June 04, 2020
They're in Our Kitchenz....Optimizin' Our Omelets
Over at IEEE Spectrum they have an article on a robot that learns from its user's reactions and generate perfect omelets. An interesting article, that focuses on the potential of advanced machine learning, it does raise some questions. How many eggs must our robot overlords break to make what they believe to be the perfect omelet? Perhaps, if we knew the answer to that question, we would count ourselves among Those Who Walk Away From Omelets.
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June 02, 2020
What Else is Happening in the World?
Certain developments that we're all following closely but are sick of hearing about have been getting the vast majority of coverage. Wonder what is getting missed?
Here are a few things.
The U.S. has agreed to sell Taiwan some Mark 48 torpedoes. Advanced heavyweight torpedoes are the purview of only a few nations and most countries that make them have declined to sell them to Taiwan in recent years for fear of annoying Coronastan. The deal has actually been in the works since 2016, but has been delayed four years. However, for some reason, the U.S. seems to no longer be concerned about the feelings of the Middle Kingdom anymore.
In west central Africa, measels and Winnie the Flu are being joined by....Ebola.
See!? I'm still relevant!
Anthropomorphizing diseases is open to criticism of course, but honestly, when geologists are anthropomorphizing volcanoes I don'wanna hear it.
In Mexico, 10 policemen on assignment to escort some potential investors in a small town vanished after completing their assignment along with numerous civilians.
Activision's CEO has revealed himself to be afflicted by multiple personality disorder.
After looking at designs from the U.S. and around the world, The U.S. Navy has finally picked a wining frigate design and paid Italian company Fincanteri for the rights to build these new frigates here...wait..this is good news. Is that allowed?
In the South Atlantic, a large magnetic anomaly (basically a gap in the earth's magnetic field) is growing and moving. Now it's been doing this for decades so this would not be news normally, except that the approved experts are saying "At present, there's nothing to be alarmed about. "...so given experts track record this year, obviously something is terribly wrong and will become apparent in about 90 days so we should all madly buy toilet paper for some reason.
Or not.
Stay safe everybody.
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Well. This Day is Off to a Good Start.
This morning instead poaching eggs for breakfast I decided to pour a bowl of raisin bran. This is, theoretically, a simple operation that involves depositing the cereal in a bowl and adding milk to it (in that order...this is important). However, the difference between theory and practice is that there is no difference between theory in practice in theory, but in practice there is. For example: I discovered this morning a heretofore unknown failure mode in the aforementioned culinary preparation operation wherein the plastic bag containing the raisin bran partially falls out of the cardboard box into the bowl at precisely the length and weight distribution that when one rights the box, the bag and its contents are launched into the air free of the box with a rotation imparted on the bag of sufficient velocity that centrifugal forces completely empty the bag of raisin bran slowly enough that the bag has rotated a full 360 degrees before becoming empty but fast enough that the raisin bran has sufficient velocity to distribute itself evenly to the farthest extent of the kitchen and halfway into the dining room.
An hour later, I think I got it all.
Upon reflection, I should, perhaps, reassess my risk analysis before driving to the bank later today.
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June 01, 2020
Various Things
Do I stop and film the many many clusters of many police cars with their blinky lights on, or speed away?
I've consistently chosen "B".
Last night was the first night since Thursday that I haven't heard prolonged gunfire, including automatic gunfire, near my house so that's a plus.
Internet's been better today though.
I was on vacation this month, but I'm only taking today and tomorrow, because we're working basically double shifts and are shorthanded at work.
Here, have a sack of cute:
Cheer up. This too will pass. And there's now a dinosaur on the space station
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May 30, 2020
And the Weather Cooperated
This is the first time in 11 years that the U.S. has launched astronauts into space on a U.S. rocket, from U.S. soil. Even more impressive, it's a private company providing a launch service which opens up vast possibilities for future space endeavors.
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May 29, 2020
Meanwhile: At the Space-X Testing Facility
"No. No this is good! Musk and his crackerjack engineers are squeezing all the extra 'splodies out of the out of his new rocket before putting people on it."
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May 27, 2020
Another Gut-Wrenching Attack on Freedom and Progress by the Weathermen
One of our Crack Team of Science Babes explains what mischief was perpetrated to scrub the first U.S. manned space launch in 11 years...
