Raptork

2008-10-27T13:51:00.003-05:00

import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
public class Example14_1 extends Applet {
public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.drawString("I love Java",20,20);
}
}

2008-10-27T13:51:00.001-05:00

import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
public class Example14_1 extends Applet {
public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.drawString("I love Java",20,20);
}
}

BOONw

2008-05-06T19:27:00.001-05:00

a. Public Works of Edina

b. $5,567,468

c. They are responsible for parks (such as Braemar) and traffic control, including biking paths. They are also in charge of various permits, such as charitable gambling and demolition.

d. They accomplish the task of creating light posts by getting a construction crew and budget from the city and building a physical lightpost.

a. Environmental Protection Agency

b. 7.3 billion

c. They are in charge of enforcing laws pertaining to the environment that have passed through Congress. They are also in charge of setting up standards and in delegating to the states various environmental activities. They also perform research on the environment, and perform environmental education.

d. The EPA accomplishes regulating pollution on cars, by setting emission limits and making it illegal to make cars that have too many pollutants.

We're still working on it

2008-04-24T08:50:00.001-05:00

Soon this blog will be the bustling metropolis it deserves to be.

Sorry

2008-01-01T15:12:00.000-06:00

It has come to my attention not many posts have been coming out lately. I know all our dedicated readers are growing impatient. Don't worry, we will be revitalizing the blog soon in an effort we at raptork are calling "operation reblogification"

omg

2007-06-22T21:50:00.001-05:00

Mario Gone Warcraft

2007-02-11T10:30:00.000-06:00

Some people have far to much time and are good at video editing. The only Mario enemy they couldn't find in WoW was a bullet bill.

Amazing Line Rider

2007-02-10T23:04:00.001-06:00

Real Life Line Rider See This !!!! - video powered by Metacafe

Impressive

2007-01-28T14:53:00.001-06:00

This is extremely disturbing...

2007-01-20T17:06:00.000-06:00

This is why parents don't allow their children on the Internet

Add Songs to Guitar Hero 1 or 2

2007-01-15T00:09:00.001-06:00

Guitar Hero Explorer: http://scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2549
GHero Utils: http://scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2132
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
MFAudio: http://www.zophar.net/utilities/ps2util.html
Anvil Studio: http://www.anvilstudio.com/
CD-DVD Generator: http://utilities.psxforum.com/cddvdgen.zip
Apache: http://www.ps3news.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=9
DVD Decrypter/Nero/Alcohol/Any other ISO burning software.
Swap Magic/Mod Chip/Method of booting burns on your PS2 (If you don't have one, don't ask, you wont be getting any help)
A DVD Burner
Good quality media to burn to. This is REALLY REALLY REALLY important. If your eventual burn does not work, this is the number one reason why. I recommend Taiyo Yuden, Sony and Verbatim or Check: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm for a full list

The Actual Process

Step 1. Download the provided .mid file

Step 2. Check to see if the .mid is for GH2 and not GH1, if this is not made clear by the person who posted it, check the video link if there's one provided, or ask them

Step 3. If the .mid is for GH1, or you are unsure, open Anvil Studio, load up your .mid. Look at the yellow box near the top, if it says "PART GUITAR" leave it, if not, right click it and make it so. Now go to View --> Event List, select "Events" from the drop down menu and scroll down to the bottom. Look for the entry with "Comments: [end]". If there are brackets around the word end you're good to go, if there aren't, double click the entry and put them in.

Step 4. Get an .mp3 of the song in question. If one is freely available, it may have been provided by the song creator, if not you will need to rip it from the CD or buy it from Itunes.

Step 5. Insert your GH2 disc into your DVD drive, copy the contents of the disc to a folder on your hard drive.

Step 6. Open Guitar Hero Explorer (Ghex), Go to file ---> add archive and locate your MAIN_0.ARK file which is in the "GEN" folder you copied from the GH2 disc

Step 7. In Ghex expand "Songs" and then the song you wish to replace, right click on the .mid file for that song and hit replace, now locate the .mid of your custom song and hit replace.

Step 8. Right click the .vgs file of the same song and click import, now right click the new box and select Add. Find your mp3 from step 4 and just fill in the bottom with the default settings. After it has finished you can preview your vgs by hitting play to check it's worked.

Step 9. Click on the folder for the song you replaced, you should see a preview of your note chart, click play, slow the playback down to 50% and check your audio file does not start too late or too early, if it does, go back to step 8 but after adding your mp3, right click it and select properties. Now fiddle around with the offset (+ if the song starts too early, - if it starts too late) and import it again. Repeat until you get it right.

