Stupid Questions |OT| of questions that don't deserve their own threads

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I just accidentally discovered that my laptop has a button that switches between various display modes. Should I have it set to "Gamma Correction" or "Normal?"

"Normal" seems the most...normal, but a glance at wiki suggests that "Gamma Correction" is a good thing.
 
I just accidentally discovered that my laptop has a button that switches between various display modes. Should I have it set to "Gamma Correction" or "Normal?"

"Normal" seems the most...normal, but a glance at wiki suggests that "Gamma Correction" is a good thing.

Usually, you want a bit of gamma correction, especially with mediocre LCDs. They tend to be a bit dark and indifferent about nuances in below 35% averaged brightness situations with little contrast. That's where gamma correction makes the biggest difference.
 
Usually, you want a bit of gamma correction, especially with mediocre LCDs. They tend to be a bit dark and indifferent about nuances in below 35% averaged brightness situations with little contrast. That's where gamma correction makes the biggest difference.
Is the color supposed to look weird with gamma correction? Like, everything seems dimmer.

I wish I could describe this better, but I'm completely clueless when it comes to this stuff.
 
Is the color supposed to look weird with gamma correction? Like, everything seems dimmer.

I wish I could describe this better, but I'm completely clueless when it comes to this stuff.

Usually, gamma correction skews color values. You can try to counter this with hue, color depth, brightness and contrast settings. Changing hue usually shouldn't be necessary though (it makes color go crazy, too).

I usually start with drastic color depth adjustments, then go over to careful contrast adjustments, then use gamma correction and finally fine-tune brightness. Then, I go over all settings and make the tiniest of adjustments. Then, I break it all with F.lux. Yay.

But I myself am no expert in these matters. This is a topic that usually falls into the hands of designers, print publishers and the like because they really have to get color perfect for their purposes.

The most basic tip I can give you is that if you want to calibrate your screen, you need a reference. This could be something as trivial as a piece of media you present on your preferred screen, then try to match the outcome on your laptop with all those settings. It's usually a pain in the ass, but worth it in my opinion!

For instance, I calibrate my 2 TFTs (one in the MacBook, one external for all other devices) with an old CRT of mine. I will of course never match it perfectly because that's an inherent limitation of the technology, but the result is always much better than when I take stock settings, or improvise.
 
Usually, gamma correction skews color values. You can try to counter this with hue, color depth, brightness and contrast settings. Changing hue usually shouldn't be necessary though (it makes color go crazy, too).

I usually start with drastic color depth adjustments, then go over to careful contrast adjustments, then use gamma correction and finally fine-tune brightness. Then, I go over all settings and make the tiniest of adjustments. Then, I break it all with F.lux. Yay.

But I myself am no expert in these matters. This is a topic that usually falls into the hands of designers, print publishers and the like because they really have to get color perfect for their purposes.

The most basic tip I can give you is that if you want to calibrate your screen, you need a reference. This could be something as trivial as a piece of media you present on your preferred screen, then try to match the outcome on your laptop with all those settings. It's usually a pain in the ass, but worth it in my opinion!

For instance, I calibrate my 2 TFTs (one in the MacBook, one external for all other devices) with an old CRT of mine. I will of course never match it perfectly because that's an inherent limitation of the technology, but the result is always much better than when I take stock settings, or improvise.
Awesome reply. Thank you very much.
 
A coworker of mine has asked me to make a reel of her work for her. One of the discs is formatted as a dvd, and it's essentially a television broadcast cut up into three video parts. The part I need is the first of the three chunks of video.

I can pull it from the disc just fine, but it won't behave properly. It will play in a video player, but it shows the entire length to be just 15 seconds (verus the actual run time of around 12 minutes), but it will keep playing past the 15 second mark. However, when I pull it into premiere/after effects/whatever, it will only play the 15 second duration (and cuts to single frames of video from later on then immediately flash back to the original spot).

I've pulled the other two files, and they work just fine. Any idea how I might get the video without errors, or is there a good way to just record video playing from the disc directly to my desktop?


edit: VTS_01_1 is the file in question, if this helps at all.
jRVUa.png

Try renaming the VOB files to MPG and retry. That's worked for me in the past with Premiere. Otherwise, it's a problem with the rip.
 
Is there an official thread for creating websites/using mark-up? I figured there would be, but searched and couldn't find one.

