Recent Posts

151

Living Room / Life & death in Pop music, the 27 Club, and how genre affects musician mortality

« Last post by Edvard on July 26, 2016, 09:38 PM »

As a (somewhat incompetent) musician, I find this 3-part article interesting and thought-provoking (and they include helpful charts and graphs!), though I agree that they raise almost as many questions as they attempt to answer:

Stairway to hell: life and death in the pop music industry
https://theconversat...music-industry-32735

The rock scene is a volatile mix of glamour, instant wealth, risk-taking, rebellion and psychological distress accompanied by taken-for-granted assumptions that pop musicians will live dangerously, abuse substances and die early.

The 27 Club is a myth: 56 is the bum note for musicians
https://theconversat...-for-musicians-33586

What do Otis Redding, Gram Parsons, Nick Drake, Jimmy McCulloch, James Ramey (aka Baby Huey), Bryan Osper, and Jon Guthrie have in common?
What about Tim Buckley, Gregory Herbert, Zenon de Fleur, Nick Babeu, Shannon Hoon, Beverly Kenney, and Bobby Bloom?
And Alan Wilson, Jesse Belvin, Rudy Lewis, Gary Thain, Kristen Pfaff, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Pete de Freitas, Raymond “Freaky Tah” Rogers, Helmut Köllen, and Linda Jones?

They are all dead pop musicians.

Music to die for: how genre affects popular musicians' life expectancy
https://theconversat...ife-expectancy-36660

These figures likely represent a combination of factors inherent in the popular music industry (such as the ubiquitous presence of alcohol and other substances of addiction, irregular hours, touring, high levels of stress, performance anxiety) and the vulnerability that many young musicians bring with them into their profession from adverse childhood experiences.

 

152

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Edvard on July 26, 2016, 12:17 AM »

I'm sorry about this, but I was in that part of Youtube again last night, and stumbled across this guy:

At first you're like "OMG this guy totally sucks" then he rhymes something completely insane and you're like "Wat the.... ?"
It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion, I can't stop...

While you're entranced, check out his channel: https://www.youtube....gloGcRYTtuFfkjwImG4Q

153

General Software Discussion / Re: OpenToonz might interest our graphic artist users

« Last post by Edvard on July 25, 2016, 11:30 PM »

Looks nice!  I got it to compile on Linux, now to figure out how to use it... 

For those on Linux attempting the same, there may be an extra step you need to do:

In the "how_to_build_linux.md" file, there is a step for compiling the custom tiff library; "Building the tiff library from thirdparty".  Add the change below (in blue) to compile it with 'jbig' disabled:

CFLAGS="-fPIC" ./configure --disable-jbig && make

Well, try the 'official' step first, and if it craps out with "undefined reference" errors, try that.

154

General Software Discussion / Re: How to increase the "hang time" for secondary menu pop-outs

« Last post by Edvard on July 14, 2016, 10:45 PM »

Glad I could help! 

155

General Software Discussion / Re: How to increase the "hang time" for secondary menu pop-outs

« Last post by Edvard on July 12, 2016, 01:27 AM »

There are a few solutions here:
https://windowsforum...pear-too-fast.40231/

One is to increase "MenuShowDelay" time in the registry, another is changing the value of "UserPreferencesMask", and lastly something to do with Citrix being enabled.  Dunno why that would affect anything...

Give it a shot, couldn't hurt...

156

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Edvard on July 06, 2016, 07:25 PM »

Single-celled organisms play microscopic Pac-Man:

157

General Software Discussion / Re: save my writings

« Last post by Edvard on June 28, 2016, 11:20 PM »

There's a forum I frequent that isn't very robust in handling things typed into it.  If you just type a reply and 'Submit', it does fine.  But refresh the page or briefly skip one site over, and your text is gone, never to return.  For some reason, DonationCoder doesn't do that; the 'Back' button will happily give me my text back. 

Never thought of a keylogger as a saving grace in that situation... That's acually a good idea.

158

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by Edvard on June 14, 2016, 02:14 AM »

Movie written by algorithm turns out to be hilarious and intense

In the wake of Google's AI Go victory, filmmaker Oscar Sharp turned to his technologist collaborator Ross Goodwin to build a machine that could write screenplays. They created "Jetson" and fueled him with hundreds of sci-fi TV and movie scripts. Shortly thereafter, Jetson announced it wished to be addressed as Benjamin. Building a team including Thomas Middleditch, star of HBO's Silicon Valley, they gave themselves 48 hours to shoot and edit whatever Benjamin (Jetson) decided to write.

