A Certain Irksomeness
Since the content below the fold can be nothing but a horrible, horrible warning, we decided to post some positive words to live by above it.
My girls are 14 and 12. I don't even speak of college anymore; just trade schools or marriage to a guy with a trade.
You've no 'donate' button on your site. That's one way to fix 1st world problems. I know that "charity" is a dirty word for those of us old enough to have pride, but caritas amongst us of the Remnant is another thing altogether.
Posted by: Clayton Barnett at Tue May 19 01:21:56 2015 (lU4ZJ)
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Tue May 19 12:21:43 2015 (ZJVQ5)
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First world problems only affect the first world.
You are talking about debt and bureaucratic obstructiveness and I am lead to believe they are fundamental properties that pervade the whole universe.
Keep pushing and you may be able to resolve it.
Posted by: Riktol at Tue May 19 14:26:19 2015 (MQZN9)
4
I would not even bother with instructors, call the Reg/Adm office.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tue May 19 20:43:58 2015 (8hfbc)
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Yeah, my next stop would be straight into the Registrar's and/or Bursar's.
Posted by: RickC at Tue May 19 20:47:18 2015 (0a7VZ)
Yeah, my next stop would be straight into the Registrar's and/or Bursar's.
That was my second stop (after the attempt at online withdrawal).
Step FIVE was to go to the Old Administration Building and ask to speak to anyone named "Dean". That seems to have worked except that it appears that I'm still being billed for the classes. IIt seems that Dean is almost as cool a name as Maximilian.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 20 14:52:04 2015 (ohzj1)
I think the most profound difference between the US and Australia is not the lack of taipan funnel sharks over here, but rather the fact that Pixy did not have anything to say about "cultural appropriation".
Australia rocks!
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 20 14:58:58 2015 (ohzj1)
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"That was my second stop (after the attempt at online withdrawal)."
Argh. Well, I guess I'm glad you got a resolution that isn't horrible?
The one time I found myself in a literal Catch-22 situation (Registrar: "Can't have your class schedule without a copy of your bill". Bursar: "Can't give you your bill without a class schedule") I managed to deal with it by asking to talk to the Registrar Dean, too.
Posted by: RickC at Wed May 20 18:58:09 2015 (0a7VZ)
Space-X successfully tested its launch abort system recently. Instead of a disposable tower the system uses the landing retro rockets to remove the capsule from an exploding rocket and send it down range.
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Note that MaxLaunch system that NASA tested for Orion used disposable pusher engines. It was necessary for Ares V because it was too tall to fit into VAB with tower. It's my understanding that its reincarnation SLS is slightly lower, at least in the first block.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed May 13 10:06:36 2015 (RqRa5)
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I watched that launch, and I said "Musk could sell tickets for just that part of the flight."
Posted by: Mauser at Thu May 14 05:24:40 2015 (TJ7ih)
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun May 10 22:20:05 2015 (jGQR+)
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So...Is it Sony's policy to only block GOOD videos of their music?
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 13 13:19:26 2015 (ohzj1)
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My understanding is that they use a bot. What it looks for isn't clear, but you can find a dozen other RWBY amv's that use Uptown Funk. None of them, as you say, are nearly this good.
"I didn't even like that song before." Blasphemy.
Posted by: Ben at Wed May 13 15:04:11 2015 (DRaH+)
A Straightforward and Forthright Answer
I just stumbled across this which contains a quote for the ages...
You have worked at the eating lab for some time. What is the eating lab? What does one do at an eating lab? The concept of an eating lab is really cool, but I have to admit that I don't quite know what it is. I don't want to make it sound any less cool, but it is a lab. And it is where we do eating studies.....
There's more to be sure, but the rest of the article merely detracts from the purity of that.
That response is tied to something that I've blogged about in association with matters of far less importance before, I've been working on another post on the topic for months but its so damned depressing to me that it still festers in draft form. Fortunately, Ace has nailed it: You really should read the whole thing, but here is a particularly important excerpt:
This is about, specifically, the careerist, cowardly, go-along-to-get-along mores of the Upper Middle Class, the class of people whose parents were all college educated, and of course are college educated themselves; the class that dominates our thought-transmitting institutions (because non-college educated people are more of less shut out of this industry).
