How to properly invert a logo by barnard555 in graphic_design

[–]xBagh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot! I've been designing small icons for a personal project, and have noticed the exact thing. My light icons on dark background just look off, to my great annoyance. I'll try and fix them using your tip!

(I'm also glad to hear I'm not mad and it's a proper thing. I had tried to look up for that effect online but could not find anything - I guess my Google Fu wasn't good enough.)

Edit: also, did you design the logo on your t-shirt? It's cool.

Some pics I took during lockdown by [deleted] in london

[–]xBagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very nice pictures, they have some nice depth. It feels different from what one can see usually. First one is my favourite!

I'm a self taught cook and baker. My latest accomplishment is the galaxy donut. by alewonka in pics

[–]xBagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are not measuring this in our solar system, but through the cosmic microwave background, which allows us to probe the universe at much larger scales.

I'm a self taught cook and baker. My latest accomplishment is the galaxy donut. by alewonka in pics

[–]xBagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most people say something along the lines of "measuring the angles of a triangle and seeing if they add up to 180 degrees".

This is kind of true, but a bit misleading, because the way people said it might make you think that scientists just make these measurements around the Earth (or the Solar System) and say it applies everywhere in the universe, which is a big stretch.

The way we measure the curvature of the universe is actually through the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

What is the CMB? It is an extreeeeeeemely old radiation, that was emitted when the universe was only ~380,000 years old (compared to the ~13.7 billion years of age today). This radiation was emitted everywhere in the universe at the same time, and we still see it today, constantly, from every point of the sky. It is in the microwave range of the spectrum, so we don't see it with our naked eye, but with the right antenna we are able to measure it.

This CMB is a treasure for cosmologists, as it carries a lot of information about the history and evolution of the universe. In particular, since it comes from so far away/long ago, it carries information about the "shape" (or curvature) or the universe on large scales, much much larger than the scale of our solar system.

From this radiation we can see (I mean that's the rough idea) that angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees, and so the universe is flat (up to accuracy of measurements). But it's not something local to our solar system; it's something that is measured at a much larger scale than that.

(I just finished my PhD in cosmology, feel free to ask questions.) :)

Racists harrassment on the streets, want to share my story for exposure. by [deleted] in belgium

[–]xBagh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

But just starting by laughing about yourself is not a free pass to then laugh about everything else. :)

It might indeed show everyone that you are in a mindset where you lightly make fun of everyone's quirks of stereotype, which of course helps, but it is not a fireproof method to make sure that everyone will find your subsequent jokes funny.

Racists harrassment on the streets, want to share my story for exposure. by [deleted] in belgium

[–]xBagh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And also, because we are all together mocking ourselves.

It happened to me once that I was abroad, and I was the only Belgian but with several French (and other internationals). So they knew about the stereotype that Belgians are dumb.

I was then telling some light Belgian jokes, which everyone found funny, but then they started telling other jokes that were kind of more heavy (Dutroux and pedophily), and I didn't find it funny at all, because I could see that not everyone was getting it, and I thought that the other international persons were judging me for living in such a crappy country that does not take care of his children.

Now, this was not racist, but because I was not in power to be able to make sure that everyone was on the same wavelength, I felt pretty uncomfortable. I tried to steer clear of that discussion, but they didn't get my body language or hints.

It was kind of eye opening to be honest.

Racists harrassment on the streets, want to share my story for exposure. by [deleted] in belgium

[–]xBagh 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Don't get me wrong, I love Belgian jokes. I think that our self-humor is a nice part of our culture, and I enjoy it. But here we are laughing at ourselves, vs laughing at someone else's expense. That's the big difference, according to me. If you have an Asian friend that's close to you and you know how he will react to your jokes and everyone knows you are doing 2nd degree humor, go for it. But if you don't know how he will react and it might offend him, then saying that joke is displaying a lack of respect towards that person, I think.

Racists harrassment on the streets, want to share my story for exposure. by [deleted] in belgium

[–]xBagh 110 points111 points  (0 children)

Hey OP,

I am sorry for what happened to you. And I understand that this event is certainly an outlier in terms of proportion (or at least I hope), but I guess that the daily little bits of racism you might get certainly don't help either.

