inverse_bloom

It?s a bit tragic but it is amusing. I kind of like those pictures of before and after shots of skin care products or dieting results. Due to doing a bit of practicing in compositing, I find It easy to pin point the ones that are fake. The ones that are blatantly false are just funny.

You know you could try Activepython 3 by activestate. Its basically the bees knees of IDE's for python. Though i cant say for sure what you get with the linux version, the windows v2 was very well refined and much more feature rich than the equivalent standard. It installed in a different location to the standard Python installation, not sure if it will do the same for linux. As far as im aware its free so long as you don't pick the Enterprise edition. http://www.activestate.com/activepython-3 No problems about the patch hope it works well for you, python version 2.5 is good as well. Also if your interested (and if you dont already know) pyGame is an excellent addon for python that you could tryout. It utilizes SDL. http://www.pygame.org/news.html I was actually gonna enter in one of the competitions, but kinda got side tracked as usual.

Your in luck, after a ten minute search i came across this - http://bugs.python.org/issue2704. Obviously i cant verify that the patch works, but it could be your best bet for windows without VIM or Emacs. Actually I'm fairly sure you can use Emacs with Python on windows if i remember correctly. Although Emacs will take 2-4 days to get a handle on, but its kinda cool. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Python was what i started with... it seems a little more natural to pick up (to my reckoning anyway). C++ begins to become hard when you start looking at pointers/references. Java is excellent as it takes care of memory management and is stacked full of features. I've heard a lot of good things about ruby, but personally i opted for python as my first language. It's really good for learning Object Oriented Programming as well. If learning basic doesn't seem to gel well for you damoon try python. You'll find learning material is really easy to find on the web for Python. http://diveintopython.org/, https://python.swaroopch.com/ The second link is what i started with.

@ eurobeat, how many hours total did you take to finish Crash Bandicoot and Megaman in? Did you just leave the console on the whole time over a few days, or did you play these games from beginning to end in one sitting for each of them? I've only done that with super metroid, 4 hours.

Last movie i watched was "StarWars episode 1: The Phantom Menace". I intend to watch the series right through from beginning to end so as to piece the whole storyline together. Just gotta get through the first three as i consider them a bit drab.

I've been thinking a little lately about the games i most appreciated on Playstation 1 (and other consoles for that matter). Crash Bandicoot was a hugely popular game for its time and one which i personally enjoyed very much. Although its premise is simple (to survive being bug squashed), it still managed to be very fun and addictive. What was best about it was its gameplay was original, not like anything i had played before up to that point. I was wondering if anyone else enjoyed Crash Bandicoot? There are many games like this i'd rather play than some recent games currently being brought out. This is due to the fact they contained original ideas or superior storylines.

I'm not concerned with the myCent's situation. As opaque mentioned before, the problem is being resolved. Although i haven't been with Xisto too long, the variety and quality of posts does seem to be drying up a bit lately. Personally i share the same concern brought up in post 11, hopefully that issue begins to change. Xisto is kick butt, lets keep it that way!

Yeah that banner is a much better improvement on the old ones. Its probably good you cut out the gradient on the background, as your file size will also be reduced a bit more. I reckon you should do something to emphasize the right navigation portion i.e "home", "archive", etc. This is so you give it distinct visual hierarchy compared to the one on the left.It'll confuse people if you don't do it as people naturally read left to right. A suggestion might be to include a carefully selected orange tinted with a little white to subdue its intensity and include it in the right menu (this way it wont conflict with the existing color and is probably the most elegant solution to the problem). I strongly suggest you keep both the left and right Nav bars the same size also. Just wondering how you would go if you changed the 1px black outline bordering the main graphic. (The one underneath the banner) to 2 or 3px and the same color as the text in the banner, that would further bring strength to your design.The text layout is good, great work.

Sounds like they are now giving out Nobel Peace Prize's like you might give out M and M's. He really shouldn't have got it this early in his term. Meh i don't care, hopefully he earns it in time.

Interesting, obviously the size of the battery is what makes them safe. For instance using them as a source for energy in a car would be a very bad idea.I agree with rpgsearchez a million times the capacity of a normal battery seems very "hopeful", in practice it surely be a lower figure (from a safety standpoint). I wonder what would happen if a child set fire or hammered one of those batteries. You might come home after work to find your kid has suddenly grown horns or a third eye.

