Time
originally posted August 11, 2012

Time does not exist; as a concept, it holds only the definition that man has placed upon it. A second is a second, an year is a year, only in that that was what was agreed upon.

Early cultures had their own methods of measuring time, and each was accurate to those peoples. But which one is right?

Einstein states that it is relative, that the faster you go, the slower time becomes. This has been proven with identical atomic clocks, one on the Earth, the other launched via the space shuttle. And yet, how can time be considered a constant, how can it be used as a measure, if time, using an agreed upon measure, can differ?

Time, quite simply, cannot exist.

Where is the past? When is the future? We can plot vectors and direction, we can determine where an asteroid will be thousands of years in advance, we can make microscopic calculations for a device millions of miles away, and yet we cannot answer those questions.

Where is the past? The past only exists within our minds, as an electrical charge stimulating memory. What we observe, what we see and hear... all of our senses... only exists as memory. Our reactions to those memories affects the outcome of how we interact with what we observe. So in this, the past is all in our mind.

When is the future? "Tomorrow" is just a definition of time... when it becomes tomorrow, it is in actuality "today". Tomorrow doesn't come. What of new technologies being developed that won't be actualized for decades to come? Those devices already exist... if they didn't, the designer could never have thought of them, could never have drawn them out, theorized about them, discussed them; those devices already exist in the mind, again as memory.

How does past-life regressions and deja-vu relate to each other? They are memories of what has come and what is to be. If time does not exist, it would stand to reason that all of reality exists within the moment, and as such, both the past and the future exist within the present. You can access your past by retrieving the proper memory, you can relive the past by entering that memory, by drawing it out and making it your present. Deja-vu is a memory of the future; it's harder for us to reach those memories because we are led to believe that the future has not happened. However, I argue that when deja-vu happens, the reason it happens, is that the portion of our minds that realizes the sees the future gives us that "jolt" to tell us that we are on the right path. We can attain knowledge of this future by, once again, accessing those memories, but because we have been taught that only the past exists, it would make such a feat more difficult.

Comic books, theories, and ideas
originally posted September 1, 2012

Entry One

I have an idea on comic book villains, one that I developed yesterday. You'll note that the comic book industry contains a lot of villains that purport to be humanity's savior, that without them, the world is doomed to failure. They are often taken as being tyrannical or despotic in nature.

What if they're telling the truth?

Look at Dr Doom, for example. In every What If? or other alternate / future timeline of Marvel, Doom is a success and Earth is a utopia. Even in "modern" times, Latveria is a utopian society, just as long as its people recognize Doom as being their savior. Hell, look at the Watchmen's character Ozymandias (killed a few million people to save several billion, and to bring about a united world). Then, too, there is V... terrorist or freedom fighter?

So this got me to thinking on how we can incorporate the villain as being the good guy / good guys as being the bad. We have a scientist who develops some method of bringing about something revolutionary, something that would benefit all of man. I don't care if it's a faster growing tomato or free energy or or or. He tries to bring his device to the world, but corporations try to shut him down as it would rob them of their profits, or governments try to silence him because it would lessen their control on the populace. What's he going to do? The backers and the supporters are shutting him out, trying to keep him from freeing the world... he has to get his device out there by any means necessary. He's tried to follow the rules, but now he has to go outside those rules. Naturally, superheroes will try to stop him, whether he tries to hijack the airwaves to broadcast his message or if he tries to kidnap officials, to even more serious and drastic measures. Maybe even have a good guy recognize the fact that the villain isnt evil, that the project would work... but, because the good guy is on the side of the law, and the villain isn't, he is still required to bring him in, or to stop him.

Comic books, theories, and ideas
originally posted September 1, 2012

Entry Two

Idea number 2: the lawsuit.

Why hasn't Mr Fantastic, leader of the fantastic Four, ever been brought to court for crimes against humanity?

Here he is, world renowned scientist, who harbors a zero point energy device, which could supply many third world nations with cheap / free energy, which could release the burden of mankind and save the environment.

Here he is, developer of teleportation and time travel devices, which could be used to free the world of pollution, of traffic, and greatly increase communications and exploration, expanding our knowledge base and offering the ability to colonize the stars..

Here he is, that man who developed a material that is completely fire proof, a material which, in the very least, could be produced for fire fighters.

The list of his accomplishments goes on and on... and yet, he sits back and lets humanity starve and die out.

Oh sure, Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne have also developed many a technological device or two, but they're business men. They have copy-write protections and trademarks and security measures in place due to trade secrets. They are, whether they believe it or not, in it for the profit. But not so with Reed Richards... he is a scientist, always proclaiming to save the world, to save mankind.

But has he? He hordes his developments. He keeps the very things that could usher in a utopian society.

So who is the true villain? At least Doom shares his technology with his people.

Comic books, theories, and ideas
originally posted November 19, 2012

Entry Three

The Avengers are a bunch of hypercritical bastards.

On many occasions, they have hunted and sought the capture of Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, due to his behavior and tactics... Castle kills the bad guys. The Avengers do this because of his "lack of concern" for the surrounding populace and for the killing.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Bucky, aka the Winter Soldier, aka Captain America, in charge of the Avengers? The Winter Soldier, mind you, being a gun toting cybernetically enhanced warrior assassin. What about the Black Widow, former Russian assassin (but now a reformed SHIELD operating assassin)? Hawkeye, who only shoots special safety arrows tipped with NERF arrowheads? Should I go on?

Isn't this a bit like calling the president kettle black? The Avengers is a team of killers!

And a lack of concern to the surrounding populace? Yes, because every battle Frank is involved in involves Skrulls, the Hulk, a massive super villain / hero beat-for-all, cosmic power enhanced robots... resulting in the destruction of skyscrappers or other buildings, vehicles, bridges. Oops, sorry... that'd be the Avengers again.

...

So why does the super hero community hate Punisher?

