If you haven’t already heard of it, you might enjoy the Piano Puzzler podcast[0]
“Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer … [someone calls in and] listens to Bruce play his Piano Puzzler™. They then try to do two things: name the hidden tune, and name the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking.”
Of course, you can play along at home as you listen.
Reminded me that nowadays I listen to less classical music than I did so a modification of the game I enjoy playing with myself is "guess the influencing composer". For example I hear so much Prokofiev influence via harmonic language in the early Harry Potter movies and I was listening to Rachmaninoff the other day and thought "oh gosh that reminds me a lot of Kingdom Hearts" and did a quick check and lo and behold Yoko Shimomura cites Rach as a major inspiration. Similarly I often hear shimmers of Ravel in Masashi Hamauzu
A few years back I was helping clear out my parents’ garage, as they were having plumbing issues and needed a path cleared for the plumber. Eventually I come across a strange looking box with some weird brown tubes poking out of it. I look up at the ceiling, and see the waste pipe from a toilet. There was not only a hole in the ceiling, but a huge hole in the top of the waste pipe.
Turns out that strange box was full of newspapers that had had raw sewage dripping onto it for who knows how long. Those “brown tubes” were actually some sort of fungus, and when I looked closer, it was quite literally spewing out spores. It looked like steam.
I was horrified at the idea of this fungus surviving on nothing but sewage and ran to grab a respirator before rushing the thing into a compost bin. Wish I’d taken a photo, but my mind was elsewhere at the time.
Scary. Its really fascinating how they have such capacity to spread into every nook they can find. We spent a lot of time wondering how such an exotic looking thing, showed up in basically an urban closed off area (barely any windows) where you rarely see any kind of fungus growing. Must be producing a ton of spores.
Have you tried using the Files app for image/file transfers? You can add Samba (and other) shares in there by tapping the '...' in the upper-right corner, hitting 'Connect to Server', then inputting your local server's address and connecting. I use this not just for photos, but for transferring various files and docs to/from my phone/home server.
You mentioned not wanting to mass-select 2000+ photos. If the photos you're uploading fall within a certain date range, you can open the Photos app, search for the date range of photos you want to upload (e.g. "April 20 2024 to today", or "sept 21 2018 to mar 2020"). It'll return photos taken in that date range, where you can tap 'See All', then 'Select' > 'Select All' at the top of the screen. Then you can hit the 'Share' dialogue and upload to your server through Files without having to scroll and select tons of individual pics. Keep in mind that you can't use a '-' in place of the word 'to' when specifying a date range for some reason.
If your images are family memories, you might be interested in Immich[1] (if you're open to making changes to your photo storage setup). Stand up and configure the local server, install the smartphone app, enable automatic sync, and it'll automatically upload new photos from your phone when you open the Immich app. No need for you to manually keep track of your photo syncs. Built to be a local Google Photos replacement. Has features like shared albums, face recognition/person naming, smart search, etc. AI tasks, like everything else, are done entirely locally. It's a nice piece of software, and lots of people (including privacy advocate Louis Rossmann) vouch for it.
Where's "Select All" after "Select"? I'm not seeing that option (either on a search result or the "All Photos" collection), it'd solve a bunch of my problems. Thanks for the tip on Files, it seems like that's a nice alternative to AirDrop that's even more direct.
I'm sorry, seems I misspoke. It seems that when you look at an album in Photos you can select all; if you're in the camera roll or elsewhere, you won't get that option. Not sure why Apple would do that, but maybe they'll change it with the Photos rework in iOS 18.
As an alternative, here's a tiny script through iOS' Shortcuts app that selects photos in a date range and sends them to a Samba share through Files.[1] This time I actually tested, and was able to successfully run the Shortcut to copy a date range of photos/videos from the Photos app to my Samba share.
Quick instructions, in case you need them:
1. Create a new Shortcut and add a "Find Photos" module (You can search with the bar at the bottom). Add a filter, set it according to the screenshot[1], starting from "Date Taken" and ending at the stop date.
2. Add a "Save File" module beneath the Photos module (icon visible next to "Save Photos" in the screenshot). Shortcuts should auto-populate the selected photos as a variable so it reads "Save Photos". Hit the ">" next to "Save Photos" and tick any options you need.
