Anyone in here use Illustrator? I am curious to use it for inking again, but one of the things that was always really difficult for me was tweaking with the brush tool. Is there any way to alter the PRESSURE anchors for a pressure-sensitive brush, and not just the curve and position anchors? I'm using CS3. (I heard CS4 has some more options for brush stuff, so if you have CS4 and know it's better for inking, tell me!)

Thanks all

Hello, please bear with me, as there is some useful source code and tools available at the end of this little rant :3

First, let me tell the story leading up to this post. As part of a job-related project, I've been working the last couple of weeks on getting RPGMaker-style AutoTiles to work in MMF, as part of a tile engine I've been working on for several months. Autotiles in MMF are actually quite difficult, since MMF doesn't really like to be forced to render a zillion pieces onto the canvas, and AutoTiles are actually subdivided compared to standard sized tiles on a tile engine's grid, quadrupling the potential number of tiles needed to blit. Furthermore, the way MMF handles code, adding events to check for multiple condition states becomes a hassle as the number of these states increases, unless the event can be folded into a larger condition. Since the number of combinations of adjacent tiles in a standard cartesian grid, this would mean that for each condition check in MMF, I'd have to have 256 events!!

I spent a long time trying to figure out a solution to these problems, and had given up for several months while working on other features of my tile engine. However, a couple weeks ago, the solution for both problems just sorta floated into my head. I'll discuss the solutions in the next couple paragraphs, but if you're not making a game in MMF then you can skip them and head to the next part, as the results are still very useful for any game.

Since each adjacent tile to an autotile can be given a boolean value (tile match or no match), it could be expressed in a single byte of data, or an integer value between 0-255 in MMF's case. The conditions can be folded down by instructing MMF to always check a lookup table for the resultant pieces of an autotile image to paint onto the surface. This solved the "too many events" problem, by limiting the number of check conditions needed per loop when loading the map. The next problem to solve was number of background objects on screen.

MMF doesn't seem to like too many backdrop objects on screen at once. Its limit before starting to slow down on my machine in software mode is about 4000 BGO's, which can easily be reached with my original (inefficient) tile engine pasting about 5 layers of 32x32 tiles at 1024x768. The secondary solution to the autotiles problem came from optimizations to lower this amount down to ~1000 BGO's. By ignoring blank tiles, the optimized tile engine would paste less objects to the screen, thereby increasing the speed. It doesn't seem to matter much the size of the BGO pasted/blitted into the background as much as it does the number of them in-memory for MMF, therefore, the larger the tiles can be made before pasting them to the surface, the faster the game will run. For AutoTiles, this meant generating a custom lookup table to skip over as many pasting operations as possible inside the loading loop. Since the BGO's persist throughout the frame and will continue to slow it down even after the map is loaded, having as few paste operations as possible was crucial.

---

To solve the problem of creating the custom lookup table, I wrote a tool specifically to edit and output one in an MMF-friendly format. The values are delimited by CrLf newlines, so it would be easy to include my custom table in your own code, but I thought that it would be even better if I included the program for people to make their own custom tables, for example, a non-mmf-optimized table which would probably have cleaner code in a real programming language, or super special lookup tables which can handle diagonals correctly to make the autotiles look less blocky (this would require non-rpgmaker-compatible autotile files). Here is the source code:

http://nobuyuki.gpknow.com/lab/Auto.....ookupTable.rar

It was created with VB.NET, so you'll need Visual Studio or VBE to edit the source. A compiled version is included in /bin/debug, and the file "ATLookupTable" is the custom table. Click the Open button to import the table, and the save button to save to this file. Here is a screenshot:

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2503/atlt.png

To use this in your game, simply check the line number of the integer value of the bitmask of the adjacent tiles times 4 in the table for the proper tile to blit to the surface. Each adjacent tile has an associated bit value, with the upper left being the LSB and the lower right being the MSB. Or, in integer terms, the upper left adjacent tile, if it exists, has a value of 1, the upper middle, 2, the upper right, 4, and so on until the lower right (128). Add the values of the adjacent tiles together when checking which tiles to blit to the current spot, and then check that position *4 for the upper left, *4+1 for the upper right, *4+2 for the lower left, and *4+3 for the lower right.

