Longest Running Thread EVER

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

What tool are you using to produce those?

I don't have a good 3-D anim tool...so I drew 10 frames by hand, at a large size (200 x 200) so I could get detail, shading, etc. right...then mirror-imaged the frames in reverse order to make the complete series of frames. (I did this mostly using PaintShopPro because, while it lacks some powers and abilities of the more high-end programs, it's relatively small & responsive and yet still gives me the tools I use 90%+ of the time). Then I used CorelDraw to merge the frames into an animation and, after I'd got the timing, etc. right, reduced it down to avatar size and then matted in the green hexagon to the frames. A bit more tweaking was necessary to get it under 19.6k, as noted.

 

So, to make a long story short -- the tool I used to create it was a paint program, my mouse, and my hands & eyes.

 

Would have been a lot quicker if I had a nice 3D-animation tool.

 

Does anyone know of a good free one? 'Cause I sure can't afford to buy one right now.

 

(I'm also experimenting with Photoshop to do some 3D-ish effects, and it's going to be the primary tool for creating the next avatar I have in mind. Like I said, I'm experimenting with what tools I have and various ideas.)

[zornwil]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Snoped.

 

Their conclusion is that a lot of it's plain coincidence and people trying to find patterns among chaos. Some of it was fabricated or exaggerated.

Although Snopes' trivialization of the Civil Rights issue in fact works TOWARDS the coincidences - the fact that both men both paid lip service and had some support of their times' major Civil Rights issues and were equally reticent to actually act on them until larger forces made those issues even more salient bonds the level of coindience, not decreases it. We shouldn't forget that the apprehensions regarding Civil Rights existed for both men in 1960, with people believing Lincoln to be a hardlnie abolitionist and Kennedy to be a "lover" of "those" minorities.

 

 

They also stretch hard to try to disprove the "known by three names thing" - the simple fact is, popularly each was known quickly thereafter by their 3 names, an unusual thing, really.

 

This is where debunkers get annoying - they seem to feel so zealous about disproving something, they have to stretch to "really" disprove it, and thereby make themselves look as slanted in their agenda as those they are attacking. Worse, this column strongly implies an agenda among those citing coincidences by phrases such as "should be no surprise" and "why should it be significant". Maybe there's no agenda here - maybe many are simply impressed by coincidences for their own sake.

 

It also doesn't even discuss that earlier articles alleged an 1839 birth for Booth; the point is, this fabrication wasn't necessarily intentional as such, it may have been a regurgitation of simply incorrect data. The 1839 birth comes up in Enid Wave's article on Booth published in 1903, a long time before Kennedy, and thus without that particular agenda. In fact, upon research, it appears the 1839 birthdate goes back to an 1865 Harper's Weekly column, and probably other contemporary but incorrect sources.

 

The Lincoln/Kennedy secretary thing is probably based on the following:

 

"New York Police Superintendent, John A. Kennedy, played a role in Lincoln's protection during his 1861 inaugural train trip and also in the investigation immediately following Lincoln's assassination. Edwin Stanton telegraphed Kennedy roughly three hours after Lincoln was shot by Booth."

 

"The first name of Lincoln's private secretary was John" - these latter quotes from http://www.near-death.com/experiences/reincarnation08.html which seems more rigorous on the matter of provable factual detail even if the theory is silly and some of the details, to me, seem speculative.

 

PS - of course of the latter site reference, many things could be picked apart - the reference of Booth going to "enemy territory" is only correct from a POV later than that time, since it was 1859 and no confederacy existed then.

[Cancer]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

OK, that's still two more tools than I have (and by that I mean, I lack PaintShopPro and CorelDraw). I just use paint, as evidenced by the twisted wreckage that I have for my present avatar.

[zornwil]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

PS - so in fact, Snopes actually only indicated out of the following list:

 

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.

John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.

John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

 

The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.

 

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

 

Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

 

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

 

Both were shot in the head.

 

Lincoln's secretary, Kennedy, warned him not to go to the theatre.

