October 31, 2015
Drive Carefully
...the kids are about tonight!
Art by Cii.
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A Want Ad: If Fortran is Your Thing, Your Time is Now
One of Dr. Pournelle's correspondent's passed this along.
Voyager needs a programmer
Dear Dr. Pournelle,Perhaps someone in your reading audience would like to take up the challenge. It seems the current engineer for Voyager 1/2 is retiring.http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a17991/voyager-1-voyager-2-retiring-engineer/So they need someone who is greatly skilled with Fortran and Assembly languages to step in and keep the probe running. This is old-school programming at its finest; there are only 64kb of memory to work with, and this will be real-time programming , I suspect, with hard constraints.I’m a little disappointed. Voyager is the reason I got into computers in the first place, but now after years of writing database and object-oriented programs I don’t have anywhere near the experience required to do this kind of work. I’d be willing to learn .. but I suspect "willing’ isn’t enough. "Willing†doesn’t instantly make you an expert in real time software.Respectfully,Brian
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Ghosts, Goblins and Girls
Yomuu, Kosaga and their familiars by Mazume'
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Spooky Goings On
It's Halloween.
Let's sit around and tell scary stories.
...and Ichabod Crane never saw his chips again.
Russia just conducted a combined arms exercise that included live firing of several strategic missile systems in a coordination.
On 30 October 2015, Russia conducted a test of the command and control system that involved a number of strategic and non-strategic systems. As part of the exercise, K-117 Bryansk submarine of the Project 667BDRM/Delta IV-class launched a R-29RM missile from the Barents Sea. K-223 Podolsk submarine of the Project 667BDR/Delta III class launched a R-29R missile from the Sea of Okhotsk. The Strategic Rocket Forces conducted a launch of a Topol/SS-25 missile from Plesetsk, while the Tu-160 strategic bombers launched cruise missiles toward targets at the Pemboy and Kura test ranges. In addition, Velikiy Ustyug small missile ship launched a Kalibr cruise missile from the Kaspian Sea. The exercise also involved a launch of an Iskander cruise missile from Kapustin Yar.
So, yeah. A comprehensive nuclear strike drill involving all the nuclear capable services as well as actual expenditure of ICBMs and SLBMs.
Of course all militaries need to train (I wish ours would do more drills of this nature than it does) so this would not automatically be a concern if it weren't for all the other stuff going on with Russia right now.
To wit...
Russia's authorities should revive the old Cold War practice of training civilians on how to respond in the event of a large-scale nuclear attack, a senior government official said on Friday.
Note that the article couches this in terms of a response to the U.S. nuclear weapons modernization (which consists of improving the accuracy and lowering the yield on a group of existing bombs designed 45 years ago). No mention is made of the Russian deployment of 2 different ICBM types and current development of a new super heavy ICBM, no less than 3 different types of SLBM and a new cruise missile that is in direct violation of the INF treaty.
Meanwhile, we are sending troops into Syria to help the people the Russians are shooting at. This could easily result in American and Russian forces shooting at each other. Does anyone see a downside to this?
Of course, one of the main problems in Syria is ISIS, which, as this article points out, has beyond it demonstrated depravity and stated goals a considerable potential to cause chaos in Europe even if they continue applying pressure indirectly via the refugee crisis.
Meanwhile:
North Korea looks to be prepping for a new nuclear test. This would be logical since there are indications that they have some advanced, lightweight weapon designs they probably want to evaluate. Furthermore, given that their nuke program has a lot of technical exchange with Iran, It probably won't be just a Nork Nuke being tested.
Speaking of which, in a development that comes as a shock to only the most obtuse, the Iran Nuclear Deal is pretty much scuttling all efforts at non-proliferation of nuclear weapons as nations that gave up their nuclear programs look at the terms Iran got and conclude they were saps, those that are pursuing them conclude that the days of consequences for such actions have passed and a general feeling begins to take hold that the controls are off and everyone who values their sovereignty had best get them soon.
Some folks think that the huge fissure opening near Yellowstone (well, in the same state) indicates renewed vulcanism is imminent at the worlds largest advertisement for storable food. THe government isn't making any preparations for ashfall, and they are saying that the phenomena is a peculiar type of landslide...so it's probably just craboids.
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October 30, 2015
Remember. Trick is an Option
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October 29, 2015
Where Politics Inevitably Leads
I actually heard someone ask today, if, during his jujitsu moment during the debate last night, Ted Cruz had made an Anti-Semetic joke about Bernie sanders.
Because obviously Senator Sanders was the alluded to Mensch-kevik.
OK. In fairness, that's not a completely unwarranted etymology error.
However, if one did not know what the Mensheviks were one may be surprised to lear that one has numerous options other than flinging casual and stupid allegations of anti-semitism about.