I hope this application and associated code will be useful to anyone working on their own tile-based engine.

I spent the past 4 days at a really cool demoscene event called Blockparty. I entered a few things, got to hang out with a few friends, and had some laughs. Prepare for a few submissions and stuff.

As always, I took a bunch of pictures of the stuff I ate while there. Those will probably appear on my photobucket, eventually.

http://sofurry.com/threadview?threadid=2587&pagenum=0

shitty rules, shitty prize, get off my lawn you damn kids, etc


edit: note, I am in no way affiliated with the people holding the contest, just wanted to point out that this is everything that's wrong with the stuff I used to like mainstreaming it. Poison the well why don't ya! Everything's megaman and sonic and tetris and mario and zelda, 8 bit yeahhhhhhh hot topic

I am interested in possibly doing some chiptunes in the 6280 style. This chip's DAC could produce some very nice tones, while still being undeniably chiptune-esque due to its limitations. The time period which it was created puts it squarely in the transition period from simple PSG's to more advanced FM and even some PCM-based chips, while at the same time it opted not to use Yamaha FM technology to produce tones.

So, how to go about reproducing a similar sound? For starters, here are a few limitations of the PCE system:

1. Limited to 6 channels
2. Waveform playback is somewhat similar to the Konami SCC (used in MSX games) -- except instead of 32 bytes of 12-bit signed audio, it is 32 bytes of 5-bit unsigned. This means while there is some control over the "chippy" sounds, they will still have a bit of a crunch edge to them.
3. All six channels can be used for "Waveform playback", but some channels also have special functions, for example....
4. combining channels 1 and 2 can allow for a simple 1-op FM channel. Great for making a few nice sounds, or adding LFO to a lead.
5. Channels 4 and 5 can also produce white noise based on a randomized square wave.
6. PCM (for drums, for example) can be achieved through Direct Access mode, although this takes up some of PCE's (very limited) CPU power. Remember that it will be 5-bit, so reproductions must use the appropriate bit-crunching level.


Well, this doesn't seem so bad. So, let's have a listen at what some of this music sounds like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emHpgi0QSN0 Here we can hear some excellent use of polyphony from the system during the chorus, as well as use of a specialized lead in the verses, a good typical example of the music. White noise is used for all the drums, as was typical until later on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCzAxCz2kj0 Zuntata's classic DADDY MULK, in 6280 style.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me_gdAJx2Gw This game made extensive use of D/A to produce PCM instruments, as you can hear in this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhRe6YnJvK4 Here's one that didn't push as much as Coroyon, but still utilized PCM drums.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mEzTC7E7Xw Some relaxing sine waves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UEWBQJ2OQ0 FM style stuff from Naxat Soft. Devil Crash was released in the US for the Genesis as "Dragon's Fury" and was one of my faves at the time.

---

Starting in the 90s, the HuC6280 was used less for its audio capabilities in lieu of redbook audio, provided by the CD-ROM add-on to the system (PCE/TG16 was an early adopter of CD games and perhaps the first successful console to utilize them. While not chiptunes, they're still awesome examples of the game music genre. Just for shits and giggles let's hear some of that, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-bnJYxGfik In many ways, Ys I&II exemplifies the transition period. These were some of the last tunes Yuzo Koshiro composed for the developer Falcom, and when he really started to come onto his own thing in terms of notoriety. The soundtrack this song comes from is from 1989, and in places still sounds like an adaptation of the earlier chiptunes to CD audio. To his credit, Koshiro did many of these tunes while still in high school working for the Falcom Sound Team. Many of his themes are still heard in modern Ys games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIE3lKzC008 Did I mention it was an early inspiration? Well, it was. More stuff available in the replies to this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TmMg7PkKCI&feature=response_watch Some music from Ys3, the SNES version of which maybe the first time many of you guys were introduced to this game, if at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ow55BXt8XE NEC/TTi's Splash Lake. Some silly anime-style music from 1992. This seems to harken back a bit to the cheesy styles popular with analog synths, but obviously using FM stuff with lotsa reverb with some real instruments mixed in. Wish I had that kinda money!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IohEo9TdHbo Terraforming is a Right Stuff shooter from 1993. Classic synth rock stuff here; unfortunately, it's really hard to get information about Right Stuff since many companies used that name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtZP9K2OhsE Late (1995) PCE stuff. Smooth jazz.

