audio

If you are a lover of FLOSS like me you are surely aware of Lawrence Lessig... for one or more of the campaigns he has been involved with. NPR had a segment about the progress of the May Day PAC. Enjoy!

20140729_atc_lessig.ogg (1.6MB 3:54)

As some may know, in my youth I enlisted in the United States Air Force for four years. I also did 6 years in the Montana Air National Guard. These days I look like a long-haired hippy. I came to Montana in 1986 when I was stationed at Malmstrom AFB and my career field was Electro-Mechanical Team (EMT) which was basically maintenance of the Minuteman 2 & 3 ICBM program's Launch Control Facility and Launch Facility command and control electronics. I never actually dispatched to any LF nor LCF sites because I got a job in an office that issues maintenance equipment and vehicles to those who do. It was the VECB... Vehicle and Equipment Control Branch. Enough about me.

Anyway, I ran across this segment on NPR's All Things Considered yesterday and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd share. It's in Ogg Vorbis format and should play in a compatible browser. Download link included for those with standalone media players.

20140729_atc_welcome_to_the_nuclear_command_bunker.ogg (3.1MB 7:36)

Here's these second part of the series released today:

20140730_atc_should_america_keep_its_aging_nuclear_missiles.ogg (2.2MB 5:16)

I heard this on the way to work this morning:

I got all of my machines updated and was sure to restart all services that use openssl. How about you?

This American Life did another pass at the software patents problem by refreshing their episode from two years ago. There are some very interesting updates.

NPR's This American Life did a feature entitled, "When Patent Trolls Attack" and it is something I think all technology folks should listen to so I embedded it below. Sorry for the limited media format choice provided.

Sansa ClipI have always wanted a good quality audio player that works well with Linux and plays Ogg Vorbis files. Even though the Sansa Clip was originally released in 2007, I somehow missed it. The gang on The Linux Link Tech Show mentioned the Sandisk Sansa Clip as being an affordable, quality portable audio player that worked well with Linux so I decided to give it a shot. I did a little bargain hunting online and found a refurbished 1GB unit for $18.95 plus shipping so I thought it was hard to go wrong for that price. The unit arrived three days ago and I spent all weekend using it.

All of the reviews I'd come across (including a few video reviews) gave it high marks. The latest firmware available for it allows for playback of .ogg (Ogg Vorbis) and .flac (Free Loseless Audio Codec) in addition to .mp3, .wav, .wma and Audible.com DRMed audiobooks. It DOES NOT play .m4a (AAC) format. I prefer to use formats that are not patent encumbered so the vast majority of my music is in .ogg/.oga format.

Wow, being a guest on The Linux Link Tech Show... with fantastic hosts Dann, Linc, Allan, and Pat... was great. I had a lot of fun. Yes, there were some technical problems at the beginning of the show that caused it to start a little late... and unfortunately I didn't have a way to boost my volume... and I don't know how it sounded live because I wasn't tuned into the live stream... but the archive recording isn't too bad. I'm guessing Dann cranked up the volume whenever I was talking.

For those who missed the live show, here are links to the .ogg and .mp3 archives:

tllts_278-12-17-08.ogg
tllts_278-12-17-08.mp3