Tech Tool Shortcomings: Seeking Simple Solutions for Mac Users | October 09 2024, 16:13

So by the way, when I was cutting out this piece, I realized that even with my experience working on Macs and online, I can’t find two simple tools: 1) to download just a segment from YouTube. Not the whole multi-hour video, just from 9:30 to 9:45. Somehow no one can do this, they all offer to download the whole thing. 2) Screen recording with system sounds, not microphone sounds. Sounds from the microphone are recorded, but not the system sounds. I know that maybe you could use Zoom and turn on the recording there. But that seems like a rather convoluted way to do it.

In short, if anyone wants some fame (not sure about the money), write a utility for Macs that records a screen or screen segment with subsequent crop/trim, and a tool to download video segments from video hosting services like YT/VK as video files.

It turned out easier for me to download an hour-long video and trim it using QuickTime.

Exploring Milk as an Alternative to Water in Espresso Making | October 08 2024, 20:33

I wonder, what if instead of water we used milk to make espresso?

(From the image it seems unclear to many – there is no heating, no way for it to burn. Plus, there are different kinds of milk – like oat milk, for example)

Bryan Mark Taylor | October 08 2024, 13:22

Today, I’m sharing the works of the American artist Bryan Mark Taylor. His paintings are incredibly diverse, with a lot of plein air pieces and quick impressionistic sketches. The only thing missing is people—there aren’t any, in any form, anywhere.

I firmly believe that if a person has the talent to capture the fleeting beauty of nature or cities or objects of any kind —whether through photography or landscape painting—then they should seize the opportunity to travel. Otherwise, that talent risks being locked away. Of course, you could argue, “And what about Andrew Wyeth, who spent his whole life in Pennsylvania and Maine, painting his neighbors on the porch?” Probably, Wyeth is the exception, he is the King anyway. A better example is John Singer Sargent, an American of the 19th century who traveled across half of Europe.

Bryan Mark Taylor is another excellent example. He’s just a year older than me, so the most exciting work is still ahead!

Posts like this are grouped under the hashtag #artrauflikes, and you can find all 115 posts in the “Art Rauf Likes” section on beinginamerica.com (unlike Facebook, which tends to forget—or neglect—nearly half of them)

Unveiling the Soviet Rock Scene | October 07 2024, 16:54

This picture is often mentioned in the same breath as “Who does Kiss harmonize with?”, “victims of pseudo-music”, and “Liverpool ‘idols’ shearing sheep”. The text is of terrible quality, unreadable, but if you manage to decipher it, it actually turns out to be an advertisement for the upcoming Soviet-Polish festival “Thrash Epidemic” at the Gorbunov House of Culture, featuring “Master”, “Hellraiser”, “Black Obelisk”, “Abaddon”, “Mass” and other hard rock bands. So, the freedom of the nineties was still something to behold.

Text from the picture below

* * *

A familiar journalist named John, originally from foggy Ireland, with an astonished lift of his eyebrows watched the trash-metal-sex-show “Corrosion of Metal” and asked Spider (real name Sergey Troitsky) about the age restriction for attending his performances. This time, it was Spider’s eyebrows that flew up in surprise, and in righteous anger he made a historic speech about how his show is primarily meant for Soviet teenagers.

It should be noted that all of Spider’s speeches hold historical value, and if there’s a biographer who decides to follow his every step, that biographer might make a killing on the memoirs. Because history has not yet witnessed anything similar.

Spider said that children are shielded from the truth about sex, hence “Corrosion of Metal” had to take up the heavy burden of enlightenment.

WHEN all this was just beginning, Spider openly stated that Soviet education only increases the risk of naive teenagers contracting syphilis, gonorrhea, and AIDS. “Prevent this,” Spider called out and brought onto the stage a group of desperate girls tasked not only with showing an orgasm but actually achieving it on stage.

“The truth and nothing but the truth,” says Spider and adds, “the truth cannot be vulgar…”. To him, thrash appears to be the most natural musical form capable of conveying the full extent of hypersexual teenagers’ feelings.