I don't think there is. There have been a couple of attempts over the years I've been here, but it never stuck. Do you have something related to website creation you want to ask?
 
I have got a very annoying problem with my new PC, it came with these Acer USB Speakers and they emit a buzzing sound. I can hear my harddrive, mouse scrolling and even my typing on the keyboard, through my speakers.

Now i am assuming the fault lies somewhere with sound card or something because when i connected the other speakers from my other PC, they make those strange noises as well.

Any Clues PC Gaf? I tried using other Usb slots, moving the speakers away from the pc, nothing has worked.
 
Yeah smoothies do work (not quite the same though). I might just go back to drinking tea instead of coffee.

I don't know if this has any relevance but when i started drinking coffee (at a pretty young age) i drank like 8-9 cups a day for a couple of months (with no side effects). Since then i've been prone to anxiety attacks and the god awful restlessness.. It's fine for a couple of hours but lately it's been affecting me quite negatively.
It's also somewhat of a hit and miss. Sometimes it can be fine drinking a cup or two every day for a week or two but more often the side effects kicks in.
It's a shame really since i enjoy drinking coffee.
I have the same issue with smoking cigarettes, which i also enjoy (i only smoke on average 3 cigs a day). I can't really enjoy those little guilty pleasures any more.

Yeah, I know; coffee is so nice :(.

I recently started using a 'raise your energy' self hypnosis track I found on my pc and it's given me a big energy boost. I don't know if that would be something you would be interested in?

Get water-decaffeinated coffee. It still has caffeine, but in really low levels, and it tastes exactly the same. Don't get chemically decaffeinated coffee though. It's meh!

:o I did not know about the existence of this and it is relevant to my interests! :D

I drink a lot of de-caf just out of laziness so I will definitely look into that! Thanks for the heads up and the subsequent link! :)
 
How do you merge pdf files into one that displays multiple files into one file? A guy at my school awhile back scanned my transcripts and uploaded them to the computer. All three pages were shown when you opened up the pdf file.

Problem is, I just got my transcripts and asked my mother to go to the computer lab and ask someone there to scan and upload them. He scanned each page and uploaded them into 4 different pdf files.

So can I merge all of them so that all 4 pages are shown on acrobat when I scroll down to view them?
 
How do you merge pdf files into one that displays multiple files into one file? A guy at my school awhile back scanned my transcripts and uploaded them to the computer. All three pages were shown when you opened up the pdf file.

Problem is, I just got my transcripts and asked my mother to go to the computer lab and ask someone there to scan and upload them. He scanned each page and uploaded them into 4 different pdf files.

So can I merge all of them so that all 4 pages are shown on acrobat when I scroll down to view them?
AFAIK you can do it in Acrobat, but not the Reader. There should be an "insert page from another file" button.
 
:o I did not know about the existence of this and it is relevant to my interests! :D

I drink a lot of de-caf just out of laziness so I will definitely look into that! Thanks for the heads up and the subsequent link! :)

I'm not sure how useful the link is, aside from having the decaffeination method named properly. I don't know if my coffee house ships outside NZ. It is worth researching which coffee houses in your area offer watter-stripped coffee though. It makes a huge difference the the quality, as solvents used in chemical methods tend to strip out the oils that give coffee its velvety, comforting texture, and just leave a tannin-laden, watery, bitter mess.
 
What does "PIS" refer to? I've been seeing it used in relation to stories and characters, particularly in comic threads.
 
What does "PIS" refer to? I've been seeing it used in relation to stories and characters, particularly in comic threads.

Urban Dictionary refers to it as "Plot-Induced Stupidity" when used in comic forums.

"When a character does something that they should not be able to do, it is called PIS. For example, Wolverine beating the Hulk, or Superman turning back time)"
 
I'm not sure how useful the link is, aside from having the decaffeination method named properly. I don't know if my coffee house ships outside NZ. It is worth researching which coffee houses in your area offer watter-stripped coffee though. It makes a huge difference the the quality, as solvents used in chemical methods tend to strip out the oils that give coffee its velvety, comforting texture, and just leave a tannin-laden, watery, bitter mess.

Thanks chiQ :). I wasn't expecting the link to necessarily be relevant to me; it was more that I was really pleased to learn about this option. I love coffee but tend to get hyped up and anxious if I imbibe too much of it, hence I tend to drink a lot of instant de-caf. However, now that I know of a superior alternative it is something that I will gladly look into. I am in the UK so it shouldn't be too hard to find a local supplier. Thanks again :).
 
