http://blogs.skype.com/en/2011/05/m.....ire_skype.html

Ew. :|

So now we need a good Skype alternative.

http://inoveryourhead.net/the-compl.....giving-a-fuck/

I ran across this article earlier today. It's actually linked from a much smaller lifehacker article, which basically says "Go read this".

The one thing I think it leaves out is that the point of not caring is to have a more stable platform to care from. If you care ALL THE TIME about EVERYTHING, then the slightest thing can push you over, emotionally. But if you don't *have* to care....if you opt to care about the things you wish to, then you can care that much stronger. Like planting your feet before trying to push something, or pull something, or do some wacky karate move.

Gridbeam's a neat system that uses perforated square-profile lumber or square aluminum/steel tubing. The holes are spaced equal to the width of the sticks, so that you can bolt them together in all sorts of arrangements, to make furniture or small cars or space-dividing structures like bunkbeds or bed-desks, with storage units, etc.

There's the book: http://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Gri...../dp/0865716137

A few websites-
* http://gridbeam.biz/ (I think this is the official website for the book?)
* http://www.gridbeamnation.com/ (The nicest-looking site on it)
* http://www.gridbeamers.com/ (A website straight out of 1998 about it)

A pdf of the first chapter of the book (from its publisher): http://dev.newsociety.com/titleimag.....I000930_23.pdf
Google Books preview of the first two chapters of the book: http://books.google.com/books?id=Ui4BryMgB7wC&printsec=frontcover

And a few articles on it:
* Boingboing: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/.....-with-gri.html
* Make Magazine: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/20.....diy-engin.html (which really just points to http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues.....iew/index.html
* Unclutterer (something else I found on Google) http://unclutterer.com/2010/01/07/b.....ith-grid-beam/


The problem is, there doesn't seem to be anyone making much with this neat system and documenting it online. Nearly everything you'll find about gridbeam is the initial "Hey look at this nifty building system" thing, whether it's the websites from the book's authors, or reviews of the book elsewhere. There is not very much of "Hey look at this neat thing I built out of gridbeam" online.

So uh. Yeah. Go make stuff with it. :v The standard wood gridbeam is a two-by-two (1.5"x1.5"x8') lumber, that's drilled through every 1.5" starting 3/4" from the end, in both directions, with 5/16" holes, and cut to useful lengths. You can make this in an apartment with a drill press and a hacksaw. 1/4" hex bolts with washers and nuts work just fine on this stuff. Basically, you use 1/4" diameter for things that should slip easily through the holes like bolts that hold them together, and 5/16" diameter for things that should have a snug fit (lighting umbrellas, casters, etc).

https://youtu.be/9zrMlEEWBgY

Short version:
Budget in advance how much you want to give out to people monthly.
Click the Flattr button on pages you want to give money.
Flattr divides it up evenly at the end of the month.

For people getting money, it's just as easy, make an account, add the button to your content, get money at the end of the month- treat it like a tip jar.

See also: http://flattr.com/

Apparently it's NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to change the default startup sound on Windows 7.

For a really dumb reason- in Windows Vista, they wanted it to synchronize with the startup animation (the Windows Pearl on Vista), and they never changed it back.

The startup sound is now buried in the core resource DLL, imagres.dll, which is tightly locked to the OS and loaded much earlier than the sound event stack (which is why they moved it there), and can only be edited on 32-bit versions of the system using a program called ResourceHacker/ResHack. (I'm running Win7 64-bit). Instead of an option to reassign it in the sound scheme control panel, there's simply a toggle to turn it on or off.

So anyway, turned the real startup sound off, downloaded sox to play the sound, hstart to keep the console window from appearing, and dumped the command to play the sound into HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run...
[EDIT]
Actually, the best way to get this to run at startup is simply to create a new task in "Task Scheduler", scheduled to run at startup, regardless of logins, and set to hidden. The HKLM/.../Run key won't fire until after login if your computer doesn't do automatic login. Keep in mind, the boot process doesn't synchronize to anything, so you won't be getting sync sound. Anyway...
[/EDIT]

...and now my home theatre now plays the 7.1 channel version of Deep Sound (the THX sound) at startup. :D :D

https://youtu.be/k8mh5TcQj2U

Which of course, is really awesome on a big TV with 7.1 speakers scattered about the living room. :3

If you click on the link on that youtube's page, the guy is hosting a bunch of the THX trailers extracted directly from DVD and BD movies, so you can pull the sound out of them....or just watch them at full-quality and full-speakers with something like VLC or MPC-HC. :D

Uhhh.

http://3d-coat.com/company/our-voice/

I had heard of 3d coat before, as doing some nifty things with 3d sculpting and painting.
But after reading that, I'm not touching them.

