Day of Fire (Or Not)

Some years ago, when I visited Japan I arrived at my destination as a typhoon approached only to find its charred remains of the maison I had rented.

So you can understand my trepidation when I ambled from the coin laundry up to my current maison and saw this...

Oh dear...

That firetruck that passed me a few minutes earlier..it stopped in front of my apartment...

Oh dear oh dear...

Then other units arrived...this was getting worrisome.

A few minutes later one of the tenants came down..put on his shoes walked out and turned right around and took his shoes off ran into the building and emerged again.

I noted that the firefighter had taken off their boots before entering.

I was detecting a lack of urgency.

So..I walked in, switched into my 3" too short slippers and shuffled up the stairs to see my hallway blocked by 6 firemen and their female supervisor.

It turns out that the tenant next door to me had suffered a catastrophic failure of his door lock...and had been locked in for 3 days. He'd put a note under the door that morning...I'd thought it was a plea for quiet and made a note to look at it with my kanji dictionary after I got back.

Poor dude had to to go to the head real bad..so he called his mom...and mom called the fricking fire department.

Japanese locks are damned impressive. It took 40 minutes to get him out.

I was pleased as punch that there was no fire so I made a quick post about my computer woes and zipped out to catch the train. Later that aftternoon as I returned, I stopped at an Indian restaurant that was up a narrow staircase outside the station. I was impressed with how dimly lit and smoke filled it was. It was packed. This despite the dense smoke and lack of air conditioning. To me this indicated that the food must be damned good.

In fact, the restaurant was on fire...well, some of their nan bread had got away from them and ignited..I gather that the chef threw it into the tandoori oven, which in this place was an iron fire pit. This prevented the spread of flames but filled the whole place with smoke for about 15 minutes. No one left. I took this as a good sign.

The curry was indeed excellent BTW. 

I've  been taking it easy the last few days and not going on extended hikes because of this....
...which is actually much better than it was a few days ago. I hurt it trying desperately to make it to a plane that turned out to be 3 hours late. I'm on the mend but I haven't wanted to push it.

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7 Minutes of Terror

...had a happy ending.

Curiosity has landed on Mars.

Oh and by landed...I mean not impacted...that's an important distinction.

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I Cannot Be an Example to you but I CAN be a Dreadful Warning

  When transfering between JR and private train lines using a rail pass and a SUICA card it is VERY important that one not do the following.

1:Swipe ones SUICA card as normal when entering the Tobu Tojo line.
2:Realize that you need to take the JR line instead and go to that platform, and use the JR rail pass for that train.

This breaks the system and the next time you try to get on any rail service using the SUICA card it flashes red, a loud buzzer sounds and you are blocked from entering the station.

It took over an hour to figure out what had happened and I think I ended up getting charged for the JR time ( despite the Rail Pass) in order to keep it from registering fraud.

When one is typing ones password into ones E-mail account and one is using a Japanese language program,  turn the Japanese language program off and/or switch to "American English" (or whatever your native alphabet is) You see, some Japanese character programs "romanji" setting is unreadable as a proper font if typed into the password field. I could not figure out why I was getting my password wrong, Then it hit me and I turned off the Japanese character program. Too late. I am now locked out of my E-mail.
Never get into a situation where one needs to call customer support from Japan. 1-800, 1-888 and all other toll free area codes are invalid numbers here. One would think that this issue would have come up before and AOL would have a non toll-free number available or instructions on how to contact them from outside the US that don't involve logging in to the E-mail account that they have locked. One would be wrong.

As an aside: If you've sent me an E-mail, it may be 18-19 days before I can get back to you.

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Test

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Flailing a Bit

This morning I got up, showered and decided to head into Ikebukaro to pick up some supplies. I needed a pillow, house slippers that fit my 295mm feet, shower shoes that did the same, various supplies and most importantly a carrying bag for my rail pass. A JR rail pass is made of very flimsy unwaxed cardstock. It is also irreplaceable, and given its value must be protected. It is slightly larger than a passport and the new one is slightly larger still so it will not fit into the passport wallet I'd bought for the purpose. What I needed was something slightly larger than a passport wallet, preferably that could be attached to my belt and didn't require the rail pass be brought through a zippers teeth. I'd had such a case but it was really ragged looking so I left it at home in favor of the passport wallet, which as mentioned was just too small. I also needed a widget  to get my blackberry to talk to my netbook as well as a data card for the camera I brought.

The trip into Ikebukaro was cut short by the fact that the Tobu-Tojo line broke today. When I arrived they were making an announcement that featured the word dekimasen prominantly. I gleaned from what I understood from the PA system that train travel would resume at 10:20. as it was 8:00 I decided to get breakfast.... 650 yen at a Gusto.

I ambled over too the nearby department store to look for stuff, but the non-grocery section was closed untill 10:30. Since shopping was a bust I wandered around a bit looking for a laundromat and when the trains restarted I ambled back to the station.