Kennedy's secretary, Lincoln, warned him not to go to Dallas.

 

Both were assassinated by Southerners.

 

Both were succeeded by Southerners.

 

Both successors were named Johnson.

 

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.

Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

 

John Wilkes Booth was born in 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939.

 

Both assassins were known by their three names.

 

Both names are comprised of fifteen letters

 

Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.

Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.

 

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

 

 

 

The only incorrect items were:

 

Lincoln's secretary, Kennedy, warned him not to go to Ford's Theatre.

Kennedy's secretary, Lincoln, warned him not to go to Dallas.

 

John Wilkes Booth was born in 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939.

 

and

 

A month before Lincoln was assassinated he was in Monroe, Maryland.

A month before Kennedy was assassinated he was in Marilyn Monroe.

 

The particular Snopes columnist obviously has some of his own issues. Why not simply report the facts and not get into all the axe-grinding?

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Probably because he deals with dozens of conspiracy theorists a week, as it is.

[Cancer]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Thing is, I remember reading lists of Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences like this back in the mid 1960's ... thinking about where I remember being when I saw one, that's early 1968 at latest, and probably well before then. All you can do is say "huh" to things like this. I am convinced that real life provides many more strange, coincidental events than fiction, because fiction writers have sensibilities that tell them, "No one would ever believe that." Also, the human mind is extremely good at correlating random data, even when no real correlation exists.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

OK' date=' that's still two more tools than I have (and by that I mean, I lack PaintShopPro and CorelDraw). I just use paint, as evidenced by the twisted wreckage that I have for my present avatar.[/quote']

Well...maybe I can do something for you, if you want. I recently made a new avatar for Haven Walker, and she seems pretty pleased with it.

 

(The character she's currently playing in my Legion of Super-Heroes game is called Gamma Girl, and is a distant descendant of Superman. The player found on the net an "alternate costume for Supergirl" pic that she thought represented GG to a "t", and with the hair turned the correct color instead of blond, used that for her character. She adapted the face of that pic for her avatar here. With the reminder of "only stuff to which you hold the rights", she got rid of that avatar, given she'd been using it without the artist's permission. I offered to make a new avatar for her, and she thought that Gamma Girl's symbol -- a Greek "gamma" in a Superman-style "S" shield -- would be a good replacement, if I could come up with something she liked.)

[RPMiller]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Now you just need to make the green hex spin in the opposite direction.

 

J/k. I like it as I mentioned, and look forward to the new ones.

[Cancer]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Many thanks for the offer, but I know what I want, and I have a decent idea how to get it. Not all that complex, really, a static image that I have to generate myself so as to be completely free of copyright issues. It's just a matter of doing the necessary experimentation and settling on the finished product.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Now you just need to make the green hex spin in the opposite direction.

 

J/k. I like it as I mentioned, and look forward to the new ones.

Actually, I did consider having a static anhk and rotating the hexagon around it, since that would have been a lot less work, but I really, really, REALLY liked the idea of a spinning ankh, so I settled on that instead. It'll be a few days or a week between them, as time, inclination, and inspiration move me.

Many thanks for the offer' date=' but I know what I want, and I have a decent idea how to get it. Not all that complex, really, a static image that I have to generate myself so as to be completely free of copyright issues. It's just a matter of doing the necessary experimentation and settling on the finished product.[/quote']Good luck with getting that together, then.

[RPMiller]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Ok, I have begun work on a PDF Export Template for HeroDesigner and I thought I would let all of you here be the first to know about it. It is currently working to a point. That point being that it is accepting the data from HD and producing a PDF. However, I'm running into some formatting issues with the PDF language itself. Let's just say it isn't very user friendly...

 

Once I have worked out the first few kinks, I'll be posting it most likely to the HD forum. I'm diving back in. Wish me luck.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Luck!

[zornwil]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Yeah, very cool!

[Mantis]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

However' date=' I'm running into some formatting issues with the PDF language itself. Let's just say it isn't very user friendly...[/quote']Is the PDF language anything like Postscript? I have some experience with the latter.

