1
Kindle Unlimited is a subscription deal where people pay ten bucks a month to read books, while Amazon pays me and other participants a bit for each "rented" page read. Nobody has to participate, but some people make good bucks off it.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Wed Jan 13 00:00:08 2016 (ZJVQ5)
2
And the per-page was a good change from the fraction of the pool per rental they used to have, because there were some folks who gamed the system, publishing chapters individually. My novelette would net around $1.50 just for being rented, when the cover prices was 99 cents, and an actual sale would net me 35 cents. Per page means that a 20 page sample chapter is not the same as a 400 page epic fantasy.
Posted by: Mauser at Thu Jan 14 19:39:32 2016 (5Ktpu)
From Episode 3-8 of RWBY, in which the not quite eponymous Ruby manages, through pluck and cleverness, to figure out some of what is happening and for a glorious moment become a major force moving the plot forward in her own show.
This episode superbly captures the bi-polar nature of this series. In 17 minutes, it provided us with a highly improbable hand-wave,
What Yang is facing at this point is nothing short of...
...being disqualified from a sporting event.
She is apparently not being prosecuted for the assault (bordering on attempted murder) that the entire world watched. Yang, is about the most hated person on the planet at the moment. Even amongst her small circle of student and faculty supporters several think she did it,. However, they are dismissing it as 'just" Adrenaline and PTSD..."which can happen to the best people". I imagine being a J.A.G. in Ironwood's army must be rather less fraught than in ours. I suppose the grand jury might be pondering things, but no mention of such a state of affairs is made. It's ever so slightly possible that this is a subtle commentary on the cultural attitude that result from living in a world with literal monsters at the gate. as well as a scene that clumsily dropped some plot points in a thoroughly perfunctory and dubiously characterized
Qrow, visits his niece, and states flatly that he thinks she's...insane.
Yang, perhaps in a moment o self doubt brought on by her epic (but nonjudicial) gaslighting relates the utterly blinkered story about the teleporting woman who saved her bacon in episode 11 of last season. This causes Qrow to reassess his postulates since this story is vaguely similar to something he was told recently by his sister, Yang's long dead mother, who is BY THE WAY still actually alive (and a not particularly nice person). Yang reacts to this bombshell with such completely uncharacteristic calm that it could perhaps be indicative of someone who has just passed from the confining realm of sanity into the infinite possibilities offered by madness...or perhaps the whole scene was badly handled. manner.
The same episode managed to be funny, touching and provided more insight into Blake's character and motivations in a minute and a half than most shows can manage for their characters in a season.
It also touched again on that plot thread from a month ago, where Pyrrha is trying to come to terms with a dreadful choice she has been presented with that may involve a fate worse than death. This whole sequence was poignant and surprisingly well done. Jaune is a dork, and frequently out of his depth, but he is not actually stupid.
For instance he immediately realizes that this is obviously a trap of some sort...
The ending of the episode truly brings home the fact that 17 minutes and 4 seconds is too little time for an episode because NOW I HAVE TO WAIT A WEEK TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
Oh dear...
This episode involved a bunch of people standing around and talking, but boy, does it have me on the edge of my seat.
Thus is the conundrum of RWBY, which is dreadfully uneven and yet thoroughly enjoyable.
I swear if next week is one of those fauxcumentary filler videos I'm going to scream.
Another Test Post
I just upgraded Parallells and now the blog looks all wonky on windows via my machine.
I looked at it through a couple of other computers today and it looks fine there, so it's probably something to do with the recent software upgrades to my iMac, or it's specific to Midori.
Let's see if pictures work:
It's the Martini-Henry that really sells that picture.
Now lets try some tags:
Lt. Niimi can ultimately get away with betraying everybody because she looks really good in a skinsuit and glasses.
Superscript test
Nope.
Subscript test
Nope.
Some things are just stupid. Some other things occasionally transcend that stupidity by embracing it. This may be one of those other things.
UPDATE: Well, we won't be using Midori for a while. Posting will resume shortly.
2WebM is an open media file format designed for the web. WebM files consist of video streams compressed with the VP8 or VP9 video codec, audio streams compressed with the Vorbis or Opus audio codecs, and WebVTT text tracks. The WebM file structure is based on the Matroska media container.
It's designed for streaming the video. You can stream fairly high quality video content rapidly, although smaller servers can still suffer. It's getting increasingly popular on image and video sharing sites. Primarily as a replacement for turning scenes from movies into gifs.
5
Steven, they've always worked for me, so I don't have a good frame of reference on getting them to work. FWIW, I've been using Chrome since I started seeing webm appear, and I haven't updated any codecs or anything like that. So I suspect support is built in to Chrome. It's supposed to be an open format, but you know how everyone interprets that a little differently.
Parallells is a program that allows one to use Windows on a Mac. Unlike Boot-camp it does not partition one's disc into two discrete and separate entities that cannot be used simultaneously. Rather, it allows one to run Windows effectively while still running the Apple OS. The downsides to the latest update include rendering my 1TB backup disk read only and modifying the binding spell between the mouse and cursor so as to render the mouse/cursor relationship tenuous enough that gaming is not practical. Nevertheless, one can even drag and drop files between the the Mac OS and Windows thanks to the powerful sorcery wielded by its creators.
