Walk Now for Autism Speaks

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A few years ago, my nephew, Will, was diagnosed with autism. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 88 American children has some form of autism spectrum disorder. Even more staggering, 1 in 54 boys.

Every year since Will was diagnosed, we’ve joined Will’s family for the Walk Now for Autism Speaks charity event. For the parents of these kids, it’s a day of celebrating their fund raising efforts. More importantly, it’s the one day of the year where they are surrounded by acceptance, patience, and understanding.

After last year, I watched a mother trying to comfort her grown son. Her son was throwing a tantrum like you’d see from a toddler: head back and elbows flailing. I have no idea why he was upset. But, it could have been something as simple as a loud noise. The mother never lost her patience. She did what any parent would do: loved her son unconditionally and comforted him.

My hope is that the donations we collect for Autism Speaks will help us understand why the number of kids with autism continues to increase, and will help those families currently affected.

I understand times are tough. But, if you are able to donate, please consider making a tax deductible donation to Autism Speaks at http://walknowforautismspeaks.org/cincinnati/uncledoug No donation is too small! If you are unable to donate, please read http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/faq to better understand autism.

Finally, please keep the spirit of the day in your heart throughout the year: acceptance, patience, and understanding.

Thank you!

Doug

iTunes Backup Shell Script

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I’m starting over with my iTunes library. During this process, I needed to backup the existing library based on file type. Basically, I only wanted to move the non-DRM files back in. This hastily written script copies the iTunes library content to directories based on file type. So you end up with Backup/m4a, Backup/mp3, Backup/m4p, etc. (One caveat is if two songs have the exact same file type, track number and title. One will get overwritten.)

#!/bin/sh

# this script backs up your iTunes content into directories based on file type
# use at your own risk

# where do you want the archive?
DESTDIR="/Volumes/Backup/iTunes"
ITUNESDIR="/Users/fburns/Music"

# file extensions we might find (this is what was in my library)
# .aa    audio books
# .ipa   apps
# .m4p   protected content
# .m4a   purchased or imported AAC
# .mp3   old mp3's
# .mp4   mpeg4 videos
# .m4r   ring tones
# .m4v   videos
# .pdf   pdf's

EXTENSIONS="aa
ipa
m4p
m4a
mp3
mp4
m4r
m4v
pdf"

for EXT in $EXTENSIONS
do
  mkdir -p "$DESTDIR/$EXT"
  echo "Copying... to $DESTDIR/$EXT/"
  find $ITUNESDIR -name "*.$EXT" -print -exec cp {} "$DESTDIR/$EXT/" \;
done