any and all mature (or adult) rated drawings posted from this account are depicted over the age of 18 in accordance with the updated TOS unless explicitly specified otherwise by myself or an authorized agent. No image should be construed as to be a violation of the current TOS on this account, or any potential alt accounts I post under on this or any other website.

does anyone here use Inkscape? How's it compare to Illustrator?

product placement everywhere aaaaughhhhgng. I think the marketing's working; so many people define themselves by their THINGS rather than by what they can DO. The things are so intertwined with every part of our lifestyle, and yet we grow more distant from each other as a society to the point where individualism has been turned on its head in the most ironic way. It is the corruption of individualism, as we the individual become connected with a surrogate society made up of material possessions; things, and a social network of the superficial.

On a personal level I feel like no one even cares to relate to one another, I mean even as adults in the workforce their lives outside of work are essentially a constant drip feed of entertainment to keep us placid in between more work. Kids these days are going to (or have already) grow(n) up used to this, and they know no other thing. It will shape everything from their priorities to their political ideologies, and I think society as a whole will inevitably suffer as a result....

I'm seeing generation Y enter the adult workforce with the same belief system they should've cast off when they realized santa claus wasn't real; and yet, here they believe the world works a certain way. Here I thought the world worked a certain way, too. And yet, without even realizing it, they go and put their poison value system onto their own kids. It is, in a sense, the blind leading the blind to slaughter. No wonder the current generation of sociopolitically unaware masses have no idea why their society's falling apart around them.

We've got more shiny things to distract us from it, but it's still happening, and no one who matters is going to realize it until the hurt creeps up to everyone, because the only people who matter are those who run the machines of distraction. Your television, radio, wherever we end up getting our information from. Certainly not from the internet, because that's for facebook and twitter and fantasy football.


Edit: I realize that probably the majority of people who will be reading this are half a generation or a full generation younger than me. It probably won't have the same meaning to you guys as it does to the Gen Y'ers reading. Sorry :C

no, seriously. Chicago's not supposed to get earthquakes. This one was supposedly magnitude 4.3, and it didn't last very long, but it lasted long enough to get my adrenaline level up, and urgh.

So much for going to bed early. P.S. sorry for missing your message last night mr.  garu :(


edit: the US geological survey has downgraded the earthquake to magnitude 3.8. Second downgrade but it was still a pretty good shake. Luckily, there was no damage to any of my stuff. Pat Robertson blames it on Obama signing a deal with the devil?! (this might just be a joke and a twitter meme)

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/.....lee-cohen.html

Yeah, I hate to say it, but the guy I endorsed less than a week ago has already managed to have had enough problems in his life to sink his campaign. This is very unfortunate, but it appears that nearly no one in the media bothered to find or report on this. Nor did his political opponents, for that matter. So, left to his own devices it would seem that his political campaign is dead before it started.

The next question will be, if Quinn is at the top of the ticket, will this tank his campaign as well? It really depends on the candidate, and what Cohen does from here. If he resigns, the person who got the next closest amount of votes was Art Turner, somebody who I'll freely admit I know practically nothing about. Still, what is unknown can be considered better than what the public will soon know about Scott Cohen -- that he used steroids, that his ex-girlfriend was a prostitute, and that he allegedly held a knife to her throat in a domestic violence incident.

I await to see what unfolds.

There is a primary election tomorrow, on Tuesday the 2nd. Be sure to vote! To find your polling place, you can google for polling places online. Remember, you can only vote in the primaries for ONE party, so choose wisely. (I recommend to choose the Democratic primary ballot unless you're a tea-party member and are worried the GOP is going to get an "establishment" candidate).