Humor
originally posted November 14

I have a warped sense of humor. The more wrong it is, the better! Within this thread I'll be posting things that I found funny... not just ha ha funny, but, well... you'll find out.

Whether it be jokes or images, these are things I find humorous. You may not. I would love to post these images on facebook, but I know I'll get a lot of hate-mongering. That's right, it's going to be that bad.

So, for starters, let's open up with this image. Nothing too bad, but bad enough.

Saving Money with Soothsayer
originally posted September 12, 2011

Entry One

Over the past few months, i've initiated several money saving techniques in my household. The wife was hesitant at first, but after I showed her how much could be saved, she eventually came around. here's what i've done (so far). Tell me what you think, and if you have any other helpful hints or tips!

1. Put a brick in your toilet tank. Doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you this... the brick displaces the water level in your tank, right? Because of this, it'll use less water to fluch and uses less water to fill up. Not much of an immediate penny saver, but it will add up.

2. Get rid of the land line phone. We were paying about, oh, $60 a month to have a land line phone... the 15 different taxes, service fees, unlimited local, blah blah blah. Add whatever amount to include long distance. That's a lot of money being thrown away, especially when the local phone package "only" costs $30. Instead, get cell phones. Depending on the package you get, you will save a hell of a lot of money; if you already have a cell, you don't need a land line anyway. We had both, which i thought was a waste... $60 for the land line, $70 for 2 cells with 1500 anytime minutes, free weekend / afternnon / evening calls / free incoming / free cellcom to cellcom / all of Wisconsin and U.P. Michigan free calling. My oldest boy had a tracfone that he was supposed to pay for (but the wifey kept paying $40 a month for). All together that's what, about $170 a month. For $105 a month, my wife and I still have our cell phones, the oldest is on our package (he has unlimited texting, which is $10, already included in pricing), and a fourth phone for home. Savings... $65 a month. Could have been more, but the boy needs his texting, and he is working for it.

3. Get rid of cable / dish. Cable was costing is $60 a month for 40 channels; got rid of that for dish, which cost us $55 a month for 120 channels. Only watched a few different channels. Put up a big antenna (Walmart), got a signal booster (Walmart)... currently get 14 over-the-air channels (before digital, we got 3, at best). Subscribed to Netflix at $8 a month. Initial cost was probably around $100, but two months in, it paid for itself. Total savings, about $50 a month.

4. Run your washer drain line outside. We live in a village where our water bill costs 3 times more for water to leave our house than to come in. I scrutinized the village's ordinances as they pertain to water and found nothing... NOTHING... that says I can't drain my washer water outside. So that's what we're doing. And, to be on the "safe" side, in case we aren't supposed to do it, I have six feet of hose running behinf the bushes and flower bed along the side of our home, and a piece of plywood painted to match the side of the house to hide the area that the house is coming out of.. As a water bill is generated every three months, I haven't had too much time to see the savings, but we have noticed this: the first month we did this, which is the last month of the last billing cycle, we had a $27 reduction of our water bill! Since the washer is the biggest water consumer in the house (and your water bill), this is a no brainer.

reply by VaderXanth, November 23 2011

I know that this could be a large initial investment, but have you switched your light bulbs to the energy saver types?

The first hint/tip/trick you came up with, the one with the brick I think that you should experiment with.... Now depending of the weight if the bricks, you may have to support the tank a bit. Whomever you believe in your household could produce the largest girthy turd should eat some cheese and see if a possible 2-3 brick flusher could do the trick....

reply by Soothsayer, November 23, 2011

Energy bulbs we have done, gradually. But really, $50 in savings in 10 years? Ooooo. Getting the kids out of the house, that'll save a hell of alot more!

reply by VaderXanth, November 24 2011

Indeed that will!

Saving Money With Soothsayer
originally posted March 13, 2012

Entry Two

This past weekend I was listening to a home repair DIY show on the radio, and they talked about some energy savings as they relate to showers. I have participated in this, and will find out how much of a savings I have when the next bill comes in the mail.

1. I installed a low pressure aerating shower head... uses between 1.5 to 2 gallons of water a minute (versus the 5 to 8 a standard head uses). The head itself is oval shaped and long; sprays the entire body at once. I could feel the difference... the water hitting is lighter / softer, you can tell you are not getting as much water, but because of the spray pattern, it does get you wet.

2. Changed the hot water heater temp from 160 down to 130. Apparently, being set at 160 means it takes longer for water to heat up (in addition to using more electricity). With a setting of 130, the heater is able to keep up with water usage... the second person to take a shower won't run out of hot water. Also, a lower temp means it is easier to maintain (temp-wise). Now why not a lower setting still? Seems that the heat from the water would be lost in the pipes, the water will cool quicker, and involves the heater to work more just to maintain the heat.

...EDIT...

I should add that the shower head installed states on the packaging that it will save $40 a year on your water bill, if only two showers are taken a day at ten minutes apiece. Let's see... my wife takes about 10-15 minutes, I take about 5-10 minutes, oldest boy takes 20-25 (sometimes twice a day), youngest 15-10. Let the savings roll in! And again, I doubt I will see any of this "extra" money.

reply by Soothsayer, April 16 2012

UPDATE - The new shower head works rather nicely, just to let people know. You can feel the difference in the water as it hits you, but it still does the job quite nicely.

I've went and installed a new faucet head on the kitchen sink, cost about $3, but the packaging stated it uses 1.5 gallons per minute versus the normal 2 - 2.5 gallons the normal head uses. I know, not much of a difference, and seeing as how the kitchen sink doesn't get that much use (other than drinking water and dishes), the savings probably won't be noticeable, but it's something. Expected savings? I'm betting a few cents, at the most.

