SNAKES ON A PLANE!

Snake · Moderator

SNAKES ON A PLANE!

kannibalkaney · Date: Feb 21, 2006

so snake could you explain some of the basic functions of adobe photoshop for someone who doesn't know a damn thing about it?

kannibalkaney

Snake · Moderator

Ahh, a question I can answer.

Okay, Ill be taking you step-by-step through the toolbar (located to the left when you open Photoshop).

Please note, this is with Photoshop CS2 9.0, so there may be a few differences (although I can't recall any).

Left Row (top to bottom):

Marquee Tool - This allows you select pixels in either a rectangular shape, oval shape, or by rows (vertical and horizontal). Good for selecting a large area to crop, but useless if you wish to cut out something from a picture (something curvy).

Lasso Tool - This allows you to manually cut out an area of a picture. For the Lasso Tool, you simply click and move the mouse around the area you want to cut out, then move back to your starting point and click on the dot again. This CAN be useful at times...but it's not very accurate. Right click to access the Polygonal Lasso Tool. This tool is MUCH more useful. You drop anchor points along the way (little dots), which allows for much more precise selecting. The Magnetic Lasso Tool is also fairly useful, as it attaches itself to the side of an image (most useful if the background is white). However, it's not as accurate as the Polygonal Tool.

Crop Tool - Plain and simple. Drag around the area you want to crop, and click. Viola, your picture is cropped.

Healing Tool (Band-aid symbol) - Now, I don't have a ton of experience with this, as it's mostly for photo editing (such as photos you take). If an area of a picture has a large scratch or something to that effect, it's possible to 'heal' the area with this tool, or blend it in with everything else. Good for photo editing.

Clone Stamp Tool - A favorite of mine. You select a brush size, press down the Alt key, then click an area. When you move to another area and click, it pulls the exact color and pattern from the area you Alt-Clicked on. VERY useful.

Eraser Tool - Simple. There's two other variations of the eraser as well. One filters out certain colors and shapes and only deletes the 'shape' you click on. The other is useful for trimming around the edges of pictures.

Blur/Sharpen/Smudge Tools - Each tool does as it implies. Blur makes an image blurry, and has a 'pressure' meter at the top. Sharpen is useful for making slightly blurred areas seem more crisp, but can quickly cause the picture to loose integrity. Smudge is useful if you want to blend two things that are against each other discretely. Just click on one color and drag to the other, it smudges them together (in my opinion, only use this on SMALL areas, or it looks kinda shoddy).

Path Selection Tool - Never really used this tool, but I BELIEVE that is selects a 'path' or 'shape' around where you click.

Pen Tool - VERY USEFUL. For the standard tool, you simply click at different points to drop 'anchors'. If you click and hold it in while moving the mouse, you can create curves. When you have got the desired shape, you simply right click on the picture and hit 'Stroke Path...', which will give you an option of what color to use and which tool (Brush, Pencil, etc. It's best to use brush on size 2 with black for lines) to use. When you click okay, it creates a line in the exact shape you clicked. Remember that Tifa pick I did? That was done completely with the Pen tool.
There's other forms of the pen tool with seperate uses, but they're pretty easy to figure out once you get the main tool down.

Notes Tool - Okay, I've only used this once, so my memory on the subject is foggy. I believe you click on an area to drop a 'Note Box' which appears as a little dot or something. When you click on this dot, a box with notes you entered previously appears for your viewing. You can also edit these notes on the fly, so it's fairly useful for long projects.

Hand Tool - Zoom in on the image. Select the Hand Tool. Now, click on the picture and drag. It simply moves your viewpoint around, and is a bit more precise then using the scroll bars.

Right Row (top to bottom):

Move Tool - This gets into layer. In Photoshop, you can create 'layers', or seperate images that overlap on your background (text, cut out and pasted renders, etc. are new layers). Use this tool to grab an unlocked layer (you have to have that layer selected) and move it around as you please.