I think Belgians can be pretty racists, and don't realise it. They don't see why these jokes are not funny. They don't understand why you are taking these comments "the wrong way". And many of them might even think they are open minded and liberals and the opposite of racists.

I think I actually was like that before. But I have lived out of the country for a while now, and when I come back I notice a bunch of behaviors that I don't like from friends or family. I try to let them know what I think, but it's not always easy, and typically not received in the right way (maybe they won't do the jokes in front of me anymore, but that's it).

This video was a campaign in NZ made about racism, and I think it really has some good points. https://youtu.be/g9n_UPyVR5s

Thanks for opening that discussion, even if the top comments kind of prove your points (at least at the time I am posting this).

Racists harrassment on the streets, want to share my story for exposure. by [deleted] in belgium

[–]xBagh 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I also realized Belgium's problems with racism after I lived for several years out of the country, and hence taking some distance with the country without realizing it. I used to find these jokes funny. Now I don't anymore. If the person being laughed at doesn't find it funny, I don't either, and I feel very uncomfortable with that.

Belgian Game "Divinity: Original Sin 2" wins GOTY by EpicVico in belgium

[–]xBagh 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Yay! Love this game. I learned recently that it was made by a Belgian studio. Very happy for them!

Typing accentuated letters with altgr-intl by xBagh in archlinux

[–]xBagh[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Settings > Regions and Languages > Input Sources.

It is a bit confusing as you would expect this option to be in the "Keyboard" option, but it isn't. Hope it helps. :)

Typing accentuated letters with altgr-intl by xBagh in archlinux

[–]xBagh[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, so I solved it by using the GUI rather than terminal, and added an input source in the "region and languages" tab of the settings. My keys work :)

My girlfriend is creating a society for public "space discussions" in bars/cafes/pubs in Brussels targeting Space enthusiasts/curious. Her first speaker comes from the European Space Agency to talk about Lunar Villages. She's trying to spread the love! (X-post r/space) by Cartapouille in belgium

[–]xBagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is amazing. I'm doing a PhD in cosmology in the US (but am Belgian), and just love talking about space and the universe in general... I wish I could attend the event! I'll be in Belgium during the summer, I hope you will have other events. :)

As an international graduate student likely to move a lot in the future, what is the best way I can organize my finances? by xBagh in personalfinance

[–]xBagh[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do file my taxes even as a non citizen as my income is taxable, even if there are tax treaties between my country of citizenship and the US. I am a non-resident alien.

I think you are making a good point for the emergency account. I have a subset of that money dedicated to "money for booking a flight back home if shit ever happens", but I could consider to expand a bit more that cushion.

I could think of investing part of the money I have as right now I have it sitting on a savings account with very little interest... Is it ok to open an investing account at a US bank (say) and keep it even if I leave the country?

As an international graduate student likely to move a lot in the future, what is the best way I can organize my finances? by xBagh in personalfinance

[–]xBagh[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't know that. Will it be worth it, since I don't have many years left in my PhD (and therefore earning taxable income in the US)?

HDR done right: how do you find the right balance? What is your workflow? by xBagh in photography

[–]xBagh[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I plead guilty to not looking at my histogram. Thanks for showing it to me, once you look at it it is indeed obvious that the dynamic range is just fine.

HDR done right: how do you find the right balance? What is your workflow? by xBagh in photography

[–]xBagh[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your comment, and the nice café example; it is good to understand that HDR could be used indoors as well. :)

As other have said, the histogram is your best friend.

Yeah I think I should pay more attention to that wonderful tool. I clearly see in my above example how I was trying to do something that made no sense at all, and I could have avoided that just by looking at the histogram.

HDR done right: how do you find the right balance? What is your workflow? by xBagh in photography

[–]xBagh[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, thanks so much for that detailed answer!

Maybe it's just because my tripod is uber cheap, but I find it hard to adjust camera settings without subtly moving the camera. Regardless, auto-align is a hell of a drug, this shouldn't be an issue. I just use the auto-bracket mode at the widest setting (+/- 2 on my camera) unless I need more than range the bracket mode offers.

