Brickmuppet Blog 2.0

September 22, 2020

Oh Look

...there's a Selkie.

I'll give them points just for that.

Not a monstergirl any of us were expecting...especially in a bikini.

From episode 2 of Monstergirl Doctor, which follows two rookie doctors, straight out of med-school who are starting out their own private clinic in the town of Lindworm.

One of the doctors is a young man and his business partner is a 24 foot long snake woman. You see, the show is set in a fantasy world populated with sentient versions of the D&D Monster Manual. Both the human and snekgrrl are doctors specializing in non-human races...most of whom haven't historically been serviced by the medical profession until recently.

The animation is diffident though the art itself is good. The character designs are by Z-Ton, and the stories, while fairly anodyne are low level medical mysteries. But there's a difficulty: This is set in a medieval fantasy world with little or no magic. They understand germ theory and are practicing "medicine" as we understand it (with reference books, medical exams and treatment) , but their tech level is otherwise is high middle ages or renaissance. Which is kind of interesting and weird.

Despite the hype (and the first minute of episode 1) Monstergirl Doctor, is, perhaps surprisingly, both SFW and wholesome. So, yeah, it subverts expectations...but in a good way.

My only concern after two episodes is that I'm not sure it's going anywhere. Still, it's a pleasant enough 30 minutes.

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September 19, 2020

AVAST!

Scrimshaw be from the ole' Strikewitches Gacha Game...fer some reason.

2020 be givin' everyone the black spot, but there's no need te git yerselves 3 sheets to the wind. Take a moment from battenin' down the hatches for storm season and bring a spring upon yerselves to more pleasant endeavors, at least fer a bit.

more...

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September 18, 2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed.

She was a smart woman who fought tenaciously for what she believed in. I gather she knew the end was near and was trying to last until the election. Whatever one might think of her jurisprudence, she seemed to have a great deal of class and even in her frail last years carried herself with considerable dignity.

If so inclined, I suggest saying some prayers for the Notorious RBG... and for our country, for I fear that things are about to get very...passionate.

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Lazy Writing

The writers at 2020 the Ongoing Series are starting to re-use scripts from the winter season.

It seems that 3245 people in China have been infected with Brucellosis after a leak at a drug manufacturing facility.

Fortunately this bug is not terribly contagious, not especially deadly and is easily treatable.

But still...

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Obituary Cancelled

I've been monstrously busy of late. However, I've been online a little and on Wednesday I noted that the very last post by Pete Zaitcev was over a week ago and read as follows.

Due to some circumstances, I was pocket-carrying a Shield 45 in Boraii mini-holster all day today. It works very well with jeans, belt size 38.

Because "some circumstances" are burning down American cities and at least one plot of forrest, having this be the last word from Pete was cause for alarm.

However, moments ago, just before hitting "publish" I double checked and there was another 'tweet' (Plier?) regarding ammunition availability that was made today, so there is no need to publish any retrospective regarding アニ・ノート or Pete's contributions to the anime blogosphere since before 2009.

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September 13, 2020

It's 2020 in Another World

Well. I'mma gonna take that as foreshadowing.

Re: Zero is back! Actually, it's BEEN back for 10 weeks but I'd missed it while fighting off harassment and distractions foisted upon me by a nefarious group I'll refer to henceforth as the I.R.L.

Anyway. The first two episodes of the lates installment of this excellent show are quite solid. At this point, understanding that I'm 8 behind, I'm recommending it heavily.

In other cutting edge, breaking news of the trivial: A Certain Scientific Railgun Season 3 has been going for 23 weeks. 3 episodes in, it is actually looking to be up to the previous two seasons' standards.

Heck, even the most annoying lesbian in all of the future gets an awesome scene.

There are several other shows that look to have promise and the I.R.L. is being less obnoxious...at least with my internet connection, so tardy reviews may be forthcoming.