Alternatively, if you have problems with GHEX (as the VGS feature is still in its early life) you can use the original method

Code:
Open your .mp3 with audacity and go to File ---> Export as WAV

Open MFAudio, select your new WAV as the input file and select .vag as your output format. Now hit process

Unzip the contents of the GhUtils archive to a folder called "GHUtils" in your Program Files folder. Open command prompt (Start Menu ---> Run ---> cmd) locate the folder to which you unzipped GHutils (type cd \Program Files\GHUtils) and type java FileExpandGuitarHero

This will launch the vgs converter. Find your .vag from step 6 and hit New Audio. When it's done it will ask you to enter a hex value, just ignore it and hit cancel. You now have everything you need to play your song, now to get them in the game :)

Step 10. That's all the file swapping done, now to rebuild the game. Open CD/DVD Generator, select new project and then New DVD Master disc, drag and drop the folders and files from the GH2 game disc into the main window in the following order.

GEN
IOP
VIDEOS
SLUS_214.47 (If you are not using the US version of the game this file will be different)
System

Now click on the "Volume" tab and enter SLUS 21447 (or whatever your file said if it was different) into the "Disc Name" field. Put PLAYSTATION in the "Producer Name" field and change the license area to the appropriate region. Ignore the rest. Now click on File ---> Export .iml file

Step 11: Open Apache, Go to File ---> Create ---> ISO from IML file, select the IML you made in the previous step and let it do it's thing.

Step 12: Open up DVD Decrypter/Nero/Alcohol/Your burning program of choice and burn your ISO at 4x to GOOD QUALITY MEDIA (see above)

That's it, you're done. That may look like a long process, but once you have the procedure down it doesn't take much longer than 10-15 minutes including wait times to get the ISO.

Let me know if i've missed anything or if anything is wrong. (I'm not sure about the changing GH1 midi to GH2, can someone confirm that what i said in step 3 is all that's needed as i haven't tried it myself yet.)[/code]

Guide from

Movie Body Counts

2007-01-15T00:02:00.000-06:00

An odd but interesting site that tells you the number of deaths from many famous movies,

Download Videos Off Youtube

2007-01-14T23:59:00.001-06:00

1. Download & install Firefox (You need firefox for the extension to work)

2. Download & install the Video Downloader extension for Firefox (The video downloader extension allows you to save videos from popular websites like Myspace, YouTube, Google, and others.)

3. Download & install Media Coder (This encoder converts the video you download into .avi files which allow you to view and store them at your won discretion)

4. Find the video you wish to save. Once you are on the page click the Video Downloader Button in the bottom right part of your Firefox Browser window.

5. A window will pop-up. Click the button that says Download Link

6. When prompted select Save to Disk and then click OK

>>>>>Please note that if the file you download does not have the extension .flv, then rename the file and end the name with .flv <<<<<

7. Start up MediaCoder

8. Click on the I agree radio button and on the Skip Setup Wizard button, then close the window that appears after that.

9. Drag and drop the .flv files you downloaded into the large white area in Media Coder

10. Click on the Video tab in the lower left-hand section on the window and select XviD in the Format drop-down menu.

11. Click the large Start buttonon the top toolbar window to start transcoding your video.

12. When completed a window will propmt you saying that transcoding is completed, go your file's original location and an .AVI file shoudl be there with the same file name. Now you can play it with Windows Media or your favorite media player.

Original tutorial found at DVD Help Forums

MiG 21F USSR Military Aircraft

2007-01-14T23:55:00.000-06:00

Someone is selling a MiG 21F USSR Military Aircraft on eBay! MiG's were used by the Soviet Nation until they licensed the manufacture of the MiG-21F and its engine to China in 1961. Right now the current bid is at $25,700.00.

Swap Cell Phone Plans

2007-01-14T23:54:00.000-06:00

Due to the high early termination fees, usually hundreds of dollars per phone, many cellular customers are forced to remain stuck in a plan. With CellSwapper.com, you can find somebody to take over your cell phone contract and avoid paying any early termination fees.

Bittorent Site Plans to Buy Island

2007-01-12T22:12:00.000-06:00

Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is planning to buy its own nation in an attempt to circumvent international copyright laws.

The group has set up a campaign to raise money to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform in the North Sea that has been designated a 'micronation', and claims to be outside the jurisdiction of the UK or any other country.

The Pirate Bay says it is the world's largest 'bit torrent tracker', and is a popular way of sharing music, films, software and other copyrighted material online. It has been under the scrutiny of authorities in Sweden and around the world for some time.

The site was briefly closed down after raids by the Swedish police last May. After initially moving to the Netherlands, the site returned to Sweden in June. Swedish authorities have been put under pressure to do more to stop the site. The Motion Picture Association of America, the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau and the US government have all lobbied for The Pirate Bay's closure.