Typically I face downwards and slightly huddled into it, this is so i can give the conversation my undivided attention but also because I'm a bit private about phone calls also. (I prefer to talk one on one)

Mmm.. the second one does look better but i think you should stay away from the grain texture effect within the text. If you wanted to steer away from too much blue as a couple poeple have suggested, i'd suggest incorporating grey color's or straight black or white into the design. Personally i'm focusing on the background color as the required change, maybe a slight dark grey to grey or just straight grey would be suitable. Also having that much blue stimulates the visual senses to the point where it detracts attention away from your textual content (a bit too strong). Also all your banner text so far focuses in toward the viewer (for example drop shadows and embossing outwards). Maybe if you tried something that recesses backwards that would be better (again adobe did this with their recent products, but you could easily do something uniquely different). As i mentioned in the previous post you could use a straight color for the banner (not necessarily white) and make a feature from it. Kinda like what google does when they dress up their logo sometimes. Perhaps a simple colored graphic that compliments the design. Immediately what comes to my mind for ideas on a graphic for you is things like moving electrons, bubbling chemistry sets, solar systems, science and art integrated together, forces in action, etc... ...and have the graphic in close proximity or on top of the banner text. Also the sans-serif font for your body text works well, probably is verdana. But perhaps the banner font could be changed to something i little more unique. I dont know what you've got in your collection, but another sans-serif font could possibly work easily. (sans-serif= font without the doo daky's) Or maybe something decorative, here is a font site www.fontsquirrel.com/ which may help you out there. Dont mean to seem picky, just giving a few suggestions.

I cant remember what you said in the other post, is this your first website? If so, you've got a good knack for balancing the color contrast of all elements within the design. Could i suggest that you reduce the strength of the embossment on "baniboy.com" or another method might be to take the embossment out totally and make the font white.It does look very blue but also unique!, kinda looks aquatic to me, maybe you could use that as an idea to extend the design. You could look at aquatic screen savers and images to see if there are any colors you'd like to put in as outlines, etc. The best feature here is the simplicity, when you begin the process of putting content in it really good if you try to maintain that simplicity as best as possible. Also when you begin putting content on page make sure that there is adequate "white space" on the page. "White space" is redundant space that isn't occupied by text or images. White space is useful for the sake of given readers the opportunity to have somewhere to rest their eyes. It is a concept that is particularly important in designing magazines, but for websites whitespace has to be balanced against the "economy" of a page. Basically not too little, not too much, but just right. Sound's like a kellogg's cereal advert...Good work!

If i became the worlds richest person I'd fund a gang of hooligans to cause billionaires serious hell. I'd make sure that they were successfully disruptive enough to cause a bad day for every day of the year. If they need bailing out I'd do that for them too. I'd encourage them to covertly target the richo's credibility (sabotage them) so companies have no alternative but push them and their shareholdings away.I couldn't imagine spending anymore then 10 million so after my fun adventures I'd make sure the money i have spare would go to were it is needed (worthy causes, not all in my pocket). I'll never be rich i reckon... but i could still find some fanatical people and give them a few Uzi's and a map were billionaire's hangout.

I've always been interested by the concept of PSI, i guess thats why i enjoy movies such as "Dark City" and the game system shock 2. Although i don't know anything about these "psi balls", i watched something on T.V some time ago where scientists had scientifically proven people let of electrical waves and to a small degree other people can actually pick up on these (the degree to which this occurs i dont know). Unfortunately i never learnt any more about it than those facts. PSI does make good movie stories and game plots though...

Have you tried loading into safe mode and recreating the problem? That would determine if the issue is anything to do with services or programs loaded after startup. Also not sure... i'd think about rolling back the drivers for the motherboard and usb drives when connected, if at all possible. What about paging files?, you should specify it to be a set number of gigs on c drive and not system managed size (never know might work). Obviously you've tried other external usb storages devices and they haven't failed?. If so, i'd agree the enlosures seem suspect. Also apparently windows xp service pack 2 can present problems with drivers for enclosures, causing Bsod's. mm.. cant offer any more than that.

What about antivirus software, a quick search on google seems to indicate that AVG could possibly be a problem that causes Bsod issues. Have you gone to the error log in control panel - admin tools - event viewer - system ?, is there any information before the crash occurences?. Or anywhere else that gives an indication as to what the problem might be?mm... getting late for me, might look at it tomorrow.