3. Make sure to modify the date range each time you need to run the Shortcut.
You can also add/modify filters in each module to better suit your needs. For example, instead of "Date Taken" you could select by "Creation Date", or add in a "Media Type" filter so you only return photos and not videos (or vice-versa).
One thing to know: There's no progress bar so it's helpful to run the Shortcut from the Shortcuts app so you can see when it finishes executing/transferring. You should see a little 'stop' button with a semicircle around it when a Shortcut is executing from the app; it'll turn into a '...' button when it finishes.
My comment edit window closed, but if you trust me, I also made up a quick little pre-baked shortcut that should be fairly user-friendly[1]. Will prompt for date range input, calculate and display total upload size, ask for confirmation, prompt for upload location, then show an alert on completion. Also has some very rudimentary error handling in that it takes a file count before and after the upload, and warns if the two counts don't match up.
A few things to note (applies to my above comment as well):
-If you have a less powerful iOS device, your screen may go semi-unresponsive during the upload process. My iPhone XS goes unresponsive until the upload finishes (less the ability to terminate the shortcut via the "stop" button), but my 2017 iPad Pro is totally usable during upload.
-You may get an error along the lines of "This Shortcut is trying to share more than [x] photos." You can allow this by going to iOS Settings > Shortcuts > Advanced, then toggling on "Allow Sharing Large Amounts of Data"
-Again, there's no progress bar, so it may help to run the Shortcut from the editing pane in the Shortcuts app. That way you can at least watch the app step through the script.
I found Krunner entirely by accident after switching from Windows. PowerToys has a quick launcher that's triggered with Alt+Space. Used the shortcut out of habit after switching to a KDE environment, and was pleasantly surprised to see a similar interface pop up!
I can’t say that I’m terribly surprised. AT&T has been complicit in mass surveillance in the past. The first example that comes to mind is Room 641A: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A
Frankly, I think it’s safer to assume that most (American) communications companies are involved in some level of surveillance.
I reluctantly admit that a friend recently tricked me with something similar using a website called “Peter Answers”
Same exact concept: you ask a question, your friend types a “petition” (which is actually the answer, disguised as another phrase), then types in the question. Then they submit and the site displays the answer your friend typed in.
Initially this had me freaking out thinking there was some AI super scraper pulling from the chasm of shadow data. Then the logical part of my brain kicked in and asked a question only my friend would have the answer to, then watched his fingers as he typed, which quickly cleared things up.
It’s a smart concept though, and a damn good prank.
The above commenter’s story reminded me of using that exact website to prank friends in middle school about 15 years ago - I was wondering if it is still up and fooling people!
I got around this limitation by adding my home NAS to the Files app. On the iOS side: set up the SMB connection in Files, hit the Share button on files I want to transfer, point it to a folder on the NAS, and transfer. On the PC side, I just grab the file in Explorer.
Airdrop works well for sharing files to other people's iOS devices, but I'd argue SMB is actually better for my use case. Airdrop sends files to a Mac's Downloads folder. SMB transferred files go exactly where I want them on the first try. The difference is just a couple extra taps in the 'Share' modal.
Though I must admit this isn't a solution for everyone. I doubt many iPhone users have a NAS stood up at home and would be happy to spend money on the 'simpler' solution of purchasing turnkey products and services from Apple.
I definitely believe that. Years ago, I had an interview scheduled with a bank’s IT department. Checked their Glassdoor page and it was littered with negative reviews, with obviously fake positive reviews peppered in.
I took the interview anyway because I really needed work at the time. Got some 1-on-1 time with the IT guys and the first thing they said was,
“You read the reviews on Glassdoor, didn’t you?” “Yes..”
“Well, don’t worry, IT is pretty isolated from all that”
Cool, I guess?
Next, I got some time with a VP. He saw on my resume that I’d done some work for a Christian church. He said,
“Yeah, I love to debate religion at the water cooler!”
Had he taken some time to get to know me, he’d know I’m not religious and probably would have held his tongue.
I got offered the job. Naturally, I didn’t take it.
