Random Stuff X: Something Weird

[Sunbird she/her]

1 minute ago, AngelEy3 said:

@Sunchicken @Darkness_ I took a few classes in HS and had a lot of fun with it, but that was almost 15 years ago now. I remember some of the terms, but I'd have to brush up on it before I got the hang of it all again. I do have space for a dark room, but no idea what the cost would be these days for chemicals and film. I'll probably do quite a bit of research in both directions before I get started. 

I don't know about the cost of darkroom supplies either, but I'd bet my car that digital is cheaper regardless. Producing the actual photos in digital doesn't cost anything except for batteries and the small price of any that you decide to get printed. (8x10s at my local Costco are only like a dollar each.) And you don't have to wait until the picture is developed to see if it's worth keeping, so you can afford to snap as many as you can fit on a memory card without worrying about wasting film and darkroom chemicals on garbage shots. Plus if you ever need maintenance on your camera, you'll have a heck of an easier time finding someone who knows how to fix a digital than a film camera. As Darkness said, it's a dying breed.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

what's the Discord details? Just remembered I have Discord now

[Sunbird she/her]

44 minutes ago, ParadoxicalZen said:

what's the Discord details? Just remembered I have Discord now

Here you go:

https://discord.gg/8Gf9aG

Link expires 24 hours from this post.

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

@Sunchicken @AngelEy3 Black and white photography is not as expensive as you all think. Rolls of film aren't that expensive, and after rigging up a cheap dark room at home, developing a film can cost as little as a dollar per roll. Developing your own B&W film requires the following equipment: changing bag, bottle opening, scissors, developing tank and reel, developing fluid, stop bath, fixer, water. The chemicals may cost a fair amount (not sure), but you dilute them in the water and they can last a fair amount of time. With these in mind its a lot cheaper to try new things and experiment, and the outcomes are always satisfying and awesome, even if the film doesn't develop right.

In the long run, developing the film and printing them yourself is cheaper than getting them printed by someone else, digital photography is in fact more expensive in terms of equipment. The process itself is so much better with B&W, with digital, you can take 1000s of photos and only get 4 good ones, whereas with B&W, every single photo you take has to be considered and carefully taken, as you don't have the luxury of that amount of storage, and processing them is an artform in itself.

[AngelEy3 he/him]

@Sunchicken @Darkness_ I'll probably end up going with the digital. My wife spent a bunch of money on a Canon photo printer a few months ago and I should be making better use of it than I have been. 

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

18 minutes ago, AngelEy3 said:

@Sunchicken @Darkness_ I'll probably end up going with the digital. My wife spent a bunch of money on a Canon photo printer a few months ago and I should be making better use of it than I have been. 

You can always scan film onto a printer *cough, no need to develop it that way, the software automatically inverts the negative.

[Silverblade5 he/him]

Me: Casually brushing snow off windows 

Coworker: where the Braize is your coat!?

Me: Don't need it! It's not that bad! *Laughs maniacally*

Me: proceeds to make fun of other coworker for asking for a ride instead of biking like he usually does 

 

It was only when I got in my car that I realized it was actually 40 F. So not to bad at all 

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

10 hours ago, Sunchicken said:

Here you go:

https://discord.gg/8Gf9aG

Link expires 24 hours from this post.

Can I pm you my code?

[Sunbird she/her]

@ParadoxicalZen I'm... not sure what you mean. PM me what code?

[Shqueeves]

I got a kid I tutor to read WoK. And my sister to read Alcatraz. Today was a good day

[Draginon he/him]

Starting to get cold here and I found out my mom doesn't know how my car heater works! It's just a knob! It's not that hard to turn it clockwise. Before anyone says that she's never used this type of heater before m, her car uses a knob as well and it's not the first winter in this car.

[Sunbird she/her]

35 minutes ago, Shqueeves said:

I got a kid I tutor to read WoK. And my sister to read Alcatraz. Today was a good day

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

I found the best video in the universe, and wanted to share it with the rest of humanity. 

 

[Steeldancer he/him]

1 hour ago, Pestis the Spider said:

I found the best video in the universe, and wanted to share it with the rest of humanity. 

 

Hey yo Pestis!

[A Budgie she/her]

@Pestis the Spider That is cool. I think we watched one of his other videos, and it was quite fun too.

[Caesura she/her]

1 hour ago, Pestis the Spider said:

I found the best video in the universe, and wanted to share it with the rest of humanity. 

