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The Metamorphosis

February 20th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Recently Read | #
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
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Why Not to Concentrate

February 6th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Essays | #
   I was walking home from school one day.  It was a bright and sunny afternoon.  The birds were chirping; the air smelled crisp and clean.  And then I stubbed my toe.  It was a painful stub.  The agony of my tiny toe scrubbing against the abrasive concrete, the concentration of all that pain in such a tiny insignificant stub on my foot, was more than I could bear.  I never wore sandals again.

   Yet that moment sparked a curious interest in me.  It made me realize that concentration, such as the concentration of all that pain in my toe, was not a good thing.  When one is trapped in a cell, concentrated in a small space, he is not happy.  When one is told how and what to think, to concentrate and narrow his mind, he is not happy.  Even in politics, concentration is not a good thing; Americans don’t like concentration of power.  Concentration means communism, dictatorship - all the things we fought to eliminate in past wars.  Just...[More]
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Memories 2

January 31st, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
Memories 2 by F-777
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Books Online

January 29th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #

Reading books online...

  Of course, having the book itself is always better.  It's easier on the eyes and you can read it wherever need be.

 However, sometimes you may not have the book with you - say.. you left it at school or something.  And your class requires you to read it by tomorrow.  Here are some online sources I've found for reading books in my class.  I'm not sure what books everyone else is required to read, but maybe this list will help a few people.


...[More]
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Pride and Prejudice

January 28th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Recently Read | #
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
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Doing What Counts

January 18th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
  Pete wiped his forehead and stepped back.  He had just finished helping an elderly woman pack luggage into her car.

  "Thank you so much," the woman said, standing back in amazement.  "You kids are doing so much these days."

  "It's no big deal," Pete chuckled, pulling out a sheet of paper from his pocket.  "Really, I should be thanking you instead."

  "What's...[More]
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Adobe Premiere - Slow Motion Flicker

January 15th, 2009 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

  Strangely enough, I only just recently started noticing flicker when I slowed clips down in Adobe Premiere.  This is with interlaced video clips.  Generally you don’t notice them until after exporting to DVD and playing back.

  Did a bit of research online, and from what I gather, it’s due to the fact the interlacing is affected by the change in speed.  To solve this issue, you’ll want to make sure you de-interlace the clip you are slowing down.

  1) Right-click the clip in the timeline.

  2) Select…[More]

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Web Hosting and Space

January 3rd, 2009 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #
     At some point, you will have to switch to paid hosting if you want a truly functional website.  By then, you'll probably have figured out how to find some decent hosts (search on Google for starters).  I also list a few recommendations for paid hosts further down.

Free Website Hosting

1 ASP Host -Simply set up an account and you get about 100MB of free space.  Back when I used it, it was one of the few hosts that put nothing on your pages, allows folder structured-site, very generous.
Domain...[More]
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CD and DVD Burning

January 2nd, 2009 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #

What discs to buy, how to best burn them, how to print on them, how to store them.
  Those with interest in video editing will undoubtedly find interest in burning their works to DVD. General knowledge in burning DVDs can often be applicable to CDs and vice-versa.

Disc Brands
  In general, the only two brands I trust are Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim. The two are most highly recommended, and unlike many other brands, they can be played in most DVD players. Get the DVD-R for even higher compatibility (this is because -R has been around longer).

  Taiyo…[More]

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Sony P200 Camera - Removing Dust Spots

January 2nd, 2009 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #

  The Sony P200 camera, despite being a very good camera, had a known flaw.  Its design was not air-tight and dust would eventually build up on the sensor - which means you get dust spots on pictures you take.  Usually these dust spots are out of focus and only come in for very bright pictures, but as they build up, they become more visible.  This build up I’m talking about usually takes place over a year or two - so it would not be evident at first.

  However, there is a solution for those who wish to keep using it.  Through this simple tutorial at dpreview.com, you can open the camera to brush off (or spray off using compressed air from a can) the dust.  From my experience though, it only buys a few more months before some dust appears again.

  Then again, I usually keep the camera in my pocket so that may be a factor in it. :P

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College Admission Tips

December 30th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #

Things to check when applying to colleges…
  Seems kind of late for me to be talking about college admissions since most of the people I know online have already attended or are in college.  Nevertheless, it’s now my turn, and yes I’m only just now applying. :P

  The general rule of thumb I’ve found is to simply be honest and real - don’t overemphasize things that aren’t really that important but don’t sell yourself short either.  However, I would presume most people who do come online are in search of more concrete tips and advice.

  The below…[More]

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Open Doors

December 29th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in Essays | #
   They say one doesn’t realize what he has until it’s gone.  When I broke my wrist two years ago, I not only realized that I had almost lost my hand completely, I realized how little I’d done, how much more I wanted to do, how close I came to losing the opportunity altogether.  As I spent the following summer bound to my chair with the injury, I taught myself web design and learned to program in six different languages.  The following year, as my friends and I began making videos but could find no outlet for our new hobby, we founded our own club, within months finishing three movies, hosting monthly Theater Days, and starting a VHS-DVD conversion service.  When I later reflected upon the events, after having made twelve websites for schools and organizations, after having had classmates join my club and become paid to teach our video editing to an afterschool class, I realized that opportunities are not sought but created, that it is not the opportunity that is...[More]
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Doors and Windows

December 29th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in Thought of the Day | #
Goals are open doors to those who pursue them, but they become only windows to those who don't.
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Buying Gadgets and Tech

December 29th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #
I'm not going to say which brands or anything are the best (though they're usually the custom or off-brand ones Tongue ) because they're always changing. Below however are usually the sites I check to figure out what I'm buying before I buy them.
Review and Information Sites
Anandtech.com - Reviews mainly for hardware such as drives and memory.
CamcorderInfo.com...[More]
1203 unique view(s)

Animation and Video Resources

December 29th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #
  Some may have noticed I've strayed away from programming a bit and more into video production.  As usual, most of what I know I've found out online.  Those who are also into video editing should find the below useful.  Feel free to send me links to add as well if you know of other sources.

Tools and Resources

AlphaPlugins Company - Site that sells plugins for After Effects but also has a number of nice plugins for free download.
Aeigisub...[More]
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School Resources

December 28th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #

Useful sites for schoolwork, english, math, and more!

 More than a few times I've had teachers at school who do not explain well enough or they make us memorize/study way too much. Many times, I've found other sites or links that definitely helped. I'll update this as I find more. Hopefully this helps out some of you. Feel free to share if you find any too! Smiley



General

...[More]
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Heart of the Winter

December 28th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #

Heart of the Winter by Denny Schneidemesser

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Christmas Medley

December 14th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #

Christmas Medley by JohnWE

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Encore CS4 - Invalid MPEG Error

November 9th, 2008 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

Been using the new Encore CS4 for a DVD the last few weeks, and just when I finished the editing and was ready to burn, the program returned an error claiming there was an invalid MPEG.  This happens during the build process (creating the DVD).  Took several days and many wasted discs for me to figure this out so I thought I might share.

Things to check for:

- Red frames in MPEG video.  Even those exported from Premiere can end up with problems.  Sometimes you just end up with a bad file and need to re-render the file.

- Bad Import. …[More]

839 unique view(s)

The Odyssey

October 23rd, 2008 | Posted by pftq in Recently Read | #
The Odyssey by Homer
268 unique view(s)