Budget Domicile

Upon arriving in that thar ole' Jaypan I suddenly discovered that my accommodation arrangements were FUBAR'd due to an apparent oxidation mishap. I took no pictures of the grave of Casa Nova on that rainy night but I snapped this one 22 days later...
this old promo photo was taken from almost the same angle as the one below it.

 

 

The Tokyo boarding house I found was rough around the edges, but it was a surprise expense that fit within my budget. Green House cost about 500 dollars for a month. with a roughly 250 dollar deposit for utilities. It is less than a click from the train station and is only two stops on the express ( 9 minutes) from the big station in Ikebukaro.
The building known as Green House is old and was initially quite off-putting but the place is very casual, reasonably watertight and had,  at the time I was there, 18 other occupied rooms (out of 19), about a third of which were families as large as 5. This was really interesting to watch and I was able to interact with some of the tenants from time to time.
The rooms are in fact rooms, single rooms, but they come with a kitchenette which is a step above the late, lamented Casa Nova. On the debit side the place was in materially worse condition than the other place had been in August of '07.

On the bonus side it was in vastly better condition than that apartment was in August of '08.


The postit note speaks the truth...take my word for it.

The coin operated showers were nearly a foot shorter than me on the inside.
I quickly learned that in Japan the most valuable thing on earth is a 100 yen coin. This shower, phones, laundromats, some vending machines and even one automat would take nothing else!
The two big utility sinks in the halls are the traditional Japanese type...The upstairs one was no longer in commission. One of the tenants intended to turn that one into a planter for vegetables which I thought was a cool idea, but then, I am a nerd. I gather the landlord did not object as he was stacking bags of potting soil in it the day I left.

I realized early on what the problem was with the restrooms...it seems that due to a miscomunication, right was frequently disabled by the tenants, and, as nature abhors a vacuum, the restrooms would then fill up with wrong.
Restroom wrongness aside, the building was, while dilapidated, not actually unclean. I never saw a roach for instance. On the other hand there were a lot of jumping spiders (_{which I did not molest...and reciprocated the behavior}).

Despite the rustic touches there are a few things to be said for places like this. First the place is cheap.
500 a month in Tokyo is pretty damned good. You are unlikely to get better private accommodations for that without a 6 month lease. Gas is cheap, the 250 dollar utility deposit was 80% refunded.
Second the place is casual.
"What does he mean?"
Other, newer places, like this that actually cater to foreigners frequently cost twice as much and have a ton of restrictions. No guests, a curfew, no food in the rooms...its like dorm life without D&D. This place allows you to cook in your room, go and come at 3 AM and as long as you observe shoe discipline and aren't loud..they don't care.
As an aside, when I told my friend  Bob Mitchell about the pillows* that were in the closet he asked about the layout and the nearby bathouse. We realized that by bizarre coincidence he had stayed here before. In fact he had brought some friends, who balked at the place got another, better maintained place that cost more than twice as much and were miserable in the "prison" whereas Bob stayed here and had a fine time, being able to come and go as he pleased with no fear of being locked out.

 The purpose of accommodations when on a vacation is to give you a place to sleep and put your stuff. This served that purpose well. I was not in Japan to see the inside of an apartment but to see the many sights of that strange land. Particularly given that this was found quite on the fly I think I did pretty well. For that reason I actually don't recommend against this place.


_{* Pillows in Japan are constructed to an utterly different standard of softness, more appropriate for a beanbag. Bob informed me of this in '07, and mentioned that he always bought several pillows from Sams Club before going to Japan. On the way back, the luggage space used for pillows was taken up with the stuff he'd purchased. When I discovered several Sams Club pillows in the closet I laughed and  mentioned it to Bob...after a bit of exchanging notes we realized he had stayed in this place. I asked the landlord and sure enough he remembered Bob as  "that really nice polite American".
Bob Mitchell ...legendary Gaijin.}

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Unfurl The Sails!

Arrrrr.....one of the Brickmuppet's crack crew of alchemaic wenches has  picked up this bit of scuttlebut from that thar scurrvy dog Brian Wang.

 It seems that a bunch o' 'lubbers at ESA have been lookin' into spacejammers, and have figgued ot how to get more speed outa their sun sails by usin' St Elmo's fire!

This here sail there talkin about doesnt ride the light from the sun like other spacejammers, it rides the suns own westerlies!

That might not be of any interest to us 'ceptin that this Wang feller has figgured out how to use this here contraption to find treasure amongst the planets. Real treasure mayties, not just gold and silver mind you, but platinum and fresh water too!

If'n this thing works it'll be fast too! ...about 1, 494, 625 kts faster than one of them new fangled 15 kt clipperships!

