March 28, 2015

This is Interesting

This fan film is making the rounds and deservedly so. 



Its animation appears to be largely the work of one guy who has published a short exposition on his techniques here. 



The process looks to be very similar to what the late Monty Oum described as his team's method of producing RWBY. That show had a cast and crew of 10 for the first season and 15 for the second.  
That's impressive, but remember that Oum reportedly did the first and second RWBY trailers by himself and this fellow Paul Johnson did the Tie Fighter short himself over a period of about two years.

The gatekeepers continue to stand guard unflinchingly, but their walls are now full of holes.


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What is This?

I can't even....





That didn't help at all.
Allow me to explain...
The issue is not that the fellow defected, it's the buried lede in the last sentence.

 The US negotiating team are mainly there to speak on Iran’s behalf with other members of the 5+1 countries and convince them of a deal

The most disturbing thing is that I'm not even
...shocked.

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Rocinante: 1981-2015

Full disclosure: Strictly speaking, nobody actually died as such. For the vast majority of folks who are uninterested in the first world problems below the fold, here are 3 views of Sakurajima.




(I did not know that Volcanoes sounded like synthesizers!)
 

Note that pressing "MORE" will result in banality and not more 'splodies.
more...

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March 25, 2015

And Now, Some Words From Our Sponsors

I'm being distracted by three papers, a broken tooth, an oral presentation, a kidney stone, a blown head gasket and tests tomorrow and Friday which have combined to distract me from producing content and contributed to my decision to sell out and monetize the blog.


So here are some ads...



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March 18, 2015

Nothing to See Here

It seems that while we weren't looking,  the Chinese agreed to provide Argentina with 5 offshore patrol vessels (actually in this case, small corvettes). The Argentines, for no reason whatsoever, we are sure, have decided to name them the Malvinas class. 



 

This is part of a larger deal where the Argentines got debt forgiven, infrastructure and "stuff" in exchange for mineral wealth, corn and beef. The "stuff" includes several nuclear reactors in exchange for a Chinese spacecraft tracking station in Patagonia and other, undisclosed concessions.

 
Terra Del Fuego, Sri Lanka, Dominica, all those atolls in the South China Sea, the new Nicaraguan canal, and feelers along the Cape of Good Hope.

China has issues to be sure, but the Middle Kingdom also has the choke points covered. 

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March 17, 2015

That Awkward Moment When....


Inquisitive Naga by Bubuzuke

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I Am Unsure

...if this is a Leprechaun or just a really big clover....

...but it was done by Silverbin and seemed topical. 

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March 15, 2015

New Zealand

...has volcanoes, giant squid, tsunamis, colossal squid, earthquakes, sharks, mud pots and kiwi birds. So it makes sense that one needs good insurance there. 


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March 14, 2015

A Question For My Readers

"And now, the REAL battle begins!"

I'm wondering if I was having problems with Crunchyroll's stream or if this episode of Log Horizon was really animated at about 4 fps?
more...

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The Day Was Saved

Astonishingly, the Village Inn was almost out of pies, but at 9:26 PM, we did our bit to save the world. 



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March 13, 2015

An Argument Against Friggatriskaidekaphobia

18 minutes left to go and as of yet no disasters have yet befallen any of the staff here at Brickmuppet Blog since midnight.




So close...so close...18 minutes to safety....

Lest people grow complacent, it should be remembered that in a few minutes it will be International Pi day.

If one does not consume pie at exactly 3-14-15 9:26:54 then no one knows WHAT might happen! 

more...

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March 12, 2015

Terry Pratchett 1948-2015

Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series quietly passed away this morning, having fought a battle with early onset Alzheimers, which, in a manner of speaking, he won.  You see, he succeeded in completing his last novel The Sheppherds Crown shortly before his passing. It will be published posthumously. 




Pratchett leaves behind a vast body of work that has brought and will continue to bring joy to millions. He also had a fossil sea turtle named in his honor and a greenhouse full of carnivorous plants, because he was just that awesome a person. 

A great man has passed, but in both his work and his life, he inspired many of the great people to come. 

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March 11, 2015

In Orbit: 5x5



One of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes reacts to the successful insertion of the Dawn Probe into orbit around Ceres, the Solar System's innermost Dwarf Planet.


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March 09, 2015

Log Horizon: 47 Episodes

...and it's STILL full of win.



Best Kunoichi
more...

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Dynastic Twilight ?

Several articles have popped up in a relatively short time suggesting that the Chinese Communist Party may be in a surprisingly precarious position. These pre-mortems pop up from time to time and usually focus on the demographic challenges China will face in upcoming years. However several recent articles with rather dramatic titles like "The Coming Chinese Crack-Up"are positing that the rot in the Chinese Communist Party itself is a more immediate threat. Additionally we think of China as a creditor nation because they hold a good chunk (almost 8%) of our debt, but China has quite the issue with their national debt as well. With some suspecting that the middle kingdom is in a rather more fragile state than their increase in defense spending and island seizures would indicate. 


Some might take this as good news, but a collapse of the Mao Dynasty could get exceedingly messy with alarming speed. 



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March 07, 2015

egzamz...over....

After finishing my exams Friday, I got a replacement for the Blackberry that was destroyed during the blizzard. One of my E-mail accounts got hacked within 7 hours of the activation..which involved accessing my AOL account from the Verizon store.
There is an inscrutable, deeply hidden lesson in that story somewhere, but I am too tired to spot it .

Anyway,  I've had a week, so, while I recover, here is what appears to be a still from a low budget Kaiju movie.


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March 03, 2015

Meanwhile, in Chile

The Chilean volcano Villarrica had been making rumblings for about a month before erupting spectacularly early this morning. 

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Well, That Was One Heck of a Speech.

Netanyahu knocked it out of the park, laying out all the myriad reasons why the proposed deal is of such concern to so many. However, it seems unlikely to change many, if any minds amongst those in power whose minds are made up.

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Well. This is Intruiging...

One of The Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes points us to this article on Lockheed Martin's concept for a fusion turbine about which there is more here and here....


She also has some reservations. 

"I'm not sure I can trust any scientist who isn't wearing a  proper science shirt."

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March 02, 2015

Brodie Rig

Here is some interesting color footage of the Brodie landing system which the Army used during WW2 to operate their light observation planes without airstrips. Towards the end of the war the devices were adapted for use at sea on Navy and Army transports.

This system is wacked, and it doesn't work with planes much bigger than a Piper Cub, but it had one obvious advantage over the Hurricat

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