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By TheophileEscargot (Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:29:32 PM EST) Listening, Reading, Consumerism, MLP (all tags)

Listening: "African Experience: From 'Lucy' to Mandela". Advice sought: happy TV, iPod? Web.

Listening
Latest teaching company course was African Experience: From 'Lucy' to Mandela: 36 lectures by Kenneth P. Vickery. Interesting material from a passionate lecturer: fairly informative about the history of Africa.

The biggest problem is that it's a huge amount to cover in a short time, which means a lot has to be skimmed over. The European history courses I did covered much shorter periods, and the Chinese history had the advantage of much more homogeneity.

Still, a worthwhile course. Gives what seems to be a pretty objective account of the colonial and post-Colonial period in particular.

Need suggestions for happy TV
The next two disks of "The Great War" have dispatched, and I think I have Deadwood hanging around somewhere. But for exercise and ironing, would really like some light entertainment as well. Something that's not depressing, and isn't humour based around humiliating the characters. Stuff like:

The Mighty Boosh
Star Trek
Father Ted
Firefly
House
Futurama
Spaced

Any suggestions? What about "My Name Is Earl"?

iPod advice
Quite tempted by the new 160GB iPod classic. Don't like the can't-copy-songs-off-it DRM, but iRiver and the other companies seem to have given up competing.

But the question is: if I buy it for £229 now, are they going to drop the price by a third in 6 months time? Or, are there any plausible alternatives to it?

Web
Photoshop partial face transplants.

ObEconomics, Apart from a slightly gratuitous political shot, decent explanation of what's wrong with the gold standard.

Random
Halfway through the next Aubrey/Maturin, and I notice that when they refer to say, 1807, they always call it "the year Seven". We should totally do that.

< On the questionable wisdom | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >

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Always something new | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

You can copy songs off a Zen Micro by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #1 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:38:38 PM EST

I'm not sure what they're up to these days.

: Seems to be 60GB by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #2 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:45:27 PM EST

Might be enough. My current audio folder on the PC is only 51 GB. I find the space tends to fill up quick though, and there's transferred files and video and stuff.
--
"Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise." -- Bertrand Russell
[ Parent ]

IPod question? by ks1178 (4.00 / 1) #3 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:45:58 PM EST

Have they removed the ability to copy data from the newwer versions of the iPod as if it were a usb drive?

With the version I have, I can hook an iPod up to a computer like a USB device. (If the computer you are hooking up to has iTunes installed, make sure to set itunes up to not automatically sync with any ipods connected (can't remember what the setting is called), And then go into Windows explorer, and copy over the hidden music directories.

Then use itunes to import them, and sort them for you.

I might be wrong by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #4 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:47:46 PM EST

I believe that originally, unless you went through some specific hack, you could copy MP3 files onto the iPod, but you couldn't then copy them to another PC.

I might be wrong though.
--
"Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise." -- Bertrand Russell
[ Parent ]

: No hack required by ks1178 (4.00 / 1) #6 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:54:28 PM EST

If you don't have iTunes installed on the computer your copying the files to, you can use it just like a USB device.
No, they have the music files stored in "hidden" folders, so some people might consider it a hack to set windows explorer up to see hidden folders.
But if the computer that you want to copy the files to, has iTunes installed, you need to be careful to make sure that it doesn't try to automatically sync, otherwise it will realize that the iPod was not previously used with this version of iTunes, and will delete all of the music on the iPod. But it does prompt you in windows if you want to delete all of the files if you forget.

[ Parent ]
: The way it is designed to work by lm (4.00 / 1) #7 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:55:17 PM EST

Songs you copy to the iPod through iTunes cannot be copied from the iPod to another PC. Files you copy to the iPod in disk mode can be copied off the iPod. The iPod cannot play mp3s copied to it in disk mode.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways to work around this. My personal favorite are the teensy little programs you run on the iPod that make it serve up the play list as if it were just another harddrive.
There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

I have copied songs off my iPod... by toxicfur (4.00 / 2) #5 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:49:51 PM EST

with iPodDisk. It basically just mounts the iPod as a disk and lets you manage the files, including copying from, without iTunes. Unfortunately, it seems to be only available for OSX. I imagine that there is other third-party software out there, though, for other operating systems.
-----
If you don't get a Bonnie, my universe will not make sense. --blixco

Define humiliating? by Merekat (4.00 / 1) #8 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:59:23 PM EST

Black Books is excellent...

