The problem with a generic bump map is that it's not going to line up with the brush strokes of the actual painting. It's not like we're only talking about the surface of canvas here, which is going to have a rather uniform and consistent texture throughout a particular painting and even throughout different paintings. Each painting is going to have a totally unique "bump map" based on the brush work of the artist. Using a generic bump map is going to completely throw everything off.

I'd like to see this as well. Drivers have been using sims for awhile now to practice and to get familiar with tracks, but I think very few of the big names actually compete openly, and regularly, with sims like iRacing (Earnhardt is the only one I know of). Some F1 teams use either advanced versions of publicly available sims such as rFactor (using heavily customized rFactor Pro setups) in their sims, or similar such setups, but they're not competing against others online. Would be fun to put a real F1 driver up against some sim racers in an online race against each other. Even if for no other reason than to see how the F1 driver's lap times compare to their real world lap times at the same course with the same car.

A while ago I damaged the radial nerve in my left arm, making my left hand almost completely useless. I'm right handed, so using Photoshop wasn't much of a problem, but was slightly more time consuming (not being able to quickly hotkey with the left hand, and having to constantly either use the icons, or take my hand away from the tablet to press the keyboard keys). Trying to do 3D on the other hand (no pun intended), was just a complete bitch because of this. I mostly use modo, Maya, and Mudbox and a few other apps, and I'm so dependent on hotkeys for an efficient workflow that I essentially gave up on 3D for those 3 months my left hand was "broken". On the plus side, I got a lot of digital painting, and traditional drawing done (though even traditional drawing was kind of a PITA because I couldn't easily hold/rotate/move my sketchbook with my left hand).

You actually hit on a good point. Schizophrenia manifested itself the same way back then as it does now...and in the future. So clearly, she's a schizophrenic..... FROM THE FUTURE!

He meant both actually. The beauty of the system is you never have to pull over to get gas - just swerve into a stray dog or cat now and then.

I think that ADHD does exist, but I also think you have a somewhat valid point hidden in your sarcasm/trolling/whatever.

When I was in elementary school, I was consistently not paying attention, goofing off, and slacking on homework. When I did do my homework though, it was a breeze and always got good grades on homework. Same with tests, I always did well on tests, despite apparently never trying. Fortunately my teachers recognized that instead of having some sort of problem paying attention, they realized I was just bored by the subject material and not being challenged. They tried remedying the situation by putting me in some special classes for "gifted" kids. I think those were more geared towards keeping us bored kids occupied more than anything though. But they did have the benefit of letting us kids kind of guide our learning. We'd get to choose what we wanted to learn about, and the teachers would help us. They were basically teaching us to teach ourselves.

Anyway, fast forward to middle school, and high school, and it was a similar story. I wasn't as bored in school, since we had greater freedom in middle school, and especially in high school, to choose what classes we took. I still however, was at risk of failing a few required classes because I didn't put the time or effort into doing homework and such. I started putting in the bare minimum amount of work necessary, and it showed in my grades. My GPA was basically around 3 because I had a bunch of Cs and even a D here and there. Those were the classes I had no interest in, but had to take anyway. The classes I took that did interest me however, were all classes that I received As in. To give you an example, one of the classes I took that initially interested me was "Computer Programming". When I soon learned that it was just programming in BASIC, I started losing interest very quickly. My grades suffered because homework was the biggest factor in grading for that class. I aced the tests, but I still only pulled off a D in this class. Meanwhile, at home, I was teaching myself C++. Fortunately, in some of my classes though, the teachers recognized I was bored with the subject matter, and would even turn a blind eye to missing homework so long as I was doing well on tests, and not disrupting the classroom.

I have no doubt that if this happened to me today, I would be diagnosed as having ADHD or ADD or something, and be placed on medication.

Back to your "point", I think a big problem is the way we're teaching our kids. School is not a normal situation for kids on a basic level in my opinion. I mean think about it, we're taking kids and forcing them to sit at a desk for 6-7 hours a day. While they need to learn a lot of things taught in school, the way they're taught is all to often, quite frankly, boring. Try and get a kid to sit still at home for 6-7 hours doing something boring (even if it's watching TV shows they have no interest) and you'll probably see a lot of similar behavior. I think we need to work on how we're teaching our children. And this is one area where I think computers and technology can really have a huge benefit. We need to exploit technology to better serve our children's learning. Make learning fun. Give them access to resources beyond the specific subject matter that's being taught.

Okay, enough rambling.

Perhaps his work is international in nature, and he has to speak with people from other countries on a regular basis? For example, me might know enough to exchange pleasantries and to ask for someone at an office, but then primarily converses in English with his foreign colleagues? My dad knows some basic Italian, Russian, Spanish, German, and maybe even some *very* basic Chinese (Mandarin perhaps?), from his work and dealing with international clients/customers/co-workers.