[RPMiller]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

My gawd... the docs for the PDF specs have got to be some of the worst I've ever read. Explanations? What are those? Sheesh. This is not going to be easy. I'm currently getting output, but the formatting problem is that the entire text stream is being written on one line. Their carriage return line feed code doesn't work as stated in the specs, so now I'm banging my head against that. Oh, and here's a fun one... Guess where 0,0 is on the sheet? Bottom left corner. While I can appreciate that in some respects for others I'm floored. This is going to be quite challenging.

[RPMiller]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

PDF is in fact, built off of post script. So, I would be happy to get your input.

[Bazza]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

Is the PDF language anything like Postscript? I have some experience with the latter.

from wikipedia

PDF is primarily the combination of three technologies:

a cut-down form of PostScript for generating the layout and graphics,

a font-embedding/replacement system to allow fonts to travel with the documents, and

a structured storage system to bundle these elements into a single file, with data compression where appropriate.

[gewing]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

The Glass Trick:

http://gprime.net/video.php/theglasstrick

 

Video with audio and video (in Japanese). Very interesting magic trick.

 

HOw the Hell???

 

 

WOW

[RPMiller]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

from wikipedia

Quote:

PDF is primarily the combination of three technologies:

a cut-down form of PostScript for generating the layout and graphics,

a font-embedding/replacement system to allow fonts to travel with the documents, and

a structured storage system to bundle these elements into a single file, with data compression where appropriate.

And one ring to rule them all...

[Bazza]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

And one ring to rule them all...

...one technology to join them

One technology to bring them together

and in the Adobe bind them? ??

[Mantis]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

PDF is in fact' date=' built off of post script. So, I would be happy to get your input.[/quote']Send me what you've got (my email is in my profile) and I'll see if I can suggest anything. No guarantees, my PS knowledge is primitive, and I don't know if it will work directly in PDF!

[RPMiller]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

The thing I'm fighting with right now is just getting a carriage return line feed to work. How would you have entered that in Postscript?

 

I'm getting 3 different ways in PDF, and none of them seem to work.

[austenandrews]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

The Glass Trick:

http://gprime.net/video.php/theglasstrick

 

Video with audio and video (in Japanese). Very interesting magic trick.

That was cool. The salt shaker was a nice bit of work.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

That was cool. The salt shaker was a nice bit of work.

I think I know how he did the first coin trick. How he did the salt shaker and the "coin trapped in glass tabletop", I haven't a clue!

 

At the Safe House in Milwaukee, one of the bartenders (on some nights) is a tri-state champion magician, and he does all kinds of things while tending bar.

 

For example:

 

One night while I and some friends were there, he game myself and my friend Charley cards from a deck of playing cards. Different cards -- we each were holding one at the same time. He had me sign my name on the back of mine in permanent marker, and Charley sign his name on the front of his card, also in permanent marker. I was still holding my card, with my signature on it plainly visible, while Charley was signing his card (there was only one permanent marking pen available, so we had to take turns). The magician then shuffled the cards back into the deck...and when he drew one card from the deck, it was signed on both sides! My signature was mine, in my handwriting, and Charley's was his, in his handwriting! I've still got that playing card, because he let us keep it!

 

I also saw him do this trick, out in the resteraunt portion:

 

He sat down at a table with 3 people. (I was lucky enough to be at the table on the other side of the aisle, so got to see this.) He asked one of the women for a quarter. He didn't take it, but had her show it around. He then gave her a permanent marker and asked her to initial the coin. Then he had her put the coin back in her purse. Then he asked her to select a packet of sweetner from the holder full of then (3 kinds in the holder), open it, and pour the contents out. When she did, her initialed coin poured out with the sweetner! And I'd swear the magician's hands never came anywhere near the coin or the packets of sweetner!

 

He's good!

[RPMiller]

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

 

No idea how he did the first trick, but the second sounds like it was a 'plant'. Those are hard to determine unless you can look at the coin when it is initialled and note how the face lines up with the initial, and compare with the retrieved version. They are usually different.