Brickmuppet Blog 2.0

April 26, 2008

Precautionary Principle

Dr. Buzzo has an excellent overview of the "precautionary principle" and how it has been twisted by some into a fear of absolutely everything.

Read the whole thing.

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Bad Omens

Here are 4 actual fortune cookie fortunes I've received over the last few months.

Be careful! Straight trees often have crooked roots!

Sure, you have duties, but what about your duties to yourself.

Failure is not final. Just make sure you don't die because of it.

They'll definitely remember all your efforts.

...

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April 23, 2008

The root of the problem......Grrrlz in teh capsuel

That wayward Soyuz capsule ferrying crew from the International Space Station entered the atmosphere HATCH END FIRST burning off the radio antennas and pointing the heat shield and retro rockets in the wrong direction!

Holy crap!

Despite the harrowing entry, the capsule somehow did not incinerate on reentry (w00t!) but landed hundreds of miles off course with no working radios and had a very rough landing.

Fortunately, all three crewmembers, American Peggy Whitson, Korean Yi So-yeon, and Russian Yuri Malenchenko were safe.

But then there is this... (HT Rand Simberg)

The Russians chastised the crew for not radioing...(I refer you to the 'melted off antennas' bit) and....as a precaution to ensure that this sort of thing never happens again...

" "You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing, but thank God that everything worked out successfully,'' he said. "Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass'the number of men. "

Saydowhahuh?

So the problems have been identified as Peggy Whitson, who was the first female commander of the ISS and currently has the American record for number of cumulative hours in space and Yi So-yeon who is the first Korean in Space.

Oh good....I was worried they'd waste money on something silly like the attitude control system or GPS...but that was no doubt my cynical nature talking.

^{An accurate representation of what female astronauts reentering the atmosphere do not look like.}

.

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April 22, 2008

Exam Hellishness

Not much in the way of posting for a bit....but to celebrate the licensing of Gurren Laggan, here is a pic of Yoko to tide you over....

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Rationality Expelled

I'm really busy studying for exams.
I would hate to get expelled.

However, with that in mind,something has come up that requires comment.

Fortunately Pixy is doing a fine job of it, as is Matoko San.

I have not seen the film so I have little to add except to say that ID is pernicuiously, malignantly wrong. It is not merely stupid and wrong, it is corrosively antiscience.

Yes the evangelical atheists are vile and obnoxious and bigoted...how did the producers decide to get that point across? By making jerkwads like Dawkins look good.

Congratulations...you've cunningly picked an issue (I'm talking about IDiocy of course) where they are unequivocally right....BEULLLER!!!???

The filmakers allegedly make a point about left leaning influence of grants and political correctness.
Congratulations ein Stein....you've attached yourself to an issue where you are utterly wrong.

This film plays to the worst stereotypes that the left spreads about the right, empowers the condescending jackasses like Obama and Dawkins and it is immorally anti-science.

I've got morons on my team.

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April 20, 2008

On a More Serious Note: Go Read This

Just make sure you read the whole thing.

Oh and Mr. Cavett, you were indeed aptly named.

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April 19, 2008

Oh teh Horrors

more...

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If True, This Can't be Good...

China has reportedly renamed the former Russian Carrier Varyag, * the Shi Lang.

Shi Lang was the Chinese Admiral who captured Taiwan.

More Chicom CV rumors here.

Varyag was purchased unfinished with the stated intention of turning it into a floating hotel/casino/ entertainment center....but 'somehow' ended up at a naval base painted in P.L.A.N. Grey with naval technicians swarming over her.

* I can't find a primary source on this.But this thread and the Wikipedia entry list Janes AtWFS 2008.

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1 Hmm. Still has the ski-jump. I take it they aren't putting in steam catapults? And that strategypage article suggests that it's a 65k boat, not the originally-planned 90-ish.

Also, are they actually putting a nuke in there?

Seems like an excellent cash-sink for PLAN. It probably represents at least a squadron or so of subs they *won't* be buying. And the half-dozen or so cruise missiles it'll take to sink her ought to be relatively cheap for the investment.

