Brickmuppet Blog 2.0

August 25, 2015

Groovy!

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Don't Forget About Lunch UPDATE: Trigger Warning! (May Cause OCD Fits if Viewed Too Closely)

Art by Subaku

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People May Wonder

...why I care about a little commemorative rocket that I can never own and affects me in no way whatsoever.

This is why...

I canâ€™t be involved any longer. If it were just meâ€¦ but it isnâ€™t. I have others who need me to stay out of the fight, as much as I hate it. If I keep in the frontlines, I will become a casualty, and I have people who are dependent on me, helpless in the world if something becomes of my good name. And so I must turn away, tears in my eyes, and leave the field of battle. I am sickened, but my duty is clear.

I cannot bay. I have been bound into silence. I bow my head, and exitâ€¦

...Read the whole thing.

You see, it's not REALLY about the dinky little rocket.

more...

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August 24, 2015

8 Months to Go

Old Dominion University starts the week before Labor Day so, since I only have a week to go before school starts, I decided just now to check and see if any of my silly busses were online yet so I could order some of my books and also find out if any classes have homework due the first day of class.

What I discovered is that school starts tomorrow...

Umm...

That's good to know.

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August 23, 2015

Worldcon Was This Weekend

I did not go this year because I've been digging my way out of debt, and.....

"WAIT! You promised you'd put the politics under the fold!

What? No. This post is about World Con, so...

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh...

Drat...

I hate what the world is becoming

more...

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1 It's amusing that Larry's tongue-in-cheek invocation of this Sarah McLachlan PSA, exhorting his readers to help end puppy-related sadness, got twisted around by people who wouldn't be caught dead reading so much as a paragraph of his blog.

I'm even more amused that the opposition ended up earning the label Puppy Kickers, abbreviated PK, which evokes their similarity to the Player Killers of online gaming, whose only fun is actively preventing others from enjoying the game.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Mon Aug 24 00:57:34 2015 (ZlYZd)

2 The primary observation, I think, is that many recent winners of the Hugo Award are just plain not very good.

I don't know if there was a novel I would have voted for this year. I liked Skin Game well enough, but it's just another solid entry in the Dresden Files, not Hugo material. (Or not Hugo-as-I'd-like-to-think-of-them material.)

Honestly, the last Best Novel I think really earned the title was 2011's Blackout / All Clear, which is / are outstanding (it's one story, but about 1200 pages long, so it was broken into two volumes). Before that, all the way back to 2004's Paladin of Souls.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Mon Aug 24 01:38:11 2015 (PiXy!)

3 I've been going through some of the recent annual Nebula Award collections (which, tellingly, fall out of print fast and are not available as ebooks), and it's surprising how many of the stories can be converted from SF to F by deleting a few lines. In the 2006 collection (which I bought for an as-yet-unreprinted Vinge story), there was one that was 98% "kid growing up in Fifties US" and 2% "found a dead time traveler". (it lost to a story that was "kid growing up in Fifties US meets housekeeper who speaks in exaggerated Black dialect and teaches her voodoo")

Yeah, the difference between Hugo material and Hugo-as-I'd-like-to-think-of-them material is sad. I've still got Brad Templeton's CD containing the 1993 Hugo and Nebula nominees, and there's just no comparison. There are good years and bad years, but there have been an awful lot of bad years lately, and it isn't a coincidence that this is the year people decided that "nothing is good enough for an award". The in-group liked the bad years just fine.

Sadly, Templeton himself was a reflexive Puppy Kicker, so you can't just buff the rocket (not a euphemism) and call it a day; there may be nothing under the rust but more rust.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Mon Aug 24 11:35:23 2015 (ZlYZd)

4 Bluntly, it's a daft award anyway.

There's plenty of room for an Oscar-type award, where it's voted on by people who are in the industry and understood to be as such. (Nebula, basically.) There's room for a "fan favorite" where everyone gets to vote (Golden Globes basically?)

There's -room- for "favorite of people who attend a certain annual event" too, really. Cannes might be the proper parallel here. However, there's definitely a difference between "they loved it at Cannes", and "it won an Oscar", and "I thought it was pretty good"; these categories are not necessarily mutually overlapping.

Not necessary mutually exclusive either, of course, there's plenty of good stuff that wins a Hugo. But at the end of the day, it's become a fairly poor predictor of things which I might enjoy reading.