Okay... today I bought a water efficient fill valve system for the toilet. The cost at Tru Value was a little over $24, and knowing TruValue prices, I know I could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere, but I was in a hurry to get this done before kids / wife get home from school / work. The package says it will "reduce indoor water bill up to 11%". Granted, I have to adjust the settings on it to find what works the best, but still, an estimated 11% savings? Not bad. Keep in mind, should you buy this, read the box to see what the kit all includes: mine does not come with a flapper. I had to buy a flapper separately, which is fine, because the one we currently have is shot... if you have to hold your toilet handle down in order for your toilet to flush, that means your flapper does not float, that there is a pin prick hole in it somewhere which has allowed water to fill it. See? This thread is quite educational!

Magnetic Drive
originally posted March 13, 2012

I may have to draw this up so that it makes a bit more sense, hopefully I can explain it well enough.

1. A hollow sphere with a really powerful magnet inside, sitting loosely inside the ball.

2. On the top half of the ball is a cup or sleeve, fits perfectly over the ball, allows the ball to move and roll freely.

3. Attached to the sleeve is an arm, extends out to the side of the sleeve

4. Attached to this arm, facing the ball, as another really powerful magnet, or maybe just a piece of metal, haven't figured that part out.

Can you picture it?

Okay... (big grin)

The magnet on the arm attracts the magnet within the sphere, they draw together, but the ball stops them from connecting. You can see that, right?

Now the question I have is two-fold.

1. Does the ball roll towards the arm magnet because of the magnet inside of it, or

2. Does the magnet inside drop, causing friction that gets the ball rolling, and then the magnetic forces attract again, magnet rises, drops, causes friction...

Either way, wouldn't this be a perpetual motion device? A free magnetic drive that could power vehicles and stuff?

OR!

Imagine a locomotive, and its drive wheels, how one rotates, moving an arm which rotates a second wheel. Same concept as above with the ball and magnets, but this time situated on the locomotive drive. On the big rear wheel you have a fixed magnet... at one point, the positive faces right, at another, the negative. This fixed magnet is the lynch pin that holds the rocker arm, which is attached to a second smaller wheel. INSIDE the rocker arm is an other magnet, with, say, the negative side facing left; this magnet will always face in the same direction because it is in the arm. Depending on which direction the larger wheel is facing, the positive or negative side of the fixed magnet will be facing the smaller wheel (and thus, the other magnet). If the positive if facing the smaller wheel, the magnets will try to attract, turning the wheels; at some point, the negative sides of the magnets will be aligned, repelling them... the wheels (and arm) will begin to rotate, driving the device.

Any thoughts?

...EDIT...

Ehh, I was just thinking... there are a couple flaws in these builds.

1. At some point in the rotation of the locomotive design, the magnets will be angled towards each other... speed would be reduced or the magnetic force would become balanced; there would be no thrust for further drive. Unless... *ponders* a spring system could be added to pull the main wheel back into position, just enough to create a nudge, and then the magnets thrust back, spring pulls forward...

2. There is no speed. The speed, if there were one, would remain constant, and would equal the magnet force. I can't see of a way to increase speed. Decrease, sure, just hold magnets in place, but increase?

Dream a Little Dream
originally posted March 7, 2012

I have grown tired of losing so many wonderful story ideas because of waking up. So much so that I am making this thread in order to record the images / plots I get when I was dreaming. And the thing that has started this, that has kick-started this need?

GOD PROJECT
keep in mind this was from a dream, some details, of course, will be fuzzy or may sound odd... they will, of course, need to be fleshed out or touched upon in the actual writing process

Scientists wish to recreate life, or at least wish to study the process of life creation. So what they do is create an orbital station? utilize one of the larger asteroids from the Belt? as a grounds for their experiment. The scientists create an artificial intelligence, albeit a minor "immature" one, one that must learn and grow on its own, and set this program within the experimental grounds.

Over the years, scientists observe this program slowly gain in intelligence, and in so doing, control over its environment. Know the "observation effects reality" theory? The program develops, grows into a body, becomes physically functional. It's intelligence continues to expand, and the program gets to the point where it tries to make a companion because it believes it is alone in the universe.

Its attempts at creating life all fail, its creations are just mirrored husks of itself... base programs. And then, in a leap of intellectual evolution, the God Program gets an idea (becomes creative)...

It launches a probe into the atmosphere of earth; as the probe penetrates our atmosphere, it breaks down into a cloud of nanos, converting everything into a representation of the Program. This was a rather cool part of the dream, because the probe was spear shaped and SLOWLY entering the atmosphere. I remember this distinctly, that the Program didn't want the nanos to burn up in the atmosphere, so the spear was literally moving slowly, its components carried away by the winds. The reason the Program chose Earth was because it was the closest thing on hand that had the components it needed.

Within moments (dream wise) the Program had recreated life in its own image. With the minds of humanity now altered to match that of the Program, it sets its sights on the other planets...

Hunstman
originally posted February 18, 2012

I have just recently purchased a Gamo Silent Cat .177 Air Rifle.

Huh?

A pellet gun. A very very nice pellet gun.



The thickness of the muzzle? One piece intergrated silencer. A silencer? For a pellet gun? Okay, I guess the correct term would be a noise dampener, but whatever. Along each side of the dampener are fiber optics to make the fore sight all glowy (red).

Just behind the rear sight (with fiber optics to make the posts all green glowy) you will see a lip, a ledge; this is where the barrel break is. You cock and load this rifle by grasping the barrel and bring it down... the barrel break is the hinge / cocking mechanism. It is a beast to cock. Also, with the barrel down, you load the pellet.

The scope, a 4x32, is easily adjustable: the posts ride on a track, instead of having to be forced into a singular place.

Let's see, what else? A normal pellet gun has a muzzle velocity of around 750 fps. This monster has a velocity of 1250 fps! Also, according to the packaging, if you use their recommended pellets, you can expect a velocity of about 1650 fps. That seems a bit far fetched to me, but how can I prove or disprove it? Oh! I should mention that this air rifle has a kick. Not as much as, say, a 12 gauge shotgun, but more than a 22... and it has an adjustable trigger.