Well, unless I decide to change my tune and make 3D stuff "which would increase vices" or "provoke dissolute thoughts".

Blender on the other hand, doesn't care. You can make whatever you like with it. That was sort of what they figured you'd do anyways, when they decided to make it open source.

3DCoat, on the other hand, has probably just limited their prospective audience to the creators of Veggietales....and I don't think they'd need it. :P

Thus far I have detected several involving garbage, unwashed dishes, full garbage cans, laundry, junk mail.

There must be some sort of alien intervention in my house, conspiring to cause me to make it unlivable by my own actions.
Ah well.
*clean clean clean clean clean*

Really. It is a really neat programming language tool thingie. http://puredata.info/

And there's all sorts of stuff for it. Just poking around the site, it's mostly used for music processing (it's the secret magic behind ReacTable), but there's also video processors for it, which can turn it into a VJ app...and enough data I/O on it that I found one person that had built an email server out of it.
NEAT!

(Note, if you grab it to play with, you probably want to get pd-extended, which has a lot of user contributed libraries packaged with it)

So I was thinking that there could be a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic story, where the fans align their wishes for the show,and release Nightmare-y Sue, who then submits all of Equestria to eternal fanfiction. Until the ponies manage to find the Elements of Style: grammar, composition, form,spelling, vocabulary, and the sixth element which is a complete mystery, but is ignited by a spark when the other 5 are present: The Element of TALENT.

EDIT: If you don't know what I'm on about, go watch the pilot (first two episodes) of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. And also know about this book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/020530902X

On the main Vilppu site no less! Nice!
http://vilppustore.com/vilppublog/?p=46
http://vilppustore.com/vilppublog/?p=177
(see the articles link on the right of the pages)
I found out about it through his facebook page but yeah! Awesome! Go read, ya might learn ya somethin'!

Here's where the Pawpet opener is at right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3HtV2I-jDA

I'll update it about every five shots or so I guess? Which means deleting and reuploading, Youtube doesn't let you change the submission file.

Enjoy!

Just ran across this article- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-e.....nment-12911806 - they've used a very sensitive satellite to map out the strength of gravity all over the planet. And heightmapped the resulting data onto a globe, to make it look like a giant space potato. (I would have mapped it inversely- where the heaviest places would be pulled closest to the center, but OH WELL)

Curious to note, the point with the least gravity is Sri Lanka, home of a ton of Buddhist shrines and temples and stuff.
And while it would be really cool if that were significant, the heaviest place is the island of New Guinea, apparently by sheer dumb luck.

So...... neat!

Look at my faves.
Now back to me.
Now back at my faves
Now BACK..to me.

Sadly, they're better than me.
But if I could figure out how they do that and snag some of that talent,
I could improve me.

Look down. Back up. Where are you?
You're on one of my watchee's page, with the art I wish my art could look like.

What did you fav? Back at me, I faved it too.
It's a submission with two images of that art I love.

Look again.

THE SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW ENVY.

Anything seems impossible when your art doesn't look like the art you love and seems crappy.
Maybe I'll draw a horse...

*doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!*


(apparently I can't rant without at least trying to make it entertaining.)

Look at my horse, it's magical Trevor,
Give it a lick, ooh he's ever so clever!
With a stroke of his mane, disappearing the cow,
And he turns back again, but it's hidden right now.

Ooh that's dirty, it's a leathery leathery whip.
Then I better not show you that it's made of magic and with a little flip!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20043421-281.html?tag=topTechContentWrap;mostRead

The White House wants a new law that will clarify the internet streaming of copyrighted material to a felony, and authorizes wiretaps to catch it in action.

"Under federal law, wiretaps may only be conducted in investigations of serious crimes, a list that was expanded by the 2001 Patriot Act to include offenses such as material support of terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction. The administration is proposing to add copyright and trademark infringement"

So yes, you people who play pop music on your streams, or show streams of MST3k (or do MST3k of other movies on a stream!) or play videogames or whatnot, the White House wants to watch you, catch you, and make sure you're a felonist under federal law.

And be subject to the sort of wiretaps usually reserved for people who are suspected of plotting to kill lots of other people.

FFFFFffff-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP9DieyK3As

I think this is on the DVD or something, it's the featurette about the making of the Secret of NIMH.
Does anyone even start companies on shoestrings anymore?

BRONYQUEST NEEDS TO EXIST.

ADRIEN BRONY ADRIEN BRONY
ADRIEN BRONY ADRIEN BRONY
ADRIEN BRONY ADRIEN BRONY
ADRIEN BRONY ADRIEN BRONY
ADRIEN BRONY ADRIEN BRONY
ADRIEN BRONY ADRIEN BRONY
ADRIEN BRONY ADRIEN BRONY
ADRIEN BRONY ADRIEN BRONY
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygI-2F8ApUM )

:v

...