Here are the Nobu picks for tomorrow:

For Senator: David Hoffman (I highly recommend if you vote for any reason, you vote to knock Alexi Giannoulias out of the running, because he's another Martha Coakley in the making!)
For Governor: Dan Hynes (Quinn doesn't seem that bad, but to me he still has some of Blago's baggage on him)
For Lt. Gov: Scott Lee Cohen (I would've also recommended Thomas Castillo if he had a snowball's chance in hell of winning. Whoever you choose, be aware that Terry Link is the candidate with the most funds and endorsements)
For Comptroller: Raja Krishnamoorthi (a younger gentlemen who seems to be in-tune with our generation)

Finally, for IL-14, the only choice on the DNC ballot is Bill Foster. I am going to write in John Laesch into this box, as a vote of no-confidence in foster over his performance since the last primary I chose him as the DNC candidate. IL-14 will be a tough race for Foster on both ends of the political spectrum, especially if Ethan Hastert ends up winning the GOP primary. Foster's tack towards the middle may seem good for small business, but his views on Net Neutrality and Cap & Trade are markedly big-business-only interests.


GO OUT AND VOTE TOMORROW.

During MAGfest I released a demo. Now it's up on pouet and youtube, so please enjoy 8)

http://pouet.net/prod.php?which=54271

This also marks my first time on Pouet, yay I'm so happy >w<


P.S. I know it will crash on you during the vectorballs scene if you use Windows 7. That'll teach you to use Windows 7 !!!!!!! But in all honesty, I'm looking around to see if it's a bug that can get patched, so stay tuned and in the meantime, if it crashes on you, either watch the youtube video or rename the "balls" folder (you won't see the vectorballs in that scene though!)

and welcome to the future!!!!! 2010. Glad to have met some super awesome interesting people there, and hopefully I can upload some of the music we made for you guys to hear later.

Also: Does  renardv have a brother or is that just a running gag?

In my dreams there often seems to be an atmosphere in them which is established largely by the amazingly detailed surroundings which I somehow seem to remember with as much depth as the integral events which progressed the dream's plot. Because the plot is easier to retain a memory of and recount the details in words, I typically pay most of my attention to detail in these beautiful structures so that I can sketch them out later before they evaporate.

Here are some pictures from a location in my most recent dream.
http://img41.imageshack.us/gal.php?.....ream112909.jpg


I also have dreams where the architecture doesn't make sense, and often they give me a strange vibe, but I think they would be too complicated or scary to sketch out quickly. In some nightmares, the architecture also plays a role, but I only tend to notice it when I have a greater sense of my spacial surroundings (equivalent to real life, vs. the immediate "fog of war" one normally has in a dream).

Often times, the architecture in my nightmares occupies a non-euclidean space, and is therefore much more difficult to map out. (it would require a sequence of detailed, yet narrow-angle images, which would take quite a bit longer to draw).

Anyway, enjoy these pictures, and let me know if you have any questions seeing them makes you think of.

Work has been using up most of my creative energy. That's not to say I'm not having a blast 8)

The past couple months I've been working on a tile editor. (I really dislike the ones that are currently the most popular!). After the project it was made for is out, hopefully I'll be able to open source it, since I personally think it's excellent. However, at the moment it is in-house only.

Thanks to all you guys for being patient. My boss let me make public a little sneak peek of a small thing one of my co-workers and I was working on the other day. Please enjoy :3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P649tq2LvXU

Doing these effects were a nice break from the last couple months' work, which was mostly dedicated to the tile editor.

Sorry that I can't divulge details about what the project is at this time, but maybe the video will stir up some excitement 8)


Edit: some bonus details about the effects... Andy created most of the effects in the first 30 seconds, mostly sine-wiggle effects. I created the effects after 30 seconds, which are mostly lens-based effects using various displacement maps. My favorite is the stained-glass "break" effect. I wonder what these can be used for...!

As some of you might remember, FM's channel 95.5 went off the air in may after being on the air for over 20 years, and switched formats to a Spanish-language only station. A non-clear-channel station, WFLM, has now taken its place. It's still very low-key, but for those of you who miss the format who live in this area, I thought it would be beneficial for you to know that you can now get your smooth jazz fix on the radio dial at FM 87.7.

Here is the website:
http://www.wlfm877.com/

if I wanted to see your faces I'd go to pounced or furspace or something

edit: if you're a hot chick you can send your photos directly to me instead

yes, 2 weeks of downtime because the relay server went kapoof!!!!! But it's back now!!