Posted by: Mitch H. at Mon Apr 21 10:01:36 2008 (jwKxK)

The Varyag is a Kuztenov class carrier. They are about 65K tons about Midaway size I think. They were to be succeeded by a 90-110Kton nuclear powered successor. That was cancelled, though Russia is reportedly now planning to build 6-7 updated versions of that class. Russia has learned a lot from operations with the Kuztenov and will apply many of the lessons learned there.

Regards China. A carrier is a good thing for power projection, both hard and soft and is quite useful in providing air support for...say...an amphibious landing of some sort. Carriers ae not invulnerable, but they are tough and I imagine the waters on the shoreside of Taiwan are littered with seafloor sonars and would be absolutely filled with SSKs to protect the carrier/s.

This is certainly not a wonder weapon and as you correctly point out detracts from their SSK/SSN program . However, it is not without its benefits to the PLAN, nor should it be viewed with a total lack of concern by us.

Posted by: Brickmuppet at Mon Apr 21 10:54:33 2008 (/WxJJ)

I don't know that Russia learned anything from operations of that ship, because it never reached active service.

And I disagree that this carrier would be of any significant aid to China in some sort of planned invasion of Taiwan. (Which is not militarily plausible anyway, for at least six reasons.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wed Apr 23 00:22:26 2008 (+rSRq)

4 This carrier is the second of the class and incorporates lessons learned from the first (the Kuztenov). That vessel did enter service and is still in service today.

I would be shocked if there were an invasion of Taiwan in the very near term but it might in the long. China believes that it doesn't need to defeat the US militarily, just sink a carrier or two. They have watched the US reactions to combat losses since Viet Nam and are sure that the anti-war crowd will declare defeat if given a sufficient bloody nose. As far as doctrine, they been very open about banking on the left and the media to declare a rout in that case.

To that end they are investing heavily in ssk's and ssn's as well as missiles and mines to make the vicinity of Taiwan a hellish place for a ship to be. Taiwan is as you quite rightly say, a very tough nut to crack, but it is not unbeatable without outside assistance and its being made part of the mainland is very important to their national self image as far as redressing the Tang era setbacks which was a national shame for the worlds oldest civilization second only to the horrors they suffered under the Japanese. (Another obnoxious thing on their 'to do list' is the utter extermination of the Japanese people...which I have little doubt they would do if they thought they could get away with it)

I am unsure that they are right about the US reaction to a bloody nose.
The US, because of our current red blue divide. tends to be rather bipolar in policy, but 10,000 sailors dead in a sea battle against the tyrants of Tienanmen might well provide the Chinese with a rare and painful demonstration of American unity.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Apr 23 08:25:39 2008 (CTUU/)

Mitch, the carrier catapult is actually a technology that's VERY hard to successfully implement, and pretty much requires a large carrier to use.

When you mix the tech problems with the ship size difficulty, for most fleets a skijump is the way to go.

Posted by: Wonderduck at Wed Apr 23 20:19:15 2008 (Hrqgp)

6 I've read Russian reports about the last cruise of Kuznetsov. They were brimming with pride for not losing a single aircraft to accidents this time around despite flying more. So obviously lessons were learned, at least to a degree. If those lessons would be useful for anything remains to be seen.

I did not serve really, but was assigned to Air Defence Forces. Old-timers who knew others who went to Vietnam griped that lessons from Vietnam were never applied across the force. They were talking specifically about mobility and SEAD resistance. Apparently all units rotated from USSR to NV were taking serious losses every time before adapting and starting fighting for real. Russians have amazing ability to ignore lessons. There was just no culture of taking training seriously, at least back then.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed Apr 23 23:16:31 2008 (qNSKg)

The problem with a ski jump is that it requires you to use STOL jets, thrust-vectoring. That's because there no way for any jet to get up to air speed in such a short distance using its engines alone. You have to vector thrust somewhat downward to compensate.

There are good sides and bad sides to thrust vectoring. One of the bad sides is that no thrust-vectored jet in the world can go supersonic, as far as I know. That's not a problem for ground support, but for air superiority it's a considerable disadvantage.

