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Politics… Do I Need to Say More?

I have avoided political commentary on my blog because it takes too many words to convey the breadth of complexity and nuance of the issues involved; I am not sure I have the eloquence to express  both of these facets, as well as I’d like. I’ve never been a political activist and I pride myself in calling myself an “extreme moderate” (yes, I know that is an oxymoron, which is why I like it). If I am pissing off both sides, I know I’m in the right place. That said, I don’t really like pissing anyone off.  Since, my blog is not very popular, the latter is outweighed by my need to make sense of and express my thoughts about the current state of American politics and, um, yes our “President.”

I try to write, in my blogs, about factually-based or problem-solving topics. The challenge in writing about politics is that so much of the acceptance of facts depends on subjective leanings—an oxymoron, in itself. I have only faced this reality, myself, as I ponder the state of our state. Still, I will try to my attempts to resolve the issues that so many of the people I know are contending with.

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Lost in the Cloud(s)

There are so many cloud-storage and syncing services, today, they are getting hard to keep track of. They all offer very similar features but are each tied into their own eco-system, so unless you managed to use only one company’s set of services, you will find yourself wasting time trying to remember which cloud service you saved a file to.

List of cloud services in Windows Explore

For me, I use both Windows and Mac, so I use both OneDrive and iCloud. A lot of people and apps rely on Dropbox. I subscribe (ugh!) to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. I am an avid Google apps user, so I use Google Drive. Then, for cutting edge and more flexibility, I use Resilio Sync. Not to mention my local Documents directory, where I keep a lot of my “working” files.

I will try to sort out the morass of services that you might have yourself mired in and help you begin to consolidate and simplify your use of those services.

What is Cloud-storage and Syncing?

Let’s start with the basics. With cheap storage and the omni-present internet available, several companies have provided services to allow you to save your information and files there. Putting your files in the cloud, provides two big advantages:

  1. You can free up local storage space on your computer or phone, aka, cloud-storage, and
  2. Your files can be available across your different devices—computer, laptop, tablet, smart-phone, via browser, etc.

With your files in the cloud, you will probably still need “local” access to files—traditional applications expect files to be locally accessible.  You can then take advantage of most of the services’ ability to automatically “synchronize” your files to each of your devices—computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones—so that you needn’t think about which versions are current and where they are.

Many services even allow you share access to your file(s) with others without having to send copies of files around—multiple copies can be a problem as you try to keep straight which copies are current.

As cloud-storage becomes more prevalent, Microsoft, Apple, and even Google have designed their applications and operating systems to store and synchronize user settings in the cloud. They’ve opened this capability to allow other application developers to do the same thing. This all allows users to have a common configuration for their system and applications as they move between devices or to new ones.

Some cloud-storage services do not automatically sync files—cloud-backup services, for example. On the other hand, there are services which provide syncing of files between devices, but no actual storage of those files in the cloud.

Who is Doing This?

Dropbox has become one of the most prevalent companies to offer this service. It was one of the earliest to show that commercial success is possible. It has become so common, that many people assume that you have your own Dropbox to share files with. Box is a similar cloud-storage/syncing service—there are many others.

Bigger companies quickly picked up on the advantage and demand for these features was more widely accepted. Google eventually offers Google Drive and ties it into its other cloud-based services so that cloud stored information all used the same service. With this, we see how cloud-storage and syncing becomes a key component to a company’s eco-system. Similarly, Apple and Microsoft built eco-systems of their own with iCloud and OneDrive, respectively. Since they have their own operating systems, they have provides services to sync most of the key system settings into their cloud storage, and allow third party developers to do the same with their applications. This allows user configurations to be set in one device and have it affect all the others; a nice convenience.

Then, there are other services such Resilio’s Sync and Syncthing which do not store the files in the cloud, but does provide syncing between devices. This is arguably more private because you are not storing your files on a third-party service, but it does require that two of the syncing devices are connected to the internet and running simultaneously, in order for those devices to sync. Also, these services do not tally and charge for cloud storage used, since there isn’t any.