The backlog of people who needed to get to Ikebukaro was impressive. So impressive that faces were pressed against the glass as people were being crammed in. I decided....no.

 

Instead I went the other way following the line out into the countryside on an almost empty train.

I got off in a random station and wandered a bit.

I enjoyed the scenery and got chirped at by sparrows. Yes,  the station was full of sparrow nests.

I started to head back, got off at a station with an attached shopping center where I found a few of the things I needed and...

wait...

Would YOU make a contract with this barber?

^{Some hairstyles come at too high a cost.}

With storm clouds gathering and the umbrella back at the maison, I beat a retreat. Still,  I got most of the things I needed except for indoor shoes and a working USB cable for my blackberry. I'll try Tokyu Hands ( which has some western sizes) tomorrow before setting off farther afield.

My foot still hurts so I turned in a bit early, only to be awakened by this...

more...

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Arrival

The morning of the first I got up 3 and a half hours prior to my scheduled 7:30 departure. I figgured I'd shower, repack my gear and take the 15 minute cab ride to the airport and be at the head of the line. About a hundred other people had had the same idea and this swamped the 4:40 AM cab capacity to the point that I got there about when I would've if I'd slept in and waited for a shuttle. The line was impressive, but I've been to comiket so lines no longer phase me. What DID phase me was that the line did not move...It seems that the computer was convinced that we had all been happily delivered to our destination and refused to give us boarding passes. Now one might think that the old boarding pass was sufficient, but there's some TSA or FAA regulation involved, so sense is not a factor. Eventually, they got the thing straightened out and we began the long slow process of getting into the now very long line to be poked prodded de-shoed and x-rayed.

With only 10 minutes left before my departure I ran three quarters of the way to the gate, twisting my ankle on an escalator, and hopped the rest of the way. There at the gate I noted people coming OUT.

It seems our poor plane had twisted its ankle at the gate and needed to be taken out back and shot. This meant another plane had to be brought in from the plane farm, which took about an hour. Then they had to go to the glue factory and get our luggage off our dead plane, and they also decided to allow other stranded passengers to use our flight and then they had to refile with ATC...all of which which took about 2 additional hours.

The flight itself was pleasant. I was in seat 22A which is close to the bathroom and practically in the galley, so if one wishes to sleep there one is screwed. However, seat 22A is at the very front of steerage, so a person who is 6'1 can do this.....

^{legs straight out!}

and I did too, until my legs got tired. Even better, the person next to me freaked because he got seat 22B which has a terrible rating as it is practically in the galley and is near the restroom. He demanded to get moved farther back in steerage, so I ended up essentially being in biddness class with cheap food.

The crew of DL9856 was very courteous and professional and handled the situation they'd inherited quite well. The replacement plane was an older model without individual screens or AC outlets but the flight itself was remarkably smooth.

I was scheduled to meet my landlord at 3pm JST and he'd made clear that his schedule was tight so if I was late I'd have to stay in a hotel aother night. The delay put me in at noon which was going to cut it close getting to Saitama from Narita. Fortunately there was only one minor delay...some young American woman went into such a flaming debutante frenzy in the JR office that it required the entire counter staff to deal with her. I'm not sure WHAT her childhood trauma was but I think that she had not believed that you REALLY couldn't purchase a rail pass in Japan. It was cringe inducing to see the rest of her party and their Japanese hosts so humilliated. A couple of them tried to apologize for her and she proceeded to chew them out. The young lady went into full harridan mode to the point that the JR staff actually had torun into their office and bring out their attack Russian...a six foot five Slavic dude who is apparantly one of the managers. The JR staff handled themselves quite well. They also sent someone out to hand out the JR Rail Pass paperwork to those of us that needed it in order to expedite our processing so the whole delay was probably only about 5 minutes but it seemed interminable.

I took the Narita express to Ikebukaro without incident and from there called the landlord with only about 15 minutes to spare. I hopped on an express train and glided into an instant transfer to a local train and met the landlord in time. By this time my ankle was throbbing. Anyway, I got the maison rented, got internet hooked up, got the trash schedule and unpacked. I'd been at a dead run since I'd left the airport and my ankle was killing me, so I turned in early. Before I did finally was able to go to the......OH NOES!

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J. Greely Broke the Plane

...rather impressively I might add.

The plane is quite broke.

5 hours after our scheduled departure time from Detroit, Delta finally threw in the towel and cancelled the flight altogether. Given the havoc even a 3 hour delay is going to play with transfers this was likely the right call. We've been given meal, taxi and hotel vouchers. I'm in a hotel in Romulus courtesy of Delta, which has actually handled this situation pretty well. It's not every day an airline has to deal with J Greely's amazing jinx powers. After all, we've seen what he can do with tramp tats.