Including the following new music:

America - The Last Unicorn OST
Hiroki Kikuda - Lost Files (unreleased music from the composer who brought us the soundtrack to Secret of Mana!)
Ulysse 31 OST
a bunch of production music used in Ren & Stimpy cartoons
PopDJDysh's 2 hour Stock Aitken Watermann megamix!!!!
Tons of songs from The Price is Right from the 70s to the 90s
and hundreds more!


Now Playing 24/7, listen now! http://ice.blackmage.org:8000/nobuyuki.m3u

As I read an article about ten big companies veering towards bankruptcy, I stumbled across this comment:

If they are going to declare bankruptcy let them. No more bailouts. Let capitalism work and solve these business problems versus the current and last administration and congress approach of just supporting failures and prolonging the problem. Capitalism will bring us prosperity; our current path of socialism will only bring us devastation.

When I read it, I thought that this kind of comment is probably the best comment to illustrate the feelings of your average American who has not been extremely engaged in politics, but loves this country and is concerned about the huge amount of changes (for better or for worse) that have been occurring ever since the govt. bailed out Goldman Sachs during the waning years of the GW Bush era. Then, I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk to you guys instead of pissing in the wind and getting off-topic like what happens in the comments on almost every big site.

People believe in Capitalism in this country. As a country, many of us were indoctrinated with that idea growing up during the cold war era that capitalism is what we stand for, and Communism is what the enemy stood for, and of course the simple explanation most kids got was that they're mutually exclusive (and diametrically opposed) ideas. That being said, most of us here don't remember the cold war, or why we were supposed to be scared of the Communists. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and anyone old enough to even remember the cold war now (assuming you're around my age) only remembers the Glastnost/Perestroika era, when Gorbachev ran the country. The point is that there weren't any major underpinnings of the foundation which made capitalist indoctrination so important to those raising us apparent for kids that age to really sear negative memories onto anymore, and so many of us never really got the lesson of what of Communism we should fear, and why.

This is important, because it goes back to what to what the person commented regarding the article. In American politics, we have "loaded" words whose meanings are warped to the point they are practically useless in normal conversation. Racist, Communist, Fascist -- their value at identifying groups of people are now only academic in nature, because the labels were all eventually used by everyone as a politically convenient way to attack people relentlessly without merit. With that in mind, realize that "Socialism" is quickly becoming the new "Communism" in some parts of the American lexicon.

Here's where it gets a little messy. As some of you on the other side of the English-speaking (and Germanic and Romance language-speaking) world know, Socialism isn't the big taboo that it is here in the US. Without the threat of the cold war around to scare the life out of us here, and with some very huge disasters in the economy leading to bubble after bubble (and our ability to actually see the boom-bust cycle for what it really is), Americans have begun to fiddle around with the definition of what we really are. Are we really capitalists at heart? When the majority of us see our financial institutions making off with our money from both the public and private ends of the market without our consent, it calls that fundamental belief into question. The process of changing these beliefs, however, is fraught with peril by benefit of some very powerful institutions which benefited from labeling big government as the enemy, while leveraging the same government to represent their interests instead of ours.

Later on, they would label all government the enemy, instead of just large and oppressive governments that no longer represented the people. It was a dogma of fear that any government would eventually lead to an oppressive government (like the communist politburos) unless we voted in ways which benefited free market interests (like the powerful institutions). These institutions, over the course of the past 100 years, were in the process of establishing a de facto oligarchy in the United States. The bust of the Great Depression halted its progress for a good couple of decades as (like today) we fiddled with the notion of what it quintessentially means to be American. To a lesser extent, we are doing that today.

Because the government (as a representative of the public) is the vehicle by which these changes have occurred, it has rightfully been referred to as a form of socialism. The label, as I said earlier, is becoming a little muddied, because of the spectre of Communism. Special interest dogma from powerful institutions in the financial and other private sectors in the market wants it that way, because we were indoctrinated to see Communism as diametrically opposed to capitalism, "all that is good and right in this world". The word "socialism" may end up losing its usefulness outside of an academic or historical discussion in the US because of this.



That's why I wrote this article. Some of the things the government did in our name are things most of us can agree upon that we didn't like. That was still a form of socialism, even though in idealized socialism that would never happen. That's the bad kind of socialism that most Americans understand, and don't want. But some of the things that can rightfully be called socialism are, were, and will be things that we do want, and what we asked for when we voted for change in this country. In the spirit of that ideal, socialism need not be perverted to the point that an average American would assume it's a bad thing. We abandoned that notion when our economy bottomed out last year.

