Author Topic: Small Animal News  (Read 187568 times)

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Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #45 on: August 16, 2010, 09:54:15 pm »
I got multiple calls yesterday about PD2.  Yes my two small animals play this game and Mikey plays it too I hear.  As the for the problems people were having:

1) Costume / gear is different in PD2 than PD1. 

In order to unlock costume / gear, you must first complete the task for that costume / gear.  Then you must go to the shop and buy the costume / gear with your accumulated DPs.

2) Import data from PD1 will give you 5000 DPs and enable all acquired PD1 costume / gear in the shop (you will still have to buy it there).

3) The game is generally more difficult than PD1.  There are some new features, the tutorial explains the new features pretty well. 

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #46 on: August 18, 2010, 11:07:49 pm »
#1197, #1218, and so on.  A lot more on that general vicinity, I just don't care enough to find and list them all.  Just read several pages in both directions and you should find the large chunk of them.

I've already touched on this several places in this thread but IMO it's honestly not such a big deal either way. 

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #47 on: August 26, 2010, 02:51:14 am »
I've been getting a lot of calls on Skype about [deleted].  Everything from 'what do you think of C-' to what will their direction be in the future.

The things I've heard about C- have been rather mixed.  From Mikey:  I don't know that he really did a great deal or that he was a 'team player'.  He always seemed to be looking out for himself.  He kept a lot of secrets.  From Mr. Sparkles:  When Yue-bing was alive, he seemed to have a 'thing' for her.  Yue-bing would make some demand and he would act like we should bow down to her or seriously consider it.  It took a lot of talking to him to convince him that Yue-bing was wrong.  From Samantha:  He was paranoid.  Always looking behind himself even though others were guarding his back.  He was relatively effective alone but he was not particularly helpful to those around him.

C- is going to lead it by default, he is "bringing in the carrots".  Bunnies talk a lot among themselves and one of the bunnies in the brigade who had chatted with one of the bunnies who was in C's force at that time was told that C- 'wasn't that bad'.  "It was basically a game of 'choose your poison'.  And while he has some toxic qualities, C- also has pleanty of good qualities." 

I fully expect that [deleted] will continue to follow their model and make a bigger push in the years to come.  I don't know what inflow is like but C- isn't going to let this go.  His ego is bigger than that, big enough that he won't let it fail if he can help it.  Even if he has to burn a bunch of his own carrots to make it happen, I don't doubt that he will.

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #48 on: August 31, 2010, 02:12:46 am »
Recently, the local small animals held a meeting at 'The Daily Pet' in Del Mar.  There were a number of issues covered at this meeting, but one of the more interesting ones that came up was the general increase in V/U targeted attacks.  People have known V/U were controversial from the start, but no one ever expected that it would become so popular as it is today.  At AX, a number of small animals overheard that japanese guy say that this was no different in Japan, it's both extremely popular and extremely controversial, and you have some people who absolutely love it and others who absolutely hate it out there.  And that made a lot of small animals think, maybe there's something going on here.

Either way, it just seems kind of odd to me.  Sometimes I overhear people here express general dislike but I've never heard anything beyond this.  Keep in mind that most small animals are basically 'prey' animals so what would seem like paranoid thinking to a person often makes perfect sense to them.  Mikey did comment that much of the psychological operations (basically this involves blasting extremely loud music into a given area, to cause annoyance, disruption of concentration, rage, etc.) have been transitioning from using Rammstein, a german heavy metal band, to the more effective songs like 恋は戦争, known for its superior 'shock value' and general effectiveness.  

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #49 on: September 09, 2010, 10:19:55 pm »
I am still getting a lot of calls over Skype in regards to 'next year'.  Honestly people, I don't know.  Mikey's team spends a lot of time watching the different neighborhood cats and did point out his teams do seem to be picking up signs of 'impending change'.  "It's not normal for cats to talk about these things and just because they are... likely means they are planning something.  We've overheard a lot of cats saying things like -- Sure, we're still working for him, for now."  Mikey thinks this is due to a possible upcoming change in leadership, I'd say this is unlikely (all things considered).  Something is probably going to happen soon, what, I honestly don't know any more useful info because it's not my job to get into or even care about these things.

