#and again it's 100% okay to ask me if we can shorten the length

[justafleck]

Replies and threads

alrighty, it’s fresh on my mind for many reasons so I figured it was time to whip up a post to discuss how I function in terms to my way of writing for you. 

Obviously, this is a collaborative hobby. That means we both work together to provide a fun, fair writing experience. It takes two to roleplay, afterall! You get what you put out: if you write in paragraph format or multi-para, you will be getting a similar length reply from my end. When I write you a starter or answer a meme from you, I tend to write it in the writing format that I see the most of on your blog as I consider it your default formatting unless requested shorter or longer otherwise by the mun. While I understand that I can get long winded at times, I don’t expect you to match my length down to the exact sentence, but when you cut me short by entire paragraphs or two, I do get pretty frustrated. I already match your length, which often times is difficult for me when it comes to anything shorter than three paragraphs as there is way too much Arthur to cram into shorter threads, so if I’ve already shortened my default reply format down ( my default is three large paragraphs ) and I get a single or one and a half paragraph reply back from you in return, it really gets under my skin. If you were already replying with.. lets say two paragraphs in your replies to me and I wind up hitting you with 3 in my next reply, I do not expect you to match that as it’s my own expense as I know you don’t typically write that much. But if you’re going to give me a lot less than you recieved, then please don’t even bother with replying bc chances are, you’ve killed the mood for the thread entirely. Otherwise, you can always message me and let me know that we need to shorten the length and I will gladly do so because you asked: I don’t take well to sudden change that’s thrown onto me out of the blue and doing that changes the entire vibe of the thread when I spend hours writing a reply to you to get a few short sentences in return. I put in a lot of time, work, effort and dedication writing Arthur to the best of my ability for you and with me already matching your usual length, I feel like I’ve been duped when I get barley anything in return. The energy level plummets and I match the energy levels given to me so don’t expect much effort wise in my reply as I’m giving you exactly the same energy you tossed my way. Otherwise, don’t be surprised if your thread doesn’t get replied to at all. The moment I lose motivation for a thread, I drop as I can’t force myself to write something that I can’t even feel excited for so please, for the love out of everything holy, don’t jupe people out of entire paragraphs.  I’m not saying you HAVE to write lengthy things with me, but I write no less than one paragraph replies on this blog and if that’s all you want from me, that’s fine, but let me know if you need to change from lengthy to short if we’ve already been writing lengthy things or just simply don’t write me a mega lengthy starter / meme reply if you’re not going to want to keep up that same energy a few replies later. 

[moonymartell]

Making a Basic GIF (Windows)

Okay, so I was asked about a tutorial for making gifs, so I’ve made a tutorial for just making a basic gif (I don’t show colouring or adding text in this tutorial), which hopefully should get you through making a gif even if you’ve never made one before. 

I’ve tried my best to keep it to how you do the basic steps, but a lot of what goes into making good gifs, kind of lies beyond that, so I think I’ll make a different post with tips and general advice, and just leave this tip in this post: For good quality gifs, you need good quality video, so get as high a resolution as you can find!

People who know more about gif making than me have said that Photoshop CS5 is best for making gifs, so that’s what I use, but this tutorial should also be usable if you have a newer version.

You’ll need the following:

1. KMPlayer (X) 2. Photoshop CS5 (or newer) 3. Video that you want to gif.

1) First you need to get screencaps of the video you want to gif. If you haven’t used KMPlayer before follow the first 2 steps in this tutorial.

2) Make a new folder somewhere for your screencaps, it doesn’t matter where you put it.

3) Open your video in KMPlayer and find the scene you want to gif. Pause the video and press Ctrl + G and you get this window (these are my settings): 

In the “Extract to” choose the folder you created before, then press “Start” and unpause your video.

Let the video play until you have the whole clip you want for your gif, then pause your video again, press Ctrl + G again and press “Stop”. It will show you how many frames you’ve captured:

3) To make sure I get all of the clip I need, I usually start the screencapture just before the clip and end it after it’s completely over, which means I get some extra frames that I don’t need. So, now I go to my screencap folder and delete the frames I don’t want.

