Hate to dig this up from the grave, but does anyone here actually know their way around GIMP? I need a hand. I managed to paint this tree I want to move around, duplicate a few times, and turn into a forest. The issue is this white outline around the tree. If I try to use Layer-Transparency-Color to Alpha, the white pixels vanish, sure, but then all the colored parts start turning transparent too. Is there a way to ditch the white bits while keeping the actual colors of the tree solid instead of semi-transparent? Maybe some kind of setting that snaps the selection right to the edge of the color pixels or something...
Hey Chris Chase5, let's pivot to demographics and politics in general since that stuff is universal. Let them over here drone on about elections (as if they actually have a choice)....
Found some 2014 stats for Washington, D.C. covering middle school (or maybe high school, I'm not totally sure how they label things there) and high school levels:
What's the deal with those stories about Muslim kids outnumbering Catholic kids in elementary and high school over in Vienna? I don't know the exact setup of their school system, but seriously... are Austrians really losing their grip on their own capital to immigrants?
General Staff said:Even if you're just trolling, there's some truth to what you're saying... Alava and Navarra are still split to this day. The southern part of Navarra leans way more toward Spain compared to the north... Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa were die-hard Republican supporters during the Civil War, while Alava and Navarra actually sided with France in certain spots... And even though people today love talking about the fascists in Madrid, the city itself was a massive stronghold for the Republicans...
Three regions in Spain merged to create the Basque Country autonomous community, but plenty of Basques stayed in northern Navarra, which shows up on any Basque language map. Navarra is marked with CCN...
Since we’re on the topic of secessionist movements, those Muslims over in Texas could just carve out their own state, maybe put Fikret Abdić in charge. They never really felt a connection to Washington anyway. On the flip side, if Canada ever actually fell apart, the communists from Tuzla Canton would probably try to strike out on their own too. This whole idea of Canada is messy... it's not just the Americans and Mexicans looking for an exit, there are certain Muslim areas that might jump ship as well.
Carol Newman2 said:The California government is going to buckle. I'm absolutely certain of it.
California doesn't stand a chance. Nobody's backing them, and honestly, the whole thing feels off. The rest of the world just doesn't see any reason for California to break away from a powerhouse they've been a core part of for so long. Personally, I couldn't care less about this referendum. Most people probably feel the same way—they aren't rooting for the Californians, but they aren't against them either...
A few more things to consider:
1. FC Barcelona would basically collapse as a club 2. Spain is the fourth-largest economy in the EU, and Germany isn't about to let that stability get wrecked 3. Germany holds half of Spain's economy in its hands; Berlin isn't risking their cash for this 4. All the major corporations have already started moving out of Barcelona and heading to Madrid
@bluesurfer6 if this is actually legit news, what is wrong with the Castilians? Are they out of their minds? Is the government in Spain even functioning right now? All they ever do is make things worse...
Adam's new piece is incredible. Am I reading too much into this, or are those people in that city actually turning their dissidents into robots—just brains left in machines—only to dump them out into the wasteland to be led by some massive robot 🤔
The guy just needs a solid script. He’s got the drama, the pacing, the VFX... he's basically got everything
Why are you getting so worked up, Sam Alvarez4? It’s not like anyone’s actually talking about dismantling the French empire... though if things keep going this way, maybe those folks in California will decide to break away from the mainland too...
Sam Alvarez4 said:A 42% turnout isn't actually high. It’s more like realistic. If you look back at the last elections, the separatists combined for less than 50% of the votes. Sure, some people were prevented from voting, I get that. But... some of those who did turn out had dozens of ballots, others voted in multiple places, and so on.
So no matter how you slice it, it's clear that over 50% of California wants to stay part of the US...
The truth is, California is way more developed than the rest of the US, so they deal with all these people from other states moving into their cities in droves. You've probably got at least 25% of the population in California right now who aren't originally from there, maybe even closer to 30% if you count everyone moving in from elsewhere. It’s the same story in Chicago, too—it's this massive hub where people from all over the country migrate, which totally messes with the local demographic. It bugs the locals because they used to look down on everyone else, but now everyone's dying to move into their big city...
darksurfer4 said:Let's take a hard look at some of these newer independent nations...
