Liġijiet tal-Fiżika alternattivi

21 07 2008
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Kull min jikkrea l-kartuns għandu l-libertinaġġ sħiħ kif idawwar u jħawwad il-liġijiet tal-fiżika biex idaħħak u jżomm kemm jista’ jkun l-attention span tant qasira tat-tfal. Fid-dinja tal-kartunx kollox huwa possibli u ħadd m’hu se jgħajjat “ŻINN!!” jekk jara xi ħaġa imġebbda jew eżaġerata. Anzi, kważi kważi tkun qed tistenna li tara affarijiet li ma jixhdu xejn mir-realtà li titkeffen magħna ta’ kuljum.

Xi ħadd ġabar dawn ‘il-liġijiet ġodda’ f’daqqa. Niżżilhom waħda waħda kif inhuma hawn taħt bħala referenza unika li żgur mhux forsi se tqanqal ċerta nostalġija lil dawk li bħali, għaddew ħafna mill-infanzja tagħħhom imwaħħlin quddiem l-ewwel televiżjonijiet bil-kulur.

Cartoon Law I
Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation. Daffy Duck steps off a cliff, expecting further pastureland. He loiters in midair, soliloquizing flippantly, until he chances to look down. At this point, the familiar principle of 32 feet per second per second takes over.

Cartoon Law II
Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matter intervenes suddenly. Whether shot from a cannon or in hot pursuit on foot, cartoon characters are so absolute in their momentum that only a telephone pole or an outsize boulder retards their forward motion absolutely. Sir Isaac Newton called this sudden termination of motion the stooge’s surcease.

Cartoon Law III
Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter. Also called the silhouette of passage, this phenomenon is the specialty of victims of directed-pressure explosions and of reckless cowards who are so eager to escape that they exit directly through the wall of a house, leaving a cookie-cutout-perfect hole. The threat of skunks or matrimony often catalyzes this reaction.

Cartoon Law IV
The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken. Such an object is inevitably priceless, the attempt to capture it inevitably unsuccessful.

Cartoon Law V
All principles of gravity are negated by fear. Psychic forces are sufficient in most bodies for a shock to propel them directly away from the earth’s surface. A spooky noise or an adversary’s signature sound will induce motion upward, usually to the cradle of a chandelier, a treetop, or the crest of a flagpole. The feet of a character who is running or the wheels of a speeding auto need never touch the ground, especially when in flight.

Cartoon Law VI
As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once. This is particularly true of tooth-and-claw fights, in which a character’s head may be glimpsed emerging from the cloud of altercation at several places simultaneously. This effect is common as well among bodies that are spinning or being throttled. A `wacky’ character has the option of self-replication only at manic high speeds and may ricochet off walls to achieve the velocity required.

Cartoon Law VII
Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot. This trompe l’oeil inconsistency has baffled generations, but at least it is known that whoever paints an entrance on a wall’s surface to trick an opponent will be unable to pursue him into this theoretical space. The painter is flattened against the wall when he attempts to follow into the painting. This is ultimately a problem of art, not of science.

Cartoon Law VIII
Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent. Cartoon cats possess even more deaths than the traditional nine lives might comfortably afford. They can be decimated, spliced, splayed, accordion-pleated, spindled, or disassembled, but they cannot be destroyed. After a few moments of blinking self pity, they re inflate, elongate, snap back, or solidify. Corollary: A cat will assume the shape of its container.

Cartoon Law IX
Everything falls faster than an anvil.

Cartoon Law X
For every vengeance there is an equal and opposite re-vengeance. This is the one law of animated cartoon motion that also applies to the physical world at large. For that reason, we need the relief of watching it happen to a duck instead.

Cartoon Law Amendment A
A sharp object will always propel a character upward. When poked (usually in the buttocks) with a sharp object (usually a pin), a character will defy gravity by shooting straight up, with great velocity.

Cartoon Law Amendment B
The laws of object permanence are nullified for “cool” characters. Characters who are intended to be “cool” can make previously nonexistent objects appear from behind their backs at will. For instance, the Road Runner can materialize signs to express himself without speaking.