BTW I gotta love his most recent line "I didn't REALLY look at them, I just went through them real quick to make sure none of your pics were there.  You know, those pics, the ones you sent me."  I might be totally lost as far as the plot, but you know that guy looked at every single one intently.  It's funny seeing people trying to dig their way out of holes they ultimately dug themselves. 

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #50 on: September 10, 2010, 07:54:27 pm »
I don't normally submit commentary, but here is some quick stuff.

In response to Samantha's post, let me clarify that Samantha is referring not to the local area but to the area immediately to the south.  This area, which is under Mikey, has been relatively harmonious and secure ever since the expulsion of Yue-bing years ago.  The small animals in this area have typically gotten along just fine.  But if you go about 20 miles south, it is a much older area where rival factions of small animals have settled in for much longer.  You have three basic factions in that area now, two of which actively hate each other and will probably never get along.  Due to basic philosophical differences.  That area is much more established, there's no significant predators in that area so there is really nothing driving force for the small animals to unite or anything like that.  The third faction that pops up from time to time, they always remain neutral and come and go like the wind. 

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #51 on: September 11, 2010, 02:19:32 am »
In response to your questions, many people miss this, but know what each mode means and how this interacts with the flash. 

AV mode the flash basically intends to use the flash as a fill flash.  The flash will fire at some arbitrary intensity (determined by the feedback through the lens and the camera).  FEC adjusts this intensity after it is determined.  EV does not have its normal effect, it will try to make the scene darker / lighter but the flash feedback will compensate to offset this.  The end effect is that, to a limit, EV adjust simply shifts the ratio of ambient and flash light.

TV mode operates similar to AV mode.

I don't know about P mode, I never use that one.

M mode is the most versatile and can be used in a number of ways.

1) To balance a dark background with a bright foreground.  Switch to spot or center metering and meter based on a bright spot in the background (Adjust Shutter Speed and Aperture until the meter falls close to +/- 0EV).  Now meter based on the foreground, switching the metering type as necessary.  It will probably be -3EV or more.  Take the picture and the flash will try to bring the foreground up to the level of the background.  Sometimes it will bring up the background too, in this case meter to the background being a little under (-1EV or so).

2) When you don't have enough ambient light.  Meter on the subject, getting as close to 0EV as possible.  The closer you can get to 0EV, the better.  Typically I aim for -1EV or -2EV, -3EV is pushing it.  When you take the shot, the flash puts out only enough light to get to 0EV, based on feedback.

The main use of FEC is not to offset the brightness of the flash.  In general the feedback system does a pretty good job of this.  FEC comes in most useful when you are shooting a semi-reflective surface or something that over-illuminates when hit with light from the flash.  This way you can dial down the flash as necessary.

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #52 on: September 14, 2010, 11:49:38 pm »
One of the most basic problems is procedural, a 50% quorum must be established before any business takes place or is voted on.  Old rules assigned the mascot votes equal to the number of other voting members "plus one", ie. if there were seven voting members the mascot would then get eight votes.  This rule worked fine and no one ever complained b'cos the mascot was always a small animal that could be trusted to abstain and never actually vote on anything.  But ever since the pig left us, they have been slow to choose a new mascot and therefore quorum cannot be established since more the half the votes (on paper) are controlled by the mascot.  So no actual business and votes have taken place since then, most unfortunate I know but then what can you do. 
« Last Edit: September 15, 2010, 01:42:02 am by Sindobook »

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #53 on: September 15, 2010, 11:06:17 pm »
To me this isn't a tricky subject at all.  In 'the best' conditions it will make little to no difference at all.  And my job, ideally, is to find those 'best conditions'.  It can take experimentation, it can take time, but getting there is what matters.  Once you find those 'best conditions', skills are secondary, and 'gear' barely matters at all.

I'm not saying that skill doesn't matter, without skill you will not be able to find those best conditions, unless you stumble across them by chance.  I'm not saying gear doesn't matter, it does, when conditions are not optimal or 'the best'.  But basically when I am compressing 9+ EV of dynamic range down to between 6 and 7 EV and using f/5.6 ISO 200 even with a polarizer still on the lens, no amount of high-end camera-ness is going to make the picture look much better. 