Of course, it depends enormously on who you're up against. The Brits did fine with a handful of Harriers against Argentina in the Falklands War. But against an opponent, oh, say, just picking "Taiwan" at random, there's no way such jets are going to be able to compete against Taiwan's F-16's and Mirage 2000's.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thu Apr 24 00:18:29 2008 (+rSRq)

It would seem I'm not quite right. Apparently thrust vectoring is more common than I realized. The F-18 has a form of it, for example, as a means of improving maneuverability.

What I was talking about isn't the ability to redirect the thrust ten or twenty degrees, which is what that jet has. I meant the kind that the Harrier has. I'm still pretty sure that jets like that cannot go supersonic.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thu Apr 24 00:25:49 2008 (+rSRq)

Not so, Steven. The Kuznetsov embarked the Su-25 attack plane and the Su-33 (the naval variant of the Flanker, with canards for additional lift). Neither has any thrust vectoring capabilities.

The main limitation of the skijump is that a plane generally can't operate at full load. In some ways, though, skijumps are actually easier on the plane and pilot.

Of course, the Kuznetsov-class is sort of an "in-between" carrier design, larger than a Brit Harrier-carrier, and smaller than the French CVNs, so one would expect it to operate differently...

Posted by: Wonderduck at Thu Apr 24 03:03:09 2008 (gwUM9)

10 Kustenov is bigger than the French CVN it. It is a very capable ship despite some design oddities and inexperience in the field.

Regards the vectoring of thrust, the ramp points the nose of a plane up and therefore its tail down....thus vectoring the thrust. They work fine with conventional jets and have no moving parts. They are not as versatile as a catapult and a cat cant be fitted in one but they are a perfectly acceptable solution within their limits.
eg: India will operate conventional aircraft off of its 2 new small carriers using ski jumps.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Apr 24 10:17:52 2008 (nTr+S)

Kuznetsov maybe be physically bigger than the French CVN, but it carries a smaller fixed-wing air group, which should be the whole point of a carrier.

Of course, the Russians don't call the Kuznetsov-class an aircraft carrier, but a "heavy aircraft carrying cruiser." Really, the fighters are there to protect the ship while it gets into range to launch its shipborne missiles.

Strange by our Navy's way of thinking, but...

Posted by: Wonderduck at Thu Apr 24 10:44:39 2008 (Hrqgp)

Wikipedia says the DeGaulle has catapults and carries 40 aircraft including helicopters.

It says the Kuznetsov carries 21 fixed wing aircraft and 20 helicopters.

But the DeGaulle displaces about 42,000 tons fully loaded, and the Kuznetsov is 66,000 tons.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thu Apr 24 14:43:48 2008 (+rSRq)

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April 12, 2008

47 Years

47 years ago a human being first entered Earth orbit.

In 8 years the human race went from one low furtive orbit to landing on another celestial body. The difference between the low orbits of Vostok and Mercury and what was required to get to the moon was vast. The difference in energy between getting to the Moon and getting to Mars, Ceres, or any of the other worlds this side of Jupiter is actually quite small. The solar system was open planets and moons beckoned and the future seemed to have arrived!

Now, 47 years after one man wen where no one had ever gone before we have, instead of SIX FLAGS ON THE MOON...six flags...on the moon. surrounded by the footprints of the only twelve to walk on its surface.

47 years later we do send several people a year into space. They are confined to low earth orbit just as Gagarin was. there are plans to return, but it is pointed out that it will take more than a decade more to do what was done in 8 years from scratch 39 years ago.

In 1968, Hollywood imagined the year 2001 to be one of casual space travel with huge moon cities, massive Space stations and the ability to send people as far afield as Jupiter. Given the rate of progress to that point this was seen as utterly reasonable. And yet....

The reason often given is that we have too many problems here.

That was the reason given by the bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty when they decommissioned Zheng Hu's treasure fleet which had massively stimulated trade commerce and cultural exchange. The results of that unenlightened decision were rather unfortunate for the nation whose bureaucrats made it but it consolidated their power in the short span of their petty, venal lives so they no doubt thought it was a wise move.

A rather more eloquent set of refutations for this sad attempt at an argument can be found here.

With that in mind, tonight we reject these visionless Mandarins as people all over the world celebrate the first instance of a human leaving out atmosphere and entering orbit.