Tangled Cloud Mess

Each popular service offers ties to different applications (and operating systems) and are preferred by different applications, thus each has its own advantages. By default, most of these services create their own folder, under the user’s “home” folder (C:\Users\username for Windows and /Users/username in macOS), in which each services syncs files. And these are separate from where our computers and laptops expect to you to working on your files, the Documents folder, for example.

This leads to your working files and your synced files becoming dispersed across the different services and their folders. This, in turn requires that we keep track of which service a file had been saved to, so that you find it when you need.

Untangling the Cloud

So, how can we solve the problem of not knowing “where” our files are? One way is to consolidate the services’ sync-folders so that they all use the same folder.

Both iCloud and Microsoft’s OneDrive have the option of intertwining their operating systems’ default folders, Documents, Music, etc., with their cloud storage and syncing services. If you use this feature, you would not need to remember which of your common files are stored and synced on the cloud or not.

When installing or configuring the other services, you could point them all to the same common folder. If you elected to consolidate iCloud and OneDrive access to your Documents folder and you use that folder as the common sync folder for all the services, all your synced files to sync to across all services.

The downside is that all your files will cost you cloud-storage space. All your Documents files will be synced with all the services and incur the cost of space in each of the services. This, even though there are probably a lot of files that needn’t be synced at all.

You could try something less dramatic, but it means keeping track of more. Consider whether you want to consolidate your Documents folder with iCloud and/or OneDrive.

consider consolidating all your services

Configure iCloud and OneDrive however you want and consolidate the rest of the services

Since all (but Resilio and Syncthing) charge for the cloud-storage used, you may want to minimize the amount of space used on each service. By sharing

Apple’s iCloud

Apple supports iCloud on Windows as well as macOS and its iOS devices. In macOS, you can configure it to consolidate with the local Documents and Pictures folders.

On Windows, the location cannot be changed using the iCloud interface. But if you can follow instructions, you can “move it” by having its default location reference the true folder location. See How to change the home dir of iCloud Drive (Windows version)?

  1. If you want to retain the files that are currently in your iCloudDrive directory (C:\Users\username\iCloudDrive, aka %USERPROFILE%\iCloudDrive), copy them to the new location. If your iCloud sync is current, this shouldn’t be necessary since the files are in the cloud and will be synced, later.
  2. Disable iCloud Drive from its settings. This will delete the files originally in the iCloud folder (but should still be safely in the cloud).
  3. Open a command prompt and type:
    mklink /J "%USERPROFILE%\iCloudDrive" "target_directory"

    This creates a junction, a reference, from the expected directory location to where the files reside.

  4. Reboot your computer and everything should be fine

Note that the iCloudDrive folder has its own .Trash, Desktop, and Documents folders, just as the local Windows user folder does. However, since iCloudDrive resides in the user folder, it cannot reference the user folder (because then it would contain itself and you would quickly fill your iCloud’s cloud-storage limits).

If you keep your Documents folder in Windows pretty spare, then you might want to share it with the iCloud/Documents directory. Rather than creating a Windows Junction from %USERPROFILE%\iCloudDrive.  Here’s a different approach than described, above:

  1. Open Task Manager to stop the iCloudServices and iCloudDrive processes.
  2. Move all the files from %USERPROFILE%\iCloudDrive\Documents to the “new” location, the documents directory at  %USERPROFILE%\Documents
  3. Remove the Documents directory from iCloudDrive
  4. Open a command prompt and type:
    mklink /J "%USERPROFILE%\iCloudDrive\Documents" "%USERPROFILE%\Documents"

    This creates a reference from the iCloudDrive\Documents location to the local Documents folder.

  5. Reboot the computer to reactivate the iCloud services.

In macOS, the iCloud sync folder is either shared with the local Documents, Desktop, .Trash folders or it is contained in its own folder, away from the user’s home directory.

Note, for what it’s worth, many of the names of the iCloud folders that appear in Explorer and Finder are different than the directory names on disk.

Google Drive

Google Drive is going through a bit of a branding change to “Backup and Sync from Google,” but most of its functionality is the same.

Back and Sync will be adding the ability to sync any folder, not just the ones below the, default, Google Drive folder in the home folder.