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Oh What the HELL is This?

I've just restarted Mysterious Girfriend X, and am now on episode 4.
Oh my.
This quirkfest is getting...creepy.
It's also damned interesting.

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Upon Reflection, Patti Was Right

...the song does have sort of a "Hari Hari feel".

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Sally Ride Has Passed

Americas' first woman in space has died, apparently of Pancreatic cancer.  She was only 61.

 In 1977 NASA announced that it was accepting civilian  applicants for the astronaut corps. Of 8,000 women who applied 6 were accepted.

Dr. Ride was one of those 6.

She flew in space twice, her third mission was scrapped by the Challenger debacle. She retired from NASA in 1987, was a physics professor at Stanford and eventually started her own company.

Her time on (and off of ) this earth was short, but she used it very well.

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Occupy Gothan

more...

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Well, I Didn't Expect THAT Instrument to Figure so Prominently

...in a rave tune.

As for the A part of the AMV, I'd seen .gifs from this bit of animation around for years and was curious as to what it was from. I'd initially thought it was an ad or some such, but as this makes clear it's from something called Yogurting.

Wait...Yogurting? Well, with a name like that I was kinda hoping for a show from the burgeoning fermentation genre...like Moyashimon. Alas, it's a Korean  MMORPG set in a high school with a mystery emphasis and apparently no lactobaccillus at all.

So the video source is a bust as far as any interest for me. But damn! Points for the 'pipes..

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Bastille Day

Today in history, 7 Aristocrats were freed from a French prison.

The garrison consisted mostly of crippled veterans who wished to continue serving their country and who were sent to the Bastille because it needed guards and the aristocratic prisoners were not considered particularly formidable.
  In the politically charged July of 1790 a leftist revolutionary mob was protesting outside  when they heard one of the prisoners shout from the window that the prisoners were being executed. The prisoner, The Marquis DeSade was lying (as he was wont to do), but this greatly incited the crowd. Two days after he was removed they attacked in an attempt to seize the gunpowder rumored to be there and free the prisoners. They stormed the fortress and were driven off with small arms fire and suffered some casualties. 
   The garrisons commander, was quite inexperienced and, in any event,  had very limited alternatives available. Basically he could surrender or fire his cannon into the faces of a crowd of his fellow Frenchmen. Because his position was not strategically important, the prisoners were just 7 decadent nobles he entered into negotiations with the protestors. 

For his magnanimity he was dragged from the prison and he and  his garrison were butchered.

Regards the 7 prisoners :

Jean Antoine Pujade, Bernard Laroche, Jean Béchade and Jean La Corrège were forgers; they were recaptured and put back in another prison a few days later. Hubert de Solages and Whyte de Malleville were aristocrats imprisoned at the request of their own families; they too were back in jail within a week. Finally, Auguste Tavernier had been accused in 1757 of a connection with an attempt to assassinate Louis XV, and was undoubtedly mad; he was transferred to an asylum.

Umm...yay...


Among those who initially went along with the revolution was the population of the region called Vendee.

Three years after the Bastille fell The Committee of Public Safety decided to impose ruinous taxes and a draft. The Vendeeans protested that this was in violation of the principle of 'Libertie'. They were informed that 'Egalitie' required coercion and thus trumped 'Libertie' ('Fraternitie' was, in actuality it seems, a punctuation mark) The Committee of Public Safety then decided to abolish the church and imprison those who would not renounce God. The good people of Vendee protested...then when their emissaries ended up a foot shorter (from the top) they revolted. 

The Committee of Public Safety had an answer...45,000 troops. They did not fair well and were replaced with a larger force, which did not meet with success until the locals powder and shot became depleted. The leader of the punitive force wrote one of the most appalling requests for clarification of an order ever.

General Turreau inquired about "the fate of the women and children I will encounter in rebel territory", stating that, if it was "necessary to pass them all by sword", he would require a decree.

General Turreau's Infernal Columns marched across the Vendee and when it was all over another general, one General Francois Joseph Westermann penned another letter to the The Committee of Public Safety.

"There is no more Vendée... According to the orders that you gave me, I crushed the children under the feet of the horses, massacred the women who, at least for these, will not give birth to any more brigands. I do not have a prisoner to reproach me. I have exterminated all."

 Westermann had an inflated opinion of his efficiency, estimates of the death toll in the Vendee range between 117,000 and 400,000 out of a population of 800,000.  Given the nature of the perpetrators and victims I suspect that there is a tendency to minimize the death toll. Thus, it's probably a bit to the high end of the median of that estimate...far from everybody. Still, ...he tried....and besides...Westermann's fellow Jacobins spread this utopian joy throughout France and under Napoleon through Europe.
But WAIT There's More!
 The French revolution inspired Mao, Stalin, and many third world thugs with body counts that are by comparison mere rounding errors! So those hippies 222 years ago today REALLY made a difference...and isn't that worth celebrating!?