As an added bonus, he future has been long in coming, but its finally getting here.

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April 11, 2008

For This the Word Sublime Was Invented

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Pulpjunkie on the Upcoming "Season"

Though an expert on silver screen obscurity, Pulpjunkie does not do anime reviews for the most part, and a hand injury has kept him from blogging for some time, but he recently E-mailed, to a mailing list I belong to, this overview of the upcoming shows and I've reprinted it with permission adding you-tubes of the OP's or promos where available.

April is one of the big premiere months for anime TV shows (January, July,
and October are the other 3). and this year is a doozy! Over 30 anime
shows begin this month. The first few fansubs are trickling out, and, as
expected, the harem shows are first. Still, I'll try to give some brief
reviews of first episodes as I watch them.

Browsing the "calendar" section over at anidb.net, I find the following:
8 sequel/returning shows: Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's; Kyou Kara Maou! 3rd series;
3XHolic Kei; Blue Dragon: The Seven Dragons of the Sky; Da Capo II Second Season; Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2; Neo Angelique Abyss; and Hidamari Sketch x 365.

4 shows for children/families: Net Ghost Pipopa (Pokemon-esque); Onegai My Melody Kirara (Hello Kitty-esque); Uchi no 3 Shimai (family comedy); Chi's Sweet Home (something about a kitten); plus two more from the sequel list
(Yu-Gi-Oh and Blue Dragon). This sort of answers Ken's question to me from a couple of months ago regarding whether the little kids have any cartoons to watch over there. Surely there must be some other kids' shows on thatstarted earlier. A quick glance at AniDB's "schedule" section shows me that, yes the little kids are alright: They've got plenty of shows that
don't involve panty shots, improbable cleavage and bloody carnage. It
seems they're still watching Chibi Maruko-chan, Doraemon, Pokemon, GeGeGe no Kitaro, Sgt. Frog, Crayon Shin-chan, and Pretty Cure plus shows about
cute little ninja, or talking food or something. they got it covered.

2 shoujou school romances: Itazura no Kiss and Special A.

7 scifi war/adventure shows: Allison to Lillia (orphanage pals hunt for
treasure while a war rages around them; Real Drive (more VR hijinks from
Masamune Shirow); Crystal Blaze (near(?) future private eye); Library Wars
(hi, Barb!); Blassreiter (mecha vs. demons); Kaiba (can something be retro
and avant garde at the same time?); and Macross Frontier, of course.

9 contemporary action shows: Kurenai; Zettai Karen Children (trio of
powerful ten-year-old epsers work for government agency; maybe should be
in the kids' section); Soul Eater (shinigami school action; so last year);
Nabari no Ou (ninja action); Vampire Knight (shoujou vampire romance with guns); Monochrome Factor (Perfectly Ordinary Japanese Teenager chosen to fight shadow demons); Himitsu: the Revelation; Golgo 13 (...); Daughter of 20-Faces (teen girl is daughter of master criminal; based on an Edogawa Rampo character).

2 period action shows; Mugen no Juunin (ronin cursed with immortality
can't die until he slays 1000 evil men); Amatsuki (modern teen trapped in
virtual Edo).

What's left? A few magic girlfriend/harem show love comedies: To-Love-Ru
(alien princess); Kanokon (fox-girl); and Wagaya no Oinara-sama (another
fox-girl; are they this year's shinigami?). Kyouran Kazoku Nikki might fit
here, too. Need more info. Jonjou Romantica is a shounen ai series. Moving
along now... Druaga no To: the Aegis of Uruk is a fantasy adventure/comedy
(not sure about the comedy part; art looks serious; hoping for the best).

Which brings us finally to: Kamen no Maid Guy. Yep, Kamen no Maid Guy. A Perfectly Ordinary Japanese Teenager discovers she's going to inherit a
fortune when she turns 18. In the meantime, she's been assigned a pair of
bodyguard/maids (and I quote): "Fubuki, a young and beautiful maid, and
Kogarashi, a big burly maid guy with a mask." So there you have it.

Plus: Lupin III: Green Vs. Red TV special. Good times.