It's when those conditions are not 'the best' that those other things start to matter most.  People can try to compare and/or compete, but always consider your objective.  Is it to 'take' good pictures or to 'make' good pictures.  In groups, this is the difference between an individual and a leader.  An individual's goal may be to 'take' the best picture but the leader's goal is to 'make' good pictures for the subject.  If someone else can 'take' a better picture (comparatively) the individual might see this as reason to get upset, where as the leader will see this as evidence that they are doing their job well.

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #54 on: September 21, 2010, 11:16:13 pm »
I can list all the steps here, you might need to use a little bit of trail and error since everything is set up a little different.  But this is what works on my setups, at least.

1) Open Internet Explorer.  You must be using Internet Explorer (you cannot use another browser).  IE8, the version that comes with Windows 7, or IE7 should work fine.  You should be using a disk with the NTFS filesystem in order for this to work.

2) From the menu on the right, Tools->Internet Options.  This brings up the "Internet Options" dialog.  In the dialog that comes up, under "Browsing History", press Settings.  For "Disk space to use", set the maximum of 1024.  Take a note of the text below "Current Location".  It might be something like:
"C:\Documents and Settings\Pig\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files" if you are using XP.  If you are using Windows 7, it will be a little different and longer, but regardless the last directory will typically be "Temporary Internet Files".  Just make a note of it, you'll need it later.

3) Back to the "Internet Options" dialog.  Press the "Delete" button under "Browsing History".  This next dialog works a little different for different versions of IE, but basically you want to use it to delete "Temporary Internet Files".  In some cases you'll press the "Delete files" button then confirm, in other cases "Delete Temporary Internet Files" is a box you check, after which you hit the "Delete..." button or some such. 

4) Now go ahead and browse to the page.  It's important to let all 'streaming' media files download completely, which can take a minute or two.  When everything is done downloading, go to the next step.  Don't do any other browsing (on Internet Explorer).  You can use another browser if you like.

5) Open windows command line.  Navigate to the directory noted at the end of step #2.  Now you need to navigate to some non-indexed directories.  They won't show up with the normal dir command or any other windows calls.  Use a dir /ai to find them and navigate down into them.  The first one will typically be something like "Low" and the next one should be "Content.IE5".

6) Now that you have navigated into "Content.IE5"l, you need to find the media file.  If you do a dir /ai from Content.IE5, you'll see any number of non-indexed directories show up.  They all look like random combinations of letters and numbers, fortunately they're only 8 characters long.  The name of the media file is set by the site itself, for instance Nico Nico Douga uses smile*, Youtube uses vidplayback* or videoplayback*, etc.  But typically the media file is so much larger than all the other files you shouldn't have too much of a problem finding it even if you don't know the name.

Take advantage of dir /s to find these files.  For instance, "dir /s | more" will list off all the files in all subdirectories and then you can look for a really big file (typically in the range of 10-100mb) which will be the media file.  Once you know the naming convention of the website you are using, you can do something like "dir /s vid*" to show all files with that name in any subdirectory under the one you are currently in.

7) Once you find the media file you must copy it out of there to a directory you can see.  Make a directory off your c: root like c:\scratch and copy it there.  Once you have this figured out, you can write a batch script to do this for you.  Generally your command might look something like:

copy \3j9dvxn6\vid* \scratch

8 ) Once the media file is copied out of IE's cache, you will likely need to give it an extension.  Sometimes, in the case of .mp4 files this will not be necessary, but in the case of most .swf, .flv, and other files, they will have no extension when thy are copied out so you will have to add it yourself.  As for how you know which extension to add, trial and error is the best I can do.  Nico Nico Douga uses mostly .flv but will occasionally use .swf.  Youtube uses .mp4 for most HD and .flv for most everything else. 

9) Windows Media Player Classic HomeCinema can play back most of these file formats, like .swf. 

10) Once you have your media file, you'll want to go back to step #2 and clear out the cache again.  If you do this just before getting a new media file, it makes it quicker since you don't have to look through as much junk.

11) You can use other web browsers to do this, there are instruction online to do this that work.  I tried using Chrome and Firefox to do his.  The problem is that these drivers will not cache large media files, and there doesn't seem to be any way to set the max cacheable file size limit.  For Firefox it is around 64mb, for Chrome it is around 40mb.  These sizes quickly get exceeded these days, especially when dealing with HD video.