I won't be.

Libertie, Egalitie, Fraternite
These are incompatible principles.

For Equality to be enforced one must ignore the liberties of those who have that which others desire. Fraternity is loyalty and can't exist if one is asked to turn on those who fall out of favor in the name of equality.

While there are things one can do to enable social mobility enforced equality requires a bunch of unequal overseers to enforce it.

Freedom is not free.
Free men are not equal.
Equal men are not free.

These three things are the real lesson of the conflict that grew out of the fall of the Bastille.

...and yet there are still those who look to it as an inspiration and not a cautionary tale. Those people should inspire considerable concern in the rest of us.

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96P/Machholz 1

One of The Brickmuppets Crack Team of Science Babes comes to us with news of a most interesting comet.  How interesting you ask?

It seems that this comet is distinctly lacking in some of the elements usually found in comets like certain carbon compounds. This has some interesting implications...

It must have had a very unusual origin and might even have formed in another solar system probably very different from our own.

 

Yes this comet may well have come from outside our solar system. 

Via Spaceweather, there is an essay here on this comet and a few objects that may share the same origin.

As for looking at it, Pixy and his fellow antipodeans have a good view via telescope if they so choose.

For Northern hemisphere observers, the comet is unobservable before perihelion, but is viewable near the end of the month when it also appears low down in the evening sky. It remains observable although rapidly fading in brightness into August.

In any event, it's viewable via SOHO and is being covered at Space Weather so you might want to take a look at this lonely traveler...it might be very far from home indeed.

_{'Science Babe' is actually Shizune Hachimaki from Katawa Shoujo.}

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Those OTHER Shows

As I've mentioned previously, Bodacious Space Pirates was, for me, the runaway hit of the spring season.

Three other shows had piqued my interest, two of which I've finished.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san was mentioned here before. For most of its run this Magical Girlfiend/ Lovecraft comedy was worth at least a couple of laughs an episode, though only to  a very narrow segment of humanity that has read Lovecraft, still watches anime and who are sufficiently un-sociaized to get gags like this...

Despite its scattershot nature, the show built on each silly development and was fairly consistent with its admittedly stupid internal logic. I must admit though, that it did grate at times.

Towards the end there was considerable buildup to a story that was going to be set in the Dreamlands. This looked looked to be quite promising. Unfortunately, the last few episodes seem to have been replaced with a stock harem comedy ending  that came out of nowhere, derailed the plot and was sappy, cliched, boring and pointless.  I'm not sure what was going on there. The ending really feels like it belongs to some other show. 
Aside from the unfunny ending, I found it to be enjoyable fluff, but this show is definitely an acquired taste...


The original Queens Blade series, was refreshingly devoid of any pretensions of respectability. Set in a fantasy kingdom where the empress is chosen not by heredity but by the perfectly reasonable method of a gladiatorial catfight tournament, it did not take itself at all seriously, tempering its over the top cheesecake with a couple of interesting side characters. It was not a good show by any means but I watched it at a friends house a year or so ago and it was something of a guilty pleasure.

This seasons installment, Queens Blade Rebellion combines vulgarity, pretentiousness, a nonsensical plot, lots of lolis, faux futanari follies,  several unlikeable characters and a side order of sadism to produce one of the most execrable shows I have ever had the poor judgement to sit through. This is just dreadful. I cannot do justice in mere words to how wretched this show is and I refuse to go back and wade through that cesspit to grab frames to put behind a NSFW tag, so you'll have to take my word for it. It stinks on ice.


Mysterious Girlfriend X is interesting but I've only seen 3 eps so far. I hope to catch up over the next week. If I'd watched this instead of that Queens Blade abomination I'd be current with the show and likely be a much happier person.

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E-Mail Hacked

About 3 hours ago I used one of the computers at a friends store, I sent an E-mail while I was there.
About 2 hours ago I started getting texts and E-mails from people telling me I was spamming them.

It seems some Ukrainian jackwagon hijacked my account and tried to sell everyone I've ever E-mailed weight loss products.

Golly! People I hadn't heard from in years hate me now.

After an hours go-round with AOL I got my account unlocked and all seems to be well. My friend knows and has disconnected that computer.

I have McAfee on both the MAC and Windows partitions of my Mac and it says its clear so I don't think that there is any virus problem with my system.

I sincerely apologize to anyone who got spammed.

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Robot & Frank Trailer

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The End of The Dreaded Siberian Tigger

As in all things, context is important.
Though in this case, it doesn't help all that much...

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Meta Mania

Pixy, the proprietor of Mee.Nu (the fine establishment that hosts this blog) has some impressive goodies on the way. Look here and here.
Wow!
I'd known several of these were on the way, but the extent of the upgrade is quite surprising.

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