Any thoughts, sirs and ladies?
T

OK Kamen No Maid Guy is just.....is that not a butler? No! He's in a maid outfit....WTF? I...I....ahem.

I've seen Macross Frontiers' pilot episode and it was remarkably good, indeed better than it should have been. Though there was little more than set-up it certainly has potential to be more than mechaphelia (and it provides ample doses of that). The characters introduced thus far are interesting and a couple were quite likable. The original Macross, despite its near dystopic setting, and the brutal intervention of combats random scythe, always had a surprisingly optimistic feel to it. This story, set on a massive interstellar colony ship has many of the same elements of the first on a grander scale. I look forward to this. It appears that it may be a high budget flagship show that marketing didn't focus group to death.

Looking at the OPs a few things stand out. Onegai My Melody Kirara has a duck in the opening credits and the action show Crystal Blaze has a girl in a duck suit in it. That is important to some people.

Crystal Blaze looks like it could be really interesting if it isn't obtuse, pretentious and boring.... but there is no way of determining that except by watching it. Kurenai; Zettai Karen Children looks really cute and might be enjoyable. It certainly has potential anyway. Druaga no To: the Aegis of Uruk is described as a comedy but looks to be an utterly straight D&D campaign...this could be quite good if it is simply deadpan, but again there is little to go on but hope.
The one that appeals to me actually is, oddly enough, Soul Eater, yes it is very last year, yes they are throwing in every trope they can including a naked (were?)catgirl, but the opening credits look delightfully manic and it appears that they are having fun with this silly show. I'm going to watch this one sometime this summer.

Lots of stuff....very little of it for me, but I imagine that a 38 year old single male American is not the target audience for these shows.

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Tomorrow Night is Yuri Night!

For those who might be unclear on exactly what this is, Yuri Night celebrates the anniversary of the launch of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. Not that...um... other Yuri. For those who will, therefore, be feeling terribly disappointed and cheated by tomorrow's post, Brickmuppet Blog helpfully provides (as a courtesy) this moment of reflection.

For those who are understandably offended by this utterly uncharacteristic display of base, prurient, pandering we offer as compensation this bit of thoughtful commentary for the other demographic.

Remarkable editing there.... ( shudders)

Touching Yuri dialog was found on the interweb years ago. Pic is a capture from Kashimashi which I am very unlikely to ever watch.
Trek Vid is via a friend who does not wish to be named on a wingnut blog.

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April 10, 2008

An Elephant Painting....

...an Elephant painting.

Snopes says its real.

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Godwins' Law Should Not Apply Here....

Eugene Volokh has a gobsmackingly horrific quote from a member of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

"Freedom of Speech Is an American Concept, So I Don't Give It Any Value"

Check out the link for context...it really doesn't help, as she goes on to say that freedom of speech is not a Canadian value.....ummmm....

For those not up to speed on this pernicious panel of pompous pinheads, click here.

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Concise, Pithy and to the Point

The arcane obtuse and unfathomable machinations that led to the current subprime lending debacle....Completely explained.

Nicely done.

HT: The Volokh Conspiracy

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April 07, 2008

Danger!... Brickmuppeteers Beware!

Skip this post...it is an atrocity.

.

Because some people did not listen, I've moved the horror below the fold for your protection. Please, do not look below the fold.....
more...

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1 That second picture is going to give me nightmares. Those are characters in a game? Good God...

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Apr 8 00:37:32 2008 (+rSRq)

2 He sent that pic to me a month or so ago, Steven... do you have ANY idea how hard it is to pluck your eyes out?

Posted by: Wonderduck at Tue Apr 8 01:20:08 2008 (Hrqgp)

Wow... There aren't words. Wait. Yes there are.

Zetsuboushita! Handicapped hentai has left me in despair!

(geez, imagine the google hits for that search string...)

You know, I think I'm beginning to develop a reputation for finding this stuff. It's not entirely undeserved, but I'm going to pass the blame for most of my depredations on to The Hostages.

Posted by: Will at Tue Apr 8 10:49:46 2008 (WnBa/)

If you visit some of the -chan picture boards, you'll sometimes find a category named "guro". Do not go there.