Warning: This is not a child's pellet gun. Nothing about it says it is kid friendly. Soothsayer Jr MK II wasn't able to cock it (which doesn't mean a different kid couldn't, but still). If you don't bring the barrel all the way down, it will spring back, and depending on where you have your other hand, you may get a finger pinched. Unlike other normal pellet guns, this shoots twice as hard... pellets won't just merely lodge themselves against bone, if you know what I mean.

Now I have something to shoot the squirrels and rabbits and raccoons in my backyard without drawing the attention of both neighbors or police. Just have to make a small blind...

...

So how does this fit with the topic of Huntsman? I've taken up hunting, or at least attempt to. Everytime I have a planned day to go out and hunt, something happens to which I am either stuck at home or work... which is why I went and got this gun. Living in the middle of a village (town?) is not the best place to be firing a weapon, nor is it where one would expect to actually hunt. BUT, sitting on an acre of land, with a nice border of tall trees and brush, I have a nice amount of rabbit and squirrel, animals perfect for stews or barbeques or whatever... plus the furs will make nice by products as well. I've only had one raccoon to speak of: about the size of a large basketball / beachball, it was in my garage when I came home from work one night. Couldn't shoot it with a 22 (too loud) and I didn't really want to stab it with a pitchfork (cruel, ruined pelt / meat); that's when I found out a high powered air gun would be ideal.

Maybe, depending on how much I add to this thread, I may change the name to Outdoorsman or something like that. I don't want to call this Survivalist, mainly because that tends to get a negative sort of view.

Magic and Perception
originally posted November 11, 2011

Entry One

There is a widely held belief amongst many religious people (ie Hindus, Buddhists, Gnostics and the like) and several scientists within the field of quantum physics that reality is what we make of it, that the very nature of merely observing something causes that something to exist or change, that nothing is as it seems until we make it so or give "truth" to what we accept reality to be. When you first look at this idea, one may want to simple say it is nothing but make-believe, but you have to consider this: everything we sense (see or hear or touch or taste or smell) is based on electrical impulses within our brain.

(I am not going to go into the details here, because quite frankly, better people than I can explain it a heck of alot better than I.)

All of us, according to this idea, are connected. We not only share a collective memory, but we are also able to interact on a subconscious level with the things around us... including, it seems, those things which lay beyond our world. Atoms are not some small microscopic particle, but rather something that can be the size of a galaxy: it is only when we look at it, examine it, does it come into view and be seen as something so small.

(again, I'm not going to go into the details. I will post videos in a different post, though)

So what does this all mean? Reality isn't real, it is only as real as you want it to be, what you make it out to be. We are the gods of all we see.

So where am I going with all of this?

...

Magic.

A while back, shadowcrunch and I had a series of discussions pertaining to tarot cards. More specifically, to modernize them. We also wanted to develop cards that could be used in ritual magic. Here is where a forum like this will work... I've long ago deleted those emails, and really wish I hadn't, because we had alot of great stuff going back and forth. Anyway...

Ritual magic is performed by doing specific things to achieve a specific result. I have never really liked the idea of rituals because it seemed too... confined. I do not see why you have to arrange an alter a certain way or say specific words and move your arms about in a pattern that has been written down centuries ago as being the right way to do it. Magic to me has been, and always will be, the end result of using one's mind to alter or effect what lies about him. But, there are people out there who can only do magic by ritual because that is what they believe to be true. Are they wrong? Not really because they make it true by their beliefs. On the flip side, I think that's why ritual magic doesn't work for me, because I don't want to accept it.

To continue...

Tarot cards have an accepted pattern about them. See a man upside down with his legs in the figure of a 4, and you know that that is the Hanged man. A building with a lightning bolt striking it? the Tower. A single stick? Ace of Wands... and so on. No matter what deck is used, the cards will always mean the same thing... the Death card in the Crowley deck will be the same as in the Witches deck as will be in the Fairy deck. The cards themselves don't do anything, it's what we expect them to mean.

Now, how to modernize the Tarot, how to incorporate them into ritual magic?

Pixelation.

Ever watch a static filled television screen? Oh crap, wait... this is the digital age. No station reception means a blank screen. Okay, let me go on in this fashion. Way back when, if a television was unable to get a signal, all you would see are a bunch of random black and white dots "moving" in a random fashion. The whole television screen would look like this, a bunch of dots dancing about. Sometimes you could make out a pattern, sometimes not. What I had propsed is this: we pixelate tarot cards, thin them out so you are left with the bare essentials of that cards, just enough to "know" what it is without actually having to see it. These cards would have to be black and white.

Let's say you want to meditate on something. You keep that thought in mind as you lay out the cards, side by side, touching one another. You can lay them out in any pattern you wish, in any direction... you are placing them as you want... they just have to touchfully along a border (long side to long side / short to short). When you think you are done, stop, and focus on the image in front of you. You may only see random dots, but what is it you really perceive?

It may, in fact, be better to put them on a specially made board that has clear card holders attached to it, so that you can stand it up-right and then step away from the board; stepping back, giving some distance, may actually allow you to see something, a larger image just like those mozaic pictures.

There, then, is your answer. Will it be the same image for everyone? Maybe, who can say with pixels... but it will be what you want to see.

There is so much here, but I have to stop.... becoming light headed and numb. I'm onto something, and this is my body's way of telling me to stop, that I am too close to something.

Elements of Chaos
originally posted October 23, 2011

If you came here thinking that this thread is about the occult, shadows, Space marines, or anything else, then you are going to be disappointed. However, if you are open for discussion on the theories of chaos, of finding patterns in seemingly random events, or bringing order from chaos, than you are welcome to stay!

I'm not going to get into too much at the moment, perhaps tomorrow. I just wanted to start this off because of something I just observed. Or didn't observe. Either way, it would make for a great GREAT title of something.

Pattern of Raindrops. Doesn't that sound cool? Perhaps Patterns in Raindrops. But still, cool sounding. If this website does that whole internet copywrite stuff, then note that those titles are MINE. I googled it, there isn't anything by that name. I will be mailing that title to myself tomorrow so I can have the official government stamp dating it.