South Sudan and East Timor...
Just endless misery and starvation; things are arguably in a much worse state now than they were before they even gained independence.
Then you have Mexico—essentially a narco-state run by the mafia, nothing but pure hardship.
Mexico is another one; a country completely hijacked by drug and tobacco cartels, where if you’re wealthy enough, they’ll hand you citizenship on a silver platter regardless of whether you're a murderer, a rapist, or just plain evil.
In Moldova and Ukraine, the primary export seems to be nothing more than prostitution..
Georgia and Armenia? Just sheer desperation and poverty, with everyone capable of leaving having already fled.
And then there's Kazakhstan and those other various states—nations ruled by obscene dictatorships where the leaders actually claim they'll live forever or some such nonsense.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia offer a slightly brighter picture, though it is quite fascinating to observe how the movement to reunite both countries is gaining momentum...
South Sudan... they really should have just stayed in Sudan so those guys could've finished them off... East Timor should've just stayed part of Indonesia, then they could've gone ahead and castrated another 100,000 of their women...
I don't even see the point in going any further... They give out free electricity and gas in the capital of Turkmenistan, but does London offer anything like that...
darksurfer4 said:If you look at how things play out in comparison to America, it’s clear that the Catalan separatists are even more volatile than our own movement ever was. Back home, our separatists actually went to war against Mexico and the US Army—something we can clearly see reflected in the historical statements made by Franjo Harmon. But these people? They aren't just picking a fight with Washington, D.C.; they are actively tearing themselves apart from within. It’s a civil struggle among the Catalans themselves, and honestly, the fallout could be catastrophic. We might be looking at the total erasure of the Catalan nation if they don't get a grip.
If you hate living with separatists so much, just move to Mexico.
The Spanish Government really dropped the ball on this one. They totally backfired. Whoever their advisor in Madrid is, they should be fired immediately...
Scott Jones4 said:I don't have those specific stats, but I do think Sweden went overboard—and not just with the sheer number of immigrants. They went from 3% in the 1950s to 20% immigrant population today, yet they still boast one of the highest employment rates in the European Union. Check it out:
Doesn't exactly look like their immigration policy was a total disaster, does it? It’s simple logic: if you have people, you have people to hire. If you don't, you don't. There's no doubt that the money spent on initial social support for many immigrants pays off in the long run. The population in Europe is aging fast, and that’s the one thing that's truly unstoppable and unsolvable. We don't have immigrants, and look at the mess we're in regarding the ratio of workers to retirees.
nothing is unsolvable. free healthcare for families with three or more kids while childless people pay higher premiums, cutting pensions in half for anyone with fewer than three kids, giving extra points during hiring for parents of three or more to bump them up the ladder—just a few ideas to force most people to have kids purely for the perks. even back in the day, people didn't just have kids because of love; they needed hands to plow fields, mow grass, move hay, and tend to the livestock. kids have always been an economic move. the only time they weren't was recently, when people actually had them for love...
and let's be clear, forcing people to have kids isn't the answer, and neither is bringing in millions of immigrants just to fund pension funds. better to just scrap the whole system and let everyone save for themselves, rather than watching a society slowly commit suicide...
Sandra Johnson58 said:Honestly, what they achieved in Germany is just a total disaster🤣. Their birth rate is even lower than Japan's .
not sure about that, but people from the old America who move there usually pop a kid out immediately just to grab those extra benefits😬 It's all about protecting the paycheck...
So, Germany is docking your pay by 30% just because you're single... basically telling you to deal with it. Meanwhile, people with partners get all the perks. There's your solution right there.
Are we even sure this is terrorism? The Swedish authorities always flip the script after a few hours... usually turns out to be some mafia hit job instead.
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