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Brickmuppet Breaking Down

UPS physical today.

Blood pressure was 175 over 100.

UPS has therefore laid me off until I can get it under control.

Suck.

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Reality Breaking Down

I've been under the weather a bit lately so I pretty much crashed this evening. A while ago I got up turned on the news to see what was happening in teh real world, only to discover that /b/tards are causing trouble in /po/.

WTF? 4chan has entered the election.

Now I can't sleep because of the nagging nauseating  fear that /d/ might be under the bed.

Interestingly, while a lot of people are looking for an elite group of crackerjack anarchist hackers who call themselves anonymous. Michelle Malkin of all people has posted a rundown from a reader which explains what is much more likely to /b/ the truth.

That some adolescent pulled this off is not all that surprising, but the fact that Gawker and others posted screencaps of the accounts as well as contact info for the Governors whole E-Mail list is pretty damned obnoxious.


Profanity is tastefully below the fold.

more...

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Ubu Lives!

Ubu Roi has power and internet again. He has a post up on the aftermath. It looks like the surge WAS as bad as expected but was to the northwest...

Across the bay to the north, the Bolivar Peninsula, Crystal Beach, and High Island…. everythings gone. Not damaged, gone. There were once dozens of beach houses on stilts there, and the area had several canals dug so that even houses 3 and 4 rows back from the beach could have docks for their boats. The occasional lonely piling is still sticking up, plus one very incongruous house that somehow survived. Other than that, water and the occasional bit of greenery. It appears that a historic “iron lighthouse” is gone; the media chopper couldn’t find it.

Read the whole thing.

'Gwendolyne D. Barista' who moved not so long ago to the area sends this via E-Mail....

...there were a bunch of reports of a few thousands using their fireplaces when their power went out... AND THEN ABANDONING THEIR HOMES WITH THE FIRES STILL GOING. Loads of houses have burnt down. Good job, guys. *shakes head* I am so ashamed. It's called flashlights. It ain't like you people are going to freeze to death here in Texas...
So then, much to everyone's chagrin (they can't claim to be surprised) the storm moved up into Houston and took out a lot of the downtown area. Unbelievable flooding and blown glass and debris. There was a snippet rolling by on the ticker that said 'Houston's Tallest Building Loses Nearly All Windows' or some sensational bullshit like that. It's true- all the glass is on the street ....It's intense.
Also, there were notices of Boil Alerts in Houston in order to keep contamination down. That, and there was another alert that popped up later (so as not to appear related, methinks) that there had been a chlorine leak. GOODY.

Here is video of Galveston from the Coast Guard Falcon that was sent to assess the damage as soon as weather permitted. It is humbling.

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You...You Spilled Gainax on My Robot Show!

The long awaited paycheck arrived...the first one in 5 weeks...and after the filling up the pickup of peril....with what must have been vintage wine or something... and getting the last book for school I walked out of a local store with Gurren Lagaan Volume 2. Today was spent studying, composing E-mails in Japanese and fretting about Ike, but at 6pm I hung it up and popped in the much anticipated DVD.
Like volume, one volume 2 is a very reasonably priced 2 disc set containing 9 episodes. Unlike volume one however, the marketing department very sensibly put teh Yoko on the cover of volume 2.

I had been quite taken by the first volume and was looking forward to 9 episodes of teh Yoko, giant fighting robots, adventure and teh Yoko...

What I got was 8 episodes of satisfying giant robot battles, a goofy albino Moe Maiden, adventure, heroism, a basically satisfying wrap-up of most plot threads and not quite enough of teh Yoko.
Oh, and one episode of patented Gainax Gut Punchery....

My biggest problem with the show is the crass stupidity and pig headedness of a lot of the cast, which frequently leads to seemingly unnecessary plot complications this is not as annoying as it could be due in part to the fact that said problems are usually resolved by thoroughly amusing giant robot battles. I should mention that the bombastic character Kamina comes off much better in this volume than he did in the first disc when he was...you know...alive

 Now I'm a bit put off by the Moe' thing _{(which Pulpjunkie describes as "a girl as a pet" )} and Nina is so Moe' it is jarring, but the character is actually quite deep and strong in an utterly different way than teh Yoko.

The goofball nature of the series combined with the genuine drama and pathos is an odd mix that has rarely been pulled off, being reminiscent of Van Dread in a way. All in all it was a very satisfying and quite enjoyable 8 episodes. I was impressed.

Then suddenly... I was reminded this was a Gainax show...and the show began chanelling Josh Wheadon.
There is a clifhanger.
We'll leave it at that....
...while we contemplate the obligatory beach episode...and teh Yoko

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Ike Follow Up

Ubu's last post was shortly before 01:00 local.
Weather Nerd# says the surge was less than expected which is hopeful but reports from the area# are grim. I hope the tide gauges didnd give false readings due to the storm.


