This here blog is still becalmed by a sea witches curse. Scuttlin' is still an option but we be not sunk yet.

In the interim let us present ye with a scrimshaw by Watase Yuu.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 02:57 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I'm still coping with the fact that I used my base computer knowledge points to boost my Sci-Fi trivia skill roll.

Blogging will recommence...eventually.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:14 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Yes there is weirdness with the blogs formatting and imaging.
Fear not! Our crack team of antipodean troubleshooters is on the case.
Everything will be fixed in a week or there will be a new blog with the same name and 917 fewer posts in this very spot.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I am back from Japan.
Blogging will resume shortly.
I hope to have the weirdness with the banners fixed by Friday.
A few quick thoughts...

Continental airlines is excellent. Not only was this the cheapest flight I've taken in 12 years, it was almost pleasant. There is no way to make a 13 hour flight in coach pleasant, but Continental came close.

When you reenter the US try to do it in Houston. The line for customs and immigration was every bit as long as any I've seen, but the line moved. I was a random bag check and I still got through in just over an hour. By comparison Bob and I had a 5 hour layover in O'Hare in 2007 and missed our plane. I had a 4 hour layover in San Fran in 2008 and only made the plane because I called when I cleared customs and they held the plane 4 minutes. I stark contrast to O'Hare the staff at the airport in Houston was professional and courteous. My only gripe was that the currency exchange did not handle coins.

School started 2 days ago and there are a ton of beauraucratic snafus to resolve so I'm off....

Trip pics and other actual content soon.
I lieu of said content here is some Horo.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:21 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I still can't post pictures on the blog and I'm still befuddled by the banner images.

Possibly related, Playlist dot coms audio channels are blocked in Japan. A little banner comes up and says "some songs are blocked do to copyright in your country" and none of the playlists will play at all. Oddly...the new video channel is not blocked.

I broke the camera I had with me today.

I probably won't post much until I'm back in the states since I can't post pics anyway.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:39 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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There is banner oddness, but Pixy is on it, because Pixy is superhuman and is always awake...and upside down at the same time!

UPDATE: Still can't do anything with the banners and I'll be offline for a while as my flight approaches, so, in lieu of actual current events commentary here is a topical banner just out of spite and to preserve honor.

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...My grandmother had a series of terrible headaches last night. Before I went to bed, I took her blood pressure...
192 over 123

'kaaay....

again....
188 over 124

Well bed was obviously not happening....and I ended up not going to work...
Of course the doctor found her blood pressure normal...so we had them look at our blood pressure monitor...it worked fine.....

His response"

"Well, she may well be having fluctuations...my advise is to not use the home blood pressure monitor."

Our response:
"But you said it was calibrated properly and we were using it right.

His response:
"Yes, but if her blood pressure really is spiking it will get you all upset...."


My response: New doctor. 

Srsly guys....WTF?

Anyway there is a new set of pills in the house for my Grandmother now.

In other news my mothers surgery has been delayed again. Both of the surgeons want to do another biopsy, this one very invasive (full blown surgery) to determine the extent of the actual surgery....which is delayed yet again.

I haven't slept in almost 2 days....but as I type this...I'm unable to sleep.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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We have been informed by Pixy Misa, our stalwart and brilliant web wizard that the servers will be migrating to greener pastures at 06:00GMT/01:00 AM EST tomorrow (June 7). Barring any stampedes or alkali flats the process should only take an hour.

Then Mee.nu will be that much more spiffy. If you want to be part of the spiffy then sign up.

^{Picture unrelated...}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The playlist as of 4/23/09...

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The US Airforce has a comprehensive plan for commenting on blogs. (via)

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I am trying something.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:44 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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1

How many different songs did you queue up there?

The first one I heard, I almost recognized (the tune, but not the arrangement) but now it's lost and I have no idea even what you called the file. No record of it I can see.