Now to the actual giffing:

4) Open up photoshop and import your frames by going to File > Scripts > Load Multiple DICOM Files.

Choose your screencap folder and press “Ok”

4½) If it’s your first time giffing in PS you’ll need to choose some of the windows to show, that won’t be visible unless you choose them. I can’t remember which ones are there by default but these are the ones I have visible:

5) Now you need to make sure your animation window is set to Frame Animation (looks like the picture above), if it’s on Timeline instead click the button in the bottom right hand corner (marked with red below), what setting it opens on depends on how you left it last time you used Photoshop.

6) When you have it set on Frame animation, click the button with the lines and little arrow (marked with red below here) and then choose “Make Frames from Layers”

7) (This step isn’t strictly necessary, since photoshop always changes the frame delay when you convert to timeline, but I usually do it cause the frame delay being too fast annoys me. ) Highlight all your frames, and click on the small arrow next to where it say “0 sec” on one of the frames, and then choose “Other”.

and then set frame delay to 0.05 seconds.

Now you can Either:

8a) If you want to use the entire picture and keep the original aspect ratio go to: Image > Image Size

Make sure “Constrain proportions” is checked or your picture might be squeezed/stretched, then write in the size you want for your gif and press OK. For tumblr you should go with the following widths: 540 px for one gif in width of the post and 268 px for gifs that are two next to each other. 

OR

8b) If you only want part of the picture or want a different aspect ratio of your gif, you should use the Cropping Tool. You can resize the gif to the size you want  while cropping by typing in the height and width at the top.

and then you mark the part of the picture you want by clicking and dragging the mouse across the picture and then click the checkmark.

9) Now convert back to Timeline by clicking the button in the bottom right hand corner. (Optionally, Click the arrow to change zoom to 100% so you see the actual size of your gif).

10) Now highlight all your layers and then go to: Filters > Convert For Smart Filters

11) Now we’re gonna sharpen the gif. Go to: Filters > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen

and then use these settings (they’re basically the tumblr universal sharpening settings):

12) This is where you then either do your own colouring or drag on a PSD that you have. I don’t really use PSDs and generally just colour each scene from scratch (though I obviously often start with some of the same filters). 

I just added some very basic colouring while doing this tutorial - Levels, Brightness/Contrast & Color Balance, but I won’t get more into colouring in this tutorial. 

13) Time to save your gif. Go to: File > Save for Web & Devices

These are my saving settings:

I used to use Selective & Pattern instead of Adaptive & Diffusion (I changed it some time in the fall 2019), I recommend that you use one of those two settings, you can choose whichever you think look best, if you use Diffusion make sure the Dither is 100%.

Quality should be set to “Bicubic”.

Make sure to set Looping Option to “Forever” otherwise your gif will play once and then freeze. 

In the left bottom corner you have the file size of your gif, this used to be a pain in the butt to get below tumblr’s old gif limit of 3 mb, now with the new gif limit they should play on tumblr as long as they’re under 10 mb (but there are sometimes issues with the bigger files, plus they get compressed which sometimes affects quality a lot). Now this gif is <10mb so it should be fine for tumblr. Usually if it is a little over 10 mb I still just save it like this and then I delete the needed frames to get under 10 mb when I reopen the gif to change frame delay. 

Sometimes if the file is very big Photoshop can have trouble saving the file (it depends on how strong a PC you have), if that is the case then press cancel, and then you can shorten the length of the gif (number of frames) by sliding the blue ends on the timeline.

14) Press Save and choose a folder on your PC to save the gif. Converting to timeline means that photoshop changes the frame delay to 0.07 (or 0.03 if you skipped step 7) , so to change that we have to reopen the gif. 

Go to File > Open, and then find the folder you just saved your gif in and choose your gif.

15) Now highlight all your frames and change frame delay to 0.05 (like in step 7).

