The Spam Thread!

[cpd2009]

I recently acquired a small device called a "Roku HD". It's a cute little box that streams video from the internet, with a wide and varying channel selection. It was on sale at ShopKo, so I decided to spring on it while it's affordable.

When I start living on my own, I plan on getting HD cable TV, but the local cable company doesn't carry some of the news and entertainment channels that I watch, namely RT and BabyFirst TV. So, the Roku is only going to be a supplemental device, as the content there isn't enough to completely "cut the cord."

The Roku HD is the most basic model, providing WiFi only connectivity and 720p HD, but it's good enough for my needs. I had to rearrange my entertainment center setup to accomodate it as Anna-Lena V3 only has one HDMI port.

So far, the Roku HD has been great. I haven't run into any streaming issues other than HSN stuttering, and there is this wonderful channel called "Toon Goggles" that has a whole load of European/imported childrens cartoons that were never available in the US previously. Unfortunately, there is limited free content, and full access is $4.99 a month. BabyFirst TV is also $4.99 a month.

Not everything on Roku is free, but it's still nice to be able to pay for content that you choose.

[Blackberry Bun]

Yesterday I went to watch Planes. Like when I watched Turbo, I got served with a movie about someone dreaming to do the impossible (To be exact, something he's not meant to do), makes an attempt anyway, and then prevailed in the end because he believed in himself. Well, at least Dusty got to race because he actually has been training outside his work hours unlike Turbo who suddenly got a superpower through inhaling NOS.

I'm not someone expecting a complicated plot since it's a children movie after all, but if this theme continues in future movies it will eventually get old.

[cpd2009]

Yesterday I went to watch Planes. Like when I watched Turbo, I got served with a movie about someone dreaming to do the impossible (To be exact, something he's not meant to do), makes an attempt anyway, and then prevailed in the end because he believed in himself. Well, at least Dusty got to race because he actually has been training outside his work hours unlike Turbo who suddenly got a superpower through inhaling NOS.

I'm not someone expecting a complicated plot since it's a children movie after all, but if this theme continues in future movies it will eventually get old.

Formula prevails in many movies unfortunately. There are producers who are scared to try something new, or simply do not have the talent to be truly creative, and thus they resort to formulas like these to produce films. At times, it works out fine, but other times it brings down the whole movie and makes it predictable, taking away the suspense and fun.

[Blackberry Bun]

How does ripping audio CD in Windows Media Player work?I accidentally pressed the Open Tray button on my PC while it is in the middle of ripping an audio CD. After that one song got cut off in the middle, and it is still cut off even though I played it directly from the CD using another computer. I have never listened to the CD before though, so maybe that one song is already broken from the beginning. It's a yo-ho-ho CD after all, if you get what I mean.

Anyway, my main question is: Is ripping CD actually more than just merely copying the audio files from CD to HDD? Is it actually a process which can corrupt the CD if interrupted?

[cpd2009]

How does ripping audio CD in Windows Media Player work?I accidentally pressed the Open Tray button on my PC while it is in the middle of ripping an audio CD. After that one song got cut off in the middle, and it is still cut off even though I played it directly from the CD using another computer. I have never listened to the CD before though, so maybe that one song is already broken from the beginning. It's a yo-ho-ho CD after all, if you get what I mean.

Anyway, my main question is: Is ripping CD actually more than just merely copying the audio files from CD to HDD? Is it actually a process which can corrupt the CD if interrupted?

I don't get the yo-ho-ho CD reference. :?: Anyways....

First off, don't worry about your CD. There is no way that ripping software can corrupt an audio CD since audio CDs, when burned at a factory, or burned on your computer either from a program or an ISO file, are "finalized". In layman's terms, the disc is protected from further writing from basically any recordable drive, and non-recordable drives normally can't write to discs anyway. This means that your CD, whether it be from an ISO image or burned yourself, already has that broken song permanently written to the disc. I would suggest finding a CD player that is not connected to a computer, such as a cheap CD boombox or personal CD player with headphones. From there, you can see if the song is already broken.

Another issue that could cause that song to be broken is a dirty disc, but normally WMP would try many many times to rip said track that lies under the dirt or scratch on the disk, and it would cough up an error message if the rip failed.

Now, here is how CD ripping works... I hope I can explain it well.

When a program like Windows Media Player rips a CD to your hard disk, it digitally extracts the CD tracks from your disk, converts them to a compressed format like Windows Media Audio or MP3, and then places the final product, the ripped track, on your hard disk.

In more technical terms now...

