Cathy

SuperDuper

SuperDuper by Shirt Pocket Software gets my vote for “killer app”. I think this one, $30 program, is almost reason itself to switch from Windows to Mac. Basically it allows you to make an exact copy of your boot drive on an external USB drive. Yes, you can really boot from it. Just start up your Mac with your SuperDuper backup plugged in, and press option when you hear the start-up chime. Then you get a screen asking which drive to boot from and choose the backup. See it really works! Your Mac is running from your backup. You can work on it just like your regular system and you can still see and manipulate files on your internal drive, assuming it isn’t dead.

Suppose you have a system problem, not a drive problem, as I did yesterday morning…my Mac would not boot to ANY drive? Find a friend with a Mac, plug in your backup and boot to YOUR drive as above. Part of what makes this possible is Mac OS. Depending on the age difference between your Mac and your friend’s this might not work, but there are lots and lots of Macs out there that are close enough. In my case, the drive from my laptop booted my friend’s desktop. For starters the two machines have different processors and video cards. On Windows, no way.

You used to be able to do something similar on DOS and Windows, but since Windows 2000 or so, the Windows installation has been tied to hardware and you cannot even boot the system from an exact copy of the drive, unless the drives themselves are identical products from the same manufacturer. Even that isn’t guaranteed. When I discovered this problem with Windows, it meant that all my system backups were basically just data backups and didn’t help me with recovery, i.e. reinstalling Windows and all applications. I started keeping a second machine with identical applications and data synced to my main machine nightly. So in the case of catastrophic failure, which seems to inevitably happen in computerland, I had a system to work on immediately. It is true if you don’t have a spare Mac sitting around you can’t get to work quite that fast, but with a SuperDuper backup you are way closer than you are with a Windows install DVD, a data backup, and a pile of application installation CDs.

That is why I say SuperDuper is a “killer app”. For a fraction of the cost of a second machine, and infinitely greater portability; think 4-3/4″ x 3″ x 1/2″ pocket drive, I have nearly equivalent protection. That is not to say SuperDuper or a second machine protect your system 100%. Neither will help if your main system and backup are stolen or are in a single location that gets hit by flood or fire or lightning, or if you reproduce a virus or system error on both your primary and backup. But either is a big step in the right direction.

Walrus and polar bears

…we know being a loner isn’t about hating people. It’s about essence, about necessity. We need what others dread. We dread what others need.

I recently finished reading Party of One: The Loner’s Manifesto, by Anneli Rufus. It was recommended by an ultrarunner several years ago. He thought that probably lots of ultrarunners are loners. I would say the percentage is higher than the general population, but we’re not a majority in that community either.

In some ways the book was a disappointment. I mean, how many examples do you need that “loner” is often used to describe criminals who are social outcasts. People who are truly loners would rather stay home and make a bookshelf or knit or mow the lawn or whatever, not bother themselves with some socially intimate mass murder plan. Really, except for the part about the making a bookshelf or knitting or mowing, and being social, that is true of most non-loners too! Ultimately, the book could have been much shorter. The author seemed to lack material and on more than one topic was just filling space.

There were some good insights for me; like 75% of the population actually enjoy hanging out with groups of people. That it is not a flaw or weakness in them. It’s just the way they are wired. Most of that 75% would think it was fun to walk up to an astronaut and ask about her job. Where I would rather research astronauts on the Internet, at home, alone. I loved the author’s insight about a lunch invitation creating a crisis for about 25% of us, and, that while big cities offer anonymity and are ok for loners, small towns make us feel completely uncomfortable. The interesting thing is that I knew all this about myself. I just didn’t realize that my feelings are shared by a large segment of the population. A minority yes, but still, 25% is a lot of people! Another interesting part of the book was the fact that loners are heroized in movies, tv and literature, but when many non-loners come face-to-face with independence they are either offended, frightened or try to fix it.

So what does this have to do with walrus and polar bears? Well, if you’ve seen the documentary Arctic Tale you know. As Queen Latifah says, the walrus are “always up in each other’s business.” A polar bear spends most its life alone. The mother polar bear chases her daughter off when she is only two years old! How sad. But she knows it is the best chance for either of them to survive. On the other hand, when one walrus gets itchy he assumes the walrus next to him is itchy too and starts scratching. In the movie, at times it almost seems as if the group of walrus is one organism rather than a group of individuals.

I of course related to the polar bear, not just because it was cuter! Sure friends and family are important, but given the choice of being completely alone or living en masse, the former seems more survivable. Made me wonder if most people relate to the walrus. Since this was a movie, and independence is heroized in that context (and it was cuter), more people probably relate to the polar bear. It would make an interesting survey.

Time suck

Maybe I just don’t get it, but I think social network websites like Facebook are just a huge waste of time. I can’t fit everything I want to do in my life now! I certainly don’t have time to relive my high school or college years. Not that they are worth reliving! Twitter? Different, but also a huge waste of time.

They remind me of instant messaging. When AIM first came out for non-AOL users I wasted a LOT of time IM’ing. Yes, there were some benefits; a quick question-answer to a friend or family member, but overall IM was, for me, a huge time suck. After a few months I uninstalled all IM apps from my computer. Oh sure, I suffered a few days of withdrawal symptoms, but overall what a relief to get my time and privacy back! Fortunately I haven’t gotten hooked on LinkedIn, Facebook, Reunion, Plaxo, ad ~~infinitum~~ naseum.

I had a great interaction a few weeks ago. A friend sent a “friend invitation” for yet another social network. I wrote to let her know not to take it personally, but I wasn’t signing up for anymore of those things. She e-mailed back and said, she hadn’t really wanted to sign up either, she just responded to another friend’s invitation, and clicked next, next, until she’d ended up inviting and adding people to her network that weren’t even friends. Makes me think social networks are just the new chain letter.

Bail out commercial real estate developers??

All the recent bail-outs are deeply disturbing. It is appalling and embarrassing that our government has found trillions of dollars to bail-out people who live in big homes and drive nice cars; basically have every modern convenience and luxury; while there are minimal funds to help people who are living in their cars or on the street, no money for universal healthcare, and public education programs suffer from lack of funding. Our country’s priorities are frightening, if not downright disgusting. Do they really reflect the priorities of the voters, or do voters just make fundamentally poor decisions when electing people to carry out their priorities?