16) If you didn’t get your gif under 10 mb earlier, you can do it now by deleting the layers/frames you don’t want, before saving again. (to delete layers just highlight the layers you need to get rid of and press delete on your keyboard, to delete frames highlight the frames and then click the little trashcan)

If you are under the 10 mb you just resave your gif in: File > Save for Web & Devices, and use the same settings as in step 13. And now you have a finished gif:

That’s it! 

It’s the first time I’ve made a tutorial so if something doesn’t make sense or is unclear, please let me know, and I’ll try to elaborate or change it.

[kinonoranove]

Kino no Tabi (2017) episode 4 review

The Ship Country

I’ll be frank, as someone who have read the original light novel, I found this episode downright disappointing. This episode fell into the trap that rushing adaptations tend to fall into, cutting a lot of meaty parts that only the not very delicious barebone be left. However I did read other discussion threads in other website and find the large portion of new viewers okay with this episode, so I can see that as a standalone story it managed to convey some meaning to the audience.

The core story about the Ship Country is already straightforward enough like all other stories they picked for this season, so I just want to go right into what the anime cut out that make this adaptation not work with me. If you are a new viewer who like the episode just fine, then you could stop reading here if you are tired of adaptation vs original source debate.

To give you a general idea, in the LN normal-lengthed chapter is usually 20~40 pages, longer chapter like Colosseum (adapted in episode 2) is 60~80 pages, and then there are a few behemoth chapters over 100 pages like the Ship Country. With such a length it should take at least 2 episodes to fully adapt “The Ship Country”, but the 2017 anime gave itself a difficult task of cramping the whole story into a single episode. The thing is, I’m fine with anime shortening and modifying the given material to fit into a 20-minute timespan as long as it still managed to tell a coherent story. This episode didn’t give me that impression, as the final scene between Shizu and Ti became very out of left field given the underdeveloped relationship between them due to the anime rushing the buildup.

I have reread the original story in the LN just now, so I will list what the anime have rushed and changed from the novel below:

1) The whole chapter was narrated by the dog Riku. Riku noted early on that Ti looked very foreign among the ship’s residents because the residents tent to have brown or black hair hair, while she had white hair and green eyes. Ti guided Shizu around the ship for 10 days and they have developed some sort of routine and emotional bond during this time. Ti took a liking to Shizu, voluntarily followed him around and found joy in eating Shizu’s bland portable rations. Riku also noticed that none of the ship’s residents want to associate with Ti. Ti didn’t speak at all and she even shook her head when Shizu asked her if she can write, all of this should be because of her complete isolation from the residents, so nobody taught her anything about communication. Despite that, Ti had very good memory and observation when she showed them around the ship and pointed out 143 locations in the map, which impressed Shizu and Riku.

2) Shizu was concerned that the residents look much older than their age as their meals mainly contain seafood and nothing else. It was also reported that the population on the ship highly decreased in recent years. Shizu asked some people worriedly about the ship’s shaking and poor condition, but despite that they said it’s normal and they are completely content with their life. Their denial to Shizu when they tried to go back to the Ship Country at the end also stings more as the Elder pointed out that travellers are wanderers who have lost their homelands who could never understand about the love people have for their own countries.

3) I just really like this piece of dialogue between Kino and Shizu after Kino’s identity was revealed, which showed these two’s clashing viewpoints, so I leave this here:

"In any case, I'm working for the rulers of this land until we reach the western continent in exchange for being allowed to stay here. I don't really want to do this, but I have to live too. Would you please go back?" Kino got straight to the heart of the matter. "I refuse." "You're not a citizen of this country. I don't understand why you're doing something for a stranger's land without even being asked to." Kino declared calmly. It was certainly like her to coldly point out the logic of the situation. Normally, of course, she would be right. A traveller must worry only for his own safety. He has no obligation to concern himself with the matters of other countries or people. To risk his life for them would be insanity. However, Master Shizu's answer was immediate. "It's because I realized something. If I can do something to give all these people a 'future'…" "…" I felt like I could hear Master Shizu tighten his grip on his sword. "I feel like I just have to try, you know?" I could not see Master Shizu's face, but I'm sure he must be laughing from his heart. "I see… Then it can't be helped. I will do my job."