According to a website set up to secure the purchase of Sealand, The Pirate Bay plans to give citizenship of the micronation to anyone willing to put money towards the purchase.

"It should be a great place for everybody, with high-speed Internet access, no copyright laws and VIP accounts to The Pirate Bay," the organisation claims on its website www.buysealand.com.

The "island" of Sealand, seven miles off the coast of southern England, was settled in 1967 by an English major, Paddy Roy Bates. Bates proclaimed Sealand a state, issuing passports and gold and silver Sealand dollars and declaring himself Prince Roy.

When the British Royal Navy tried to evict Prince Roy in 1968, a judge ruled that the platform was outside British territorial waters and therefore beyond government control.

The British government subsequently extended its territorial waters from three to twelve nautical miles from the coast, which would include Sealand, but Prince Roy simultaneously extended Sealand's waters, claimed that this guaranteed Sealand's sovereignty.

The island is now being put up for sale by Prince Roy's son, Prince Michael, who styles himself head of state. A firm of Spanish estate agents has valued the island at £504 million (about 7 billion kronor), although Prince Michael told The Times of London that it is hard to gauge how much it will fetch in reality.

The Pirate Bay says it is looking at alternatives to buying the former naval platform.

"If we do not get enough money required to buy the micronation of Sealand, we will try to buy another small island somwhere and claim it as our own country," the organization says on its website.

Congress

2007-01-06T14:18:00.000-06:00

Of the 383 bills signed into law during the recently adjourned 109th Congress more then a quarter dealt with naming or renaming federal buildings, primarily post offices.

Cool Illusion Tutorial

2006-12-12T21:08:00.000-06:00

This tutorial will show you how to make your own optical illusion. With a image editing program (Photoshop, Fireworks) and a little creativity you can have your own optical illusion in minutes.

View the Guide Here

New York Times Discoruages Buying a PS3

2006-12-07T16:50:00.000-06:00

The New York Times issued a deafening blow to Sony yesterday when, in an article about which game system to buy, it stated that "if you are anything other than a complete Sony fanboy (that’s Internet lingo for an obsessed, myopic groupie) go ahead and forget about the PlayStation 3". They went on to say that "the 360 and the Wii provide excellent entertainment for the dollar and are each capable of filling your home with smiles for years to come." While the New York times may not be known for its gaming journalism, its opinions reach more Americans than any other newspaper.

Read the whole Article

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series

2006-12-07T16:35:00.000-06:00

Yu-Gi-Oh: The abridged series episode 1
Yu-Gi-Oh: The abridged series, is a series of Yu-Gi-Oh episodes condensed into about 6 minutes and then comically dubbed over by Youtube user LittleKuriboh.

Possibly The Coolest Webiste Ever...

2006-12-05T21:29:00.000-06:00

http://www.bibalex.org/english/initiatives/internetarchive/web.htm

This is a site that has been archiving the WHOLE internet since 1996. You type in the page you would like to see (google, myspace,) and you can see what these websites looked like before they were famous. Try some of the popular websites from today. You will be VERY surprised with how they once looked.

Mother has son arrested for playing with his Christmas present early

2006-12-05T21:21:00.000-06:00

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A fed-up mother had her 12-year-old son arrested for allegedly rummaging through his great-grandmother's things and playing with his Christmas present early.

The mother called police Sunday after learning her son had disobeyed orders and repeatedly taken a Game Boy from its hiding place at his grandmother's house next door and played with it. He was arrested on petty larceny charges, taken to the local police station in handcuffs and held until his mother picked him up after church.

"My grandmother went out of her way to lay away a toy and paid on this thing for months," said the boy's mother, Brandi Ervin.

"It was only to teach my son a lesson. He's been going through life doing things...and getting away with it."

Fear of Girls

2006-12-05T16:32:00.000-06:00

"Fear of Girls" if you haven't seen it, you have to.

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

2006-12-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

While surfing the next, I uncovered an old favorite...

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)Looney Tunes Video

Istanbul (Not Constantinople) MP3

Celebrity Mii's

2006-12-04T21:16:00.000-06:00

A mii is a character designed on Nintendo Wii. So far, they are only usable on the game Wii sports, but soon will soon be avalibe to other Wii games Making celebrity mii’s is becoming a popular thing to do. There are many celebrity mii pictures, how-to videos on Youtube, and various dedicated mii websites. I highly recommend getting a Wii if you haven’t already so you can join in on the fun of making celebrity mii’s. Here are a few good examples of celebrity mii’s:

Mii Creation Video

Celebrity mii SharingSite.

