Brickmuppet Blog no longer has any comment on any matters of importance as we enjoy having our toes attached to our feet and further enjoy wiggling them.
So we will henceforth be responsible model citizens of good character and maintain the most hygienic of thoughts.
We cannot , however be held responsible for any unfortunate opinions that might or might not be held by certain anime lolis that may or may not find their way into our posts.
I assure you, our most benevolent and credentialed overlords, that we are working on the matter.
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Definitely. We're not sure what moves Elon will make to try and fix the mess that is Twitter, and then of course we know the employees will drag their feet, misinterpret, and otherwise resist any effective change, and there will be an enormous amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth at how awful this is, how dare some rich person buy a media company and try and change it (cough, Bezos, cough, Carlos Slim), and how horrible it is that *those people* can actually say *those things* on the internet and not get blocked and banned.
I will be very interested to see if Elon just tries to fix policies so that they are actually neutral and implemented as such, or if he goes direct "unban that person, ban that person, don't ban any of those..."
Posted by: David at Mon Apr 25 21:32:39 2022 (qSKtI)
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Originally thought infographic might make a very strong case.
Then noticed 'midterm candidates'. So, representatives and senators, and hence something that doesn't only track ideological preference. Also tracks buying influence with likely winners, so that they don't use screw over your business.
So, you would somewhat get a party bias at times that tracks with where your employees are located.
Twitter is in San Francisco, and it is unlikely that Pelosi's organization is lazy about shaking people down for protection.
Anyhow, Tesla is lower donating, but also a pretty high fraction Dem. Raises the question about when the data is from, and what locations the employees were at.
I think Twitter is possibly somewhat subsumed by Pelosi's operation. If so, you might only be able to address things quickly by building fresh organization from scratch elsewhere, and transfer elements of responsibility over, without moving people. Barring that, these kids at twitter were really excited about what Biden and Pelosi could do for them, both of whom are old and infirm, and may die of natural causes before Musk could make significant changes at Twitter.
Posted by: PatBuckman at Tue Apr 26 12:23:06 2022 (r9O5h)
Moskva's Last Patrol
A Journalist on Twitter, Sotiri Dimpinoudis posted these pics last night and they are making the rounds today.
We still don't know a lot, but there are reports that the Cruiser was hit by two Neptune missiles. Damage control/Damage assessment are not my forte' but the pics look consistent with those reports. I've seen people protest that there are no obvious blast holes like was apparent on U.S.S. Stark when hit by an Iraqi exocet. Moskva was a very substantial vessel, MUCH larger than a frigates and the missiles are small things. Also note this footage of HMS Sheffield before she sank due to another exocet hit.
HMS Sheffield was a smaller ship than Stark yet there is not the same spectacular obvious blast damage. There is certainly damage but its much closer to what we see on Moskva. Note too that in the case of both Stark and Sheffield the most serious damage was caused by the fire started by the rocket motor.
I don't have any idea what happened and am not technically qualified to speculate on damage control matters, but I don't think it is wise to dismiss the Ukrainian claims of a hit with their new missiles out of hand.
I suggest you go read this rather sober piece by Cdr Salamander who notes that the life-rafts on Moskva did deploy. He also notes the difficulties that a ship faces in range of enemy missiles. The Russians have not covered themselves in glory during this abominable campaign, but it is foolish to assume that every setback they face is a result of incompetence. The Moskva was old but VERY well equipped and as flagship she would have had a crackerjack crew. We would do well to draw lessons from her loss rather than engage in mockery.
We should save the mockery for those in our educated class who despite layers of fact-checker posted this picture claiming it represented the incident being discussed.
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The examples of USS STARK and HMS Sheffield is pertinent because each has an element in their incident that could have gone into Moskva's loss.
STARK had, by all accounts, a competent crew but a lack of attention at a critical point and the lack of promptness in servicing equipment resulted in the frigate getting nailed by Exocet missiles. While the crew loss was horrible, the STARK lucked-out because she avoided a a true 'kill shot' hit.