It is a class which is deathly afraid of social stigma, and lives in class-based fear being grouped with the wrong people, and which is more interested in Career, quite frankly, than in the actual tradecraft of that Career, which is clarity of thought and clarity of expression.
That is the bit that is getting quoted everywhere and I DO think it is making an exceedingly important point about the larger issue facing society.
The idea of a 'problem class' is on the face of it is pretty obnoxious. However, the upper middle class is an important barometer of a societies' health. This is the group that in other times were often minor nobility and they produce the bulk of a nation's great thinkers and innovators when a society is healthy.
When societies are not though, this demographic also produces about 100% of the Robspierres, Ches, Maos and disappointed Austrian painters. The herd dynamics ACE is referring to are at the core of a whole host of societal ills right now, the most troubling being the inability of so many people to stand up for anything like classically liberal principals....which is where ACE gets down to brass tacks..
One does not "support" someone's right to free speech by name-calling them and advertising how far one believes they fall outside the smug Upper Middle Class (leftist-dominated) Consensus.
One supports free speech by supporting those who speak freely.
I am so disgusted by how so many alleged thinkers seem to care more about social positioning than actual thought.
I should not advertise any hostility I may have towards Ms. Gellar to prove I'm "among the acceptable ones."
What he said...
The winning submission to the contest was by Bosch Fawstin
I have little to add except for this....One of the more worrisome arguments I've heard concerning political correctness recently is the idea that "...as long as the GOVERNMENT isn't shutting people up, then it isn't censorship...So kindly shut up" That argument may be technically true and indeed government enforcement of such things is a bigger evil. Its also pretty hard to pass constitutional muster in this country which is why we have these examples of things that are not technically censorship.
Unlike some other shows I've enjoyed of late,Sound! Euphonium is not hampered by budget considerations or any learning curve. Kyo-Ani are the pros from Dover when they apply themselves and they have really pulled out all the stops on this show. The production values are gorgeous and the writing, pacing and characterizations are excellent. More impressively, they have gotten me to care about a dramedy set in a high school band.
I'm not even going to try to catch up on episodic reviews of this show, in no small part because Ben and Wonderduck are already doing a fine job on this one, but also because there is such a lot to take in. Each episode warrants at least a second viewing to catch every character bit or subtle attention to detail. There is an awful lot to like here...
1
I watched 4 episodes and thought it was enough for now. It's a sports story and not a terribly amazing one (Initial D was better). As far as cute girls doing the cute girl things, K-ON was much better. It is incidential here anyway. So into the suspended folder it goes.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sun May 10 22:50:12 2015 (RqRa5)
I still have a sinus headache in the right side of my head and I'm just a tad weak but I feel vastly better than I have in some time.
I still haven't gotten my grades back which is rather vexing, but there was this one bit of trivia in my academic status chart...
Note that credits applied counts 3 classes I am enrolled in for the Summer and Fall...but that is a set of numbers that should be very resistant to life's little curveballs..
First World Problems
Kvetching lurks below the fold. As compensation, here is a view of the most awesome transportation network ever...
Note Meteor Jr was actually a real project. Note too that the suffix "Junior" was because Goodyear had bigger things in mind. The math worked (though the third stage would have to be redesigned as re-entry issues were greater than supposed). Goodyear also was pitching Zeppelins for passenger and freight throughout the '50s.
1
I'm not ashamed to say I was more than a little concerned when you texted me asking what my "heart attack" felt like.
I'm glad the "thing on (your) heart" turned out to be relatively
nothing... and I'm REALLY glad the giant growling donut line got you
laughs.
But the thing I'm most glad about is that you're essentially okay. Good
call on the ER... you don't mess around when things are hinky
heart-wise.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Tue May 5 00:03:09 2015 (jGQR+)
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Yay for doctors, and all the scientists, engineers, and technicians supporting their work!
Great diagnosis though. You have a cold. Also, maybe heart cancer.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue May 5 03:32:22 2015 (PiXy!)
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Yeah, that's one of those epic colds that anime heroines get, where they look like they're going to die for days and days. (Albeit colds probably do get worse, in a humid climate like Japan and in houses with no central heating.) Tell your body to stop taking cues from hurt/comfort anime relationships!
