Whitechapel - ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-19T00:20:01-07:00

Bring us your ontological queries. Bring us your relationship problems and the courage to be laughed at. Bring us your need to know that word, y’know the one, it’s on the tip of your tongue, what the fuck is that word, oh god oh god.
Bring us your yearning for solutions to mathematical dilemmas, beer-related uncertainties, genitalia-piercing indecision and demands for perspective. Bring us embarrassing questions regarding the removal of blunt objects from nether regions – it’s for a friend, honest – and bring us probing global challenges about How Those Other Guys Live.

Bring us research enquiries, cultural quandaries, opinion-baiting on relevant world events and Shit You’ve Always Wondered About.

Ask Whitechapel – anything.

And Whitechapellers? Be a brick and answer back, eh?

INSTRUCTIONS:

When posing a question, be sure and include a representative #hashtag. When answering a question, head your answer with the same tag.

An example:

Q. What is the true nature of the threat posed by the #UrethralAttackMaggots?

A. #UrethralAttackMaggots.
Horror, horror, only horror, pure horror, unmitigated horror, constant and endless horror, for those who Fail To Follow Instructions.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-19T21:20:21-07:00

#DarjeelingLimitedColorPalette

The color palette from The Darjeeling Limited brings me so much joy. I want to decorate my house like the movie. I know that there's a lot of artists here. Anyone want to take a shot at naming the Pantone (or other color reference) for the predominant blues, yellows, greens and oranges in the film? Specifically the train interior and exterior.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T09:06:11-07:00

So i originally posted this on teh twits0rz last night, but I think it's worth chucking it in here too...

I have just finished watching the entire run of Star Trek's TOS and TNG, and have now hit a blank as to what TV series I should start watching next. Imagine if you will that I have not watched *any* SF TV series in say, the last decade.

What would you recommend I watch next, Whitechapel?

A list of the current suggestions follows, so you can avoid duplication:

Firefly
Fringe
BSG
Babylon 5
Farscape
The 4400
Lexx
The various Stargate U titles
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Black Lagoon
Andromeda (season one)

(as you can see, anime is allowed, as long as it's not too ecchi.)

As you could guess from my Star Trek fandom, I prefer the episodic as oppossed to the 'series long overwheening plot arc' type programme - so I will ignore any suggestions of Lost for instance. Character progression is good, having to set up a spreadsheet to follow innumerable different subplots across multiple series is not. Also, I cannot stand Dr Who (*ducks for cover*)

So, Whitechapel, if there is anything else you think I should be watching, then #SuggestSFTellyForSneak.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T09:59:07-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak
Caprica
Torchwood (I know, its DW related but still separate)
Eureka

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T11:20:42-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak

I already suggested The 4400 on twatter, it was the first thing that came into my brains cause Ive been thinking about watching it a third time. At various moments in time people have vanished from Earth and then all reappear at the same moment in near a lake in Washington state an the returned 4400 people have no recollection of what has happened during their missing time. Some people have been gone for a few years and, in some cases, much longer. It lasted 4 seasons I think and aside from a single episode in season 4 that had some silly moments I think its pretty much perfect, despite its cancellation leaving it without a proper ending.

Tales of Tomorrow (A bunch of episodes available to watch at archive.org) is a black and white anthology show from THE OLDEN DAYS that has a mostly scifi flavor. Considering it's almost 60 years old there is some really awesome stuff in there that is worth watching. In particular, there is one episode that is really great, though sort of spoiled by its modern methods of availability... but if you were watching TV one night and that just aired without viewer comments on the bottom of the page to spoil the gimmick... would be pretty neat to watch. I'm gonna provide a direct link to that episode - a 114meg mp4 video file - that you can download directly from archive.org (Or probably stream it in chrome if you open it in a new tab) so the episode title/comments and stuff dont give anything away. For its time I think its pretty darn ambitious, though technology now a days doesnt allow us to be tricked for even a moment by stuff like this. Its only 20 minutes or something.

Another one I really like is Total Recall 2070. I know this dont help Sneak, but Hulu has the full show (All... 1 season) here: http://www.hulu.com/total-recall-2070 though I have a very good feeling there is a torrent out there somewhere... >_>; It is set in a total recall/blade runner sort of world. There isnt a way I can describe it that wont make other people just shrug, but its pretty awesome if given a chance. It follows two CPB agents (Citizens Protection Bureau) and deals with a lot of the stuff you would assume it does given the setting/"source" - robots and memory tampering. The season arching plot involves a lot of corporate politics and espionage and is pretty awesome, though it is largely a cop show set in this dark future world that allows for some good watching. There is one episode that involves a computer hacker that is inadvertently silly (Its always the techno jargon that ages so poorly >< ) but its a pretty cool show.

Those are the ones I would most recommend, chosen due to their awesomeness and the fact that they arent very well known.

Umm... I like to recommend Fringe to people. Most say the first season isnt that good but I greatly disagree, though I acknowledge season 2 is pretty much perfect. Season 3 was perfect for most of it but after the last half... I dont know how pumped I am for the premier of season 4 this friday.

I really liked Dollhouse. Dont get me wrong - those first five or so episodes are almost painful to watch... HEY LETS PUT ELIZA DUSHKU IN SITUATIONS WHERE SHE IS HALF NAKED AND DANCING SO PEOPLE WILL WATCH. Sorry Fox, I have an internet full of porn, just give me an awesome scifi show. But it becomes good and the last season is just pretty unbelievable in terms of the where the story goes. Only two seasons.

The X-Files is still one of the most creepy and unnerving shows Ive seen. At least, it has the capacity to be. I watched one episode just yesterday that... just... absolutely FREAKED ME OUT. Season 4 Episode 2: Home. god damn, I swear if I had seen that at night I wouldnt have slept that night.

If cartoons are valid suggestions, the 1990s show Phantom 2040 is awesome, and features a lot of pretty mature and complex scifi themes. Theres PROBABLY a torrent somewhere >_> I mean, Id guess <_< It follows a later incarnation of The Phantom as he does battle against, primarily, Maximum, Inc. and its ruling Madison family. Lots of politics and well known scifi themes about identity pop up. Really great.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T14:09:47-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak

Alphas - watch a couple whole episodes before deciding; it starts off a bit rocky but improves rapidly.
Warehouse 13 - good solid fun.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T15:13:43-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak

I'm actually going to suggest against watching Lexx - your mileage may vary, but the entire show just felt like a really poorly-made softcore porn parody of Red Dwarf, to me.

A few personal favorites of mine, some of which are a little tough to buy, but which you could probably torrent easily enough.

SeaQuest: This show could be a bit goofy and handwave-y at times, but it was just plain fun to watch. The quickest way to describe it would be "Star Trek on a submarine," but that sorta makes it sound like a downgrade, and it really isn't - a lot of the space exploration tropes made famous by Star Trek actually work a LOT better underwater, and the writers and crew did a pretty good job of making the science seem plausible. The acting is pretty hit or miss - on the one hand, you've got Roy Scheider and Peter DeLuise, who have a little bit of a Patrick Stewart-Brent Spiner vibe in the second season... then on the other hand you've got a few actors who are either taking the show WAY too seriously, or who are just straight up taking the piss. On the whole, though (especially the funny and well-detailed first season), this was a good show that got a little hamstrung early in life, and never quite got to develop into something really cool.

Space: Above and Beyond: If you want military sci-fi, but you don't necessarily want the longform storytelling of, say, Battlestar Galactica, this is what you're looking for. You've got a fun mix of starfighters and space marines (the same guys and gals - apparently military role specialization has gone out the window in the future), and the evil space aliens are suitably creepy. The show also makes use of the almost unseen concept that mankind would NOT first unite as a single political entity before it went out an conquered the stars - the main characters are United States Marines, they answer to the POTUS, and if memory serves there's even a few shots of the House of Representatives debating funds for the space navy. Later on, a few characters from the Royal Navy show up. For some reason, that just makes me smile. If all that's not enough, the first episode even has R. Lee Ermey more or less reprising his role in Full Metal Jacket insult-for-insult.

Note that neither of these are exactly the brainiest of SF television shows, but they make for good, entertaining viewing, and in some ways their like will probably never be seen again - SFTV has just changed too much to allow them to last longer than three episodes. So, if you want a kind of primer on recent SFTV history, these are the shows to get a load of.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T16:11:27-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak

I suggested B5 earlier. If you're looking for shows that take a wee bit less time, I suggest two of my favourite one-season-wonders.

Nowhere Man Actually a 90s show. Controversial shutterbug Tom Veil took the wrong photo and a mysterious government organisation has his entire identity erased. His colleagues, friends, even his wife... refuse to admit they know him. That's just the pilot. Show evolves rapidly into the closest thing to a version of The Fugitive meets The Prisoner as US TV ever got. Key is Bruce Greenwood as Veil - stunning work every week.

Charlie Jade Canadian/South African co-production. You may have heard Fringe plays with ideas of

multi-dimensional overlap,

perhaps? Charlie Jade did this first, and went one better...

three overlapping parallel universes - ours, an idyllic green 'verse and a deeply cyberpunk, polluted corporate wasteland, which Charlie calls home.

Clever SF that assumes audience is smart enough to keep up, and has one of the great antiheroes of TV - a man called 01 Boxer.

And you can't go wrong with Misfits for grimy, filthy-mouther Brit superpowers in the hands of young offenders on day-release. 2 seasons so far, S3 about to air. Short seasons,. so time to catch up.

But really... Babylon 5 is something everyone should watch at least once. Not perfect but what it got right it did superbly, and before any other SF (or other genre) show... the long story arc.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T16:17:42-07:00

@Alan Tyson: OMG SEAQUEST I REMEMBER THAT SHOW. Damn, barely. This I wanna revisit.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T17:06:29-07:00

Amazing suggestions guys..

First off I may have bent the truth ever so slightly when I said about not seeing *any* SF TV for the last decade, I have managed to catch at least an episode or two of most things suggested -but never managed to either be in the same place/time to catch the broadcasts for more than a week or two at a time.

Onto the suggestions made so far I would like to make a few short comments.

In a kind of reverse order of suggestion: Charlie Jade sounds right up my street, particularly the

overlapping parallel universes

. That's definitely going straight onto the list.
Something is nagging at the back of my brain telling me I have seen some of Nowhere Man, but I have no actual memory of it.
I did catch at least 50% of B5 first time round, so I really need to finish that off.
Seaquest was shown on weekend daytime TV over here and it's fun enough as a diversion, but I like my GRIT too much to watch all but the odd episode (something about the flipper-in-the-future dolphin was a bit too disney for me)
I'll definitely give at least a few episodes of Space Above and Beyond a go - @Alan makes a compelling case for its inclusion.
I know nothing at all about Alphas, so will look into that before deciding. I saw the pilot of Warehouse 13 and it felt a little derivative. Not that I have a huge problem with that mind...
I am intrigued by Total Recall 2070 - I love a police procedural set in space as much as the next man. (if that next man is a fan of police procedurals set in space). I avoided Dollhouse for much the same fan-servicey reason mentioned. Interested that it doesn't stay like that the whole series.
Eureka and Caprica - I had totally forgotten they existed. I'm certainly going to give them a look.

Keep 'em coming gang..

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T17:48:06-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak
Black Lagoon isn't SF, it's about modern pirates unless I'm mistaking it for another anime with the same name.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - your classic mecha anime but better. In a post-apocalyptic setting, civilization is starting to thrive. Tokyo-3 needs to defend itself from monsters called Angels and deploys mechas piloted by adolescents. It gets darker as it goes along and focus on the characters and mysteries surrounding them, the Eva and the Angels.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-20T21:31:14-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak
I seem to recall that Sliders has been mentioned recently on one thread or another - a bunch of characters randomly traveling through a series of alternative Earths trying to find their way back to their world of origin. The first few seasons are excellent (the season one finale is one of the best thought out utopia/distopias I've ever seen in a TV Sci-Fi series) but you should probably think about bailing once John Rhys-Davies quits (after that the series started flailing around, randomly shedding cast members as it looked for a place to die).

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-21T00:05:26-07:00

#suggestSFTelly for Sneak

@PurpleWrym -Sliders was on BBC2 and I caught that first time round. Mainly for John Rhys-Davies'. I agree it floundered after he quit.