I'm still pretty fond of his chemistry one, although I'm a bit biased.

Also I got both Arcanum Unbounded and The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss for my birthday today, just in time for my holidays, so I'm pretty stoked 

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

3 minutes ago, Caesura said:

I'm still pretty fond of his chemistry one, although I'm a bit biased.

The chemistry one is a strong contender, but my choice wins because of extra biology points, and perfect sync with original combo.

[Caesura she/her]

2 minutes ago, Pestis the Spider said:

The chemistry one is a strong contender, but my choice wins because of extra biology points, and perfect sync with original combo.

Ahh, see, I'm majoring in chemistry. The biology one is hilarious, but it gives me uncomfortable flashbacks to learning about genetic engineering and eugenics last year

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

3 minutes ago, Caesura said:

Ahh, see, I'm majoring in chemistry. The biology one is hilarious, but it gives me uncomfortable flashbacks to learning about genetic engineering and eugenics last year

And I'm majoring in biology. I think we found the problem in our difference of opinions.

Edit: Why uncomfortable? I'm seriously curious, cuz I find genetic engineering totally awesome. I actually do study Biotechnology and I am currently starting to write my dissertation in Synthetic Biology (which is like genetic engineering but from very zero).

Edited November 9, 2017 by Pestis the Spider

[Caesura she/her]

@Pestis the Spider I find genetics and all that really interesting, but the ethics side of a lot of the genetic engineering stuff we discussed doesn't sit right with me. I understand genetically modifying animal models with conditions for drug testing and so on, but I don't like the thought of deliberately bringing an animal into an existence of suffering. It's very useful as a research tool, but I don't want a part in it.

I enjoy chemistry more regardless, but it means I can just play with chemicals and not deal with these sorts of issues.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

Well, I guess you have to be pretty... eeeeehhh.... resistant to work with animals in this way. That's probably why at university they keep all the animals with spine far away with us. They don't show us anything more than pictures. They only let us work with plants, bacteria and some insects. Fortunately, you can work with plants, bacteria, and some insects for the rest of your life if you want (and most people do, cuz the field of test animals is shrinking every year, as new in vitro methods are being discovered). So don't worry, not all genetic engineering harms animals, and a lot of it is currently working to remove animals from any testing as much as possible. For my dissertation I am actually just working with some cell culture.

Edited November 10, 2017 by Pestis the Spider

[Caesura she/her]

@Pestis the Spider that's cool! What are you doing your dissertation on?

I realise it's not all as extreme as the examples I'm thinking of, but I figured it was easier to just pursue a different path. Plus, I get to set a lot more stuff on fire in chemistry... 

[Silverblade5 he/him]

How to seriously creep people out:

Obtain a clown porcelain doll

Remove head

Add light activated motor to head

Replace head

Leave lying around on some cabinet.

[Kaymyth she/her]

Hi guys! I'm around. Just sneaky. I appear to be a lot more active on Discord these days than the Shard proper (and I don't have the bandwidth to do a lot of both).

My dog has arthritis, and it's kicking in pretty hard now that the weather has turned cold. So we trucked to the vet a couple weeks ago and came home with supplements and meds. Except, of course, Leia is a Jedi master at finding pills in anything so we have to get creative.

We are now crushing things up and rolling them into a liver paste called Braunschweiger. It's rather smelly and she loves it, but she's also a stubborn idiot. So every morning now goes like this:

Me: *gets meds crushed up and mixed into liver paste*

Me: *goes to give treat to dog*

Leia: *refuses treat*

Me: *offers again*

Leia: *turns away*

Me: *shoves the first bit into her mouth*

Leia: *remembers* "Oh, yes, this is tasty!"

And then I give it to her a bite at a time and she happily licks off my fingers.

Every. Single. Morning.

13 hours ago, Silverblade5 said:

How to seriously creep people out:

Obtain a clown porcelain doll

Remove head

Add light activated motor to head

Replace head

Leave lying around on some cabinet.

Dude that is evil.

[+Slowswift]

Pros and cons of getting new steel-toed boots:

1. I don't break my toe every time a run into a cart or some merchandise or a pillar, which is often.
2. But I still need to break them in, so owwwww. My poor feet. 

(I feel I should mention that scenes from Words of Radiance were on my mind just about the entire time)

Edited November 11, 2017 by Slowswift