However, I have to say that an allergic reaction to cough drops sounds like no fun whatsoever, and I'm very familiar with fun viral infections in various bits of lung being no fun whatsoever.
The unfun bit about straining your breathing muscles is that they like to keep aching for a while after you're well. (Unless you got very good drugs in good time, so then your muscles can start to feel happier.) But it's a great excuse for long showers and baths.
I will not suggest any crazy home remedies from the lore of singers, because your allergified body probably doesn't want to try anything new right now.
I bet you're going to be mentioning that bone spur to a lot of X-ray techs in your life....
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Tue May 5 14:00:12 2015 (ZJVQ5)
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Heating pad might help your chest, though. Menthol rub might help, too.
Do not combine menthol rub with heating pad, unless they are being applied to TOTALLY different parts of your body. (For example, menthol rub on the philtrum under your nose a la Scully, heating pad on your chest.)
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Tue May 5 14:02:24 2015 (ZJVQ5)
No, that is not a typo, the number is nine hundred thousand.
This is not a full mobilization, but the country is sending letters to all reservists clarifying where they are to report in the event of one.
The Iranians have seized the MVMaersk Tigris. The vessel is registered to the Marshall Islands. This gets complicated because while the Marshall Islands is an independent country, they are a US protectorate. The US, New Zealand and Australia have arrangements like this with several of their former territories. The upshot is that this is exactly the same legally as if it were a US ship. Note that earlier on the 29th, the Maersk Kensingtonwhich IS US flagged, was intercepted and ordered to heave to in the same area but refused. There is more on this here. It appears the the Navy is going to be convoying US ships through the straits of Hormuz.
Finally, there has been some good news. There are reports that ISIS head Al-Bagdadi has suffered a case of extreme chiropracty due to some US bombs. This could strike at the heart of the caliphates legitimacy. More verifiable, is that 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria have been rescued from Boko Haram. These are not the girls who were kidnapped last August but some of the many other girls that have been kidnapped by the Islamist group.
Brickmuppet Interactive!
Congratulations loyal readers! As a free perk of reading Brickmuppet Blog, you get to take part in cutting edge technology decision making.
Click here and tell me what you see, what you hear, what browser you are using and if you got the harem ending.
For those who do not wish to partake in such a meta exercise, here is some scenery pr0n.
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In Safari, I don't see or hear anything. Instead, clicking on the link downloads a "webm" file. In Chrome — Dick Dale, Homura and I all expect an apology. At least there's no "harem" ending.
Posted by: Mauser at Sun May 3 02:21:55 2015 (TJ7ih)
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Chrome, duplicate of Don's findings there *in the Chrome tab*.
IE 11 for me directly opened media player with the same file.
No harems were harmed, or shown, in these tests.
Posted by: Doug O. at Sun May 3 04:16:29 2015 (XIFuK)
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I should mention that I don't have WMP installed on my system because it was causing me a lot of trouble. I don't know what a ".webm" file is, and apparently nothing on my computer does either.
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Chrome mobile; I get a prompt to open a media file with either Chrome or VLC. Open with Chrome and I get a streaming Madoka AMV that uses Misirlou and ends on pocky.
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Thanks to everyone who participated. Apologies to Don, Dick Dale and Homura.
.WebM is interesting, but it looks like the support isn't really there yet.
Kind of like .APNG
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun May 3 16:53:29 2015 (ohzj1)
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".WebMis interesting, but it looks like the support isn't really there yet."
IIRC, Microsoft has said they aren't planning on adding support for it in the browser, so it probably isn't ever actually going to get there. (You supposedly can make them work with an extension from Google, but I'm too lazy to try it out.)
Posted by: RickC at Mon May 4 19:24:25 2015 (0a7VZ)
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Also--ugh, sorry for hosing up that comment. I did a copy and paste out of your post, and I guess the editor took the link. I meant to just put in text.
Posted by: RickC at Mon May 4 19:25:01 2015 (0a7VZ)
Oh! Now this is interesting! The comment looks fine to me in Epic. Chrome, Opera and Safari. What are you seeing and what are you seeing it in?