A Way of Making mii's Without a Wii

The real history of Kwanzaa

2006-12-04T20:05:00.000-06:00

Ron Karenga created Kwanzaa in California in 1966, during his leadership of the black nationalist United Slave Orginization (also known as the "US Organization"), in order to give African Americans an alternative holiday to Christmas. He later stated, "...it was chosen to give a Black alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society."

Concerning those who thought he was adapting kwanzaa from a traditional African practice, Karenga noted "People think it's African, but it's not. I came up with Kwanzaa because black people wouldn't celebrate it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that's when a lot of Bloods were partying."

Daniel Craig wants Gay scene in next Bond

2006-12-04T19:57:00.000-06:00

Daniel Craig is urging movie bosses to revolutionise the James Bond franchise by including a gay scene involving the superspy in the follow-up to Casino Royale.

The heart-throb actor has also reportedly told studio chiefs he is prepared to film a full frontal nude scene to please both his male and female admirers.

He says: "Why not? I think in this day and age, fans would have accepted it.

"I mean, look at Doctor Who - that has had gay scenes in it and no one blinks an eye."

Good Business

2006-12-04T19:34:00.001-06:00

Copying is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

2006-12-04T19:21:00.001-06:00

It looks like Sony is continuing its implementation of Wii-like technology in the Playstation 3. Now, in addition to the tilt motion sensing, Sony is has filed a patent for technology which will allow users to point to places on the screen using a Wiimote-like pointing device. The patent even includes a description of "A receiver portion includ[ing] one or more sensor units located in or near the target area." Sounds like a sensor bar to us. You decide.

Patent

In the News with Pastulio

2006-12-04T18:50:00.000-06:00

This is in fact a good week for the war on steroids. The World Chess Federation announced that players must submit for drug testing. Puzzled chess officials admitted tthat did'nt know which drugs to test for. "I would not know which drug could possibly help a chess player improve his game" said one.

Download Free Videos and Music with Singing Fish

2006-12-02T23:05:00.000-06:00

Singing Fish is a amazing site that allows you to watch and download videos from all over the net. All you do is type in the name of the video/band/song you want and Singing Fish will search for your video or sound file.

Visit Singing Fish

Pandora

2006-12-02T22:42:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't know Pandora is a free site that lets you pick bands or songs you like and creates a playlists of songs that are similar to the type of music you selected. (If I typed in The Beatles I might get other 60's rock songs from bands like The Who or The Rolling Stones.) It's a great way to discover new bands that play the kind of music you like. Pandora is commercial-free so you can hear music 100% of the time.

Visit Pandora

Hack Your Xbox

2006-12-02T20:56:00.000-06:00

Hack Your Xbox

Hack your old Xbox and enable it with Evolution X or Unleash X dashboard. This will allow you to save games to your Xbox hard drive. REMEMBER, don't connect to Xbox live after you have installed tihs mod because Microsoft will BAN your account.

PortableApps Suite 1.0 (Windows)

2006-12-02T18:08:00.000-06:00

Windows only: PortableApps Suite 1.0 stocks your USB drive, portable hard drive, or any other drive with a full complement of software, ready to run wherever you plug in.

This new version of the suite includes the latest portable versions of Firefox, GAIM, OpenOffice, and other open-source gems. The suite also comes with PortableApps Backup for--you guessed it--making backups. If you choose to use your iPod as your storage for PortableApps, make sure you have disc use enabled. You can do this by connecting your iPod to iTunes and then clicking on the iPod icon when you have it connected. There you will see a box that says 'Enable Disc Use'. Check the box and then all you need to do is install PortableApps DIRRECTLY to your iPod.

The Standard Edition of the suite requires about 260MB; there's also a 105MB Lite version that substitutes AbiWord for OpenOffice. Whichever version of this app-tacular bundle you download, you're going to love it. PortableApps Suite 1.0 is free; it requires Windows.

PortableApps Suite 1.0

BitTorrent

2006-12-02T14:41:00.000-06:00

BitTorrent is a free tool which you can use to download almost anything you want online. Search you desired file and include 'torrent' after it. Now keep in mind that it is illegal for you to download any copyrighted files. The choice is yours.

Download BitTorrent Here

Legal Information for BitTorrent

Turn Your Xbox into a Media Center

2006-12-02T14:00:00.000-06:00

Turn Your Xbox into a Xbox Media Center in 30 Minutes

A step by step guide that shows you how to turn your Xbox into a complete home theater system. It allows you to stream mp3's, movies, videos and pictures all to your Xbox.

How to Cack a Combination Lock

2006-12-02T13:48:00.000-06:00

This takes some time, but it is the fastest, non brute-force method.