Brickmuppet Blog 2.0

June 28, 2012

Well, THAT Sucked!

The live blogings of today's SCOTUS follies are below the fold.

To cleanse the palate, here's something much more pleasant.

^{Cute 8 year old science prodigy being cute is "Professor" from Nichijou.}

more...

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1 "If you are in the Health Insurance business, well you just made out like a bandit"
Probably not, because they will have to start taking in all the currently-uninsured, including those with pre-existing conditions, and they can't charge those people higher premiums.

Posted by: RickC at Thu Jun 28 17:55:02 2012 (WQ6Vb)

2 Regarding the insurance business, I think long-term they're dead. I currently employ two people; I do not provide health care insurance. When I am forced to, I will take the cheapest option possible...which I understand to be the government option. An acquaintance who does provide health insurance claims he will switch to the government option, as his research shows it will be cheaper overall. And that's probably correct initially, after all, we will ALL be paying for the premiums. Of course, when it's all said and done and everyone is one the government insurance dole, the cost will be astronomical.

Posted by: Ben at Thu Jun 28 19:19:23 2012 (eC5M6)

3 I've heard the "Marbury" theory too, that by making this NOT a Commerce Clause case, it sets the stage for further rollbacks of the Commerce Clause abuse we've lived with, and that may have been why Roberts went to the pro side, so he could write the opinion.

Posted by: Mauser at Fri Jun 29 04:46:07 2012 (cZPoz)

4 I'm not sure I buy the Marbury analogy. This decision just seems blinkered. As odious as I find the lefts commerce clause argument, the tax thing seems even more of a stretch. I'm not sure that this will have ANY effect on lefty jurisprudence, since it often seems that they tend to ignore the parts of the constitution they don't like anyway.

Ace links to representatives of both sides of this discussion here.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jul 1 14:58:04 2012 (EJaOX)

5 OK, they've solved this over at Volokh.

I think I figured out what happened. Randy Barnett made a wish on a cursed monkeyâ€™s paw that his commerce clause argument would be accepted. It explains everything, no?

Quick! Someone check to see if Randy Barnett is now a magical girl!

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jul 1 15:16:41 2012 (EJaOX)

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June 25, 2012

In Norfolk. Temp is 90ish. Sky is green. It is lightly...sleeting(!?)....Sideways.

UPDATE: Pixy has upgraded mee&u to allow post from mobile browsers! Heretofore, onl the post title field was accessible. There is NO html it seems, so no hyperlinks or images for now, but I'm posting this from my Blackberry! Way to go Pixy! ALSO: storm seems to be petering out. Some minor wind damage and flooding. Temps dropped to 70s.

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June 24, 2012

I Don't Even...

Good grief. I've NEVER seen a track like this.

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Ubu Roi has had a VERY bad week.

Fortunately, although he is bedridden, his prognosis seems decent. He's blogged about it for one thing, which is certainly hopeful. Still, a stroke is a terrifying thing indeed.

I sincerely hope his recovery is swift and full.

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June 22, 2012

Well, THAT Narrows it Down

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June 21, 2012

Almost Over

All papers are turned in.
Now onto Exams.
Apologies for the light posting. Short summer courses are quite vexing.

In other news Ubu is also experiencing some vexation, but of a different sort.

I may have found his problem.

^{Source unknown...but is likely someone familiar with Apple's quirks.}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:30 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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June 12, 2012

Oy Vey

Today I went to my Literature professor and asked him for a replacement syllabus. He gave me a lecture on the importance of attendance (I'd missed class yesterday due to fallout from my grandmothers death). His response to my reason was not one of excessive empathy. In any event he handed me the syllabus, I stormed out of class and went to lunch.

After lunch I grabbed my binder out of the car , went to the library to study, pulled out the "syllabus"and noted that it was, in fact, tomorrows test.

^{OHfercryinoutloud...}

SO....I went to the lit department found his office and he wasn't in (Natch).
I spoke to the secretary who kind of freaked out and did NOT want to talk to me. I was walking around with a loose test.

I ended up shoving it under his door and I e-mailed him explaining the situation.
As of now there has been no reply.

UPDATE: I did not get called before the honor council and did not get expelled. All is now well.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:52 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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June 10, 2012

Adjust Your Schedules

...'cause next Saturday you're going to want to have a half hour free, and popcorn on hand.

^{Not pictured: (1) The context (2) Her brass balls.}

It looks like there are only 3 more episodes of Bodacious Space Pirates. I'm really going to miss this show.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:59 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Woah

All stop:

I dunno WHAT happened in Ace's comments, but it was bad. Ace seems pretty convinced that it was not Mobeys this time. He's shut down his comments at least temporarily.

He also has a long and thoughtful post on maturity, propriety and becoming that which one opposes.
Read the whole thing.

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June 09, 2012

Lucille Myatt Talton 1919 - 2012

She was born near Raleigh North Carolina to a fairly well to do dairy farmer. Despite this, and to the astonishment of all, she married one of the field hands...a scrappy but utterly impoverished young man from the streets of Newport News who had moved south in search of work. She followed him to the coast where he built houses and rented them. She bore him a son, then saw him off to war and waited 4 years until he returned in traction. She nursed him back to health, bore him another son, stood by and supported him as he built a business from nothing, built a boat, and became one of the most sought after charter boat captains on the Crystal Coast. A decade ago she buried him, and tonight, just after dinner she joined him.

Despite her age, it was a bit of a shock. She had actually been improving by leaps and bounds over the last few months and had regained the ability to walk. Nevertheless, my grandmother, who was born in an utterly different world, passed quite suddenly this evening a little after 6.

The things she'd seen, the change she'd experienced...it truly boggles the mind.

