Recent Posts

451

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

« Last post by superboyac on February 13, 2015, 08:54 PM »

I just finished putting some organ on my friends' tracks, for this upcoming album:
http://creativecollo...sacre-at-the-narwhal

So it's coming up soon!  It was a delightful track, if I do say so myself.  A sound we've been talking about for years.

-superboyac (January 15, 2015, 06:15 PM)

Sounds good! Keep us posted.

-40hz (January 16, 2015, 12:09 PM)

It's out!
http://creativecollo...sacre-at-the-narwhal

I'm on the last track (the closer, yes!!) "Mac the Knife".  The same band (minus me) is also on track 3 "St. James Infirmary".  Hope you guys like it!

And Happy Valentines!

452

General Software Discussion / Spacemonger is updated!!!!

« Last post by superboyac on February 12, 2015, 11:38 PM »

http://edgerunner.com/spacemonger

Spacemonger is now updated after a very long hiatus!  The economy must really be picking up or something.

I just have to say something, I personally feel Spacemonger is one of the most perfect softwares I have ever come across.  It is flawless, i really can't say that about maybe ANY other software.  The first time I saw it, i was blown away immediately.  It's simple, it's powerful, it's visually amazing, it's tremendously practical (like, I can't live without it).  It's like the Mozart of software. 

453

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: import/export foobar keyboard shortcuts

« Last post by superboyac on February 12, 2015, 09:27 PM »

http://www.foobar2000.org/

Could someone make a tool to import and export foobar keyboard shortcuts?  This is a huge pain with fresh foobar installs.

To explain more, you can import/export the ENTIRE configuration with certain methods, but there's no way to do it with ONLY the keyboard customizations.  This is a problem because you may have configured your foobar and replacing the entire configuration will ruin that.

I don't know what is involved.  I know the shortcuts are stored in the core.cfg file, but it's not just a text file, it opens with all sorts of hex stuff.  But I believe that is the file that needs to be modified.  Or there may be another way to do it, I don't know.

I'd be willing to pay!

454

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by superboyac on February 10, 2015, 08:25 PM »

I think it's just cell-shaded 3D models from Poser or something like that.

-Deozaan (February 10, 2015, 12:03 PM)

Thx. Learn something new every day.

-40hz (February 10, 2015, 12:32 PM)

I've been looking at the tools available now.  I also think it's not rotoscoping.  But it's not just 3D either.  I may be wrong, but the most efficient (cheap) way to do this now is the rig a character in your choice of software, and then use motion capture for the joints/movements.  The movements are too realistic for me to believe an indie person did it without motion capture.  Otherwise, I'm VERY impressed.

[edit] You know...I think it is Poser, actually!  Those parts where he shows the characters changing shows that he has a way of just substituting models/clothes easily...and Poser is the only one that does that out of the box, I believe.  but the guy is a pro, he might have access to some custom software.  Still, it does remind me a lot about Poser.  Damn, if that's true, Poser is awesome!!  Hmm...Poser with motion capture, that's a lot of bang for the buck.

455

Living Room / Re: Please help superboyac build a server (2013 edition).

« Last post by superboyac on February 09, 2015, 07:18 PM »

Well, ladies and gentlemen...the time has come!   

The first parts for the server has arrived.  I know, no big deal, i've built many computers.  but this is my FIRST server!  All the parts are pretty much the same, so i don't expect many surprises.  I'm more excited about the possibilities it offers, like centralizing some of my operations and stuff.  I'm being pulled in many directions these days, and I'm hoping the server will help.

456

Living Room / Re: Peer Review and the Scientific Process

« Last post by superboyac on February 09, 2015, 05:02 PM »

This may be off topic, but I wouldn't mind some of your input here.
Recently, a lot of people around me have been getting worked about about the anti-vaccination issues.  I've been listening to the arguments, and I must say that I'm legitimately confused.  Politics or beliefs aside, the question I want to answer is, "Should I vaccinate?  How do I make this decision wisely?"
The closest I've been able to come to an answer is along these lines:
Let's say there's a disease where I have 5% chance of dying.  The vaccine is available, and with it there is the 1% risk of dying.  So in that case, the gamble is mathematically worth the risk.