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon May 4 22:20:14 2015 (ohzj1)
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In both Chrome and IE, the wiki link survived--I didn't just wind up copying plain text. I didn't realize it until I hit Post, and I was afraid it would cause the kind of ugly bare link that Wonderduck hates.
Posted by: Rick C at Tue May 5 13:53:19 2015 (ECH2/)
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(and, just in case you don't like them either, I wanted not to do it. I forgot that sometimes browsers copy+paste more than just plain text.)
Posted by: Rick C at Tue May 5 13:54:11 2015 (ECH2/)
Exam Heck
Exams begin Thursday and last into next week. Additionally, it appears that one of my classes was actually in the sociology department and so requires APA style as opposed to Chicago/Turabian. Fortunately, I've been given the option of re-submitting it...
Experimenting, training, testing and retrying. My life is just like this picture, but without the respectability, cute girls, cutting edge tech and prototype karatebot.
What I'm seeing on television now is truly dispiriting. The police seem completely overmatched and the people of the city are helpless before the mob. The mayor's behavior has been bizarre: An hour ago, I watched a fellow show Fox's Leland Vittert where he had been struck with bean bags (after throwing bottles at police). Vittert asked him if he intended to stay out and continue to protest. The fellow said that he intended to but "of course, if they imposed a curfew we'd have to respect that."
At that point I learned that the curfew isn't in effect yet.
Why?
Baltimore was much more important to the history of this nation than is generally appreciated. In addition to being the city that stopped the British advance up the coast in 1812, it is the place where, thanks to Lord Baltimore, religious freedom was first made the law of the land in North America, 366 years ago last Tuesday.
Final Stretch
Next week exams begin. I've got one paper to finish and a few miscellaneous assignments to turn in Monday. In the interim, here is Calbuco...
3
It doesn't seem to have been a hack so much as a spoof. The actual E-mail addy is not mine.
OTOH it was good to be reminded after 12 years that I still had a Yahoo account.
Thanks for the heads up though.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Apr 23 09:22:11 2015 (ohzj1)
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The important point was that they managed to steal your address book.
1
Damn, 1994 might have been the last year I've read every single book nominated for a Hugo, either that was a damn good year for novels or else I was still in my indiscriminate consumption of SF fandom phase.
Who were the winners that attracted Ellison's ire?
Posted by: Mitch H. at Sat Apr 18 07:24:23 2015 (dc+5f)
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Suddenly the sheer volume of vitriol and nastiness I've heard directed at Harlan make a great deal more sense.
Posted by: Doug O. at Sat Apr 18 12:43:29 2015 (S+cJ2)
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Doug, back when Harlan was doing commentaries on the Sci-Fi Channel (and I think this clip is one of them), they announced him once with "If you haven't been insulted by something Harlan Ellison has said yet, you haven't been paying attention"...
Posted by: Siergen at Sat Apr 18 18:50:27 2015 (yQ8B4)
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Yeah, I was gonna say "this is Harlan Ellison being lovable."
Posted by: Ben at Sat Apr 18 19:00:40 2015 (DRaH+)
5Who were the winners that attracted Ellison's ire?
In the 1994 Hugos, Ellison's "Mefisto in Onyx" was beaten for Best Novella by Harry Turtledove's "Down in the Bottomlands."
The 1994 Nebula awards saw Ellison's "The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore" lose the Short Story category to "Graves" by Joe Haldeman.
Looking at the winners of both awards in 1994, I'm going to guess that his "untalented writer" is Jack Cady, winner of the Nebula Best Novella for "The Night We Buried Road Dog." I only say that because Cady is the only winner that year that I've never heard of... upon looking him up, he was quite accomplished in both the SF and the Horror fields, like Ellison.
Not being an expert on either person, I can't really say. Ellison, being the acerbic sort that he's known to be, makes it just as likely that he believes Kim Stanley Robinson is a no-talent hack, or Turtledove, or Charles Sheffield, or anybody else.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sat Apr 18 22:46:43 2015 (jGQR+)
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I remember SciFi Buzz, Vaguely. It's kinda like remembering when MTV played videos.
Fortunately, almost all of Prisoners of Gravity is available on YouTube. If you want a TV show about SF literature, Commander Rick is as good a guide as you can find.