Yep, that was good by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #11 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 04:05:43 PM EST

Think I've watched all those though.
--
"Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise." -- Bertrand Russell
[ Parent ]

coupling? by Merekat (4.00 / 1) #15 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 02:51:17 AM EST

I have been re-watching Coupling in the light of recent Stephen Moffat Dr. Who episodes. It is even funnier than I remember, especially anything involving Jeff.

Old Yes Minister, Red Dwarf, Drop The Dead Donkey (though that one dates)?

[ Parent ]

Or ITV3, as they're also known. by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #18 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 07:18:38 AM EST

OK, so none of those shows are actually on ITV3, but you know what I mean.

[ Parent ]

: yeah by Merekat (4.00 / 1) #19 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 07:54:01 AM EST

subsidiary channels with shows from when telly was good.

[ Parent ]

My Name is Earl by lm (4.00 / 1) #9 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 04:02:15 PM EST

I like the show but it's basically based around humiliating the main characters over and over again in ways that can get repetitive. Some of the segments are wickedly clever but the content is a bit uneven. The only shows I'm really looking forward to the new season for are the US version of The Office and Southpark.

My wife and Miss E were both huge fans of USA Network's Psych. I really like the premise but I'm not that big of a fan on how it pans out all the time.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic

: I'd recommend Earl by Greener (4.00 / 1) #13 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 07:55:18 PM EST

I think due to the sheer volume of episodes US TV produces you can't help getting repetitive after a while. Especially compared to the British method of producing 6-8 episodes a year. I was initially worried it would run out of steam because initially every episode was focussed on crossing something off the list but season two added some nice changes including some longer story arcs and a large cast of recurring characters.
In that regard I'd compare it to British shows written by Graham Linehan (Father Ted, Black Books, The IT Crowd). His shows tend to be about a collection of oddball characters as well.
If nothing else it has an excellent soundtrack.

[ Parent ]

Can you get Reno 911? by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #10 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 04:02:29 PM EST

It's the only comedy we bother DVR'ing, and it's hilarious.

My Name is Earl by TurboThy (4.00 / 1) #12 Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 06:07:36 PM EST

Scientology hogwash (or so I'm told).

Re: 1807 - I wants my navy back, please.
__
You can't fix anything, you can't change anything, so just tell them that everything is A. The Fuck OK. —Rogerborg

: scientology, you say? by lm (4.00 / 1) #14 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 12:03:50 AM EST

I'll have to think about that one because I don't see it. Could be, but if it is, it's hidden pretty well.
There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]
: Like lm says by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #20 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 08:14:10 AM EST

It could be, but I suspect it's more just drawing on a fairly well established American philosophy of continuous conscious self-improvement, which scientology also taps.
I was more struck by the remarkably consistent class-morality myself. The US seems to be going positively Edwardian in this regard.
_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}
[ Parent ]

Robot Chicken, Season 2 by ti dave (4.00 / 1) #16 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 04:23:27 AM EST

w/ the Star Wars episodes.

I don't care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do.
The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. --W.S. Burroughs

I went through a couple of MP3 players by nebbish (4.00 / 1) #17 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 06:49:08 AM EST

Before settling on my iPod. They're the best product IMO. You can partition it and use part of it as a hard disk, which almost makes up for the no copying thing.

Zen Micro seem like the geek's choice and are more versatile, but I had loads of problems with mine because it wouldn't recognise an update I installed for it on XP. I'm sure I would have got around it eventually, but fucking about in DOS and Windows registry for hours isn't my idea of usability. Apparently it's a common problem. I sent it back eventually.

Wish I could help you on the TV front, but humiliation seems to be the mainstay of modern comedy. Only thing I can think of is Steve Coogan's latest sitcom Saxondale, which is very gentle and lovely but unfortunately a bit short on laughs at times. I still like it though.

Roll on Mighty Boosh series 3...

--------
It's political correctness gone mad!

I resolve to use it until at least the year eight, by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #21 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 08:20:33 AM EST

_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}

Does it have to be an iPod ? by Phage (4.00 / 1) #22 Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 08:45:55 AM EST

Have you been here ? You'll see that the new iPod's bear a startling resemblance to the iRiver Clix which has been available for sometime now.

Founder member Golgafrinchan 'B' Ark

iPod + AmaroK in Ubuntu Linux by Tonatiuh (4.00 / 1) #23 Mon Sep 10, 2007 at 10:14:41 PM EST

My iPods (Nano 1st version, Shuffle 2nd version) work flawlessly with the above and I can copy music out of them transparently as needed.

Happy TV by jimgon (4.00 / 1) #24 Tue Sep 11, 2007 at 10:04:50 AM EST

Since Rogerborg isn't around to recommend "Sabrina" I have to recommend another piece of girlie fluff. "Kim Possible".

Always something new | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback