Now that I think about it, that’s a bit misleading.

When I say I don’t care what other people think about me, what I really mean is that I don’t care if people disdain my ideas for irrelevant reasons.  If you have a rational reason to disagree, then I definitely care about hearing your argument, but otherwise I just don’t care.

What people think about you determines how they treat you and what you can get them to do for you, so it’s worth some effort to manipulate[1] their feelings towards you.

Unsurprisingly to students of the human mind, fashion can really alter someone’s perception of you.  Even if that someone thinks they’re above such things.  It’s just not possible to avoid.

Because of this, I pay some attention to fashion and style for men and women and am able to say with some confidence what works.

This post was motivated by this great post with fashion tips for men.

In fashion as in art – style emerges not from a lack of rules but from a mastery of them, from making them serve you instead of the other way around. If you’re a geek like me, you need to dial a fresh start – clear your closets of all those conference freebie t-shirts, put a shine on your shoes, and burn your butt-crack pants. Ultimately, these rules are not at all about tamping down your personality but about learning how to express it. And unfair as it is, people will take you more seriously when you dress with a modicum of style.

Footnotes:

[1] Manipulate isn’t a bad word.  When you choose your clothing for the day you’re manipulating other people…it’s just the way it is.  Hopefully by giving some thought to what you wear, you’re manipulating people into paying attention to what you’ve got to say.  If you don’t give any thought to your clothing, you’re manipulating people into having impressions of you that you probably would rather they didn’t have.

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This only includes a fix for one bug.

This bug was a failure to handle some Unicode strings and caused ATD to fail when encountering something like the ® character.  A recent trailer that caused ATD to fail was for “The Wolfman”.

Windows download here.

Source available here.

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• Added the <quality></quality> element to the .nfo file generated for the Home Theater Experience Script.

Windows .exe here.

Source code here.

Original post with more info here.

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• Code organization to allow easier updates (this is an on-going effort since when I started this project it kind of grew organically rather than having some sort of plan.)
• Added the --htenfo option.  This creates a .nfo file for each trailer for use with the Home Theater Experience XBMC script.
• Added the --imdb option.  This fetches movie information from the IMDB.  Currently, it only uses this information to get MPAA ratings for trailers that Apple doesn’t specify a MPAA rating for.  Many upcoming movies still don’t have MPAA ratings so this won’t help in those instances.

Hit the original post for more info and the download link.

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You can get the version for 64-bit Windows, or if you install Adobe Reader you’ll get it for 32-bit Windows.

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Usage

Update: I wasn’t very clear about this before. ATD keeps a database of what it’s already downloaded, so each time you run it, it will just download everything you haven’t downloaded yet.

This works through the command line in a very simple manner.

I’ll start out with some examples and then provide a full option list.

The following example will download 500 megabytes worth of trailers and save them to C:\Trailers.

atd -l 500 -d "C:\Trailers"

The next example will do the same and also append “-trailer” to the filename and change the extension to “.hdmov”.

atd -l 500 -d "C:\Trailers" -a "-trailer" -e "hdmov"

If there is a certain trailer you would like atd to download again (say you deleted the trailer on accident), you can call it as follows. The one downside to this method is that all this does is tell ATD to not skip this trailer when processing the trailer list. If it doesn’t make it to the movie because you’ve used the download limit option it won’t download it again. Changing this behavior is on my todo list.

atd --redown "Iron Man 2"

If you want the maximum resolution it downloads to be 480p you do it like so:

atd --respref "480p"

To get help you do this:

atd -h

Which will ouput:

Usage: atd [options]
 
If no options passed, it will download all not already downloaded trailers to a
subdir called Trailers.
 