Posted by: Mauser at Sun Apr 19 01:34:46 2015 (TJ7ih)
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There was also FTL Newsfeed and the "newscasts" of Dr. Franklin Ruehl. The fact that those shorts amused me was, in retrospect, an early indication of the deep flaws in my character.
Of course the lede here is that in 1994 people had already started gaming the Hugo's system. As Mitch pointed out, this corresponds to the time that the awards began changing from a recommendation to a warning sign. This phenomenon predated by 20 years the antics of certain despondent juvenile canines . It is not the actions of those residents of fandom's metaphorical pound that distresses their critics, but the exposure of how the game has been played.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Apr 19 03:33:15 2015 (ohzj1)
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Around that time there was reportedly a decision to limit the growth of WorldCon, which conveniently favors the crowd that already goes, and probably enhances their sense of personal ownership of the award.
I wrote up a proposed rules change (It's all the rage lately) and yesterday it got an insane number of hits, since it was on Michael Z. Williamson's facebook page.
Posted by: Mauser at Sun Apr 19 06:13:06 2015 (TJ7ih)
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Jack Cady is apparently a guy who got a fair amount of awards on the literary side of sf and horror, but he doesn't seem to have published much outside of literary stuff. I agree that I've never heard of him, but apparently a lot of literary mainstream folks have.
OTOH, if you're talking about who was likely to have been on the Internet in 1994 and "asking for votes," I'd have to say Kim Stanley Robinson.
But yeah, I don't remember this kerfuffle at all. It would probably be worth it to search rec.arts.sf.written, except that Google's search engine for newsgroups really stinks.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Sun Apr 19 08:43:42 2015 (ZJVQ5)
In the 1980's I dated a woman who was a big-time science fiction fan. She went to a lot of conventions and always went to WorldCon, and I was always a bit amazed at just how seriously she took the Hugo ballot. They really do think they're doing something really important when they vote.
And yet, they'll say, "We're not hard core; THOSE GUYS are hard core." There's a denigrating term, "SMOF" which stands for "Secret Masters of Fandom" used to refer to the especially extreme fans. (Someone started a tongue-in-cheek convention called SMOFCON; I have no idea if it is still running.)
11Jack Cady is apparently a guy... ...I agree that I've never heard of him, but apparently a lot of literary mainstream folks have.
Banshee, that is literally the only reason I assumed he was the target
of Ellison's ire. My assumption was that if I'd heard of them, it seems
unlikely that they'd be considered "no-talent hacks."
It was only after googling him that I discovered that he'd also be a
natural rival of Ellison, seeing how they both wrote the same sort of
thing. As I can't imagine Ol Unka Harlan passing up a chance to take a
shot at someone he'd be competing with, it made him even more likely in
my mind.
However, the number of ways that this logic chain can be incorrect is
staggeringly huge since it rests upon two thin reeds: my knowledge of
someone being a worthwhile predictor of something, and Ellison's thought
patterns.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Apr 19 21:05:42 2015 (jGQR+)
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Turtledove is the sort of writer who is persona non grata among the awards people, but I've never noticed him online, and definitely not back in 1994. Robinson is exactly the sort of writer who'd I'd expect to game the system - entitled and prone to morally muddled philosophizing. But if he was online in 1994 it was in different circles than where I went... he was a "movement" guy, though. Big noise among the regnant humanist movement of the time, that defeated the cyberpunks in the marathon simian poo-flinging tournaments of fandom in the long Eighties.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Mon Apr 20 08:33:34 2015 (dc+5f)
1
You know what would be cool? If that guy held his doggone camera still for a few seconds so you could get a good visual of the movement!
Posted by: Rick C at Fri Apr 17 15:28:17 2015 (ECH2/)
2
Mother Russia just needs some more breathing space, and all loyal Russians give Mother what Mother wants...
Posted by: Siergen at Fri Apr 17 17:23:58 2015 (Cvfrl)
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What is actually causing the expansion/movement? It's not red and burning so it isn't lava, it isn't cold and fluffy so it's not an avalanche, it looks too solid and dry to be a mud slide and it looks too slow to be a rock based landslide.
Posted by: Riktol at Wed Apr 22 15:33:24 2015 (zIFOy)
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!!
