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Unknown And Beautiful

It's a gorgeous day and I'm in a twangy mood - whatever that means.

How is it possible that so few people seem to be familiar with Lucero? What a shame. And why is it that all alternative country starts to sound like Wilco after a while? I mean that in a good way, of course.

Shapes And Patterns

Photos from another recent photo walk.

Here's the entire batch. Click on a photo for a larger version, and you can use your arrow keys to navigate through them all.

HHHmmmmm... The photos I'm taking seem to be becoming more and more random. I have no idea why. Hhhhhhmmmmmm again...

I've Got A Joke

A skeleton walks into a bar. He orders a beer and a mop.

More Winter Sun?

We've really been getting more than our fair share of warm winter days in Portland this year. Geez, as I type this, it's in the 50s again, and it's not even noon! Sadly, it's a work day, and I'm too busy to head out and enjoy this marvelous day, but I did find time over the past weekend. And I'm glad I did!

Here's the entire set of photos from this past weekend (click one for a larger version - arrow keys for previous/next):

Anybody want to wander for a photo walk sometime? I'm always up for it!

Better Keyboard Volume Control For OSX (Especially If You Own An Apogee Duet)

I don't normally post how-to instructions on my blog, but I discovered something really handy and I'm sure it'll be helpful to someone. If your Mac is connected to your stereo (especially if, like me, you own an Apogee Duet), read on to improve the functionality of your keyboard volume keys.

The Apogee Duet is an amazing audio interface for a Mac, and Snow Leopard seems to have built-in drivers for it. I plugged it in and it worked out of the box on my new Mac Mini before I installed anything. Sweet! As a side note before I begin... if you own a Duet and you're hearing a soft static from it, I posted a fix for that here.

One thing that wasn't so sweet about the Duet were the Apple keyboard sound controls and how they worked with it. Pressing a volume key on my keyboard turned the volume up or down by a LOT.

volumekeys

Maybe you're thinking "Rob, your Duet has a giant volume knob! Why would you want to adjust the volume on your keyboard instead?"

Here's why: My hands are on my keyboard as I type this. Why reach for my Duet when I can just tap a button where my hands already are? I find that a keyboard mute button is especially handy to have, but it's also nice to be able to tap a key to turn the volume up or down a little.

A Little.

That's where keyboard controls failed me.

Volume control in OSX is based on a 100 step scale between "0", meaning no sound, and "100" for maximum volume. A tap of the keyboard volume key turns the volume up + 5 or down -5. That can be a pretty big change, especially if you're used to the something like Apogee Duet's volume knob where turning the knob 1 click turns the volume up +1 or down -1.

Ah, but I found a fix.

First, go to System Preferences. Choose "Keyboard". Click the option to "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys."

Next, we're going to create a pair of Applescripts and assign them to the volume keys on the keyboard (F11 and F12). I'm sure there are other ways to do this, but I chose Spark because it was simple and worked perfectly for my needs.

Once you've downloaded Spark and placed it in your Applications folder on your Mac, launch it, and let's edit some Applescripts and hotkeys!

In Spark, in the File menu, under New Hotkey, select Applescript.

Shortcut: Click the box and select a key on your keyboard.

Name: Name the hotkey/shortcut function you're creating. Let's create a Volume Down hotkey first.

Make sure Source is selected in the box below and then copy and paste the following Applescript code into it:

-- volume down 1 set current_volume to output volume of (get volume settings)
if current_volume is greater than 0 then
set current_volume to current_volume - 1
end if

set volume output volume current_volume

It should look like this (click the pic for a larger view):

Note that "Repeat Interval" option at the bottom of the pic above is set to "0". That's something I initially missed. By entering a number in there... say, 100, for example, you gain the option to hold down the key and continue changing the volume. Zero is the default, and it prevents the hotkey from repeating.

Moving on...

It's the same process to create a hotkey to raise the volume.

In Spark, in the File menu, under New Hotkey, select Applescript.

Shortcut: select a key on your keyboard.

Name: Name the hotkey/shortcut function you're creating. This time, we're creating a Volume Up hotkey.

Make sure Source is selected in the box below and then copy and paste the following Applescript code into it:

-- volume up 1 set current_volume to output volume of (get volume settings)
if current_volume is less than 100 then
set current_volume to current_volume + 1
end if

set volume output volume current_volume

It should look like this (again, click it for a larger view):

Set a Repeat Interval (below the Applescript box) if you want to be able to hold down the hotkey to keep turning the volume up rather than having to press it multiple times. I find 100 ms to be a good setting. I missed that option initially, so it's set to "0" in the image above, meaning no hotkey repeat.

If you find that + or - 1 isn't enough of a change in volume for you, you can always edit your Spark hotkey settings and change 1 to 2. [Update: after using these settings for a while, I did decide to change it to +/- 2 instead of 1. Again, that was an easy change to make in Spark]

And, hey, as long as we're setting up hotkeys, let's set up those iTunes keyboard function keys too.

volumekeys

In the File menu, select New Hotkey and click iTunes and repeat the process for each hotkey, except this time, instead of adding Applescript code, we're choosing options Spark already has built in.

iTunes options

Note the mute key in that list. You can assign the mute key on your keyboard to iTunes this way, but I wanted my keyboard's mute key to mute everything rather than just muting iTunes, so I set that button up by going into Spark's File menu and choosing New Hotkey, then System. Then, click Actions in the popup window and you'll find this menu:

system options

OK! We're done. Enjoy your improved keyboard!

And, again, if you're hearing static from your Duet, I posted a fix for that here.

A Random Post From The Archives:

9/11 Is The New Smurf

Is it just me, or does Rudy Giuliani look a lot like Gargamel? He speaks a cartoon language with an amazing word that means anything and everything.

You say "Gun control?"
He says "Smurf."

You say "End the war."
He says "Smurf."

You: "Immigration?"
Him: "Smurf!"

You: "Energy independence?"
Him: "Smurf!"

You: "Let's talk about abortion."
Him: "SMURF!"

You: "Hey, how many wives have you had?"
Him: "Smurf, smurf, SMURF!"

You: "How are the kids?"
Him: "...surfing smurfs."

The problem is that the new Gargamel doesn't really say Smurf. He says 9/11.

A woman in Iowa asked about increasing federal support for H.I.V. medications, and Rudy Giuliani said ~~smurf~~ 9/11.

Wow.

Giuliani Is Gargamel

Whenever Rudy speaks, I can't help looking to see if Azrael the cat is at his feet.

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