It turns out to be a contraction of gurossu from English "gross" (I'm pretty sure) and its the category where they put gross pictures: dead bodies, amputees, I won't say what else.

Something like ten years ago I saw a "guro" drawing that haunts me to this day. I really wish I hadn't seen it, and I won't describe it because just a description of it would be awful.

It would seem that there's a subculture in Japan, kind of the ultimate otaku, which likes this kind of thing. God knows why, though. So I can't say I'm totally surprised that someone's creating a dating game (I assume that's what it is) featuring amputees and otherwise deformed girls.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Apr 8 13:59:21 2008 (+rSRq)

Perspective is important. The guro stuff is downright evil. This is head spinningly disturbing but doesn't strike me as anywhere near that.

OTOH, mentioning that the girl with the prosthetic legs is challenging because she is...fast... ...certainly makes one wonder about the direction the game goes.

On the upside the character sheet does warn about "gigolo play" which indicates that perhaps being a complete amoral bastard is not necessarily rewarded....The girls are, in most cases superficially off-putting and the premise is, on the face of it, undeniably creepy on a couple of levels (not just aesthetic ones), but I gather most of the females are supposed to have considerable depth of character and are quirky and interesting (except perhaps the blind girl...who is..er.. just "clichÃ©d") and focusing on girls who are not conventional beauties is refreshing in a way.

But damn....

And that is about as in depth as I'm likely to go on this matter.."shudder".

The Murnauesque trek-vid was creepy too, but I laughed at that.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Apr 8 21:07:37 2008 (j9nkb)

6 Well that was... interesting. I'm not surprised though there are quite a number of fetishests that find disabilities a turn on. And yes I've run into them and yes they are creepy.

Posted by: Marina at Wed Apr 9 10:31:09 2008 (IofL6)

7 Comment#6 has creeped me out more than anything else in this whole thread.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Apr 9 12:58:01 2008 (NsNzF)

8 That's why I never went alone to science fiction conventions. The freaks leave you alone if you have someone with you.

Posted by: Marina at Thu Apr 10 13:31:05 2008 (Lt4Ge)

9 Google doesn't find anything containing the string ç‰‡è¼ªå°‘å¥³, but goo.ne.jp does, and it all looks like fan art. Apparently the whole thing is based on a piece posted to 4chan (possibly this one, which is well-done and less disturbing), and some non-Japanese eroge fans decided to run with it and at least claim to be making a real game. At the moment, it's indistinguishable from a prank supported by a few artists from the deviantart crowd. -j

Posted by: J Greely at Fri Apr 11 16:55:14 2008 (2XtN5)

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April 06, 2008

Category Issue

I have just noticed that some posts are appearing in categories in which they do not belong. (Chun Li's birthday is not actually rocket science).

For anyone offended by the appearance of an anime review in a collection of science posts or a right wing political rant in the alternate energy category, rest assured Brickmuppet Blog is working to correct the issue ASAP.

We regret any offense or bruised sensibilities this may have caused.

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April 05, 2008

Pictures of HMAS Sydney

Brickmuppet Blog has mentioned the pitched battle between HMAS Sydney an Kormoran before and Commander Salamander some time ago did a fine post on this historic battle from a command perspective.

Now both wrecks have been found and they are being explored by the Finding Sydney Foundation. Here is a lengthy report on the ongoing examination of the Sydney wreck .

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Congratulations !!

A warm and beleated Brickmuppet cheer goes out to the Hardesty family for the birth of Claire Elizabeth Hardesty!

Stephen Hardesty is better known to bloggers as Buckethead (of the Ministry of Minor Perfidy).

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Mad Science at Tech Level 5.5

Before the prospect of sharks with FRICKING LAYYZERS on their heads became desireable, weapons designers had to make due with the technology at hand. In World War one that included things like this.....

Flaming Bayonet..... Thatâ€™s right a flame throwing bayonet. It was called the "Flaming Bayonet, constructed and tested by the Army Chemical Service it was a unique weapon for itâ€™s time. The idea was to launch a ten foot flame as you were about to close in with the enemy for a bayonet thrust.....

No really...

Here is a picture...

Wow

Just wow....

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