Hey everyone, I stumbled upon this song in a commercial for the Samsung Galaxy Note phone. Ever since I heard it, I feel like I've heard it before somewhere in a JRPG game. I can't quite figure out what song sounds similar to it, can anyone help? Maybe it's just me.

Here's the link to the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ4Pm0N8s78
 
I'm not that great with computer stuff, someone please help me out...

I was looking at a pdf on a webpage, and I wanted to download it, but the next day it had been taken down. I viewed the whole thing on my browser just the other day (Google Chrome), and I know the url/name, is there any way I can recover it from the cache or something?
 
I'm not that great with computer stuff, someone please help me out...

I was looking at a pdf on a webpage, and I wanted to download it, but the next day it had been taken down. I viewed the whole thing on my browser just the other day (Google Chrome), and I know the url/name, is there any way I can recover it from the cache or something?

If it's some really recent stuff: Look into your browser history, copy the PDF filename, search for it with Google, check if they've got it cached, download that.

If it's probably years old: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Edit: Also, check about:cache (in your browser, enter it in the location bar and hit enter).
 
I'm not that great with computer stuff, someone please help me out...

I was looking at a pdf on a webpage, and I wanted to download it, but the next day it had been taken down. I viewed the whole thing on my browser just the other day (Google Chrome), and I know the url/name, is there any way I can recover it from the cache or something?

Check your temp or default download folder, if you're using Windows, and Downloads if you're using MacOS.
 
What's the best solution for completely wipe a hard drive? My father wants to donate a couple older PCs, but they have probably had some of his sensitive data at some point. I know that a simple format is generally insufficient, but I'm not sure how to run something on a computer I'm about to completely wipe. I could probably run something from a flash drive, but then I've got to make sure it doesn't wipe my own computer accidentally when I plug it in to use it for something else.
 
What's the best solution for completely wipe a hard drive? My father wants to donate a couple older PCs, but they have probably had some of his sensitive data at some point. I know that a simple format is generally insufficient, but I'm not sure how to run something on a computer I'm about to completely wipe. I could probably run something from a flash drive, but then I've got to make sure it doesn't wipe my own computer accidentally when I plug it in to use it for something else.

With a modern drive a simple format is plenty.
 
So I just got my new Adobe Photoshop and I've installed on my computer. I have Windows 7 64bit, so I installed that version, but for some reason it doesn't boot. It STARTS booting, but then crashes midway and says "PhotoshopCS5.1 Failed to Start" or whatever. Ironically the 32-bit version works perfectly, so I decided to view the Event Log and it gave me the below.

Faulting application name: Photoshop.exe, version: 12.1.0.0, time stamp: 0x4d90d339
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17725, time stamp: 0x4ec4aa8e
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x00000000000c40f2
Faulting process id: 0x91c
Faulting application start time: 0x01ccfd9f0d10bd6a
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 (64 Bit)\Photoshop.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 4c56b4f9-6992-11e1-a2f6-485b394addf2

So I figure that's gotta be the problem. The question is... how do I fix it? I've looked online and it's just a bunch of stuff that just doesn't seem right, so I wanted to ask the savvy GAF people for advice.

Help?
 
What's the best solution for completely wipe a hard drive? My father wants to donate a couple older PCs, but they have probably had some of his sensitive data at some point. I know that a simple format is generally insufficient, but I'm not sure how to run something on a computer I'm about to completely wipe. I could probably run something from a flash drive, but then I've got to make sure it doesn't wipe my own computer accidentally when I plug it in to use it for something else.
Boot disk with some kind of zero format software. Regular formant isn't enough.
 
How do you merge pdf files into one that displays multiple files into one file? A guy at my school awhile back scanned my transcripts and uploaded them to the computer. All three pages were shown when you opened up the pdf file.

Problem is, I just got my transcripts and asked my mother to go to the computer lab and ask someone there to scan and upload them. He scanned each page and uploaded them into 4 different pdf files.

So can I merge all of them so that all 4 pages are shown on acrobat when I scroll down to view them?

Not sure if you still need help with this, but I have had really good luck with a freeware program called PDF Split & Merge.