Via Colleen Doran comes a list of vetted charities active in the area.

The worst is over at least.

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Ubu Blogging Ike

Ubu Roi is unable to leave Houston due to family obligations. He is live blogging the calamity (with occasional pictures) as long as his connection lasts from his primary blog, Houblog.



UPDATE:  Horrible news...Ubu reports that  40% of Galveston has refused to evacuate...
...dear God.
Galveston was utterly destroyed in the 1900 storm. That island is going to be under water and buffeted by Hurricane force winds for hours. Thousandd may be dead in a matter of hours.

Weather Nerd is right, this storm was seriously under-hyped.


UPDATE 2:
Reports are that the storm surge will reach 31 feet at high tide...Galveston's seawall is 20 feet high. There are reports of fires throughout the county as transformers explode...
Ubu reports that the Galveston seawall is over topping at 11:40 local
Very nearly everyone on the island could be dead by morning.

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Hell is Coming to Texas Tonight

The worst natural disaster to ever hit the US was a hurricane on a track very similar to this. This is worse. As I type this,  it looks like the eye will pass near or over both Galveston and Houston. The thing is HUGE and could hit some areas with hurricane force winds for 12 hours or more. This has the potential to be an unimaginable calamity. Worse, the area has been hit by numerous hurricanes that are on paper more dangerous. However, the size of this storm will result in a storm surge of historic levels and the area will be subject to winds far longer than it has in history. Many people, perhaps thousands, who have weathered previous bad storms with no problem are likely in for a terrible, terrible surprise if they have not evacuated. This storm is a monster and it may be the most damaging hurricane of all time.
It should be noted that the Houston ship channel is one of the most vital pieces of national infrastructure.

Send your thoughts and prayers to
Mark Whittington
Rachel Lucas
Avatar
Ubu Roi
and everyone else in the line of fire. Ubu in particular is in a bad situation and can't actually evacuate due to family responsibilities..

UPDATE: The 584 foot bulk freighter Antalina  has suffered an engineering casualty and was unable to avoid the storm. The ship is adrift is adrift in 80 knot winds with 22 crew aboard. Coast Guard  and Air Force rescue aircraft were unable to remove the crew and the aircraft were forced down in Lake Charles. Antalina is reportedly  a Cyprus Registered coke carrier.

From the USCG Press release.

"Unfortunately there were 80-knot winds on scene, well beyond the operating conditions for the air crews to safely rescue the crew of the Antalina. The safety of the rescue crews and the crew of the Antalina are of the utmost importance to us. The Coast Guard will continue to maintain contact with the crew of the Antalina and monitor their situation very closely," said Rear Adm. Joel R. Whitehead, commander, Eighth Coast Guard District. 

I've been able to find no info on the Antalina aside from that given in the Maritime link. She is said to be a coke carrier. Bulk freighters carrying such low value cargo are often not in the peak of maintenance.  The vessel has traditional lifeboats, which are perilous in good weather let alone in the teeth of a hurricane. This is a serious situation.
UPDATE 2: thanks to a commenter at Galrahn's. Here are the stats on the vessel. They do not fill me with confidence.
UPDATE 3:It looks like they made it.




Via The Unofficial Coast Guard Blog, the acknowledged Military response is...

USS Nassau w/1000 medical bed facility. The NASSAU arrived in Norfolk, Virginia at 1000 EDT September 12 and on-loaded a Disaster Relief Team (DRT), Beach Party Team (BPT), Fleet Surgical Team (FST) and 4 x Utility Landing Craft (LCU)

(20) title 10 aircraft and helicopters to include HH-60s, SH-60s, HC-130s;

(14) USCG platforms to include HH-65s and HU-25s;

(9) Air National Guard platforms to include HH-60s, MC-130s;

(61) Army National Guard helicopters.

This is in addition to the National Guard , Army, Civilian Federal, Volunteers Churches and NGOs.

UPDATE: *Coast Guard video of rescues is here and here.



_{This is driving me nuts....I'm still on medical leave and thus nondeployable. At this time they don't even need any back fill here ( at least not from a broke coastie). 2 times I had to drop out of school for mobilization but see no action and save no one except a St. Bernard...Now this.....an actual emergency...what I enlisted to do...something that applies to my rate in spades is happening and I'm Walter Mitty with a keyboard.}

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more...

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Humor Deficit

Via

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Categorically Incorrect

There has been an error in categorization that may cause some viewers distress.
For reasons unknown a post on Governor Palin and a post on....umm...Chun Li are appearing in the "Actually it IS Rocket Science!" category.