Magic Wand Tool - This is another selection tool. Pick a place on your image, preferably a large part of the same color, and click on it. The magic wand tool selects everything around that color that it deems similar.

Slice Tool - No Earthly clue what this thing does. I'm thinking it slices part of an image off that you select, but I honestly don't know.

Brush/Pencil/Color Replacement Tool - The simplest of the simple. By default, Pencil is a 1 pixel black dot that you use to freehand. Brush is for more complex things, and 'Brush Packs' can be downloaded for some nice effects (my backgrounds on sigs and such are done mostly with fractal and abstract brushes). Color replacement...never used it, but it does what it says, I just don't know the details.

History Brush Tool - Something else I never use. I'm sure it's fairly useful, I just don't.

Paint Bucket/Gradient Tool - Very useful. Using Paint Bucket just dumps a color on the layer, or in the selected area. Gradient creates...well, a gradient. If you don't know what that is, let me know and I'll post a pic.

Dodge/Burn/Sponge Tool - Dodge appears to suck a bit of the color out of an image. Burn makes the area you click on darker. Sponge sucks color out, making it closer to Grayscale.

Text Tool - Simple, and it comes in both vertical and horizontal. The black text symbols are to put the letters down in the color you have selected. The white text symbols create an outline of the text, which you can fill with color if you wish (it doesn't keep the borders or anything).

Shape Tool - Right click to access different shapes. Just click and drag the selected shape to your preference. Each shape has it's own option which you can edit.

Eyedropper Tool - If you have a color down on a picture, click it with this tool to make it your primary color. Good for color coordination.

Magnification Tool - Magnifies your picture up to 1600%. Alt-Clicking de-magnifies.

And that's your basic toolbar. Under all that is your primary (foreground) and secondary (background) colors bar, which you can edit to your own preferences. There's more options underneath, but I never use them.

If you want something on layers and the tools on the right hand side of the screen, let me know.

Mitch · Moderator

Strictly for the record, the other "Ask the mods" threads are mostly for some random humor, which we encourage....things that don't involve banana penises hopefully. That's why we have the Mature section. But anyways, I'll pose a question of my own.

I've played the Mercenaries until I unlocked Wesker, then played as him for a while. I'm well on my way to getting the hand-cannon, but I still have a ways to go. Some people just go the extra mile to replay the story mode, I guess. Anyways, I have a roundabout way of asking it, but do you think the Patriot Act is invading our privacy? I would appreciate your opinion on this, since this is a topic that Bush is trying his hardest to make excuses for. Also, HUNK isn't as cool as you made me believe. I like Wesker and Krauser a lot better.

Jena Runner · Do you enjoy this?

This is probably a stupid question but ill ask anyways....is there a way i can get KOTOR to run faster on my pc? whenever i try to play it on my pc at the current time it lags really really bad.

kannibalkaney · Date: Feb 22, 2006

well jena, i might be able to answer this one for you. have you downloaded the version 1.03 update patch for the game because before i did on my copy, my game was really lagging too even with the graphics stuff turned all the way down. so try that and see if it works for you. just be connected to the net and click update the next time you start up kotor.

sorry to steal that one snake

oh and snake do you know where i can get this famous bittorrent thing everyone's into, and where i can get torrents such as i.e. 7 and stuff like that?

kannibalkaney

Snake · Moderator

Bittorrent will take an explanation.

You need a torrent program. For this I suggest Azureus or UTorrent, both should be available at www.download.com

Next, you need torrents (the files you'll be downloading). Just type "whatever you're looking for.torrent" into Google and you should find some stuff. Here's a couple of torrent websites:

www.torrentspy.com
www.mininova.org

When you download a torrent, double click it. It'll open your torrent program, prompt you where to save the file, and begin downloading.

And Jena, there's a number of ways to speed up performance on games.