"Stoopid tornado warning....being issued for absolutely no reaso..."
One of our Crack Team of Science Babes explains what mischief was perpetrated to scrub the first U.S. manned space launch in 11 years...
"Oh."
If the rocket isn't sucked up to OZ, then NASA and Space-X will try again Saturday at 3:22 EST.
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May 25, 2020
Remember
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Alright: We Need to Quarantine All the ArchDukes Until We can Figure Out What The Hell Is Going On
Since there is nothing going on right now that might warrant the Politburo's attention, China is having a border clash with India.
more...
This started two weeks ago when news reports described a cross border skirmish between the two nuclear powers. After reading the articles, we at Brickmuppet Blog decided not to post on it at the time because it was in fact a fist fight between some enlisted troops in the neutral zone... (Guardian headline accuracy > CNN) this did not seem to rise to the level of "BORDER SKIRMISH". However, now things are escalating.
Yet another battle occurred May 5 in the Pangong Tso Lake area when an estimated 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel fought with iron rods, sticks, and stones. Soldiers on both sides sustained injuries.
"Wait. What?"
Fortunately, they appear to be escalating slowly, from fists to rocks and now rebar. If they don't reach a diplomatic solution soon, I give it no more than another week before they break out the bows, arrows and edged weapons. I suspect that both sides may already be secretly fabricating trebuchets in anticipation of further escalation.
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How Quick It Comes (Updated)
Monday, my sister's in-laws were visited by their daughter wearing a respirator and wielding scissors. She cut their hair, dropped off some medicine and was relieved that they were fine.
Tuesday, my sister's father in law had a cold and developed a terrible headache.
Wednesday, he was having difficulty breathing and tried to get a doctors appointment but was told that he could not bee seen.
Thursday he could not walk unassisted and his daughter and wife took him to the ER where he was put in intensive care. By that evening he was in a coma with COVID-19. His prognosis is grim.
My sister's mother-in-law has been told to stay home pending tests, but has many Wu-Flu including headache, flu-like aches and blue toes. Why they won't let her into the hospital is unclear. Her daughter, who one would expect would be quarantined for two weeks at this point, was told that her test had come back negative and she did not need to self isolate...because apparently the doctors in North Carolina do not understand the concept of incubation periods.
The Xi JinPox lingers for weeks without symptoms but spreading itself to the for winds, and when it manifests itself, it can take you down quick.
Look.
While the lockdown certainly has to end, masks still need to be worn and those who decide to go to high traffic venues need to avoid the old and frail, at least when they are without a mask. A mask is not a civil rights violation. It does little good to protect its wearer, but its effect in aggregate in slowing the spread of infections is profound and that they can work better than the lockdowns themselves is now proven by testing on a national scale.
I get that the "experts" lied about masks early on, and I get that wearing one feels like compliance with out tormentors who seek to govern every aspect of our lives. But this is not like their fixation on pronouns or other forms of thought policing, this is hygiene.
How to make people understand that this lack of hygiene is not mere defiance of unreasonable authority but an abdication of civic responsibility is difficult, especially when those who are most vocal about demanding that this be done are those who never turn down an opportunity exercise some petty power over us.
But the case has to be made, so I'll give it a go, as bluntly, rudely, crudely and in a manner as non-compliant with the establishment's gestalt as I possibly can.
Those who are refusing to do the most basic hygiene steps are not just abdicating their civic responsibility, they are no different from the bug-chasers who spread AIDS though their community and beyond because they would not be dissuaded from frequenting bathouses and doing unhygienic things. So wear a mask...or you're a fag.
UPDATE: So...re-reading the post a day later...Yeah. I should probably not hit "post" when I'm upset, in pain, and on a muscle relaxant.
Suffice it to say that I think masks in shops and on public transit are a very good idea right now.
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May 24, 2020
Another 2020 Headline
Pig Poops out a Pedometer, Starts a Fire.
After reading the article, it appears that the actual story is exactly what it says on the tin.
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That Does It
I've gotta re-enlist in the Coast Guard now.
Hat Tip...Scott Lowther
It looks like the Royal Marines have figured out a technological replacement with the Jacob's Ladder and Grappling Hooks.
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May 23, 2020
A Few Whitmerisms
Tenditious political dreadfulness exists below the fold, so here is something completely not dreadful from Kaitan.