But to me, it's far more likely he (the OP) is referring simply to the fact that English often uses loan words and borrowed phrases from other languages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_English_words_of_international_origin

I know you're being sarcastic and all, but...

Physical fitness isn't the biggest stumbling block for Nascar drivers to get into F1. Sure, some of them are sorta "pudgy", but if necessary, and desired, they have the resources to get fit enough for F1.

Good drivers, no matter what series they race in, can usually handle other types of cars reasonably well. The problem is they lack the experience to make up those last few tenths to actually be competitive. Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya did a publicity thing back in 2003 (I think), where they swapped cars with each other. Gordon was a few seconds (or maybe even less, again, I forget) of Montoya's time in the F1 car. That itself is impressive, but learning the ins and outs of driving an F1 car takes time and there is no replacement for seat time. Also, he did it on a closed track in a private session. Learning to drive a car is one thing, learning to race in a car is a whole different story, and again, there is no replacement for seat time.

Gordon did mention that his neck, shoulders, and arms took a beating, but he has the resources and motivation to get in shape in no time I'm sure.

When it comes to experience, the most common career path these days for F1 drivers seems to be starting out in karting at a very young age, then working your way up series like Formula Renault, Formula Three, etc, then up to GP2 and finally F1. That means they might have spent 8 or so years in karts, and then maybe another 6 or so years in actual open wheel cars. All in road racing. Of course, there are exceptions, but generally they come from having lots of road racing backgrounds.

Cool stuff. I'd like to get into rally driving myself, but have neither the time nor the funds really. That, and I'm sure I have way more confidence in my driving ability than I actually possess :) . I have thought about getting into karting (for fun, not thinking of turning racing into a profession by any means), or autocrossing, or some other such racing in the next couple couple years.

For now though, I just get my fix with simracing. rFactor, GTR series, and now that we've talked about rallying, I may have to dig out my Richard Burns Rally disc to install it. Have you tried any sim racing at all? More specifically, rally sim racing? Richard Burns Rally seems to be the best option out there for rallying in terms of realism and being challenging, but I'm always up for trying something new. I think soon I'm gonna pick up iRacing as well, and then grab a proper wheel and pedal setup. I'm just using a 5 year old Logitech Momo wheel at the moment, and I'd like something with an actual clutch pedal and H pattern gear shifter (with the paddles as well, for use in cars that actually use them in real life)

Back to the subject of necks though, I'm hazy on the specifics, but I remember when someone asked Jensen Button back about 4-5 years ago about the physical fitness aspects of F1. He said something along the lines of his neck's circumference having grown something like 3-4 inches from training in order to build up the muscles in his neck and such. (again, I'm hazy on the specifics, but you get the idea) There was also a video on youtube floating around various F1 forums and such of Alonso cracking nuts using his neck. That kind of cracked me up.

Not only that, but driving a car, especially a Formula 1 car, is an extremely demanding activity. Racing in the comfort of your house, sitting on a couch, is nothing compared to sitting in the cockpit of a car, with temps that can exceed 100+ in your nomex racing suit, while dealing with up to 5 lateral g. Not to mention the fact that all the while you're not just driving the car like you do in the GT series, but you have to be in communication with your race engineers and look after your tires, your brakes, the engine, fuel consumption, basically everything.

The teams go WAY beyond the GT series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrQS_Y8o0ZA The simulators are usually proprietary custom made rigs.

I dunno. Isn't that kind of like saying "sneaking a peak at your sister's diary isn't a violation of privacy until you share the diary with others"? I guess it is a bit different, what with the information Google is collecting being broadcast and all, but hopefully my analogy gets the point across that I'm trying to make. That is, that the simple act of gathering information can be a breach of privacy, regardless if it is shared or not. Another bad analogy might be me stealing someone's private data off their computer. Whether or not I publish that information does not matter - well, I guess if I did share that information it would be a greater violation of privacy, but even if I didn't share it, the initial violation still took place. Again, I fully understand that is sort of a different case, and I'm not even fully sure where I stand on it to be honest.

Uh, no. No team is running KERS in 2010. KERS is not banned in 2010 (regulations still allow it, but it is neither banned, nor required), but the FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) teams have agreed to not use KERS in 2010. All of the teams so far are members of FOTA, which means unless one of them breaks ranks, we won't see KERS on the grid in 2010.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/a-rumour-explained/ As this post's title says, it doesn't give much more info. Essentially it just adds the information that the flywheel system is derived from the Williams F1 Team's KERS (kinetic energy recovery system).