Tech

SpiderOak Syncing Problem

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Check your Activity log – you may be surprised to learn that SpiderOak stopped sycning a long time ago. This has happened to me several times now. If you’ve reached the point where you’ve googled variations of “SpiderOak stopped syncing” and landed here I’m going to assume you’ve already stopped and started the application, rescanned, and rebooted.

The next thing to check is the version number of your software. If you’re not on the latest one it may stop syncing. This happened to me once I believe because they updated security certificates. There’s no way around that – you have to update.

If you’ve tried all the basics and you’re running the newest version the only thing left to do is reinstall SpiderOak. It’s not as bad as it sounds.

In OSX delete it from your Applications directory, and check to see if there’s a SpiderOak directory in /Library/Application Support. If so, delete it. Don’t touch your Hive or other synced folders! Go to https://SpiderOak.com/download/ to get the latest version and reinstall. When you sign back in look for an option labeled “Reinstalling an existing device”. It may be a bit buried. Select that. All set.

If it still doesn’t work I’ve got nothin’ for you. Sorry.

Random

Escape Room Tips

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1) There’s a good chance you found this because you googled “escape room tips”. Stop that. Stop it right now. Embrace the game. It’s supposed to be a challenge. Also consider you might be paired up with strangers, so it’s really not fair to ruin it for them. Don’t be a dick.

2) Listen to your guide when they bring you in. They want you to make it out! Listen carefully, they may give some cryptic clues.

3) Dress to do some work. You may be crawling around, climbing, etc. Be prepared to get a little dirty.

4) Keep talking. Especially if the group seems to hit a dead end. Just make observations, even if they seem obvious. Keep the group chatting.

5) Move on. You’ve been staring at that picture frame for a long time now. Maybe it’s something, maybe it’s not. Come back to it later.

6) Try everything! Even if you’re pretty sure it won’t work just keep trying things. Move things. Put things in other things. If nothing else a light may go off in a teammate’s head. But resist the temptation to keep doing the same thing over and over.

7) Examine things even though you just saw your teammates looking at it. You may bring a different perspective.

8) Don’t post spoilers.

Tech

Smarter Than Human Machines to Take Our Jobs!

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“Bill Gates thinks super machines could eventually become smarter than humans and take our jobs”

I hope he’s right, I hope I live to see it, and I hope I have a small part in making it so.

I don’t see this prediction as a threat, nor is it particularly profound or insightful – it’s obvious, it’s positive, and it’s our destiny. Viewing those words as a threat seems to me akin to standing in a freshly plowed field 13,000 years ago and saying, “All this agriculture – it’s going to completely eliminate the need to hunt and gather. THEN WHAT?”

Fountain Pens, Random

Notebook Paralysis

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I have a new notebook and I’m ready to write. I have plenty of things to write about and plenty of uses for notebooks, but what is this one for? And what are the rules for this notebook? Will I skip the first page? Use only the fronts? Am I assigning a certain pen or ink to this notebook? Is it private? Is it okay to tear pages out? Is it going to be with me all the time? Am I going to keep it forever? Should I fill in the owner information? What should I label the cover? Should I label the cover? Will I write in the margins?

The notebook I’m writing this in has four subjects coded blue, red, gray, and green, as one does. When Chrissy gave it to me I was ecstatic – four notebooks in one, this solves all my problems! Then I took out my Rhodia A5 no skip, fronts only, private, tear okay, always handy, no archive, no cover label, anything goes notepad and starting listing possible categories. It took weeks before I could write anything in here, but that’s pretty good –  I have two notebooks from the ’90s I’ve been moving around the country with, just waiting for the right topic.

For when I need more than 140 characters.