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Mon Aug 24 13:13:45 2015 (qxzj1)

5 "There's -room- for "favorite of people who attend a certain annual event" too, really."
From what I've been reading, the lefties who have been dominating the Hugos have been insisting that they were not, in fact, this, but actually the Golden Globes equivalent.
Then when the Sad Puppies slate got on the ballot, they started spinning in anticipation of a possible loss and claiming it actually is just the the results of some random con, one of the bigger incoherencies in the "them right-wingers can't be allowed to win" movement.

Posted by: Rick C at Mon Aug 24 13:41:30 2015 (FvJAK)

About 30 years ago I fell in with a group of SMOFs and spent a few years embedded in fan culture, including attending several WorldCons.

You wouldn't believe how seriously they take the Hugo voting. It's like they're saving the world. My group sometimes would debate certain choices to try to decide which one they should vote for.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Mon Aug 24 14:46:42 2015 (+rSRq)

7 The Nebulas are even more clannish than the Hugos, which became obvious to outsiders when it became the Women's Award last year, to the loud cheers of activists deceived into thinking that SF was "anti-woman" until Just Now (and again this year, with a gratuitous swipe at SP3's imaginary "misogyny").

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Mon Aug 24 17:02:52 2015 (ZlYZd)

8 To be fair, though, the Really-Old Guard seems to be against all this crap, even when they are leftist as the dawn is east. It's the Middle-Aged-to-Early-Old Guard that is doing the SJW crap.

I hate to say it, but I'm glad so many of First Fandom had died before they had to see this happen to what they made for us.

Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Mon Aug 24 20:10:10 2015 (ZJVQ5)

9 Makes sense; you've got the parents who created the wealth, the children who followed their example and expanded it, and the grandchildren who grew up spoiled and pissed it all away.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Mon Aug 24 21:43:23 2015 (ZlYZd)

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One Could Spend Years...

...researching the genre of video games known as fantasy RPGs.

Or one could endure this for this four minutes and ten seconds.

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A Non Sequiter Brought on By a Mysterious Banhammer

I've been banned by Facebook for some time, and while this seems to be an error that can be corrected, I've decided that having more than one blog is simply more than I can rationalize the time for. If I had a product I was marketing or a fan-base I was interacting with, then a second blog and/or Facebook page would, in all probability, pass a cost benefit analysis. However, to apply that much duplication and added effort to a hobby does not. Thus, for my part, I direct any questions about topics and format to the category tags.

I mention that, in part because, in addition to Facebook, I am banned from commenting at Wonderduck's place.

Now, I had assumed that this was a technical issue with the web service that we share, but I've recently discovered that I cannot opine on Subrban Banshee's site either.

I've ruled out a browser issue.

Thus, I can only suspect that they both found out about that time in '79 when I allegedly precipitated the destruction of a certain old manuscript during a violent altercation with a group of hipster filkers that, in turn, inadvertently resulted in the replacement of Marty McNeely by Svengoulie after I strolled into that Chinese Restaurant to try their Peking Duck.

Let me just say that I am denying here and now that any of that in the previous paragraph ever happened. With that in mind, I have just one more, completely unrelated thing to say....

more...

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August 22, 2015

Oh This Just Keeps Getting Better and Better

Tales of teh tech-weasel's telescreen tyranny.

It seems that Windows "10" will have the ability to shut down any programs it considers unauthorized or illegitimate.

Thus, it seems likely that game you got from DL Site that you stripped the DRM out of because it was incompatible with anything after XP is just toast.

But wait...

I am 45 years old. Not counting my old TI-99, I got my first real computer out of a dumpster in 1999. As it and its subsequent replacements have all been Macs, I've never learned code and the magical slabs of seeing are all black box technology to me.

So...Keeping in mind the Gell-Mann effect and the fact that I don't really understand the matter beyond the broadest basics, can anyone opine on the veracity/feasibility of this ?

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1 I've been following this, and the analysis seems to be that Microsoft needs to fire the lawyers writing their EULAs. Basically, Windows 10 provides integration with all of Microsoft's online services and with Xbox, but all the rules for everything you could possibly do with Windows 10 and any linked Microsoft products and services have been shoved into the one 12,000-word document.

In this case, the rules apply to Xbox Live - if you download a pirated game onto your Xbox, Microsoft can remove it and/or cancel your Xbox Live account. But that has always been the case with Xbox.

I'm still a bit leery of Windows 10 and waiting for at least the first update, but you need to remember that Microsoft are looking to upgrade about a billion business users to this new release, and they will get no traction at all if businesses are worried that Micosoft can reach into their computers.

