Finding free music

Power-searching in Google provides an interesting way to find mp3s and movies without using a peer-to-peer system like Kazaa.

Google's indexing spiders are pretty thorough. The fact is that there are a lot of public-facing computers on the Internet that people use to store personal files, usually without realizing that others can access them.

For example, if you are looking for .mp3 or .wma files of the band, "Massive Attack," you would type the following into the Google search bar:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3|zip) "Massive Attack"

Similarly, if you are looking for video files of "Batman," you would change the query to search for the correct formats (e.g. AVI, MPG, WMV, ASF, MOV, DivX):

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(avi|mpg|wmv|asf|mov|DivX) "Batman"

I am not explaining this information as a way to encourage illegal file sharing, but rather as a warning: obscurity is not security. Using similar seach methods it is a simple task to uncover data files from Microsoft Money, Quicken, TurboTax and TaxCut. If you want to keep your files private, find a friend that knows something about how to secure a computer.

Alec the actor!

Alec has been cast in the Missoula Children's Theater's "Robin Hood" as one of the Sheriff of Nottingham's guardsman. Way to go, Alec!

The Missoula Children'’s Theater is a group of professional actors who go from town to town with a full-length musical. They bring the set, costumes, make-up,— everything except the cast! Auditions and casting was yesterday.

The show is this Saturday at 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm at Johnson Elementary School. Tickets are $5.