An extremely lush sound, lots of reverb, lute or guitar music, female vocalist (same voice doing several parts, singing chords), violin solo. Help me out here.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Jan 6 22:05:30 2009 (+rSRq)

2 OK, I dug into your source and found out how to listen to your playlist. It was "Key of the Twilight". What is that from? I should know this.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Jan 6 22:11:09 2009 (+rSRq)

3 OH! I know! It's from Noir! No wonder it took me a while; it's been years since I watched it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Jan 6 22:13:08 2009 (+rSRq)

4
The .hack// OP perhaps?
It could have been one of the Angela tracks, or one of the two by Ocean Lab.
There are only 12 songs on the playlist at this time.
I will add more over the next few days.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Jan 6 22:14:53 2009 (V5zw/)

5 Oh good.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Jan 6 22:16:12 2009 (V5zw/)

6 Having said all that, I think this is a mistake. It's true that someone can scroll down and turn the thing off, but if you reload the page it doesn't remember that, and starts playing again.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Jan 6 22:51:34 2009 (+rSRq)

7 I second Steven's last comment. Musical pages annoy the hell out of me, even when it's music I like. Leave the player in your page if you wish, but please make its default state "off."

Posted by: Don at Tue Jan 6 23:19:22 2009 (9AB71)

8 Fortunately, I have Flashblock extension.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed Jan 7 00:07:54 2009 (/ppBw)

9 A very neat idea for background music.

Posted by: Marina at Wed Jan 7 14:43:05 2009 (S2qjO)

10 As a general rule, if a web site starts playing sounds when the page loads, I leave and never return. Present-but-off is fine.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Wed Jan 7 16:39:59 2009 (2XtN5)

11 While I like most of your choices, a page with music on it rarely works, and a blog even less so, it's quite rare that your visitors are going to be on a page long enough for a song to complete, and it get's quite annoying to have the song stop or change when you navigate between posts, for example I had a song playing when I went to comment, and it promptly stopped.

Steven- "Key of the Twilight" and "In the Land of Twilight, Under the Moon" are both from the .hack series.  However, Noir wasn't a bad guess, as Yuki Kajiura was the main provider of music for both series.  I know you don't collect OST's by and large, but her album "Fiction" has a decent mix of tracks from both shows, plus some others and holds a prominent place in my playlists.

Posted by: David at Wed Jan 7 19:23:32 2009 (Gb/o4)

12 Well, then, my failure to really remember it makes even more sense. I watched ".Hack/Sign" once, years ago, and haven't ever watched it since.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wed Jan 7 21:45:54 2009 (+rSRq)

13 great article thanks for sharing

Posted by: forex trading at Sun May 17 05:34:19 2009 (AyW95)

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But that is only in reference to the engine...not the spambot.

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I am not convinced that we are not seeing a rehash of 2000 regards the early  call of PA (which as I type this has been called with only 5% of the votes tallied and only urban areas reporting). However, that is indeed a long shot.

Barring a miracle, it appears that Barak Obama, an individual with virtually nil executive experience, and very disturbing economic and political views is going to be our president.

Lets say that again, our president.

He is the President of the United States in a trying and dangerous time and his obvious inadequacy for the job means he needs our support more than most.

On January 20th the weight of the world is going to be on this mans shoulders and he is going to have to deal with actual problems in real time, not through the comfortable filter of 20/20 hindsight. He will, as all presidents do, screw up occasionally (OK...a lot in his case). However, he is going to be our president, the captain of our team. We need to remember that and treat him with respect even as many of oppose him on the myriad issues on which he is likely to be wrong

"Gird yer loin's" kids. It's going to be a rough 4 years.

 

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There has been an error in categorization that may cause some viewers distress.
For reasons unknown a post on Governor Palin and a post on....umm...Chun Li are appearing in the "Actually it IS Rocket Science!" category.

Yes, these two willful and saucy posts are stubbornly refusing to go where they belong.

I apologize for any stress incurred to those expecting only SpaceBlogging at that link. I am fully aware that Chun Li and Sarah Palin are not, strictly speaking, space related ...though Chun Li and Sarah Palin in Space might have potential as a series concept.