@DC - a friend has the neon-genesis series on DVD, I have seen a few episodes but not enough to know what the hell was going on. I certainlly need to get round to watching the full series. I believe the Black Lagoon you mention is the same as the black lagoon I mentioned - tho it may not be strictly SF as you say I think I'll probably end up watching anyway as more than one person has told me it's worth a view.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-21T00:19:41-07:00

Even watching the full series of evangelion wont let you know what the heck is going on.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-21T00:37:38-07:00

As I suspected... ;-)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-21T03:58:30-07:00

#suggestSFTelly for Sneak
I don't recommend the second season of Black Lagoon except for the first 2 episodes. While the first one was excellent, the second one bored me and I had to make an effort to finish it.
Evangelion, skip the last 2 episodes and go straight to the movie End of Evangelion. Or you could watch the remake movies that tell the same story in 4 movies.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-21T04:58:17-07:00

#suggestSFTelly for Sneak
I never did get round to watching the whole run, but I quite liked early first season of Jeremiah - now this thread has shaken the memory loose I might go back and pick it up again from where I left off. I don't know if it ever actually aired in the UK as I watched it on an old-fashioned telly box in Oz.
Charlie Jade sounds like fun.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-21T15:04:31-07:00

#suggestSFTelly
Srsly Sneak - Dollhouse becomes something truly special in season 2. Flawed masterpiece by the end - but still a masterpiece. And Caprica has some excellence to it, but was weakened by, oddly, the need to force BSG continuity on it (and Sigh-Fie Channel fucking them over).

Citycreed - Jeremiah Season 1 aired at fuck o'clock irregularly on Sky 1 back in the day. Pretty sure S2 never made it here, but that can be... fixed. Watched a couple of S2 and I see just why JMS said it was his worst TV experience - the only show he quit.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-22T11:43:06-07:00

#DarjeelingLimitedColorPalette
Haven't seen the movie. But getting something like the effect in the linked poster could involve several shades of each colour, and a rich visual complexity; lots of texture, ornaments, and thingamajigs. Also, photo trickery, the equivalent photoshop fakery, and actual weird lighting conditions to get the kind of otherworldy glowy effect. Also, if that's some sort of stone or plastic coating, there's translusence to take into account,

The main thing seems to be some sort of Turqoise, which I firmly believe would look absolutely horrid on a plain, flat surface. It doesn't get any better if you reduce the colour quality (muddy it up somehow), and you don't want to do that for the effect in the poster.

There's a million shades of ochre - about as many as there are pits to dig the stuff out of. Oldest pigment known to have been used by man, possibly apart from the ever-popular "soot-covered guts, blood and shit" coating.

So, start with those two general colour groups in different materials - stone, wood, pigments, plants - as samplers, and shuffle them around to see what they look like in different kinds of light, maybe?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-22T16:26:11-07:00

#TV for Sneak

Futurama. Black humour, Populuxe visual theme, voices by a cast of top professionals; it's my favourite animated show after The Venture Bros (which you should also be watching because it's a work of genius).

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-22T17:30:18-07:00

#Sleeping

I consider myself a sleep aficionado, a champion of the art indeed but recently it has on occaision eluded me. I've stopped smoking and removed the more heinously stressful parts of my life but I still have nights where sleep takes it's god-damned time to get here.

Anyone have any top-tips I might not have thought of? Or recommendations for not too stimulating ways to pass the time until the sandman does eventually turn up?

@Greasemonkey
I recently plowed my way through the entirety of the Venture Bros series after seeing it recommended on here so many times and oh my days it is SO GOOD. One of those rare shows that actually improves over time.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-22T17:55:58-07:00

Venture Bros is amongst the best thiings ever aired on TV.

#Sleeping.

Go for a long walk after dinner.

Have a wank.

Smoke some weed (or have a weed brownie if you're not wanting to start smoking again).

Warm milk does actually help. Apparently having low calcium levels can interfere with your sleep cycle.

Make a compilation of classical music and listen to it after lights-out. The baroque composers Bach and Pachelbel are awesome but restful.

Mozart's Requiem Mass will blow you away.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-22T19:15:34-07:00

I'd like to resurrect #video from the last help thread.
I, too, need a decent free software that will render still frames into video. I have several folders of time-lapse jpegs just waiting to be loved.

I used to, in fact, use Animation Shop (which came with Paint Shop Pro, remember that?) for gif-making, and it has the ability to make avis, but there was something about the process that was really cumbersome for hi-res files.
Apparently Adobe AfterEffects will do this sort of thing, if I can score a copy. To recap from the last thread, I think QuickTime Pro was suggested, as was GIMP. I looked at GIMP and found this: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Advanced_Animations/
Also, this is apparently free software for Macs: http://mac.brothersoft.com/time-lapse-assembler.html

Buuuut I need a Windows version. Any help?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T00:40:25-07:00

@Greasemonkey - I love futurama. It's one of my favourite things on TV.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T12:16:34-07:00

NEW QUESTION: #90s

Why did the 90s basically suck, culturally?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T14:17:26-07:00

#90's

Nothing huge to fight against, I'd imagine, or at least nothing that really made it into the wider public consciousness. Culture only gets off its fat ass when counter-culture makes it do so.

It was the beginning of the whole "let's figure out what the FUCK the 20th Century was about, okay?" thing, which was naturally going to be more boring than the thing that came before it, or would come after it (not that we knew that at the time). At least in America, things were going pretty smoothly, IN COMPARISON (I feel I need to make that every clear, as there was nasty shit in the 90's as well) to the 60's, 70's, and 80's. The country had plenty of money, joining the military wasn't likely to put you in immediate danger, crime rates weren't anything terrible dramatic (things like the Rodney King riots notwithstanding), and... well, things were just going alright, for the most part.

So, we got a generation that grew up looking at recent history, knowing they had to be rebelling against SOMETHING, because... because that's just what American youths DO... and there was no one big ugly thing to unite the counterculture. Eventually that BECAME something to unite them all under, that general sense of uselessness and ineffectiveness, which led to a general sense of apathy.

Now, having said all that, I'm curious about what you mean when you say "culturally." Are you talking art, media, social structure, diplomacy? Because, and this is largely just coming from having grown up in the nineties (and as someone wise once said, the music, movies, and books that came out when you learned what sex was, will be the music, movies, and books that stick with you the rest of your life), I think we got some good tunes out of that decade, and that's when nerd culture (the oldest and, at least in the Western world, the most effective of all countercultures) started to go through a few big changes for the better. But obviously you have a different take on the decade, so I want to know exactly what you mean before I expand on it.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T15:07:36-07:00

#90's
Define "suck" and, while you're at it, define "culture". Do you mean w/r/t arts & music or do you mean socio-politically? So if your definition of culture includes music, for instance, then I wouldn't be able to agree with your proposition that the 90's sucked. Unless that was just a snarky rhetorical question. =)

New Question: #Processing Speed
I am not much of a math person but how would I express how much faster my 2008 2.53 GHz CPU is compared to my 1995 50MHz(?) 486?
Or at least what's the ballpark way of expressing it when conversing?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T15:16:24-07:00

#Processing Speed
50MHz=50.000.000 cycles per second
2.53 GHz=2.530.000.000 cycles per second

Or you can just say your 2008 CPU is 50.6 times faster than your old one.
I hope that's what you wanted.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T16:29:46-07:00

#90s

By culture, my question only meant to include art! I could have included clothes / hair but I think the decade was really in line with previous norms for amounts of bad decisions -- and for diplomacy most places made out decent, not Haiti for example but more places than the previous trend

So for art:

Music started out pretty strong, but as someone who experienced it from the inside primarily in the rap spectrum, oye vey! Everything after 1994 was rough pickings. For the pop/rock spectrum, the decade leaves us about three albums a year that hold up. For the rest, you got that fucking glossy production, you got the consolidation of the industry and the eating of independent rock, the lack of a thing to rebel against like Alan said, the overall need for an Internet where there wasn't one, the lack of an instrument technology innovation, and so by 1997 there were actual humans who listened to OK Computer and thought "Woah this is like crazy future shit". So that's easy to explain a bit but maybe someone has a better explanation.

But why did TV get so fucking tame? Why did it stop pushing boundaries and talk anyone out of their comfort zone? TV actually had been pretty dangerous up till then! Example: Kaufman on Letterman in a neckbrace cussing out a wrestler. Never would have happened in the 90s.

Movies! Have you ever WATCHED a 90s movie? I contend that you can take all the existing physical and digital copies of Hollywood films of the 90s and just unexist them. You would lose ten good ones. I know Indian film lost its mojo at that time, Asia (Hong Kong) was not at its best, and yet to include new centers of work, I can't think of much from Europe then...

So why bad things on screens?

Comics: If the next decade of comics from right now had to repeat the quality level of one of the previous ones, which is the last one you would choose? Ok then.

And, Cars: seriously, FUCK 90s automotive design. Do you know the new Mustang in 93 was considered a good car a the time! Uggggggggghgghggh

Overall, it's a ton of underperformance!

Typed on mobile

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T16:49:04-07:00

#sleep
happens to me ALL the goddamn time, which sucks because it only takes my partner like 5 minutes to fall asleep. Reading just before sleep, and then putting on some good drone music in the background helps me. The reading makes my eyes tired, while the drone music adds enough of an ambiance without distracting me to help me sleep. The music can be anything from like drone music to slow repetitive electronic music, classical... Just anything that can fade into the background for me.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T17:03:30-07:00

#sleep

It's an old, cliched method but I've found it's worked for me in the past. Get in a nice, comfortable pose and start consciously relaxing every part of your body, starting with your toes and working upwards. By the time you get to your head you should be drowsy enough to drop off. Theoretically :)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T17:12:29-07:00

#sleep

I find music helpful, too. I usually go to sleep with my iPhone next to my pillow playing a long playlist at minimum volume. It blocks out the house noises and background worries just enough. I also have some pretty good white noise apps (one creatively called WhiteNoise, the other called SleepMachine) that let you make mixes of background sounds to go to sleep to.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T17:13:17-07:00

#sleep

Get up at 4 am every morning. Do not go back to bed, just get on with stuff. After a few days of this you'll be soundo by about 10 pm at the latest. Works for me when i'm working and the sunrises are nice. The rest is a bit crap though.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T17:27:54-07:00

#90's

Does anyone have any particular problem with taking this to its own thread? It's a discussion I'd really like to have, but that's the thing - it's turning into more of a discussion, rather than a question-and-answer(s) thing. And what's the use of having a Culturegasm category if we don't use it for just this sort of thing?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T19:08:26-07:00

#90's
@Alan I don't have a problem with that but I think it's likely to devolve into questions of personal taste. The list of amazing albums from the 90's (IMO, of course) is long and not readily dismissed. I would agree that hair, clothes and cars of the 90's suck though.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T20:13:18-07:00

I'll go to the new 90s thread to footnote my comment about TV when I have a mo. STILL - If anyone wants to take on the question of WHY the 90s was tame and stalled, I want to know! You know, sociological type stuff.

Like,

WAS the conservative backlash just that strong that TV was shaped to be less bold than before (broadly: you can watch stuff from previous decades and be like "wow, that was pretty sharp." Watch stuff from the 90s you are like "safe town USA, check") just like happened to movies after Tarzan?

Did AIDS in the 80s kill a lot of future good writers?

Was CGI really just that cool?

I was only 8 in 1990, so if there was a massive collective decision among society to just phone shit in forever and buy Walkmens, I missed that moment. If someone remembers what that moment was, I am interested

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T20:15:49-07:00

NEW QUESTION: #sunrise vs sunset

Here's one I have wondered for a while. I might google for my own answer later tonight.

-Why do sunsets have high-constrast color gradients and generally better visuals but sunrises are muddly and green and weird? IS IT DOPPLER EFFECT?

*edit: Mundanely enough, Wikipedia says it happens because there is more shit in the air at night! Dust and clouds -- if the air is actually clear then the sky is blue and green everywhere except right around the sun. Stupid air! Also, does this mean that we as a species have better sunsets thanks to the fossil fuels?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T23:09:02-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak. The Middleman, especially if you like light-hearted superhero comics and anything that could be described as 'zany' if not for the fact that anyone who describes things as 'zany' ought to be shot.

