Damn Computers (in appropriate category)

{{{ thats it, Im lost now, hate it when people use computer jargon }}}

my computer along with saying NO a lot, is now asking me to backup my files and make a copy how do I do that?

Without having to install any software, just buy an external hard drive, then drag and drop everything you care about to it.

You can also install some software and leave the hard drive plugged in, and it will do all the rest. But buy a BIG hard drive.

oh one of those key thingies? cheers

Eldorion wrote:Interesting to get your perspective huffjuff; I take it you were using the beta version in May?  Are the tweaks you made stuff like using the start menu or has that been restored to the default?

Yes I used the Beta.

This is my current "standard" start menu. I have not done any changes to get it that way. Most of my tweaks are performance tweaks (I.E. getting faster boot-time, faster loading etc.). If any of you need technical support with windows or basic linux, I'm glad to help!

The macbook crashes I was having were caused by malware, which is not longer rare on macs.  I installed a remover and no more crashes. The need for security is a new experience for mac users.....

Hm, yeah that sucks.

Mrs Figg wrote:oh one of those key thingies? cheers

Um, those are too small to back up anything except your most precious files. You want to buy something that looks like a little box with a wire attached to it. It will have the words "storage" or "hard disk" on the packaging. Then drag your whole damn computer folder to it. Do it once a week, and accept that the copying will take a while.

If you buy one that has the words "backup software" on it, then have a friend come over and set it up for you to do it automatically.

oh thanks Halfy, yeah those keys get filled quickly. I will try and buy one of those storage thingies tomorrow. my computer keeps telling me to back up my files and I keep saying ok I will do it tomorrow but it doesn't listen.

One of my classes this semester is about information infrastructures and one of the options for a final project is to build a small website using plain HTML and CSS (ie, no content management systems or Wix.com type solutions) but also incorporating semantic HTML and certain metadata elements. I decided to put together a new home for my Tolkien essays as my project, and so I've been sort of reliving my lore binge from last spring/summer as I've gone through the process of reformatting everything. The project isn't actually due until December but I got bored with going through online lessons for HTML and decided to just get a head start on the actual project, and then ended up pretty much finishing after five days (though I was running to W3Schools and Stack Overflow every 15 minutes at the start of the process). Considering that the last time I tried anything substantial with HTML was in ~2005 I'm fairly pleased with how things have gone so far.

{{{edit: sorry, took things down temporarily while figuring something out}}}

Nicely done. I have someplace to go now when nobody's posting here.

Thanks halfy. I think that "So you want to get serious about Tolkien?" is probably the most accessible of the longer pieces (and one of the few that I haven't posted here before), though "Ancalagon the Black: a case study" was the most fun to write.

Nifty!

I do love that painting. The landscape seems to be actively pushing one off of it and out to sea.

Eldorion wrote:
{{{edit: sorry, took things down temporarily while figuring something out}}}

Well put it back up, I was just looking for it!

Two hours later: I'm still looking for it!

Sorry. Figured out what I needed to and put it back up.

https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~jkeener/tolkien/index.html

Your writing is a very comfortable read, with clear logic. It's the next best thing to settling into an overstuffed couch with Christopher Tolkien himself.

I must say your review of Towers and Strong Places is very impressive. To criticize a published author on details of scholarship smacks of the authority of a true lore master. I recommend sending the review somewhere to get published.

Thank you halfwise, that means a lot coming from someone with your background. The High Towers review was a bit of a struggle to write but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I thought a lot about submitting something for publication last year, and that review was one of the things I considered, but it's way over Mythlore's word limit for reviews at the time. (I actually just checked their site though and they have significantly raised the limit from where it was last year.) And also I wasn't sure if my anxiety could take the stress of the submission process, especially at the time since I was in an especially unstable place.

The idea of being published is definitely an attractive one in many ways, but to be honest it doesn't feel quite as significant to me as it did in the past. Partially that's because I've gained marginally more self-esteem and been able to acknowledge that I do actually know a lot, but also because of the somewhat disillusioning realization of how many people get published in academic Tolkien journals while knowing less about the ins and outs of his work than many of the Lorists I've interacted with over the years (even if their knowledge of literature in general is greater, though in my case that's not a very high bar to clear). This is especially true when it comes to the internal history of the secondary world, which is my greatest interest (related to my lifelong passion for history and my social sciences background from undergrad), but fuzziness on esoteric "Lore" details can negatively impact the quality of more stereotypical "English department" scholarship too.

This isn't just me being bitter. Michael Drout, an accomplished Tolkien scholar and also a professor of English, has talked about this blind spot in academic Tolkien studies in the past (link), and while the situation might be improving now I think it's still an issue. Actually, that was part of what made me so crabbit reading High Towers, since I thought it was a very poor representation of what "Middle-earth studies" could be. There are still plenty of ideas I have for essays that I think would be interested to write, but when I get really involved with Tolkien stuff I get really involved and have trouble focusing on other hobbies or interests, so I'm not sure if pursuing that more is a good idea.

It would be really neat to see more "Middle-earth studies" type scholarship get published, though. Mythlore still has their warning against it, but Mallorn has published material of that sort before. Last year's edition of Tolkien Studies included a piece analyzing the 1977 Silmarillion as an in-universe text. While that sort of analysis is normally very near and dear to my heart, it's not generally the framework with which I approach the 1977 Silm, but the author made an intriguing argument for why it should be done. So maybe the idea of submitting for publication, say, the essay about Gondorian racial politics that I have outlined isn't totally absurd. But there's still the anxiety concern since I have to be cognizant of my ability to handle stress or I go back to a place that I really don't want to be.

Id like to know how, to download music from youtube that I can keep to put on a disc ? I'm not meaning about, you see a vid & you post it here, more sort of like a torrent maybe ? then, once I have enough I can do my own personalised Album I remember Ringo suggested SaveNet but For some reason its not installing properly on my Windows 10 ?

Done it A bit of Googling & Bob's yer uncle

Eldo - if you submit to publishing, check your ego at the door. Reviewers/editors can be nasty, but if you take the approach that we all have our blind spots and hidden assumptions and it takes other people to point them out, then it becomes easier to take (but it still hurts). So I'd take the approach that submitting something is an experiment or dalliance, to see if you can beat the game. Usually they are more accepting once you've responded and defended your points, though still making changes to show that you listened.

So if you can find a journal that will publish your genre of writing (and they may charge you money for the privilege, nearly all the best journals do) then go for it and just ride it out as an experience. It may also be a good idea to go through and soften anything which comes across too strongly as an attack. In a community as small as Tolkien scholarship your reviewers may be friends of whoever you are attacking; if not the attackee in the first place!

I appreciate the advice. Good to keep in mind for that potentiality.

Something I hadn't thought about in probably 15 years, but it's nice to have a refresher on the Balrog "wings" debate. Also, nice website.

Thanks bungo! The Balrog wings one felt almost obligatory, though on the other hand I didn't feel I really had anything to add to the Tom Bombadil debate.