With all this, they will take the stage the day after tomorrow at the Gorbunov House of Culture during the Soviet-Polish festival “Thrash Epidemic” (thank God it’s only – thrash!). Also there, as “ZD” already reported, will be “Master”, “Hellraiser”, “Black Obelisk”, “Abaddon”, “Mass”, and Polish peers “Vader”, “Bloodlust”, and “Slashing Death”. Starts at 15:00 and 19:30.

MEANWHILE, with the help of our photojournalist Alexander Astafyev, “ZD” offers a look not only at the stage but also behind the scenes of such a cool team as “Cor-r-rrosion of Metal”…

Photos by Alexander ASTAFYEV.

“Moskovsky Komsomolets” 29.11.1990

Revello de Toro | October 07 2024, 03:16

Today — meet Revello de Toro, a mid-20th-century Spanish painter. He primarily painted women in white, deep in thought, in various poses and life situations. But he did so—perfectly. If I ever make it to Málaga, I must visit his museum. There, they have about 150 of his works.

Posts like this are grouped under the tag #artrauflikes, and on beinginamerica.com, in the “Art Rauf Likes” section, you can find all 114 (unlike Facebook, which forgets or overlooks nearly half of them).

Sosumi: The Playful Sound of Apple’s Legal Battles with The Beatles | October 06 2024, 17:59

1) It turns out the MacOS notification sound had a name, and it was Sosumi. It was used from 1991 to 2020, after which it was replaced with Sonumi. There’s a funny story behind the name.

2) These sounds have a creator. It’s Jim Reekes—Apple’s sound designer, and there’s a secret that wasn’t disclosed for about 10 years after his departure from the company.

3) The Beatles are partly the authors of the MacOS startup sound.

Now for the full story. There was a company called Apple Corps, organized by the Beatles. Its logo was also an apple (of course), hence there was a legal dispute with Apple, which ended, as the joke goes, with the agreement “I don’t give loans, and the bank doesn’t sell seeds.” Apple Inc. could use its name but was not allowed to venture into the music industry and use music-related names in its products.

Accordingly, any Apple ventures into music immediately alarmed lawyers from both sides. When it came to creating system sounds, the lawyers tensed up and asked Reekes to first, not use the name “Chime,” and second, please no melodies in the sounds. As a result, operating system sounds like Frog, Funk, Glass, and Hero appeared.

Eventually, Reekes worked hard on the startup sound and created a C major chord.

Reekes assures that while creating the C major chord, he was inspired by The Beatles’ song “A Day in the Life. I don’t know why I’m laughing here.

Returning to notifications. After much deliberation and attempts to find a neutral name, Reekes proposed the playful name “Let it Beep” in the style of The Beatles’ song “Let it Be”, but his colleagues thought it would be hard to accept. When someone suggested such a name would lead to legal disputes, Reekes jokingly replied: “So sue me,” and suddenly realized that this phrase would be perfect for the sound name. Eventually, they decided to rename the sound to “Sosumi. He told his bosses it was a Japanese word having nothing to do with music.

In macOS Big Sur, the original chime was replaced with another, which was named Sonumi. The original name was retained in the first public version of the OS, but later changed to “Sonumi. The sound file itself /System/Library/Sounds/ is still named Sosumi.aiff.

Now, the OS startup sound is completely removed. It seems you can enable it in the settings.

Blair Atherholt | October 05 2024, 15:10

Today I introduce you to the American artist, Blair Atherholt. He works in the genre of realistic oil painting, specializing in still lifes, drawing inspiration from the canvases and techniques of the old masters. His paintings are highly distinctive and memorable, almost glowing from within. Yet, it’s just oil paint, which can often appear quite dull if used carelessly.

His works provide a fascinating study of how to achieve this glowing effect. Atherholt plays with contrasts between low and high color saturation, guiding the viewer’s eye to specific parts of the composition while maintaining the natural feel of the whole—a technique reminiscent of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro. He also expertly employs “lost edges,” creating a soft, blurred effect that encourages the viewer to focus on key elements rather than on every object at once. This gives his work a lively, dynamic quality, despite its static subject matter.

Occasionally, he’s commissioned to paint cats and dogs, but even those end up looking like still lifes!

You can find similar posts grouped under the tag #artrauflikes, and all 113 can be viewed at beinginamerica.com in the “Art Rauf Likes” section (unlike Facebook, which forgets— or neglects—nearly half of them).