Hawks

I like the first one, just because I've always tried to get that bar thing to look decent and I can't ever get it right.

100x100 TET Orange, please. (with gray or black, something darkish)

I've got some really old Altec Lansing speakers that I can vouch for, I dunno how much they run now though (they're like 10 years old).

And since I have an excess of free time, I decided to make another random discussion thread. Ideas to get new people to post here: Organized list of tutorials; beginner to advanced, organized by program and style/art type - Also add more sort of... introductory guides to programs or sig making (like that one on DA everyone links to) Times Feature; article written describing the Gallery and everything about it, etc. More of about what type of art (which is everything except written things) we like and what we do about/with it. Perhaps about what some of the members have 'gone on' to do. 'Forum Feature'; essentially the same as above, with more content, like an interview, video, arts, etc. Then get a global announcement and sticky it. Speaking of stickies. I think that we could reorganize the 'Looking for an Image Artist?' thread in the Art Bazaar because the majority of them aren't active on the forums/in the gallery anymore. (I also just realized there's two 'Test your sig' threads...) Also it should be changed to reflect the fact that we can't charge for art anymore. (Unrelated) Geez I really need a decent camera...

Decent article, I miss having lots of them though. I do enjoy reading them, although I don't play RS much anymore...

Miller was an amazing goalie last night for them. :thumbsup: Since this is the first time they've beat Canada in a long time, I'm really glad (plus I have a personal vendetta against Crosby). US women have almost clinched the gold medal game spot, currently 5-1 against Sweden with one period or so to play.

It also does this to me, although it shows users who are not in TET in orange, and doesn't show any other odd colors (just normal user and TET orange). I'll try to get a screen if I can. Also I think sometimes, when you click on the 'latest post' user, it takes you to the first post instead.

Like I said, I'm on a pump, so I use Humalog (fast-acting) whenever. My blood sugar when I got into the pediatric ICU was 1275 mg/dl. I ought to be dead. My cousin was something like 650 when she was diagnosed, I know another kid whose was 1300 or close when he was too. The more obvious signs are: Incessant thirst, therefore excessive bathroom use. Fatigue and weakness Extreme weight loss Extreme hunger to try to make up all the calories you're losing Sometimes there's also a 'fruity' (acetone) smell to your breath (which is a byproduct of your body trying to burn the sugar) Towards the very end your body starts rejecting all food... Then you'd probably fall into a coma and likely die.