#sleeping! why has nobody suggested masturbation yet?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T23:20:38-07:00

Greasemonkey included it as a bullet point in his proposal

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-23T23:34:37-07:00

#sunsets I don't know for sure, but I'm almost certain it as to do with the curvature of the earth and how different wavelengths of lights get across it. This is why you get green flashes in the right conditions (they exist, I've seen one. It's just the sliver of sun as it sets turns bright green, not the whole sky flashing green). When the sun sets, red goes out first, then orange, etc, and green is last, which is why you get green flashes just before the sun finishes setting. So maybe when the sun rises the colors come in reverse order, and green appears first? Hence making everything muddy and green? It's the best explanation I can think of.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-24T00:35:34-07:00

#Sleep

I had a girlfriend who stretched for about five minutes every night before she went to bed. I asked her why she did it, and she told me it was a very good means of training her body to relax - after the first few times doing it, she'd start stretching, and then instantly feel calm and sleepy. Supposedly, she says, it also kept her from rolling around in bed, which can wake you up if you do it too often.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-24T01:59:34-07:00

#sleep

I had massive sleep issues and then I found out I had sleep apnea (like snoring, but where it wakes you up, not just the other person in your bed). It caused drowsiness all day long, until it's time for bed, and then you can't sleep.

Suffered through two terrible sleep studies.

Once I got my machine, I sleep like a baby. I'm out immediately, and I stay asleep through the night, barring outside interference. Occasionally, I do get claustrophobic, similar to when you wake up in the hospital with tubes in you and you freak and rip them all out, but instead it's just a breathing tube sitting on your nose.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-24T23:50:02-07:00

#AargggGoogle

How many times do I need to "save" the setting that I don't want to use fucking Google Instant???

A gajillion?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-25T04:14:33-07:00

#Sleep

As someone who has recently gotten into a nasty pattern of flailing round the bed and disturbing my girlfriend, I totally agree with Alan's ex on the merits of stretching before sleep. It's sorted me right out.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-25T16:21:40-07:00

#video @allana

I, too, need a decent free software that will render still frames into video

I haven't read the previous thread you mentioned, so I don't know if this has already been recommended, but try VirtualDub -- It's an open-source Windows application for all kinds of (relatively low-level) video manipulation, but it will definitely load a series of images as a single movie, which can be saved back to disk as an AVI.

The user interface isn't particularly friendly, but if you don't mind poking around in menus to find the options you want, it's quite a useful piece of software.

I'm using version 1.9.9 and the prodcedure looks roughly like this:

1) Ensure your image files are named sequentially (ex: "test001.jpg", "test002.jpg" ... "test999.jpg")
2) In VirtualDub select File > Open Video File, then make sure "Automatically load linked segments" is checked, then select the first image of your sequence and click 'open'. All your images should load.
3) Select Video > Frame Rate, and select "Change frame rate to (fps)" and fill in your desired number (standards are 24 fps for film, 30 fps for north american television, 25 fps for european television)... Click ok.
4) Select Audio > No Audio
5) Select Video > Full Processing Mode
6) Select Video > Filters > Add > "resize" > ok
7) In the configuration box, adjust the "New Size" and "Aspect Ratio" to your liking... (standard def non-widescreen is 720x480). Set "Filter mode" as you wish ("Lanczos3" gives a nice sharp image). Select 'ok', and 'ok' again on the "Filters" box.
8) Select Video > Compression, then choose your desired codec (the topic of codecs could [and does, in many places on the net] fill an entire article itself)... "Uncompressed" is readable by anything, but, lacking compression, makes correspondingly huge files. For standard def stuff, try to find a DV codec for a reasonable file size/quality ratio.
9) Select File > Save as AVI

...and you're done!

Hope this was somewhat helpful.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-25T21:12:43-07:00

Bittorrent weirdness. When I try to download a torrent, it won't connect to any seeds no matter how many are available. It connects to peers just fine. Any ideas?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-26T06:23:19-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak

Ok, hit Firefly while you're deciding because there's only 15 episodes (and a freaking awesome movie). For the long hall: Go the Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis route. It took me many years to get on board with this 'cause the movie sucked oh so very much. But these two shows are possibly the best examples of TV Sci-Fi (with actual science in) ever.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-26T12:44:59-07:00

#Monitor

Any suggestions for a good one to plug my windows laptop into for viewing and editing photographs? The built in one is ok for general messing but the contrast changes every time i move it. Shan't be doing professional stuff, mostly just posting on flickr and printing off at home so possibly better not to go with whaddaya call it? Wide gamut?

I've had a bit of a look around on the interwebs so i have some small idea but i am still just a clueless clicky monkey at heart, so be gentle with me please!

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-27T02:24:34-07:00

#Historical Jesus

A little while back (could be a few months, maybe as many as 18 months tops) I came across an article on the internet quoting a historian who claimed that the historical Jesus wasn't the messiah, but he was a really outspoken civil rights activist-type. Now, I've searched all the blogs in my RSS feed that seem the type to post that sort of story, but I still can't find the original source. Anyone with superior Google-fu or a great memory able to help me out? (Not interested in arguing about any sort of Jesus, the notion just stuck in my head as potential story fodder.)

(And I swear that sometime soon someone will have a question that I can actually answer...)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-27T07:20:13-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak

Right I have Firefly ready to go, I will then probably float between a few of the other popular suggestions to see which one grabs me most before commiting to watching the entire run of anything.

Thanks for all the amazing suggestions!

also, related to #Sunsets, the old English phrase "Red Sky at night, shepherds delight, red sky in the morning, shepherds warning" has an element of truth - there is a useful wiki here

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-27T10:12:47-07:00

#monitor I use a Samsung HD screen for all my works. Bonus is that it doubles great for watching things I download/stream.
I believe this is the one I own: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-P2770FH-27-Inch-Monitor-Black/dp/B0047A5QNK/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1317143466&sr=8-15
I do a lot of graphic design on it, so it seems to work nice for me.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-27T11:07:56-07:00

#PCPrivacy
Does a program exist that will let me password protect one program?(ex:mozilla or any internet browser)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-27T18:58:58-07:00

#Tablets for Photoshop

I hear good things about Wacom tablets, and wonder about y'all's opinions on them (and any similar tablets). Which are the best? Are they useful for an abstract artist like myself? I don't draw in Photoshop that much, and mostly manipulate photos of work I make by hand. From what I hear, tablets seem like the best way to get greater precision than mouse work, which still feels awkward to me. My price range is ideally around $300, but I care about larger screen size, and could probably squeak more money if it's really worth it. Sorry if I sound like a complete newbie when it comes to this, but let's face it, I'm a newbie.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-27T19:12:38-07:00

@Tablets

Good timing! I'm actually just about to whip out my Wacom Intuos 3 and sketch for a bit.

Here's the thing - if you want a tablet, just ignore everything but Wacom. There are other companies that make tablets, but the quality is far, far below anything Wacom has put out, and not for a whole lot cheaper, either. I'm not a fan of monopolies in general, but Wacom is really the only player in the game right now. Accept no substitutes.

The Intuos line I've heard nothing but good things about, and my own experience has been very pleasant. They're pretty tough to mess up too badly, and they will last for years. The one I have is 3 years old, and I haven't had any problems with either the hardware of the drivers. The only trouble with the Intuos (especially the new 4) is the price tag.

Wacom makes a cheaper, typically smaller and not quite as sensitive, series called Graphire, and this is what I started out on. They're not quite as durable as an Intuos, but they're still pretty tough - I tossed mine in my bag, on the table, dropped it a couple of times, and did nothing worse that scratch the plastic coating. I used it primarily for coloring and vector work, and it worked very nicely for both of those.

What I like about tablets is they FEEL like drawing, in a way that using a mouse just doesn't. I think it's better for your hand and wrist than using a mouse, and it's easier to get into the mindset of art when you're holding the stylus in your fingers - you're pushing and pulling a pen or brush, not dragging a mouse. It's a little thing, but it's very nice.

Here's one word of caution, and it's one that I get all the time, and have subsequently started giving - the tablet is just like any other artistic tool, in that it will NOT make you better just by using it. It will make the work easier, maybe faster, and possibly a bit more fun, but it's not an instant level-up. In fact, I experienced a month or so, when I was still playing around and learning how the goshdarn thing worked, where my art was significantly worse than what I was doing with pencil and paper. It leveled out, and I've gotten significantly better with it since then, to the point where it's my primary art tool (well, it and a handful of programs), but I met SO MANY people in art school who thought that the second you got the hang of using a tablet and stylus, you were suddenly a professional. Couldn't be further from the truth. Not that I assume you're of this mindset, but it's just something I want to toss out there, because it is such an absurdly widespread idea.

Also, being a newbie is FUN. You get to mess up all the time, and you've still got a good excuse! I think everyone should always be a newbie at something, should always be just learning a trade or craft. Enjoy it while it lasts.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-28T11:40:06-07:00

@Tablets
Graphire, or even Bamboo will do a decent job for Photo manips, stitching etc. The intuos is overkill if your not painting, as a large portion of the cost goes toward the interchangeable nature of the pen nib.
If you do go for Intuos, I would advise avoiding the Bluetooth variant, as it's frustrating to say the least, I spend about 90% of my time with mine plugged into the USB, as it's too slow to respond a lot of the time.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-28T22:20:40-07:00

#Edible Flowers.

Anyone know any good ones? Any to stay away from? Any good recipes which include flowers or flower parts? Even (and this would be AWESOME) anyone ever heard of someone using flowers to make wine or beer?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-28T22:38:07-07:00

Nasturtiums have a light peppery taste and work well in green salads.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-28T22:49:20-07:00

#edible flowers

hibiscus, roses, jasmine, lavender, dandelions, violets & marigolds are the ones off the top of my head. Dandelions make a potent wine. I've had hibiscus & violet liquors, which are delightful, rose, jasmine & lavender teas are refreshing as well, especially blended into like, a green or black tea.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-28T23:50:34-07:00

#edible flowers

There's also an edible orchid that is used as a palate cleanser for fancy meals.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T02:36:17-07:00

#Tablets

Thank y'all, Alan and Vertigo! I'll do my best to avoid both bluetooth and hubris, and will only look at Wacom. It's good to hear they're sturdy, because I'm a bit clumsy. My iPhone has survived this long, though, so hopefully I can keep a tablet alive as well. It's hard not to want a little overkill, but if y'all figure the Graphires are going to be a better fit, I'll look into them (especially since they're more affordable). I fear the Bamboo might not be enough, but that might just be because it seems to be aimed at a less serious market.

It's the natural feeling of holding a pen that's the most appealing thing to me about tablets, followed closely by portability. Being able to change my environment when stuck on something has always been helpful in the past; working on the desktop makes me feel a bit trapped then.

I'll try out this feeling of being a newbie you describe, Alan Tyson, it sounds much more fun than my current method of coping with inexperience (cursing and menacing my computer).

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T04:37:49-07:00

#Edible Flowers

Elederflower wine is nice and refreshing, and Badger Brewery make (or at least I think they still make) a pretty good little Elderflower beer called Golden Glory. Dunno how widely available it'll be in your neck of the woods, though. On the food front, I've seen Courgette flowers fried in tempura batter before, but alas not tasted them.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T05:53:53-07:00

#Edible Flowers

When I was on holiday recently, we visited Skara Brae, and one of the historians / archaeologists there was making a kind of reproduction neolithic ale from malted spelt flavoured with meadowsweet. Very tasty, although I'm not sure how well it would work with modern brewing processes.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T07:52:09-07:00

I too long for the day when i can answer a question here. Obviously a lot of you are helping each other out which is the main thing.sigh..'nuff said.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T08:58:59-07:00

@Tablets

Creating art using a mouse is for masochists. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I can confirm that, for photo manipulation (rather than drawing), the Wacom Bamboo models are fine. (They're OK for drawing too, but the Intuos are better.) (The Graphire line was discontinued a few years ago, replaced by the Bamboos.) I'd recommend the Bamboo Create ($200) from their current line-up, mostly because the others are too small.

For greater portability, another option would be to get a used TabletPC computer. I picked one up a few years ago for under $300, and having a self-contained unit (in slate configuration) that allows me to draw on the screen is great. The main downside (aside from being stuck with Windows) is that a 10"-12" screen at 1024x768 (which is typical for these) is a bit cramped.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T09:03:43-07:00

#edible flowers
I was once served courgettes with the flowers still on, stuffed with a lovely cream cheese and herb mixture. Can't recall if they were lightly roasted or just flashed over the griddle. delicious anyway!