Our economy hit the shitter because of what those special interests told us was "all that was right and good with the world" -- ie: What they told us was capitalism. But, I think most of us can agree now that what happened to most of us was bad bad stuff. This was still a form of capitalism, although in idealized capitalism the fire would never have run out of wood to burn as it continued to grow and consume everything. Capitalism, as an ideal, wasn't really such a bad idea, but in practice we weren't able to keep it from toppling over and destroying our economy. This brings me to my final point.

The concerns of our commenter seem to focus on his ideals that capitalism is a shining beacon, while socialism is destitute. I don't think that is the case. There is a difference between good socialism and bad socialism, or at least the good and bad things that we as Americans end up calling socialism. The bank bailouts, most of us would believe, are among the worst kind of collusion between special interests and the government -- a perversion of our fundamental democratic-republican beliefs. And yet, we also elected new people into office to leverage the government to preserve our quality of life and save our livelihood, even if that might require changes to our WAY of life and lifestyle. When the government takes charge in improving our quality of life, that's also called socialism. But as we've also seen, there is also difference between the things that we call capitalism. The things we call good capitalism bring us prosperity. Bad capitalism brings us poverty.

---

There is no such thing as a truly free market, and we should avoid the kind of ideological dogma which could lead us to destitute, whether it be unfettered Capitalism (capital-C as in the ideology) or the type of Communism which took down the USSR slowly over the course of the last century. When we use the word socialism, I would hope that we can make the distinction between ideology and its use in practice, just like we do with capitalism. What we call these terms today are not the same thing in common practice as their academic meaning.

All developed nations today practice the aspects of socialism as part of a social democracy, which is different from Marxist or Leninist-style ideologies in that it represents a mixed economy, and that is realistic considering what is required to maintain a long-term healthy economic system. That is why I promote the idea that capitalism and socialism need not be diametrically opposed. There exist social democrats, democratic socialists, centrists and many others who understand that the world is not merely painted in black and white, but shades of gray. Let's promote greater understanding for all of our well-being.

Edit: I actually found a very interesting question and answer directly relating to all this on Yahoo!Answers, which is something you don't see every day: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/i.....9104938AANsZ4t

I have a confession to make -- most of you who know me already know this, but I'm a huge fan of the original Law & Order series. There's a lot of things I can rave about in the show, but there's something I just noticed today going over an old episode I'd seen before -- the use of subtle foreshadowing. So subtle, that you'd never notice it unless you'd already watched the episode before. It made me think about some other popular crime drama shows, and the more I notice it, the more I feel like L&O is too oldschool cut-and-dry for today's TV show culture, perhaps.

I mean seriously, though, what's the deal with the foreshadowing in shows like CSI? I've always said that the plot meanders in such a way that either give you the most obvious foreshadowing imaginable (you know, pandering to the "stupid" demographic), or they hold your hand all the way through because the solution to the crime is so obtuse that it would be impossible for the viewer to make any reasonable assumptions. It's either "here's your evil badguy" or "here's who we want you to think is the evil badguy". The show is thinking for you. WTF, TV producers, do you really think we're all that stupid?

I'm concerned that pretty much all other TV crime dramas these days pander to the lowest common denominator. For a good fill you gotta turn to books, the internet, or pseudo-documentary stuff like "American Justice". Please feed my brain.

---

“I've never understood the obsession with younger writers and dramas. Comedies I understand, but how do you write drama at 23, you haven't experienced anything. You know about 23-year-olds. It's kind of hard to write about 60 year old EADAs [Executive Assistant District Attorneys]. Only a couple of us are 60 years old so far, but there are not many 23-year-olds who can write about life-changing situations unless it's medical. That sounds weird, but there's not the mileage on the odometer to get under the surface. There are exceptions that prove the rule—Dickens wasn't bad at 23.” -Dick Wolf

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/918835/

This is bad news and etc. The basic premise is that she's getting sued by a hospital she was in to get her to pay some medical bills, but can avoid the collection agent (a lawyer I'm presuming?) from filing charges with what's called a "good faith payment", ie: showing she has intent to pay the medical bills. But, in order to do that she actually needs to have moneys first, so I'm spreading the word out that you can help her and stuff.