One could ask. " Umm...what did he mean by Mensheviks?"
One could think about the context of the word in the sentence and, assuming one knew what a Bolshevik is, conclude that a Menshevik is some other faction...given the sarcasm in the delivery, perhaps not that far removed from the Bolshies.
Or one could reach for THAT COMPUTER ON YOUR HIP WHICH CAN ACCESS VERY NEARLY THE SUM TOTAL OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE (wisdom not included).
This has troubling implications for our society.
It gets worse:
This exchange got me to thinking what Mensch - Kivak would actually be. Regrettably, I inadvertently pondered Mensch-Kiviak and...and I cannot unsee it no matter how hard I try.
But enough of such unpleasantries; here is a picture that has naught to do with the Russian Revolution or cannibalism.
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October 28, 2015
PLUME DIVE!
One of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes reacts to the news that Cassini has survived its plume dive.
Allow us to explain...
Saturn's moon Enceladus is known to have a global, ice-covered ocean. It also has massive geysers in its southern hemisphere that spew the contents of its ocean far above its surface.
Well, in order to find out exactly what is in its ocean NASA has turned to its only probe in the Saturnian system (Cassini). Since Cassin'is only deployable sub-probe was sent down to Titan, and since scientists have learned about all they can by spectroscopy and other remote methods, they've decided to go for broke and fly the probe on a low pass right through the plume.
Pictures and other data should be coming in within 48 hours!
In the meantime here is the closest picture ever taken of Enceladus's northern hemisphere which was taken last week...
Stay Tuned!
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October 27, 2015
I Know I'm Human
....and I know some of my commentors are human too.
But it will take longer than I have before work to figure out which of them aren't.
I'll be back later to make things right.
In the meantime, make sure you eat out of cans as you amuse yourselves trying to figure out which of you is real.
But ponder this.
This...thing...it knows what color an orange is.
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October 26, 2015
Be Concerned. Be Prepared...But Don't Lose All Historical Perspective.
IBT notes that they are shocked to learn that the Russians are poking around undersea cables with their submarines.
They are not the only paper to point tis out.
Cdr. Salamander has a sublimely titled response.
First of all, if anyone in government service in the national security arena is surprised or shocked by this, please go work somewhere else.If those who are responsible for maintaining connectivity have not been refining our branch plans to respond to this eventuality, will someone please fire them?
Do read the whole thing.
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In Another Totally and Utterly Unexpected Development...
The death toll in Mexico from the most powerful hurricane ever recorded appears very likely now to be approaching...naught.
As a rule I dislike with increasing intensity whenever zeroes show up in these sorts of statistics, unless there's just one of them by itself in which case it's a joyous thing.
Math is weird that way.
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October 25, 2015
RWBY Volume 3 Begins
Somewhere, Monty Oum is surely smiling.
The opening of RWBY:Volume 3 continued the shows general trend of considerable improvements in production quality and pacing seen over the last two seasons. The Vytal Festival, which has been "right around the corner" for most of the last two seasons and somewhat hyped, has finally arrived. Naturally, this episode has a fair amount of "smashies" and "splodies"which allow us to conclude that Dillon Gu (who was hired as action animator/choreographer after Mr. Oum's death) is, indeed, up to the task.
Action aside, the pacing and writing of the episode are quite good as is the voice acting.
Apart from the fact that this is a tournament cour that will last at least a couple of more episodes, we do find out three things of varying levels of importance.
"Oooh! Oooh! What things? What Things?"
Well for one thing, to everyone's astonishment, it's revealed that...
"RWBY's dad wears Lederhosen!"
No. just. No.....I mean he does, but...Dammit...
Fine..
Amongst the MANY things that we've learned...
The hapless shopkeeper, who, do to the local crime wave, has switched from a high overhead retail establishment involving crystal MacGuffins to a more easily insurable noodle kiosk, may, in fact, be more than meets the eye. He is certainly well versed in the esoteric art of card-fu.
'That was rude, but kind of awesome."
Somewhat surprisingly, we are quickly introduced to that new character from the trailer who has been getting so much fan attention for the last week. While her time on screen is brief we do get a surprising amount of insight into her character and motivations.
Liquorice
Apparently, Team JNPR has been having some extracurricular adventures of their own, albeit off camera...
"You know. All those times WE dealt with murderers."
It was an offhand comment, but it was certainly interesting.
Equally offhanded but rather less likely to be a continuity error, was the revelation that Rin and Nora are not only both orphans, but they both no longer have homes to return to.
Not so much revelation as confirmation is the fact that the episodes are 17 minutes and three seconds with credits. This means that we've got to wait a week to see that bit at the rest of the next fight and whether or not the lowbrow foreshadowing will pan out.