A) Defragment your hard drive
B) Close un-necessary background programs
C) Make sure nothing else is running (like AIM) while you play. Also close all web browsers
D) Update the game
E) Update your graphic drivers

Do this for me. Go to your desktop and right click on My Computer, then hit properties. Under 'Computer' it will have several things listed...just post those on here. After that, right click on the desktop itself and hit properties. Go to the 'Settings' tab, and click 'Advanced'. Go to the 'Adapter' tab. Tell me what it says under 'Adapter Type'. Also, tell me what it says for 'Memory Size' (also under the Adapter tab).

And I'll get back to you on the Patriot Act thing, Mitch...I don't exactly have time to answer that at the moment.

kannibalkaney · Date: Feb 23, 2006

how much wood does a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

kannibalkaney

Snake · Moderator

The chuckage of the wood is directly proportionate to the woodchuck's total wood supply and stamina.

-- Edited by Snake at 16:12, 2006-02-23

kannibalkaney · Date: Feb 23, 2006

Why will you not ever get lost in Los Angeles?

kannibalkaney

Snake · Moderator

Los Angeles is a largely populated town and is very dense. Although the chance of getting lost in a city of that magnitude is rather great, I will never get lost there frankly because I don't plan on going there.

kannibalkaney · Date: Feb 23, 2006

kaney's answer: because there's AIDS on every corner

why doesn't the united states switch over to the far superior metric system full time?

kannibalkaney

Snake · Moderator

Because people are too stupid to learn the system we have now, what makes you think they'll want to re-learn something else?

kannibalkaney · Date: Feb 26, 2006

why are macintosh people homosexuals?

kannibalkaney

Snake · Moderator

Because they have a superiority complex that makes them think that they can do no wrong.

kannibalkaney · Date: Feb 26, 2006

yep, i'll agree there

what is jerked chicken exactly?

kannibalkaney

Jena Runner · Do you enjoy this?

this is something we learned in class the other day and it is also on a video game too by the way, the questions that is.

In which Brazilian city can the famous Copacabana Beach be found?

The humid plains around the La Plata River in South America are called what?

What is the name of the unique feature of the Scandinavian coast?

Snake · Moderator

1) Rio de Janeiro

2) Pampas

3) Fjord

And the game those are from is Mega Man Legends 2 (I know this because it was the first Playstation game I ever got).

Keep em coming.

-- Edited by Snake at 19:21, 2006-03-02

Mitch · Moderator

Hot tits, Snake! I'm actually surprised you remembered that. Must've played that quiz part to death.

Snake · Moderator

I played it into the ground (I had to, I wanted that Saber).

Mitch · Moderator

It wasn't exactly worth it, in my opinion, but whatever. Jena just breezed right through those quiz questions, though. But gamers these days have stuff that we didn't back then. That being GameFAQs.

Anyways, here's a question for you to answer. How do you kill sperm? Is there a way to kind of....you know....stop it from being able to get someone pregnant? Not like, getting surgery or anything, but sperm that has already left you. Is there, like, anything someone could, I dunno, spray on it for example to sort of kill it?

Snake · Moderator

Human sperm has a maximum external life of around 42 hours max. If the sperm goes inside of someone, then there isn't really anything you can do except pray. However, if it is outside, there are several ways in which to kill it:

Fire
Flushing
Pesticide (I believe, not positive)
Any acid
Any base
Cleaning chemicals, such as ammonia

Any of these would probably kill sperm without a problem, being that sperm is VERY vulnerable. They have one purpose and are very fragile, so destroying them is no problem.

Now cleaning up the mess, on the other hand, IS difficult...

(Note: No, I haven't tried any of this. Nor will I EVER try any of this.)

kannibalkaney · Date: Mar 3, 2006

so yeah about jerked chicken, and yes it is something real, i just don't know what it is

i think it is a way of cooking chicken, but i'm not sure

kannibalkaney

kannibalkaney · Date: Mar 16, 2006

okay snake i've got a question since you are kinda the window os expert her other than me

now you know i've bitched about my lappy a lot, but i have a question:

okay well you know how they swapped out my optical drive, well it still won't read and write dvds and it doesn't like to play audio cds. now i'm thinking of installing some drivers for it in the future to see if it is just a software thing since they wiped my hard drive back when they had it.

i can go into more details, but due to time constraints i can't right now.

do you think that the drivers will do it for me, or do you think that i still have a hardware problem on my hands. i really don't want to go back to cc and let them have this machine again for 4 weeks so they can wipe my drive again!

kannibalkaney

Snake · Moderator

It's really a bit hard to say, but here are a few things you can check.

