Useless Conversation

[Nebu]

I had a great solution in my last house.  I slept in the basement in the summer and only lived on the main floor after dark.  Now, it was a bit easier in the mountains where the daytime temp is 80-ish and it got to freezing in the evenings.  I can't imagine the hell it would be without air conditioning in the south or arizona.  Ugh.

[Morat20]

Friend of mine has a cinderblock house. Filled the insides with insulation, and has a brick facing. It's like a cave. Double-paned windows and a few other tricks.

Cheaper than the steel-frame, igloo-level insulation I'd want but fairly effective. Probably even better versus hurricanes.

Cool Roofs are still on my list. I've been looking at other materials besides black shingles, trying to find something with a decent mix of affordability, heat reflection, and high wind/rain resistance.

No point in buying an expensive and excellent roof (in terms of preventing heat buildup during the summer) that rips off the first time a Cat 1 comes through.

[Rasix]

Some folks in Arizona have evap cooling.  I wouldn't recommend it.  Summer here is goddamn miserable even with AC.

[Morat20]

Some folks in Arizona have evap cooling.  I wouldn't recommend it.  Summer here is goddamn miserable even with AC.

Can't do evap cooling in Houston. IIRC, it only works in low-humidity places. Houston -- anywhere along the Gulf Coast, really -- doesn't qualify as 'low humidity'.

[Sky]

Friend of mine has a cinderblock house. Filled the insides with insulation, and has a brick facing. It's like a cave. Double-paned windows and a few other tricks.

I'm biased, but cinder block houses are great. I hope to one day clad mine in brick with an insulating layer (air or whatever). It holds the cool great in the summer, if you know how to manage natural conditions, open windows when it's cooler outside, close them in the morning, close shades and curtains during the day. I have thermal blackout curtains, too. The house is generally 10º cooler inside during the summer. Holds the heat from the woodstove well in the winter, too.

[Yegolev]

I'll share why my wife is abandoning her iphone.  She kept her itunes music on an external drive, and through the magic of getting a new computer she is somehow no longer able to have this library connect to her phone.  Apple advises she wipe her phone and library and start over.  She gave them the final finger and has since switched to Amazon's MP3 store instead.  Her primary wish at this point would be for a Android device with 64GB of storage.  I do know that 32GB microSD exist but I can't confirm that any Android device is actually able to address that much memory, so I'm not being a lot of help to her in picking out a phone.  In any case she is switching in November when her contract is up.

[ghost]

I'm not following exactly what the problem is there.  Can't she just deauthorize all the computers from the accounts and the reauthorize them?

[Merusk]

I'm not following exactly what the problem is there.  Can't she just deauthorize all the computers from the accounts and the reauthorize them?

That's what I was thinking.  All my itunes stuff is on an external drive and I haven't had a problem through 3 different iPods and 2 machines. (Mine and my wife's.)  Though I do convert all my Apple files to non-proprietary formats because, y'know, iTunes probably isn't going to be around forever. I'd rather not lose access to all the music I've bought in the last 6 years like I did when Music Match went tits-up.

Though, IIRC, Yeg doesn't touch iTunes and his wife isn't computer literate so that might be why that solution didn't occur to him.

[Selby]

I'm not following exactly what the problem is there.  Can't she just deauthorize all the computers from the accounts and the reauthorize them?

I had to do some really weird moving of directories around and modifying files to get mine to work just when I switched computers.  Apple kept telling me to just wipe my iPod and start over.  To which I said "hell no" because I like my playlists and 50GB of music with play count info was not something I wanted to re-create.  I was able to work around it because I kept all the names the same and the network drive root letter was the same between machines, but believe me it sure wasn't easy to do and Apple's "Tech Support" was pretty much anything but helpful.

[ghost]

That's odd.  I certainly don't doubt your stories, but I've had nothing but good experiences when dealing with Apple in any way.  Of course I haven't had to deal with them much in the past year and a half to two years, so things can change.  Dell used to be super, but they eventually shit in their pants too.  I'm guessing you don't have an Apple store close by?  Those guys are usually pretty helpful for stuff like this.

As for the format, I would suspect there will always be aftermarket stuff if iTunes goes south.  There are way too many people that have their libraries in iTunes format and people could make money off of at least helping to convert the files to something else, if not simply providing a player for it.  And Apple is the biggest company in the US, so I doubt it's going anywhere anytime soon.

[RhyssaFireheart]

So for some reason I was thinking of this while driving to work :

If MLB has the World Series, NFL has the Super Bowl, NHL has the Stanley Cup, what is the NBA championship series/award called?  I don't think I've ever heard.

[Paelos]

The NBA championship is called "The Finals"

[RhyssaFireheart]

"The Finals".  That's.. it?   

[Cyrrex]

I think sometimes just called the NBA Finals or NBA Championships.

[Paelos]

"The Finals".  That's.. it?   

Yep

[Draegan]

If a NASCAR driver is arrested/charged with DUI, can he still race the next weekend?

[Paelos]

If a NASCAR driver is arrested/charged with DUI, can he still race the next weekend?

Yes. Michael Annett did it in February.

[Nebu]

If a NASCAR driver is arrested/charged with DUI, can he still race the next weekend?

You don't have to be sober to turn left.   

[Yegolev]

Though, IIRC, Yeg doesn't touch iTunes and his wife isn't computer literate so that might be why that solution didn't occur to him.

