Persistent, Niggling Questions - Page 22 - The Five-Minute Forums

whoiam · #**421** 03-11-2009, 02:32 PM

The same reason chain-emails full of heartwarming stories would still be filling my inbox if my aunts weren't manually added to my spam filter: Some people simply haven't learned to wake up and smell the zombies...

Nate the Great · #**422** 03-11-2009, 08:44 PM

So I'm considering buying an iPod, so I want to browse the iTunes store to see how much stuff there is I'd want to buy. Is there some hidden back door to that site, 'cause all they'll let me see is a page telling me to install iTunes first. PNQ: I can't even SEE what they have to help me decide to BUY it?

whoiam · #**423** 03-12-2009, 01:29 AM

You can install iTunes without actually owning an ipod: The program itself is free. Not sure why the iTunes store requires you to have the program already installed (Maybe they're just too fancy to have an actual web-based product catalogue) simply to browse the selection, but at least all you have to spend to get it is bandwidth.

Personally, I never bothered with the iTunes store, as my MP3 players came from Creative and so didn't support apple's flavour of DRM.

Nate the Great · #**424** 03-14-2009, 08:20 AM

Yeah, but WHY install iTunes (and set up an account) if you're gonna decide not to go through with it?

PNQ: Okay, I've got a speedrun video file in .avi, and a commentary for it in .mp3. Same number of segments, same duration for all of them. HOW do I overlay the commentary track onto the video track so they're synched? And since the thing is in 25 parts, is there also a way to merge all of them into one massive file?

whoiam · #**425** 03-15-2009, 12:27 PM

Grab yourself a copy of VirtualDub.

File->open->first segment of video
file->append avi segment->second, third, fourth etc.

Audio->audio from other file->select audio

Note: If the audio's in chunks the same as the video, it's probably better to combine each chunk with it's audio before attempting to string the AVI files together. I think .AVI files still have a 4GB filesize limit, but if that's really a problem you can always finish on two chunks instead of one

Nate the Great · #**426** 03-23-2009, 10:46 AM

Does YouTube keep intact copies of pulled videos, so that in the future they can be restored if conditions change? Or is all that work lost forever 'cause WMG got riled up?

Nate the Great · #**427** 04-01-2009, 12:03 AM

All of a sudden Firefox is cutting off the ends of the alttext in XKCD comics. Advice?

evay · #**428** 04-01-2009, 01:12 PM

change browsers?

MaverickZer0 · #**429** 04-01-2009, 10:27 PM

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1933

Works for me.

Nate the Great · #**430** 04-04-2009, 04:45 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-N2...eature=related

Is this actually a real form of musical notation?

Nate the Great · #**431** 04-06-2009, 11:11 PM

So I'm reading an annotated version of Alice in Wonderland, and the topic of the immortal riddle "Why is a Raven like a writing-desk?" We all know that originally there was no intended answer, but Lewis Caroll later invented the answer "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front." Note that "nevar" is "raven" backwards.

The annotated version presents the following alternate answers. What's your favorite?

"Both have quills dipped in ink."
"Because it slopes with a flap."
"Because without them both 'Brave New World' could not have been written."
"Because one has flapping fits and and the other fitting flaps."
"Because one is good for writing books and the other better for biting rooks."
"Because a writing-desk is a rest for pens and a raven is a pest for wrens."
"Because 'raven' has five letters, which you might equally well expect to find in a writing-desk."
"Because they are both used to carri-on decomposition."
"Because they both tend to present unkind bills."
"Because they both have a flap in oak."

Nate the Great · #**432** 04-08-2009, 02:18 AM

PNQ: When will Zeke change my title away from this one that references my old Dopefish avatar? Hehe...

Nate the Great · #**433** 04-08-2009, 09:22 PM

So I finally broke down and downloaded iTunes. Does anybody have any recommendations for free podcasts I should subscribe to?

evay · #**434** 04-09-2009, 02:52 PM

Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
Skeptics' Guide 5x5 (Five to seven minutes on a single topic)

Car Talk from NPR

If you enjoyed BSG, there are all the podcasts of Ron Moore's commentaries going back to the first season (not every ep, IIRC) and several sets of writers' meetings, which are fascinating from a storyteller's viewpoint as well as an audience member's.

Nate the Great · #**435** 04-21-2009, 10:13 AM

So the new iPod Shuffle is out...

PNQ: Does anybody else think that if an iPod is so small you can't fit the controls onto it, maybe it's TOO SMALL?

I'm not enthusiastic about having to use proprietary earbuds either, especially since i hate earbuds when they aren't required. I almost wonder why they couldn't make a set of headphones with an iPod shuffle built into them. You know, have the 2G-style fake clickwheel on one earpiece and the power and volume controls on the other earpiece. Memory on one side, battery on the other. No cord at all! You could fit a lot more rechargeable battery space in it, not to mention more flash memory.

Nate the Great · #**436** 04-24-2009, 02:42 PM

So I'm trying to enjoy some Let's Plays on YouTube...

Is there any reason why people feel the need to read aloud all of the onscreen dialogue and instructions? I can READ the dialogue, after all. Can't they, y'know, do commentary on the dialogue, just like they do for everything else in the game?

Chancellor Valium · #**437** 04-25-2009, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-N2...eature=related

Is this actually a real form of musical notation?

No.

Wowbagger · #**438** 04-27-2009, 12:32 AM

No, really: how do you pronounce "dsokpach"? I need to know this by Tuesday.

...and, in the category of "sentences I never thought would be written," a new challenger emerges.

Chancellor Valium · #**439** 04-27-2009, 12:56 AM

D'sok'd-pakh, at a guess.

Also, does anyone else feel there would be more opportunity to say "bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronnt uonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk !" if it were possible to remember the word?

NAHTMMM · #**440** 04-28-2009, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

So I'm trying to enjoy some Let's Plays on YouTube...

Is there any reason why people feel the need to read aloud all of the onscreen dialogue and instructions? I can READ the dialogue, after all. Can't they, y'know, do commentary on the dialogue, just like they do for everything else in the game?

Assuming you're talking about someone doing a "walkthrough" of a game, maybe they aren't sure that the text will be legible in the video?