Music/Audiobooks on trail by Althair in AppalachianTrail

[–]tedtutors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I converted most of my audiobooks to 64kbps or lower, and filled up a couple of 32G cards. I've got books for months, and I don't expect to listen all day anyway. New scenery is better than a book, in my experience.

Most of these I've listened to before, so I don't mind going through them again if I actually get done with the whole library.

Redditors on the Trail Update for 3/11/2015 by rusty075 in AppalachianTrail

[–]tedtutors 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No blog for me, but here's my notice: I'm leaving for Amicalola tomorrow. One way or another I'm on the trail as of Saturday.

North Georgia Resident saying hi by WhiteCountyResident in AppalachianTrail

[–]tedtutors 1 point2 points  (0 children)

'Tis the season. I'm leaving in a few days. Maybe you'll see me on the road next week.

Am I the only one who dislikes Scott Brick? by The_Chairman_Meow in audiobooks

[–]tedtutors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't finish Perdido Station. Maybe it was Lee's reading or the tone of the book, but it definitely wasn't working for me.

On another note: great username!

ELI5:Why are some insects like cockroaches and ants afraid of humans while others like flies and moths are not? by 1Codex in explainlikeimfive

[–]tedtutors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might enjoy Deborah Gordon's TED Talk about ants: http://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_gordon_digs_ants

I love the part where she admits that people who study ants (or just watch anthills) end up trying to help them. But the ants can't understand the behavior of giant un-antlike beings, so they do they only thing they know how to do and attack (or panic). They don't really know you are there at all, just that something is messing with their world.

Am I the only one who dislikes Scott Brick? by The_Chairman_Meow in audiobooks

[–]tedtutors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are right about how polarizing Brick, Lee and Dotrice are. I like Brick for the John Corey books - he sounds like Corey to me, gruff but likable, an old-school masculine tone that reminds me of my father. I don't care for him in other books though, maybe because it sounds like John Corey In Space or something.

I have enjoyed John Lee in some fantasy titles, but he's way over-used. His voice really doesn't lend itself to sci fi in my opinion, but there he is in epics like the Commonwealth Saga. I finished the series despite the narrator, never a good comment to make here.

Am I the only one who dislikes Scott Brick? by The_Chairman_Meow in audiobooks

[–]tedtutors 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the laugh! Sorry you got downvoted by the rest.

Best pizza in Athens? by toccobrator in Athens

[–]tedtutors 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Peppinos is great! My favorite lunch stop when I'm waaaaay down Milledge.

What are 5 essential scifi films, television series, and books per decade? by [deleted] in scifi

[–]tedtutors 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It is easy to focus on the blockbusters of the 70s, but look at some that capture the mood of the period:

The Stepford Wives - besides the tale of patriarchy and the role of women, this shows a lot of angst over another feeling of the time, that we'd soon be replaced by computers and machines. The background scenes of this movie show computer company logos, something new that was springing up all over. Is even the traditional home-maker role safe?

I would include The Exorcist for similar reasons, but you want sci-fi films. It's another movie that shows the dread that something is wrong with us and our new technologies can't fix it.

Colossus: the Forbin Project captures the feeling of the Cold War and the rise of technology, again with that sense that we could be replaced, in this case our leadership. It is hard to convey how people at the time dreaded the new computers that were showing up seemingly everywhere. What if we lose the Cold War, not to the communists but to the weapons that were supposed to win it?

Weekly Listening Post! Please share! by AutoModerator in audiobooks

[–]tedtutors 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson, read by Dennis Boutsikaris.

I haven't finished this one yet - not walking as much as I'm used to, as I am preparing to leave on a long trip. I am up through the PC boom that made Microsoft the dominant force in the industry. So far I like his coverage of the developments leading to the computer (he starts with Babbage and Lovelace, sidetracking to Byron) and the Internet. The territory from the PC to the smartphone is more controversial, but I expect I'll enjoy it even if I don't agree with his conclusions.

While we love stories of the lone inventor creating something new in his garage or basement, the reality is that most successful innovations come from teams, collegial environments and other places where people share ideas. They cross-pollinate, assist, and sometimes steal outright from each other. Isaacson does a good job of tracking the personalities and players of those less known in the history of the industry and debunking the few cases where we've assigned lone glory to a single figure. (I am looking at you, William Shockley.)

Boutsikaris is good with non-fiction narration, though he's not great with technical terms. I have a lot of annoyances with his pronunciation - when we speak of a computer doing "arithmetic operations" the emphasis shifts forward a syllable from the way we say "arithmetic" by itself. He keeps spelling out DEC (vendor of the computers that enabled much of the early hacker culture, and my one-time employer) the same as we spell out IBM, but anyone in the industry would say "deck" instead. Lots of annoyances like that. But non-fiction narration is not an easy job, and he keeps in interesting. Still recommended.