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T12:53:09-07:00

#Japanese/Katakana

Because I am stupid I put this in the wrong thread to start with, so let's try again:

#Japanese/Katakana

Can anyone help me to translate the text in this image? It's apparently a phonetically spelt phrase, which is either in japanese or is a borrowed, japanese-ified phrase. Usual translation software type things have failed.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T16:43:37-07:00

#Japanese/Katakana

My extremely limited knowledge of katakana suggests it's something like

jiwoshido(??)po womopodoyowoho

I'm sure someone else can point out exactly what I've done wrong :)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T18:58:22-07:00

#Japanese/Katakana

jiwoshido(??)po womopodoyowoho

I believe that's actually (right-to-left) wo mo po do yo wo ho - de wo tsu do (saki) po

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-29T20:57:16-07:00

#Japanese/Katakana

I reiterate, extremely limited knowledge :D

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-30T01:40:10-07:00

#Japanese/Katakana

Thanks. Anyone got any idea what that might actually mean?

I'm speculating that it might be a semi-nonsense phrase akin to 'Abracadabra, Hey Presto' but the one kanji symbol in there is weird and sort of throws that.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-30T08:41:57-07:00

#Japanese/Katakana

What's the context, Ali? "de(w)otsudo sakipo" is (not really but I could see it being misspelled as) kinda close to "dead end" (de-d(little tsu)-do saki-ppo). If you squint. A lot. And assume it was transcribed by someone that was a squinting a bit, too.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-30T09:38:55-07:00

Well, it's actually part of a puzzle to work out, so there isn't any context. It's related to a magic trick and may either be the name of the trick or the secret to it.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-30T09:45:27-07:00

Card trick, box trick, rabbit trick? It might very well be a mnemonic device, but there's no way I can guess what words it might be without knowing what they apply to.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-30T09:56:15-07:00

I don't actually know - that's all part of the game :( An illusion in which someone gets horribly decapitated, or something like that though, probably.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-30T10:00:53-07:00

So... you've got a string of symbols that don't actually say anything (verified with Japanese friends), and you're supposed to use them and nothing else to... guess what sort of magic trick they may or may not signify? Is that about it?

If you were in public, I'd say the "magic trick" is while you're distracted trying to read the kana, a rabbit will steal your wallet.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-09-30T10:04:38-07:00

That's about the size of it, yeah.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-02T17:24:35-07:00

#notgettingpaid.

I love my jobs- i work for myself, I am both a make-up artist and a milliner. (i am a make-up artist not an anesthetization) In my work I get contacted by amateur and professional photographers alike (and models as well). I'm currently having a problem with not getting paid, twice in two consecutive days. The first day was five models (hair and make up) was supposed to be paid 260 and got paid 75 (my rate for one model......) the next day I got stiffed twenty bucks and I even provided free wardrobe AND drove the model and photographer around!
I'm sincerely thinking about quitting entirely. I have two previous contracts with professional photographers- if i quit i will only honor them.
The hat business is picking up and is being quite lucrative and am thinking of just devoting all of my time on that in its stead, I enjoy it much more- I do not have to worry about drama ect.

Should I just quit entirely? Just focus on the professional photographers and models? (who have never had any problem paying me- they even tip me sometimes)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-02T17:28:53-07:00

Not so much an answer as a handy little tip someone gave me: if you need to hide stuff at home - keys, documents, money, weed - find a bong shop and check out their range of stash hiders.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-02T19:53:09-07:00

#notgettingpaid

Only work with individuals, professional or otherwise, who are known to you to pay what they owe.

If someone is not known to be trustworthy to you, do not work with them. If they do the artistic equivalent of cry and call you names for not "trusting" them, you will be double justified in turning down the collaboration.

If you must, in order to build a career, work with people you don't have information on to determine trust, you should probably have a contract you require them to sign.

Having a contract is a good idea in all circumstances, actually. Business is conducted by contract for this exact reason, so compensation is clearly defined in a way neither party can dispute, and so a framework exists for the resolution of differences if they arise in the course of work.

Insisting on contracts before work begins will mean that you probably will end up working with professionals, as abiding the terms of contracts is professional behavior. Those photographers have their models sign releases, right? Those are contracts. They can't reasonably refuse to be bound by you in the same way they are binding their models, to terms of engagement that will protect your interests.

Watch this 40 minute talk by a graphic designer and his lawyer - it is very engaging and is directly applicable to your situation:

Mike Montiero - Fuck You, Pay Me

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-02T21:05:47-07:00

@ComicBookBunny,

#notgettingpaid

CONTRACT CONTRACT CONTRACT

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T02:19:47-07:00

#notgettingpaid: write them a bill. Nice little invoice from a numbered pad with blue and pink slip copies, itemized. If it's not paid by the deadline, add interest or late fees to the extent local law allows; there's probably some way to take them to collections of they don't pay up?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T06:09:14-07:00

#notgettingpaid
@oddbill, dorkmuffin and nygaard-

thank you so much!! (oddbill the vid helped a whole lot!)

Will start everything with a contract, I like the point of the "its not about trust" in the video. I had never had a problem before- the worst part is the big bill is owed to me by people who have given me a lot of work who i've been friends with and worked with for the last 2/3 years.

I suppose I had always thought as contracts being a cold and "i don't trust you" kind of thing (it is rare for make-up artists to have contracts at all) but it is a damn good idea for both parties. I do contracts with my hats, and honestly sitting and thinking about it there really is no reason to not do it with the make-up. @nygaard adding itemized expectations to the contract would cover the receipt angle (good idea!!) so they know what they are getting for what they pay me.

Most of them like to do everything off the books- so if they don't want to sign the contract then they really don't want to hire me.....

thanks again!

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T09:57:55-07:00

#notgettingpaid

Contracts=condoms. Even if you're totally getting into bed with someone, you really should still use one, yeah?

Get a contract sorted prior to work ESPECIALLY if you're working with or for people you consider friends! Even if you have a standard form one printed up where you just fill in hours and rate, it shouldn't be any big deal for someone with good intentions to sign it when you wave it under their nose.

One thing you can do to make it sweeter and more 'friendly' is put a 'standard rate' on there, which is higher than what you usually charge, so you can cross it out and put a lower one, so that it makes it look like you're doing them a favour.

But yeah, it's not about trust. It's about your accounts and taxes and mutual protection. Tell them that even if you had sex with them, you'd still use a condom, and it's just like that, even if you're totally sure there'd be no need for it.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T12:31:00-07:00

Hi Whitechapel.

Me and my girlfriend are interested in giving coffee a proper go, but we don't want to drink fermented manure. What are good examples of coffee, available in supermarkets, for beginners? Instant and full bean are fine, although we'd prefer to start with an instant.

I'll hashtag this as #coffeeforbeginners.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T14:19:36-07:00

AAAAAH FUCK INSTANT COFFEE!!!!!!!
evil evil stuff.
Get a little stove top italian espresso maker. Makes the best coffee without having to shell out the dollar for a proper espresso machine.
As for beans I swear by the Lavazza red; beans are better but ground is still acceptable.
Make sure you press down the grounds in the little container bit very firmly(about 15 kilos worth of weight/pressure is about right) to get the proper golden head on your cup.
Also have a look at The Black Blood of the Earth- available online-cold vacuum filtered coffee with none of the bitterness of regular roast and apparently 40 TIMES THE CAFFEINE of regular coffee. Forgive the shouting but fuck... the drug of the future?
I am I admit a bit of a coffee nazi and will probably add more ranting on the subject, but that's enough to get us started.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T14:56:51-07:00

#coffeeforbeginners

Get ye a cafetiere/french press. Experiment with different roasts/beans.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T15:34:09-07:00

#coffeeforbeginners

agreed with the stove top italian coffee makers or a french press. My mom uses the stove top though I personally prefer to use a french press. I have a coffee grinder I got from a friend who was getting rid of stuff, and it's real nice to just buy a bag of beans and grind as needed, as they'll store a bit better in whole bean form. Also I'm told the coffee tastes better if you grind just before steeping, something to do with getting as little of the bean in contact with the air as possible, though I'm not sure, I'm still a newbie.

As for coffee, go into a coffee shop you like, ask them what they sell and can recommend based on your tastes, and see if they'll give you a sample. I know Starbucks does (hush, they helped popularize the Fair Trade movement among larger chain coffee shops. Their customers may be mostly brainless but the company itself is alright).

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T15:49:36-07:00

#coffeeforbeginners

Like they said, avoid instant. No resemblance to coffee unless you want to load it with sugar and milk to the point you are basically drinking a lukewarm milkshake. I hate that shit. Other people love it, but hey.

Read all the packets. It's half the fun deciding if you fancy spicy or chocolate, or dreaming of being in Paris or Rome.

Let the water go off the boil before pouring on (if cafetiere). Stare at it swirling gently for a while before pushing down the plunger.

If you add anything to it, make sure it's good - no powered crap, but full fat milk or cream. Then try the difference between cold and warmed milk. Have fun with it. I like mine neat, but you may develop a taste for a flat white or cappuccino. Or be Italian about it and start the day with a frothy milky one and then move onto the shortest blackest stuff later on.

Make it all part of a ritual, a meditation, a slice of time in the day that is yours.

Pretentious much? Yeah, I know. But I love the stuff.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T15:51:35-07:00

#coffee

Let the water go off the boil before pouring on

I forgot to mention that. Very, VERY important point. Same goes for tea. Boil water, then let it come off the boil.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T17:53:23-07:00

#coffeeforbeginners:

if you want to dabble with different roasts, you can buy green coffee beans online and then roast them yourself using an old electric popcorn popper. There's a "tell" in the sound that they make as they are roasting, a certain high pitched crackle that lets you know at what point they are in the cooking process, so you can decide whether to go for a light or dark roast. My uncle does it, and roasts his own coffee every three days. It takes little effort, and is the best coffee you'll ever have.

#scififorsneak:

The Prisoner
The Booth at the End (on Hulu - more of a Twilght Zone vibe than a Star Trek one. Only 5 episodes.)

I keep meaning to watch Blake's 7. It used to be on before Doctor Who, and I've such vivid memories of that villianess with the sexy short hair that I keep meaning to go back and watch the series.

Also, try listening to the audio series by Big Finish. The Doctor Who series are AWESOME, and they've got some other series as well.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-03T21:35:46-07:00

#scififorsneak

Blake's 7 and Prisoner are both cool. Rachael's miniseries rec reminded me of the 6 or so hour scifi miniseries THE LOST ROOM starring Nate Fisher from Six Feet Under/Casey McCall from Sports Night. Really good tale about this motel room that exists beyond our world that houses mysterious objects with varying powers.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T08:51:29-07:00

my advice for coffee is to try these guys. its a nice little shop in Soho (london), and they sell absolutely fucking everything you'll ever need

http://www.algcoffee.co.uk

if you're in london also pop into monmouth coffee

http://www.monmouthcoffee.co.uk

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T08:54:49-07:00

#Suggest SFTellyForME

@Rachael - you have immaculate taste. Blakes Seven is high camp Brit sci fi at its very (cheap) best. I LOVED IT. I used to watch Prisoner re runs when it ran late at night (i was mid-teens I guess) from my bed, and was constantly confused and awed by its coolness. If you haven't you should watch the B&W Avengers series because it captured *some* of The Prisoner's epic weirdness.

I am going to look into the other suggestions you and Cam have made as they both sound interesting...

#CoffeeForBeginners:

Echo what Nelzbub said - A stove top Moka Pot is a great introduction to the Italian style of coffee making, and much cheaper than buying any kind of eletrical gizmo. French pressed coffee is ok, but I find it too easy to forget how long I have left it and spoil the taste by overbrewing.

Well made coffee should not be bitter, and ideally you should have a fine froth (the Crema), and a petrol-spill like sheen on top of the liquid after it has been poured (this is from all the lovely oils that give coffee its character)

A kind word to Americans. There is a reason some Britons HATE the tea you serve us - A good strong cup of English Builders-Strength Black Tea (as opposed to herbal or green varieties) DEMANDS hot water from an eletric kettle, just (and I mean Just) off the boiling point. Ignore anything that suggests this spoils the flavour. without the extra heat you can never get the damn thing strong enough...

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T09:43:14-07:00

#CoffeeForBeginners:

If you're in the UK, Oxfam do a decent range of ground coffee blends and at least one type of bean for home grinding, all with the added advantage of being Fairtrade too. Freshly ground does taste better if you're awake enough to do the grinding and can be arsed to put up with the chore of cleaning the grinder afterwards.

