December 31, 2013

There is no Fighting It

The inexorable advance of time will catch you.


...and it can be mean.

Happy 2014 everybody.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.

Outbreak Company Ends



While I was initially impressed with its characterizations and how well this show handled its ridiculous fanboy affirmation premise, after the unmitigated disaster that was episode 5, I had thrown in the towel. However, a couple of weeks later, I did watch the next episode and it was substantially better, much more in keeping with the tone of the earlier episodes. In it, our hero, who follows sports manga but not actual sports decided that the best way to defuse the growing racial and ethnic tensions between the elves and the dwarves in his class was to have them have a soccer tournament against each other...It goes about as well as one would expect.

After that, the show continued its uneven shuffle towards the end, never quite gelling but every episode had at least some intriguing or at least amusing tangents.




For a show that is supposed to revolve around evangelizing fandom, it can be pretty straightforward in its exploration of that cultures pathologies and dysfunctions.



The show takes a rather different tack in the last two episodes and while it had been telegraphed for quite a while it still feels rather jarring. The ending only partially resolves the various plot threads but I found it more satisfying than it normally would be due to the fact that there was some genuine character development in a couple of characters over the course of the series.

Wildly uneven, Outbreak Company is never great, and the occasional idiocy of the protagonists can be infuriating, but it is often cute, funny and even interesting. It seems to be set up for a second season, and in the unlikely event that transpires, I'll probably at least give it a try.


Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 290 words, total size 3 kb.

December 30, 2013

This "Space Dandy" Thing Looks Like it Could be Offensive

Gloriously so.

More importantly it seems to have considerable potential to be fun...and possibly even good.


The ad is RETRO-RIFFIC...

...beyond that, here is not much to go on, other than reports that the show concerns a bounty hunter in the far future. However, Soul Eater, Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Beebop and Samurai Champloo...is a pretty impressive pedigree.

 It certainly looks to be one to watch. It's premiering on Toonami this Saturday, January 4th

Text below this line does not exist
Friday or Saturday (Toonami says Saturday, January 4th. But Saturday is the 5th).

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:27 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 104 words, total size 1 kb.

December 29, 2013

Cruise Ship Trapped in Pack Ice

A Russian research/cruise ship Akademik Shokalskiy. has been overwhelmed by a summer blizzard off Antarctica and has become trapped in thickening ice. The Chinese icebreaker  Xue Long, unable to deal with the thickness of ice around the ship has retreated to open water leaving the cruise ship's only hope the Australian icebreaker Aurora Austrialis which is moving to assist. .


Akademik Shokalskiy stuck fast. Pic via USA Today

UPDATE: It looks like Aurora Australis is also being forced off by the abominable conditions.
This is getting serious.
Two top of the line icebreakers have found conditions too dangerous to proceed. The weather has deteriorated to the point that helicopter rescue is currently unsafe. If the ice is really over 4 meters thick, the cruise ship (which draws 4.5m) is not really floating any more. There is the very real possibility that the ship might be crushed. Complicating matters is the fact that the 'expedition' is a political stunt and PR is everything for the expedition leaders. Reports from the Akademik Shokalski indicate that those being interviewed are in denial of the gravity of their situation.The optics of this incident as well as the political and financial implications for the members of the voyage, may well be influencing them to deny the inevitable until lives are at risk.
Irony is a dish best served cold.



Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:36 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 230 words, total size 3 kb.

December 28, 2013

OK Guys

We need to ponder some important matters...
Who are the villainous vehicular vixens we are looking at here in this frame grab?


We've got Baron Ashler, Garada K-7, Doubilus M2...and that, um, scissorheaded thing that sinks boats...Any ideas on the others?


Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.

Well This Looks Sketchy

Work, school and family matters have meant that I've not been minding my E-mails like I should for nearly a month. I'm on several mailing lists that are concerned with news, science, defense analysis, politics, and frothing fanboy recidivism. So today...my first day really OFF in a long while. I started to slog through nearly 400 E-mails.

Among them were, to my great astonishment a handful of E-mails from actual human beings with whom I have spoken...offline even.... as well as a couple that just...wow.

more...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:49 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 152 words, total size 1 kb.

December 27, 2013

Uh...

What?



My childhood has just been molested...but in a completely different way than usual.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 02:49 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

Just South of Europa, it Gets Kind of Humid

One of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes seems a bit excited about a recent discovery by NASA.


"It's just a water vapor cloud..BUT IT'S IN SPAAACE!!!"

While examining an aurora near Europa's  south pole, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered that it is associated with a faint cloud of water vapor, presumably venting from cryo-volcanoes on Europa that have plumes 201 kilometers high.



It seems likely that the 'cloud' deposits snow on Europa's south pole. NASA scientists take the plumes as further evidence that Europa is home to a vast subterranean ocean.

via NBF

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 02:43 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 106 words, total size 1 kb.

December 25, 2013


Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 01:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 0 words, total size 1 kb.

Merry Christmas!


Fate Stay Night's Rin and Saber by Megumi Ishihara

For those of you who prefer to celebrate X-mas...



Everyone have a wonderful Holiday!


Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 01:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 2 kb.

December 24, 2013

45 Years Ago




Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 3 words, total size 1 kb.

The JASDF

...is not bored right now.




Not sure what is going on there with the Russians, but team red is certainly keeping them busy.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

Meanwhile in Space


" Hi. We're the HVAC guys."

The astronauts on the International Space Station just successfully replaced a coolant pump via an emergency Christmas Eve spacewalk. There have been several issues, not the least of which was a potentially dangerous malfunction yesterday in one of the 35 year old suits.

As I type this, they are decontaminating in the airlock prior to re-pressurization. It seems that there was an ammonia leak while they replaced the pump.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 04:08 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 78 words, total size 1 kb.

If You See a UPS Driver Today

....be nice to them.
They are having a hard day. They cannot return to the building until all residential packages on their trucks are delivered.
They have quite a few this evening.

Oh look...winter clothing.


Image is promo art from Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions!Click here for supah size.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

December 23, 2013

OK This is New

One of The Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes takes time from her eggnog to alert us to a surprising development in the fight against  terminal decrepitude.


"Sadly it does not seem to regrow limbs"
Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old. - See more at: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/anti-aging-formula-slated-begin-human-trials#sthash.RBZvhED8.dpuf

For years we've heard stories about how some mouse had its lifespan radically extended by something or other...however, this never seems to result in any human trials...until now.

Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old.

- See more at: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/anti-aging-formula-slated-begin-human-trials#sthash.RBZvhED8.dpuf

Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old. - See more at: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/anti-aging-formula-slated-begin-human-trials#sthash.RBZvhED8.dpuf

Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old.

- See more at: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/anti-aging-formula-slated-begin-human-trials#sthash.RBZvhED8.dpuf
 Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old
Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old. - See more at: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/anti-aging-formula-slated-begin-human-trials#sthash.RBZvhED8.dpuf

Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old.

- See more at: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/anti-aging-formula-slated-begin-human-trials#sthash.RBZvhED8.dpuf

Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old.

- See more at: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/anti-aging-formula-slated-begin-human-trials#sthash.RBZvhED8.dpuf
 

Of course the treatments will be hideously expensive for the foreseeable future and they are tests...so they might not pan out. However,  human tests of a life extension treatment are going to be conducted next year! This could be very, very big!

"Science Babe" is actually Rin Tezuka, from Katawa Shoujo.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 01:01 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 465 words, total size 5 kb.

Amazon Has Doomed Us All

Last night I checked to see if the hard to find second half of Last Exile 2 is available there. It is not. I did see something there unrelated...Perhaps in an effort to make good on what has been an off year in retail sales, Amazon was announcing that he deadline for free shipping to be delivered by Christmas had been extended...to midnight last night.
I took this as an ill omen.
It was.
I've been at UPS 22 years, I've never seen a day like today. I imagine tomorrow will be similar.

Oh look...seasonal fashions:



Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:34 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.

December 22, 2013

Aren't We Lucky?

 The  popular leader of a comedy troupe that looks like a zombie version of ZZ Top has made a somewhat edgy and vulgar comment that has the ministry of acceptable discourse all in a tizzy. The fellow has been fired. There are thoughts i generally agree with on this matter of great importance here, here, here, here and from the always interesting Camille Paglia here.  This is at once silly, disturbing and perhaps even  a bit heartening...

You see, so quiet is the domestic and international stage that it is the only news story worth talking about.


more...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 02:59 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 630 words, total size 7 kb.

December 20, 2013

A Blitzkrieg of Boxes

...continues . Yesterday nearly a fifth of our workforce called in sick, I was, for several hours, the only person processing the "irregulars"....that's parcels that are really big, sharp edged, cutty, painful, and/or 70-150 pounds. This is normally a six person job and usually doesn't involve me in any way, or any of my blood. Yesterday and today were complicated by the fact that a weather delay earlier in the week caused three quarters of a metric buttload of parcels to show up all at once. Today may have been the longest day I have ever worked at UPS that I was not driving. 
A few minutes ago, I got home, changed my bandages and discovered via Don that some quisling has revealed by dark secrets to the world, resulting in my being struggled against.
This could potentially complicate my plans to steal the Pueblo next summer.

I feel as sore as I was in boot camp...I'm gonna go to bed. Blogging will resume briefly this weekend.

Oh look:
A Santa hat...


Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:31 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 177 words, total size 2 kb.

December 17, 2013

Cardboard Cascade Continues

Here is some more Christmas cheer...

Art by Shinobu

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 12 words, total size 1 kb.

December 16, 2013

Ordinarily,

not wearing gloves would invoke some flack from a health inspector.
However, I don't thing that's the case here, because:
1: It's Old Delhi
2: The germs probably aren't an issue thanks to the temperature.

Here we have a guy with actual super-powers and he's using them to fry fish instead of fight crime.
One can only assume that this is just a cover for his secret identity as Asbestos Man.


"I HATE this guy!"

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:52 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 76 words, total size 1 kb.

<< Page 1 of 2 >>
84kb generated in CPU 0.0789, elapsed 0.4142 seconds.
79 queries taking 0.395 seconds, 428 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.