A short/in-depth (oxymoronic, that is) guide to diabetes.. And for general discussion of said disease. [spoiler=Diabetes Defined] There are two main types of diabetes mellitus, Type 1 (aka juvenile, insulin-dependent) and Type 2 (aka adult-onset, insulin-independent). There is also gestational diabetes, which a woman can get while pregnant. For more info on that click the link to the Wiki page. The factor in diabetes is insulin, or a lack of it. Insulin is a protein/hormone which allows the body's cells to use metabolized sugars. The analogy I like to use is that of a pirate and treasure chest. The pirate can't get into the chest without the key; that key is insulin. In type one, the keys are all gone. In type 2, you might say that some of the keys are lost and/or some are bent or broken and the pirate can't open the lock. Type 1 diabetes is commonly regarded as an autoimmune disorder. It starts when your body's T cells (specialized white blood cells; they attack viruses and such) begin to attack your pancreas' beta cells, which are the cells which produce insulin. It is believed that the T cells do not recognize the beta cells as the body's own, and so attacks and kills them off. After a long enough time, the body does not produce any more beta cells (which is why type 1 is currently not reversible). It is not preventable in humans. Up until the late 80's diabetes was very uncommon, and was usually diagnosed in children in adolescence (10-16 yrs). More recently, very young children have been diagnosed (as young as 1 week) and more adults are being diagnosed. Type 1 is a very odd disease in that it is caused (as far as we know) by a myriad of things. In addition to being genetically susceptible, a number of things can trigger the autoimmune attack. Your risk is also increased if you have a first-degree relative with type 1. Studies have suggested that drinking cow's milk before 6 months of age, insufficient vitamin D, a lack of childhood exposure to common viruses, and stress can trigger the attack. There are many studies being done on various aspects of type 1, for more information you can Google it or ask me. Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed when one of two (or both) things happen. Your body produces too little insulin for your needs, or your body cannot efficiently use the insulin it has. Traditionally, it is known as adult-onset, because it was usually diagnosed in older, more overweight adults. With the rising weight of the American people, younger and younger kids are getting it, and are more at risk to get it. People of certain ethnicities and relatives with it are more likely to get it, and obviously obesity is a factor. Type 2 is sometimes preventable, and often a good excercise program and diet can alleviate the problem. [spoiler=Treatment] People with type one have a number of treatment options, centering around various ways to deliver the precious substance, insulin. Generally, they must also keep track of their blood glucose/sugar levels, with the use of a blood glucose monitor/meter. The first and oldest option is injections. They fill a small syringe with a dose of insulin and inject it in their arm, stomach, thigh, or buttock. There are various math equations done to decide upon dosage; these depend on the person's blood glucose (BG) and the number of carbohydrates consumed. There are 2 main types of insulin, long-acting and short-acting. Oftentimes, a long-acting dose will be taken in the morning, which will allow that person to eat a certain amount of carbohydrates at a certain time (aka lunch). The morning dose will also cover whatever breakfast that person had. The same thing would happen at night, a long acting dose for overnight, and a short acting one for dinner. This method does not allow for a lot of freedom, unless you want to constantly be giving yourself shots. It requires a daily schedule which is nearly the same every day, and can result in less efficient treatment. The second option is insulin pens. These look just like a pen, but have insulin inside them. You calculate your dose, dial it in, then put it on your arm/etc and push the button. You may also have to take a daily shot of long-acting insulin. These offer slightly more freedom (portability), still at the expense of more pokes and math. The third option is insulin pumps. You insert a catheter under the skin and insulin is piped in by a device about the size and look of a pager. The catheter is usually held in place with an adhesive and provides a place to remove the tubing at or near the infusion site. This allows you to take it off when you shower, exercise, or go swimming. The infusion set must be changed at least every three days. The catheter is inserted with the help of a needle; some sets are manual and others offer inserters which are spring-loaded. The insulin pump keeps a cartridge of insulin (generally 3mL) and pumps it in as necessary. Instead of a long-acting shot daily, the pump gives you a very small dose of short-acting insulin every few minutes; this is a 'basal'. Most new pumps calculate your dose (called a 'bolus') based on the carbs you ate and your current blood sugar (which you input). Some pumps also wirelessly communicate with your meter; you may also be able to control the pump with the meter. A few can also act as receivers for continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), which I'll cover later. Pumps are really durable things; they're generally made of the same plastic as motorcycle helmets. For those afraid of needles, this offers a chance to only deal with one every three days, and some you don't even have to look at the needle. They're always getting better, more precise, with more features. There are a few models now that are self-contained; there's no tubing, you control it with a meter/PDA type device. You can also download your recent history (boluses, BGs, etc) to your computer and print out pretty graphs. For type 2s, in addition to the probable meds associated with conditions you're likely to have (hypertension, heart disease, high cholesterol) you can take a variety of medications. Some type 2s are also put on insulin; they have the same options as above. Traditional meds are in the Sulfonylurea group; metformin is a widely used drug. Your doctor will probably suggest a diet and weight control program, even if you're not overweight. (I'm not type 2 so I don't know a lot, imo there's not a lot to cover.) In addition to your insulin or pills, you need to test your blood glucose (BG) often. This is done by the use of a blood glucose meter/monitor. There are many different ones on the market, ranging from ones that just tell you your BG, to ones that draw graphs and communicate with insulin pumps. To use one, you poke your finger with a lancing device (I might call it a lancet too) until you get a drop of blood (the amount required varies by meter). You then 'feed' the strip the blood (it wicks up the strip) and wait the allotted time; somewhere from 5 seconds to a minute or so. Then it gives you your result, and you decide what to do based on it. Some meters and doctors allow testing to be done on the arm or palm of the hand... This is sometimes helpful, especially if you have a habit of poking the same finger all the time; it builds up little scabs which generally result in pain and peeling skin. There is also a device called a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). It is another thing you stab into your body somewhere (same as where you can get injections and infusion sites) and it reads the glucose of the subcutaneous fluid every few minutes. It may or may not be very accurate, so you are advised to also test on a fingertip. These are somewhat invasive at the moment; the smallest one is about the size of a half-dollar coin (1-2 in across). They require a fair amount of calibration and must be changed every 2-3 days. Some communicate with insulin pumps, otherwise they transmit results to a remote/meter. I think I got to a lot of stuff. So thanks for reading if you did, and consider yourself educated about what diabetes is and how it can be treated. If you have diabetes, it'd be nice to hear your opinion and experiences. I've neglected to discuss the signs and symptoms, which are the most important. However, I am tired at the moment, and so will edit those in a bit later. I've been a type 1 diabetic since December of 2002. For most of that time, I've used an insulin pump; at first an Animas 1100 (I think?), currently a Medtronic MiniMed 722. I'm planning on switching back to Animas in 2 years, when the warranty's up.

