Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1 words, total size 1 kb.

I blundered into information on Meriwether Lewis's air rifle.

The gun is important to U.S. history because it served to deter attacks on the Lewis and Clarke expedition (they demonstrated it to the tribes they met...and implied that they had quite a few more than they did). It also reportedly took down a Grizzly bear at one point, though its unclear how many shots this took.

I had known vaguely about the Austrian use of repeating air guns, but I had not realized just how impressive their performance was.

Made in the 1940s during WW2, this gun doesn't look like a Girandoni, but examination shows that it clearly was built by someone familiar with the Girandoni repeating airgun system. Purchased in Europe, the story is that this gun was built somewhere in occupied Europe by a partisan bicycle maker during the Nazi occupation in WW2

Cool!

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 246 words, total size 2 kb.

Via Cdr Salamander comes this interesting and somewhat disturbing TED talk on algorithms.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

For some 11 episodes, Bodacious Space Pirates has been an intelligent, enjoyable and even inspiring tale. Each episode has built on the last one in a deliberate and entertaining fashion. Even the techno-babble has been thoughtful and contributed to the story. As an added bonus, despite the lowbrow temptations presented by short skirts, Zero-G and the state of the industry today, we haven't had a single upskirt shot yet.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 319 words, total size 2 kb.

Regards this.

Amateur astronomers are puzzling over a seemingly anomalous cloud that has shown up on images of Mars taken over the past few days. Is it really a cloud, or a trick of the eye? Does it really extend 150 miles up from the surface, as some of the observers suggest? And what churned up all that stuff, anyway?

^"Uuu-Laaa!"

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:18 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 84 words, total size 2 kb.

Over at Hot Air, they seem genuinely surprised that new polls seem to have Virginia sliding into Obamas camp. The only surprise to me is that it's not already solidly so.

^{Appalled girl is Shizune Hachimaki, from Katawa Shoujo..which is itself somewhat appalling.}

Seriously...
Not JUST politics, State and local politics, the most appalling politics of all.

So as a courtesy to our readers we've hidden it bellow the fold.

Click to be appalled...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 812 words, total size 6 kb.

I hope you all are having a happy St. Patrick's Day.

Art by Nayutaho

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.

Professor Jacobson has the most succinct analysis I've seen of last nights primary results.

Endgame assessment:  Big night for Rick.  Bad night for Mitt.  The Honey Badger don’t care (nsfw).

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 75 words, total size 1 kb.

Sentai has landed Unlimited Blade Works and K-On! season 2. This is hopeful because it indicates that some of the Bandai properties that were abandoned when Bandai USA dissolved may yet come over. ULBW gives some slim hope that there will be a version of Fate Zero available that is not....350 bucks.

Also the fact that they are putting out to have Bang Zoom do dubs for both is a vote of some confidence in there being a future.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 82 words, total size 1 kb.

...of the tabs.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 3 kb.

Just a few observations.

It's really nice to see that Kurihara actually enjoys her work... a lot.

It's somewhat reassuring that princesses are not exempt from child labor laws.

Slower than light generation starships ought not to be making hyperspace jumps.

I predict whining about the weather, as nebulae just aren't that thick. However, they established earlier that our heroes would be inspecting proto-stars and getting perilously close to black holes. The "turbulence" is arguably consistent with those.

Having watched the series thus far in 3 sittings it occurs to me that I've caught up...and need to wait a WHOLE WEEK until I can see more. That sucks.

For those than know not of what I speak...you are sad, deprived, pitiable souls and you have my deepest sympathies.

Here's a hint...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 144 words, total size 2 kb.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 98 words, total size 1 kb.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:51 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 49 words, total size 1 kb.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:50 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.

Don links to an interesting post over at Spike Japan which describes a ghost town.

It's of particular interest to me because, I'd narrowly missed this ghost town due to poor timing. 

Let me explain.

On my last foray into Japan, I took a detour when the bullet train stopped at Sakurandai and (as I was often wont to do) got off on a local line (the Koumi line) to explore the less traveled areas. The abandoned town Kiyosato is near the end of the of the line and by the time I got there it was already dark. Had I come the other way, via the Chuo line past Mt Fuji, I'd have seen it.

What I DID do was bumble between nearby Anonuma and Usuda looking for what turned out to be a more or less abandoned museum that was quite peculiar in its location...amongst other things. I also stopped in Koumi, and Shinano-Kawakami which is only two stops from the ghost town at the link...(たいへん!).

 See here.

While walking to the "turret" I encountered an abandoned building that appeared to be a rec center (but I can't quite make out the kanji)

And of course there was the much photographed shrine which appeared to have been abandoned. As well as lots of half finished landscaping that had not been worked on in a while and had washed out a bit.