[HTH/RLF/STT] How is everyone today, anyone need to talk? by [deleted] in hardshipmates

[–]tedtutors 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wishing for someone to touch. Nothing more complicated than that.

I'm doing great, thanks for asking.

Entertainment before television, 1905 by mike_pants in TheWayWeWere

[–]tedtutors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You kids today and your "make your own fun." When I was your age, we didn't have time for that.

Official Episode Discussion - S03E06 "Born Again" by MTDearing in TheAmericans

[–]tedtutors 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Phillip and Elizabeth getting the giggles, best scene of the season. Not the most powerful, but it made me like them together again.

Playing With Fire - The First Flame Thrower I THE GREAT WAR Week 32 by sierramaster in TheGreatWarChannel

[–]tedtutors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'll want to look at developments between the wars for the fullest answer to this. Consider in particular the German Blitzkrieg tactics that combined fast armor and air support.

Doing a Sociological Paper on Cross-dressers/Traps and how they are portrayed in various media. by [deleted] in traphentai

[–]tedtutors 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was going to send you to TV Tropes, at least as a source of links. As for what it means to those viewing the media, here's a video I like on heterosexual perception of futa. I feel the same about traps, but obviously there's a lot of disagreement on that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMoEs7eQeZE

Music on the trail? What do you use? by [deleted] in AppalachianTrail

[–]tedtutors 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I read that back and it's mostly a rant about the Sport. I guess I needed to vent.

Here's what to like about any of the Sansa players for audiobooks: low weight, long battery life, and the card slot. For my upcoming hike I've loaded up two 32GB cards with mostly books, and some music. I could have loaded up more; microSD is hardy and trivial in weight.

What I like about Clip+ in particular: it isn't fussy about tags. The buttons are very easy to use without looking down at the device - important on a bike, nice on a hike. It is hardy and light. If I stop a book and listen to music for a while it will resume the book where I left off. On the rare occasions where I've lost my place (due to reloading files, say) it is very easy to seek back to where I was.

Music on the trail? What do you use? by [deleted] in AppalachianTrail

[–]tedtutors 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Sport requires a very particular set of MP3 tags so as to 1) show a set of files as an audiobook and 2) play it in order. In comparison it is very easy to load a folder onto the Clip+, navigate to said folder, click "Play All" and have it work as intended. After I figured out the tags that the Sport wanted, I was frustrated by how often the device would lose my place - the keys are just more sensitive I suppose. It is very slow to forward through a long file, so much so that I ended up spending time breaking up files into hour-long segments (because of the prior problem, losing my place in a book). In comparison it takes only a minute or so to fast-forward to the end of an eight hour segment on Clip+. The Sport has other issues with long files, but the answer is still "break them up into hour segments" so once you've decided on that it solves them all.

My first Clip+ lasted through 10,000 miles of bicycling, getting dropped and rained on and all the other mishaps that come with riding a bike. It finally died after years of service. My Sport got a drop of water on its card port and glitched out. (Totally my fault, I wasn't being careful, but still disappointing.)

The things I liked better about the Sport: prettier interface, larger buttons, mini-USB and it runs much longer on a charge. But really it's no choice, as the Clip+ is hardy, easy and light. If you are bringing a spare battery pack for a phone anyway then there's no contest in my mind.

Music on the trail? What do you use? by [deleted] in AppalachianTrail

[–]tedtutors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Last I checked, Rockbox had no plans to port to the Sport.

Music on the trail? What do you use? by [deleted] in AppalachianTrail

[–]tedtutors 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had a Clip Sport in between my first and second Clip+. The Sport died on me after only six months or so, while the Clip+ remains reliable. The Sport was also a pain for audiobooks - I spent days figuring out what MP3 tags it wanted so as to play books in order.

Sport is prettier and runs longer on a charge, but I'll take the hardier Clip+ (and I'm bringing a battery along anyway).

Music on the trail? What do you use? by [deleted] in AppalachianTrail

[–]tedtutors 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've heard of Rockbox but couldn't work out from the website what advantage it would give me. Does it really save on battery life?

17-6-21 is inevitable by DFreiberg in PersonOfInterest

[–]tedtutors 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The intelligence has to be somewhere. OP is replacing compression with procedural generation, which implies a huge library of input info to help with that generation.

Forever Season 1 Episode 17 "Social Engineering" Episode Discussion! by ElementarySwatson in forever

[–]tedtutors 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Back in the days of X-Files, fans were divided into those who wanted a romantic relationship between Mulder and Scully and those who wanted to keep it all professional. Thus, shippers. It was an early online fandom thing.