The things outlined in part 3 are why I don't buy into any of it. I don't understand why people accept supposedly 'holy' books and commandments given to PEOPLE by PEOPLE. There's (until it shows itself to me) no god, just people. He doesn't pay tuition (like Beneatha says in A Raisin in the Sun :P) so what's he got to do with anything? Personally, I'm astounded by the number of intelligent people who buy into any version of it and don't realize that any achievement of theirs is theirs alone; if you didn't pray you still would have won that game, by your own will and factors (how good you are, etc) that may or may not be directly controlled by you; if they're not controlled by you (poverty, strength of other player), it's controlled by another human (your family/yourself - you can get a better job if you really want to, opponent) I do, however, need to read the bible... but definitely buy myself the FSM bible.

Yeah. A child of 1994 I missed out on all that lovely jeans-to-the-waist and big hair things. I did however see Footloose a few years ago as put on by my high school... And then we have pictures of my parents. Oh joy. So I'm pretty sure I didn't miss much in terms of fashion. In terms of music and TV, well, I listen to most of the 80's bands and have seen a fair number of 80's sitcoms which were actually good compared to today's crap.

I highly recommend Sansa. The newer Fuze has a microSD slot so you can add up to 32gb of space, plus an FM tuner and 8gb internal. These things are also pretty much indestructible. A friend has one and the screen is cracked but it still works fine. I have another friend with a Clip that's been washed and run over; still works. I have an 8gb (I think) SDHC that was gotten from Amazon for $25, so you can probably find a micro one on sale for $20 or so. I own a Sansa Clip, 4gb, FM tuner, doesn't play videos but is awesome for the price. The new Clip+ has a microSD slot and is $50/$45 on sale. And I don't recommend buying from Best Buy, it's easier and cheaper to buy it from Amazon or Wal-Mart/random big box store.

First article: People need to grow a skin or play decently. 'Treat others how you would like to be treated.' and all that. If you play nicely, there's no reason for anyone to insult you. If you're going to play like an idiot, be prepared to be treated like one. Article two: Not member so it doesn't really matter to me... so no opinion on this one. ME WANT FICTION! I shall now vote in the poll and tell it so.

I think this is a good idea, but that a lot of the older and generally f2p hats/helms need to be updated so as not to have issues with hair.