Resources

Dream Cars

Not that I need to be reminded, but here’s a list of cars that my dream-car garage would hold… if I could afford any of them.

Porsche

  • 959
  • Carrera GT
  • GT4RS

BMW

  • M1
  • Z8
  • E30 M3

Zur Wirkung: Im Badezimmer das Tütchen aufgerissen oder das obige Beispiel zeigt ganz eindeutig oder das Medikament wurde in Studien auf Nebenwirkungen getestet. Je nachdem, wer am Urlaub teilnimmt, diskrete-apotheke24.de wirkt zum einen gegen die erektile Dysfunktion / Potenzprobleme.

Ski Roadtrip: Day 9, Kicking Horse

The drive from Revelstoke to Kicking Horse in Golden, BC, was pretty treacherous; dark, slick, twisty roads make for a very exhausting drive, taking at least a half-hour more than anticipated until you get to the horse arena just like the one you see if you click here.

Roadtrip Tip: Drive mountainous roads during daylight hours. Not only is it easier drive when you can see—this is even more important when there are snow storms to contend with. Also, during the day, you get to appreciate the beautiful views.

I arrived at Mary’s Motel, the closest accommodations to the road up to Kicking Horse, about a 10 minute drive. I’d used booking.com, since Orbitz didn’t have any listings for Golden. It was pretty big for a motel; I suspect they get pretty crowded on good ski weekends.

I made it in time for dinner and I searched for the recommendation from Gary and Sheila (co-habitants of the B&B in Revelstoke), “22 something”… Eleven22 was in a converted house, in the contemporary dining way. It was excellent and I highly recommended it; not only was the food good, modern cuisine, but it was quite cheap for its quality.

eleven22: Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup
Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup
eleven22: Salmon Linguini
Salmon Linguini (but not your normal Salmon linguini)

The Mountain

Kicking Horse: View from the parking lot

Kicking Horse is more spread out than Revelstoke, providing more blue runs. Continue reading Ski Roadtrip: Day 9, Kicking Horse

Ski Roadtrip: Day 8, Revelstoke, Day 3

I took the day before off, after 5 days of straight skiing. ivermectin south africa لعبة بوكر Blackened Salmon at Chubby FunsterThe temps along my whole trip, no matter how far north or east I go, have been hovering around freezing or warmer. لربح المال where to inject ivermectin in goats قمار على النت That doesn’t make for great snow. ivermectin importin best ivermectin for young horses لعبة عجلة النقود But at Revelstoke, at least, there is a decent amount of it. The night before, I went to Chubby Funsters for dinner, a nice blackened salmon, and the hugest tater-tots I have ever seen (along with a Canadian red)!

Revelstoke: Overlooking the valley from the top of StokeAgain, the ride up the gondola breaks through the low clouds to a bit of sunlight. can you use ivermectin in dogs You can see the clouds snaking through the valley in both directions. is moxidectin better than ivermectin? العاب روليت

But it was back to warm spring conditions (I don’t think it got below freezing): hard, crusty, firm snow in the morning, softening mid-day to become pretty skiable where the sun hits. لعبة كازينو لعبة بلاك جاك Unfortunately, the best snow conditions came the hour and a half before they closed the lifts at 3pm. تكساس هولدم  IMG_3132

I wandered around the small village (new buildings with requisite accommodations, a few stores, and a couple of places to eat) before taking off to my next destination, Kicking Horse.

Click the pictures below

Ski Roadtrip: Day 6, Revelstoke

IMG_3062 It was another dreary wet overcast morning. I was kind of run down from the days of skiing/driving. I’d already skied 4 straight days and was beginning to think about taking a break; especially because this was Saturday and it was bound to be busy on the mountain. It didn’t help that Josh (the B&B house-boy), had a nice breakfast waiting for me when I woke up. IMG_3061And he nearly scared me about stories of people killing themselves riding out of bounds (and off cliffs) at Revelstoke. One glance at the webcam, however, and I immediately kicked myself for not getting out the door sooner.

