Author: RagManX

Digital art software for really reasonable price

I lack any actual artistic talent. Though my recent fixation on Blender or GIMP is merely a representation of wishes for skills I lack, I still really dig art software like Art Rage 2. The features this program offers are pretty cool to my unskilled eye. They have a user gallery area to their forum so you can see what others are doing with the tool.

This is the homepage for ArtRage, the easy to use, stylish painting package that lets you get painting from the moment you open it up. You can paint with oils, sketch with pencils, sprinkle glitter, and more. You can paint with gold leaf, silver foil, and other metallic colors. You can even load in your photos as Tracing Images to help you recreate them as paintings.

For the professional user, ArtRage also offers multiple Layers for painting, and layered PSD document import and export so you can easily use it alongside your existing tools.

ar2featuretools.jpg

That image is something I snagged from the features page. It shows the brush options you have for different painting styles. If you get an urge to try out the program, it’s freely downloadable limited feature trial version and the full version only costs $20. In addition, they have a really slick tutorial to help you get going on the basics of Art Rage 2 use.

Today in History – Della Sorenson kills first victim

There are very few female serial killers. Whether it is because they are better at evading detection and capture (doubtful) or just because there are fewer women with psychopathic tendencies (psychotic – almost all of them; psychopathic – not so much), I don’t know. However, one of the few of this breed is Della Sorenson. On this date in 1918, Ms. Sorenson kills the infant daughter of her sister-in-law.

…Over the next seven years, friends, relatives, and acquaintances of Sorenson repeatedly died under mysterious circumstances before anyone finally realized that it had to be more than a coincidence.

. . .

Early in 1923, Sorenson killed her own daughter, Delia, on her first birthday. When Sorenson’s friend brought her infant daughter for a visit only a week later, the tiny infant was also poisoned. After an attempt on Sorenson’s second husband’s life left him sick–but not dead–authorities began to think that there might be a connection between these series of deaths.

I honestly believe that this type of killer would have a much shorter career in the modern era, but before the FBI get deeply involved in studying and classifying serial criminals it was easier. Especially since it was almost unthinkable back then that a woman could be a cold-blooded murderer.

Oddly, finding any information on Ms. Sorenson different from that available on The History Channel website has proven challenging. I have read about her in one of my serial killers books, but cannot find any more information about her online after a cursory search.

[tags]Della Sorenson, Today in History, Serial criminals, Female killers[/tags]

Just shut the hell up – stupidity reigns

I get it.  Don’t objectify women.  Respect.  Dignity.  All that stuff.  But really, I think holding 13-year-old kids to the same standard is fine until you start talking 10 years juvenile detention for horseplay.

Two 13-year-old Oregon boys are facing serious sex charges for allegedly slapping female classmates’ bottoms as a form of horseplay.

. . .

“These cases are devastating to children,” he [the DA prosecuting the case] said. “They are life-altering cases.”

So, um, today’s winner of the Blahg’s very first “Shut-the-hell-up-and-stop-being-stupid” award.  Sadly, I suspect I’ll have to award it repeatedly now that it exists.

And some people might disagree with me that the punishment is too harsh, doesn’t fit the act, and all that stuff.  It’s OK.  I’m fine with others being wrong.

[tags]Stupid, Shut the hell up, WTF?[/tags]

With friends like this, who needs an enema?

I have never been able to use that line more appropriately than now.  It is, perhaps, the most perfect summation of this dreadfully painful to read story that I could envision.

A MAN rammed a pool cue into the rectum of a drunken friend with such force it snapped off, leaving 31 centimetres stuck inside his bowel, the Tasmanian Supreme Court in Hobart has been told.

Roofer Matthew Noel Triffett, 21, who’d previously pleaded guilty to a charge of grievous bodily harm, was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to perform 140 hours of community service.

. . .

He said Triffett thought it was a big joke until the full extent of what he had done was revealed.

In crippling pain, the complainant went home and removed the cue from his rectum.

Read the rest.  It’s even ickier (that’s a medical term, I believe) than what I’ve clipped here.

[tags]Owwwwww, Perforated colon, Rectum?  Damn near killed him, Man snaps pool cue off in buddies ass[/tags]

And what exactly is the problem with that?

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen them, but Dateline periodically works with police to do sex stings, filming people coming to houses where they think they will be having sex with underage boys or girls (when I’ve seen it, the targets were going to meet 13-year-old boys). They also include interviews with the people who work online pretending to be these boys and girls. Later, they run the stories including coming out to tell the filmed what is going on.

Last year, one man filmed doing this pulled a gun and shot himself when police tried to serve him with an arrest warrant.

A prosecutor killed himself as police tried to serve him with an arrest warrant alleging he solicited sex with a minor, authorities said.

Louis “Bill” Conradt Jr., 56, chief felony assistant district attorney for nearby Rockwall County and former district attorney in Kaufman County, died Sunday.

. . .

Police in the town of Murphy, in nearby Collin County, said Conradt solicited sex from a decoy posing online as a 13-year-old, said Murphy Police Sgt. Snow Robertson.

I trust I don’t need to point out the sad irony of a felony assistant DA soliciting sex with a 13-year-old. The extra stupid in this ordeal is the sister of this cretin is now suing NBC news for millions.

[tags]Dateline, To catch a Predator[/tags]