Cartoon Law Amendment C
Explosive weapons cannot cause fatal injuries. They merely turn characters temporarily black and smoky.

Cartoon Law Amendment D
Gravity is transmitted by slow-moving waves of large wavelengths. Their operation can be witnessed by observing the behavior of a canine suspended over a large vertical drop. Its feet will begin to fall first, causing its legs to stretch. As the wave reaches its torso, that part will begin to fall, causing the neck to stretch. As the head begins to fall, tension is released and the canine will resume its regular proportions until such time as it strikes the ground.

Cartoon Law Amendment E
Dynamite is spontaneously generated in “C-spaces” (spaces in which cartoon laws hold). The process is analogous to steady-state theories of the universe which postulated that the tensions involved in maintaining a space would cause the creation of hydrogen from nothing. Dynamite quanta are quite large (stick sized) and unstable (lit). Such quanta are attracted to psychic forces generated by feelings of distress in “cool” characters (see Amendment B, which may be a special case of this law), who are able to use said quanta to their advantage. One may imagine C-spaces where all matter and energy result from primal masses of dynamite exploding. A big bang indeed.



Bad news for the old ladies

14 04 2008
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New website layout

10 12 2007
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It’s been more than a year since I last altered the layout of my website and I thought maybe the time has come to give it a new face lift by actually including some lighter colours. The thought of reconstructing everything got me lethargic everytime I executed flash. Last summer I started making some initial drafts which looked crap compared to this one and which eventually kept pulling me back to the drawing board.

I also kept on learning new commands in actionscript (the loadMovie command is a real bitch – avoid using the _root thingie for your own sake) which had me confirming how powerful this programming language is compared to html for example.

Go on now, please yourself! :)



Ferħa bla temma

27 07 2007
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Ħsibtni sibt is-soluzzjoni għal waħda mil-problemi l-aktar li nħabbat wiċċi magħhom - il-kalibrazzjoni tal-kuluri tal-monitor. Dan il-ġentlom għoġbu jitfagħha fl-aħħar nett tal-artiklu tiegħu li qed jitkellem fuq hardware għall-Apple, għedewwa eterni tal-PC hieni tiegħi.



Frodi?

29 04 2007
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Dear kebo,

You are receiving this email because unfortunately we are unable to process your credit card at this time. A common reason for this includes that you may be surfing from a country that is blocked from sign-ups due to frequent fraud attempts or that the charge was declined by your bank.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
The Team



"No one steals our chicks …and lives!"

19 04 2007
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Tiskanta biċċa stampa x’sens ta’ nostalġija tista’ tqanqallek. Għal min hu mdorri b’reżoluzzjoni reali (u ġieli anke surreali) u forsi ma jagħrafx x’suppost hemm f’dik il-geġwiġija ta’ pixels hemm taħt, dak huwa aljen maħluq b’teknoloġija tal-1996 fuq il-loki jneħħi l-eskrementi minn ġismu. Screenshot klassika minn Duke Nukem 3D li fuqha kont naħli s-sigħat lejn l-aħħar snin tal-iskola sekondarja. Bilkemm Doom u Quake kellhom l-effett li kellha din fuqi. Min jaf kemm-il darba rripetejna frażijiet klassiċi li kien jgħid Duke Nukem wara li jbiċċer xi aljen forma ta’ ħanżir kbir bħal:

“You, my ass; what’s the difference?”
“I feel like drinkin’ a gallon o’ turpentine, and pissin’ on a brush fire…”
“What are you waiting for? Christmas?”
“No one steals our chicks …and lives!”
“Your ass is grass, and I’ve got the weedwacker.”
“Shake it baby!”



Guard your pixels

4 12 2006
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Found an article which provided me with a very interesting read today and which I thought deserves a much wider audience (not that my blog reaches the hundredth hit per day but anyway…). It mainly deals with an everyday threat for photographers, digital graphic designers and writers alike:

Well, everyone that submits his work on-line should be aware that someone else could easily download his submitted file and do something with it, without his permission. That’s a risk we all should accept living in this era of WorldWideWeb.