But it's just not that simple.  Do we know these percentages?  What if the vaccine is for a non-lethal disease, like a cold or mild flu?  Are these risk quantification reliable?  I don't know the answer at all, to be honest.  And it's a sensitive issue in my circles as there actually are cases of life-altering mental problems that have been attributed to vaccination.  I never ask, but I want to ask how do we know it was the vaccines? 

457

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by superboyac on February 09, 2015, 01:15 PM »

I'm studying animation right now, and stumbled across this.  I love the look, so good.  It kind of stopped me in my tracks for a sec, so I figured it was damn good enough to post!

458

Living Room / Re: What are the consequences of an FCC Internet "utility"?

« Last post by superboyac on February 06, 2015, 09:33 PM »

yea, nice article.
so that makes more sense now.  My next question would be, what did we accomplish by this step of formally classifying the internet as a "common carrier" ?  who does this benefit?  what is going to change?

459

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

« Last post by superboyac on February 06, 2015, 03:35 PM »

^I think I'd rather just swallow a quarter pint of liquid starch with a little salt in it while looking at a picture of a potato chip. Same result, but less chewing needed. Although...in fairness, that 'can' they come in does find its uses when employed as part of a wifi cantenna. There are many better cantenna designs out there. Most using cans that hold stuff I'd much rather eat. But the Pringles version does do the job.

 

-40hz (February 06, 2015, 01:21 PM)

oh man you reminded me...NSFW!

Spoiler

One of my friends told me an awful story involving a disgusting use of a pringles can.  It involved fireworks and scatological elements.  It does not end well.

460

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

« Last post by superboyac on February 06, 2015, 12:52 PM »

Pringles!  They're fun to eat!  Fits on the tongue like a glove!

461

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox won't play videos unless I keep moving the mouse! Ugh!

« Last post by superboyac on February 05, 2015, 05:21 PM »

Ath - well, when you say "connector" do you mean Adobe flash?  Thing is that it is a firefox plugin.
AND the machines are running MS Security Essentials.

@Miles - it does look similar.  The browser isn't crashing, and switching tabs doesn't work either.

It's rather painful, too.  You just can't watch.  You have to watch and move the mouse.

Actually, I just noticed something else.  This one computer was running Firefox 34, so I upgraded it to 35 via the help menu.  And I was watching the progress meter and noticed that unless I moved the mouse, the little spinner in the upgrade panel would not move.  Strange!
I'm going to run a memory test and see if it is a RAM issue.

-BGM (February 05, 2015, 04:41 PM)

this is not really a productive comment, but...
Firefox lately has been annoying wrto flash video playback.  I am now watching all videos in chrome.  I felt like in 2014, flash videos were causing slowness/freezes/crashing in firefox all the time, like multiple times a day.

462

Living Room / What are the consequences of an FCC Internet "utility"?

« Last post by superboyac on February 05, 2015, 05:16 PM »

http://www.nytimes.c...e-internet-providers

The big news today is the move to regulate the internet as a utility.  I know we have other threads for this, but my main question is what are the consequences to this?  It's hard for me to tell with all the weird political doublespeak and general news narratives.

Some of my basic questions:
Is the internet really a "natural monopoly"? (like gas, water...to me, it doesn't appear to be)
For the normal residential connection...does regulation mean faster or slower speeds per buck spent?
For the normal residential connection...does regulation mean the internet is wide open as it is today? (I don't get this one at all)
Wouldn't any kind of "change" for the internet by default indicate MORE restrictions on content?  To me, it seems logical that this is true because the internet currently is completely "liberated"...it's already 100% free, any change would have to be less free, no?

463

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

« Last post by superboyac on February 04, 2015, 11:30 PM »

@SB - I'm not quite as over the top about it as Stephen Fry is, although I suspect his tongue is very firmly planted it his cheek for most of it.