Even after Kino’s identity was revealed, Kino and Shizu’s fight still happened and in the end it was Kino’s victory again. Kino tried to announce the result to the Tower Clan, but because they were deep inside the ship, moving far from their original fighting location, so the Tower Clan didn’t hear Kino, and assumed that Kino lost. Then they decided to not board the land anymore to stop Shizu’s plan, much to Kino’s shock. So Kino had no other choice than to assist Shizu in overthrowing the Tower Clan and driving the ship to land.

4) In the middle of the way to the control room the group stopped by the  weapon storage in the Tower and took some weapons (including grenades) to fight against the ruling class. It was also implied that Ti could have took the knife here for self-defense (as it was specifically said that for a short while Riku didn’t really notice what Ti was doing).

5) Ti stabbing Shizu might have been a shock to readers but thanks to all the buildup in point no.1 & 4 above that it didn’t come out of nowhere like the anime. Shizu might not know about Ti’s situation, but he didn’t even pick up the obvious hints that the ship residents clearly didn’t care for Ti and the fact that Ti stubbornly followed him everywhere because she wanted to follow him and get away from the residents. Furthermore, Hermes revealed that the ship residents regarded Ti like a bad omen or demon because the ruling class used her to spy on the residents. Ti following Shizu at first was also spying, but then she truly took a liking to him, if the scenes when she refused to leave Shizu in bedtime as well as showing him beautiful sea views were any indication. Now with the AI ruling class gone and with the ship residents detesting Ti, Shizu telling her to go back to the Ship of Doom was like a death sentence for her, so she vent out her desperation by stabbing him.

6) When observing the situation unfold, Kino drew out a gun and asked Riku “Which one?” (as in which one should be left to die), meaning if Riku chose to save Shizu, Kino would shoot Ti, and if Riku wanted to spare Ti, Shizu will die. It was pretty clear from the outlook that Riku wanted to save Shizu and Kino was very down to shoot Ti, then Shizu suddenly shouted out “Neither” meaning he didn’t want anyone to die, showing his determination in saving Ti. It was a very emotional scene in the novel.

7) When Shizu collapsed and looking like dying, Ti was even more devastated and took the grenade from Shizu’s body for a double suicide. Finally, Kino shot the grenade away. (Things wouldn’t have been this bad if Ti had spoken up about herself before, but her communication skills were non-existent and her spyche was fucked up due to long-time isolation so Shizu really got involved in a real mess here.)

8) In the aftermath, Kino took care of Shizu for a while and intended to leave while he’s sleeping, but Shizu woke up. They shared another conversation which showed their different purpose and outlook on traveling, which I like so I leave it below:

“Could I just ask you one more thing?" "What is it? "I feel a bit bad for interrogating you like this, after all the help and support you've given me, but… Don't you ever think about settling in one place to live, Kino? Don't you want a safe, secure life where you're surrounded by loved ones, never having to worry about where to rest at night?" "I don't know. At the moment… well, I don't think I'll ever think about it." "That's completely fine with me. After all, it's a motorrad's jay to be able to always be on the move." "'Joy', right?" "Yeah, that." "… Isn't it… painful?" "It's not all fun." "…" "But it's not all pain." "I see. I guess everyone has their own perspective on things." "That's right."

Phew, that was long. If anyone was confused about Ti, I hope the long infodump answer your questions. Some more notes about Kino:

- I’m not thrilled with the anime’s choice of stories. They should have marketed this as a sequel (with a few remade backstory episodes for new viewers) rather than an unrelated reboot to previous anime. Ep 2-4 just have to pick specific stories from different volume (vol.1, 5, 8 respectively) where Kino became proactive, which is not Kino’s norm.

- In the novel, Kino also rarely broke 3-day stay rule got involved in the countries’ matter, unless Kino is requested to use marksmanship skills by the countries and is offered food, shelter and payment for it in order for Kino to cover traveling expense like ep 4, or due to unexpected circumstances like ep 2-3.

All translation credits go to Untuned Strings.

