itunes and zune; oil and water

This is a warning for anyone who is also trying to accomplish what is a miserable chore, converting your itunes playlists for use on your zune. It simply can't be done effectively, at least if you're an obsessive audiophile like I am.

Why do this? Itunes has a much more navigable interface than Zune's program, especially for making playlists. But in order to move these over to the Zune device, you need a separate program.

If you are happy with mp3 quality, iTunesExportUI is a useful tool that works to convert itunes playlists into .zpl format.
...But then theres flac. Flac is the ugly duckling zombiechild of the music world; it's the most reputable lossless audio format, but no one from producers to distrubutors seem to want to touch it, including any support from itunes and zune. Using dBPoweramp you can convert flac into .wav or .wma, which are equally good lossless formats. The problem is that while wav is supported by itunes but not zune, wma is supported by zune but not itunes. Therefore, conversion b/w the two is impossible. If you've noticed, yes, Microsoft's device not being capable of supporting Microsoft's own audio format is shockingly stupid.
The only way to get a lossless format onto the Zune is thus to use .wma, and also to make playlists in Zune. So you might want to consider making the switch completely from itunes to zune, at least after you convert your playlists.

Outside the darkness blinds like burning
these Travelers are drawn to it with tourist like yearning
blank faces holding quiet discerning

A soldier stationed at an army base
he looks in the mirror but
can't recognize his own face.
Disillusioned now
He holds his rifle as a mother would
permanently attached to it if he could.

He looks up to be inspired by the patriot bald eagle.
It defecates on his face
it is only a seagull.


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Listening to: Duke Ellington - city_music_01
via FoxyTunes

Using magnets to repel crocodiles

Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:25pm EST

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida wildlife managers have launched an experiment to see if they can keep crocodiles from returning to residential neighborhoods by temporarily taping magnets to their heads to disrupt their "homing" ability.

Researchers at Mexico's Crocodile Museum in Chiapas reported in a biology newsletter they had some success with the method, using it to permanently relocate 20 of the reptiles since 2004.

"We said, 'Hey, we might as well give this a try," Lindsey Hord, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's crocodile response coordinator, said on Tuesday.

Crocodiles are notoriously territorial and when biologists move them from urban areas to new homes in the wild, they often go right back to the place where they were captured, traveling up to 10 miles a week to get there.

Scientists believe they rely in part on the Earth's magnetic fields to navigate, and that taping magnets to both sides of their heads disorients them.

"They're just taped on temporarily," Hord said. "We just put the magnets on when they're captured and since they don't know where we take them, they're lost. The hope would be that they stay where we take them to."

Hord and his co-workers have tried it on two crocodiles since launching the experiment in January, affixing "a common old laboratory magnet" to both sides of the animals' heads. One got run over by a car and died, but the other has yet to return, Hord said.

Once an endangered species, American crocodiles' numbers have rebounded to nearly 2,000 in coastal south Florida, their only habitat in the continental United States. That puts them in increasing contact with humans, especially in areas where backyards border on canals around Miami and the Florida Keys.

Crocodiles are still classified as a threatened species, so game managers are reluctant to move them to new areas where they might be killed battling other resident crocodiles for turf rights, Hord said. Unlike alligators, which are far more numerous, each crocodile is considered important to preserving the species, he said.

"These crocodiles are unique and valuable creatures and we feel like we have a responsibility to live with these animals as much as we can," he said.

Many frightened residents don't share that view, although crocodiles are shy creatures, Hord said. Wildlife managers will try to relocate any thought to pose a significant risk, mainly those that seem to have lost their fear of humans.

Most crocodiles in Florida are tagged as hatchlings so biologists can easily recognize them, Hord said.

Any that come back twice after being captured and moved are sent to zoos or otherwise placed in captivity, something biologists hope to avoid if the magnet experiment works.

"This one is by no means a really well-developed scientific study with a control group. It's just something we thought we would try," Hord said. "We do have to make some room to live with them."

(Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Todd Eastham)