Last night I watched Canada kill Slovakia in women's hockey, 18-0 like mentioned above... I don't get why the last team had to play the best team first. Tomchikova (Slovakia's goalie) still had an amazing save percentage, something like 80%; she had like 70 some shots on goal, and only let 18 through. If I was Canada I'd be feeling kind of bad about it... If I was Slovakia I'd be pretty proud of them. And I randomly decided I don't like Canada's goalie because she picked #33 because of Patrick Roy, who I hate. And that I want Tomchikova's mask, because it has the Olympic mascots on it. Looking forward to USA vs China today at 3. Hoping for a slaughter similar to Canada/Slovakia in which USA wins.

I decided I will start reviewing random things that I have purchased that I think people might possibly care to read. I shall start with the Nintendo DSi and some of its accessories and games. Nintendo DSi I give it a 9/10. It serves its purpose as a game-playing device, and does more than that. I know people scoff at the .2mpx cameras and sometimes at the Nintendo name, but it's surely worth the $169.99 US for it, especially if it's your first time with a Nintendo portable, or any portable. I bought it because I felt it was time for me to have something nice that would hopefully last a long time; the DSi fit the bill. I've loved Nintendo's games since forever (I own a Wii and GameCube as well, and had a NES for a long time) and I wanted in on the amazing amount of awesome DS games. The ability to download games is a huge plus for Nintendo; I can get some versions of cartridge games without paying the full $20-$30 for them. I can also start turning my DS into a sort of tiny laptop, if you will. There are useful apps with a Nintendo theme, such as the Animal Crossing Calculator and Mario Clock. There is a free animation app and free web browser. I only buy the things I want. Later on, I'll review the DSiWare I've downloaded, but now we've got the other features to discuss. The DSi is also the first Nintendo portable to support SD/SDHC expansion, up to 32GB with current firmware. You can store your pictures on it, and listen to music you've loaded onto it. Certain games and apps can store profiles and information on the card to swap with others. Unfortunately, the DSi only accepts AAC format, so if you've got lots of .mp3s, you need to convert them. It's worth it though, the sound quality is excellent, both from the on-board speakers and through the headphone jack (even with lousy $12 earbuds). There's a few toys that let you speed up/slow down your music and play with the pitch. It has a selection of visualizations which match the beat and bass of the music, and L and R sound effects. The DSi keeps the DS's mic and adds a decent sound recording device, but you are limited to 10 seconds at a time. The two 0.2 megapixel cameras are useful for quick shots and for playing around with pictures and faces using the built in 'filters' and doodle software. You can also directly upload pics to your Facebook account (with 1.4US firmware). Pictures are transferable back and forth between an SD card and the internal memory. The dual screens are 3.5" rather than 3", and as a result, the DSi has slightly larger dimensions. It is thinner than the DS Lite, due to the fact that the GBA slot has been removed. The DSi charges rather fast (~2 hours to full) but apparently has a slightly shorter battery life. I have no problems playing on the lowest brightness setting indoors, but outdoors there's no point really. The ability to hot-swap with no risk of damage is nice too. The reason the DSi gets 9/10 is a ) the loss of the GBA slot, and b ) Nintendo's policy against homebrew. I'd like to buy an AceKart, but not knowing that it'll continue to work after a forced update doesn't make me want to... They've given us a lovely SD slot, and only let us play music and store pictures on it. I'd love to download apps, roms, and such from the Internet, put them on a card, and play them in my DSi; so I ask for an update to treat the SD slot more like a drive on a PC. I think many homebrewers would like that very much also, and it'd get rid of problem a; I could just download/buy the roms. (Nintendo offering GB/GBA games through the DSi Shop would be acceptable as well- this would require enabling saving to an SD from the Shop.) Now, on to accessories! I've purchased two things; your run-of-the-mill Clean & Protect Kit, and a NERF Armor DSi Case. The Clean and Protect kit I purchased is listed on Amazon here. I bought it at Target for $9.99 (they were out of black, so I got red.) It contains two screen protectors, a game card case which holds up to 4 DS games, 3 red styli, and a little red cloth with the DS box logo thing printed on it. The cloth is not great, I don't use it for anything but keep it in my IKEA 'random electronics case'. The screen protector instructions weren't clear, and I couldn't tell which went on which screen. They work fine if you can get them to fit correctly. The styli and case are general things, not much to say about them; they're the same across the board really. The DSi Nerf Armor is epic. I had trouble holding on to my DSi for long periods of time since it's so thin. This fixed it and finally got rid of my fear of dropping the thing and breaking it. It also matches the color of my stylus/card case which is semi-useful. It's listed here on Amazon. I got it at Wal-Mart for basically the same price. The foam is pretty durable and my only complaints are that the SD slot is kind of hard to access and the camera lens cover (on the outside) is a bit hard to pry open without tearing the foam. All of the important ports are accessible, the headphone jack and volume control are recessed in about a half inch due to the thickness of the foam. The back is very open, it's no problem to change cards or charge it. Now we have the DSiWare software. I've downloaded a number of titles, as I received 1000 free points for logging into the shop before October 1st 2009 (in the US it's over, but this promo may still be running in other areas of the world). To start, I downloaded the Opera