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Meanwhile: On the Roof of the World

India is moving 12 steel hulled patrol boats to Pangong Lake, a large Himalayan glacial lake at the center of the current unpleasantness between China and India. The undertaking of this logistical feat is in response to the sudden appearance of numerous Chinese naval patrol boats on the other side of the lake.

The latter had badly outmatched the Indian zodiac boats, and now there is again parity. Kind of like Lake Champlain in 1814.

When looking this up, I learned that there is a Tibetan national army. This surprised me. Then I learned that it is part of the Indian Army...it is seen by its troops and India as analogous to things like the Free Polish army of WW2 and it trains for one thing; to fight China.

That unit has just been moved into the area of most concern.

There is an overview of the situation from an Indian perspective here.

Do note that this is where China, "Tibet", Kashmir, India, and Pakistan all meet. This is challenging physical geography and combustible political geography.

At last count.

China: 320 nuclear warheads

India: 150 nuclear warheads

Pakistan: 160 nuclear warheads

There is more on this here, here, and here.

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Gender Reveal Parties: Threat or Menace?

By now most of you have heard about the idiots who set off the fireworks at a gender reveal party, thereby igniting one of California's current wildfires.

Well it's not just California where these bridezilla recidivism incidents go haywire, it appears that one just went off the rails in Canada and at least 80 shots were fired.

Was there a betting pool? What? Why?

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I Suppose Delta Airlines is Particularly Enthusiastic

We asked our Crackerjack team of Science Babes to report on the latest breakthroughs regarding the Flying V.

However, due to poor communication there was some confusion, so I'll just link to this story at Ars Technica.

Flying V is a type of aircraft that has been talked about for some years. In theory a Flying V aircraft with the same passenger capacity as a standard airliner would have about 20 percent less fuel consumption. The design has not been pursued until recently because that's only a theory and there were other theories that the design would just not get off the ground, or flip over and crash. Airbus rejected it, but the engineer who developed the concept hopped the border to the Netherlands and the idea was taken up by Dutch Airline KLM, who have built a scale model and successfully flown it.

Theres a concept video on YouTube...

...which is WAY more impressive looking than the actual event.

But the test is not CGI. It's actual engineering. There's more on this at New Atlas. Which notes that the baseline for the 20% fuel savings claim is the Airbus A350-900 and that unlike most flying wing proposals, a Flying V would have the same or smaller wingspan. This would solve the achilles heel of most flying wing airliner proposals, the notion that airports would have to be massively rebuilt for the new planes. With this they wouldn't.

All this assumes that the thing actually scales up well, which is far from a sure thing. Still, it's nice to see innovative and frankly futuristic looking designs being looked at...it being the 21st century and all.

I'm all for more Syd Mead and less Mad Max.

Image via Slash-Gear

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September 11, 2020

19 Years It's Been

...since those planes struck from incredibly clear skies.

19 years ago, after the terrible events of that September and the subsequent anthrax attacks, there were predictions in some quarters that we'd end up locked in our houses in fear watching our cities burn and living in dread of unnatural plagues.

How people can have been so very right and yet simultaneously so utterly wrong is worth pondering.

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September 05, 2020

Wow. This Guy's Good.

He has a great singing voice and actually pulls off this song, which is no mean feat.

Via Iron Mouse

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September 03, 2020

So today at work...

...I was in a state of frenzy dealing with an insane number of boxes and smalls bags when somebody shoved a tote of small packages onto the set of rollers that fed the totes to me to sort to the proper belt. there was one tote at he very end next to me, a lot of empty rollers, another full tote, and the tote that had been cast onto the belt, which hit the tote at the far end and stopped cold upon hitting the other tote.

That second tote was propelled with great force down the belt which caught my eye just as it hit the tote full of stuff at my end of the belt knocking it off, creating a huge mess, and causing a metal rod to pop out and cut me.

And I thought to myself "Wow, that was just like a short-stroke gas piston." And then I thought to myself " I probably spend too much time watching Forgotten Weapons."

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September 02, 2020

The Evolution of Men's Business Attire

Update: I just figured out where I must have gotten this.