Longer exposition of what's going on here:
http://arstechnica.c...ts-strangely-moving/

159

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Edvard on June 05, 2016, 07:41 PM »

Sock Puppet Parodies: I laughed way too hard at these..

Channel link:
https://www.youtube....NjxAn1nQ8I9FlosGoBZQ

160

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Edvard on June 01, 2016, 03:15 PM »

some silly doing the rounds:
...

-tomos (June 01, 2016, 07:04 AM)

Dostoevsky may not have done it first, but he codified it:
https://en.wikipedia...ronic_process_theory

"Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute."
— Fyodor Dostoevsky, Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, 1863

Also, The Game:
http://www.urbandict...ame&defid=609015

You just lost

161

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« Last post by Edvard on June 01, 2016, 02:06 PM »

Thanks for the condolences, everyone.  I'm doing OK and moving on to giving our dog the same long life of love and savory treats.
Everyone, meet Brandi the WonderLab:



Mouser: Wow!  New kitty!  That's always exciting.  I've always had cats in my life, this is the first time I'll probably be without one for a while, but I'm OK with that.  However, new kitties==fun.  Every. dang. time. 

Clevercat: Oooh, your Isabella looks quite the precious one.  I was never partial to the exotic types, but my wife had a chocolate persian when we were dating that broke me of that.

162

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« Last post by Edvard on May 20, 2016, 11:23 PM »

Sadly, my kitty passed away today. It's only just now hitting me.

He was an angora that I found as a stray sometime in 2001 or so.  I was working a paper route very early (~3am) in a low-income housing complex when I turned a corner and about a dozen kitties scattered.  I made a smooching noise, and the fluffiest white kitten I had ever seen was the only one who turned back.  I gave him a few pets and he followed me around the complex on my route. 

I had wrapped up my route and he was still following me, so I took a look at him in the streetlight.  His eyes were crusty, he had some tape on his tail, and the whiskers on the left side of his face had been burned off, probably by some neighborhood kids.  I decided then to take him home and take him to the vet when they opened.  The vet said he was about 4 months old, and had a mild case of distemper.  She gave us some medicine and he became a permanent part of our household since then.  We named him "Casper" cause he was so white.  He had the most loving temperament, always down for a good petting or lap sit, and even when we scolded him, he would just lay over on his side and give us "the look" demanding a kitty massage.

About 5 or 6 years ago, he developed cataracts and was totally blind within a few months.  That didn't stop him going where he pleased, and he never lost his way around the house and yard.  About 2 months ago, we started noticing him slowing down quite a bit, and losing some strength in his back legs.  He seemed to recover a bit after a week or two, but never got back to full strength.  The vet said he was just getting older and to just keep him comfortable.  As long as he was eating and drinking normally (which he did), he would be fine.  About three weeks ago, it seemed it was all he could do to lay on his bed, eat a teaspoon of food every now and then, and take himself to the litter box.  Eventually, he wouldn't eat more than a bite or two if at all and couldn't make it to the litter box, so we made him a bed out of a foam pad, a plastic bag and a towel.  This morning, my wife called me at work to let me know he had passed.  My son said that around 8am he meowed feebly a few times, then stopped breathing. 
I only wish I had been there.

RIP Casper
2001 - 2016

163

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Edvard on May 20, 2016, 06:43 PM »

With a nod to the Windows 10 thread:

164

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Edvard on May 09, 2016, 07:37 PM »

I realize this isn't representative of ALL millennials, but it's a darn funny song either way.

... and please don't tell me that any DC'ers think a 'man bun' is a good idea 

165

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Edvard on May 09, 2016, 07:23 PM »

166

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by Edvard on May 01, 2016, 07:42 PM »

OK, now I have absolutely no excuse at all...
This guy has built 14 guitars out of scrap wood, epoxy, and nails or galvanized iron wire for frets (NAILS!), NO power tools OR clamps:

www.instructables.com/id/diy-cheap-bass-or-electric-guitar/

I cringe when I see the guitar body constructed like a losing game of Tetris, but in the end he has a guitar that works, and I am left speechless.
Where there's a will, there's a way...

167

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2016, 07:43 PM »

In 1993, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Project receives a transmission detailing an alien DNA structure, along with instructions on how to splice it with human DNA. The result is Sil, a sensual but deadly creature who can change from a beautiful woman to an armour-plated killing machine in the blink of an eye.

