Archive for August 22nd, 2008

22 Aug 2008 Tempest In A Pastel-Coloured Teacup
Author: Gail |  Category: Wacky WWW  | One Comment

This old post has been attracting unsolicited attention for several years, but even moreso this year, for some reason.

If you Google “Azalea Trail Maids”, guess what shows up?

March 22, 2005: Azalea Trail Maids (gailatlarge.com)
March 22, 2005: Azalea Trail Maids (gailontheweb.blogspot.com)

(I imported all the blogspot posts to my current domain at the end of 2005, but I imported the comments directly into Wordpress and closed down my Haloscan account, which is why the blogspot site has no comments.)

The post was not written in a mean-spirited way, but it sure got a bunch of Southerners in a huff.

I’ve never been to Mobile, Alabama, the photo is Gene’s. I should make a trip south, if only to document these dresses up close. Seems part of the look of uniformity is that all the detail work is completely lost in the monochrome pastel. The complete lack of contrast washes out any uniqueness in textures. None of this is the girls’ choice, however, which is why they shouldn’t take my critique of the dress to heart. It is, after all, a costume.

Aviation and cancer-related topics are still my highest Google rankings, but crazily enough, the Azalea Trail Maid post is making serious gains. If the Trail Maid website (what’s with the TECHNO music?) had more information and were maintained properly, I don’t think I’d be getting as many views and comments. The internet sure is a funny place…

22 Aug 2008 Backup, Backup, Backup!
Author: Gail |  Category: Memes, Polls, Quizzes, Unabashed Geekiness, cameraphone  | 3 Comments

Save your life.

Sticker on the cable bag of my Maxtor external firewire drive, purchased over the weekend.

I’m currently on my third external firewire drive. The first two are 250GBs, this one is 500GBs. Someone suggested that I get a 1TB (terabyte) drive, but I’m willing to wait — prices will always decrease for storage while capacity increases.

I have several archiving methods which include making a backup of a memory card download direct to DVD even before I cull any dud photos or do any editing. That DVD of full unedited originals gets filed chronologically.

I shoot on average 1,000 photos or more per month, so I burn a backup of about a month’s worth of shooting and editing and file that, too. Additionally, I archive each quarter of a year’s worth of photo libraries (2008 Q1, Q2, etc.) over to an external drive, separate from any other archiving.

I only keep three months (one quarter) of photos on my G4 PowerBook at any one time because it travels quite a bit and it only has an 80GB hard drive. All my email is stored on other servers (.Mac, gmail, the office, etc.), and my documents, calendars, address book, and bookmarks are synched with iDisk to Apple’s servers. I can retrieve them using any browser and can access most things from my iPod Touch.

Basically, if my PowerBook G4 ever fails, the only things I lose are the applications, which are no big deal. The only area I haven’t covered is if my house collapses or explodes because I need to move either the DVDs or an external drive with full backup off-site.

Are you a big archivist? Or are you willing to take a technological gamble? It’s time for a poll!

poll by twiigs.com