She was born before women could vote. For a third of her life there was a polio season. For the first decade of her life there was no electricity in her house. She saw the great depression, a world war the cold war, Jim Crow, integration, all six moon landings, and the Berlin Wall go up and come down. She saw the introduction of radio, then television and then the internet. She saw all the other things that transpired over nearly a century.

Now, in the blink of an eye, all that perspective has left us.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:30 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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BATTLESHIP

After the success of the Transformers and Twister franchises, Hasbro and Universal looked around for some other Hasbro property to monetize. They inexplicably skipped over the cubist masterpiece that could have been Connect 4 The Motion Picture and went with Battleship.

Although the concept is dubious in the extreme, this film is surprisingly entertaining. Imagine what would happen if Irwin Allen and Ishiro Honda had collaborated and had Jerry Bruckheimers special effects staff. THIS! Seriously, it's a late '50s Toho epic with a disaster movies plot structure.

Taylor Kitsch and Japanese A-Lister Tadanobu Asano are the defacto leads playing two naval officers trying to deal with the alien threat. The film puts both the USN and JMSDF in a really good light. Though they get cut to pieces the survivors use their wits and behave in a fairly intelligent manner. My one complaint was Kitsch's character, who was such a screw up at the beginning that it beggers belief he would have made it that far. On the other hand his getting it together is handled pretty well.

The films effects are pretty good , either a lot more practical effects were used than is the norm or the CGI has gotten a lot better. There are surprises, a couple of obligatory "OH NO WAY!"moments and some unlikely coincidences but amazingly, no glaring plot holes.

This film is by no means art, but is rather better than most. I quite enjoyed it.

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June 08, 2012

Round Up of SILENCE!

Da Tech Guy agrees with me on the Day of Silence.
Miss Atilla is calling it Blogger Freedom Day and is posting.
The Jawas are not being silent.
Mark Steyn is verbally dismembering the judge that jailed Aaron Walker.

Others have decided to protest via silence...more or less.

Stacy McCain was being silent with considerable verbosity. from his safe house...Until he broke around an hour ago.
Bearing Drift is typing in silence.
Michelle Malkin is quietly providing contact info for members of congress who have some sway over these matters...
^{(As I've said before congressional action in the free speech arena is worrying, but in her defense this is in response to an attempt to squelch speech.)}
Finally, ACE, who suggested this whole thing, quietly stepped out of the quiet place at 3:41 EST.

I hope these people never work on submarines.
Of course, it's possible that I misunderstood and they really meant the OTHER silence.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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National Day of Blogger SILENCE

Let's parse this. Shall we?

A group of left wing thugs is using threats, lawsuits, and frivolous SWAT raids (!?) in an attempt to silence bloggers who expose their antics.

Fear not! Ace of Spades has a plan.

The plan is to respond to attempts to silence us by...being silent.
...
...
...

That'll learn'em!

I think this is silly.
Besides, I generally blog about fluff, and I only have about 6 readers anyway.

So FOO! on that 'being quiet' crap.

Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day was moderately successful in getting this some coverage, so it seems that a linkaroozy is a better plan.

more...

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June 05, 2012

Once in a Lifetime

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Recall Election Chat over at Legal Insurrection

Professor Jacobson is was hosting a civil live-chat on the Wisconsin recall election here. UPDATE: It's over.

For those not interested in such matters, here is squid on toast.

In other, less contentious news, Media Blasters is indeed releasing Squid Girl 2.

more...

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June 04, 2012

Oh What The HELL Was That?

I watched two more episodes of Mysterious Girlfriend X.
Good grief this is an odd show.
It's wacky.
It's quirky.
It's gross.

Then this happens...

More importantly, a bit after that happens Urabe makes a pronouncement...
Which, in the context of the episode is really disturbing.

Possibilities:
1: SHE'S AN ALIEN
2: Souvlaki keeps a log of these things and she secretly read it.
3: She's a witch.
4: Souvlaki will soon discover that his quiet high-school life is shattered when Urabe reveals that he has been chosen to pilot a GIANT ROBOT.

Three episodes in, laughs are still outnumbering gag reflexes, but WTFs are catching up to both. I am now quite thoroughly intrigued.

UPDATE: Mauser is doing an in-depth play-by-play and discussion for each episode of this madness. The first installment is here. (spoiler alert)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:51 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Yet Another One

Kimberlin and company have now threatened the family of Ali Akbar.
There is more here.

Previous Kimberlin posts here, here, here and here.

Note that I will not be participating in The National Day of Blogger Silence as I think it is a singularly dumb idea. (..and no one would notice if I had another of my many days without content.)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Taxidermy of Tomorrow TODAY!

Ewww.
Neat!
...
Ewwww!

^via

Dutch dude uses his awesome taxidermy powers to turn his dead cat into Coptercat.

Naturally he uses it to chase cows.

The use of the Airwolf soundtrack is sublime.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:32 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So..What is German for "Long Lance"?

"Sea Hake Mod4"apparently.*

... At a test-firing in March 2012, the heavyweight torpedo SeaHake mod4 ER (Extended Range) achieved a range of over 140 kilometres.

Note that 140 clicks = 86.92 statute miles

^{Well...That's alarming.}

This thing has the range of some of the early Harpoon ASuW missiles. Torpedoes are much slower of course and there are issues with IFF and targeting moving targets over the horizon. However, modern torpedoes are FAR more lethal than guns or missiles and they are fiendishly difficult to intercept.

While it might take an hour to reach its target area a salvo of these things could generate an awfully large area of surprise 'torpedo water'....but unlike say the Battle of Tassafaronga, the torpedo water would be full of homing weapons. Yikes!
This massively complicates the defense of our warships.

On the bright side, this looks like a viable excuse for...TORPEDO Pr0n!