Options:
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -l MB, --downlimit=MB
                        Approxmiate megabytes to download per session
                        (default: 0)
  -d DIR, --dest=DIR    Destination directory. (default: Trailers)
  -a TEXT, --append=TEXT
                        Appends the specified text to the filename. (default:
                        -trailer)
  -r, --rename          Rename trailer with movies name.
  -e EXTENSION, --ext=EXTENSION
                        Changes file extension to what is specified
  --redown=movie name   Redownloads the trailer for the specified movie.  Ex:
                        --redown Iron Man 2
  --flush               WARNING: This option deletes your download history
                        which means that all trailers will be downloaded again
  --respref=RESPREF     Get specified resolution or less.  Options are
                        ['1080p', '720p', '480p', '640w', '480']
  --reslimit=RESLIMIT   Get specified resolution or dont get trailer at all
  --mdate=DATE          Only get trailers for movies with a release date after
                        this. (format: YYYY-MM-DD)
  --tdate=DATE          Only get trailers released after this date. (format:
                        YYYY-MM-DD)
  --fake                Don't download, just print list of movies it would
                        download trailers for with the specified commandline.
                        (Ignores download limit)
  --htenfo              Writes an nfo file for use with the Home Theater
                        Experience XBMC script.
  --imdb                Fetches missing information like MPAA rating from
                        IMDB.  (Slows down parsing)

Please report any bugs or feature requests you may have. This script is dependent upon how Apple presents it’s trailers on the web. If they change the correct (or incorrect depending on how you look at it) things this script will break. I’ll do my best to keep up with such changes.

Newest Version

Version 0.2.2 is here.

Source

ATD is now on github.

Older versions

Version 0.2.1 is here.

Version 0.2 for Windows users is here.
Version 0.2 for Linux users or users interested in the source can get it here.

Version 0.1 for Windows users is here.
Version 0.1 for Linux users or users interested in the source can get the source code here.

Planned Features

Rolling updates

With this feature, ATD will be able to keep a folder full of only trailers for movies past a certain date (for example, only trailers for movies that haven’t been released yet).  It will remove trailers for movies before the date and add/dl trailers for movies with new trailers.

Known Bugs

• With --imdb, ATD fetches info for all trailers even if because of other options like --downlimit we’ve limited the number of trailers that will download.
• Funkiness with --redown.
• Unicode handling is currently a hackjob.

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The second virtue is relinquishment. P. C. Hodgell said: “That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.” Do not flinch from experiences that might destroy your beliefs. The thought you cannot think controls you more than thoughts you speak aloud. Submit yourself to ordeals and test yourself in fire. Relinquish the emotion which rests upon a mistaken belief, and seek to feel fully that emotion which fits the facts. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is hot, and it is cool, the Way opposes your fear. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is cool, and it is hot, the Way opposes your calm. Evaluate your beliefs first and then arrive at your emotions. Let yourself say: “If the iron is hot, I desire to believe it is hot, and if it is cool, I desire to believe it is cool.” Beware lest you become attached to beliefs you may not want.

I like that P.C. Hodgell quote:  “That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.”  Your beliefs should hang upon the truth, truth doesn’t care about your beliefs.  Of course, this isn’t the way the human brain works.  When we’re comfortable with an idea, or if something we believe engenders positive emotions, we’re more likely to avoid facts that contradict our beliefs.

If you want to have an accurate view of the world around you, you’ve got to cultivate a willingness to give up things you believe, no matter how painful.

I know many who will find this idea foreign.  Others will play lip service to the idea.  Few will understand just how deep a change we have to make to implement the idea of being willing to relinquish our beliefs.  It’s not comfortable.  It hurts.  Relinquishing cherished beliefs is anathema to the soul if you haven’t made it into something you enjoy.  The default human position is to cherish beliefs, not to cherish truth.  It require effort to reverse that.

One of the worst methods of practicing non-relinquishment is cherry-picking of facts to support a belief.  It’s easy to “prove” anything you desire if you only accept facts in support of your belief.  An important thing to remember in this circumstance is that most of the time, when cherry-picking of the facts is going on, the picker doesn’t think they’re doing it.  It’s so easy for your brain to utterly dismiss things that don’t fit in to your worldview, that it doesn’t even seem like you’re making a mistake.

Unfortunately, you are.

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I probably shouldn’t even dignify it with a rebuttal, but I can’t help myself.

#1) Where are the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies proving flu vaccines are both safe and effective?
Answer: There aren’t any.