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September 01, 2020

Here's a Headline to Remind You That You're in the FUTURE

Flight Crews Report Man In A Jet Pack During Final Approach To LAX

There's little to add except, don't take your jetpacks into the flightline.

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Meanwhile, in Mozambique

The Islamic State (remember them?) has seized the Mozambiquean port of Mocimboa da Praia. This is significant for three reasons:

1: This is a major achievement for a defeated organization. (and I'm not being sarcastic, they were thoroughly trounced in Syria).

2: It is FAR outside the usual stomping grounds of The Islamic State and its affiliated groups. (West Africa, The Levant, North Africa, Afganistan and neighboring countries, and the Philippines)

3: The city in question is a particularly strategic node, being a deepwater port and also very close to natural gas fields.

4: The actual defeat of the army and seizure of the town took place 19 days ago. The Jihadists have HELD the city and are moving on the nearby gas fields.

The Islamic State had, at its height, expanded into or incorporated into itself, many similarly motivated organizations worldwide from Boko Haram to the Sultanate of Sulu. Many of these federal arrangements seem to have actually survived the collapse in Syria and to have given the organization redundancy and staying power. Moreover the Islamic State has a history of growing and moving very quickly. It is, after all a revolutionary religious movement and is quite charismatic in ideology to a certain segment of Dar al islam. The fact that they are this organized has implications going forward. While the IS is of little apparent direct threat, particularly at the ass end of the planet, they are an active and enthusiastic sponsor of terrorism. The organization has a history of financing themselves via creative smuggling of petrochemicals and have proved adept at bypassing blockades. If they secure the gas fields they may be able to turn that into financing to purchase weapons and support terrorists in the U.S., Europe and other places. The Islamic State and its confederated "Caliphates" are known to have close ties with certain Latin American drug cartels including technical assistance. The group can conceivably use their smuggling infrastructure to insert agents, and or weapons into the U.S., perhaps to contribute to our current domestic urban chaos. A safe haven for The Islamic State allowing them time to build infrastructure has other implications as well, though mainly in the longer term.

Sallying forth to slay dragons in some awful land war in Africa is a dubious and daunting prospect with no political support here. It also would take attention off the primary strategic goal of deterring China. Certainly the locals need to be given ample time to take care of the situation themselves, but this is a situation that should be watched carefully.

For one thing 1500 Civilians are dead and 250,000 are displaced. The last time The I.S. did this it caused a humanitarian crisis that had notable effects in Europe, Mozambique is more isolated, but the effect on such countries as Botswana, and South Africa, (the former one of the few stable Sub-Saharan states, the latter with its own problems) could be quite disruptive.

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1 The port city is in Mozambique, not Angola. I know they are both former Portuguese colonies but each is completely across the continent from the other.

This news is even more alarming since it the city is located near the border with Tanzania and is right on the Indian Ocean. If you want a secondary location for some enterprising and far reaching Somali pirates to relocate to, Mocimboa de Praia is not a bad choice. Former colonial power Portugal has neither the ability nor the inclination to pull the bacon of one of its' former colonial holdings out of the fire. The UK will not intervene unless the IS invade Tanzania and the Tanzanians ask for help (Though the Tanzanians are on of the few powers in Africa to have won a war by itself in living memory.). On the other hand, France might, since the fields are being worked on by a consortium led by Total S.A. and the French has always been interested in expanding their influence and client relationships in Africa, like they did with Zaire during Shaba 2.

This has the potential for a lot of excitement.