Anyway, I was sitting here at work, just as I am currently doing, when it started to... not quite drizzle. Went to the door, put by head against it, and was watching the sidewalk as little wet spots began to appear, how it darkened the coloring of the sidewalk while leaving all this dry area in between.

And I watched.

And watched.

And I began to think... if you were in a controlled area where you could have no wind while it rained, would the raindrops form a pattern?

So I went online, searched (as mentioned above) and found nothing. Perhaps I didn't do a proper search. Maybe I could rephrase things in order to tweek the results in my favor. But I didn't... instead I came on here and began this thread.

Now the reason why this struck me (other than the fact that I enjoy chaos theory stuff) is that many many years ago, back in the late 70's early 80's I remember seeing an episode of NOVA discussing chaos, and how a single die if dropped from the same point in a vacuum, when it bounced and came to rest, would eventually form a pattern... a star of david.

So what would rain form? Granted, there is too wide of an area for any real analysis... but perhaps not. Perhaps because it is a drop, a dot more or less, if we could calculate the dots... if we could make the dot image darker for each additional drop to land on it... could we make a giant pixel image?

Peaked your interest, haven't I? Is there a computer program that could do this? Place random dots on the screen to simulate rain? Make it white and off white, so that the dots would become darker?

Hmm...

Return of an Artist
originally posted September 18, 2012

What a fine time for reality to set in. This post is about my artistic side, or lack thereof.

For years I’ve been complaining about not having enough time for anything. True, it may have held true in the beginning, with working odd hours (or trying to pick up more hours), trying to be a good (new) husband and a good (new) father… didn’t want to take away time from the family, which working second shift tends to do. Any days off that would come by were used for family things or events.

When I would do something, more often than not I would have to share. “He just wants to be like you,” was all I heard as I surrendered paper and pencils and pens and computer and. There really isn’t much inspiration when you have to stop something before you truly begin because you need to attend to a young one as they emulate you, or where, even though the child has the exact same thing you do, they still want yours. There really isn’t much motivational drive to even prepare something knowing that you won’t even get a chance to start because of the supervision and guidance and instruction.

And so, projects get put on hold. Creativity becomes stagnate.

This isn’t putting fault on family, far from it. I’ve always believed that family comes first. But I’ve also come to realize that there are times where family needs to understand that one person cannot be the do-all for everyone, every time… which in itself is rather funny when one considers the verbal repercussions when you state this.

To continue…

I should clarify that creativity doesn’t necessarily become stagnate; it’s still there. It’s the willingness to change creativity to creation that becomes stagnate. Sure, I would jot down ideas or draw a rough to remind myself of whatever for whenever I had the time. I have quite a few of those papers floating around, all recently gone through by the way, with the added words “oh yeah, I remember that.” But where is the time?

Fast forward ten plus years. My step son is now at the age where he could care less about anything, believing himself to be a grown up while showing a remarkable skill-set at being incapable of being self-sufficient (aren’t teens great? You’re kids aren’t teens? Oh, just wait). My youngest will take an interest in something if he sees it being done, and is self-sufficient (he isn’t a teen yet… that attitude will change). It’s my wife’s turn to work second shift, so now when her and my schedules coincide, we’ll do something (which is fun when my supervisor gives me a schedule a couple days before the work week begins, and then changes it throughout the week). I even have a job that, although I have to remain aware of everything going on, there’s enough pauses or moments where I can do something.

So what do I do? When I am at home, when the oldest is out with his friends and the wife is at work, what do I do? When I’m at work on a shift where there isn’t much going on, what do I do? I complain about not having enough time to do anything, I complain about how all my free time is sucked up by family and their needs or by working various shifts throughout the week.

But you know what? That isn’t entirely true. Sure, I do complain, and yes, at times a family can be a very needy thing, but it isn’t fair to say that that is the only reason why I don’t draw any more, or why I don’t do carvings or sculptures or other projects.

I opened this up with a simple sentence: what a fine time for reality to set in. Would you like to know when that occurred? It occurred while I was hoping about the city in the PS3 game infamous hunting for shard fragments (no, not a Dark Crystal reference, although that would be cool). I realized just how much time I spend playing games, whether it is on the Playstation or the computer. Now, I am not one of those that are up to the wee hours, headset active, playing Call of Duty or the like, I do my gaming in moderation: sometimes I’ll be on for 15 minutes (when an idea how to clear a troublesome area hits me), sometimes a couple hours. Never am I on for any length of time when there is family stuff going on, nor do I isolate myself and ignore all the people going on around me. With computer games, it’s simply a matter of logging on, checking something, and log off (I don’t do real computer games too much anymore, hate the idea of constantly updating and upgrading the system).

That’s what I realized. I realized I do have time. I’ve taken the routine of putting the family first and developed it into a habit (better not start this project!), which in turn became a way of life, an excuse. Playing video games has become an escape, and as great as it is to let go of everything, it is still an escape… so what’s preventing me from escaping back into art?

So, last night, I started downloading programs onto my notebook. Downloaded Google Sketchup, GIMP, and a starter version of DrawPlus (which looks really nice, but some features are turned off… like THE FREAKING ERASER FUNCTION. Who the hell locks the eraser function from the basic program?! Bastards!). Tried to download an animation program called Pencil, but the link was broke… likewise, couldn’t find a Blender link that would work, either.

This in itself creates two paths I can follow. Two very distinct paths.

Path 1. Do I take the time and try to learn these programs? I don’t think it’d be too difficult, as I’ve done this “back in the day” and used to be a CAD programmer. If anything, the learning curve should have vastly improved over the years. With that said, if anyone out there can recommend or know of a great drawing / paint program, or even one with simple animation (I still want to do my trailer from waaaaay back), please let me know.

