Edventures in Normalcy

097.2%20Maximum%20PC%200-2-2006.pdf
SPECIAL ISSUE SUMMER 2006

Rip Perfect MP3s

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
An audio CD
Exact Audio Copy (free, www.exactaudiocopy.de)
https://web.archive.org/web/20090710072542/http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/eac-0.99pb5.exe Version from around the time the article was published.
LAME encoder (free, http://mitiok.cjb.net, http://www.rarewares.org)
https://web.archive.org/web/20060612201440/http://mitiok.maresweb.org/lame-3.97b.zip Version from around the time the article was published.

Do you listen to audio CDs in your CD-ROM drive, or carry a portable CD player while you jog? Of course not. You rip your audio CDs to MP3, and then transfer the files to your hard drive, your MP3 player, and your laptop. Because ripping audio files is quite pedestrian these days, you probably know how to do it. But do you know how to do it the Maximum PC way? Here’s how to rip audio files so they’ll sound as good as uncompressed WAV files.

STEP1 | DOWNLOAD EAC AND LAME
Exact Audio Copy is our favorite tool for ripping audio CDs because it’s dead accurate, produces flawless rips, and warns you of the presence of potential problems—think skips, clicks, or pops. It’s not the fastest solution, but we’ll trade accuracy for speed every time. Download EAC. Next, download the open-source LAME MP3 encoder, so you can encode your ripped files. Unzip both programs into the same folder on your hard drive.

STEP2 | INSTALL EAC
EAC’s setup wizard will automatically start when you install the program. Choose the option “I prefer to have accurate results.” Skip the step to install and configure LAME by removing the checkmark— we’ll install it later. You have to enter an email address in the next screen to gain access to the Freedb CD database, which will automatically populate your MP3s with artist, album, and track-name info. Choose the option labeled “I’m an expert…” and click Finish.

STEP3 | Configure EAC
Choose “EAC options” from the EAC menu. Deselect the option labeled “Lock drive tray….” so you can open the drive tray should EAC hang on a scratched CD. Leave the other options at their defaults. Click the Tools tab and place a checkmark next to “On extraction, start the external compressors…” (EAC will read the next track while the compressor is working on the previous track, speeding up the ripping process). Click OK.

STEP4 | COMPRESS AND ENCODE
Choose “Compression options” from the EAC menu and click the External Compression tab. Place a checkmark next to “Use external program for compression,” choose “Use Defined Encoder” from the drop-down menu, browse to the folder where you downloaded LAME, and click lame.exe. We’re going to encode our MP3s using variable bit rate (VBR), and we want LAME to write metadata (artist, track title, etc.) to the ID3 tags, so type this exact text into the “Additional command line options” field:

Ignore the rest of the options here, but click the ID3 Tag tab and remove any checkmarks. Click OK.

STEP5 | RIP AWAY!
Now you’re ready to start ripping. Drop a CD into your optical drive and give EAC a moment to download information about it from Freedb. In the main EAC window, choose the tracks you wish to rip and then click the MP3 icon in the vertical toolbar. Browse to the folder where you want the files stored and click Save.

MAXIMUM PC | 17

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0578072

Hi

Here’s the ringtone from Taco Bell you requested for your iPhone. Add this to your iPhone in a few easy steps.

1. Save the attached file to your local drive.

2. Open iTunes

3. Select ‘Add to Library’ from the ‘File’ menu.

4. Select the attached file (name of file)

5. Synch your iPhone with your MAC/PC

6. The ringtone will now be available under ‘Sounds’ within the Preferences Control Panel on your iPhone.

Thanks and make sure to check out http://m.tacobell.com  from your mobile device for more ringtones and apps!