-mwb1100 (April 26, 2016, 01:10 PM)

What happened to her?

-Arizona Hot (April 27, 2016, 12:08 PM)

A co-worker of mine saw that movie when it first came out.  The first thing he said when he came in to work was "... Stupidest movie I've ever seen in my entire life."

168

Living Room / Re: Custom dice for board games, etc.

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2016, 07:37 PM »

Paint. 

Potentially messier, but more durable and customizable.  You can get very small jars of paint at most craft stores, so you're not paying for a ton more than you need.
Find a paint that will stick to the material those die are made of, preferably a gloss enamel of some sort, so it's durable when dry, then just draw the designs on with a Sharpie after.  FWIW, Sharpies also come in sets of colors, like crayons.

169

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by Edvard on April 25, 2016, 09:57 PM »

And I'm just a bassplayer - so what do I know?  

-40hz (April 25, 2016, 09:26 PM)

http://kekbfm.com/ho...change-a-light-bulb/
 

170

General Software Discussion / Opera browser now comes with baked-in VPN

« Last post by Edvard on April 25, 2016, 09:50 PM »

The sale to Some Chinese investors has been postponed, so in the meantime, Opera devs have been busy with a pretty cool new browser feature...

Opera browser bakes in free VPN
...
Opera's baked-in VPN will let users access sites blocked in their countries, or by their employers or schools. It will also anonymize the user -- the VPN disguises the actual IP address of the user -- by making it appear that the browser originated elsewhere. In a public setting, such as a coffee shop's Wi-Fi network, a VPN also provides a secure "tunnel" to the destination, preventing theft of credentials and personal information like passwords.

http://www.computerw...kes-in-free-vpn.html

from over there... up and to the right... no, more to the left... wait, no, down just a hair.. aw cripes, never mind, I'll get it myself.

171

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Edvard on April 25, 2016, 09:27 PM »

Humans 'may accidentally send aliens a computer virus'

In September, the UK research network for SETI (the search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) voted in favour of trying to reach out to alien life forms. But they are still undecided what exactly to send and are worried that they could inadvertently send viruses into space which could infect the technology of other civilisations.

 

172

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by Edvard on April 20, 2016, 08:14 PM »

Very nice!  Reminds me of the Artec general wiring book for guitar, which though limited in scope, the diagrams are well laid-out and handy as a basic reference when repairing an off-the shelf axe.  I just wish it was as full-featured as Mr. Cadfael's, though. 
http://www.artecsoun...ng/wiring_book01.pdf

173

Living Room / Re: I am fed up with skype but is there an alternative?

« Last post by Edvard on April 16, 2016, 08:00 PM »

Is there a SIMPLE plug in and play software to videochat?

-kalos (April 16, 2016, 11:12 AM)

Skype or Google Hangouts.

-f0dder (April 16, 2016, 04:28 PM)

If you and your friends have Google+ (a given if you use gmail), AND you use Chrome, Google Hangouts is your best option.
Go to: https://hangouts.google.com/
Choose the Chrome link on the "Download for:" bar, it will install as a Chrome extension.

That is as simple as it gets as far as Skype alternatives.  Any other service will want you to sign up with another web service, site, etc.
Makeuseof.com has a review of 6 different ones, but I think Google is your best option:
http://www.makeuseof...t-free-alternatives/

174

Living Room / Re: More good web comics you've discovered

« Last post by Edvard on April 13, 2016, 10:03 PM »

^ yes, lovely drawing 
page 1 reminds me of some of Tolkien's drawings

-tomos (April 13, 2016, 03:56 AM)

Aw man, smack me for not seeing it myself.... Yes, that is VERY Tolkien-ish.  When I was about 12, I got my hands on a hardback copy of The Hobbit with yellowing pulp pages and a forest green cloth cover, and it was full of his wonderful maps and illustrations.  I have no idea where it is now, but I still remember it fondly. 

175

DC Gamer Club / Somebody actually made an Ikea furniture building simulator game

« Last post by Edvard on April 11, 2016, 10:08 PM »

I have not words... 

Höme Improvisåtion

The world's most fun & accurate cooperative furniture assembly experience! There was a problem printing the instruction manuals so you will have to figure out how the furniture goes together.

Home Improvisation is a game about building crazy modular furniture. It is playable solo or with up to 4 friends working together. You can try to build the furniture correctly, or you can make new and terrifying furniture creations. The choice is yours!

https://thestorkburn....itch.io/home-improv

from a blog post of games I've never heard of