What? :3

*skribble* http://twitpic.com/42lgni

Do you ever skip a meal or two? Or eat fewer than three meals a day? If you skip meals, how often does this happen?

Just curious if anyone out there who's thin is doing intermittent fasting without realising it (which is very, very easy if somehow the "YOU MUST EAT AT 9, 12, and 6" attitude never sunk in from culture or parents)

http://www.darkwood.demon.co.uk/PC/.....r.html#Digital

There's a lot of meters on here, but "Digital Level Meter" is my favorite of them.
If you're doing live streaming, using PC audio and audio from your mic, you really need to use this (at least on Windows, sorry I don't know what you'd use on Mac).

The reason is- the way your computer sounds on your own speakers, as well as the way your voice sounds to you compared to your computer speakers has nearly NOTHING to do with the volume levels going out on your stream.

For one thing, the playback from your computer is adjusted by the master volume control before it goes out the audio jacks, and its volume also changes based on your speakers' volume settings, or the model of headphones you are using.

When recording from stereo mix however, all the individual outputs (waveout, CD, microphone, line) are adjusted by the stereo mix volume instead. Which only programs capable of recording on your computer can hear.

So while you might hear audio evenly and matched to your voice volume, what your stream is hearing could be very quiet, very loud, quiet PC audio with loud mic audio, or loud PC audio and negligible microphone audio.

The level meter listens to "stereo mix" or whatever your recording source is set to on your system, and gives you a visual indication of how loud what it's recording is, relative to the maximum recording volume. That way you can adjust your audio, and your mic, so everything's at appropriate levels for your stream (and adjust your speaker/headphone volume accordingly so you can still hear it).

So basically - just make sure nothing is consistently driving the levels into the red zone, and anything you want to be at a "star" volume, is hitting the same volume as your voice. :p A few dB make a big difference, since it's a logarithmic scale.

Ladies? *browwaggle*

Just ordered a swatch set from Mendels for JuicyFruit. :D

I'm getting:
Cuddles light - navy, ivory, red
cuddles - red
Short pile - bright yellow, navy, royal, dk red, cherry red
super seal - ivory
Punky Muppet - yellow, fire red, crimson
Shag - yellow, red

And today, after work, I'm gonna head down to Jo-Ann's and see about some 60" wide muslin and maybe some foam. :3

http://www.chrishartbooks.com/upcoming.html

Well? Does it?

(link courtesy  johnnyblanco and  xydexx)

Okay, okay, those of you who already design good characters are probably gonna be all "Well DUH!" at me, but I hadn't ever noticed this before, so it's kinda' amazing to me.

It is possible to draw characters without designing them.

Okay? That's the big secret I just noticed. I draw characters all the time where I just draw something comfortable and vaguely like what I'm trying to draw. And while that is certainly a valid form of character design, it is not really applying design to characters, any more than making a painting is strong graphic design.

I'm sure I'd have confused many character designers by going "OMG HOW DO YOU DESIGN SUCH GOOD CHARACTERS" at them, when the answer is "Well, I just design them" which I heretofore would have interpreted as "Well I just draw them". No, they don't. They design them. They sit down, and play around with different proportions, and shapes, and structures. They don't take the way they draw them as the ending, it's the design process as applied to characters. Certain analytical and synthetical methods, applied to something, to deliberately break the first idea, to then let your perception of "what's good" improve things.

Those methods are of course, the focus of a character design (or any other design) book. But what's not so obvious is that it's entirely possible to have a "character design" style, that if you don't deliberately DO (and get in the habit of doing) the design process, you'll wind up just creating things in the same style. (Where style is defined as "the way I'm comfortable doing things").


So for example, I might sit down a robot, and not do any design on it whatsoever, just draw the first robot that pops to mind. But if I want to *design* a robot? I should sit down, and vary bits on my first sketch/design, or do one that's deliberately unlike the first drawing, to come up with a good idea.


Yeah. Anyways. Like so many ideas, it's terribly difficult to describe what the thing is you figured out, after the fact. But I thought I'd try to share anyways.

http://vimeo.com/17535548

"Buck is an ordinary guy. Well...if you except the "deer head" thing. And today, Buck is gonna spend this cool Sunday afternoon with his girlfriend who's so happy to see him (she's pretty much always happy). But when Buck find out that her father is not the sympathic and tolerant guy he excpected, the Sunday afternoon turns really bad."

This short is visually awesome, incredibly well animated, and overall just a ton of fun. :D