What's the best solution for completely wipe a hard drive? My father wants to donate a couple older PCs, but they have probably had some of his sensitive data at some point. I know that a simple format is generally insufficient, but I'm not sure how to run something on a computer I'm about to completely wipe. I could probably run something from a flash drive, but then I've got to make sure it doesn't wipe my own computer accidentally when I plug it in to use it for something else.

I use DBAN at work. [Disclaimer: I am NOT an IT guy. I just get stuck doing some of this crap at my office.]
 
Just to clarify because I'm not sure if this has come across: A general format just wipes the filetable, which leaves the actual data untouched (the operating systems will then treat the respective addresses as blank space).
In practice, when you inspect that data, you won't get filenames or file borders, and the file contents might be spread over the disk to a degree (even moreso with big disks for technical reasons), but you'll be able to recover meaningful chunks of data you can then further process to reconstruct files. Anyone with a lick of sense counters this by overwriting the HDD with binary zeros, random data or whatever.

Unix nerds do something like dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M if /dev/sdb is the device in question (in Unix derivates, everything is a file, including devices).
Good random numbers as opposed to zeros are in /dev/urandom.
There are tools like shred that effectively do the same.
Most bootable HDD tool disks have an option to securely format devices, which amounts to the above (although they tend to account for encryption schemes, RAID setups and other weird stuff).

Nowadays, doing that once should suffice unless the guy on the other side has a crazy setup and has serious training. In that case, doing it twice does the trick.

When you give away an HDD, this is something you really should do because people like me can trivially read your data otherwise. Or look at your dick photos. Stuff like that.

Make sure you're not wiping the wrong disk though, lol
 
So I just got my new Adobe Photoshop and I've installed on my computer. I have Windows 7 64bit, so I installed that version, but for some reason it doesn't boot. It STARTS booting, but then crashes midway and says "PhotoshopCS5.1 Failed to Start" or whatever. Ironically the 32-bit version works perfectly, so I decided to view the Event Log and it gave me the below.

Faulting application name: Photoshop.exe, version: 12.1.0.0, time stamp: 0x4d90d339
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17725, time stamp: 0x4ec4aa8e
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x00000000000c40f2
Faulting process id: 0x91c
Faulting application start time: 0x01ccfd9f0d10bd6a
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 (64 Bit)\Photoshop.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 4c56b4f9-6992-11e1-a2f6-485b394addf2

So I figure that's gotta be the problem. The question is... how do I fix it? I've looked online and it's just a bunch of stuff that just doesn't seem right, so I wanted to ask the savvy GAF people for advice.

Help?

Anyone?
 
I've heard there's an option you can set so that every thread you post in auto-subscribes. How do I turn that on? Didn't see it in the subscriptions menu and I don't feel like hunting now. To those of you who use subs, do you recommend browsing this way and filtering out unwanted subs later, or do you all prefer to subscribe on a case-by-case basis? Going to finally give subs a go since so many people swear by browsing GAF in this fashion.
 
I've heard there's an option you can set so that every thread you post in auto-subscribes. How do I turn that on? Didn't see it in the subscriptions menu and I don't feel like hunting now. To those of you who use subs, do you recommend browsing this way and filtering out unwanted subs later, or do you all prefer to subscribe on a case-by-case basis? Going to finally give subs a go since so many people swear by browsing GAF in this fashion.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32528466

I highly recommend browsing like that. It's really hard to track threads otherwise.

I rarely filter out unwanted subs. Shitty threads tend to die off anyway. But sometimes, I unsub from megathreads because they're always popping up, but rarely contain useful information (like the Steam thread).
 
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32528466

I highly recommend browsing like that. It's really hard to track threads otherwise.

I rarely filter out unwanted subs. Shitty threads tend to die off anyway. But sometimes, I unsub from megathreads because they're always popping up, but rarely contain useful information (like the Steam thread).

Thanks! So unwanted threads will just fall to the bottom and I can just keep up with those higher up in the list, huh? Welp, here goes nothing. Hopefully it doesn't mean I'll end up on this site more than I already am

edit: aw, I wish the option worked to retro-actively subscribe me. I guess it should be pretty hefty in a few days either way. Stupid Questions |OT|, you are the first.
 
I made a php form for my page. I want to know how to make certain form fields required. I used the free formtoemail code (http://formtoemail.com/) as my basis.
You would just plug in some simple Javascript for Form Validation.