HMS Sheffield, on the other hand, had a competent crew and was materially prepared for war, but a lack of attention (Made worse by past alerts of attacks that failed to materialize.) resulting in a blase attitude toward the danger, and equipment interference allowed a successful Exocet attack. Despite that, it still required an enormous amount (Or lack of.) luck for the damage to be as severe as it was - IIRC, one Brit poster on the old sci.military.naval USENET group quipped that the hit was a classic Golden BB shot, because you could not have placed the warhead any better even if you did it by hand.
Right now, we still do not know enough from the Moskva to draw anything other than a few basic conclusions. Her loss might have matched the case of the STARK, the case of the Sheffield, a mix of the two, or something entirely different. We do not know enough at this time and even what is probably true is still in dispute. One of the few things that can be confidently predicted is that Moskva will not be the last ship lost in the war, and that Moskva might not be the worse loss at sea in the war.
Posted by: cxt217 at Mon Apr 18 19:39:45 2022 (MuaLM)
My new microphone, one which, hopefully works, has not yet arrived and is currently in limbo. I'm blaming train robbers for now, mainly because it sounds cool.
This, sadly, is not happening at the moment.
I'm still having some issues with getting the .pngs to synch with my voice, which I can't adequately test without a mic.
So, I don't think we are going to be streaming tonight.
I'm going to set a hard debut date of May 6th at 9PM EST/2AM GMT .
I may do a few public test streams before then if equipment becomes available. If the Mic/Headphone set is not here in few days, I'll order a new one.
"BUT I NEED SOULS! "
"Ignore 'Skippy' she's uh...neurodivergent...and a little 'Chunni'."
Sorry for the delays but without a mike that' not full of tinny reverb and static, it's just not happening.
See you at the curry mine in 21 days!
Brickmuppet and SCP491713 by Anime-Gum. Support him on Patreon!
A Note of Caution
So there are reports that Russian forces in Ukraine have used poison gas.
This is believable on the face of it given the reporting we have been getting because the Russians are somewhat stymied and they did this before in Syria, on the orders on the new commander of the Ukraine offensive.
However...
Reports are sketchy and the unit that the Daily Mail article says is reporting the incident is the Azov Battalion. The Azov Battalion is a militia group that are staffed with Nazis.
No, not libertarians that lefties are just CALLING NAZIs, or parents who don't want their daughters raped, or individualists or capitalists or classical liberals. The AZOV battalion consists of actual, unironic, motherfucking NAZIS. National Socialists are not reliable primary sources.
So let the fog-of-war clear a bit before loosing ones head.
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They did not do it in Syria. It was a complete fabrication. Just like this time.
BTW, what do you think about Russians losing the flagship of their Black Sea Fleet to a missile strike? I think that was some lulz.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed Apr 13 23:56:06 2022 (LZ7Bg)
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I thought it was funny to joke about "Ukrainian missiles have struck Moscow, and destroyed it." Plus playing on the city/ship ambiguity to say that the Americans were pussies for not nuking Moscow the city back during the Cold War.
There's actually a serious possible consequence, because Biden is senile enough that he may have forgotten the end of the Cold War. If he hasn't pushed through the launch of a 'preemptive' strike to 'prevent' the hypothetical Russian 'retaliatory' nuclear launch, it is probably not going to happen, so lulz should be safely purely humorous.
Leslie Fish has written lyrics for a Filk about it.
Re: gas
I think Russian logistics were already quite strained without needing to get gas into the Ukraine, supplying gas would have needed commitment by the leadership to atrocity well ahead of time, and that with that commitment, a great deal of atrocity could be carried out with simple small airs. If there had been gas use, we would also expect other things to be done worth condemnation, that would be much easier to prove.
Posted by: PatBuckman at Thu Apr 14 12:51:16 2022 (r9O5h)
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And I forgot to post with javascript on so that my carriage returns would be preserved.
*sigh*
Posted by: PatBuckman at Thu Apr 14 12:52:22 2022 (r9O5h)
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Based in Naval News' reporting, we are not sure what happened to Moskva except there was an explosion (Possibly caused by the Ukrainians.), damage was severe enough for the entire crew to be evacuated, and the cruiser stayed afloat for a while before sinking. We are not even sure what caused it, since Ukraine did not officially have any surface-launched anti-ship missiles yet.
