game?"  Its quite simple really.  I'm in grad school.  When I'm not in grad school, I work full-time as a librarian, in a position that has all the work of a librarian, getting paid far less because I lack a Master's Degree.  If you would like to chip into my student loans, I would gladly buy two computers. 

Yeah, didn't think so. 

So, when it comes down to it, the gaming takes a back seat to my work and school needs.  Eventually, I think I will build a desktop, but until then, I will improvise... and silently curse Steve Jobs for his obvious money-making ploy as I watch my boyfriend's Klingon fleet destroy the Feds on the huge HDTV. 

Introduction and the Night the ISP's Servers Crashed

I suppose since this is my first post, I should do a bit of explaining about myself.  In short, I'm a 27-year-old female nerd.  If that thought makes you gag or involuntarily shiver, leave now.  Go ahead.  I won't be offended.  Much.

Oh, you've stayed.  My day has been made.  Well then, I guess you may be interested in bit more information.  Considering that you've been kind enough to stay, I think I should oblige.  I'm a first-year library school grad student who currently runs a music library branch.  I have just reached the point in which the freshmen have started to address me as "ma'am" and I'm very quick to shake me head saying, "Please don't do that."

I love to dance, although I'm not great at it.  My boyfriend is skilled in ballroom and swing dances.  He is the primary reason other dancers think I dance well.  I love Harry Potter and have attended a conference centered around this fandom.  Charity and activism are passions of mine as I preside over a local chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance.  I'm a musician with a specialization in opera and a love of all genres.  I am proud to call myself a Nerdfighter.

Now, with that out of the way, I can tell you the basic purpose of this blog.  Primarily, this is for a technology class that requires two posts a week.  It appears that we can make this about ourselves, but we need to incorporate something about information technology.  As IT is an extremely broad topic, I should be able to have some good ol' fun with this.  While I cannot guarantee brilliant writing skills, I can promise quirky tech stories and a lot of sarcasm.

On to the IT portion of the post.  Friends, we are going to start with all-important Internet Service Provider or ISP, for short.  It is shortened so that when they screw up, cursing them extensively is less of a tongue twister.  Our local company has been known to switch the wrong cable in the apartment complex's box, cutting my connection, and reset the connection while I'm at work so that nothing at home functions until I reset both the modem and the router...repeatedly.

So, I wasn't surprised on Tuesday when I returned from a crazy day at work (that may be a different post) to a non-functioning wireless network.  After resetting everything about 3 times, my Airport Express was still somberly blinking its yellow distress light.  Frustrated, I sat down at my computer to check the neighbor's network - they have it open for some reason and don't mind if I join occasionally.  It too was down.  I reconnected to my network and reloaded my browser just to see if I had developed any Jedi internet powers.  (This is the network you're looking for.)

To my amazement, a page popped up prompting me to activate my account.  Activate my account?  I'd been a paying customer for 3 years!  I picked up the phone and called the shining example of ISP vindictiveness - customer service.  My only solace in this is that I have discovered how to bypass the insult-to-anyone's-intelligence AI tech help and get a real person within 10 minutes.  You can do this, too.  Simply repeat "representative" for 10 minutes.  The AI will ask you repeatedly if you're sure you want a real person.  Don't be fooled; it doesn't have feelings yet.

Luckily, the representative I reached seemed to already know the problem I was having.  I explained that based on my work, the issue must be on their end.  With barely a pause, she informed me cheerily that the servers for my area of the state were down.

"Down?"

"Yes, the snow storm knocked a few of them out."

"Wait, but its not snowing here?"

"It is here and let me tell you these two inches have really made things difficult."

"Two inches?  Where are you?"

"Atlanta.  Two inches is a lot here."

"I'm sure, but two inches in Atlanta knocked out the servers for Virginia?"

"Yes, I'm really not looking forward to driving home tonight."

*sigh* "Well, ok.  So, what's the estimated repair time?"

"About 8 hours.  Maybe four.  Unfortunately, I'm not being updated frequently."

Apparently, she had been telling customers 4 - 8 hours for several hours.  I'm haven't figured out how two inches of snow crashed enough servers to disconnect a good chunk of Virginia.  And while I understand that servers take time to repair, shouldn't they have a back-up system of some sort?  I mean, if the majority of a state is dependent on a small group of servers, shouldn't you develop a contingency plan for that?  Forget the snow, Georgia frequently gets hurricanes.  Surely, they would have a plan for that?  Or not.  Obviously not.

The servers did manage to come back up much later that night.  Certainly, too late for me to work off some stress blasting Klingons in a Federation fleet, but just early enough for me to say, "Oh, look, the green light is on," and crawl into bed.