Coffee Klatch

I recently read this quote from Capt. Robert Johnson, late of the New Orleans Police Department, who accurately summed up the question of responsibility that I’ve been discussing with several people over the last couple weeks:

“We are now reaping the benefits of a welfare state. For more years than most can remember, we have been told by those holding office that they will take care of us. We have provided food, clothing and shelter to the extent that the recipients became entirely dependent on government resources to live. They have reached the point that no longer do they have the knowledge to take care of themselves. They will sit there and drown or go hungry, and curse the fact that the government has not gotten them out of this mess.

When it is all said and done, there is but one person who is responsible for me, and that is me. The responsibility falls to me to take care of my family, not the government. Society, not government, has an obligation to provide care and sustenance to those who, because of age or physical impairment cannot take care of themselves, but able-bodied people who stand around and complain that no one is doing anything for them deserve whatever the fates cast in their direction. Life is hard, and you either get tougher or you get washed away—it is as simple as that.

Politicians will never, ever take care of you—they only want one thing from you, and that is to stay in power as long as they can. In a situation like Katrina, they will stand in front of the cameras and microphones and denigrate everyone above them in government to take the eye off of their pathetic efforts. This is a situation that they have created, and now the good citizens of the area will have to step in and clean up the mess that has been created by the politicians. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen—there are too many good people who live in that area for it not to happen.

I love the people of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes, but I despise the politicians…. I just hope that when the area is rebuilt, they stay away from the massive welfare system they had before—absolutely no good comes from welfare. It depletes available resources, making it ever more difficult for what passes as government to respond to the true needs of the community.”—Robert Johnson, retired NOPD captain

Current music: The Pink Panther and Other Hits, by Henry Mancini

Many people who use a computer at work or school have asked themselves the following question: “Should I save my daily files on my hard drive or on the network?” If you save your files only on your hard drive, then if it crashes, you’ve lost them. Network drives get backed up regularly (usually) (at least SOMEwhat regularly), so they seem a more logical place to save files, but if the network goes down or if you have a laptop and want to use the files while away from work, you can’t.

Enter Allway Sync!

It’s a FREE file synchronization program! (free for personal use) You just select the folder on your C: drive and the folder on your network drive (or even your removable drive) and Allway Sync synchronizes them. Any changes made in either location are copied over to the other location, and if it’s unsure what to do with a particular file, it asks you.

The Synchronization Algorithm used by Allway Sync is cool and patent pending.

• Implements true all-way (2-way, 3-way, etc) synchronization.
• Uses standard file routines only. No system injection, hooks, drivers or other tricks.
• File and folder metadata for each synchronization session is collected and stored in a database.
• Recent changes are detected by file attributes, size and timestamp (not file modification time).
• In questionable situations the algorithm asks user to confirm the decision.
• Sharing same data store between multiple Allway Sync instances is supported.
• No data damaged in case of network failure or computer crash during synchronization.
• Optimized for better performance.
• Stores information about deleted files and folders.
• Does not rely on file system or computer clock accuracy.
• Enforce correct relations between folders and files inside.
• Can be used to synchronize data other than files: registry keys, database records, messages, contacts, playlists, etc.

The install file is only 1.4Mb in size and can be downloaded here. It’s quick to install and quick to run. It only asks you two questions when you start, so you can tell it the two locations to sync. Once you’ve set up the “job,” it’s a one-click process.

Pretty cool!

Current music: The Best of Medwyn Goodall