The Russians did make it easier for something to happen to Moskva, since it had been operating on a fairly predictable pattern since the war began. I think that it will probably not have much practical effect on Russian operations at sea beyond what have been going on right now (Moskva did not have the surface to surface missiles the Russians have been bombarding Ukrainian targets with, and while her area air defense systems had a provided a large radius of coverage, the cruiser was not the only ship in the Black Sea Fleet capable of doing that.), it will anger the Russians enough to react harshly in some form.
Posted by: cxt217 at Thu Apr 14 19:43:24 2022 (MuaLM)
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I've been on the RFS Moskva, (Back when it was named Slava) it was a pretty impressive ship, and I was surprised how much armor was evident. However, without elaborating too much, I noticed a few things that indicate the Russians don't understand a lot about damage control.
@cxt217 The fog of war disclaimers certainly apply here. But I don't think a Slava class cruiser just spontaneously combusted. Note that the Ukrainians do have a fairly effective home-grown anti-ship missile, the Neptune.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Apr 14 20:23:21 2022 (5iiQK)
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It is the state of Russian damage control, maintenance, and/or manufacturing standards that makes it quite possible that something non-Ukrainian related happened aboard the Moskva to total her. I do not think we have enough information to say what it is - as much as I want the Ukrainians to win, I sure do not trust anything the Ukrainians say unless someone else backs it up.
Naval News report the Neptune has not actually gone into service yet with the Ukrainians. It was apparently scheduled for this month before things went to crap. Note that there were no confirmed use or even sightings of the Neptune being fielded at all prior to claims it was used against the Moskva, which led a lot of people to wonder what the Ukrainians were doing.
Posted by: cxt217 at Thu Apr 14 22:48:20 2022 (MuaLM)
7
First photos from the rescue vessels were published today and it looks like cxt won a prize: no damage consistent with a hit by a missile or missiles is visible, but a fire in the main engine is fairly evident. As far as what "magazine" blew up later, it could be the stores for the AK-630.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sun Apr 17 22:02:45 2022 (LZ7Bg)
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The food doesn't surprise me. People are starting to become more aware of the Charlie Foxtrot the global food supply is going to be through this year and into next. With the breadbasket for Europe, SW Asia, and Northern Africa currently being fertilized for Liberty Trees and with copious amount of cordite, a massive shortage of normal fertilizer, avian flu in the US, swine Flu in China, and various droughts world wide, there will be global food shortages. Here in the US, we should be OK, not much worse than the shortages of the last two years food-wise, but in other parts of the world there will be widespread famine.
The lead ingots are likely people predicting a massive radioactive rainfall from Russia and looking to build shelters.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Wed Apr 13 19:59:28 2022 (QJSdE)
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Actually I THINK the lead ingots are for casting bullets for handloading . It's one or 2 damned 74 pound ingots per address. Just a lot of people getting them today.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Apr 13 21:32:16 2022 (5iiQK)
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Holy cow, how do you even lift a 74 pound parcel? I can only squat 60 after Covid and deadlift maybe 70. That's without waking with the weight!
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Thu Apr 14 14:37:04 2022 (LZ7Bg)
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That animation was on point!
Carb cleaner and starting spray, and new gas for the mower.
Posted by: Mauser at Fri Apr 15 00:10:25 2022 (gVjvf)
5Holy cow, how do you even lift a 74 pound parcel?
Get close to the package. Position feet shoulder width apart. Establish firm footing, bending with the knees, not the back. Pivot rather that twist. As a matter of company policy we aren't responsible for lifting anything over 70 pounds without assistance but as a practical matter, 4 pounds is not worth whining over when there's no one else around. We carry parcels up to 150lb so if I DID get help on one of those I'd be lifting 75 anyway.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Fri Apr 15 03:33:16 2022 (5iiQK)
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When I was young (and fresh off the farm) I could pick up 90 pounds one-handed and lift it up over my head.
Today...just looking at my cat can throw my back out.
Posted by: Frank at Thu Apr 21 01:54:09 2022 (rglbH)
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Inspired by Brickmuppet, I deadlifted and squatted 90 yesterday.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Thu Apr 21 21:57:33 2022 (LZ7Bg)
There were questions asked in the comments regarding Ubu Roi's well being. He did respond to my inquiry and is alive and well. There have been connectivity issues adding to computer problems, and, like many of us of late, life has ...happened...to him...most energetically on multiple fronts at once, but he is not dead or hospitalized or anything.