2. What is a .webm file and how do you play it?
A .webm is exactly the thaumaturgy described by Ben above. It can be played by most video players with the right codec, and it will play when viewed through a browser (Epic, Chrome, Opera, Safari and Midori work). However, a little bird just told me that Firefox does not possess this arcane ability. .Webm can be imbedded in some websites much like a .gif though it is usually set up not to run the animation unless clicked on (this is fortuitous as it does have the capability for sound) note though that imbuing ones site with this ability seems to involve a specific arcane ritual that must be done 100 leagues from any non-placental mammals and within view of Polaris. File linked above should play if you follow this link.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Jan 9 11:59:00 2016 (AaBUm)
Note that tonights selection should not in any way preclude one from using any other F-words of one's choice.
Fusion Bombs (ie: Hydrogen bombs) potentially can have vastly more yield than pure fission weapons and, more importantly, can allow much higher yields in small packages suitable for delivery from missiles.
1
10kt is pretty small. I mean, it's enough to ruin your day, but if they're claiming that it was an H-bomb, a 10kt yield basically means it didn't work. Ivy Mike (the first real H-bomb test in 1952) had a yield of 10 megatons.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wed Jan 6 05:48:49 2016 (PiXy!)
2
I don't think an H-bomb explosion can be that small. Just the atomic bomb starter will be that big or bigger.
3
Most of the fizzles in the Pacific tests were in the 1 - 3kt range, and like Steven said, that was usually the starter going off but not the bomb itself, IIRC. Keeping in mind of course that those tests were sixty years ago, even the small successful bombs were 500kt to 3Mt. So yeah, this actually sounds a lot more like a failed detonation.
Then again, the Chinese space program was worldwide joke once, too. They still may not be all that great, but they DID make it.
RWBY is Back
....after a two week hiatus and hits the ground running We finally, in conjunction with last weeks episode, get a whole slew of answers to many of the questions people have raised
Unfortunately for the sanity of its audience, not one of the questions answered is "What happened to Yang?"
This is mostly a flashback episode dealing almost exclusively with the villains and how Cinder gathered her accomplices as well as the assault on the Avatar of Autumn, which was an impressively animated fight. It turns out that the only reason the secret executive hero committee has any clue what's going on is because Qrow blundered into her plot and interrupted it.
Emerald seems to be the key to Cinder's plan, and, as hinted in the fight between her and Coco, she is a vastly more formidable and scary individual than she has heretofore appeared. In some ways she's more formidable than Cinder, though her psychological issues allow Cinder to play her like a violin.
Mercury is pretty much as we supposed though he has an impressive pedigree and his footgear is not quite what had been hinted at.
We also learn that Neo can drive...presumably with pedal extensions.
Cinder may well be working for someone else. Given both her competence and powerful she is now, this must be a truly formidable individual or group. The method she used to assassinate the Autumn Avatar was quite hideous and further hints at the Grimm being something even more eldritch than was previously hinted at.
One offhand comment by Emerald raises some questions. She mentions that she projected an illusion on two people. One was obviously Yang, who presumably did commit the assault the way everyone saw it (albeit unwittingly). There should be no reason to mess with anyone else's head...so who else was she messing with?
This was not quite what was expected, but it clarified much and advanced the plot quite a bit. This season continues its much darker tone, but it is coming together nicely.
"Tonight's top story on the Alliteration Channel..."
One technique this episode used quite a bit was fading to a black screen for narration. This was used to good effect, but taken with the two week hiatus may speak to production difficulties.
1
I thought the fade was a bit overused, and overlong, and I didn't immediately pick out all of the voices.
Posted by: Mauser at Mon Jan 4 01:02:25 2016 (5Ktpu)
2One
offhand comment by Emerald raises some questions. She mentions that she
projected an illusion on two people. One was obviously Yang, who
presumably did commit the assault the way everyone saw it (albeit
unwittingly). There should be no reason to mess with anyone else's
head...so who else was she messing with?
She was affecting the two paramedics treating Mercury to make it seem that the damage to his prosthetic leg was a serious injury.
Posted by: muon at Tue Aug 8 02:39:16 2017 (vMYTH)
I upgraded the operating System on my iMac to OS X 10.11.2 (El-Capitain) which resulted in quite a few of my apps suddenly becoming obsolete. Since I hadn't actually upgraded the OS since about I got the thing years ago, this was unsurprising. Rather more surprising was the Ap-stores new $9.99 .gif AP which doesn't actually edit .gifs. At $4.99 iGif Creator does but the new version of Safari is incompatible with the hyperlink insertion widget in Minx so no hyperlink is here. The new version of Safari doesn't show the Mee.Nu banners either.
On the Windows side of things, my Windows 7 is again claiming to be unregistered causing me some grief when I run it, but I'm still trying to avoid Windows 10.
As usual, the whole world celebrated my birthday yesterday morning, however, I spent most of the morning traipsing around Boston getting harassed by a really big Mirelurk, saving a cat and hanging out with this really nice French girl who is about my age and much more tech savvy, though she's a tad socially awkward.
I guess Walter Mitty, isn't just a short story...It's a lifestyle.
1
The banners issue is odd; that works fine for me on my new iMac (also running El Capitan).
And happy birthday!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sun Jan 3 03:50:38 2016 (PiXy!)
2
OK now the banners are all working fine.
Lets see...yes, hyperlinks are working too.
Superscript is kinda working but doesn't change the font size.Of course super and subscripts have never worked right in Safari, Epic or Opera. So all is nominal.
Pixy you are a genius!
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jan 3 08:28:57 2016 (AaBUm)
3
On the other hand the earlier of the two New Years eve posts seems to be breaking my formatting for some reason.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jan 3 09:09:37 2016 (AaBUm)
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!!