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May 21, 2020
Absolute Genius!
So, as mentioned in the last post, I got the face mask that I'd ordered 8 weeks ago. It was oh the porch as I left so I opened it and after a quick lookover donned it and went to work. It was great, it didn't fog my glasses up nearly as bad. Yesterday, I sat down and went through the process of disassembling and cleaning the now salt encrusted face covering and changing the filters.
Those filters...which cover the interior of entire mask except for two screen covered breathing holes.
Those are supposed to be one way breathing valves. They are not.
I've now cut down a regular medical face mask and put inside the other filter, much like I did with the coffee filters and my plague-doctor mask. This results in much more fogging of the glasses but does not result in the mask being a completely pointless inconvenience.
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May 20, 2020
The Journey of Discovery Never Ends
I've learned two things this week.
First, after 50 years on this earth, I belatedly discovered that if you cook instant ramen in a rice cooker and just let it cycle as if it were rice, it comes out absolutely perfect. Why did I never try this before?
Second, my reusable mask finally arrived. Alas, I discovered that sneezing while wearing it at work it is a transcendentally unpleasant experience.
Picture is unrelated to any of these discoveries, but does get Cacodaemon-girl off the top post.
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May 18, 2020
Meanwhile: Deep Within the Code of Doom Eternal...
This was reported on over at Ambient Irony as basically malware, and it is being flagged as such by anti-virus programs.
Doom Eternal comes with a kernel level anti-cheat program.
Ars Technica seems quite sanguine about the situation however, and says that this is vastly less terrifying than the rootkit anti-cheat/DRM programs put in other games.
In other news, malaria is less scary than smallpox.
Now I don't know jack about coding and to me a kernal is an individual corn seed or a non-naval officer rank right under Brigadier General.
So....Those of you in IT, please opine.
Is this actually as bad as it looks?
[Topical Illustration Goes Here]
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共匪 Or Why One Should Not Discuss Wild Pig Infestations in You Tube Comments
Look at that post title.
The blog is still here, because Me.Nu is not Alphabet affiliated.
Allow me to explain.
共匪 is a Chinese character compound that some of you will recognize as "wild boar" which is its Japanese meaning.
( Update: and by some of you, I mean morons like me. See comments)
"Rats! Now no one will know about my prize-winning rodeo pig!"
You see in Chinese, 共匪 is the pictograph of a slang term that means "Communist Bandit"*.
The paper says comments will be deleted within 15 seconds and having tried this myself, I note that it will indeed happen within 12 and 20 seconds of the comment being posted. That's some pretty impressive bot work.
Anyway, it's just another example of YouTube enthusiastically doing censorship for the disease spreading, organ jacking, genocidal, slavers, in the CCP.**
One more thing:
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪 共匪
* Probably 'cause commies are pigs.
** When you've got a left wing rag like the Independent calling out your communist atrocities you've jumped the shark with your murderous shenanigans.
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Ouch
Banality lurks below the fold. As compensation here is some cheesecake.
Chocolate cheesecake, two fancy coffees and best debutante, Sena Kashiwazaki are drawn by Cait, who can be supported on Patreon.
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May 16, 2020
Watch the SKIES!
A few weeks ago we noted that the newly discovered Comet Atlas was looking to be a spectacular sight.
Well....it went and disintegrated.
Now one of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes has come to bring us the news that the committee of ominous sky omens has successfully requisitioned a replacement from the comet dispensary.
Well.
OK then.
Comet Swan should be visible in the northeast at dawn in the next week or so. It will be viewable with binoculars and possibly to the naked eye just above the horizon to the northeast around dawn between now and early June. Peak brightness is expected in the morning of the 21st..
Here's what it looked like via telescope on April 20th. This is a compressed one hour exposure taken by Terry Lovejoy.
Note that while Swan will be barely visible, if you've got a good telescope, and can escape the lockdown, there are 4 comets flitting about right now.
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More On The Chinese and Their...(Checks Rolodex of Mayhem)...Nuclear Arsenal
So, the other day, it was reported that Hu Xijin, the head editor of China's Global Times news outfit published an op-ed calling for a vast expansion of China's nuclear arsenal. He has since clarified this position with two follow up opinion pieces...and by clarified I mean doubled down.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind here. The Global Times is in a weird place in the state approved news ecosystem. They are a subsiudiary of the official CCP mouthpiece the People's Daily and the staff are all party members in good standing, yet they seem to veer from the party line frequently as The Economist notes regarding their coverage of the situation with the Uighurs in Xianxing:.
