See what I mean?

For example, if I want to sync a folder like D:\My Videos, the program accepts the folder I want as D:\y Videos and then creates this new folder for syncing. Or it might sync D:\Archives as D:\rchives. On my other computer — no issues.

Investigating a bit, I discovered it doesn’t happen on my other drives (C:, F:). My D drive is different, in that I’ve moved the location of my My Documents folder to D. In a quick test, I discovered that moving it again to a subfolder of D removes the issue. It’s not a permanent solution however, as a) I like having my documents folder in the root of my secondary drive, and b) I would have to move 220Gb of data to an external drive and back again as you can’t move the location to a subfolder of the current location.

So I’ve sent feedback to Microsoft using the inbuilt “report a problem” menu in the beta. I did it in two parts though, so this post is my way of putting it all in one place, and on the off chance that someone is having a similar issue, they might get some comfort knowing that it’s not their fault (well it is, but only ever so slightly).

My Small Issue With the Windows Live Sync Beta is a post from The Geekorium

Frank Oz is nowadays probably best known for being the voice of Yoda, but he’s also a respected and talented film director. He’s still entertaining, long after Jim Henson’s death and I hope he continues to do so for a long time to come.

But what the world has lost since Jim’s death is not only a talented puppeteer and performer, but some classic comedic pairings of his characters with those of Frank Oz. I cry a little inside when I realise that there will be nothing new created by these two fabulous men working together.

Let me give you some examples. First up the most obvious pair:

This is the only video in this collection that I’ll forgive you for not watching in full. It’s a scene from my least favourite of the Muppet movies (Muppets take Manhattan^[1] ) showing the “wedding” between Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog, probably the most memorable Muppet pairing of all time (even if it’s not one of my favourites). Though an unlikely pair, Jim and Frank made the pig’s flamboyant declarations of love and the frog’s seeming indifference oddly engaging and has created a love affair that is still going strong.

The next classic pair were Kermit and Fozzie Bear:

As well as some terrific running gags throughout the Muppet Show, this odd couple were the backbone of the first two major Muppet movies — as travelling companions in the first and as brothers^[2] in the Great Muppet Caper^[3]. I think their relationship is part of what made Muppet Treasure Island feel like old-school Muppets.

Rowlf and Fozzie:

These guys had some great musical moments together (check out “I got rhythm” on YouTube for another classic bit). Frank rarely got to show off his musical talent, playing the fool in a lot of songs or singing shrilly in his Miss Piggy voice. It made for some great comedy moments though.

Sam the American Eagle and Rowlf:

Sam is one of the most hilarious characters to come from the Muppets, and can instantly make any other character funnier, just by being the worlds most over the top straight man. Once again, it’s almost like Frank is playing up a lack of musical talent, and it’s brilliant.

Moving briefly to some Sesame Street pairings, and the most obvious (and maybe even more famous than any of the above) is the classic duo of Bert and Ernie. With Jim playing the prankster and Frank the straight man, there was no situation too simple to be made into a hilarious farce — and even kids could get it.

I’m just not emotionally secure enough to do this Ernie.

And some rarer but no less fantastic pairings came when Kermit^[4] ran into the Cookie Monster or Grover:

These two men made comedic character pairings to rival some of the greatest in history: think Laurel & Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Aykroyd and Belushi, French and Saunders, Fry and Laurie, The Mighty Boosh, or Lano and Woodley^[5]. All things must come to an end I guess. The loss of Jim Henson alone was a dreadful blow, but the loss of the joyful playful scenes that these two men could create together make the loss that much harder to accept.

Of course I don’t mean to detract from the other brilliant pairings that the Muppet show produced. Statler and Waldorf come to mind as another well known pair (voiced by Jim and both Jerry Nelson and Richard Hunt). Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker are the other two that spring to mind. Their sketches are just as fun, but I believe that Jim and Frank had a spark of something greater in their performances.

I’ll leave you with one other pair that might be less obvious, but is one of the defining partnerships of the Muppet Show — and is firmly entrenched in public consciousness. The pairing of Jim Henson’s head and characteristic voice, and Frank Oz’s out-of-control hands for the Swedish Chef:

Fair-well Old Chums is a post from The Geekorium

Well I’m trying again.

I’m happy about where this one is going. I’m still in the design stage, so it’s probably going to change a lot, but I’m proud of the work so far and I thought I’d share the direction I’m going with it and ask for some feedback. Normally my feedback process on my personal site design is to ask my wife, but I want to widen my base and get an idea from some of the people who read it. I realise I’m not giving you much to go on, but I’d love some off-the-top-of-your-head thoughts.

A sneaky peak

So what do you think?

As Good As is a post from The Geekorium

I’ve used this plugin here and elsewhere to add a Creative Commons licence to the items I publish. Publishing something as Creative Commons means you still retain full copyright to the material, but gives others permission to use portions (or all) of your work on their own sites as long as they meet your guidelines. The choices can be a combination of the following:

• Attribution — the person who uses your content must link back to you.
• Non-commercial — the work they do must not be used for commercial gain.
• Share Alike — the work they make must also be put under a Creative Commons licence with the same terms.

The nature of the web is to share and republish things you find interesting and useful and to add your own take on it. By making my writing CC licensed, people can share what I write without fear of copyright claims (as long as they agree to my terms). I in turn other people’s CC licensed photos in a lot of my posts. CC helps to make the web richer and more useful by opening up things that might otherwise be locked away on their own sites.

If you don’t plan to sell your work or make money off it, or feel like contributing to your community in some way consider putting your work under a Creative Commons licence.

I DIDN’T KNOW MY SISTER WAS A BLOGGER THEN I FOUND OUT THAT SHE IS AND SHE DID A POST ON CREATIVE COMMONS AND PUBLISHED IT BEFORE I DID AND MY MIND IS BLOWN SO I’M LINKING TO HER POST ON CREATIVE COMMONS SO YOU CAN GET MORE INFORMATION IF YOU’D LIKE TO READ IT SHE STUDIES COMMUNICATIONS AND SHIT SO SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE’S TALKING ABOUT AND SHE HAS A TWEETER ACCOUNT TOO. HOLY CRAP.

Creative Commons: What, Why and How. is a post from The Geekorium

“This is probably the single greatest breach in the history of privacy.”

Steven Conroy on Google’s (accidental) collection of unsecured (and essentially public) wifi data from people who don’t know how to set a simple password on their wireless Internet connections.

I once caught a clue THIS BIG! Then I let it go.
By kjd.

Really, he needs to stop talking if he ever wants anyone to take him seriously in a technological capacity ever again. Can’t he just have a 13 year old check his speeches before he gives them so they sound at least vaguely knowledgable?

Bozo, the Clown Communications Minister is a post from The Geekorium