Let me stress though that this is not a handout and please don't consider it as such. She is taking relatively inexpensive commissions for vector artwork, which isn't the most common thing around for artists to sell. The nice part about vector is that you can print it on any size paper you want and it still comes out looking crisp. So, if you're interested in some vector badges or chibis of your character, check it out.

My boss sent me this link which was not only fascinating, but it had a political angle I thought was somewhat relevant to some of my political philosophies and ideologies:
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_o.....otivation.html

this is not how most of the workplace in the industry I was originally gonna get into works anymore. Well, maybe not most places 8V


But the point is, I guess, that traditionally, the strong will to have the freedom to create for a living often comes with the heavy burden of either trying to work within the framework of reward and punishment-based incentives, or working outside that and not being able to guarantee or hold financial security. If you're a lucky son of a bitch, maybe you can get a nice job at a place like Google where they're trying to revolutionize the management system or something. Or maybe you have a really awesome boss (yay) who cuts the checks and runs his business the way he wants instead of what yesterday's common wisdom considered dogma.

In any case, being able to move beyond the typical risk/reward scenario for tasks required to think creatively to solve problems, assuming you are self-motivated and take personal value with the competence your work, may not just be for liberal hippies like me after all. It might actually be an effective 21st century business model, too ¦v

Edit: more hippy crap http://p2pfoundation.net/Intrinsic_.....sic_Motivation

This is a sad day in politics for me. Kennedy had an important role in getting as far as we are today regarding health care, and now I wonder whether or not we'll be able to finally move forward. Arguably, health care was his life's work. Now, we're so close to achieving a breakthrough, and yet at the same time, so far. What will the senate do? How will they pay their respects to his "legacy"? (and I don't mean that in a dynastic way, I mean that by all the stuff he did to try and help improve our way of life). I can only wonder.

RIP.


Edit: Orrin Hatch has written a song eulogizing the late Ted Kennedy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr5oyEDGYkw
Senator Hatch, when you return to congress, please remember what Kennedy stood for, and take it into consideration when making your deliberations on the finance committee. Even if you don't ultimately vote for the existing reform bill, please let the damn thing get out of committee without the public option getting butchered.

If you really want to challenge the president to an "oxford-style" debate, it would probably be a good idea not to start with false premises. I saw you on MSNBC today saying that UPS and FedEx can't "compete against the USPS when the government can keep throwing subsidies into it". Maybe Contessa Brewer didn't call you out on it and you got the wool over a couple people with that line, but the USPS does not operate on government subsidies, and hasn't since 1971. If you can't get your facts straight in even a baby-debate with a mid-day anchorwoman who isn't even a pundit, how can you ever expect to go up against a constitutional scholar? Give me a break.

For a private insurance to compete against a public option "fairly" isn't the point. If the option is not subsidized by all taxpayers whether they participate or not, then it is just as fair as any other competitor in the market. They get their money from premiums. They just wouldn't have the same profit motive as a private insurance company. If that means that private companies won't be able to compete, then too fucking bad, cause that sounds to me like a failure of the free market to provide better service when the public sector can do a better job on an even playing field in any case. Private insurers can compete more effectively by sucking less, and you and those insurers are gonna have to suck that up and deal with it.

Your ideologies aren't the infallible gods you think they are. They can fail, they have failed, and they will fail again. It's time to grow up and start living in the real world where we can have an honest discussion about dealing with those failures.

not from me, but from somebody who's actually good at coloring and draws really cute stuff -- I am talking, of course, about my good friend  shiin once again. She's moving homes and needs to pay some bills to get everything straight and in order for the move, apparently. At least I think that's what it was all about, forgive me if I'm wrong since I'm writing this while sleepy ¦3

Anywho, you guys know the drill. She does cell phone charms and keychains, too, and YES. Shiin has very little practical following on FA, so if you like cute stuff and want a very INEXPENSIVE trinket to cherish forever, why not consider one from her? :B

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/862426/



P.S. To any of my other friends who don't get any commissions and feel left out of the free advertising, and I know there's probably at least one of you reading this right now, feel free to bitch me out on this journal, and I'll be sure to give you props too :<