Like others have said, Glassdoor is good to see problem spots in negative reviews. Positive reviews are meaningless in my eyes.
For reference, the bank was called Bank of Internet at the time. They’ve since rebranded to Axos and I continue to recommend against them. I know nothing about their financial credibility, but I can’t in good faith recommend anyone support a company that allows people in positions of power to “debate religion at the water cooler.” That’s a hostile work environment.
> I can’t in good faith recommend anyone support a company that allows people in positions of power to “debate religion at the water cooler.” That’s a hostile work environment.
This is likely some cultural issue (I'm not from the United States), but I don't get what some person of power who loves debating religion at the water cooler makes the company a hostile work environment. Quite the opposite: in my gut feeling the fact that religion (a topic that has a tendency to cause heated discussions) can be discussed at the water cooler is rather a point of evidence that the work environment is really healthy.
Yes, this is the issue I have with all the comments on this thread saying that glassdoor has too many good reviews for a company that the commenter knows is "toxic". I have no idea what "toxic" means to the commenters here. Then I finally see an issue concretely identified: toxic can mean manager expresses an interest in "debating religion at the water cooler"? So what?
I also wouldn't generalize from this poster's anecdote to conclude "This is likely some cultural issue" in the US. I guess religion is a touchy subject in the US compared to more homoegenous nations like in the EU, and a rule of thumb I'd always heard is to avoid it in the office. (They used to say the same thing about politics in the office but that definitely went out the window these last 10 years.)
Religion is a legally protected class in the US, and the fact that a boss would willingly want to discuss, much less debate it with a subordinate opening the business up to much unnecessary liability is a red flag at least for stupid leadership.
Worst case scenario, the boss is trying to discriminate based on religion, and trying to find out more about the subordinate’s personal beliefs. Best case scenario, boss is for whatever reason curious, but displays lack of knowledge of labor laws and best practices (in the context of asking to discuss with a newbie who they have no prior relationship with).
After a working relationship had been established, I could see religion as a as a casual topic being reasonable depending on how what their relationship is like, but as an introduction? Forget about it.
Really? How would European business culture approach this? I feel like talking about debating religion when it’s not relevant to a potential employee is extremely short sighted or some type of backhanded mind game; it just doesn’t seem normal to say that at a job interview. After a working relationship has been established if it comes up, that is different, but if the VP just says that based on seeing a potential employee’s work with a church, it’s quite suspect.
I'd happily talk religion, trans rights, racism etc with anyone at work.
But then I'm not paranoid , and Ive never worked anyplace in 20 years where I feel people are being dishonest or disingenuous or playing any sort of games. especially not mind games, that's fucking absurd to me that you would even think that at all.
What sort of people are you working for, that sounds like hell.
I've always been in offices, and worked for managers I've gone and got drunk with and talked about all sorts of shit. it's never been an issue.
If US office culture Is as you describe it, it sounds fucking awful.
All those topics sound like minefields I would be cautious discussion even with good friends, and then only if we have similar views. If I knew there would be a significant disagreement I would drop the topic probably, avoids more trouble.
I think it’s about minimizing liability. I wouldn’t want a work dynamic to turn toxic due to a coworker’s prejudice or some disagreement we had debating over the water cooler. At work you focus on work, sure you can have some chit chat but generally these topics are breached after being acquainted with someone.
This “hold an object while falling asleep” technique sounds very similar to a technique I read about maybe 15 years ago at an avant-garde sleep away arts camp. It was in the context of lucid dreaming and not increasing creativity, though.
That technique didn’t involve holding an object, but going to sleep with your elbow against the floor/bed and your forearm raised. When you started to fall asleep your arm would fall and wake you up as it hit the floor/bed.
It also suggesting sleeping with your head facing north, but that part seems less scientific to me. Nevertheless, very interesting how this came back around.
Why would the quality of the announcers or theme music have any influence on an XML feed of straight sports stats (specifically designed to avoid editorializing)?
“Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer … [someone calls in and] listens to Bruce play his Piano Puzzler™. They then try to do two things: name the hidden tune, and name the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking.”
Of course, you can play along at home as you listen.
[0] https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443927/performance-today-s-p...