Path 2. Why take the time to learn those programs when I can just draw them? I’d say I’m a fairly decent drawer. Most of the stuff I do I wouldn’t necessarily call art, but that follows the same line that you will never see a work of Brom in a gallery. I don’t like the term artist, it just sounds, I don’t know… an artist is an occupation. I’ve been a laminator, a CNC Operator, a CAD programmer, a Mental Health Technician, and a Security Guard. I’ve never been an Artist, although I have always drawn or created.

Hmm… just had a thought. I like it, it actually works.

I’ll draw at home. It’s more relaxed, and I can spread out. You know, paper here, pencils over there, erasers over there, my good pens over there, guides, rulers, tissue, a drink over there… like the Blob (not the comic book character, but the 50’s movie) I can and will occupy as much space as possible when I’m doing something. Can’t do that at work.

At work, I’ll do the computer stuff. My notebook is compact enough. I have my numerous USB drives (kept losing them, kept buying new ones, recently found them all), a USB mouse. I know I can have a grand start this way (hey! Anyone have an extra graphics pad lying around in their basement or anything?).

Reality has set. Perhaps this is my mid-life crisis. Irregardless, do you realize what this means?

I’m baaaaaaaaack.

replied by Soothsayer, September 18 2012

For those who would offer suggestions to graphics programs, here is what my notebook is capable of, and what it contains. I think this is all you would need... available memory, processor speed, vide type/memory. If not, let me know.

Aspire One D255E

CPU - Intel Atom N455 (1.66GHz, 512KB cache)
MEMORY - 1GB DDR3
STORAGE - 250GB HDD

DISPLAY - Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 3150
ADAPTOR RAM - 256.00MB

replied by Shadowcrunch, September 19 2012

I'm going to start my reply by saying your plan has merit, and will go decently...for a while. Not saying how long for sure, it all depends on your workflow, projects, and pipeline, but you WILL eventually hit a brick wall in the form of your hardware. If you want to go 3D, Blender will fly on that unit, until you start getting some complex geometries. 2D, you will have no problems, until you start doing larger image sizes or any large animations. GIMP will load slow (always does on windows), but then will work smooth, unless you start doing print quality 8x10s or larger...at that point it will bog down. I am NOT saying this to dissuade you, just trying to paint realistic expectations. Oh, also keep in mind your screen size...at some point you will get quite disgruntled having to slide tool bars and such around to get a decent workspace. It won't be impossible, just be prepared to be VERY patient with the digital parts of your workflow, and be able to smoothly take your works-in-progress and transfer them to your home PC for final work before they get too large to handle.

Now, to the actual START of the info. As a side note leading in, your post was discussed, and your full system specs explored, and it was agreed if you really wanted to get the most graphical power out of your system, you would do well to install Ubuntu or some other Linux distribution...just saying. Avoiding that for now, I will say this about graphics software: In my experience, open source runs faster and more stable than commercial, and it's free, unless you decide to donate to their cause. Almost every aspect of my graphics workflow has become open source, thus most of my recommendations will be freely downloadable with all features enabled (seriously? the eraser?).

2D illustration/picture editing:
1. GIMP--the only reason I would ever reinstall Photoshop is the plugins, all of which I have managed to live without for years.
2. MyPaint--http://mypaint.intilinux.com/--wowee, this program is a blast to use. More of a 'natural' vibe for painting, drawing, and applying special creative FX brushes. Couple of quirks mixing with a normal pipeline, but nothing that makes it not be an awesome program. They now have a decent slideshow of screenshots on the main site the link goes to. Since finding it, this has constantly been a part of my flow.
3. Manga Studio--costs money, but the tools are so frickin helpful! Awesome rulers, the ability to use digital "tone" (like shading in a manga), the library of speech bubbles, ability to import 3D objects and scenes into your 2D drawings, and the line smoother (draw a line with a shaky hand, it will smooth the line based on a sensitivity setting you set). Oh, and since designed for manga and comics, it has a nice set of panel rulers and cutters. Very handy program!

2D animation: (not a lot that "just works" in the open source world here...)
1. Anime Studio-- Relatively easy to use, and the basic version is only like $50. Can export animations to Flash SWF files.
2. Toon Boom Studio-- More expensive, more professional than Anime Studio, but basically the same thing. Well, there's a ton more features, but that also means more learning time, and more headaches.
3. Flash?--ugh
4. Synfig Studio--Synfig Studio is supposed to make animation awesome and easy, and there's 'demo reels' to prove it, and it's open source...and the latest version fixes issues with windows and multi-core processors...but I haven't been able to figure it out yet! Based on the videos, this thing could kick serious ass!
**I used to have a version of Pencil (might still have it) because it was free. It worked, but it's simplicity became an issue for me. Since you couldn't find it I will explain before you do...It has VERY limited paint features, think a simplified version of MS Paint. It has limited project size. I was unable to find a feature allowing me to copy/paste one frame to the next...like draw a frame, copy it to the next frame and rotate or tweak...basically would have to draw from scratch on EVERY frame. NOT real user friendly.

3D anything/everything:
Blender

replied by Soothsayer, September 19 2012

My primary use of the notebook would probably be towards coloring or texturing, with any future 3D imaging going towards scenes and backgrounds (I would really hate to draw a cityscape over and over).

IF I go into animation, it would more than likely be something simple, something flash based. Whether they be the anime movie style as put out by the fine people of Battle On! (makers of Mech Quest, Adventure Quest), or something more along the lines of a motion graphic novel.

By the Nine, I love the look of motion graphic novels, especially as it is done for Metal Gear (but I am prejudice towards MGS). I like how nothing really movies, it's just in layers, and it's the layered plates that move. It is really evident in the Snake / Cyber Ninja battle in this link what I'm talking about... video. I would think something like this would also be relatively easy to do (animation-wise) and wouldn't necessarily take up too much memory, especially if it is something to be put on the internet.

The only major 3D animation thing I want to do is that darn trailer idea... but I've been thinking I can tweak it so it would be more anime-ish, and if I do it in a similar manner as above with the graphic novel, even that wouldn't be too difficult.