Even as Chinese spokesmen denied the (Uighur)] camps’ existence, the Global Times, in its English-language edition, acknowledged "counter-terrorism education†among Xinjiang residents and work to "rectify†the thinking of imprisoned extremists. Whether the way Xinjiang is run violates human rights "must be judged by whether its results safeguard the interests of the majority in the regionâ€, said the Global Times in August. Its editor, Hu Xijin, tweeted that Xinjiang had been saved from becoming "another Chechnya, Syria or Libyaâ€.
Thus it seems they publish the actual party line as opposed to the official party line and given their ownership and the party memberships of everyone on staff, it can be safely assumed that the Editor in Chief does not take a dump without it being approved in triplicate by the Politburo. (Which probably explains his blue check-mark).
China does this with riots. It's a police state, so if, say, Japanese businesses were to get burned down by an angry mob and the government says that it can't control its people's anger at the Japanese, well then the Chinese government is sending a message.
And that's probably what's going on here.
In recent week's there's been concern expressed about China's nuclear ambitions and the possibility they are conducting low level nuclear tests. China's nuclear stockpile is unknown but western intel agencies put it at 290 warheads of various sizes. That's less than France and anomalously low for a nation that, from its point of view, has to deter nuclear rivals and "frenimies" U.S., Russia, and India....and nominal allies, Pakistan and North Korea also border China, adding to their sense of serenity.
How that rather small number is arrived at is unclear, but the western intel services seem to have a history of dismissing and underestimating China until recently as a matter of policy, and given the secrecy surrounding the program, and the accuracy our intelligence services have demonstrated over the last 30 years, some caution is, therefore, advisable.
Speaking of which, about a year ago the D.I.A. reported that it expected China to double its arsenal in the next few years.
Both the U.S. and Russia have invited China into the ongoing arms control talks between the two countries, but China has demurred, Indeed China has little to gain by tipping its hand and opening itself up to inspection, and less to gain if it's acting in bad faith. In fact, China is hypothesized by some to be pursuing a strategy of "Nuclear Thoughtlessness" which, frankly, are two words that ought not to be merged into a compound.
But about that 290 warhead number: China has 6 operational SSBNs with two more on the way. Each carries 12 ballistic missiles. that's 72, and soon to be 96 missiles. The follow on class is reported to have 24 missile tubes but we won't count them for now. 96 missiles is over a third of all China's arsenal. But wait.These missiles are known from observations of China's missile tests to be capable of carrying at least three warheads. Which....even using my simple liberal arts math (96 x 3 ) gives us 288 warheads out of an estimated 290, leaving two warheads to be shared amongst all the bombers and ICBMs and there are at least 20 of the DF-41 -ICBM's
For example, Fish said it is not known if each Second Artillery ICBM unit operates with six or twelve launchers, and it is likely that all units include one "reload" missile for each launcher."So it is possible that 12 to 24 DF-41 missiles would be included in a unit," he said, noting that if the DF-41 can carry up to 10 warheads, each unit may deploy with between 120 to 240 warheads.
This wild-mass guessing does not take into account bombers or any tactical nuclear weapons at all.. Note too that the US in the mid 1960s was fielding the UGM-73 Poseidon missile, which is smaller than China's JL-2/3 and carried up to 14 MIRVed warheads. This is not to say that is putting that many warheads on their SLBMs or that they are likely to, (Poseidon was to be launched from close to the U.S.S.R. and could trade range for a bigger payload ). However, we could do that 50 years ago and so it is probably best to assume that 1-3 warheads per missile is a very conservative estimate.
Thus, whatever China's stockpile is now, 290 warheads does not even fill all of the missiles we know it has.
The upshot of all this is that China is very likely either in possession of a much larger nuclear force than is generally credited to it or is rapidly building up to that goal.
When this virus situation resolves itself, I suggest everyone keep those beans and rice stocked up.
To help you, gentle reader, visualize the implications of all this, here's some cool Chinese nuclear test footage.
There's an extensive disquisition on the history, policy and general inscrutability of the Chinese nuclear forces here.
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