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #55 on: September 25, 2010, 09:40:53 pm »
Hang on, we're trying to confirm.  At this point three's no indication it's not for real, but give it a few days.  I'm not expending any more effort on that matter.

On my August 31 post, I discussed the small animals' response to the repeated V/U response.  I keep getting PMs about this so I will say that the plan was put into place, it went live over a week ago.  They didn't want to announce it back then but now it's almost complete.  Nothing to worry about, really.

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #56 on: September 29, 2010, 08:21:51 pm »
Okay there you have it.  Word should be out by now. 

Unfortunately the black pig (name withheld) who was the pig's friend while he was alive passed away recently.  His role of assisting Mikey, the chief ferret in charge of local are security, with intelligence and information gathering / data management will be taken over in time, but for now Mikey will be managing that role directly.

Even with their intelligence gathering limited by the black pig's untimely passing, the local small animals have been able to piece together the most likely scenario.  Mikey reviewed this at an "all paws" meeting last night, in preparation for today's official announcement.

First of all, last Friday, the neighborhood cat L was gone.  Tony, a local ferret and friend of Mikey's, explained the story with local cats was that his owner had moved out of town, taking his cat with him. 

Mikey said the black pig (name withheld) was coming to the conclusion that C was either an absolute genius or a total idiot.  Mikey and Samantha tend to think he is the former, but admit it's still really up in the air.  Mikey spent most of his time discussing the costs of all of the neighborhood cat L's operations, the 'sweep and secure', the employment of mercenary animals, and so on.  He said that while the cat L may have been able to declare a tactical victory over C's forces, the cost for doing so was great.  Samantha revealed some inside information about a recent raid on their caches by the "Black Bunny Squad", a widely feared local bunny gang who engages in mass carrot theft operations (aka. 'carrot raids').  Similar, at least in concept, to what the bunny brigade did at the countryside farm recently.  But a lot more random, and that gang is more feared than respected in its own area (to the north).  Their members are welcome here, but only if they behave.  Anyways Samantha recently overheard some of their members at one of the local 'bunny bars' having a discussion (mostly whining / complaining).  Apparently the Wednesday before last, the gang had raided L's fridge (actually his owner's fridge) and found it to be totally empty.  There was nothing in it, no carrots, no lettuce, no mini peppers or anything at all.  They were quite surprised and while all their bunnies were expecting a feast, they instead had to go home with empty stomachs.  There are a few explanations for this, L's owner may have cleared out his fridge in preparation for his move, but this is unlikely because it was still early.  Anyways with this revelation most of the small animals at the meeting were able to put it together, and think it's likely C is on the right track.

Not to write them completely off, this will probably generate no end of controversy online.  But the world of small animals really doesn't much involve online.  And where C's plan could go wrong is if they somehow come up with their own infusion of cash.  But is that likely?  Doesn't seem so.  For now, most small animals have already made up their minds, and those little guys tend to be pretty stubborn once they do.  The small animals are naturally going to root for C anyways because he has plenty of bunnies of his own working for him. 

Not much more I can say on this issue, despite the PMs.  It will figure out itself over the time being. 
« Last Edit: September 29, 2010, 08:25:22 pm by Sindobook »

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #57 on: October 02, 2010, 02:10:05 am »
I'm getting a lot of PMs about Long Shan's recent video, let me just say Long Shan is not rich.  He actually lives day to day with very little money.  Just because he has a figure or something that you allegedly saw selling for $150. at some con doesn't mean Long Shan actually paid that much, or that he paid for it at all.  He might've gotten it through some cheaper source, or he might have lifted it with his famed 'panda hands' technique.