Return of an Artist
Entry Two

Alrighty. I've taken some initiative and retook the office as my own. This room originally was for me; I painted the walls the way I wanted, carpeted with what I wanted, and even ran some phone lines... all in the need to create my own office / work area.

Somehow along the years, my office slowly became the store all, a place where wife and kids kept extra crap; in an attempt to make room, I took my stuff out of there, and placed it all in a corner of the basement. Kids got older, took their crap out, but I then added some shelving in order to utilize that space as a walk in pantry. This last for a few months; at this point, Mrs Soothsayer's sister, her very much pregnant sister, moved in, and the former office - now pantry was converted yet again, this time into a bedroom. Out came the shelves, in went furniture. (this was late last year? No... two years ago).

After a few months of that, her sister finally moved out (with baby in tow). Pantry shelves went back in. A desk went back in, but not for me, no. For the wife to work on bills, so she could have a place nice and quiet and kid free while she worked on stuff (and yes, I set this up for her). But did she work in there? No. She'd rather complain about it being too hot in there (summer) or too cold (winter), while working on the bills on the floor. Not the kitchen table. On. The. Floor. In the living room, as a matter of fact, where apparently the noise of the Playstation distracted her (whether it was playing a game, a movie, or Netflix, it mattered not). Somehow, listening to an MP3 player loud enough to where I can hear it is fine, but turn on the Playstation...

So the office / storage / pantry / bedroom / office slowly began to once again collect crap. Empty soda boxes (kids never throw away an empty container, do they?). Old newspapers (seems I couldn't throw those away as they weren't finished with being read). Craft crap (mine). Baby crap (you would not believe how much freakin' baby crap we have at our house... and the baby isn't even ours, nor does it live here!).

A few weeks ago, I had a dilemma. I was trying to work on my Buzz Lightyear / Space Marine conversion on a coffee table. Things weren't going so well. Got to the point were something bad had happened, and I almost scraped the entire project right then and there (look at that thread, and read the post about 'disaster'). I was pissed, and knew something had to be done.

The next weekend, I began to retake my office. Slowly, not all at once, as I didn't want people to know until it was too late. The desk was brought into our middle room so that the wife could do her paperwork without worry of temperature. Newspapers and other items that have sat there for a while disappeared. Baby crap got condensed, with a good portion of it landing up in the basement. Before too long, I had ample room for the next phase of my plan.

This past summer I bought a desk from the library. Not a desk with drawers, just a normal desk... about five foot long by 3 1/2 feet deep, with an adjustable height. I brought it in, assembled it, and claimed my spot.

Next came my drafting table. Followed by my removing the extra kitchen chair and replacing it with my drafting chair (both from the basement). Placed my 40K bitz containers and my paint drawer units. Dug out of my ultra-secret toy bin my tall and ultra jointed Spiderman figure as a drawing aid (also discovered I had normal sized Spiderman figures with 40+ points of articulation as well).

Week after that, I bought a rather nice three tiered end table to put next to the drafting table (I made sure to load it full of paper and crafting stuff as soon as I brought it in). Even got some desk organizers. Week after that, some shelving pieces, and I put my art books and models atop of them.

Lastly, I bought a decent room sized heater. This Christmas, the youngest is getting a small notebook (not a notebook notebook, but a laptop notebook). The piece of crap laptop he's been using, which was passed down to him from his older brother, well, I've already claimed. Both hinges are broken off, but I don't care: I'll be splicing the wires between monitor and board so I can mount the screen on the wall, and make a sliding shelf for the board... listen to Pandora or have a movie playing while I'm working.

So now, essentially, the office has once again become mine. I wonder how long it will last this time, but for now it is mine!

With that said, has anyone here have any drawing projects they would like to see? Seriously, give me a task! I have the time, thanks to my newish job. I have the space. All I need is a task.

Gimme gimme gimme!

I know your pain Sooth. I too had a room but then it became a storage then one kid's bedroom then both kids' bedroom. Finally moved the two back into the big bedroom because my room was too cold so now I just have to find a table so I can set my sowing back up.

Also still waiting on the Ronald McDonald you said you were going to paint in there

Oh, so you can show me how to set up a sewing machine then? I have one I bought from a thrift store last year, but it didn't have a diagram as to how to thread anything... and quite frankly, I haven't set one up since 7th or 8th grade.

Shadow could show you too. He does a lot of sewing.

Oh good! One of the projects I'm working on will involve a lot of sewing. Ever see The Village? Image that type of cloak... then add about three or four feet in extra arm length, also needing to be covered.

Ahh hell, let me start over.

2013 Halloween costume idea

Head
Paper mache mask, resembling a bird skull. Red lenses (flashlights) set for eyes. Perhaps some dreadlocks, perhaps not. Covered with a cowl.

Body
Normal body (mine). Maybe a bit hunched over. Cowl joins with a cloak.

Arms
LONG arms. Getting some PVC piping and attaching a three, maybe four, foot section to my forearms. Either get or make a few of those devices that act as elongated arms so people can pick stuff up without bending over, and fitting them to the PVC. Cloak must cover the arms. One arm will have working fingers, the other will be a molded hand holding onto a child's leg; will be making a fake kid out of clothes from a thrift store. That arm will either carry the child, dangling, or dragging him along the floor.

Legs
Don't know if I want to be normal height, a few inches taller, or even walking on my knees. I'll have to draw some pictures and see what would look freakier.

There will be electronics involved. In the arm that is holding the child, I'll have some buttons on the inside, wiring going up the arm and onto my chest or back, which will be connected to speakers and power source. The buttons will control the eyes turning on and off, and some demonic / Godzilla sound effects.

...

Then there's my vest I want to make (I already have an actual top hat and gasmask!). Maybe make a coachman's coat, too. But mainly want to make an attempt on the Halloween get-up.