Go to Device Manager (right-click on My Computer, hit Properties, click Hardware, then open Device Manager). Look for your drive in there. If there's a little yellow question-mark beside it, then it's got problems. The best thing to do is A) download the correct drivers, uninstall the drive, then reinstall it with those drivers, or B) uninstall it and reinstall with the standard Windows XP drivers (you may need your installation CD).

Another question, did you put any special burning software on there like Alcohol 120% or Nero/Roxio burner? If so, it's possible that due to some odd conflict, a registry key has been added that disables certain properties on your burner (on my laptop after installing Alcohol 120%, it added a registry key that completely disabled my drive). If this is the case, then go here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q314060

Then again, you might just have a bad drive (which is always possible). If that's the case, the only thing I can tell you is to back-up all your personal stuff and get them to replace it.

-- Edited by Snake at 18:04, 2006-03-16

kannibalkaney · Date: Mar 18, 2006

well i'm going to try those things, and i'm going to try some other things that a few of my friends at pstcc told me to try, but so help me if i have to go back to cc because i'm way over their crappy service. i know one thing though they won't touch my hard drive this time because they will either agree in signing not to wipe it, or i'll physically remove the drive before i let them ship it.

that or if it is hardware again, i'll just save my money and by a drive myself and install it manually and tell them to take their warrenty and shove it up their a**es

well, anyhoo next question:

what's your opinion of linux?

kannibalkaney

Snake · Moderator

Linux is a very open-ended Operating System, and is very stable if compiled right. I personally don't have much experience with it, although I WILL say it's VERY different than Windows. As far as compatibility, it's much more capable with Windows-based software than Macintosh, although it doesn't support ALL Windows file types.

The biggest problem with Linux is that you have to have the patience and know-how to set it up and get it to work the way you want it. If you make it that far and are willing to learn everything about it, than it can be way better than Windows (the main draw of Windows is that anyone can pick it up with no problem). I'm not gonna say that it's more POWERFUL than Windows, although it is CERTAINLY more modable.

Snake · Moderator

Mitch wrote:

Strictly for the record, the other "Ask the mods" threads are mostly for some random humor, which we encourage....things that don't involve banana penises hopefully. That's why we have the Mature section. But anyways, I'll pose a question of my own.
I've played the Mercenaries until I unlocked Wesker, then played as him for a while. I'm well on my way to getting the hand-cannon, but I still have a ways to go. Some people just go the extra mile to replay the story mode, I guess. Anyways, I have a roundabout way of asking it, but do you think the Patriot Act is invading our privacy? I would appreciate your opinion on this, since this is a topic that Bush is trying his hardest to make excuses for. Also, HUNK isn't as cool as you made me believe. I like Wesker and Krauser a lot better.

Okay, I'm ready to answer the stuff about the Patriot Act (had to do some research).

"The clumsily-titled Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act, or USAPA) introduced a plethora of legislative changes which significantly increased the surveillance and investigative powers of law enforcement agencies in the United States. The Act did not, however, provide for the system of checks and balances that traditionally safeguards civil liberties in the face of such legislation.

Legislative proposals in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were introduced less than a week after the attacks. President Bush signed the final bill, the USA PATRIOT Act, into law on October 26, 2001. Though the Act made significant amendments to over 15 important statutes, it was introduced with great haste and passed with little debate, and without a House, Senate, or conference report. As a result, it lacks background legislative history that often retrospectively provides necessary statutory interpretation.