Put something like onsubmit="return formValidation()" inside your opening form tag. Then give your form and each field a name value (name="blah").

Code:
<form action="FormToEmail.php" method="post" name="formName" onsubmit="return formValidation()" >
    First Name: <input type="text" size="30" name="firstName"><br>
    Last Name: <input type="text" size="30" name="lastName"><br>
    <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>&#8203;

Then create a Javascript function to check your form in your Head

Code:
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
function formValidation()
{
var fname=document.forms["formName"]["firstName"].value;
var lname=document.forms["formName"]["lastName"].value;
if (firstName==null || firstName=="")
  {
  alert("Please Enter First Name");
  return false;
  }
if (lastName==null || lastName=="")
  {
  alert("Please Enter Last Name");
  return false;
  }
}&#8203;
</script>

Depending on how complicated your form is there are some different methods to simplify the code so it's not so long but it would require more complicated javascript.
 
Try renaming the VOB files to MPG and retry. That's worked for me in the past with Premiere. Otherwise, it's a problem with the rip.
Just now saw this, sorry. I tried it, and it worked! The audio stuff didn't carry over, but I just needed the footage anyways. Thank you!
 
Alright, REALLY stupid question incoming.

My television's speakers are absolutely atrocious and I'm disappointed that I can't appreciate the beauty of Skyrim's soundtrack and was wondering if there were any headphones made specifically for the Xbox 360 that I could plug into somewhere. I know about headsets, but I was wondering if headsets 1. only emitted the sounds from other players during multiplayer games 2. would even work for a single player game and 3. where I would plug it in. I've never played Xbox Live and have never used a headset so I'm kind of clueless.

TL;DR: Are there any headsets I can plug into my Xbox 360 specifically for single player games.

Also: Would you recommend a certain product?
 
Alright, REALLY stupid question incoming.

My television's speakers are absolutely atrocious and I'm disappointed that I can't appreciate the beauty of Skyrim's soundtrack and was wondering if there were any headphones made specifically for the Xbox 360 that I could plug into somewhere. I know about headsets, but I was wondering if headsets 1. only emitted the sounds from other players during multiplayer games 2. would even work for a single player game and 3. where I would plug it in. I've never played Xbox Live and have never used a headset so I'm kind of clueless.

TL;DR: Are there any headsets I can plug into my Xbox 360 specifically for single player games.

Also: Would you recommend a certain product?
Voice chat and game volume controls are separately adjustable on Xbox headsets.

Here's the cheaper Turtle Beach set. http://amzn.to/xbcFSJ
 
Went to some electronics stores today, looking for some coils.

Almost couldn't find those damn coils, until I found a medium-sized store where they had them.

They had thousands of them and in all different types, the only bad thing is that they didn't know their values.

What's the easiest way to know a coil's inductance value?. I can't count the turns number because they are enclosed within some ceramic compound.
 
Why do fevers get worse at night?
Body temperature is not the same all day; it fluctuates and it's always highest at night, lowest in morning
(because of how cortisol is produced in the body)
.

With a fever, your lowest and highest temperatures are both raised, and there's a larger range between them. So while your lowest still occurs in morning and your highest at night, the highest is much higher/worse.
 
This might be too obscure a question even for this thread, so the first thing I'll ask is if anyone knows where I could ask a question related to orthodontics (besides going to my actual orthodontist who will charge me like $200).

My real question is: I still wear my retainer every night, but recently one of my teeth bones seemed to shift so that the inside gum now juts out a little and now jams against the inside part of the retainer which HURTS LIKE HELL. It left a small lesion the first night and I haven't been able to wear it for a week because it's too painful. This happened once before, and my orthodontist did something to grind down that spot on the retainer so that it left more space for the gums. But I'm not seeing him regularly anymore and it would cost a lot to see him again. Is there something I can do to grind it down myself? I've been thinking of something like a dremel or sandpaper but I don't really know what's OK to do this with. What do orthodontists use?
 
GAF related question

If I change my email to gmail, can I get banned? I don't really use my college email anymore since I've finished.
 
Whenever a dog's fur or nose touches my inner arm or neck, (and ONLY those areas) my skin sort of breaks out into a rash that only goes away if I wash it with soap and water. It can't be an allergy, can it? I mean, if I was allergic wouldn't I get a reaction when I touched them with my hands, feet, or the outside of my arms?

WTF is this?
 
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