Ok, here's a project! Sketch up pics of these costumes!!

ambitious for one who hasn't used a sewing machine in 20 years

WE NEED TO BAN GUNS

I swear, and I really mean this, if this whole issue of "we need to ban guns" continues on Facebook, I am going to start my own campaign against cars.

Why?

More people die each day from car related accidents than people killed by gunfire in a year. There are no government regulations required in purchasing a car, no background checks, no seven day wait, no age limit, no criminal or citizen requirements... and yet we have case after case of people being hit when they're checking their mail, of drunk drivers, of adverse weather conditions.

Where is the outcry for this?

And no, this isn't stemming from the latest shooting of all the kids; that is entirely fucked up. I can understand where people are coming from in regards to this, and I'm not planning on making light of their situation, but christ almighty!

And what about stabbing victims? You realize how many people are stabbed in this country on a daily basis, how many people go to ERs because a girlfriend or spouse or boyfriend stabbed them with a basic common kitchen knife? No one wants to ban those!

COMIC BOOKS, THEORIES AND IDEAS
Entry Four

This post could go towards comic books, movies, video games, whatever... but I believe that there is something true with this theory that could best be played out in the comic book format.

Bad guys. Are they really bad?

Take any fantasy game. As an example, i will refer to the PSOne game Legends of Dragoon, as this is what Soothsayer Jr MK II is currently playing. It starts off with your basic cut scene: village on fire, full moon floating above the trees; armored figure removes a sphere from a pouch, holds it above the head of an unconscious female, sphere begins to glow; a hooded figure behind the armored one whispers "she's the one. take her." All seems rather normal, right? Later on in the game, you infiltrate / break into the prison where the lady is being kept, fighting guards all the way, eventually freeing her.

I propose this, and it is something that could be used in ANY game, movie, or comic book. With the above scenario, what if it turns out that the lady you saved was the one that destroyed the village? What if the armored and hooded figures were looking for her, were wanting to imprison her, for the greater good? All those guards you killed trying to rescue what could potentially be the greatest threat to existence, those guards could have had families; a wife, maybe some kids; they were doing their job (after all, they were prison guards working in a prison). You not only doomed humanity, but you killed little Billy's father, or maybe Suzy's fiance.

Perspective. A contra fighter is the same as a rebel is the same as a terrorist. To the Red Coats, George Washington was as evil as Osama Bin Laden. Leap over to Final Fantasy. You are a member of a small group rising against the government, a government which provides anything and everything for its people. Who's the evil one here? The government in trying to stop you from blowing up that supply ship, or you for wanting to make sure those supplies don't go to the garrison which is the only thing standing between a defenseless village and some darker horde?

Screwed up, isn't it? All this time, you thought you were playing the role of the hero, when in fact you've been the worse villain ever.

COMIC BOOKS, THEORIES AND IDEAS
Entry Five

This would be an idea, similar to, but not quite like, The Boys.

The Avengers are full of criminals. Hawkeye was a criminal until he decided to reform; Black Widow was a spy for the Soviet Union, probably participated in assassinations in addition to stealing government information before defecting; USAgent was originally a member of a right wing extremist organization; Hank Pym not only beat his {former} wife, he also created Ultron; Iron Man has murdered people in the past, set free hundreds of supervillians, and went up against the military; Captain America went against both Presidential and Congressional orders on numerous occasions; let's not even begin to mention all the back-up Avengers, the reserve Avengers, and so on.

What happens when an organization of super heroes goes rogue? Just because they are the "good guys", does that mean they are able to do what they want? Who is to hold them accountable? Who are they to say another hero's measures are extreme or in violation or is against the law?

There is a series out called Thunderbolts, where super villains work for the government for a set amount of time within a group dynamic, and much like the Dirty Dozen or even DC's Doom Patrol, go on dangerous missions in an attempt to redeem themselves... but you'd never see any of the Avengers in it, or even any of the other "heroes". The current roster includes Red Hulk, Elektra, Deadpool, Punisher, and on more which I can't remember at the moment.

Oh that's right, Deadpool. How many criminals are active within the mutant community? Juggernaut became a good guy after he got beat up and is / was working within Excaliber; Sabertooth joined the X Men for a time being; Gambit (internationally known thief) is also another X Man, as is Angel / Archangel / Death, the White Queen (former member of the Hellfire Club), yadda yadda yadda.

Look at the Marvel limited series Squadron Supreme, a Marvel version of the Justice League. In this series, the Squadron take it among themselves to take over the world so that it could be a Utopian society; they believed that they had the power and the technology to do this successfully, and that they had good intentions. However, they in fact created a totalitarian society. If it hadn't been for the efforts of Nighthawk (Marvelized Batman), their control would have gone unchallenged.

Going back, my idea which is borrowed from The Boys: a group of persons, empowered or not, which either brings the heroes to justice or makes sure they serve for their crimes, or which places itself into a position to safeguard against the heroes becoming too powerful. And, since I've been thinking about this idea for the past couple weeks, I've already got a good foundation of characters needed, all of which have a good solid reputation for doing what has to be done, for seeking vengeance, and for ensuring that the line between villain and hero isn't crossed.

1. Moon Knight, the avatar of Khonshu (Egyptian god of vengeance); provides technology and money for the organization.

2. Punisher; strategist, firepower. Has working knowledge of super hero / villain technology, as well as possessing several pieces of super hardware.

3. Ghost Rider (if not him, then Vengeance); the spirit of vengeance, provides strength and a counter measure to the arcane.

4. Either Kurse of Executioner, both Asgardians which lean towards the whole vengeance / protection aspect of things.

5. War Machine; utilizes Stark technology, War Machine was always about a pro-active stance

There's more, but I think you get the idea. This group would normally go after super villains, especially those who repeatedly go against the heroes only to escape for another day. But, there will be times where they will go against the heroes themselves, to keep them in line, to make sure the heroes know that they are there, waiting for them to screw up, or to make sure that (yes, I'm going to say it) "justice is served".