The Act was a compromise version of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 (ATA), a far-reaching legislative package intended to strengthen the nation's defense against terrorism. The ATA contained several provisions vastly expanding the authority of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to monitor private communications and access personal information. The final legislation included a few beneficial additions from the Administration's initial proposal: most notably, a so-called sunset provision (which provides that several sections of the act automatically expire after a certain period of time, unless they are explicitly renewed by Congress) on some of the electronic surveillance provisions, and an amendment providing judicial oversight of law enforcement's use of the FBI's Carnivore system.

However, the USA PATRIOT Act retains provisions appreciably expanding government investigative authority, especially with respect to the Internet. Those provisions address issues that are complex and implicate fundamental constitutional protections of individual liberty, including the appropriate procedures for interception of information transmitted over the Internet and other rapidly evolving technologies. "
(http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/)

What this basically implies is that the Patriot Act gives the government the right to 'snoop' on suspicious things, even though they the person being snooped has no idea what's going on. This can lead to invasion of privacy, but we have to look at the core concept before we be-little it.

The Patriot Act was designed (rather quickly and clumsily, I might add) to prevent terrorist actions before they happen by upping the security on, well, pretty much everything. This core concept is great: stopping terrorism before it starts is a great thing. However, the downside is that it was slapped together and passed with no real stream-lining or fixes. What does this mean? Loopholes.

Mitch, you posted an article in Kaney's Circuit City thread that talks about finding child porn on a man's computer. This is possible because of the Patriot Act, where it is possible to seize suspicious material without warning the person in suspicion. However, wasn't the Patriot Act to find possible terrorist threats? I don't remember reading anything about porn.

It all boils down to the cold hard facts. The Act creates loopholes like these which gives the government a hightened security, although it technically invades a persons rights to personal material. Child porn is DEFINATELY wrong, don't get me wrong, but the Patriot Act just doesn't actually cover it.

If the Patriot Act was taken out of effect, reviewed, stream-lined, and reinacted with several amendments, then it would be a great way for the government to keep their eyes open for possible terrorist threats and over-all suspicious stuff. However, in it's current form, it creates loopholes that infringe on the normal citizens privacy. Catching a person for possible terrorist involvement is one thing: using the same law to deal with porn? That's something else.

In my personal opinion, I think that there should be some major revisions to the Patriot Act, and seperate acts for pornography.

Oh, and I like HUNK because of the neck-breaker. If you're good at pegging an enemy in the head with one TMP round, you can instantly kill them. I basically aim up, hit the button, then hit A to break as many necks as possible. That being said, I can get scores in the 100,000 range using HUNK (it actually sucks sometimes because I run out of people to take out).

-- Edited by Snake at 20:16, 2006-03-18

kannibalkaney · Date: Mar 18, 2006

yeah i will agree the patriot act needs an arse load of reworking, but the morons on dumb f*** hill can't get their heads out of their collective a**es so i don't see it getting better, and i'm talking aboot both sides

anyhoo, you heard anything about windows vista, and if so what's your take on it?

kannibalkaney

Mitch · Moderator

Snake wrote:

Mitch wrote: Strictly for the record, the other "Ask the mods" threads are mostly for some random humor, which we encourage....things that don't involve banana penises hopefully. That's why we have the Mature section. But anyways, I'll pose a question of my own. I've played the Mercenaries until I unlocked Wesker, then played as him for a while. I'm well on my way to getting the hand-cannon, but I still have a ways to go. Some people just go the extra mile to replay the story mode, I guess. Anyways, I have a roundabout way of asking it, but do you think the Patriot Act is invading our privacy? I would appreciate your opinion on this, since this is a topic that Bush is trying his hardest to make excuses for. Also, HUNK isn't as cool as you made me believe. I like Wesker and Krauser a lot better. Okay, I'm ready to answer the stuff about the Patriot Act (had to do some research). "The clumsily-titled Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act, or USAPA) introduced a plethora of legislative changes which significantly increased the surveillance and investigative powers of law enforcement agencies in the United States. The Act did not, however, provide for the system of checks and balances that traditionally safeguards civil liberties in the face of such legislation. Legislative proposals in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were introduced less than a week after the attacks. President Bush signed the final bill, the USA PATRIOT Act, into law on October 26, 2001. Though the Act made significant amendments to over 15 important statutes, it was introduced with great haste and passed with little debate, and without a House, Senate, or conference report. As a result, it lacks background legislative history that often retrospectively provides necessary statutory interpretation. The Act was a compromise version of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 (ATA), a far-reaching legislative package intended to strengthen the nation's defense against terrorism. The ATA contained several provisions vastly expanding the authority of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to monitor private communications and access personal information. The final legislation included a few beneficial additions from the Administration's initial proposal: most notably, a so-called sunset provision (which provides that several sections of the act automatically expire after a certain period of time, unless they are explicitly renewed by Congress) on some of the electronic surveillance provisions, and an amendment providing judicial oversight of law enforcement's use of the FBI's Carnivore system. However, the USA PATRIOT Act retains provisions appreciably expanding government investigative authority, especially with respect to the Internet. Those provisions address issues that are complex and implicate fundamental constitutional protections of individual liberty, including the appropriate procedures for interception of information transmitted over the Internet and other rapidly evolving technologies. " (http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/) What this basically implies is that the Patriot Act gives the government the right to 'snoop' on suspicious things, even though they the person being snooped has no idea what's going on. This can lead to invasion of privacy, but we have to look at the core concept before we be-little it. The Patriot Act was designed (rather quickly and clumsily, I might add) to prevent terrorist actions before they happen by upping the security on, well, pretty much everything. This core concept is great: stopping terrorism before it starts is a great thing. However, the downside is that it was slapped together and passed with no real stream-lining or fixes. What does this mean? Loopholes. Mitch, you posted an article in Kaney's Circuit City thread that talks about finding child porn on a man's computer. This is possible because of the Patriot Act, where it is possible to seize suspicious material without warning the person in suspicion. However, wasn't the Patriot Act to find possible terrorist threats? I don't remember reading anything about porn. It all boils down to the cold hard facts. The Act creates loopholes like these which gives the government a hightened security, although it technically invades a persons rights to personal material. Child porn is DEFINATELY wrong, don't get me wrong, but the Patriot Act just doesn't actually cover it. If the Patriot Act was taken out of effect, reviewed, stream-lined, and reinacted with several amendments, then it would be a great way for the government to keep their eyes open for possible terrorist threats and over-all suspicious stuff. However, in it's current form, it creates loopholes that infringe on the normal citizens privacy. Catching a person for possible terrorist involvement is one thing: using the same law to deal with porn? That's something else. In my personal opinion, I think that there should be some major revisions to the Patriot Act, and seperate acts for pornography. Oh, and I like HUNK because of the neck-breaker. If you're good at pegging an enemy in the head with one TMP round, you can instantly kill them. I basically aim up, hit the button, then hit A to break as many necks as possible. That being said, I can get scores in the 100,000 range using HUNK (it actually sucks sometimes because I run out of people to take out).-- Edited by Snake at 20:16, 2006-03-18

I couldn't agree with you more, my reptillian friend.

Anyways, I have another question that you can answer along with Kaney's if you wish.

I finally got Fable: The Lost Chapters. My question can be answered with a simple yes or no if need be.

There are a lot of references to dances, Big Blue Box, Lionhead studios, etc. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you must not have snooped around people's houses in Snowspire...Use the Patriot Act on their dressers and cabinets to find such items as "Big Blue Box" as well as "Lionhead" tattoos. I'll assume you knew that, though, since we're both well-seasoned and experienced gamers.) Did you notice that the expressions used to ask the Oracle for it's wisdom can also be used to do The Village People's "YMCA"?

PS: Is there a plate helmet other than the Holy Warrior helmet?

PS2: Thanks for doing that research. It's good to have an educated opinion on things like these.