The CDC would like to disagree.  Even if there weren’t such studies, we have to make decisions based upon the best available evidence and every study that has been done points to the flu vaccine being effective and safe.

#2) Where, then, is the so-called “science” backing the idea that flu vaccines work at all?
Answer: Other than “cohort studies,” there isn’t any. And the cohort studies have been thoroughly debunked. Scientifically speaking, there isn’t a scrap of honest evidence showing flu vaccines work at all.

See the previous question.  Studies of flu vaccine effectiveness have not been “thoroughly debunked”.  If this was so how come the scientific consensus still supports the use of the flu vaccine?

#3) How can methyl mercury (Thimerosal, a preservative used in flu vaccines) be safe for injecting into the human body when mercury is an extremely toxic heavy metal?
Answer: It isn’t safe at all. Methyl mercury is a poison. Along with vaccine adjuvants, it explains why so many people suffer autism or other debilitating neurological side effects after being vaccinated.

Point number one, thimerosal is ethyl mercury, not methyl mercury which is a critical difference as ethyl mercury doesn’t accumulate in the body like methyl mercury.  Regardless of that, almost all evidence points to no ill effects from thimerosal in vaccines.

As Wikipedia says:

Most conclusively, eight major studies (as of 2008) examined the effect of reductions or removal of thiomersal from vaccines. All eight demonstrated that autism rates failed to decline despite removal of thiomersal, arguing strongly against a causative role.

On to their next point…

#4) Why do reports keep surfacing of children and teens suffering debilitating neurological disorders, brain swelling, seizures and even death following flu vaccines or HPV vaccines?
Answer: Because vaccines are dangerous. The vaccine industry routinely dismisses all such accounts — no matter how many are reported — as “coincidence.”

I don’t even understand how this is an actual argument.

Correlation is not the same thing as causation.  I’m sure hundreds of people have got in car accidents after getting a flu vaccine as well.  Is that the flu vaccine’s fault?

#5) Why don’t doctors recommend vitamin D for flu protection, especially when vitamin D activates the immune response far better than a vaccine? (http://www.naturalnews.com/027231_V…)
Answer: Because vitamin D can’t be patented and sold as “medicine.” You can make it yourself. If you want more vitamin D, you don’t even need a doctor, and doctors tend not to recommend things that put them out of business

Oh gosh, a conspiracy theory.  Why didn’t I see that coming?  It’s not an either/or situation.  Vitamin D does strengthen the immune system.  However, a strong immune system doesn’t keep you from getting the flu.

I’ll finish up with my rebuttal in my next post.

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I don’t think there can be any better recommendation for a backup solution.  My computers are all backed up daily, and I don’t even know it happens.

On top of that, there’s so much more that can be done with WHS.  A list of some things I use my WHS for:

• Storage. I keep smallish hard drives in my PC’s (most of them are around 250GB) and then put big honkin hard drives in my WHS.  Each of the indicated places in the screen shot on the right (take from Explorer in Windows 7) points to storage on my server.
• Reliability.  You can selectively enable folders on the WHS to be “duplicated”.  What this means is that every file in that folder is stored two times…on seperate hard drives.  This is done transparently to the end user so you don’t have to worry about knowing which copy is the newest.  The benefit is that if a hard drive dies (it will), your important data is not lost.
• Reliability, Part Deux. In addition to the safety of data stored on the server, the safety of each of my computers is important as well.  If your hard drive in one of your PCs dies, or you royally screw up your system messing around, or some sort of malware just totally infests you, WHS makes it easy to restore your system.  You just pop in the restore cd and reboot your computer.  As long as your BIOS is set to boot from CD (if not, it’s an easy thing to turn on), the restore cd will take over and let you pick a backup from your WHS to restore.  By default, WHS keeps one backup for each of the previous 3 days, one for each of the previous 3 weeks, and one for each of the previous 3 months.  I set it to keep a just-fresh-from-a-new-OS-install backup so it’s easy to go back to that point.
• Development. I do a bit of hobbyist programming.  Because many of the things I write depend upon a MySQL database, I installed MySQL on my WHS.  This allows me to test my scripts on my local LAN.

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