



So as this post title states, this post is really threefold: The first two points now, the last geek point at the end (scroll down).I have been a massive Led Zeppelin fan since I was weened off breast feeding. I love to get the Led out, have all albums, collect rare vintage live recordings (FLAC or other lossless only please), run an oldschool Carracho server for said live recordings, and damn near cried when they had the reunion show in London and I didn’t have the money to make that epic journey that would, for me, have been akin to an Islamic person returning to Mecca. In short: I’m a big Led Zeppelin fanatic. In a recent tweet, Will Wheaton wrote:
I’m currently up to Physical Graffiti, and have just discovered that I don’t have the sound system, ‘69 Nova, or long hair needed to really do this album justice.
I completely got what he was saying and twittered him back to please elaborate. He was already on it, shortly after my reply he had already posted this and I thank the gods for another Zeppelin soul such as this. Very elegant…
From: WWdN: In Exile: getting the led out
Then as it was, then again it will be
An’ though the course may change sometimes
Rivers always reach the seaWhile writing today, I’ve been rocking my way through all my Led Zeppelin albums, in order. I’m currently up to Physical Graffiti, and have just discovered that I don’t have the sound system, ‘69 Nova, or long hair needed to really do this album justice, and wailing on my desk like it’s a drum kit really freaks out my dogs
Blind stars of fortune, each have several rays
On the wings of maybe, down in birds of preyThe sun is setting through my office window, throwing long shadows and golden light across my yard and into my house. The sky begins to darken behind a hazy gauze of clouds on the edge of a storm the weather man says will arrive Monday. My sinuses say it is likely to arrive sooner.
Kind of makes me feel sometimes, didn’t have to grow
But as the eagle leaves the nest, it’s got so far to goTen Years Gone is the perfect music for this precise, bittersweet, slightly melancholy moment, just before the unseasonable warmth of the day gives way to the chill of February night. I know that, before I even finish composing this post, the sun will drop behind the big tree outside and I’ll have to close up the windows and pull on a sweatshirt. But for now … just for now … I can pretend that it’s the end of a summer day, I’m 10 years younger than I am, and I haven’t a care in the world.
Holdin’ on, ten years gone
Ten years gone, holdin’ on, ten years gone
Now for the third and ultimately geek point of this post. I was able to select the text on WWdN, then right-click and quote it (set-up a citation template) using ScribeFire – a sweet Firefox plug-in. This is good remedy to answer the question raised in my last post. I have a list a mile long for enhancements and bug fixes, but this would (at least for now) appear to be the only proverbial game in town for what I need.

Screenshot of me citing the Will Wheaton post
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Often, I want to quote (embedded/inline/via a blockquote) all or part of another author’s post. In fact, in an ironic twist, I will quote regarding quoting in this post to both show off how I think it ought to be accomplished and to pose my question(s) (see end of this post).
Additional Thoughts / Improvements
“Wrote” is bad link text. It violates WCAG 1.0 guideline 13.1 that “link text should be meaningful enough to make sense when read out of context”. Imagine the page being presented as a list of links, as many audio browsers, and some visual browsers can (e.g. Opera, Amaya) – a page with a lot of quotes would have lots of links labelled “wrote”, “wrote”, “wrote”. Including the title of quoted article gives more meaningful link text.
Also, WCAG 1.0 guideline 10.5 offers a hint for improvement: “until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links”.
| copy code | ?
01 <p>02 <cite class="vcard">03 <a class="url fn" rel="met friend colleague" href="http://meyerweb.com/">Eric Meyer</a>04 </cite>05 wrote in<a href="http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2005/03/11/social-protocols/"06 rel="cite">Social Protocols</a>:07 </p>08 <blockquote cite="http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2005/03/11/social-protocols/">09 What's so interesting to me is that the guys who decided10 to focus on the positive went out and did something;11 those who want to mix in the negative seem to have12 nothing to offer except complaints.13 </blockquote>14 <p>An excellent contrast between those who want to15 build new things and those who want to tear them down.16 </p>
With perhapsa[rel=cite]{font-style:italic}somewhere in your style sheet.
So my question is this: is there an easier/automated way to accomplish quoting in this way? Perhaps a Firefox plugin or a web service that will both generate the code and use best practices as suggested above? I want to be able to properly credit the author and enhance my blog post by citing the word, at least in part. This will take some research as it’s one of those damned hard Google searches (too general, refers to too many things, etc.).
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In constructing my blog, I came across an important couple of features I know I need to enable on my blog.
Firstly, we have Gravatars:
Gravatars are Globally Recognized Avatars. An avatar or gravatar is an icon, or representation, of a user in a shared virtual reality, such as a forum, chat, website, or any other form of online community in which the user(s) wish to have something to distinguish themselves from other users. Created by Tom Werner, gravatars make it possible for a person to have one avatar across the entire web. Avatars are usually an 80px by 80px image that the user will create themselves.
from: http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Gravatars
So I am enabling the WP-Gravatar plugin so that this blog is up to spec socially. Neat!