One of the advantages of a cafetiere is you can add things to the brew. Try popping in a couple of green cardamom pods and a small piece of Indian cinnamon bark - especially good as an after dinner brew.

Water temperature is important, i find leaving it for about 30 seconds after boiling works well in a cafetiere. Tea though, tea has to be made with water straight out of the kettle as it's boiling and don't forget to warm the pot!

Instant coffee, however fancy, is merely a 'coffee style flavoured beverage granule' and is strictly for emergency use only. (can be made with cold water when the power is out)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T09:47:40-07:00

#CoffeeForBeginners - In London this place served me the best damn cup I've ever had: Tapped & Packed / 26

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T10:35:15-07:00

NEW QUESTION: roommate living.

Ok, an honest question here - not trying to engage in roommate bashing, just trying to determine if i'm being anal retentive or not. I currently live in a shared living arrangement with two other roommates, each of us having our own spaces, with a shared livingroom, kitchen, and bathroom. When I live alone (or with a significant other), my space tends to be pretty chaotic, though I go through phases of scouring the bathroom and kitchen. However, when living with others, I tend to make sure that my personal messes stay away from the common spaces. The idea of leaving things like dirty laundry items (like socks), food items (like half empty beer bottles), and garbage (like empty beer bottles, take-away food wrappers, etc) is, to me, disrespectful to those you live with, especially when things like mice and cochroaches are regularly seen in your home. It has been pointed out to me that I should perhaps try to compromise, that I have chosen arbitrary items (laundry, food, and garbage) to focus on while ignoring others (like a laptop or empty mug) that might be left about, and that I've dictated the acceptable time table for removal. However, I honestly cannot bring myself to accept the idea of leaving beer bottles from guests and not cleaning it up that evening (nor that next morning, nor that following evening). My roommate sees the matter as us having different levels of cleanliness. I see different levels of cleanliness as how clean the bathroom is, or the kitchen floor, or the stove-top, and these are aspects of the house that I am willing to take responsibility for and clean on my own without complaint. But leaving personal filth (laundry, garbage, food-stuff) about is, to me, quite different, and unacceptable.

It is likely that I'll end up moving out over this issue, because we can't seem to agree on what is acceptable. I'm seen as too rigid in my expectations. Am I?

I'd like input from the messy and clean alike in this, if possible.

@sneak046 - The Booth at the End is probably the BEST thing I've seen for television in many years. For a show to instill a full spectrum of suspense and drama when never leaving the format of diner conversation is AMAZING (Also, the guy who played the demon Sahjhan in Angel is in it, if that's a draw for you). I guess I should go back and watch Blake's 7, but I'll have to wait until after I watch every Hammer Horror film in chronological order for the month of October, as I'm currently doing.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T10:45:07-07:00

#roommate living:

I'm with you on that Rachael - I used to find it bloody annoying when people left crap lying around, particularly one flatmate who used to leave his socks and underwear and damp towels all over the bathroom. Bastard ran up a £300 bill on the electric towel rail (a HELL of a lot 15 years ago...) so I took the fuse out. Another left a Scalextric track in the living room for three weeks until I told him if it wasn't gone by the time I got home I'd paint a fucking zebra crossing on it...

I think there's room for a bit of give and take in those situations but if it's habitual and people do it even though they know it pisses you off, it's not acceptable and you're not being unreasonable in the expectation that people keep communal areas to a decent standard.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T11:00:25-07:00

#CoffeeForBeginners

Oh my lord. Oh my lord. First of all, ignore everyone that's just told you to buy a new machine to brew coffee. And shame on all of you that did. The kid said he wants to give coffee a go, people, not not spend a shedload of money on a habit he might not even end up enjoying.

You said "instant" specifically enough that I'm guessing you've got a kettle, and it's not much of a leap to also guess you're somewhere in the UK, which means I can't help you with much brands (but Nescafe had the most palatable instant I recall, and your local Starbucks should have single-serve "Via" packets that are all right, too). If you do have (or end up wanting to buy) a dedicated coffeemaker, do go ahead and spring for one of the filterless (gold, reusable filter) ones.

The best way I've found to guess a person's coffee preferences is to ask about how they like their chocolate. Dark, milk, with nuts or fruits, or white. The darker you like your chocolate, the darker roast blend you'll like your coffee. If you like your chocolate with bits or goo in it, try to find flavoured syrups that strike your fancy. There's no coffee on earth, even at the worst truck stops in the middle of nowhere, that can't be made *drinkable* with a splosh of hazelnut and a lot of sugar -- but you can save a lot of money on flavoring by starting with a better coffee.

I would, honestly, suggest you start with the flavoured powdered instants at the grocery store as dessert coffees (the sort of thing you'd drink when you want hot chocolate, now that the weather is getting colder) or lattes at the coffee shop, to gauge how sweet and thick you like your caffeine before you start trying the heavier stuff. No, snobs in the audience, they absolutely are not "real" coffee -- but they're a great way to test flavours and styles before you start buying the real stuff.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T11:26:05-07:00

#roommates

Nope, Rachael I feel the same. Keep common quarters free of filth. I lived with one girl ones who would always, ALWAYS leave her veggie scraps on the cutting board out on the counters for at least a day or two after having cut them up, at least, and it would smell and attract flies and my room was right next to the kitchen and it sucked. Sometimes it is just a case of different levels of cleanliness, but if you guys can't seem to come to a compromise, it's possible you're just not compatible as house mates. And it seems like your choices aren't arbitrary, or at least to me. Garbage and food scraps are unclean, smelly, and attract rodents, whereas a laptop or empty mug, while untidy and cluttersome, isn't unclean. I'm personally fine with untidiness, to a certain degree, but I am NOT okay with things that rot, smell, and attract flies.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T12:08:58-07:00

#CoffeeForBeginners

Thanks guys. If I end up taking to coffee I'll be sure to take your advice, which I consider more intermediate/advanced for me! @Ariana, extra thanks. We're going to go with a fairly light Nescafe for starters, I think, and I will definitely take up your advice regarding Starbucks/supermarket sachets. I think there's a good chance of me liking coffee nowadays as I've become a really big fan of dark, bitter ales with coffee notes. It fascinated me as I never cared for coffee before, so now I think I'm ready to see what all the fuss is about.

#roommates

Common areas should really be kept tidy at all times. While I am hardly the cleanest guy in the world, I always pitched in and kept my house clean at university. There was a reasonable rota set up for dish washing, bathroom cleaning and hoovering, and it made life easier for all concerned. Your room was your space and you could leave bottles lying around there, but the common area was out of bounds for personal mess. The only remotely untidy part of it was the ashtrays, and they were emptied every few days. Bottles were disposed of as soon as they were emptied.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-04T13:14:23-07:00

#roommate living: When I've lived alone, I've been a slob. When I've lived with other people, I've been... not a slob. And a boyfriend who remained a slob after moving in... ended up not being a boyfriend. Because I wanted a boyfriend, not a son. Not that I declared "stop leaving your dishes in the living room or I'll break up with you", and there were other issues too, but that's what ended up happening. Bottom line: you're not being unreasonable.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T00:16:12-07:00

#roommate living

I think I fall on the messy side of the bell curve, but make an effort to keep my mess to my own parts of the house (bedroom, desk, my half of the workroom) and throw out anything that could attract pests. And no one wants to step on other people's dirty clothes or look at their housemates' underwear lying around. I think you're completely reasonable.

#Tablets

A friend says he has a Wacom Bamboo tablet (I think he said it was the Craft model?) he can lend me to try out for a while, and if I like it, I'll get the Create for myself. I'm very excited! A TabletPC will have to wait, but I've got my eye on them. They look like the future to me.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T08:58:54-07:00

#notgettingpaid
Yeah....contract that up. But either way take a look at the clients to see if they're the creepy type.

Alrighty, I have a question here. I think I asked it before, but I'm not sure...

Freelancers! How do you find work for yourselves? I realize there is only so much that internet buzz and word of mouth can do (although it's done a good amount) but what other ways are there? Cold-calling companies? Printing off a zine/brochure of your work and mailing it out? Showing up at their home scratching on the windows?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T10:09:34-07:00

#roommates

@Johncarpenter - Jon, how the hell can a person run up a 300 quid electric bill from a towel heater?? that's like creating a perpetual motion machine!

OK - As someone who has lived with both male and female, crazy and straight, i was somewhere in the middle of the clean/dirty curve. I don't like living in filth, but i was pretty much relaxed with putting off the hoovering till the weekend. The only real tips i can give to you are as follows.

- Always leave the toilet seat down afterwards. I know us guys will never understand this, but it's not worth trying to explain that to women. It just isn't

- Rotas for cleaning. That's a given.

- A 24 hours time limit on cleaning things. So if you have a big dinner/ small party, the dishes can wait till the morning. We had a flatmate that insisted that everyone cleaned up all the dishes right after cooking, then eating. It was such a pain in the arse.

- no personal laundry in communal areas. Socks and underpants are a BIG no no.

- Note on the living room door if you have a "special" friend over.

and that's it really. Oh and if you take someone's booze, own up immediately and replace it within a week.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T10:32:26-07:00

@bob - there may have been something else that I couldn't pin down, but the damn thing was on 24-7 drying his socks and it was the only variable I could detect between our previous normal bills and the monstrous one.

Note on the living room door if you have a "special" friend over.

Yeah. That. Oops.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T10:49:06-07:00

#Roommates

It's usually easier to change digs than change people's habits, it tends to be better for your stress levels and general well being as well. Just make sure you don't move in with another bunch of beer stealing shitbags.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T13:10:14-07:00

RPGs. Does anyone know of a group or site that runs traditionally paper based RPGs online, or has tools for it?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T13:30:13-07:00

#freelancers

This may of course vary vastly from field to field, but at least in translations mailing lists have been invaluable. Not only do folks forward jobs they don't have time for, but a few wonderful colleagues have actually told me about clients who'd have need for more freelancers and helped make the actual hookup. Networking, babies. IT WORKS.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T14:41:25-07:00

#VertigoRPG

OpenRPG

Fantasy Grounds

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak
I also highly recommend Venture Bros, as it is indeed brilliant.

Sarah Connor Chronicles
Dr.Who
Torchwood
Last Exile (Anime)
Xam'd (Anime)
Origin (Anime)
Appleseed [both classic and current] (Anime)
Vexille (Anime)
Misifits
Jericho

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T22:23:47-07:00

#Relocation

Okay, so here's the deal. I want to move to the San Francisco Bay area but I have nowhere to stay. I'm looking for ideas on how to have a semi-comfortable living space while I get myself established there. I've moved across the country and hopped from state to state before, but I've always had a friend or family member willing to harbor me while I get set up enough to be own my own again (job, money for rent, food, etc...). I'm basically just looking for anything viable.

I've stayed with anarchists in shared housing before, I'd be down to work in exchange for housing, I'm just not okay with being in a homeless shelter, basically. Anyone have any experience hopping over to a new city without anywhere to land? Anyone know if there's a place that allows people to stay for a set amount of time? Some place insanely cheap, maybe? Any ideas are welcome.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-05T23:22:58-07:00

#Relocation

Anyone know if there's a place that allows people to stay for a set amount of time? Some place insanely cheap, maybe?

When I appeared without a plan in San Diego way back in 1993, I stayed at the YMCA. They had a travelers' hostel. It was like $10 a night, but you could only stay a maximum of 2 weeks, or something like that. After those 2 weeks were up, I moved to a residence hotel where I paid by the week until I found a job and some roommates from the classifieds.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-06T01:37:36-07:00

#relocation
estate agents sometimes do short-lets in the form of a room in someone else's house. try some of the smaller firms
also do you have couch surfing communities there?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-06T09:01:15-07:00

A little late on this one but re: #notgettingpaid:
This was posted in another thread earlier this year and seems relevant: Fuck You, Pay Me

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-07T21:47:10-07:00

SO WHITECHAPEL. This is gon' get a little personal, so BEAR WITH ME FOR A MOMENT. I've been getting really rather anxious and depressive again in super fun ways (been going on for a while but markedly worse recently). Brain going a mile-a-minute type of can't-control-thought-patterns anxious and depressive, and about all sorts of silly things I shouldn't be freaking out about.