Actually I do know what you mean m8, you tell your story so many times you forget the reason why you started. The thing is you need to talk to caring people for longer durations, if there are people around you who offer that; it would be wise to take 'em up on it. I’m not suggesting that you talk about your issues all the time... that just gets insane... especially if they are the same ones.What I suggest to you is to have someone around that gives you support when you fall down, but converses normally at other times. That is the best help you can get, if you’re fortunate enough to find such people don’t forget how important they are!Unfortunately, from what I can gather you've got a similar depression to what i had (and to some degree continue to have). It will probably linger on for you for at least for another couple of years... not good news, but better sooner than later?. If you have done so, or currently plan to see a therapist be mindful that they don't offer any golden keys. Actually some people prefer less conventional methods then the standard therapy, for instance in my own way i derive satisfaction from knowing the background of psych analysis, so I prefer to educate myself on that rather than following other peoples leadership. For every person i have met who tries to help, I have had the same dissatisfaction which you describe (somewhat under whelmed). Some people, who should know a lot, actually don't know squat. Usually you need to seek out people who are well experienced and have immersed themselves in the world they are trying to help (i know finding them isnt easy, but persistence will be needed). Also having genuine friendships is a really awesome thing... If you can find friends who you don't have to "pretend" for, than that's gonna be such a great benefit to you. Be honest but patient to people who tell you the same repetitious crud you've heard before, argue with what they are saying or seek someone who has better insight on what you’re talking about. Also identify if it's "people" who bother you or something else... like expected outcomes from yourself or your circumstances. If people bother you, then forming positive personal relationships will be "very" important for you to draw fortitude from. Most people wont openly admit it, but there are so many jerk’s in this world it can seem a bit too much sometimes.Always interested to offer some of my unique insights, if you need it (i dont claim to have any golden keys though) .

Unfortunately there is a huge percentage within this world who have lost the ability to properly empaphize and treat others with compasssion. For these screwed up individuals they dont see a person as they should, but more as an opportunity to offload their personal angst, repressed impulses and insecurities onto.Typically they set out to bolster their ego by driving others down... All i can say is dont let yourself be a doormat, because some are looking out for that. Also handle the things you know to be in your control, ignore the rest of the B.S.

Like i mentioned in a previous post in this topic this is a strong symptom of OCD, i know because ive been faced with it and solved it (mostly). The trouble is your mind becomes fixated on something (anything) which is typically considered socially innapropriate. Whatever that "thing" is, it typically causes an individual guilt/distress/anxiety and due to this they try to force themselves to stop the action.While this very much makes sense to most people, those who treat such individuals (or recovered individuals themselves) know better. You can't suppress the action, it will go out of control like a weed, the only way is to confront it by purposely doing it or letting it go (dont worry about it whatsoever). As anxiety decreases your fixated mindset will shift from its current repetitious tendancies into much more normal "concerns". Although for me personally, i know for a fact that i've got be careful how much pressure i put on myself because i get close to relapses, otherwise. I actually have studied a little on Sigmund Freud, what i interpret from his logic is people with strong neurosis issue's such as OCD, phobias and such have a lot of inhibited feelings which are held onto. Intense physicial activity may externalize these inhibited energies and gradually help you over time. That is kinda where the idea of laying down talking to a therapist originated, from Freud's theory of releasing and externalizing previously held energies (but he kinda inappropriately attributed it to sexual libido as almost everything else, must of been a horny fella).Please talk to your doctor, but understand that some may not know OCD symptoms properly themselves. In that case see a psychologist.

Hi Rana, one of the great things about Xisto is the flexibility myCents offer you. If i remember correctly there are 2 or 3 hosting plans that you might choose to spend your myCents on (that are within budget). Anyways, welcome and enjoy!

Oooh party!, ill bring one of these shirts, its so well reviewed... https://www.amazon.com/review/R2XKMDXZHQ26YX Hopefully it works well for me too, that would be intrinsically rad...

Imagine how long it takes to format, i thought 2 hours for a terabyte hard drive was bad enough! Its nano bots or whatever better be working overtime for me to have any patience with it.

I'd probably suggest GIF images if you are creating "graphics" for your website. When you begin playing around with these you find that can get substantially small file sizes for images that are quite large on screen. As rayzoredge mentioned they start at 256 colors, but that doesnt stop you from cutting out additional color information. By decreasing color information to say 30-40 colors for a general graphic you get very close to "optimum" compression (15kb for a BIG graphic).While taking color information out you pay attention to pixelation around "color" borders within the image. Although after saying all that GIF images are no good if your graphic has a lot of tonal graduations. In which case PNG or JPG maybe the best option. If you use JPG then saving or exporting the image with certain options can increase quality and also reduce file size, if you have the option to do so encoding a JPEG as: optimized, sub format - optional (4:4:4) at a compression rate of 6-12% from the original is ideal. (sounds like a mouthful but is worth looking into).Your about right, 100 kb or less is ideal if you want people with traditional modems to feel good about accessing your site. About 7 years ago 60 kb was the ideal so 100 kb now is definitely good. As truefusion mentioned CSS is a great way to get page size down, especially appropriate if its used soley on the nav bar. As trufusion mentioned if you can cut out unnecessary graphics out of your page this will decrease size and will enhance your sites appeal. Also instead of gradients you may be better off choosing well chosen whole colors instead, unless of course your gradients are slight and are slightly superimposed over a color (like what Adobe has done to spice up their welcome screens on their products initial load ups ).