Yes, these two willful and saucy posts are stubbornly refusing to go where they belong.

I apologize for any stress incurred to those expecting only SpaceBlogging at that link. I am fully aware that Chun Li and Sarah Palin are not, strictly speaking, space related ...though Chun Li and Sarah Palin in Space might have potential as a series concept.

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They Don't Like Ike

Ike is a true catastrophe. The hurricane has killed over 60 people in the Caribbean and devastated the Turks and Caicos Islands, reportedly destroying 80% of the buildings in the British territory. The thing has been hammering Cuba from both sides and despite crossing that islands high mountains seems has only weakened a bit. soon, after another gut punch to the Crocodile island, it is going to saunter into the Gulf of Mexico, most likely regain strength and bring despair to the USA or USM. If you are in that cone start reading your calamity kit.
(Hang on Ubu)


Excellent weatherblogging and first hand reporting at Stormcarib.
Charities that are active in the area.
( I have no info on these though I assume the BRC is legit)
British Red Cross
Oxfam America
The Order of Malta (Which handles AmeriCares Caribbean Charities)

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Oh Noes! Moar Politiks!

more...

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What is The Target Audience?

A few days ago I watched Lucky Star (Volume 3)at my friend Allan's house.

I am not buying much as the first paycheck in 5 weeks doesn't come until Friday. However, yesterday evening we swung by Best Buy in part because I wanted to confirm something crazy...crazy I say.... that Allan said had about the deluxe edition.

Yes...Volume 3 deluxe comes with a schoolgirl uniform (winter version from the show).

Other deluxe editions come with a (female) gym uniform.

...

So....I'm guessing I'm not actually the target audience here.

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Remedial Space Blogging

The Brickmuppet's crack team of science babes (flaming chariot division) are all dressed up, with nowhere to go..and this pisses them off!
 
They point out that while we have had the math worked out on reaching space for a century and we've been doing it for about half as long, it is still too great a hurdle for cheap access and large scale development.

This is a side effect of expendable launchers, which make sense from an engineering standpoint (they have maximum  fuel efficiency and the highest payloads) but in an economic sense...they make no sense.

The problem here is that with the most current launch vehicles we are doing the equivalent of flying to Japan in a 747 and then blowing up the plane......every time. If that were the process for a transpacific flight..I could not have afforded to go to Japan last month.....just about no one could have.

So how do we fix the problem?  Well obviously we make the damned thing reusable so you can fly it more than once!

While it may seem at first blush to be a dispatch from the department of "Duh!", that task is not as easy as it sounds...nor as impossible as some suggest.


more...

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It's the New MOE'

More Sarah Palin fallout no doubt.....

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I HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

Wo0t!

I'm important!

I have a parasite page trolling for my readers typos!  It's not even pr0n.

brickmuppet.me.nu

It won't make them much money though...I think I have 6 readers and 4 spammers.

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Huh?

What, gentle readers, is this?

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The Speech

It WAS a good speech. Even if she DID use a teleprompter. (and a "gasp!"speechwriter)

 
Criticism that it was short on policy specifics ( generally not the Veep candidates job ) or that it attacked the opposition leader ( generally the Veep candidates job) are just sour grapes.



Governor Palin's big requirement was to deliver a good speech and she did that. She will probably do well in the VP Debate, though Biden is an excellent debater (that is basically all he's done over the last 20 years...other than be wrong)  Palin rather more social conservative than I like but her record in Alaska seems pretty impressive for such a short time.

She is quite impressive in many ways, not the least because of the tornado of bile from the Media and the Nutroots that she endured with considerable grace over the weekend. However, it would be good for those of us on the right to not to get too full of ourselves. Due to a combination of bad performance in Congress, bad luck, bad faith reporting by the media and arrogance, the Republican brand is a hard sell this year. To the extent we forget the first and last points, this dilemma is deserved.  We have a chance in part because our two candidates seem to be trying to correct both problems.

It is also important to remember that while Obama's resume is rather thinner than either of the Republican candidates, as a senator he has not been the empty suit * he was for most of his previous career. He is also engaging, eloquent and likable to many. Additionally, his urbane sense of entitlement, as off-putting as it is to us, gives many people who have historically been despicably excluded, a much deserved sense of pride and hope.

He also has a solid following of genuinely scary goofballs who seem to see him as a messiah fulfilling the prophecies of Marx and Mao. He is not to be underestimated, and I genuinely fear that to the extent he is not playing his "progressive" backers for fools that the stakes are quite high...so, as the A listers say... don't get cocky*....

Still, we have in this Bull Moose ticket a remarkably strong hand.  For the first time in this election I am optimistic.  

More optimism here.

_{*HT: Instapundit}

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