What are your own personal favorite coping techniques? How do you push away "the sads"? EDIT: Including or not including professional help. I understand that professional help can be invaluable for some people (myself included), but I also know that many people have developed their own routine and I'm rather curious.

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-07T22:14:57-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I make art about it.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-07T22:27:25-07:00

Ditto. Art.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-07T22:33:03-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I find intense exercise helps me. Getting up and running, jogging, or simply jumping up and down on the spot until my heart's pounding and I'm wheezing like a racehorse on steroids. It seems to kind of 'shake out' the anxiety - gets rid of the tingling skin and churning stomach for a good while and helps me refocus.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-07T23:02:45-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I'm not personally as familiar with the high-level anxiety that you seem to have, but I am very familiar with "the sads".

What I've noticed is that once depression gets started, it's self-perpetuating. I am depressed because I didn't get anything done today, and I didn't get anything done today because I was depressed about not getting anything done yesterday (and so on). The big trick here is to break this cycle.

Short term, I find it really helps to do an emotional reboot by looking up stuff I thoroughly enjoy. Specifically, stuff that I find really funny, or that otherwise brings a smile to my face. Upbeat music (like some Passion Pit) and funny/smart TV (Firefly is a show I keep coming back to for this reason) are the order of the day.

Long term tactics depend on the source of the depression. Most of the time when people get depressed, there's a triggering incident (you haven't/can't pay your bills, someone died, etc.). In an ideal situation, the simple solution is just to solve or deal with the triggering incident (get some money, pay your bills). However, often you can't deal with the triggering incident satisfactorily (necromancy has a tendency to be impractical at best), or you've got clinical depression (which is like regular depression except there are no triggering incidents; it just happens). In that case, it's much more of an ongoing battle. More of the first solution can help, to an extent. What I really find that helps is to get a project of some sort. In my case, this usually involves programming something or writing something, but different strokes and all that. Getting excited and making things goes a long way in my book.

This is all stuff that works for me, however. Whether or not it works for you is another issue. The main point that I have found to professional help is that they have enough knowledge to help yo figure out what works for you. I'd give a few of the things here a shot, maybe mix in some stuff of your own, and only consider visiting a professional if it persists for a long period of time (more than a few weeks). Professionals also tend to be rather expensive.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T01:13:38-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I become funny. It helps me to get into conversations with people when I'm really depressed, but NOT talk about being depressed. When I'm depressed and in conversation about anything other than the reasons of my depression, I am apparently very, very funny. I can't make that work when I'm feeling normal, but it is a very reliable skill when I'm miserable. I used to be very funny all the time when I was young (which is to say I was mostly depressed), but as I aged I evened out emotionally and now have long stretches where I'm content but not funny.

So, if anyone ever finds themselves laughing uncontrollably at things I am saying, just keep in mind that I'm probably dying a slow, lonely death inside right at that moment. That should help the humor.

Actually knowing that I'm likely to be funny in the middle of a depression does help the depression a lot. It's worst when I'm down in it and can't find anyone to be funny with. I tried tweeting the depression out a couple of nights ago, but it wasn't as satisfying as the tweetvoid does not lol:

(It's twitter, so bottom to top:)

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T01:33:52-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

In Fresno I had regular pick me ups that I did without really thinking about it. There was art hop, which occurred on a monthly basis, which I did with a group of friends. I bought comics weekly. I had favorite tea shops that I visited on a semi-regular basis. I was still taking classes, all of which were art classes, so that got me out and doing stuff. The key was doing things regularly enough that they were routine. Things that you do without even thinking to do, but will make you feel better. I'm guessing you'd rather not be spending a whole lot of money, but there are all sorts of small things you can do to feel something, and something good.

When I was Florence I wandered around the city, people watched, and had favorite places I went to every night. Especially when life is chaotic, routines and rituals are really helpful. Do you live near anywhere pretty? If you can take walks in those places, especially alone, it can be very calming and centering. Or with someone you are very comfortable with. Have days where you wear whatever you feel like and be comfortable. And have days where you dress as nice as possible and feel incredibly glamorous. And now that I'm thinking of it, I should be doing some of these things too.

#finding apartments to rent
I'm at a loss here. I can't seem to find any available apartments that are in my price range and desired location. I'll even settle for having roommates if I must. I've tried the classifieds, craigslist, and google (etc). What are your favorite sources for finding apartments?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T02:03:20-07:00

#relocation
check craigslist you might get lucky.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T02:42:23-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I've got a number of strategies, depending on what level of severity.

At a low-level - Exercise definitely works. I'll try walking or gardening, or if I can, I'll thrash the hell out of a guitar for a few hours, anything to get adrenaline going. I'll go up a hill or to the coast and stand in the wind.

I've also tried writing stuff that I'm anxious/worried about down on paper and then burning it. That seems to help.

Stop fighting it. Sometimes I have to accept that I'm beating my head against a brick wall by trying to do something that I'm not in a fit state to do, and it helps to just stop, step back, and do something brainless like sit in a chair and look at the sky or watch Monty Python

@Oddbill's strategy of 'be funny' - yeah, I think I do that as well, especially if I'm trying to cope with depression while at work, it helps to deflect it and I suppose to make contact with other people softer and more human

Visualising/meditating on the interconnectedness of all things. I'll look at an object - let's say a train (I spend a long time commuting...). I'll visualise all the components and connections between them. I'll think about the moving parts and how they're interacting with each other. I'll think of the electricity and how it's been generated and where the fuel comes from and how it gets to the train. I'll think of the track and where it goes, and how the steel rails form an unbroken line that connects London with all areas of the south coast. I'll think of the people that built the lines, that mined the ingredients for the steel, the ships that brought the parts to where the train was built, the animals that died and rotted to make the oil for the plastic and the paint. And after all that, I've usually distanced myself a suitable way from the sad and the anxiety to look at it with a bit more perspective.

Some of these things work for me, at times.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T11:15:13-07:00

#What'sGrowingInMyYard

Anyone good at plant identification? What the hell is this stuff? Someone, after a verbal description, suggested jasmine, but it doesn't match any picture I've seen online. I would love to know if I can be making tea out of it, though.
The base is a long thin decorative grass; the flower bunches grow on tall thin stalks and spread out horizontally. It started flowering in mid-August, after I chopped away all the weeds obscuring it, and is even more flowery now. The flowers have six petals and long stamens, and are maybe half an inch in diameter.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T13:15:39-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity
In addition to the above very good suggestions, you might try community acupuncture, for which I must confess my professional bias =). I have treated thousands of people and most have some relief much more often than not.
Aside from that, one way to summarize some of the above comments is to think in terms of doing things that help you switch from a state of sympathetic nervous system dominance (ye olde FIGHT or FLIGHT) to parasympathetic nervous system dominance (Rest and Digest). Unfortunately, our world has not been designed to encourage relaxation; you've got to carve out your own niche of peace somehow.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T15:21:19-07:00

@Allana - looks like onion weed to me.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T16:19:52-07:00

#What'sGrowingInMyYard

Garlic of one type or other, probably. Check the bulb, as I'm sure you'll recognise that.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T17:13:22-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

The only time I usually get that feeling is when I haven't eaten enough lately. When my blood sugar drops I start to become a little paranoid which leads to me getting depressed because, well, obviously, nobody likes me (for those not paying attention, it's the paranoia talking at that point). If I don't realize it's lack of food (which happens sometimes) I usually either play a mindless video game, lay on the floor and stretch, or clean the house. I have a hard time focusing so reading doesn't work for me, but at the same time, I have to keep my mind busy otherwise I'll think about things that just make it worse.
And then, after awhile, I'll realize that I need to eat something really fast. Today has been one of those days.
*goes to look for a snack before dinner*

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T18:39:46-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I was left with instructions to come up with stuff that stops me thinking about the signals coming from inside my body. Talk to someone about anything. Talk to yourself, to your pets, to the ceiling, to whatever gods take your fancy. Interact with something. Concentrate fiercely on anything that is not those howling monkey reflexes which try to trick you into thinking that you are drowining or something. Doesn't always work, but practice seems to help. You know prayer beads? At least they're less conspicuous than suddenly dropping down and doing twenty while waiting in line at the grocery store. (And, presto, just like that, I have formed a whole new hypothesis about the origin of prayer :)

An important element of depression seems to be about reward cycles, which is why computer games as a remedy may not be a good idea in some cases. Those things are designed to be mildly addictive to someone in what laughably passes for an average state of mind. They're carefully timed and tuned to give your brain a kind of illusion of work and achievement, to keep you klicking that button, logging those hours, and feeding the subscription. If you start out building a gaming habit on a big downer, you're not very motivated to seek out other rewarding tasks to begin with, which is a nice gaping gateway to a psychological addiction.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T19:14:04-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I'll echo the recommendation to excersize. YES. It releases endorphins like WHOAH, and for the rest of the day your muscles are less cramped and your body feels more lithe and alive. I do my excersizes by listening to thumpy dancy music or Led Zeppelin and dancing about in my underwear. It feels less like a chore and more like something I'm enjoying, that way.

Masturbation/sex is good for depression, too. Hooray for endorphins!

Personally, I'm a nature person, and being in the city starts to get to me after a while, and I don't even realize that it's the culprit. Getting the FUCK out of the concrete jungle, and walking someplace that I can't hear cars, where air smells sweet, where crickets sing..... I feel I can breathe again, and my mind opens and I feel much better.

Also: cleaning myself and my body. THAT IS KEY. If you feel shlumpy, shower. If you can't think through something, clean your space. Outward sorting of things can help the insides sort things. Having a clean and organized enbvironment of pleasant aesthetics improves my mood in AMAZING ways.

Also, having a plant. It gives a vibe of LIFE in your space, and also, there are microbes in dirt that act as an antidepressant. (link) I think this probably has a lot ot do with my phsycial NEED to have yard and trees around me. the smell of nature makes me breathe deeply and feel almost high, so maybe I'm hyper sensitive to it? Maybe growing up with it, I have a more severe depressive reaction to dirt withdrawal?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T23:19:40-07:00

#college disability

Ok, I've got a question. I'm really out of my depth with the red tape of the american college system and the hierarchy. So here's the deal: For the spring semester last year, I went to Disability Services, had a conversation with some lady there who looked at my doctor reports and asked me questions. She got me audio versions of my text books because I have difficulty reading large bodies of text. Ok.

This semester, a week before classes started, I got an email from Disability Services with the NEW form that I was required to fill out to get my alternative texts. In that same email, it stated that they'd need up to 4 weeks to obtain these texts. So. It's now a month in to the semester, and I am only going to get my books on Monday. I may have to withdraw from most of my classes, because it's terribly unlikely that I'll catch up. I only have until the 20th to withdraw from classes without adversely affecting my grades. This, to me, is bullshit. I've taken loans and grants to pay for the tuition of classes that I can't participate in by no fault of my own. I've paid hundreds of dollars for the textbooks I need (because they won't give me alternative versions of the texts without seeing my reciept of the book purchase). I'd not have needed much special accomodation if I'd had the books on time, but now I've four classes I'm a month behind in, and I do have health issues that keep me from busting my ass the way I'd like. I'd spoken to my advisor, and he seems to think I should just withdraw and take the classes next semester, which I can't afford, because I won't be a state resident. And besides, I already fucking paid for these classes!

Do you think i could get the administration to agree to allow me to take these same classes NEXT semester for free, as I've already paid for them? Who should I approach about this, and how? Are there any Disability Student Advocacy groups I could contact? Could I contact the state government, since I recieved my funding through state grants or should I contact the federal, since I got mostly federal loans? Do I write to the Dean? Is there a person who is adept at college issues that I could hire to work my case?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T23:43:38-07:00

#college disability

I would talk to another advisor, or even the same one again if you can't do that, and make it clear why you can't afford to withdraw and take the classes next semester, and ask them all of these questions. Make a list of every possible question you could think to ask beforehand. If they can't answer something, have them tell you who to ask. In my experience with college advisors, they can help more than you expect sometimes.

Advocacy groups and things like that will vary depending on the school, as will the hierarchy of who you should contact. The ones to ask are the ones that work specifically at your school, with the job of helping students. Never feel embarrassed to go back and say you forgot to ask something, or to ask a question that sounds stupid in your head. They are being paid to help you.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T23:51:31-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

Cooking. If I'm really down in the dumps, I find cooking something pulls me out of it a bit. I've been cooking a lot lately. And not necessarily 'comfort' food. I'll make strawberry jam when decent strawberries are to be had, I made tomato sauce last weekend, I frequently make pizza. Try to cook something that you haven't cooked before, using ingredients that you don't usually use (the tomato sauce was a big one for me, since I never cook with whole tomatoes. It turned out really good, but it's not as economical as I had hoped.).