Posted by: cxt217 at Wed Sep 2 15:12:58 2020 (4i7w0)

2 What the...HELL?
How did I DO that?
Every single article said Mozambique. I looked up Mozambique ports on World Port Source. I can't even..... Well, I went back and changed EVERYTHING to avoid confusion so....now your....um....comment is invalid.
Hey everybody, his comment refers to a "mostly peaceful" typo.
Nothing to see here.

http://brickmuppet.mee.nu/images/1318460190954.jpg

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Sep 2 16:02:50 2020 (5iiQK)

3 It's location on the Indian ocean west of Madagascar is far enough out of the fashionable zip codes to easily be ignored by the west (the west has become quite proficient at ignoring that area). But it gives some potential for a base of operations with IS assets in the region. There are IS affiliates in Indonesia, Pakistan and around the horn of Africa and a LOT of small dhows that travel up and down the east coast of the continent that provide cover to supply runs, requiring a very large naval presence if western powers were to try and interdict them. There's also the potential for income/liquidity from the nearby gas/oil fields. Northern Mozambique also has gems and gold, which are even easier to turn into liquidity. Assuming good roads and no checkpoints, Goma is only about a 4 hour drive and a ferry-ride away. Obviously it's much farther than that now but that region across the rift vallet 200 miles north is the awash in weapons from the ongoing insurgency as well as Ebola and Rift Valley Fever, which IS is probably not equiped to weaponize, but might well try nonetheless.
As you say, potentially exciting.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Sep 2 16:32:21 2020 (5iiQK)

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August 30, 2020

The Difference

...between being red-pilled and black-pilled is wether one gives into despair.

Don't give in to despair.

Don't fly off half cocked.

Don't assume that the first reports have all context.

Be careful.

Stay safe.

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Oh Great. Another Isekai Show....wait....

Well, that's different.

It'll take longer to explain than it will to let you watch the first episode on You Tube. The rest are on Crunchyroll.

I guess someone saw Thermae Romae and decided to make a...weird, claymation, Greek version. I'm not sure it's good, but it made me laugh.

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August 27, 2020

Oh Dear Lord

It's hitting with 150 mile per hour winds, a 20 foot storm surge.

This excerpt from the NOAA Public Advisory is sobering.

Key Messages:

1. Unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves will cause catastrophic damage from Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, including Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes.

This surge could penetrate up to 40 miles inland from the immediate coastline, and flood waters will not fully recede for several days after the storm.

2. Hurricane-force winds are expected tonight in portions of the hurricane warning area, with catastrophic wind damage expected where Laura's eyewall moves onshore. Hurricane-force winds and widespread damaging wind gusts will spread well inland into portions of extreme eastern Texas and western Louisiana early Thursday.

3. Widespread flash flooding along small streams, urban areas, and roadways is expected to begin overnight tonight into Thursday from far eastern Texas into Louisiana and Arkansas. This will also lead to minor to moderate freshwater river flooding. The heavy rainfall

threat and flash and urban flooding potential will spread

northeastward into the middle-Mississippi, lower Ohio, and Tennessee Valleys Friday night and Saturday.

I don't recall ever seeing the word "unsurvivable" in a forecast before.

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August 25, 2020

2020 Comes to Beaumont

Actually, I'm much more concerned about the inland path of this storm as it's following a path very similar to Camille. This is reportedly a wet storm and the potential for unpleasantness in Appalachia due to orographic precipitation is high.

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August 24, 2020

Calcium Phosphate, Lead, Brass, Bismuth, Batteries, Boxes, and Banking

Baleful banality bides below.

For those uninterested in such matters, here is Tsana in the rain...by Lansane. Support his work on Fanbox.

more...

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1 Good Lord, that Wells Fargo story is horrible!
WF are scum. I had a car loan through them and my payment was due a couple days before payday. I called about 5 times asking them to send me a form to move my payment date and they never sent one, so I spent a couple of years getting hit with $25 or so late payments every month.

Posted by: Rick C at Mon Aug 24 09:16:39 2020 (Iwkd4)

2 Yep, WF definitely should have outlined that policy to you. It's either bad training or a backdoor way into additional fees. Not telling you how things work when you explicitly were asking for something outside of policy kinda leans me towards the latter (or maybe a combination based on which level of personnel you're talking about). If your loan statements and/or receipts were giving you a "your next payment will be due on xxxx" date that was getting further and further into the future...you may have a decent UDAAP case.