But then, Amazon deleted unauthorised copies of, of all things, 1984 from users' Kindles, so I wouldn't be surprised if they pull a dumb stunt at some point, got their fingers burnt, and had to re-think.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sat Aug 22 20:59:40 2015 (PiXy!)

2 Ah. I had missed that this was an X-Box thing...that puts a different spin on it. Thanks!
Still...
Hmmm...Your mention of the AMAZON kindle fiasco reminds me of the AMAZON RWBY kerfuffel, which as trivial as it was, struck me as much more worrisome in its implications.
I'm old, I don't get these newfangled gadjitz...so my view of this are not through the lens of someone who is tech savvy and it is probably being tainted by crumudgeonism.
But the ability to go in and rewrite libraries or break ones tools from afar if they have forbidden knowledge or associate with the wrong person...that's the stuff of evil sorcerers; a totalitarians wet dream...
Alas, such worries are for superstitious children of course...and crumudgeons who just don't get it.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Aug 22 21:21:54 2015 (ohzj1)

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Tonights Recitations From Kipling Will be Performed by Rory Mercury

From episode 8 of GATE which continues to be highly intelligent and entertaining. This is despite having a girl in a Gothic Lolita outfit adorned with fake wolf ears speaking before the Japanese Diet...or perhaps because of it.

The last episode indicated that our heroes would be returning to Japan from fantasy Middle Earth Land to be debriefed, and the civilians representatives from the other world would be interviewed. This was pretty much what happened. Of course coming out of Middle Earth into Shibuya rather IMPRESSES the visitors. In short order, Itami, Leili (acting as translator)Tuka and (God help us all) Rory Mercury all are asked to testify before the Parliament...

Now. Pick out the person from the above lineup most likely to cause the whole thing to go to worms...

We also learn that Mercury's Halbard/Pike/Tuning Fork weighs several hundred pounds.

There's no combat or other action whatsoever in this episode aside from an attempted mugging and a collateral hernia but a ton of stuff happened that moved the show forward including a bit of suspense involving intrigues facing our heroes in Japan, both foreign and domestic.

This show remains awesome.

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August 20, 2015

Well...I've Got Nothing....

...so here is something by Patricia Rosemarie MÃ¼ller.

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Blogging on the Edge

Suburban Banshee, not content to limit herself to publishing scholarly translations of medieval texts, has decided to blog dangerously. Specifically, she's stumbled upon and posted about forbidden knowledge. Knowledge so forbidden that the Times Literary Society has removed it from its website.

In stark contrast to those cowardly quislings, Suburban Banshee defies the dread Dervishes of decapitation by keeping the intriguing apostasy up on her blog.

In short, certain Quranic texts have recently been dated too early... possibly before Mohammed started hearing voices from Gabriel.

Suburban Banshee has an extensive overview of the matter.

The manuscript in question appears to be the one discussed here (which is a fascinating find in any event as it predates the 3rd Caliph's destruction of all versions of the Quran not his own).

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August 19, 2015

When The Commute IS the Workout

Glute conscious cityscaping by Izumi Sai

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I Say. This Perry Fellow Bears Watching

This is a work in progress,...

...but do take a look at Perry Park's Pixiv...for some context, and also click here, here, here, here, here and here to see a few WEBM versions of the animations.

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News of the 21st Century

This Iran deal just gets better and better...I knew they weren't allowing the U.S.A. to do inspections of the Iranian nuclear sites, but if this AP story is correct then the agreement is not merely dreadful...it's clinically insane.

VIENNA (AP) â€” Iran, in an unusual arrangement, will be allowed to use its own experts to inspect a site it allegedly used to develop nuclear arms under a secret agreement with the U.N. agency that normally carries out such work, according to a document seen by The Associated Press.

"Unusual arrangement"...well that is not an inaccurate assessment.

Read the whole thing. This is not somer obscure site, but rather Parchin, where Iran is perfecting explosive lenses.

This is so batscat bonkers that I'm a tad skeptical. However, it would fit with a certain school of thought that the issue on our end is neither fecklessness nor naiveté, but rather motivation.

******

Russia has imprisoned (for 15 years) an Estonian they abducted.

******

The Russian economy may be much worse than thought...which could have either calming or incendiary effects upon that states behavior.

******

China is not retiring the old DF-5 ICBMs. Rather, they are upgrading the series of liquid propellant missiles. The new models increase their range to be able to hit targets anywhere on earth, with multiple warheads. This is similar to the arrangement that Russia has, with a few dozen heavyweight missiles complementing their road mobile ICBMs.

******

Oh. Look...

