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FrankBlack | 1 year ago | on: Webster's Dictionary 1828

Not to be a spoil-sport, but what good is a dictionary if you remove the word origins? It might just be me but that is the best part of a dictionary.

FrankBlack | 3 years ago | on: Use scripts as rule actions in Mail on Mac

Back in the day we used to download files from certain FTP servers via an email with the correct terms. I never found it very interesting, but it was novel. It would have been much cooler had smartphones been around then.

FrankBlack | 8 years ago | on: Sharp's $77,000 camcorder shows that 8K is coming soon

I have no beef with 8K in a philosophical or technical sense, but I only worry about bandwidth. To me, 1080p alone is already taxing the infrastructure given the mass of humans incessantly streaming. While my old eyes can certainly grok the difference between 1080p and 4K, I just wonder if it is really worth it in most cases? Do I need to see a sitcom in 8K? Is an unboxing video in 8K going to sell the product better than 1080p? I game quite a bit and I still think 1080p is the sweet spot for most games given the cost/benefit ratio of hardware and gameplay. The skeptic in me can't help but think it is nothing more than a ploy by the camera manufacturers and the ISPs to get me to spend more money. But then, I'm old, so take it for what it is worth.

FrankBlack | 8 years ago | on: The ZX80 manuals and inserts

My very first computer purchase was a ZX81 with 16K memory expansion and "high resolution" graphics expansion. Cost a bunch, everything was a tad confusing, crappy graphics looked crappier on a tiny black and white television, loading a cassette took more than 20 minutes... but it got me started in my career. Best purchase ever.

FrankBlack | 8 years ago | on: How we invented new ways to teach Japanese

I enjoyed the series produced by public television called "Irasshai". The lessons are available on the Georgia Public Broadcasting site and texts can be purchased from Amazon. For those who have fond memories of "French In Action", this will give you a similar vibe even though it isn't quite the same thing.

http://www.gpb.org/irasshai

FrankBlack | 9 years ago | on: Switching from macOS: The Basics

Perhaps I am just dense, but the article references, specifically, the "Pro" market. For most pros that I know (and I am among them), our OS choice is often based on our tools, not the other way around. If I need Photoshop, Lightroom, Logic Pro, Visual Studio, etc., switching will be quite a chore. For the average user, this is probably a much more appealing argument.

FrankBlack | 10 years ago | on: When did parents get so scared?

I am sure it was a slow change that we hardly noticed. I think a couple things contributed to this mentality (there are plenty of others): 1) The tragic death of Adam Walsh became national news and spawned his father's advocacy for victims of crime. That spawned "America's Most Wanted"; a show that convinced viewers that each person wearing a sleeveless undershirt was a criminal. Faces of missing people appeared on milk cartons. No one wanted their child to be next. 2) Cable TV news needs to fill up 24 hours a day, so it breathes fear into us with each story so we don't dare change the channel.

Or not...

FrankBlack | 11 years ago | on: I don’t know what to do, you guys

I had a conversation today at work that was on an unrelated topic, yet still dealt with the difficulty of operating in the vortex of left-leaning politics. The main issue that drove me away from being active after many years in the fray was the blazing passion that came from many within the group (almost always young people) who wanted to emphasize their one-key issue over the broader message. Meaning, issues such as, environment, LGBT, animal rights, women, race, peace, etc. were more urgent as a particular issue than finding consensus for a broad range of issues as a unified political group. This splintering caused dissipation of unity, energy and resources. In the end, this behavior caused me to lose any motivation to work for the cause in any real "boots on the ground" way. I wasn't alone in that sentiment. This article echoes a bit of my feelings. I am not pointing fingers and saying this one is right and this one is wrong, I am just saddened because it seems so much energy is being used to attack those with whom we are allied or to preach to the converted just so we can hear our voices through a megaphone. If one was interested in making a particular group impotent, this strategy would appear to be quite effective.

FrankBlack | 12 years ago | on: TV Is Dying, And Here Are The Stats That Prove It

I think most of the networks stream their shows for a short time on their web sites. At this point I just wonder, why not just cut out the middle-man and get on with it? I'll pay for subscriptions, but not for endless commercials and 490 of 500 channels that I don't even watch. Not for TV shows that have stupid animations in the corner every five minutes. Since the cable and satellite companies refuse to give us the choice we want, we simply choose to opt-out. Once communities start installing their own low-cost fiber and free wi-fi en-mass without the litigation, the last hope of Time Warner and such fossils will be gone. TV isn't dying, it is dead and just too stupid to realize it.

FrankBlack | 12 years ago | on: This is a web page

Way back in the 90's, when this new-fangled web thing was just starting to take off (especially the .com side) I was teaching an "Introduction to the Internet" course at my college. I took meticulous care in trying to explain what was happening, why it happened and how to best sort through the voluminous information resources. To me, the web was about information. To my classes (dozens of classes after a while) all that mattered was they could "surf the net". They didn't care about information, they cared about seeing pictures. They were seduced by the flashy images and bored by the banal information resources available. This is when I learned that the web is just TV with a more precise remote control. Who cares if you have (more or less) the sum total of human knowledge at your fingertips? All that matters is "Dancing Baby" and "Peanut Butter Jelly Time".

sigh

FrankBlack | 14 years ago | on: Can we kill the music business too?

While I agree with your points in the technical sense, I think there is a more overarching concept that is the "hard part": There are too many people who want to "make it" in the music business ("make it" means different things to different people: by "make it" I mean make a living). I am sure if I changed the term to "performing arts" it would still be valid. While it is hard to get your music into people's face (which then gets into their ears and then into their hearts and then into their wallets) all the music business does is craft celebrities, images and trends in order to make a profit. In general (I know there are exceptions) the labels don't give a rat's ass about art and music; all they want it the money. They survive because of the money. You are very, very correct when you say there are untold numbers of talented musicians (emphasis on both "talented" and "musicians") in the world. But the fact they are talented shouldn't guarantee them the right to make a living from their craft. The market is just too saturated. In the end, it ends up being a business if you need to make money. This is the point at which one either gets a lucky break or sometimes compromises to become more of a celebrity or image rather than just a musician. I wish every artist could make a living from their craft. Sadly, someone has to grow their food, fix their vans and shuffle their paperwork. I think the best strategy for would-be pro musicians at this point is to self-produce, self-market and self-motivate. Sure, there may be a loss of quality by not using pro services or labels, but if they tour heavily and get a relatively small, yet faithful fan base they just might be able to make a living. I know many, many musicians who do this successfully.
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