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I HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

Wo0t!

I'm important!

I have a parasite page trolling for my readers typos!  It's not even pr0n.

brickmuppet.me.nu

It won't make them much money though...I think I have 6 readers and 4 spammers.

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Spambots have me bracketed....

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Back in the US after a long flight back.

10.5 hour flight with seatbelt light on 8.5 hours of it. REALLY turbulent ride. Kudos to United for dealing with the foul weather with grace and professionalism.

The difference between arriving in Japan and the US is striking. The impression given is that the US does NOT want visitors. There was a 2.5 hour layover in San Fransisco However, due to customs and the fact that we all had to go through the airport screening again in SFO, I very nearly missed the connecting flight.
A big thanks to United  for holding the flight over a minute for me. (I had contacted the nearest United desk as soon as I cleared the tweezer police...and they informed the plane I was on my way). As I ran to the plane, the engines were already spun up. The purser was holding the door and asked "Are you Mister Talton?" I answered in the affirmative and she closed the door behind me.

There were no problems on the last 2 flights...A big thanks to United for not splattering me across the countryside.

I have over a hundred more pics from Kanazawa, Himeji castle and various random spots, but my computer time is limited as I'm starting school tomorrow and start work Thursday.

I'll try to get the rest of the Japan pics up by the end of the week. In the meantime, what posts are posted will be on the more usual topics

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:42 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Updated With Actual Text: A Quick recap in light of the important corrections that I made to the previous post as well as additional information.

First, by the numbers
Death Toll is 7.
Injured 10.
This is a total number of 17 victims rather than the previously reported 14. I'm guessing that the 3 run over by the truck were initially omitted from the count as they were not stabbed.

Danny Choo has a very good, succinct post  on the incident that gives a timeline. It does appear from the news reports that the perp was stopped by a policeman drawing his weapon.
 Danny links to this You Tube.

The perpetrator does seem to have gotten a remarkable distance, though at least one person tried to tackle him and was stabbed. Also, the bastard was reportedly an impressive athelete.

Japan Probe has an interesting article on the use of deadly force (or lack there of) by the Japanese police...

Which requires a note to my fellow members of  the 82nd chairborne division:

 While this is certainly a situation where deadly force is authorized (this was the sort of scenario in which we were told in Maritime Law Enforcement School to "take the shot") This was Akihabara... on a Sunday. Any of my readers who have been there know that there was likely no clear shot presented to this officer. There are kids all around and the Cop has to hit a flailing, moving, crazy ass target at range with a .38 caliber revolver...this is a no win situation. According to the video he prepared to fire in the less populated alley. This is a call best left to the officer on the scene. Keep in mind that if he had missed and hit a bystander or the bullet had gone clean through and hit someone, the cop would be castigated by the same people who are upset he did not fire into a crowd.

Another, rather creepy bit of information via Danny Choo.

According to him, there have been 3 previous stabbing incidents this year similar to this one. In all four incidents, the perps, upon being apprehended, said..

 "Anybody would have been fine."

This is worrisome, not just because of the utter sociopathic nihilism it indicates, but 4 murderers saying the exact same thing in such short order is just creepy. Is it a copycat spree, or something organized like one of those suicide chat rooms?

Meh this is just speculation but damn, that's odd.


One final thing... Those pics in the post below came from Japan Probe, which I gather from the .jpeg titles got them off of 2chan. These pictures are extremely important as they show something that the newscasts and newspapers (other than the Youtube linked above) do not.  People jumping to action before the paramedics arrived.

The mainstream English language coverage of this showed no such thing and it is an important thing that needs to be seen.

This is an awful thing, but these kids are alright...


.

So Brickmuppeteers, give a big thanks to Japan Probe for posting these heart wrenching but important and informative pictures.

UPDATE: Welcome Gunpundit readers!

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An attempt at an animated banner that failed....

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