But I do not like to dance even though it runs in the family on both sides. My dad was an excellent dancer as was my mother. My two sisters are phenomenal dancers. I have a cousin who danced ballet professionally with the Joffrey and the ABT ballet companies among others. She and her husband (also a dancer) taught ballet out of her own private school for several years after she retired from performing. And my youngest niece is enrolled in a very serious dance program at the ripe old age of six. She just did her first Nutcracker performance (taking on two minor roles) last holiday season. And she wants to do it professionally as well. If so, she's definitely born into the right family. She'll get all the support and encouragement she needs if she pursues it.

Oh...and my GF absolutely loves to dance. Something she does extremely well too. That fact that I do what little dancing I do (mostly slow waltzes) is purely to please her. Fortunately there are always enough guys who do want to dance with her that I can usually sit back a weddings or other occasions and seem quite generous whenever someone asks "Do you mind?" ... to which I always reply: "Why not ask her if it's ok with her rather than me?"

Also, unlike Mr. Frye, I do like watching good dance performance: Ballet, modern, Broadway-type musical dance numbers, Balinese temple dance, hula, some avant-garde and/or experimental (such as MOMIX or Pilobolus), Irish and contemporary Acadian step-dancing (similar in many ways to the better known Irish variety but looser, sexier and not as stiff - see some glimpses of it here - watch the beginning and then fast-forward to about the 5:40 mark), and pretty much anything else that shows talent and looks good.

It's been said you can't be a great spiritual leader if you don't dance...

I guess I'm not a great spiritual leader. But I'm good with that.

-40hz (February 04, 2015, 08:04 PM)

For someone who doesn't dance, you sure are surrounded by it! 
I personally like dancing, I just suck.  I used to be quite good at it, even traditional type stuff...but I had a late, extreme growth spurt, and the lankiness was difficult to deal with.  I'm athletic and coordinate, I just didn't care after that.  One day, i might get back into.  Can't be good at everything!!  Wait...i totally forgot...I did do about a year of ballet 2 years ago!  It was fun and actually very freaking hard...I think all the girls in there were stronger than me.  But the few times I got in the groove a bit, it felt like dribbling/footwork of basketball.

Ok...now I have to look up like 7 things from your post.  Coffee is brewing...

464

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

« Last post by superboyac on February 04, 2015, 03:27 PM »

Apparently, opinions vary looking at their history...

https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Right_Said_Fred

-wraith808 (February 04, 2015, 11:15 AM)

From that, it looks like they're more a follow-the-market-trends-and-go-for-the-money sort of operation.

More power to them if so. That perhaps made them a successful stage act. But that doesn't make them what I'd consider to be a genuine band.

-40hz (February 04, 2015, 01:06 PM)

Isn't that what most dance music groups are, though? 

-wraith808 (February 04, 2015, 01:45 PM)

Don't know. Whenever I try to listen to one, it all goes in one ear and straight out the other, leaving me hungry for some music to listen to.

Besides, people who play 'dance music' aren't doing it to actually listen to a band. They're doing it to dance. Either on the club's dance floor - or in their heads. Dance music and club mixes are primarily kinaesthetic rather than auditory sensory experiences. That's why they blast it they way they do. Like the lyric (singular) says: "<Boom-BOOM!> FEEL THE BEAT!." It's "all about that bass, 'bout that bass - no treble."

But I don't dance much - or willingly. So I guess it's yet another one of those "different strokes for different folks" things.

-40hz (February 04, 2015, 02:58 PM)

465

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

« Last post by superboyac on February 04, 2015, 01:22 PM »

Apparently, opinions vary looking at their history...

https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Right_Said_Fred

-wraith808 (February 04, 2015, 11:15 AM)

From that, it looks like they're more a follow-the-market-trends-and-go-for-the-money sort of operation.

More power to them if so. That perhaps made them a successful stage act. But that doesn't make them what I'd consider to be a genuine band.

-40hz (February 04, 2015, 01:06 PM)

Weren't they on one of Gervais' shows recently?  lol.  ridiculous.

466

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

« Last post by superboyac on February 04, 2015, 01:21 PM »

And whoever the tamborine guy is, he is making every second of that count (i would, too!)