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #58 on: October 05, 2010, 02:12:04 am »
Follow-up to post on Sept. 21.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main (int argc, char *argv[]) {
  FILE *fp;
  char line[320];
  int n;
  char ext[32];
  char com[1000];
  int len;
  char ext_def[32];
 
  if (argc < 3) {
    printf ("usage:  %s <file prefix> <directory> <optional default extension>\n", argv[0]);
    return 0;
  }
 
  if (argc == 4) {
    strcpy (ext_def, argv[3]);
    printf ("using the default extension:  %s\n", ext_def);
  } else
    strcpy (ext_def, "");
 
  printf ("copying files %s* to %s\n\n", argv[1], argv[2]);
 
  sprintf (com, "dir %s* /s /b > temp.txt", argv[1]);
  system (com);
 
  fp = fopen ("temp.txt", "r");
  n = 0;
  while (fgets (line, 320, fp) != NULL) {
    len = strlen (line);
    len--;
    if (line[len] == '\n') {
      line[len] = '\0';
      len--;
    }
    len--;
    if (line[len] == '.')
      strcpy (ext, &(line[len + 1]));
    else {
      len--;
      if (line[len] == '.')
        strcpy (ext, &(line[len + 1]));
      else {
        len--;
        if (line[len] == '.')
          strcpy (ext, &(line[len + 1]));
        else
          strcpy (ext, ext_def);
      }
    }
   
    sprintf (com, "copy \"%s\" \"%s\\%08d.%s\"", line, argv[2], n, ext);
    printf ("%s\n", com);
    system (com);
    printf ("\n");
    n++;
  }
  fclose (fp);
}

Here's a quick ANSI C application that does the same thing.  I had no problem compiling it using MinGW, which you can find here:  http://www.mingw.org/ .  Once you compile it, then you can just copy it to the root of the IE cache directory and do do something like "a vid \scratch flv" from the command line.  It will copy all the files it finds into the directory you specify, renaming them to numbers and keeping the extension if it has one.  If there is no extension, it will use the one you specify (if specified). 

Windows 7 implements a permission system for executables that may deny own created applications create and write privileges by default.  If you get an 'Access Denied' or similar message when the application tries to copy the file, try right-clicking on it and setting the owner of the application to the administrator rather than the standard user.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2010, 08:09:24 pm by Sindobook »

Offline Sindobook

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Re: Small Animal News
« Reply #59 on: October 07, 2010, 12:47:07 am »
I don't get it.  It seems like suddenly everyone is interested in small animals.  I will say this, please, if you want a small animal, stay away from the pet store.  Stay away from the breeders.  Find your local rescue, preferably a rescue that specializes in small animals.  If your city doesn't have one, try humane societies, online message boards, and the like.  Breeders should be a last resort, and pet stores are the absolute worse.

Anyways I have been getting a horrendous amount of questions about C.  I'm not going to try to answer individual questions about C, there's just too many.  You want to know about C?  Just wait.  Watch, listen, and think for yourself.

C once lived happily in a neighborhood with many other small animals.  The small animals were mostly harmonious and all got along.  But then, an unknown man known as Mr. X moved into the neighborhood.  I call him Mr. X b'cos I never knew who he was.  He was just some man, nothing special, no real defining characteristics or anything.

Anyways Mr. X had a few cats.  Most of his cats were ordinary, content to lay around the house, eat, sleep, purr, etc.  But one of these cats was unusual.  He seemed to have a special hatred for small animals.  He would frequently roam around the neighborhood, hunting small animals, occasionally chasing one down and killing him.

Unlike down here, the small animals in the area were not terribly organized.  They had little hope of fighting back effectively.  Eventually 'L' became known as 'neighborhood cat L'.  They tried to stand up to 'L' many times but always failed.  There were retreats, there were deaths, there were massacres. 

While the 'neighborhood cat L' added to his power base, scheming and continuing build build up a gang of cats, small animals were leaving the neighborhood en masse.  Sometimes alone, sometimes in groups, but they left.  Those who remained lived under the constant fear of death at the hands of 'L's kitty cat gang.  Or worse.

C was one of the small animals that left.  But he didn't go far.  He hung around just outside of town, recruiting other small animals as they evacuated the neighborhood.  Eventually he recruited enough small animals to try to take a shot at 'L'.

Many small animals were watching as C launched his attacks at a the cat 'L' and his gang.  C had little more than bunnies and (guinea) pigs, and they were poorly equipped, had little training, and were rather disorganized.  While they were far from a modern fighting force like the bunny brigade, honestly the only thing they had going for them was willpower and devotion.

To be continued...