Also exercising in nature made me feel slightly better a lot of the time, but I don't have that luxury anymore, since there are no green places here.

Bicycle while listening to music and singing along at the top of your lungs.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-08T23:55:27-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I draw like crazy till it passes. If that's not enough, I go see live music and maybe/probably/definitely draw the heck out 'em..seeing other folks being creative always brings my out my funk.
If I need industrial strength release...I go dancing and go all out for the whole night.
Sounds very extreme but I don't drink, smoke and have no friends to lean on so I make do keeping myself sane...works for the most part.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T03:45:38-07:00

#What'sGrowingInMyYard

They look like garlic chives; I've got some growing in my herb garden. The flowers taste particularly nice.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T07:08:19-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

*huggles*

I Run until i exhaust myself - exercise a lot, or Dance, dancing around like a total idiot (my favorite). write it all down to get it out of my head. Look at cute things on the nets, i like small furry cute it makes me giggle and squee. I understand that most of the time talking about it is not an option- when i get there i sit and do something busy with my hands on auto pilot while I pick apart what is going on with me, analyze it till there is nothing left and logic it to death out of my head.

Or if the social anxiety hasn't eaten my brain- dress up fun/pretty/silly and go out and just be obnoxious and enjoy myself. Often put lots of time and energy thinking about becoming a habitual pudding flinger at people- making a nice big bowl of the stuff and just throwing it at people. Haven't quite worked out if that would be assault or not but it would be damn funny.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T09:17:37-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I...just get angry. This morning I was so overwhelmed with everything going on in my life and the bleakness of the only road I have to follow to get myself out of it. And then it really came down to that I could just lie there in bed and cry about it or I could get up and start doing the the things I have to do. Being sad about my lot isn't productive and while I enjoy taking a few minutes to indulge my self-pity, I eventually have to just get up and get moving to make the bad things go away. It's a weird switch that I flip in my head that took a long, long time to develop.

I also reach out a lot on Twitters/text messages/social networks when I'm feeling down. Sometimes just a few back and forths over something silly is enough to cheer me up & get myself unstuck from a cycle of loathing. You can tell how my day is going by how much I'm tweeting at any one moment, honestly. When I'm anxious or sad, I'll start posting a lot of randomness. When I'm OK & keeping busy, I'm quiet on the 'net. I run around alone so often, it's nice to know that I basically have traveling companions in my pocket if i just reach out for them.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T10:06:25-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity
I don't think I've been depressed, because I've always had good reason to feel bad, but eating super sour, hot, bitter or otherwise spicy food always makes me feel better. Also, sun, really good sashimi...

@DavidLejeune
Yeah, cooking! Soup made with animal bones and tough meat given a proper sloo-oow cook is magical.

@celan
I had acupuncture a few times and it made me super high, like vicodin, can't feel my legs, laughing way too much at random stuff as I walked home high. Also, I felt like there was a big string coming in through the top of my head out through my feet as I had it done.

ETA Inositol? never tried it, but as much as wikipedia can be trusted...

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T10:16:28-07:00

Spot-on, Ian! Thanks.
But, really, onion "weed?" It's pretty and I can eat it? Those gardener types gotta get their priorities straight.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T10:31:12-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

Generally when I get hit with an overwhelming sense of sadness it's because I'm not in a position I want to be in (in any important aspect of my life) and I don't know what to do about it. I used to have a really hard time trying to get out of it, but eventually I found a sort of personal routine that helped me out. It goes like this:

Get a pot of coffee going and put on depressing-as-hell music. The coffee, for some reason, helps me feel less frantic and more focused. The sad music lines up with my thoughts and helps me digest things.

Start writing in my e-journal thingy in a stream-of-consciousness sort of way, just letting it pour out, getting all the bits on my mind out there for review. No real filter or plan, just mental-vomit.

Sift through the mental vomit, address points, be honest with myself about how much I'm exaggerating or underplaying an issue. Take those points and map them out real quick-like and scribbly in a notepad so I have the most important/pressing issues laid out.

Make flow charts or some sort of comparison graph. My paper journal is full of em. Weigh pros and cons, lay out realistic cause::effect maps, write out what I really want/need to do, then make a small goal list. When I'm sad, it's kind of hard for me to be productive, so I start out with smaller goals/things I need to do anyway and the act of being productive really helps. Then moving on to bigger issues when I'm in a better mindset to take them on. It's basically just having a goal to work towards... When I don't have something to work towards I tend to get sort of lost in it all. When it gets to a point where I'm still not sure, I talk to people I trust. Good people generally have good points.

Depending on the situation, long walks, exhausting labor, and masturbation/sex (echo: hooray for endorphins!) can come in handy when I'm trying to get my thoughts straightened out.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T10:52:22-07:00

Spot-on, Ian! Thanks.

But, really, onion "weed?" It's pretty and I can eat it? Those gardener types gotta get their priorities straight. \

There's a genus of allium known as onion weed, which has a small bulb and is almost impossible to eradicate. I can't be exactly sure what species yours is without consulting a taxonomic guide.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T11:14:53-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I remember to make the distinction between what "I am" and what "I feel". So I don't tell my self that "I am depressed", I tell myself that "I feel depressed". It's a small thing, but it helps me to create distance and know that the feeling will pass.

I also try to do something new. It doesn't have to be a big thing. Actually, it's better if it's not. Something like taking a new way to work. Trying a new drink at the coffee shop. Doing that seems to break things up a little bit and get the ball rolling.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T11:31:25-07:00

Augh, you guys are awesome.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T13:32:50-07:00

^ Second that.

Loved this: "So I don't tell my self that "I am depressed", I tell myself that "I feel depressed"."

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T16:04:33-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I find that when I feel depressed or anxious, I tend to gorge on the familiar-especially in regards to anxiety. Breaking a daily routine-or even realizing that you've created a daily routine to ensconce yourself in-is a step towards shaking off some of that suffocating darkness. Recently I've started trying to teach myself watercolor and it's been a lifesaver (this also echoes the previous suggestions of art) but not simply because it's art, but because since it is a style of illustration I was previously unfamiliar with it allows my brain to more fully commit to it than if it was something I had done before. The techniques were familiar but changed enough that it kept my attention and allowed me to uncoil a bit.

Cooking. Grab a secondhand cookbook that is something you're unfamiliar with and work your way through it.

(Again, echoing previous posts) Sex. Not merely the endorphins, but just the straight up human contact and connection sex offers.

Recreational drug use is great (like all things, in moderation), but be careful and preferably not by yourself.

A Pet helps volumes.

......And this is going to sound cliche- video games.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T16:45:05-07:00

#fakesnakes

Fun Question: does anyone know of any cool mechanical things that mimic snake movements? I'm working on a short film that involves a nest of medusa hair, and I'm trying to figure out how far we can go without actually doing CGI.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T19:48:47-07:00

#fakesnakes

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T20:06:30-07:00

#fakesnakes

@internaut - yeah - those robot snakes are really cool! But what I'm really looking for is something more practical, within my reach of actually using. I guess I'm wondering if anyone has come across anything that can be used to mimic snakelike movement that I might be able to repurpose in making a kind of nest of Medusa head snakes in a film. I can't, unfortunately, build a crown of articulated robot snakes.

I'm thinking about rigging up some kind of thing that rotates an extended tube or something, which when moved will writhe sort of like a snake? If I can find some kind of material that moves in that way, or some sort of rotating thing that can set off motion like that, I might be able to dress that like snakes and have it work on video.

I know that's not terribly clear or helpful. I can't be more specific as I'm still searching for ideas. I basically want to make a practical, writhing headpiece of snakes.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T21:25:06-07:00

#fakesnakes

You could maybe take a bunch of those plastic (or wooden) toy snakes that only move from side to side and slip some sort of sleeve over them, and attach a simple servo to the base. That's the easiest and cheapest way I can think of to get the sequential wriggling motion you'd be looking for, but it's be really impractical for someone to wear a whole bunch of them on their head. Maybe rig four or five up like that and fill in the rest with cheap rubber snakes?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-09T22:53:03-07:00

#mechsnakes

seems like you would want curved thin wire twisting inside of a wider flexing tube... but to stick several of those behind someone's head, I don't know how you would keep the wires twisting. Unless it was actually several feet behind the person and just blended with their hair in a charcoaly 1920s type manner

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T08:42:59-07:00

QUESTION: #adult aging

Are there cases of retarded development in adulthood? I mean, I know there are cases of people who don't age mentally or physically past childhood, but what about in the midst of adulthood? (I'm beginning to think that my natural aging process and development has paused or slowed at 20something, both physically and psychologically.)

#snakehair

Get a bunch of these from your local dollar store or China Town area:

and, like suggested, put some armature wire through them to keep them structured, cover them with stretchy material, and bend them about in a stop motion animation manner?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T14:19:18-07:00

#snakehair

Doing them stop motion and compositing that over the live footage would actually probably get you the best results. Though you'd maybe still have to do something with the lighting in post, if you want shadows from the snakes to be cast properly.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T15:51:47-07:00

New Question: #Text Export

Does anyone know a way to export a page from a word processor document as an image into a graphics program, specifically a page from an OpenOffice file into Photoshop? I'm trying to add some illustrations to a page, and while for most of the pages, I'm fine with just dropping an image in among the text, for one particular page I want to actually draw over some of the text, have it interacting directly with the images.

Is there a way to do this?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T15:55:30-07:00

#text

You could try a screenshot. What OS are you using?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T16:06:33-07:00

#text export

Also (and I won't be having any great answers to this one) but you probably want to clarify your intended output. If the thing that comes out of photoshop is going to actually be printed with the text readable, then a screenshot won't do, you need to import at high dpi or just let PS (or Illustrator if you are using that downstream) render the text.

I would think.

Mainly I would say you can't go putting a screen-resolution image of text into PS and have be acceptable for print unless the image is only going to take up an inch on the final page.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T16:07:36-07:00

Mac OSX. Trouble is, the pages are large enough (I'm writing them at 11x17) that I'm worried about losing resolution.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T16:15:33-07:00

#Text Export

In MS Word there are a variety of ways you can layer an image behind text or over text. I'm not sure if OpenOffice has the same functionality. Ultimately, though, word processing software is not the optimal tool for this. You really want something like Adobe's InDesign, which is a print layout software meant for this function.

I know that's not great advice as you are probably doing this with the resources to hand - but having text and graphics interact on a page is not the easiest thing to do in anything other then the proper tools. I don't know of any genuinely free or inexpensive page design tools.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T16:28:03-07:00

#adult aging

Most agreed definitions/usages of the term "adult behavior" don't fit an idea where acting 20-something is considered less developed than any other spot on the adult behavior spectrum.

We expect 70 year-olds to generally act differently than 40 year-olds and those differently than 20 year-olds. A 40 year-old who acts like a 20 year-old can be socially penalized by friends and family but isn't generally thought of as having a developmental disorder. Any more than a 20 year-old who acts like a 40 year-old would ever be called "gifted" -- because the main thing the distinguishes behavior in the adult spectrum is conservatism, not intelligence. And even if conservatism is in part a function of wisdom (especially, in learning the limits of one's own judgement), it's also just a function of fear, changed externals (having children, losing loved ones), etc.

So, I am not sure what you have in mind.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T16:29:56-07:00

@oddbill - actually, thank you for reminding me! I do in fact have InDesign, and... holy shit, this is actually the tool I've wanted all along. I just forgot I have it.

Wow. Thanks!

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T17:44:26-07:00

#Text Export

@oddbill - I don't know of any genuinely free or inexpensive page design tools

I'm coming in late on this one, but Scribus is a free, open source desktop publishing program. I'm currently teaching myself to use it and it seems pretty comprehensive.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T22:19:57-07:00

#text export

Uhmm... why not export as a PDF & then pop that into Photoshop?

Also, Indesign is an absolutely fantastic bit of software. I use it for everything.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-10T22:28:20-07:00

Thanks everyone! Just played around a bit with InDesign, think I know what I'll have to do.