Actual photograph of Ubu Roi is by Youkan. Support his work on Fantia!
Last Gasp?
An interesting disquisition by Peter Zeihan on what's happening in Russia, what Russia's motivations are, and what their endgame is.
I don't speak Russian and Russian translations are hard to come by, so I have no idea how accurate his analysis or long term prediction of "No Russia in the future" is. I'm skeptical to say the least. Russia has bounced back from a LOT. However Russia faces bigger problems than people suppose....as does the world...Go to 11:09 for the answer to the question "How does this affect us?"
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There is a very big reason why Russia is invading and it is one nobody is really talking about, least of all the US/EU elites who don't want any of us looking too closely at it.
As is well known by now, Russia is a petro-state whose economy is basically their oil and natural gas exports, primarily to Europe. The Russians were hurt hard by the drop in Natural Gas prices caused by the fracking revolution, adn they never want to see that again, and will go to extreme lengths to prevent it.
Now wind the clock back about 10-12 years. 3 new, massive, and completely untapped natural gas deposits came to light (though likely known about from the Soviet era). We're talking 3 Bakken-level deposits that are completely untapped. Where might these magical deposits be? One is at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains near the Poland border of Ukraine, a second is off the shore of the Crimea, and the third stretches from the Donbas past Kharkiv into Belarus. If any of these fields comes online, all the pipeline infrastructure that currently passes Russian gas through Ukraine will carry Ukrainan gas instead and Russia's economy does a replay of the post-Soviet era. That is why Putin is doing this.
As for our own elites? I'll point out that they were heavily involved in the 2004 overthrow of Putin's puppet in Ukraine and placing their own puppet in power. Putin's invasion of Crimea and Donbas put the kibosh on Billions of petro-grift dollars falling into their pockets, which explains a lot about why he became so hated by them. And finally, ask yourself just what kind of financing deals Hunter Biden was involved in where so many millions would flow to him in a relatively poor country like the Ukraine.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Mon Apr 4 17:19:32 2022 (j/uDM)
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Sane people invest in their neighboring country, possibly through shell companies.
Insane people invade their neighboring country.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Tue Apr 5 07:52:25 2022 (sF8WE)
That thus set an expectation that I'd continue to review it which required I watch more of it. The next few episodes, were, to my surprise, rather above average.
Give the regularity these days with which shows of ANY type fall apart and become dumpster fires, I procrastinated a bit, but ultimately girded my loins and sat down to watch the rest in anticipation of the inevitable disappointment.
In this, I suppose, I was, dissapointed with my predictive skills which was a win for me because, while the show flirted with falling apart for a bit, it held together nicely, even through the cringey "I have no voice box but I must sing" episode...which worked fine. There were no bad episodes (dumb ones yes, but they were still funny). And the whole thing surprised me by not just avoiding a 'faceplant', but actually coming together quite well at the end.
Part of it's appeal is that is generally a high energy show as can be deduced from these ending credits...(or opening, they couldn't make up their mind, but this was usually the ending)
The show follows one, well, Miss Kuroitsu, who works in (you might be surprised to learn) the Monster Development Department of a major corporation that is secretly a front for a group trying to take over the world, the executive staff looking like rouges gallery of every Super Sentai and Go Nagai series ever made.
It is a bone crushingly dumb premise that remains surprisingly consistent throughout its run. This show has a lot to say about work ethic, personnel management, corporate governance and the inevitable problems and pitfalls that even the most well run bureaucracies face. (No. I'm not making this up!) I joked once before that it should be required watching at business schools, but this really does express how corporate screw-ups happen with far more pithiness than any post-fiasco white paper.
And I laughed...out loud...at least once at every stupid episode.
Its appeal is not just in the high energy and the show's wackiness, but it has a weird sort of sincerity that I do not see in most any pop-culture projects that are produced in this cynical age. The characters are all....odd...I won't pretend they are believable, but they are likable, internally consistent, and the protagonists all have standards!