[marclefrancois1]

Baby and Toddler Naps — Everything You Need to Know

e0a9e1e9e6412908cf53cee25f32209b62d23d03e119cd2df63e6855e8fc22eee0a9e1e9e6412908cf53cee25f32209b62d23d03e119cd2df63e6855e8fc22eepostlinke0a9e1e9e6412908cf53cee25f32209b62d23d03e119cd2df63e6855e8fc22eee0a9e1e9e6412908cf53cee25f32209b62d23d03e119cd2df63e6855e8fc22ee was first seen on Marc Le Francois

Many parents assume that nighttime is the only time that we should worry about our baby’s and toddler’s sleep. What parents often don’t realize is how important naps really are to babies’ development, temperament, and growth. Naps are incredibly important for babies and toddlers, but they are constantly changing, which can lead parents to assume their child isn’t tired, or is ready to give up their naps prematurely. This is simply not true. If you’re wondering about baby and toddler naps, here are some nap basics that apply to every child.

Nap Averages

Newborn to 5 Months

Newborns need as much sleep as possible. That’s why I do not recommend sleep coaching until your child is around 6 months. It’s also important to remember that daytime sleep develops after nighttime sleep, and often not until around 6 months. Nap coaching is rarely advised — or successful — with babies this young. Often, parents of newborns find that their babies are taking a lot of naps — 4 to 5 naps per day is not uncommon.

6 to 8 Months

At this age, most babies need between 2 and 3 naps per day. They’ll take a morning nap, an afternoon nap, and a one hour (maximum) late afternoon nap to help them bridge the gap between naptime and bedtime. This will help avoid bedtime resistance due to an overtired baby.

It is important that your baby gets at least 3 hours of naps, ideally split into two 90-minute naps.

9 Months to 12 Months

Most babies give up their late afternoon nap between 9 and 18 months. Additionally, you will find that your baby’s morning nap — no more than 90 minutes — will shorten, and will be supplemented by a longer afternoon nap, which begins approximately three hours after the end of the morning nap.

13 Months to 18 Months

Sometime between 13 and 18 months, most babies make a natural transition from two naps to one. This nap is usually a 2-hour afternoon nap, usually beginning between 12:30 and 2 p.m.

18 Months and Beyond

Your child will continue with their nap pattern until they are ready to transition to quiet time. The average child will stop napping somewhere between 3 and 4 years old.

Keep in mind that many children begin giving up their naps slowly. This transition may begin with your toddler or preschooler not needing a daily nap. Don’t assume that because your child did not nap yesterday, they will not need a nap today. Continue to offer the option of nap, with a sleep-inducing environment. If you child chooses quiet time instead, that is okay. Just ensure that they are getting rest during the day, even if they’re in the nursery looking at books quietly.

“Wakeful windows” are a length of time you can expect your baby to stay awake between naps without having a meltdown. Wakeful Windows get longer with age.

Windows of Wakefulness

These suggestions correlate to the average baby’s windows of wakefulness. That’s basically a fancy way of saying “the length of time you can expect your baby to stay awake between sleep times without completely melting down”.

Average windows of wakefulness by age:

• 3-months-old: only has a 1-2 hour window of wakefulness.

• 6-months-old: the window of wakefulness is 1.5–3 hours.

• 9-months-old: the window of wakefulness is 2-4 hours.

• 12-months-old: the window of wakefulness is 3-4 hours.

• 18-months-old: the window of wakefulness is 4-6 hours.

• 2-years-old: the window of wakefulness is 5-6.5 hours.   

• 3-years-old: the window of wakefulness is 6-8 hours.

• 4-years-old: the window of wakefulness is 6-12 hours.

The above times are averages for children who are sleeping through the night. How your child naps is dependent upon how your child sleeps at night. Make sure that your child is getting enough sleep, and be aware of your child’s window of wakefulness. Try to ensure that you are starting the naptime or sleep routine at least 30 minutes before the window of wakefulness expires to mitigate naptime resistance (and meltdowns).

For a better understanding of wakefulness windows, and a typical schedule for your baby, you may find it helpful to review a typical baby or toddler sleep schedule, which will give you a better perspective on the actual wakefulness windows for your child.