Browser (free), PictoBits (Picopics or summat in EU/JA) (500), Animal Crossing Calulator (200), and Mario Clock (200). Between my purchase of the DSi and that of a Points card, Nintendo released FlipNote Studio (free) and I downloaded it. Last week, I purchased a Points Card (2000 points, $19.99US). I downloaded Castle of Magic (500), ELECTROPLANKTON: Beatnes (200), and Touch Solitaire (200). Opera Browser for DSi: Free 7/10 This is a good little browser for simpler websites; you can't really check e-mail with it though. It does not support flash, java applets, and various other bits of code. The iPod Touch version of Facebook works well on it, it's the best example. The DSi only has some 216Mb of RAM, which figures into a lot of its issues with the browser and Internet in general. It uses a built in search engine (Google or Yahoo) which is nice if you need to look up something fast. The new forum software does not recognize it as a mobile device and as such doesn't switch the skin automatically; any of the normal skins won't load. It's free, so what else can you say about it? PictoBits: 500 Art Style: PiCOPiCT (EU, JA) Art Style PiCTOBiTS (NA) 10/10 This is by far the best game I've ever played (next to Tetris.). It combines elements of Tetris, classic NES games, and the abilities of the touchscreen to create a highly addictive puzzle game. Pieces fall from the sky, and you must pick up the 'bits' (which collect up on the bottom) to complete a square or rectangle of at least 4 bits. The bits that were matched fly up to the top screen to begin creating an 8-bit picture from a classic NES game. The music is amazing; it includes a music mode which lets you listen to the music (duh.). It's remixes of the originals, still with that NES sound-chip feel. There are two completely new tracks, the opening theme and the credits theme. If you download only one game, PiCTOBiTS must be it. Animal Crossing Calculator: 200 9/10 It's a calculator. With an Animal Crossing theme. There's not much to it. It has a unit converter as well, with a highly random age converter (from human to dog, hamster, horse, etc. years). The shop description says 'See your favorite Animal Crossing characters'... The only one I've seen is Tom Nook, and I've tried a lot of stuff. Which is why it's only 9/10. Mario Clock: 200 10/10 It's Mario, and it's a clock, it's music, it's a game. Mario runs along the top screen, which displays the current time in digital (12 or 24h) or analog format. You can control Mario (or Luigi's) motion to a certain extent; you can speed him up with B or jump with A. After you collect 100 coins, it resets, sends a mini-Mario/Luigi to the clock area, and you collect more coins. After collecting 1200 coins, you are rewarded with a little cutscene. It is all done in classic Super Mario Bros. style, the 8-bit NES art. You can set up to 3 alarms, and the alarms give you the option of the theme music, the starman music, or the underwater theme as alarms, and you can also use a recorded sound. FlipNote Studio: Free 7/10 This is portrayed as a useful tool for jotting down notes and also creating flipbook style animations. I don't like it much. The interface is slightly confusing and the app is rather slow. The fun bit is uploading your creations to Flipnote Hatena and looking at other people's flipnotes. Last I saw, it's a way to get around some of the restrictions of the DSi; it lets you add music and there are a lot of them that are just music. It's kind of like a wannabe YouTube for the DSi. The Hatena site was rather slow and had a lot of issues when loading; I haven't gone on it in a while, so I don't know if it's been fixed. Castle of Magic: 500 9/10 This is the only non-Nintendo DSiWare title I've downloaded. It's a port of the Castle of Magic game for iPhones and whatnot. The game itself is full of homages to classic video games; there are gems to collect, and when you get 100 you get a free life, if you're carrying gems and you get hit by an enemy, you don't die. Wizzy (the main character) can jump on enemies' heads and butt-slam/stomp the ground. It follows the storyline of 'evil wizard steals girl, boy must rescue girl, boy gets cool powers to rescue girl with', which is kind of repetitive, but okay in this game. There are a few cutscenes leading up to boss battles and such, and the commentary is really dorky and the font is not rendered particularly well. It's a fun little game with five worlds with 3 levels and a boss battle in each. I've not finished it yet, so I can't comment on the ending. It has a really odd (and a really annoying) feature. In certain levels, you must take a picture of an item that is a certain color to get a power-up needed to complete the level. After dieing a few times, this need to constantly take another picture is annoying. You can also take random pictures of things and the game will map them onto items and enemies in the game (this is a feature unique to the DSi version). This is just odd and slightly disturbing. ELECTROPLANKTON: Beatnes: 200 9/10 This is the single 'instrument' Beatnes from the DS game ELECTROPLANKTON. Beatnes makes NES-chip type sounds when you touch different parts of them with the stylus. It lets you create really interesting custom musical compositions. You can't save them though. The tracks/levels included are Mario, Kid Icarus, NES Medley, and Robot. There is also an audience mode where the plankton just make the noises, you don't have to poke them. For $2 it's well worth it if you, like me, have an obsession with NES games and music. Touch Solitaire: 200 10/10 There's not much you can ask for from a solitaire game. This one is published by Nintendo, and I got it because of that and also because I heard the '5-in-1' version is not that good. It includes Spider and Klondike solitaire, two modes, easy and normal/hard, for each. It tracks how long you've played it and how many games you've played and won per day. It also records your total wins and displays these in the DSi menu in the app icon. It features the cat mascot from the Wii News channel. My next reviews will be regarding headphones and a few DS games.