SDIF_Bong.m4r

My_Bicep.m4r

Crunch_Boy_Remix.m4r

Rice_ring_ring.m4r

Hunger_Calls.m4r

Solved dotDefender An error occured. Action: get_site_list Exception: Invalid Response or Action: get_xpath Exception: Invalid Response

The full error:
Can’t init python Can’t import module can’t init python Traceback (most recent call last): File “C:\Program Files\Applicure\dotDefender for IIS\cgi-bin\WebServiceLib.py”, line 1, in from WebService_Utils
import * File “C:\Program Files\Applicure\dotDefender for IIS\cgi-bin\WebService_Utils.py”, line 1, in from WebService_OS import * File “C:\Program Files\Applicure\dotDefender for
IIS\cgi-bin\WebService_OS.py”, line 53, in from win32com.client import GetObject, Dispatch File “py26-sp\Lib\site-packages\win32com\client\__init__.py”, line 11, in import gencache File
“py26-sp\Lib\site-packages\win32com\client\gencache.py”, line 662, in __init__() File “py26-sp\Lib\site-packages\win32com\client\gencache.py”, line 58, in __init__ Rebuild() File
“py26-sp\Lib\site-packages\win32com\client\gencache.py”, line 649, in Rebuild _SaveDicts() File “py26-sp\Lib\site-packages\win32com\client\gencache.py”, line 65, in _SaveDicts f =
open(os.path.join(GetGeneratePath(), “dicts.dat”), “wb”) IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: ‘C:\\Windows\\TEMP\\gen_py\\2.6\\dicts.dat’

Solution:
I was logged into the admin site under an account that had been added post install using the add_user_permissions_IIS7.bat script. It seems this script misses adding some permissions. In my case I granted permissions to my user to the C:\Windows\Temp\gen_py
folder. I believe I gave them write permissions.

A little backstory, On 3-14-1998 I find out it is Pi Day, and being a fat kid understand it as Pie Day. I’m thinking of cherry and apple being options during lunch. lol, nope, pi, ?, as in 3.14159265359. On 3-14-2016 I am reminded by a coworker that it is Pi Day, and my first reaction is to note that it’s Steak and a Blowjob Day. In 18 years I went from being preoccupied with food to sex.

Actions speak louder than words, and I find some actions speak poorly.  I find the LGBT world has a duality to it.  I belong to the transgender community, which is where I run into this the most.  For example, I pulled an article from here:

http://www.cambio.com/2015/09/17/what-happened-when-i-revealed-to-men-on-tinder-that-im-a-transg/

The body is below, images are clickable, and although you may not need to see them all, you will get the idea.

“To put it plain and simply, dating sucks. Online dating sucks even more. And online dating as a transgender woman is pretty much a modern-day Greek tragedy. That being said, afterrecently undergoing gender-confirming surgery, I’ve been making a concerted effort to put myself out there and meet new people. According to many of my friends, Tinder was a good place to start. A little bit jaded and slightly pessimistic, I reluctantly decided to embark on a social experiment of sorts.

The reality of navigating dating world is that everyone has baggage that they’re weary about revealing to potential suitors. At the end of the day, we’re all human beings who want to be accepted and appreciated in our entirety. And the idea of having someone reject you because of a fundamental component of your identity is daunting enough to make a person avoid dating all together.

So as a young transwoman living in New York City, I’ve always been pretty freaking nervous about how guys could react when I reveal to them that I was born biologically male, even though I identify and live my life as female. After all, transwomen are all too often beaten and murdered for no reason other than their gender identities.

That’s exactly why the idea of online dating appealed to me despite it’s inherent shittiness and utter lack of romance. It opened up a space where I could disclose my transgender status to men from the safety of my phone without having to worry about putting myself in a potentially violent or dangerous situation (which is the reality for all of us transwomen). I decided to reveal my truth to men who I had matched with on Tinder and their responses were not always what I expected…

Of course there was the expected invasiveness, as you can see in the exchanges below. (PROTIP: Instead of asking a transwoman about her genitals right off the bat, try asking about her hobbies.)”

The above shows how to ridicule the ignorant, and come of as rude.  Yes, I face odd and peculiar questions, but since when is it wrong to be curious from an ignorant perspective.  When I was 5, I would ask some pretty awful/great questions.

Inclusiveness

I have once heard rumor that somewhere there is still a Chi Chi’s. I imagine it hidden inside a mountain where Shangri-La is. So on some random corner is a long lost land, is the best Mexican Restaurant chain ever, known only to the locals of Shangri-La.

Oh wait, I found them:

https://www.cityplug.be/en/Brussels/A42AV16Z_Restaurant_Chi-Chi-s-Anspach.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi-Chi%27s