******

Finally..the kind of story that would not be out of place in an 80's film SET in the 21st century....

Third Louisiana Public Water Supply Site Tests Positive for Brain-Eating Amoeba

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August 18, 2015

Here is Some Wide Gauge Steampunk

...by Makkou 4 to offset the banality beneath the fold.

more...

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August 16, 2015

How Far Can He Go? How Long Will He Stay Free?

The videos of the massive explosion in Tianjin keep getting pulled from the internet. However, one brave reporter, a He Xiaoxin, DID get into the affected area and took some pictures. I don't expect this report to remain up much longer, but I'm linking to it. I'm also posting his pictures below the fold to save them from the inevitable purge. I don't normally nick more than one pic from a news article and clearly identify the source via hyperlink and I certainly don't make a habit of nicking all the picture from a photo essay because that is, frankly, WRONG.

However, the likelihood of his work being bering deemed triggering to the Chinese government and sent down the memory hole moves me to do this. Fortunately, He Xiaoxin has extensively watermarked his work. If one reposts any of these, PLEASE make sure to credit He Xiaoxin and The China Digital Times. Also do read his whole article, not only to give the paper hits but because his text provides valuable context.

However, if the article is gone then click on "more" and behold...the effects of a quarter kiloton blast....

more...

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August 15, 2015

School Live Episode 6

In the latest episode of School Live, Yuki organizes a school athletic event, Sakura Sensei tries to get Yuki to address her properly and not drive off a potential new club member and Miki gains some insights into why Sakura Sensei seems so clumsy. Later Kurumi and Yuri explain to Miki some important facts about the school's rooftop garden and the yearbook project is finished.

In the meantime, hijinks ensue.

I must say that the music in this show is used to truly excellent effect.

"Good grief Yuki, you're SCARING the poor girl"

This is actually much more than a show about a bunch of girls in school...

...in its own bizarre way this show almost one of those Iyashikei (healing anime).

As usual, gentle readers, we admonish everyone to use spoiler tags in the comments.

And if you are not yet watching this show we admonish you to start with episode ONE.

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I've introduced this anime to my friend and illustrator, to Daughter #1, and to a couple of her friends. There are jaws on the floor all over central Ohio.

PS Not to be pedantic, but it is my faith: Megu-nee has a Cross, not a Crucifix (which bears an image of Christ).

This is one of those awful stories where I cannot wait to turn the page, and I dread doing it.

Posted by: Clayton Barnett at Sat Aug 15 18:45:06 2015 (lU4ZJ)

Posted by: ReallyBored at Sat Aug 15 19:43:40 2015 (DOcWF)

Posted by: J Greely at Sat Aug 15 22:59:38 2015 (ZlYZd)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Aug 16 04:11:56 2015 (1zM3A)

Posted by: ReallyBored at Mon Aug 17 08:35:28 2015 (ulGxe)

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Some Days...

...it just does NOT pay to get out of bed.

Exemplifying this today is Dame Bozes Co Palesti, one of the highest ranking members of the Rose Order of Knights....

"My orders were as follows: to oversee the full mobilization of the Rose order of Knights and proceed via forced march to rendezvous in Italica with the detachment you had led to reconnoiter the probable area of operations. The overall mission of unit Rose was to be reconnaissance in force of the national cultural heritage site Arnus Hill, which has been taken by an invading force of unknown nationality. This force had defeated two Imperial and five tributary armies with astonishing alacrity and suffered no apparent losses. These facts made the proposed reece mission of paramount importance in assembling some effective defense of our nation. Additionally, the gravity of the situation indicated that we be marching in a state of tactical readiness and be prepared to engage any hostile forces we might encounter.

AS PER THE TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC SITUATION AS WELL AS MY LAWFUL ORDERS: Yesterday at approximately 15:00 we encountered a small enemy recon force using transport equipment vastly more capable than our own. Despite the danger, my troops obeyed my order to approach without protest. The enemy unit (which did not seem to possess any archers or spear carriers) did not engage, but rather sent out a single soldier, possibly to parlay. I assumed that we had encountered an isolated reconnaissance or foraging unit. Given our army's previous reversals with this enemy this was a rare opportunity and to pass it up would have been, in my opinion, to demonstrate criminal negligence. Thus, I gave the order to engage them with the hopes of collecting intelligence and possibly prisoners. The enemy retreated from the field with my soldiers in hot pursuit, but their...conveyances...possessed preternatural speed and the bulk of the enemy unit escaped. However, Dame Kalgi managed to capture one prisoner, who we interrogated and brought to you with the greatest possible dispatch. I felt this could very well be a development of paramount importance.