I thought I replied to this yesterday, I guess I didn't. I would love a subforum. But once again, like the question about machinma (sp), I think such a subforum would belong in the Varrock Library; at one point we had a thread for discussion of books we had recently read, it's stickyed but not many post there frequently. But I completely support this. :thumbsup:

I think a subforum is a very good idea. I dunno if it would do well in the Gallery, because while that's where it ought to go, no one there really likes/plays RS. If it did go there, it would increase the traffic in the Gallery; it's kind of dead atm.

Awesome idea! :thumbup: Adding that now.

If you want to I can get some ideas going :). Just that because I'm back at school and I have to do HSC maths in year 11 instead of year 12, I'm kinda busy studying and other stuff. But once I get some spare time in my schedule I'll send you some rough ideas :). Good deal. Looking forward to doing that. :thumbup:

We also don't have the old 'thinking' smiley anymore; I believe it was :? EDIT: it wasn't, obviously.

Thanks! Also adding Adobe After Effects to the list by suggestion from bballer.

Thanks, I'll add those in. :thumbup:

Enjoyed both articles very much, but I still miss the fictional article. And I too wish Jagex to take a look at article #2.

Sorry, meant that since it's free it's a good alternative to PS for beginners. Will clarify. Haven't gotten to PS pros/cons, so obviously it doesn't say anything about that. And we've addressed the fact that it does open svgs. I just haven't edited it yet. In all versions except Vista and 7, it saves as 24-bit bitmap by default. In Vista it saves as .jpg for some inane reason. In 7 it finally saves as .png by default. .bmp is sort of native to Windows so that's why that's there.