You all rock, you know that?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-11T00:03:36-07:00

I haz question: #claymation

Sort of inspired by #snakehair, and oddbill's video thread, but also because this has been kicking around in my brain for a couple of years: I kind of want to do a stop motion animated short (actually, a series of shorts. Actually actually, a stop motion adaptation of John Gardner's 'Grendel,' which in my head looks like a hyper-violent 'Creature Comforts'). Any pointers on where to get started? Books I should read (there was a book I skimmed through a few years ago that seemed like a really good reference, but I can't remember the title for the life of me, and as it was in the Arclight Sherman Oaks gift shop, they're unlikely to still have it), should I go with clay or plasticine, essential editing software, etc.?

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-11T00:34:58-07:00

#claymation

First, I'm sure you already know this, but no essential editing software needed - you can do stop motion with anything. You can do it with just a camera and windows movie maker. Don't let software stop you from experimenting.

That said, look at this: Dragon Stop Motion

It's what this fellow uses to do this:

As far as clay or plasticine - plasticine. Otherwise, just play around. My advice is do not read a book first. Just get some plasticine and a camera and start playing. Once you have figured a couple of things out for yourself, then go look for advice/books/etc. But get your hands into it first.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-11T09:02:10-07:00

#DealingWithDepression/AssuagingAnxiety/ClingingToSanity

I take a day for myself, go downtown, buy myself a new book, have a coffee in a quite place and walk around the city with headphones on and music playing. Just walking around really helps me.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-14T20:21:19-07:00

New topic

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

So, my girlfriend and I will be travelling across Europe at the end of the year/start of next. She's vegan, I'm vegetarian and we both want to avoid wearing leather and fur whilst not succumbing to frostbite. I've heard it's best to avoid layering as it is often well-heated indoors and you'll look a bit silly stripping off six layers, so I was wondering what advice you kind people might have for some materials/brands that would serve us well.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-14T20:34:12-07:00

Military trenchcoats are warm and cheap. You can buy them at army disposal stores, and mine has gotten me through three Canadian winters thus far.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-14T23:23:25-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

My girlfriend is vegan and swears by layering to keep her warm.

But she does also wear something equivalent to a military trenchcoat as the top layer.

Me on the other hand have no problems living in the UK on the coldest days wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, t-shirt and hooded top with a hat, gloves and buff scarff. Depending on where you are, European winters aren't generally as bitterly cold as American ones.

ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now Thread (Sept 19th - Oct 16th)

2011-10-15T00:31:30-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

Realistically, it would depend on how far north you are going, but plenty of Europeans don't wear Fur or Leather. Central heating is common in some countries, but not so much others, and a tried and tested 2 underlayers, sweater and top coat would likely do the trick. A vest and t-shirt covered by a fleece and a waterproof would be adequate in the UK, Some areas, your'e going to need a little more. It's amazing how much temperature you can drop, just removing the waterproof.
I love Military greatcoats, but,
They are way expensive in Europe at the moment for some reason.
B) Avoid Wet countries in them. If they haven't been treated right, they lose their resistance to water penetration, and weighing about 8-12 lbs dry, you'd feel like you were carrying a horse on your back once you got wet.

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2011-10-15T03:42:54-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

Just get yourself a decent synthetic coat and some longjohns. You might have noticed that pics of people studying in Antarctica involve mostly bright orange jumpsuits. You don't have to go as far as getting a jumpsuit, but the point I'm making is that the only thing natural in a lot of those things are the people wearing them.

If you want something light-weight, try hiking stores for something like a gore-tex, and wear wool or (if that counts as anti-animal) polyester underneath.
Oh, and this is probably pretty obvious, but if you're going to be tromping through snow, make sure you have boots that will keep your feet dry. Nothing makes one feel cold wet and miserable worse than cold wet feet.

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2011-10-15T11:44:59-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

Avoid layering? That's absurd. Layers are the best way to keep warm for the weight and to give you the flexibility to adapt to whatever level of heating you encounter thru-out the day. Comfort is far more important than what some idiot considers the fashionable number of layers to remove upon entering a building from outside. In warm weather I wear/bring a minimum of a t-shirt and another shirt to wear over it, because you never know how wastefully frigid the airconditioning will be some places. And in cold weather I tend to add a sweatshirt or sweater, maybe another shirt, and a coat of whatever thickness is necessary to round it out for the day's minimum expected temperature. Consequently I am almost always comfortable.

The alternative to layering is to get a big thick coat that will keep you warm regardless of what else you're wearing, for the coldest possible temperatures... and if you do that, you will get mocked for wearing a coat that looks suitable for Scott of the Antarctic when the temperature is a mild 10 degrees above freezing. :)

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2011-10-15T12:42:51-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

Okay, more detail. I live in Toronto, Canada, where it gets down to minus forty on a really cold day. The minimum clothing I recommend to visitors from back home (Sydney, Australia, which is temperate to subtropical) is as follows:

Longjohns or trackpants to wear under trousers.
Long pants. Blue jeans, chinos, whatever. I usually wear long cotton pants from Sears.
Cotton t-shirt.
Fleecy cotton pullover.
Wool sweater.
Army trenchcoat. You can pick one up for around $100 at a disposal store.
Wool knit cap, or one of those hats with the side flaps for your ears.
Wool scarf and gloves.
Thick wool socks.
Snow boots with heavy treads and waterproofing.

Optional:
Sunglasses if you're going somewhere snowy. The reflected sunlight off the snow can make you temporarily blind within a few minutes, depending on how sunny it is and how sensitive your eyes are.
Chapstick. The air gets extremely dry once the temperature drops below freezing, and your lips get all cracked and painful.

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2011-10-15T12:57:54-07:00

I can't help but second the Chapstick.

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2011-10-15T13:12:33-07:00

Please get your own. :)

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2011-10-15T19:48:51-07:00

#SuggestSFTellyForSneak.

Since you've been watching Star Trek: Andromeda which, legend has it, started out as Rodenberry's plans for a radical reboot of Trek.

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2011-10-16T01:05:55-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

I'll second the wearing of layers, there's nothing weirder than walking around Scotland in shorts and a t-shirt and seeing middle eastern students dotting around in parkas

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2011-10-16T06:06:15-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

Ok, so in my experience there is nothing worse than getting cold and damp feet inside your shoes, so boots are recommended. And there in lies a dilemma, since a rather large proportion of boots are made with leather.

My Google Fu tells me that such 'Vegan Footwear' exists, seemingly affordable in the right places. If you know the right places, personally, I would check out local stores first.

Also thermal underoos.

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2011-10-16T13:27:09-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

These boots.

I have boots from this company, though not these specific ones. Mine have suede and no laces. But when they say waterproof, they mean it. And the insulation is incredible. I have spend hours in deep snow in mine and my feet were the warmest, dryest parts of my body afterward.

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2011-10-16T14:44:22-07:00

Those boots have leather in them, oddbill.

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2011-10-16T15:14:08-07:00

Shit! I missed that.

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2011-10-16T15:29:07-07:00

You can get synthetic boots if you look around

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2011-10-16T16:39:17-07:00

Though, after a certain point, I don't know how effective an effort to use absolutely no animal products in clothing can be. It drives you to using synthetic materials, which are produced by heavy industry which surely kills many animals in the process, even though those are essentially collateral damage and not used directly in the product.

You cannot live in modern society and escape complicity in the destruction of animal life for the material benefit of humans. If you try to live in an artificial pre-modern society, you will quickly find you need to destroy animals directly yourself for your own survival.

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2011-10-16T16:56:13-07:00

Or you could shop secondhand, which takes no energy past that which runs the thrift store. Then it doesn't matter what kind of materials in which you're clothed (unless you're also against the promotion of fur and leather inherent in simply being seen in them).

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2011-10-16T18:10:55-07:00

#fakesnakes - I'd make a skull cap and mount articulated wooden snake toys on it - you've probably seen them, they're just segments of timber on a string really - and the movement of the actor's head ought to get them writhing pretty well. Won't be much chop for close-ups or extended shots but it's a budget solution. Google "wooden snake toy" for pics.

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2011-10-16T20:26:54-07:00

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated. Will take to the googles with the advice in mind.

We live on the Gold Coast in Australia, which (as you might guess from the name) has great, moderate weather - rarely even gets into the teens during winter, and rarely gets up to 40 in summer (degrees Celsius that is). I have a feeling that we simply won't be able to comprehend the cold until we arrive :)

I like Greasemonkey's advice because it's geographically relevant. I grew up in Sydney, and whilst the summers are hotter and the winters are colder, there's not really that much in it.

We're planning on starting our trip in/around Russia and then traveling east to Ukraine, Germany, Netherlands, and then heading to the UK.
And thanks for the sunglasses and chapstick suggestions - I know how important they can be, but as I was busy thinking about big coats and waterproof boots and such they might have slipped my mind.

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2011-10-16T22:14:44-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

Layering: DO IT. Also wool and silk are your friends, as far as materials go. (Sorry about that, vegans.) They both breathe and insulate. Gloves, or better yet MITTENS in freezing weather. Longjohns. Anything to keep you from getting wet, and then freezing to death.

As far as shoes are concerned, be aware there is a world of difference between the various military style boots of different countries, if you decide to opt for the surplus. Some of them have absolutely zero traction on snow/ice.

(Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of Finland.)

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2011-10-16T22:28:51-07:00

@Corey -

Layering is the only way you're going to cope with the cold in Russia/Ukraine. You'll need all the clothing on my list. Germany's not so bad, although the Bavarian region gets pretty chilly in January. Almost everyone has a cloak room inside the front door, or at least a big closet in small apartments, where you can strip off layers after coming indoors. Take off your snowy boots as well - there's generally a boot tray where you can leave them - or you'll leave slushy footprints and piss off your host.

A long thick wool scarf is going to be your best friend in any kind of windy weather. It'll keep the icy wind out of the top of your coat, and you can wrap it around any exposed bits of your neck and ears. Fleecy trackpants under your trousers are passable for keeping your legs warm - don't even try going out with just long pants, the wind will cut right through them and you'll develop hypothermia and end up in hospital - but longjohns are way better. You can buy them dirt cheap most places where the winters are brutal. Try not to go out at all if there's a blizzard. It might seem like fun, but the wind can drop the temperature by ten or twenty degrees, and if it's blowing in your face you can actually feel your eyeballs freezing as you go blind (which is why you see polar explorers wearing goggles).

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2011-10-16T22:32:26-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

You're starting with Russia? I hope that's because you're hoping to avoid the winters there. As a total wuss living in northern Wisconsin (though I'm right on Lake Superior, which makes a huge difference), I would second the importance of layering. And stuff being waterproof. You lose a lot of heat from your head (especially ears), and extremities feel cold sooner. I've found that having my nose/mouth covered helps avoid runny noses and sore throats, which helps me not get sick. And I will second the wonders of second hand/thrift stores. I would never buy fur new, but I've got a couple coats that way and they are wondrously warm.

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2011-10-17T03:09:21-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

norwegian city wear: one layer on the skin, one to hold body heat, one of regular clothes and a thick coat to break the wind. socks, gloves, scarf, hat which covers your ears. nothing can really replace wool- it keeps you warm even when wet - but at least avoid cotton, which is worse than useless.

this works for low activity at temps down to -5-10c. colder than that, or for extended stays outdoors, prepare to be uncomfortable or in pain without windtight outer suit and head-to-toe wool.

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2011-10-17T05:28:29-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

Layers - you must layer.

Not much to add to the good advice already given, other than to say look at micro-fibre clothing. It gives fantastic insulation for the weight.

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2011-10-17T11:12:47-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

Military surplus stores are a wealth of keep warm clothing. Ecouterre helps a lot when being conscientious about clothing/fashion. I enjoy the "animal spine" jewelry made from re-purposed bullet casings. They even have a "Vegan Style" section!

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2011-10-18T04:19:21-07:00

#iPhonePayments

Has anyone used a mobile phone point of sale system like Square Up or Adelante? Square Up doesn't work in the UK sadly, as far as I'm aware, so I'm looking for an equivalent. Any suggestions? I'm fine with the company taking a cut, but would rather not pay a subscription for the service.

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2011-10-18T12:17:01-07:00

#murderlessoptionsfornorthernhemispherewinter

If you don't like the look of army trenchcoats, duffel coats are more stylish and just as warm, and you can also buy those at disposals stores. In general, you're looking for a warm, thick, knee-length overcoat for your top layer.