The inexorable advance of time will catch you.

^{...and it can be mean.}

Happy 2014 everybody.

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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.

This, of course, is the gambit of a faction in the Japanese government.. Introduce Akiba culture to rot Eldant's society from within, thereby increasing internal strife, destroying their societies traditional values and sowing discord, which will allow exploitation of the regions rich mineral resources. Generating a literate cadre of consumers for Japanese visual culture is icing on the cake...but lucrative icing indeed. They'll be paying for their manga in Eldant currency....gold and silver coins.  Shinichi was chosen not for his knowledge of trivia, but because he can be disposed of without  notice.

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.

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Gloriously so.

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

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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. .

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:36 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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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
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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
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What?

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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}

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^{Fate Stay Night's Rin and Saber by Megumi Ishihara}

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

^{Miki sand Yukko from Katawa Shoujo by Wee}

<sup>Santa's helper by Tony Taka



Chritmas Catgirl, also  by Takauky Tanaka (who is only known as Tony Taka in the English speaking world)</sup>

^{Yuletide Twins by Katase Waka}

Everyone have a wonderful Holiday!

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Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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...is not bored right now.

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^{" 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
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....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.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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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.

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

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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
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 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
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...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...
...though despite the exquisite rendering of said headgear, I'm not sure that Panderion has captured the essence of the holiday.

..not that I'm complaining.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:31 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Here is some more Christmas cheer...

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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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.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:52 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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