Flute Terror. It’s a thing:
I used to play the flute. Basically because it was easier than any other instrument. But when I discovered the gramophone, which is even easier, I pretty much gave up. Certain flute pieces still traumatise me when I hear them.
So says Brian Micklethwait in his most recent post.
He also introduced me to the bass flute. I never knew.
I bought a maintenance plan along with my laptop. I didn’t know that I had done this, but apparently, it was a perk of the purchase. I’m always wary of maintenance plans, but this one seems to have paid off. So far, anyway.
I spent 75 minutes on the phone to Ron in the Philippines yesterday, and we decided that before sending someone out to fix my continuing connectivity problems, a full factory reset was required.
I’ve never reset a computer before. Phones, sure. My router, often. But never a computer.
It’s worryingly easy to do. (Although, to be honest, you’re very unlikely to slip and fall on your keyboard and reset your PC, so don’t panic.)
Last night, I began the process of reinstalling stuff. And first on my list was Lightroom.
But which Lightroom?
I don’t recall there being two Lightrooms when I installed it just a few weeks ago. Suddenly there’s Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC (which is the new name for Lightroom CC).
I looked at several websites which attempted to explain the difference to me, but they didn’t do it very well. I was still completely lost.
Thankfully, there’s a new voice in town (for me, at least) when I need to find out about all thing photography. Step forward Peter McKinnon. Popping onto his youtube channel, I was delighted to see this offering:
Sadly, I was less impressed when he actually started speaking:
I want to talk about Lightroom versus Lightroom. The new version versus the… the new version versus the old version which is the new version. It’s confusing. It’s super confusing. I was confused when I was sitting in the audience at Adobe Max while they were trying to explain it to me.
Eish.
Fortunately, he does manage to elucidate on the differences between the two, and fortunately, it seems like I had (somewhat inadvertently) picked the right one to download and install (which is good, because these aren’t small programs and the internet in South Africa isn’t as fast as yours).
Basically it comes down to whether you want your photos on the cloud, and therefore being available to edit available wherever, whenever and on any device (in which case, Lightroom CC); or if you prefer “old skool” desktop and hard drive editing and storage (in which case Lightroom Classic CC). There are a few other small technical differences, but that cloud vs desktop is the main thing and should be the basis for your decision. I prefer the latter, but given the speed of the internet and price of data in SA, it’s kind of academic anyway.
I only lost a few recently added files when I reset my machine (always back up, folks!), but only one major thing. And I’m fairly sure that I can redo that anyway. On the plus side, the reset seems to have sorted the connection problem (touch wood) and there’s the excitement of having a brand new laptop again – even though it’s actually really just the old laptop rebranded as Laptop Classic CC.
Here’s an interesting one.
I was contacted by my hosting provider this morning about an ISPA Take-Down Notice (TDN) regarding a post from 2009 on 6000 miles…
Now, first off, let me say that I fully understand that my hosting provider has signed up to the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) of South Africa, and as part of that, they are obliged to follow the rules of that organisation. Those rules state that when a TDN is issued against a site that they host, they must ask that site to remove (take down) the content, and in the event of the site not doing so, “disable the whole site”.
I mean, it’s completely over the top, but that’s what they agreed to, and (presumably) that’s what I agreed to when I signed up with them.
What alarms me is the way in which the ISPA handles these requests: basically, you can force removal of any content on any South African hosted website simply by filling in a form. No evidence required.
Literally, all that the ISPA will do with that form is to check that you filled in all the fields, make sure that the ISP involved is in their association and decide whether the remedial action requested is feasible (e.g. “take down a post” vs. “set light to all the servers in Johannesburg”).
They will then pass it on to the ISP concerned, who are bound by the terms of their ISPA membership to act upon it, and that’s how anyone can fill in an online form and have the content of any SA-hosted website without question.
The ISPA even boast about how successful their policy is:
In approximately 95% of all cases, lodging a valid take-down notice results in the removal of that content.
“Valid” in this case meaning that you fulfilled those three criteria above, not that the reasons for your request have any veracity or are in any way reasonable.
Of course, as the website owner, you can contest the notice, but notably only after you have taken down the content in question:
If you wish to contest this take-down, you will first need to comply with it and then take this up with the complainant, who’s [sic] information is supplied below, should they not be compliant in finding an amicable solution you then will need to make this a legal matter and address it in court.
Given that the post in question here is about a guy whose company tried to rip me (and it would seem, plenty of other people as well) off for (in some cases) several tens of thousands of Rands (and is apparently still at it), I can’t see this “amicable solution” happening.
And is the legal thing really worth it? Only if it’s sponsored by someone with a lot of time and money, I suppose. Does anyone have any experience of fighting these sort of cases – please get in touch (Email: 6…@6…o.za).
Looks like the only way immediate way around this is to host the “offending” content somewhere away from the unreasonably draconian paws of the South African ISPA then.
Like… I dunno… Google Drive for example.
MAYBE I WAS A BIT TOO SUBTLE HERE.
CLICK THE GOOGLE DRIVE LINK TO SEE THE DELETED POST!
It’s not been a good day for the computers in our house. My laptop is playing up again, despite the best efforts of clever individuals, and the power supply on the kids’ desktop (which my dodgy laptop replaced) gave up the ghost halfway through an important game of Minecraft or some such. (Do you get ghosts in Minecraft?)
With the holidays around the corner, we’re going to have to move quickly to find a fix (or 2), both because everyone stops working soon, and also because I’m sure that there’s plenty more Minecraft to be played once school’s out for summer.
I was going to share a picture of Yoshi, the Aquarium’s 187kg, soon to be released turtle, whose goodbye event we went to yesterday. But with limited connectivity, the photos from yesterday are firmly ensconced on the hard drive and – once again – I’m writing this on my phone. Even with SwiftKey, that’s a shlep, so please excuse my brevity.
More tomorrow? Ag, who knows?
An early start for a members only event at the Aquarium, then a quick visit to the Volvo Ocean Race Village, then up to the Noon Gun, then to the pet shop to get a new bed for the beagle, then move a couch 2km down the road, then braai into the evening.
It’s been a great day, but I’m tired now.