The tracks on an audio CD are by nature, uncompressed Wave files, and if they were theoretically copied to your computer as is, they would be very large files due to their uncompressed nature. CD ripping software follows the process I laid out above so the resulting audio files on the computer won't take up so much space on your hard drive. Normally, such software like Windows Media Player has an options panel where you can specifiy the format that your ripped CD tracks can be. Normally, WMP can rip to Windows Media Audio, MP3, or uncompressed WAV. Another thing is bitrate. The higher the bit rate, the better the sound quality of your CD rips, but they will take up somewhat more space, though not as much as uncompressed WAV I must mention.

[cpd2009]

I found out a way to get BabyTV on my new Roku.

But how? BabyTV doesn't have an official Roku app yet.

Well... I had to sign up for DishWorld. 'Nuff said.

BTW, since I'm required to pick a channel package, I picked the Bangla one. Back in 2004, Dish Network had a free preview of NTV Bangla, and I found out that they have (or had, at least) pretty awesome TV commercials. I also like seeing what's on various international TV channels, even though I can't understand Bangla.

The best part? The entire package, which includes 4 Bangla channels, Willow Cricket, several English channels including BabyTV and RT, and four international sports channels? $20 a month. Very affordable, and you don't need a satellite dish or any programming commitment.

IPTV is so wonderful.


One more thing... I happen to have a very good DSL connection. I was able to watch a SD video stream on the Roku while I was simultaneously watching a 720p HD Ashens video on YouTube. I still need to try 720p and 1080p side by side, but I will eventually get cable internet once I start living on my own.

[huckleberrypie]

I think the tracks on a CD are technically just a continuous stream. The table of contents pretty much slices and dices the audio disc into segments.

[RAMChYLD]

Reformatted Dongwa and switched him over to Arch Linux. Since it's possible to run Steam on Arch, and for some odd reason Arch's kernel doesn't have that intermittent issue I have with USB input devices on other distros.

Now I just need to get some loose ends tied up using the AUR. It takes hours since AUR is alot like Gentoo- it pulls the source code or CVS files and build them fresh on the system. I have no problem of that, except that it's slow >.<

[Stella Grapes]

While I liked Planes more than Cars because the main character was more likable, I feel the same way. And I realize how ironic it sounds that I prefer the more likable main character when I tend to view anti-villains as heroes in their own rights. Ah well.

I am being overworked to the point I think it's making me stupider and smarter at the same time. Sandy, I'm really very sorry about not even reading your chapter correctly at points. I can't tell you how embarrassed I am.

Oh yeah, Happy Birthday to Ben. He turned Old Years Old today. (50-something. He doesn't like to give out his age.)

Happy Birthday to Benita in a few hours.

Ten years ago tonight, give me about thirty minutes, I saw James for the first time. A few days ago, I passed by the spot where I saw him first again, announcing, "THIS IS THE ILLUSTRIOUS SPOT WHERE I FIRST SAW JAMES". It doesn't look like much. It's a little slab of concrete with some brick pillars holding up a little roof and a huge air conditioner under the little roof and between one set of pillars, adjoined to a factory hallway. I bet I described that to look more confusing than it is. It's a special little place, though. We'd meet there again years later and accuse each other of stalking the other, and he'd ask me for a date. We should totally have gotten married there.

Wait, no, we married in late December. We'd have frozen and fallen on the concrete if we got married there.

Much has happened since. I wish I had James' calm and I wish I had his brains for computers. I'd be so much less stressed if I did. Long story short, I need to get technologically skilled if I'm going to be or stay useful in helping my loved ones with business, and I'm so awful at it. Not awful keeping records. I'm fine with that, always have been. Balancing a computer skills class online with all my work is what I'm awful at. It is just awful itself. A whole bunch of busy work to make me take hours doing things I could do in fifteen minutes if I didn't have to waste hours following the silly directions. I know, I know the point. Still, I don't have time for this nonsense and only keep at it because I don't want to be a hypocritical teacher. At least this is at my own schedule. There's no way I could do it otherwise.

I'll be glad when that's over. Can't stand the stuff.

I love the kids. I really love the kids, and they love me. The kids I'm watching all want me to adopt them. Oh gosh, I hope young people never outgrow loving me. I'm going to need that when I'm old, I just know it.

My youngest child is the easiest to care for yet, which is a relief with all the other things going on.

I wish James didn't work so late. I get so lonely for him. The man is essentially working two long jobs. I guess I'm working extra jobs myself, if paid much, much less. But I've got the kids in bed by this time of night, and I'm usually tired enough that I'm asleep or too tired to do much by the time he comes home, if he comes home in the night.

I want this time to pass. That seems too long off.

The kids need to know their father. That's what worries me the most. I grew up with my father away all the time for different reasons. "It's like I don't even have a father!" I once said, when I was a child.

Our kids deserve better, and I know James agrees with me. If only we could figure out what to do.

[Blackberry Bun]

Both for Purple Pie Man and Peach Streusel.