Hollywood should take note, there is a perfectly fine trans character as well as implied gayness...and those individuals do not feel like fake, preachy, artificially shoe-horned-in virtue-signals, but as actual relatable human bei..uh...sapient individuals who make perfect sense in the context of this silly tale.
MISS KUROITSU (from the Monster Development Department) Is 12 episodes with what appears to be a limited animation budget and is, frankly, a dumb, dumb, show, but it is also superbly written and is about the most enjoyable thing I've watched in two years.
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The oddest thing about it to me was the parade of cameos by apparent real life local Heroes. (I assume they are cosplay groups, but who knows, we had a Costumed Hero of questionable value in the Seattle area for a while.)
Posted by: Mauser at Mon Apr 4 01:12:20 2022 (gVjvf)
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I'm pretty sure some of the cameo heroes are representatives of the local chambers of commerce, who do promotions and such for local businesses and festivals. Some are representatives or community engagement people for local public safety offices. I think at least one of them was, as you speculated, actually a cosplay circle that also does local ads like the aforementioned chamber of commerce people.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Apr 4 06:46:33 2022 (5iiQK)
Hobby Space News of the commercial space industry A Babe In The Universe Rather Eclectic Cosmology Encyclopedia Astronautica Superb spacecraft resource The Unwanted Blog Scott Lowther blogs about forgotten aerospace projects and sells amazingly informative articles on the same. Also, there are cats. Transterrestrial Musings Commentary on Infinity...and beyond! Colony WorldsSpace colonization news! The Alternate Energy Blog It's a blog about alternate energy (DUH!) Next Big Future Brian Wang: Tracking our progress to the FUTURE. Nuclear Green Charles Barton, who seems to be either a cool curmudgeon, or a rational hippy, talks about energy policy and the terrible environmental consequences of not going nuclear Energy From Thorium Focuses on the merits of thorium cycle nuclear reactors WizBang Current events commentary...with a wiz and a bang The Gates of Vienna Tenaciously studying a very old war The Anchoress insightful blogging, presumably from the catacombs Murdoc Online"Howling Mad Murdoc" has a millblog...golly! EaglespeakMaritime security matters Commander Salamander Fullbore blackshoe blogging! Belmont Club Richard Fernandez blogs on current events BaldilocksUnderstated and interesting blog on current events The Dissident Frogman French bi-lingual current events blog The "Moderate" VoiceI don't think that word means what they think it does....but this lefty blog is a worthy read nonetheless. Meryl Yourish News, Jews and Meryls' Views Classical Values Eric Scheie blogs about the culture war and its incompatibility with our republic. Jerry Pournell: Chaos ManorOne of Science fictions greats blogs on futurism, current events, technology and wisdom A Distant Soil The website of Colleen Dorans' superb fantasy comic, includes a blog focused on the comic industry, creator issues and human rights. John C. Wright The Sci-Fi/ Fantasy writer muses on a wide range of topics. Now Read This! The founder of the UK Comics Creators Guild blogs on comics past and present. The Rambling Rebuilder Charity, relief work, roleplaying games Rats NestThe Art and rantings of Vince Riley Gorilla Daze Allan Harvey, UK based cartoonist and comics historian has a comicophillic blog! Pulpjunkie Tim Driscoll reviews old movies, silents and talkies, classics and clunkers. Suburban Banshee Just like a suburban Leprechaun....but taller, more dangerous and a certified genius. Satharn's Musings Through TimeThe Crazy Catlady of The Barony of Tir Ysgithr アニ・ノート(Ani-Nouto) Thoughtful, curmudgeonly, otakuism that pulls no punches and suffers no fools. Chizumatic Stephen Den Beste analyzes anime...with a microscope, a slide rule and a tricorder. Wonderduck Anime, Formula One Racing, Sad Girls in Snow...Duck Triumphalism Beta Waffle What will likely be the most thoroughly tested waffle evah! Zoopraxiscope Too In this thrilling sequel to Zoopraxiscope, Don, Middle American Man of Mystery, keeps tabs on anime, orchids, and absurdities. Mahou Meido MeganekkoUbu blogs on Anime, computer games and other non-vital interests Twentysided More geekery than you can shake a stick at Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas Sounds like Plaigarism...but isn't Ambient IronyAll Meenuvians Praise the lathe of the maker! Hail Pixy!!