RELATED: Baby and Child Sleep: Sample Schedules from 6 Months to Preschool

Not All Naps are Created Equal

Not all naps are created equal. If you’ve been reading my books or this blog, I’m sure that you’ve heard me mention disaster naps. A “disaster nap” is just my way of referring to any nap that is shorter than 45 minutes. These types of naps do not encompass a full sleep cycle. Babies often wake up cranky and still tired, rather than refreshed. These types of naps tend to occur when windows of wakefulness have been exceeded, or when babies are put on a schedule that is outside of their home schedule, which sometimes occurs at daycare.

Naptime Resistance is Normal

As your child grows, they test boundaries, and unfortunately, that often means that they want to see what happens when they don’t nap. With the knowledge that your child needs to nap until sometime into her third or fourth year, don’t give up. Keep to the naptime routine that you have established.

It’s worth noting that if your child is resisting naps and near a ‘transition age’ (one where your baby will soon be dropping a nap or the window of wakefulness increases), you may want to adjust naptimes to see if your baby is more willing to nap at a different time in the morning, or perhaps a little later in the afternoon. For example:

For a 15-month-old, your flexible schedule may look like this:

7:00 a.m. wake-up 9:00 a.m. morning nap 12:30 p.m. afternoon nap 7:00 p.m. bedtime.

If you find that your baby is fighting either nap, you may want to adjust the times to see if she is more willing to nap. Doing so may cause the nap schedule to look like this:

7:00 a.m. wake-up 10:00 a.m. morning nap 1:30 p.m. afternoon nap 7:00 p.m. bedtime, or

7:00 a.m. wake-up 12:30 p.m. afternoon nap 7:00 p.m. bedtime.

If you find that you are still getting resistance, you may want to begin phasing out the morning nap and paring down to one nap if your child is at least 13 months.

Consistency is Key to Nap Success

Remember the adage “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”? These words are perfectly applied to naps. Remember, naptime sleep is different than nighttime sleep. There is more going on, the noise level is different, the light level is different, and sometimes babies just simply don’t want to miss anything. Every baby goes through a period of struggle with finding the perfect naptime.

Watching wakefulness windows, looking for signs of tiredness, and remaining consistent with your baby’s routine will help to ensure that he is getting enough quality naptime sleep. If you struggle, review some of my nap coaching tips, and try again at the next opportunity.

RELATED: The Sleep Lady’s Nap Coaching Tips

Even Older Children Need Quiet Time

Children are growing so quickly, which means that every day provides a myriad of experiences to process, analyze, and think. Even if children have stopped napping, they still need a period of quiet time to help them regroup partway through their day. Most older children’s ideal quiet time is strikingly similar to their old naptime.

To make sure that quiet time goes smoothly, try introducing it gradually, much like The Shuffle. Set the ground rules — no loud instruments, only certain activities allowed, when they can come out of their room, etc — and stick to them. Gradually increase the amount of time that your child is expected to spend playing quietly to help ease them into this time.

Begin with 15-20 minute increments, and gradually build the length of your child’s quiet time. I have spoken to some parents who find that a mellow, short video with a snack helps to set the stage for quiet time. Others have found that just going straight to playing quietly works best. It may take a few days to figure out what works best for your preschooler.

If your child is still napping intermittently, this is the perfect opportunity to continue the naptime routine, and give your child the option of playing or reading quietly if they do not feel like sleeping.

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Kim West

Kim is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been a practicing child and family therapist for more than 24 years, and the creator of the original gentle, proven method to get a good night’s sleep for you and your child.

She is the author of The Sleep Lady's Good Night Sleep Tight, its companion Workbook and 52 Sleep Secrets for Babies.

Click here to read more about her.

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from Blog – Baby Sleep Coaching by the Sleep Lady https://sleeplady.com/napping/everything-you-need-to-know-about-baby-and-toddler-naps/

from https://www.marclefrancois.net/2019/03/27/baby-and-toddler-naps-everything-you-need-to-know/