She knows a lot more about iTunes than I do, and she's moderately computer savvy.  I'd say power user, especially concerning certain apps like iTunes, Photoshop and The Sims.  In any case she gets her instructions from Apple support and is tired of dealing with those assholes.  She has maintained her external iTunes library for a number of years (since apparently you can't re-download purchases without buying them again), the trouble here is that her iPhone is at the "format to repair" stage but apparently this will invalidate everything.  I'm probably getting it wrong in the description because I don't touch iTunes, but I trust she's been down the apple hole on this one.  Insofar as she has time/patience to fuck with this sort of thing.

I don't live near anything, much less an Apple Store.  I'm also not interested in lugging in an entire computer.

[WayAbvPar]

"The Finals".  That's.. it?   

Yep

It awards the Larry O'Brien Trophy as well.

[Sand]

So when's the best time to ever prune back a bush? 

Really? A women asks this question and no one uses it as an opportunity for an inappropriate joke?
Wow. 

[Der Helm]

(since apparently you can't re-download purchases without buying them again)

[Bunk]

I got excited today because it might actually get above 50! And not rain 3 inches!

I know, I know, I live in like the rainiest city in the world - I'm used to it. You do expect temperatures to be hitting the 60s by mid May though.
It's been a screwed up year - we had weekends in December and January that where significantly hotter than its been all this week.

[Nebu]

I know, I know, I live in like the rainiest city in the world - I'm used to it.

You live in Cherrapunji, India?  

I considered a job in Hilo, Hawaii but the thought of 130" of rain a year was more than I could stomach.  I enjoy running, hiking and sunny days far too much.

[Sky]

Was considering an opening in Honolulu, but the living expenses + crime + being a howlie = 

[Nebu]

Was considering an opening in Honolulu, but the living expenses + crime + being a howlie = 

Yeah.  The Farmer's market was almost enough to make up for all of that, though.

[ghost]

There's a lot of crime in Honolulu?   

[Ingmar]

Yeah, large parts of Oahu are pretty depressed economically (and have been for years and years.)

[RhyssaFireheart]

(since apparently you can't re-download purchases without buying them again)

You know, I was thinking about this - why should we expect to be able to redownload software/music/digital media just because it was purchased once?  I mean, if I buy a music CD and lose it somehow, I certainly wouldn't expect the publisher to just send me a new copy simply because I can produce a receipt.  Granted, with digital media downloads, it's certainly easier to keep an entry in some database somewhere listing the purchase (or rather, the card it was bought with) but unless they use DRM to prevent sharing (which pisses people off), what is to keep me from just handing out copies of a popular song that I have to my friends?

[Der Helm]

You know, I was thinking about this - why should we expect to be able to redownload software/music/digital media just because it was purchased once? 

Steam.

[Yegolev]

(since apparently you can't re-download purchases without buying them again)

You know, I was thinking about this - why should we expect to be able to redownload software/music/digital media just because it was purchased once?  I mean, if I buy a music CD and lose it somehow, I certainly wouldn't expect the publisher to just send me a new copy simply because I can produce a receipt.  Granted, with digital media downloads, it's certainly easier to keep an entry in some database somewhere listing the purchase (or rather, the card it was bought with) but unless they use DRM to prevent sharing (which pisses people off), what is to keep me from just handing out copies of a popular song that I have to my friends?

Mostly, to me, it's very obvious that I'm licensing something instead of buying an object.  I'm giving someone a dollar for something that they can keep, along with my dollar, and I really think that you're a bastard if you charge me another dollar for that thing if I lose my copy.  Plus, as Der Helm stated, the standard has been set.  Amazon MP3 allows repeated downloads once you have purchased something, also.  Technical reasons aside, it's out there and it's not very douchey.

[ghost]

Well, iTunes is the 2000 pound gorilla here and I doubt they'll change anything anytime soon.  I do agree with your sentiment that once you pay for it you should be able to download it at least a few times.  Hell, one extra time would be fine. 

As for the problem with the music library, I still don't understand the problem.  Is part of the issue that she's having that a lot of the music is the old style DRM protected stuff?  Whenever I have had to wipe a computer and it gives me issues I simply deauthorize all my iTunes linked computers and rescan my library and it works like a charm.  The only ones I've ever had any issue with are the DRM ones and I don't think Apple even uses it anymore.  I feel your pain though.  Hell, it seems like every 6 months or so I end up having to zap my iPod and put stuff back on it.  The playlists are the most irritating thing about that, but it does shake things up for me a bit to go in and put on some new ones. 

[Merusk]

(since apparently you can't re-download purchases without buying them again)

You didn't know that?  Yeah, make backups if you use iTunes and be religious about it.  I'm not sure if it's one of the concessions they had to make initially or it was just them being dicks about it.  At this stage it's them being dicks.

Yeg:  If her music is stored off on network storage and the problem is only with her iPhone at the "reformat to replace" stage she should be fine.  I've had to restore my iPods a few times and it doesn't wipe the music or anything, just the playlist and software of the actual phone.  When you sync the device again it's back to normal. (But, being an iphone, minus any apps she bought I suspect... unless iTunes stores those like music. I don't know there.)

[bhodi]

You can't re-download purchases? What the fuck?! I didn't know that either. Then again, I don't buy shit off itunes. Now, I never will.

[Ingmar]

They helpfully provide a 'backup' option to burn stuff to CD.