I should add that whatever actions are brought against me, throughout this movement our entire unit comported themselves in accordance with the finest traditions of the Knights of the Empire and deserve commendation and not condemnation for their performance during, what was, their baptism by fire.

Now, I mean no disrespect whatsoever to your highness, but can you PLEASE clarify what, exactly I did, or ordered those under my command to do, that was in any way a violation of my general orders, my lawful standing orders or was otherwise so wrong that you just embedded your chalice in my cranium."

I paraphrase somewhat, but it's hard not to sympathize with Dame Palesti's plight in the opening scene of Episode 7 of GATE. After all, no one bothered to text her that there was now a peace treaty. I mean, nobody yelled at Andrew Jackson.

This was another good episode which despite some silliness remained clever and intelligent. This episode changes the direction of several characters quite markedly, We also find out a few additional things about the other world...

This episode also moved the plot along, setting up a major shift in the direction of two characters (Princess PinÃ£ and Dame Palesti) as well as establishing there are a LOT of really dark aspects to what is, after all, a version of the Roman Empire with feudal elements (tributary states). The dilemma the Princess faced is cringeworthy. She has the weight of the empire and al its subject on her shoulders and she only has the Empire's precedents to guide her as to the likely behavior of the invaders. That it was well established that Bozelle is one of her oldest friends makes her decision (which she clearly dreaded) all the more gut wrenching.

The fact that our heroes aren't jerks and are behaving in a basically rational, non-malevolent manner is a nice touch too.

This show is far better than one would expect from the premise..."Modern Japanese Army invades Middle Earth."

It is actually quite good and has remained consistently intelligent for seven episodes. So if you have not watched this (or gave up after the second episode) I strongly suggest that you add this to your watch list.

UPDATE: Over at Steven's place there is a post and comment thread regarding the design changes between the manga and Anime.This mostly concerns the costume changes , which can mostly be explained by the need to actually animate the show...but some of which are truly bizarre. There is also mention made of the changes to two of the maids to make them appeal to the moe' set, but I think that the anime managed to do something subtle and neat here in the process...

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1 It's hard to blame Pina, really. She's in a situation where there are no winning moves whatsoever. There's a whacking great army, far superior to anything the Empire possesses or really even understands, already inside the Empire's borders. But they haven't just stormed in and conquered everything yet, despite probably having the power to do so.

The idea that the Japanese just aren't inclined to go a-conquerin' is probably sufficiently outside her experience that it may not have occurred to her at all. It's not really supported by the evidence either, since Arnus is indeed occupied and held in (overwhelming) strength, and the JSDF did just push a patrol into Ithaca.

So why hasn't the JSDF rolled over them? Turn the question around: what would hold back the Empire in a similar situation? They themselves aren't above manufacturing incidents, which means that first in Pina's mind has to be "they just needed an excuse". And that's what Bozes has handed them - a grade-A, bulletproof excuse to kick the absolute crap out of the Empire.

It's completely fair to note that Bozes couldn't have anticipated this turn of events. On the other hand, it's also fair to note that the anticipated consequences for Pina are not merely theoretical; most of the "we're gonna get conquered" scenarios that match her understanding of how things are done do not include her survival, and the rest are mostly worse than that. As far as Pina knows, Bozes has literally signed her death warrant (or bill of sale...) as well as that of the Empire, in exchange for the satisfaction of roughing up one minor enemy officer. So yeah, Pina's anger might not be justifiable, but it's plenty understandable.

(You've couched the phrasing in your post in military-speak, and from the perspective of a modern military, you're completely correct; but Pina's not a professional officer, she's a noble with no real military background. The idea of the flow of responsibility is something that simply wouldn't apply to her, at least in her experience.)

The Empire is a not-nice place. I'll save any discussion of its long-term viability for later in the show, but there really aren't a lot of possible outcomes which would be a win condition for Pina, and definitely none that she'd actually consider a win at this point in the show.

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Sun Aug 16 18:11:16 2015 (qxzj1)

2 Oh I'm not blaming her.
From the post:

The dilemma the Princess faced is cringeworthy. She has the weight of the empire and al its subject on her shoulders and she only has the Empire's precedents to guide her as to the likely behavior of the invaders. That it was well established that Bozelle is one of her oldest friends makes her decision (which she clearly dreaded) all the more gut wrenching.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Aug 16 21:09:52 2015 (ohzj1)

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