Month: January 2003

IDv3 tags, Moods, Colors

My friend and I were discussing mp3 & ID3 tags last night when he told me how dissapointed he was in Winamp 3, and how ID3 tags don’t currently have a “mood” category. Its a great idea, but highly personal. It occurred to me later that each song could have a color, which does a decent job of reflecting mood, but once again is highly personal. Also, its not that accesible to blind/colorblind people. Still..

Besides the obvious matches for Indigo/Mood Indigo, there are colors for just about any song. I’m not sure how you’d represent these, (hex code?) but some probably defy hues. Any you can think of?

iCause & Effect

Last night I finally got iTunes to accept my entire mp3 library. In the past it would crash, and once when trying to catalog it, most of the collection got moved to the trash. Naturally I was hesitant to do it again.

There were two reasons I took the risk: iTunes 3’s smart playlists and Doug Adam’s iTunes Library Manager applescript. Smart playlists let you create playlists that play the least heard tracks in your library, or the top 25 rated, etc. I was nearly late for work this morning because I was so involved in listening to and rating music I didn’t notice the time.

The iTunes Library Manager lets you create and manage multiple library files. This is great because its somewhat annoying to have one huge library when all you really want is the Electronic, or Hip-hop. I know, just use those smart playlists, but still, its nice.

Rage & Helpdesk

Note to Self: Don’t listen to Rage Against the Machine while working on the Helpdesk. Its difficult to change between moods…

Timepalette

I quit subscribing to Macworld Magazine a while ago because the billing company was evil, and the magazine just wasn’t as useful as I remember it being. Besides, I work in a library that gets it. I can look at it any time I want.

Well, today is the first time I’ve looked at it in months, and in the small ads in the back I found an awesome little app that is a fancy desktop background/solar clock/atlas. Earth Desk is awesome. Like a solar clock, it updates an image at a customizeable interval showing where on the map is day and night. And at night, you can still see the lights of cities. Now I know what its like outside without having to look.

biodiesel

Its not intentional that my entries have become intertwined….but in reference to potato chips, which produce waste cooking oil. Waste cooking oil can be used to make biodiesel, by adding lye and ethanol. Biodiesel can be mixed with regular diesel to reduce its emissions (except NOx) or by itself, which significantly reduces emissions, etc. It runs in standard diesel engines, and its exhaust smells like fried food.

Sound good? I think it does. I also like the idea that we don’t have to drill in the arctic or send people and money to the unstable oil producing countries. Now there are some filling stations in Eugene, or you can buy it in bulk. Cool.

Kettle Chips

Speaking of Sideshow Bob, (“Ah Kettle Chips, The perfect side dish for revenge!”) I bought some Habanero Chile with Ginger Kettle Chips yesterday. I figured they’d be fairly subdued, being Kettle chips, but I was surprised how un-spicy they were. When I think of Habanero chips, I think “hotter than jalapenos.” These chips tasted the way that the chips sitting next to the Habanero chips should taste. Like Habanero fallout chips.

Granted, the chips are good, but I wanted hot. I wanted Tim’s Jalapenos hot.

cans, etc.

If you’ve watched the Simpsons, you’ve probably seen the episode where Sideshow Bob keeps stepping on rakes. The groan of defeat he utters is very similar to what I feel when I return my bottles and cans. Surely there’s another way to do this.

Here’s my proposal:
1) Continue with the current system. It encourages a couple dozen people who might not recycle to recycle. Its also a great social welfare program hidden in a environmental/state revenue scheme.
2) Let people pay for curbside recycling. When they pay for cubside, the waste management company gives them a small barcode that they can put on their grocery card (almost all grocers shove them at you anyway) so when they purchase bottles and cans, they can scan the barcode, and it waives the 5 cent deposit, knowing that you’re paying for curbside already.
3) charge deposits for fast food packaging. Maybe this will encourage the grillers & fryers to pick up their junk, so less of it ends up in my yard. I picked up the packaging today, but if its windy, it’ll be back tomorrow. (insert Sideshow Bob groan)

inclimate weather

While its convenient weather for having a dog, it really worries me that its warm and dry during the winter here in Portland. Remember last year when all those Salmon died? Things were supposed to be better for both farmers, fish, and the rest of us this year. There’s no snow pack to speak of, which will probably reduce the revenue from sno-park permits; and there’ll be no snow days to save Portland schools money. This could be a bad summer.