-superboyac (February 03, 2015, 07:07 PM)

Pretty sure that's Ray Cooper, and he's quite a bit more than a tambourine man

-Target (February 03, 2015, 10:03 PM)

It is Ray Cooper!!  lol.  I love Rainbow Rock; I think that's the album that really introduced me to Elton John.

467

General Software Discussion / Re: I've not been happy with Macrium Reflect Free, and perhaps their paid versions..

« Last post by superboyac on February 04, 2015, 10:52 AM »

I suggest always backing up two images from two different programs.  Also maybe using two different externals. If it is mission-critical, something off-site. And I only do images occasionally, once I have some from an early fairly clean install.

-Steven Avery (February 04, 2015, 05:39 AM)

never considered that.  I think that's a good idea to use different programs.  I definitely have in the past had an image that didn't work for some reason.  Reminds me of mouser's backup strategy document.

468

Living Room / Re: Want to be in my story? See inside.

« Last post by superboyac on February 04, 2015, 01:26 AM »

  app has been updated, lol!  possibly NSFW:

Spoiler

469

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

« Last post by superboyac on February 03, 2015, 07:07 PM »

Not sure if this has been posted.

I love this video.  I generally scoff at these star studded tribute lineups.  but this one turned out pretty perfect.  Tom Petty's no nonsense leadership, jeff Lynne's shockingly beautiful vocals, Winwood being very tasty as usual, and the perfect Prince setup where he comes out of the shadows.  Supposedly, harrison's son specifically asked for Prince...and he claims to have heard the song for the first time that day (hard to believe, but he DOES live in a bubble).  Look at Dhani Harrison's face when Prince comes in, he is ecstatic.  And whoever the tamborine guy is, he is making every second of that count (i would, too!).  I LOVE how Petty gives Prince "permission" to go off on the extended solo, lol.

This video also keeps reminding me how brilliant Prince is when it comes to rock guitar gods.  This comment on the youtube is perfect:

This shows why Prince could never be a part of a band. He doesn't ruin it, but he does take over a but. he's almost too talented for anyone to really embrace him. People like their guitarists to hang back a bit. Brilliant though. Even if he's never mentioned among the best, he really is and we all know it. 

470

General Software Discussion / Re: QTTabbar (now at version 1024) is once again my favourite

« Last post by superboyac on February 03, 2015, 05:37 PM »

It's unclear to me:
does it do dual-pane - or are the multiple panes always showing the same location?

-tomos (January 09, 2015, 03:48 AM)

Explorer windows get multi-tabbed, is the main feature.  I tried a mod version done by the other guy some time ago.  It seemed stable enough.  But the main thing that gripes me with these single pane multi-tabbed deals is I try to drag a bunch of files to another tab and they disappear into a random subfolder, if there are any, in the target tab.  Then I have to hunt them down.  Not really convenient.  I feel more comfortable with dual pane multi-tabbed.

I downloaded this one and tried to get it going but it seemed to be hosed by the fact I had Classic Shell installed. I could not access the Folder Options down arrow to enable it.  I had a tough time uninstalling both.  So I went back to classic shell since I'm on W8 and I'm used to having it.

-MilesAhead (January 09, 2015, 10:45 AM)

Classic Shell!  Seriously...I can't live without it.  If you need to tame Windows 8, go no further.

471

Non-Windows Software / Re: *FIXED*: Help! Problem with NoScript add-on in Firefox 35.0.1

« Last post by superboyac on February 03, 2015, 11:55 AM »

472

Living Room / Re: Sad news for scifi booklovers. Borderlands Books of San Francisco is closing.

« Last post by superboyac on February 02, 2015, 11:21 PM »

SF writer Cory Doctorow posted some very sad news on Boing-Boing. One of the very few independent science-fiction bookstores left in the USA, the famous Borderlands Books in San Francisco is planning on shutting its doors by March 31, 2015.

Their blog post serves up a neat summary of the seemingly insurmountable challenges an independent bookstore faces under the current realities of retail book selling.

You can read it here.