So, what can they do with your file?

1. Make a wonderful Power point show called “The best of 2006” or “Summer collection” or even “Pictures I ripped” and send it all over the globe, with no credit to you as the creator of the file. Usually this is not done with bad intentions, but it’s still is being dome with no permission.

2. Print a small print in a home printer and place it on the wall next to the computer. Again, no harm intended but it’s just like ripping an original CD to MP3. We all do it, but it’s illegal to do. Still ripping the artist.

3. Use the file as stock and place it inside an “Original” piece of manipulation. In a way that’s making your piece into theirs. It’s like buying a takeout, adding a bit of salt, and telling your date you are the cook.

4. Place the piece on a web page, just to make a blog or a personal page look nice, with no regards to the fact that this is someone’s art, and he has to give permission to use.

5. Submitting your file as someone else’s. No, that really sucks since it’s bold and clear theft. If the others can be considered as mistakes or non-intentional rips, this is trying to benefit from your work, as their own.

What can you do?

1. Place a watermark in your file. I would suggest a small one, don’t let it take over the image. Just so it would alert the rippers they can’t benefit from this piece. Place your watermark on a part of the picture that can’t be easily cloned out.

2. Try uploading a file with no EXIF data (if it’s a photograph). Having the original EXIF on your file would always be a proof that you have the original (if someone will be as stupid to say it’s his after ripping).

3. Put a small signature in the corner, but know that it can be cloned or cropped. Still, it’s better to have one than not.

4. Never upload the original High-res and never send it through mail. If you decide to sell the piece to someone, make sure you sell it as print, or you sign the buyer on a selling paper with the name of the piece (a little visual would be best , and make sure the file you sold is only a copy with no EXIF of the original.

5. Try to keep your files up to 900 pixels on the longer side. Lower the DPI of the file to 72 (you don’t need anything more since the computer screen can’t show more than that).

6. Be kind but don’t send wallpaper sizes of 1600 pixels to people that ask you to.. you are making yourselves very vulnerable.

Or else read the full original article.



You’ve got mail!

25 11 2006
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Received the following e-mail in my inbox this morning:

Hello,

Due to the death of my Father General Abacha the former head of state of Nigeria in June 1998, I have been thrown into a state of hopelessness by the present administration.  I have lost confidence with anybody within my country.

I got your contacts through personal research, and had to reach you through this medium.

I will give you more details when you reply.  Due to security network placed on my daily affairs I cant visit the embassy so that is why I have contacted you.  My Father deposited $12.6million dollars with a security firm abroad whose name is witheld for now till we communicate.

I will be happy if you can receive this funds and keep it safe I assure you 20% of this fund.  I will need your telephone/mobile numbers so that we can commence communication. I await your urgent response.

Yours truly,

Mustapha

Well, for once I was lucky enough to have my e-mail address choosen from millions and billions of e-mails.  As if I, a Maltese, am gonna trust someone called ‘Mustapha‘!  This time he happened to be from Nigeria, the previous one was a female from South Africa.



Evolution

10 11 2006
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Ftit ilu sibt dan il-vidjow fil-kaxxa tal-posta elettronika. Semmewh ‘evolution‘ għal xi raġuni. Il-vidjow bażikament jitratta kif is-sbuħija hija mgħawwġa b’tali mod li tlifna l-valur vera tas-sbuħija esterjuri.

M’inix it-tip li ntawwal l-għenieqi u nkabbar iċ-ċirkomferenza tal-għajnejn fis-sigħat tal-post-editing li jsir wara imma kif kulħadd jaqbel, ritratt huwa għal dejjem, u ma nafx għala ċerta korrezzjonijiet m’għandhomx isiru biex toħroġ l-aħjar mill-aspett esterjuri. Niftaħ id-diskussjoni!

PS. Dak is-software li jidher fil-vidjow ma naħsibx li jagħmel parti mill-familja kbira tal-verżjonijiet tal-Photoshop u lanqas ma jidher li kien qed isir fuq PC, aktar xi Apple Mac.