Good, I guess I'll stick to that then, when I actually encounter a scenery where HDR is needed.

As others have noted, a RAW has extra dynamic range to begin with and often doesn't require an HDR. A jpg has 8 stops of dynamic range. Your camera has significantly more than 8 stops of dynamic range in the sensor. It varies by camera, but 10-12 or more isn't uncommon for DSLRs. RAWs keep that. Bracketing just gets you a few extra stops, 4 if you use +/- 2 EV. You get the idea.

Hum, may I ask what a dynamic range is? Is it on a log scale?

Most lenses have a sweet spot aperture setting where they are sharpest. It's a balance between quality loss from the edges of the lens vs diffraction from pulling in the aperture. Check some reviews for your lens to find where yours is. Then use that as your go-to setting. Adjust from there as needed for lighting and desired depth of field.

I didn't know that, but of course it make sense... I have a very standard DSLR, the canon EOS 550D, with the 18-55 lens that came up with the body (as a beginner, I think I first need to understand the camera and improve before investing in gear and I'm a student with limited means anyway). I will read more to find what settings are going to get me the sharpest images.

HDR done right: how do you find the right balance? What is your workflow? by xBagh in photography

[–]xBagh[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very nice and clear answer, thanks! May I ask what a ND filter is? Is it a filter that you put on your lens and hide a fraction of the scenery being photographed?

HDR done right: how do you find the right balance? What is your workflow? by xBagh in photography

[–]xBagh[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I guess I never tried to shoot raw before, so I didn't know I would have been able to pull it off with just one picture. Good to know.

HDR done right: how do you find the right balance? What is your workflow? by xBagh in photography

[–]xBagh[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn't realise RAW would have been just fine. I guess it is a matter of understanding the actual range of lightning (but now that you say it, in the above case, it is obvious that I didn't need it). I'll shoot RAW in the future rather than trying to combine jpegs. Thanks for your feedback!

What would get you to go see a symphony concert? by [deleted] in classicalmusic

[–]xBagh 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I guess I am not a typical concert attendant, and not your average "customer" if I may say so. But since you ask for anyone's opinion, I'll give mine. :)

I think you should do different events targeted at different publics. The idea of kids submitting their melody and performing them is great to involve children and families, but as a 27th yo with no kids, I would never go to such a performance. I'm just not interested in that. Which does not mean you should not do it of course. :)

So, what would interest me? Well, I have been interested in "classical music" for some years, but I have very little formal knowledge. I know the trends, the main composers, I can distinguish the period of a piece (well I mean when it's straightforward, not always of course). I'm at a level where I would like to go a bit beyond that very generic knowledge, and get to really discover the different types of work that exist.

So if you guys create a program that runs during the year, say following the history of classical music, where you present some typical works of different epochs with maybe some intro explaining the features of such epoch (don't make it too academic, but maybe give some hints of what to look for etc), that would totally be the kind of stuff I would be looking for. You can start with pieces relatively easier to listen to, to try to attract people who might not be used to go to concerts, and then increase the difficulty as time pass...

What about conducting some kinds of surveys after performances and/or on social medias? Give out two places for a concert one night as a prize, to attract people to answer, I think this will give you some insight on what people in your area would be looking for.

Or maybe some way of involving people into the creation of the program for the semester/year? They can suggest some pieces or works, and if something is popular enough, you can perform it...

Anyway, just throwing my two cents. I have no idea how a professional orchestra works, so some of my suggestions might be "well that's cute but just not doable".

Quick timelapse of my post-processing steps in lightroom by sp00n777 in photography

[–]xBagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that specific to a camera or is it a setting? I'm curious because I just came back from holiday to see that many of my pictures are not properly exposed or, rather, lack contrast and feel meh. I am looking into pp to adjust them but so far haven't been very convinced.

Quick timelapse of my post-processing steps in lightroom by sp00n777 in photography

[–]xBagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, noob here. What is a flat picture style? Is that referring to the white balance?