There is still some small hope. From their blog:

Some of you reading this probably have questions popping into your minds -- Is there a way to keep Borderlands open?  What alternatives have you considered?  What about moving out of SF?  What is going to happen to the cafe?  Is the business for sale?  And so on.  Before asking us your questions, please wait for a week.  We'll be sending out and posting updates frequently over the next week or so and those updates will probably answer most of your questions.  We will also be holding a public meeting in the cafe at seven P. M. on Thursday, February 12th. We'll be on hand to answer questions and moderate a discussion about alternatives to closing the store.  Although we do not believe that any viable alternative exists, we also think that we have a very smart and imaginative group of customers.  It is not impossible that we've missed a potential solution, and so we want an opportunity to hear your thoughts.

Hopefully some clever Jill or Joe will come up with an idea in time.

If not, "So it goes."

-40hz (February 02, 2015, 07:49 PM)

For those that follow this sort of business, what is the general perception of where this kind of business is headed?
I have friends in SF who are authors in niches like this...I kind of always have this image of SF as this haven for authors.  I'd hate to see that go.

473

General Software Discussion / Re: stickies Notezilla memoboard as full-blown personal note system

« Last post by superboyac on January 31, 2015, 02:37 PM »

Before you spend too much time looking...let me clarify, Rightnote does NOT have that masonry feature anywhere.  I was trying to say that such a feature for any tree style notetaker would be a nice thing.  I haven't seen it anywhere.  You're picture of notezilla got me thinking about it.
It's the same approach as the windows tiles on windows 8 and windows phones.  It's the best use of space in a rectangular shape.  It's also been a feature we've been seeing more on websites since about 5 years ago.

I totally agree with your initial comment, Stephen, about the wasted whitespace.  That's the big challenge with these notetakers.

Wiznote is basically just like evernote, in some cases worse, some cases better.  I don't have any particular reason to use it other than evernote pissed me off.  But the thing I like best about it is the very flexible exporting ability.  So if i ever change my mind, I can get everything out of there in a good way.

And Outliner 4D....this is not a notetaker by any means.  But for organizing ideas in a structured hierarchy, it's the absolute best that I've ever seen.  And my favorite part...you can print the outline just like you see it on the screen (try printing good looking outlines with any other software)...and also, the outlines can be exported in rtf.  I'm big into the rtf like you, because it retains formatting and is a middleman format for transferring stuff between applications.  I'm totally with you there.

There was a notetaker in the past that kept each note in a separate txt file or something.  Ah...Am-Notebook!  But I never latched on to that.  The idea of keeping notes in separate files was interesting, though.

474

General Software Discussion / Re: stickies Notezilla memoboard as full-blown personal note system

« Last post by superboyac on January 30, 2015, 05:01 PM »

I just tried Notezilla (again)...no, it doesn't work for me.  As I mentioned before, a really great feature for rightnote or any similar tree hierarchy is the option to display in masonry-style, all the subnotes.

So I'll be sticking to RN.  I mentioned this in another thread, but I'm still favoring Outliner 4D more and more for more structured glancing at notes and ideas.  But it's a manual process...i dump a bunch of stuff in wiznote, then eventually add the significant items to RN, then if i really need to dig into an idea, I'll do it in Outliner 4D.  I keep looking for tools to simplify this process, but at this point I'm almost philosophically convinced it can't be accomplished with a single tool.

475

General Software Discussion / Re: stickies Notezilla memoboard as full-blown personal note system

« Last post by superboyac on January 30, 2015, 03:59 PM »

Trello looks very cool.  I'd like to try it and see how it compares to Slack.

Stephen, why did you stop using Rightnote?  I'm curious because it seems like we have the same needs.  I'm currently kind of dedicated to RN, but I haven't been exploring these other interesting options.  I don't find Rightnote lacking except for one thing which is not its fault...it's a tree hierarchical organizer, so they are all basically the same visual experience.  Something like what you showed with Notezilla is better in the sense that I can clearly and quickly glance at several notes at once.  You know what would be a great feature for RN...if you clicked on a folder containing subnotes, and all the subnotes are displayed the way you show for notezilla.  Instead, it just behaves like a regular note.