That said, this is an interesting case study in how "reasonableness" and "in the best interests of the consumer" are nebulous concepts to hang regulation on. I can see where you're coming from in terms of trying to get several months ahead to guard against unforeseen events. I argue that, for the general person at least, if not you personally, it is at least as reasonable to get 1 month ahead and put the rest towards principal in order to reduce the total payment amount. The short version of the argument being that 1 is as arbitrary a cutoff as 2 or 3 would be*. In an ideal world, an even more optimal strategy might be to get 1 month ahead, put 1-2 months of payments into a some sort of interest bearing near-cash*, and then put the rest towards principal. This preserves ~3 months of cushion which maximizing the total payment reduction. I suspect that you'd have landed on a process something like that if WF had actually told you that you couldn't be 13 months ahead.

*YMMV here, mostly my argument is that it's not facially unreasonable to argue that the cushion provided from 1-3 months is approximately the same.

**I recommend against the stock market for this, btw. The risk that something causing a hit to the market would cause a hit to short term personal income at the same time is quite high. I'm not saying that anything that might cause you to access that safety net would force you to sell a dip, but rather that something that forces a significant stock market dip would probably cause you to need to sell the dip to access those funds. The fact that the long term zero interest rate policy is driving up the cost of liquidity for the general pubic is, sadly, a separate problem.

Posted by: Really Bored at Mon Aug 24 13:23:04 2020 (7vK48)

3 The problem with WF was that unlike, for example, BofA, they refused to play along with "voluntary" excommunication of firearm-related businesses. So, they were the last refuge of various LGS-type people, and cannot easily be disposed of. My own company banks at BBVA by keeping a low profile and registering as "miscellaneous parts manufacturing".

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Mon Aug 24 15:37:59 2020 (LZ7Bg)

4 Bored: no, what happened was simply that my payment due date happened to be, say, on the 10th, and my pay schedule was such that I got paid (semimonthly) on the 15th, and at the time, since I paid the rent with my other paycheck, and didn't have a lot of extra money, I couldn't really make the payment on time. Lots of companies are willing to shift your due date around a few days here or there over the phone. WF was in theory willing to--but you had to call them, and ask them to mail you a paper form to fill out and mail back to them. Incredibly stupid. I asked them 5 times to do so and never received it, so my payments were late every month for just about the entire loan period, which probably hurt my credit rating, too, in addition to the late fees. That wasn't the only problem I had with them; every time I needed a new debit card, either because the current one died or expired, I would go into my local branch and ask for a new one, and it would never appear, so a few weeks later, I would have to go in again and ask a second time. That happened to me three separate times over several years.

Posted by: Rick C at Mon Aug 24 22:01:35 2020 (Iwkd4)

5 Rick C.: Sorry, I was talking about the Muppet's woes specifically. Yours were/are standard lender douchebaggery, yeah. Tho usually there's a grace period (by law) before they can charge a late fee, so again...might have a UDAAP case (IANAL, etc, etc).
Pete: Yep, I fled BofA because of that. And cited that decision in writing on the "why are you leaving?" question. I skipped over to a credit union (DCU) to avoid the general big bank problem.

Posted by: Really Bored at Tue Aug 25 17:03:54 2020 (7vK48)

6 I used to use Wells Fargo because they bought the bank I used before that. They encouraged people to use their Debit cards, and I was in the habit, then they announced that they were going to "Experiment" with charging you a $3.00 fee if you used your Debit card any month.

I decided to "Experiment" with a different bank and went with a local credit union loosely affiliated with my employer (but actually only requiring that you live in this state). I got interest on my checking, a much lower rate on my cards, and ATMs if I was so inclined actually at work.

WF eventually decided not to kill the goose, but the goose left anyway. I keep the credit card and only use it when they threaten to drop it for inactivity just for the cost of maintaining the account.

Posted by: Mauser at Wed Aug 26 23:36:47 2020 (Ix1l6)

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