 Spike Japan says that Kiyosato was abandoned due to consolidations resulting from local mismanagement.

This certainly jives with some of the oddball things I photographed nearby like the museum and the seemingly outsize, yet unfinished station at Koumi proper,. It had a skyway across the tracks, but no stairs to the other side, causing passengers to have to walk across the tracks to get to one of the platforms. I saw a few other projects that looked like they'd just stopped in mid construction...a few years ago.

My Japanese is very cursory and I only know about 200 kanji (so I'm functionally illiterate). For this reason I'm loathe to comment on Japanese  politics , however the local take on this ( near the Koumi line and at Washinomiya) was slightly different.

In both cases, I ended up asking about the consolidations because maps and signs were not quite updated yet..causing me additional confusion. The locals story (to the extent I understood it) was that the DPJ was consolidating the towns for political reasons . That is, they'd take several local towns and merge them...into a town that was controlled by the DPJ thus the local officials and  chambers of commerce were effectively purged of non-DPJ people. I got an earfull of this from a convenience store owner in Washinomiya who was quite upset that Kuki, and not the ancient shrine town was the city that was now on the map.

Keep in mind again that I'm NOT fluent, proficient or even amusingly awkward in the language. I can get by as a tourist and describe symptoms to a doctor if needed. Lord knows I've heard commentary on US politics from English speaking countries that indicates a serious lack of understanding of issues AND THEY SPEAK THE LANGUAGE so take this  survey of two people, one of whom seemed...bitter...with a grain of salt.

Note too that neither explanation is mutually exclusive of the other either.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 562 words, total size 4 kb.

 Andrew Breitbart died last night.
 11 months older than me...which...I'm thinking is really too young.

Few have had as much impact. With Drudge he really changed the media world.

More here and here.

In any event, reaction to this individuals passing reinforces my view that however infuriating it is to be on team stupid, it is a far more noble calling  then the other side. Ace has further thoughts on that.

Note that this headline at the Telegraph seems to kick the guy by focusing  on the Shirley Sherrod controversy, claiming that he maligned the woman through editing. That's not quite what happened.

(More behind the spoiler tag)

I remember that because it was the moment I upgraded my opinion of Glenn Beck from entertaining crazy person to principled crazy person. Short version: Glenn Beck saw the video and then interrupted his show to do a presentation on context. He felt that the bit at the end of the released tape seemed to indicate that Sherrod was actually making a quite redemptive point. I should note that several right wing bloggers took up Sherrods cause too. None of this stopped the white house from insta-firing Sherrod. Beck actually castigated theAgriculture Dept. and tried to get them to rehire Sherrod.

 Breitbart's full piece however, puts the video into context...Sherrod was not the point of the clip, the reaction of the audience was.

In the first video, Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn’t do everything she can for him, because he is white. Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from "one of his own kind”. She refers him to a white lawyer.

Sherrod’s racist tale is received by the NAACP audience with nodding approval and murmurs of recognition and agreement. Hardly the behavior of the group now holding itself up as the supreme judge of another groups’ racial tolerance.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 111 words, total size 4 kb.

 ....so you have one extra day to order a lot of things from Colleen Doran.

Due to a very high work load, we regret to announce that the shop will shut down all art and custom book orders on March 1st. A selection of signed books will remain available.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 85 words, total size 1 kb.

Things are hectic but improving.
In lieu of actual content here is some useful information.

******************************

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 01:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 252 words, total size 2 kb.

People keep telling me to look at this trailer, saying things like...

^{"Oh my! Yes please!"}

^{"I am SO ready..I've got my Wave Motion Goggles and everything!"}

So I figured I ought to at least look at it...

^{It's in Hi-def so you can embigulate it!}

Oh my stars and garters! That looks really..really nice!

Yamato 2199 looks to be a straight-up remake of the 1974 series, and aside from the character designs and a few added female crewmembers, it looks astoundingly faithful. This is obviously a labor of love for Enagio.

Interestingly, although it will be a 26 episode series, it's going to be released in theaters as seven full length features!

I'm very curious as to whether this will be brought over  eventually (given the state of the market) and if so if it will be released as SCY or Star Blazers. Star Blazers was actually quite successful and aside from  "That Knox thing" was as faithful as 1979 Standards and practices would allow, in some ways improving on the original.

I'd be quite pleasantly surprised if there were to be a Star Blazers revival, but whatever form the US release takes (If it does so at all) I am seriously looking forward to this.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:27 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 212 words, total size 2 kb.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 04:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 336 words, total size 3 kb.