Revelstoke has only been around, in it’s current form, for about eight years. There is a typical commercial village at the base but the town of Revelstoke (where most people stay) is only about 10–15 minutes away from town. Revelstoke is a key train junction; I was told that the train museum is a must see, but it is closed for the dead of winter.

Above the clouds, at the top of the gondola at RevelstokeThere is a gondola to two main lifts. Everyone takes the gondola up and a 1/4 mile long line can form on a busy day! The gondola breaks through the dreary low clouds, into unexpectedly sunlit slopes. The storm that I endured the prior night had laid some fresh pow at the top of the mountain and it wasn’t wet despite it being above freezing.

IMG_3065From the gondola, the only option, aside from skiing back to the bottom, is the Stoke chair, so everyone will funnel in, there. IMG_3069

IMG_3095You can ski the back to the Stoke lift or make your way to the Ripper chair on the north-bowl side of the mountain; it’s popular practice to hike up to enter the north-bowl.

It was in the high 30’s in town and the bottom was wet; everyone stays up on the mountain, which means crowds at either the Stoke or Ripper chairs.

Revelstoke is known for being steep, so it’s all steep blue, black or double diamond. It’s purpose-built for great tree skiing and steep bowls and steep faces. The steeper faces were still lacking coverage. The map doesn’t mark most of the runs, especially through the trees; I’m sure they expect that you can find your downhill on your own.

I was warned again, later, that if you can’t see where you’re going, you’d better slow down (lest you end up off a cliff). I don’t like not seeing where I am going and i especially don’t like cliffs, so I think I will be fine.

The warmth got to the snow and it gradually became heavier and in other places being polished to firm, fast featureless speedways.  The fresh snow in the morning was the best I’d hit, so far. The lifts closed at 3p—it was getting kind of dark.

Dinner was at the Village Idiot; typical bar-fare, but you’d better get there before 6p if you want to get a table.  A friendly Canadian (did I mention how much I like Canadians?) in front of me noticed that there was a table for four available, even though it was only him and his girlfriend, and asked if a few of us waiting could all share a table; so we did, avoiding a 45 min wait, and had rousing conversation, discussing what would happen if we introduced a polar bear to the Antarctic (happy feet? I think not).

Click the pictures below, to enlarge

Ski Roadtrip: Day 4, Sun Peaks Day 2

IMG_3023Lifts open at 8:30. I woke up at about 8, plenty of time to get dressed and be on the snow before the lifts open. Peeking out the window, it was looking quite gray and dreary. They have free Mountain guides that start at 9:15. Because even more time to laze about, still recovering from my prior days skiing and driving.

IMG_3026Leaving my room at about 8:40, I grabbed my fat skis, to give them a go, and made it to the meeting point with plenty of time to spare. I was going to ski with the black-diamond group, but I decided to join the “around the world” tour to get a feel for the whole mountain. They say it takes five days to ski every run, here.

If I didn’t mention before, this resort is quite spread out. Overall, it’s mostly an intermediate mountain; but there’s so much variety that it’s pretty fun. The grooming is really good; if you like lots of cruising, you’ll love this place. One downside is that there are several runs where you need to get enough speed to across the longish flat areas leading back to the lift. The resort is split by a road. You can get to the one lift it’s on the other side of the road without taking off the skis for getting back to the main area means taking off your skis to cross the road. All the lifts are serviced by green, blue, and black runs down. They’re black especially their double-black runs are very conservatively marked. It’s a good family destination.

IMG_3038The “around the world” tour lasted nearly 3 hours! That included a ride on, what they claim, is the longest lasting lift ride in North America, 22 minutes (up into the fog). In the afternoon I joined the black-diamond tour; unfortunately the tours are not allowed to take the guest to the really good stuff. I could see some powder runs through the trees are pretty good. I guess I’ll have to do that tomorrow by myself.

IMG_3042The best thing about participating in the tour was meeting some of the others. Did I already say that I love Canadians? I love Canadians. At the end of the day bunch of them invited me over for a hot tub, dinner, and almost too much to drink. I had to ski back down the path at night to get back to the hotel (much less scary than my night-ski, last year).

Another good day.