Next is OpenID:
OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.
You get to choose the OpenID Provider that best meets your needs and most importantly that you trust. At the same time, your OpenID can stay with you, no matter which Provider you move to. And best of all, the OpenID technology is not proprietary and is completely free.
from: http://openid.net/what/
So I am enabling the OpenID plugin so login will be a snap. Neater!
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Just stumbled upon this post showing the different set-ups different bloggers have at their blog-point. Fascinating to see the personal personality differences!
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DP in use
As I have been WAY behind on this, my personal blog, I have decided to start it up again. I have plans. things will happen. Excitement shall ensue. In the meantime, I am creating this new category so that I can post random bits of technology/I.T. information. This is the geek in my, but oftentimes I find amazing solutions to complex problems and both would like a record of this and like to keep it for those cloudy days when I need a justification to keep going /sarcasm.
So here’s one in regard to issues we were having at work with MOTU Digital Performer. An application well suited for recording, but notsomuch [sic.] intended for use as a primary playback platform. Well, the patter is how the show is run and done so here I am, making teh best of what I have to make the best with.
In regard to the various Purple/Blue crashes, the following report summarizes both the problem and provides three individual recommended actions.
Primary Concern:
Audio Blue crashed a couple times last week during operation of the show and Audio Purple crashed last night during operation of the show. The error reported was in regard to the Digital Performer (DP) Buffer being over-run and advises the operator that, in order to continue playing, DP would stop disable some tracks (not good for a live show obviously).
Upon RM’s call last night in regard to Purple, I checked the console on both machines, verified that they were restarted between shows (they were, but Purple had rolled the show, then was set to start and again rolled for some reason), posted some questions to Mahalo and Experts-Exchange, opened a ticket with MOTU and waited for the show to end after which time I grabbed all the detail logs and updated my questions on those services.
Findings:
A. This type of buffer problem is specific to DP. The machines were never over 27% of their 4-core CPU load and there was plenty of physical memory available at the time of the error. Also, the machines were active (not idling) and no other processes were hung. In fact, DP was not hung. That DP was active, not hanging and not dominating the system means the problem is DP internal. All answers obtained from the various services I posted to agree on this point. So the machines and their set-up are stellar, DP has the issue.
B. This exact error in DP is internal to DP. DP utilizes two different buffer types: instruction and waveform for lack of better terms. While MOTU suggests (both via the actual error dialog box and via their support FAQ online) reducing the number of elements within the DP project file in order to alleviate the error, there is something missing from this request: a differentiation between the types of data being buffered. The instruction buffer is where MIDI commands live. Theoretically you can store 255,000 MIDI commands in this buffer without causing DP to even flinch. It is the waveforms that are the real culprit here. Consider the Pretty Girl section: multiple and large bits of data all in one block. As DP moves thru time, the buffer remembers what has been (in case you need to snap back), what is (obviously) and what will be (so you can cue fast). At this point in the show, DP is being asked to remember a whole lot and prepare for a whole lot more in the intermission where you have not just audio but also video. A lot of waveform.
C. Upon speaking with the Audio staff this a.m., I learned that this problem occurs at the same point in the show each time this problem happens. PATTERN (see recommendation #1 below)! It happens at the tail of “Pretty Girl” (PG) prior to the intermission. Copper mentioned that McHenry used to have PG cut-up into smaller chunks and segments. While no one on site knows the ever important why when reflecting upon Mr. McHenry’s methods and/or rationales, we had assumed that the had segmented the show in this manner for issues of control. However, it could very well be to free up the DP buffer which makes a lot of sense. See recommendation #3 below.
Recommendations:
1. I would like Audio to start using the Excel spreadsheet log found at:
/Volumes/Department Folders/Production/Audio/Logs/Digital Performer Anomaly Log.xls
whenever a computer-related anomaly occurs. I have created it to tell me and them as much data as we need. This spreadsheet gives myself and other operators a record of the anomaly and assists in identifying both patterns and problematic portions of the DP project file. I believe this to be an excellent diagnostic piece of the proverbial pie.2. Audio Gold will research and report to me on How to Increase the Available Buffer size within Digital Performer. he said he has time to perform this research while waiting on renders in the Editing Bay today. While we both believe the buffer to be at the 1Mb max due to the bit depth of the host operating system, this needs to be confirmed. (example: increasing to a 2Mb buffer would require a 64-bit OS which would cost – per unit – $99 for the OS upgrade and $250 for the DP version compatible with the new OS). If our slightly informed hunch is correct, no action is merited beyond documenting the why but if there are other, free things we can do to increase buffer we will do so.
3. Audio should cut the “Pretty Girl” chunk/seg in half in order to reduce demand upon the DP internal buffer as discussed above. This is the primary action to alleviate the primary concern above. If the buffer continues to overfill proceeding this action, the same cutting will need to happen to the intermission so as to reduce the next buffer block in addition to the previous/current buffer block.
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