This season is off to a resoundingly promising start.
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October 24, 2015
Jellyfish!
...that's what this reminds me of!
That time at the Chinese restaurant I decided to try something completely new and off the wall...and so I ordered the jellyfish.
Well, there are similarities: I have the sneaking suspicion that a terrible prank has been played on me and a general sensation of horrible wrongness. On the other hand, the Jellyfish did not make me fear I had lost brain cells.
MILPOM however....
Can't unsee eyes
After watching the show I checked the '"about" bar to see if any side effects were listed, what their symptoms were and if there were any counter agents recommended.
But all I got was this...
The story takes place in a certain ordinary town where it is natural for everyone to wear an animal costume head. It depicts the everyday life of the main character MILPOM and her friends who live there, filled with the essence of Kawaii and a little bit cynical girls.
I read it twice and it didn't put me at ease at all.
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There's Going To Need To Be A Re-Release
One of The Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes points out the obvious application for the blackest substance ever synthesized by humans.
Art by S. Zenith Lee
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Owarimonogatari
Owarimonogatari is supposed to be the finale of the Bakemonogatari franchise and it shares the tone, pacing and aggressively surrealist art direction of its predecessors as well as being fairly dialog heavy...and text heavy... having bursts of 'textposition' onscreen for such a short period of time that they frequently defy even the pause button.
Araragi, the (former vampire highschool student who is theoretically the protagonist) has tended heretofore to deal with various flavors of supernatural horror. This time a really creepy transfer student has gotten him looking into something much more mundane.
Or not...
The narrator and point of view are not particularly honest and there seem to be very peculiar goings on...assuming that they are happening.
It takes two episodes to finally get the ground rules set...
...and now the show is off running; down a flight of stairs in an M.C. Escher painting.
This one is looking to be quite good, being both clever and genuinely creepy at times.
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I Swear....
None of those typos were there when I proofread this morning's posts.
All fixed now...
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OK, Fears Were Unfounded
Crunchyroll WILL be streaming RWBY, starting tomorrow.
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Eileen Must Make The Gatekeepers Shudder
Ren'py has improved dramatically since I last poked around with it, (before the computer was hit by lightning). The whole process is even more intuitive than it used to be. The engine now allows mini-games in one's visual novel.
"...and embedded video!"
Eileen (the engine's helpful tutorialbot) doesn't look all that disruptive, but what was once the purview of tech giants and big publishing houses has been freeware for some years and is remarkably user friendly. It's still improving steadily.
Of course, Sturgeon's Law remains in force, so this will result in a lot more crap flooding the market...but this will be a function of a lot more stuff getting made, which means that there will be more potential for those rare gems both by virtue of sheer numbers and the low threshold for experimentation.
All in all, things like this and other tools may be a bigger development in the long run than people realize. Creators have increasing potential to do an end run around those who today often presume to be custodians of societies creativity and stifle that which they find uncongenial.
We still have no flying cars or O'Neal colonies, but take heart, Eileen here is proof that our future is not inevitably a dystopia...yet.
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October 23, 2015
The Journey of Learning Never Ends...
Tonight I discovered that Buffalo Bob's Mild Alligator Jerky is not a particularly delectable comestible.
Rather the opposite in fact.
So much so that I felt the need to post about it.
Here is a palate cleanser.
Neopolitan by Iesupa
Be advised that ice cream can be bad for you....especially this kind.
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09:21 PM
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Super Robot Girls Z Plus Ends
Well..she pretty much sums up the series, but sacred honor demands that I write something.
Super Robot Girls Z Plus never quite came together. It could have been a great show for parents to watch with their kids if they had toned the vulgarity down a notch. The fact that it was a 10 minute show that aired once a month did not help. As it was it was, it was this silly show made me chuckle quite a few guilty chuckles mainly because being an old fart, I got most of the obscure super-robot show references (and am a bad person).
In fairness though, it did pick up towards the end, especially with the revelation that the season two big-bad is a special kind of malevolent....
Zounds!
Lots of structural stupidity in this show, but with the main villain's motivations being a contempt for the suburbs and a hatred for weirdoes it's not without merit if one can minimize the number of one's brain cells the show kills.
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200 MPH Sustained
Holy Crap!
This is the most powerful hurricane in history and is about to absolutely nail Manzanillo and Puerto Valarta as well as do a lot of damage to Guadalajara. Worse, the west coast of the USM rarely gets hit by hurricanes, so a lot of the people there have no appreciation for what these storms can do.
The flooding in Mexico is likely to be biblical when it hits the West Sierra Madre and again when it passes over the Eastern Sierra Madre but it will still be bad when it reaches Texas, where they are talking about 8-12 inches in Houston, which has already been hit by flooding this week and is thoroughly saturated.
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