Narrowly Avoided Trouble...

It seem as though we have narrowly avoided trouble here at THEmdg.org. You see, our budget is small. As a result, our infrastructure is not what it should be. Rarely are backups done on data, and there are NO full backups done...ever. So, if a drive goes down, we curl and cry.

Well, it happened today.

Went to pull a few mp3's out for a slideshow and found 0 files. "Oh yeah, maybe the drive just needs to be remounted," We thought. No dice. Upon further investigation, we found that the drive that holds about 80GB's of MP3's was unaccessable. Scary I/O Error stuff. The actual error had something to do with a bad superblock. A superblock a bit like the card catalogue of a partition. Without it, the data is still there, but ou can't find any of it.

After mourning the loss of an 8 year collection of music and after scheming how to replace them (a daunting task!), We had the idea to put a little more faith in linux to see if the data was recoverable.

Check out this magic:

Step 1 - Find out where the backup superblocks are stored.
-------------------
avast:/tmp# mke2fs -n /dev/hdb1
mke2fs 1.35 (28-Feb-2004)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
14663680 inodes, 29304560 blocks
1465228 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
895 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872
----------------

Step 2 - Rebuild the jounral with a new (not corrupted) superblock
-------------------
fsck.ext3 -b 98304 /dev/hdb1
-------------------

After some bad block fixes etc etc
-------------------
/dev/hdb1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/hdb1: 13333/14663680 files (21.3% non-contiguous), 15266103/29304560 blocks
------------------

What? That did it? We quickly remounted the drive:

avast:/mnt# mount butters

Woa...no errors...what now? It worked? Checking the mounted file system we were shocked to see all files intact! The MP3's are alive and well. Three cheers for linux magic.

The moral of the story? If you want to keep stuff you put on themdg.org...back it up. Chances are, we don't.

Staples for the boy...

My 5 years old son fell of the swings at the park today...perhaps because I pushed him too hard? (sigh.) 3 staples in the head later, he's back home. He was extremely brave during the ordeal. I've never seen a better patient.

May I suggest Winkys

A treat suggestion. I picked a 12 pack of Winky Brand Sugar Free Gelatin snack cups at the Wal-Marts the other day. They may be one of the best tasting thing on the whole dang planet. Go and get some. $2.50 for a 12 pack. 3 flavors.

Pictures from a life changing day....

Last month, my friend Trav and I were hired to photograph a wedding for an Indian friend of mine. Travis flew out from Salt Lake City, and we traveled to Pleasanton, Kansas to take the pictures. For 14 hours we snapped more than 2500 pictures.

It was an amazing experience from a photography point of view, but a life changing experience from a personal point of view. So much so in fact, that it's hard to portray in words.

But...the pictures turned out great. We narrowed them down quite a bit. Have a look:

http://amitandkalagee.themdg.org/main.php

Review: McCartneys Latest - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard

I gave this a bunch of listens, and have come to the conclusion that (no disrespect intended) you're wrong. You DO like this album.

I read a nice article about it in Time magazine about this album. On the advise of George Martin, Paul hired Nigel Godrich to produce this album. Nigel has produced groups like Beck and Radiohead. The first thing he did was tell Paul that most of his solo stuff is garbage. He also told Paul he needed to ditch his regular band for this album, and refused to do any 50's type rock and roll songs. Two words Nigel: Thank you! You've got to admit that the absence of the same-old-rock-and-roll we've been hearing from paul for a long time is a nice change.

Here is the bottom line. There are no Elvis songs. There are no songs about cows, or about how much you suck for wearing fur or leather. There are lots of background vocals that have been missing from Pauls songs for 20 years. Nice to hear them returning, finally.

1) Fine Line
Being the single, this is one of the most catchy tunes on the album. The sentiment is nice too. A sort of prodigal son story. Easy to relate the emotions to a wayward friend of family member.

2) How Kind of You
I like this song, but a bit less than the others. I can't place why. I guess any song that is based on " You... Me" is too simple. Nice ethereal feel near the end. But overall sub-par.

3) Jenny Wren
This is a cool balled that carries hints of songs such as Blackbird and albums such as Wings - Wild Life. We also get to hear that Pauls falsetto voice is still very much intact and pleasant. One more plus is the interesting sounds and instrumentation that's been missing from the last few albums which have been mostly simple rock. Like a good book, it's easy to get lost in the story of this song.

4) At The Mercy
Not much to love about this song at beginning. However, at around 1:10, paul brings in some strings (which have also been missing from his latest albums.) Your attention peaked, paul switches the song entirely with "If you take me up... I won't say no..." It's a nice bridge and saves the song, in my view.

5) Friends To Go
This is a nice sounding song. Starting simple, Paul brings some of his old tricks into the tune with nice harmonies during "Slowly burning rope...but the flame is getting low." Also, at around 2:15 we get some linda-style background "the other side the other side the other side....friends to go frienda to go friends to go..." Haven't heard that in a long time.

6) English Tea
String Quartet? Not since Give My Regards, I think. Clearly some sounds of "For No One" in this song. He paints a nice mental picture with this song, which is something we haven't had in a while. For that reason, this song might have been on Wings - London Town.

7) Too Much Rain
This is my favorite track on the album. The sentiment in it is touching. "It's not right. In one life. Too much rain." Sometimes I feel like there is too much rain. It's nice to be able to relate to a McCartney song again. I could see using this song on a compilation tape for someone I love. In short...it's a sad song that is indeed sad.

8) A Certain Softness
Not my favorite. Too much like elevator music. This should have been a B-side. I suspect this is about Pauls new child.

9) Riding to Vanity Fair
Is Paul mad here? Nice to hear a departure from the guitar-bass-drums-piano combo. Some eiry sounds in there that might have appreaed on Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon. However, too much "Friendship" in this one.

10) Follow Me
Paul wants to be best friends with everyone. NIce harmonies around 1:40. This sounds sounds a bit like a not-so-successful attempt at something like "Put it there" from Flowers in the Dirt.

11) Promise To You Girl
Nice harmonies at the beginning sounding a bit like "Flying to my home." A bit too optimistic and 50's-ish though. Pass.

12) This Never Happened Before
Another one you might have heard on Wild Life. I hear anthem type melodies like the Long And Winding Road or Hey Jude, but it never quite gets there. Almost seems like paul is writing about retirement?

13) Anyway
Sounds like something from the musical Rent. I like this some though. I could easilly see this fitting somewhere on a girlfriend tape, or in a movie soundtrack. You even hear some "Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo" that makes you think of Pipes of Peace.

13.5) Hidden jam?
Starts out crappy. Ends up nice.