Brickmuppet Blog 2.0

September 09, 2014

Tuesday 'Splody

One of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of SCIENCE! Babes sends us this video from her research into the effects of comparatively small volcanic eruptions upon merchant shipping.

via

The Hephestian hoopla was caused by Mount Tavurvur in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea on the 29th of last month.

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September 08, 2014

This is Dismaying

Street is river.Water rising rapidly. Garbage cans floating by. Car blocked by floating debris.

UPDATE: rain falling incredibly hard. Water still rising. Storm drains are spewing water.This could be bad. I may swim away from 800 dollars worth of textbooks.

UPDATE 2: Now that I'm inside and not pecking away at a Blackberry....

This was taken only a block from my parent's home....it took me 2 additional hours to get there.

Sadly, I did not get some of the more spectacular visuals as they coincided with excitement in driving. It should be noted that, while in the great scheme of things this was a minor flash flood, it was the first time in the 29 years my folks have lived at their current address that the water rose all the way to their house. Even hurricanes did not get water this high. We got something like 9 inches in 6 hours. It actually flooded the garage, which is currently a bit of a mess.

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September 06, 2014

16 days

This year I ordered most of my books online online as soon as the syllabi were posted. This saved me over 300 dollars and ensured that I'd have the books when classes began...well MOST of them. One book that contains my Kanji homework was to be shipped from Delaware. Alas they were out so they had their supplier send it directly to me.

It passed through Japanese customs on the 21st of August, 16 days ago. It arrived today, with the result that I have 2 weeks of homework ahead of me this weekend. This is in addition to an English paper due Monday and sundry other homework.

I may be scarce for another day or two so to tide you over, here is something that my friend BOB! sent me that you probably should not try at home....

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September 04, 2014

Wait...Was That...Racist?

Well, that was thirteen minutes and 8 seconds of my life that I do not regret.

Tonights episode of RWBY was poignant, funny and, just beautifully done. It was thoroughly satisf....WAIT! NO! DON'T END!

It's always a good sign when a show leaves you eager for more.

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1 Speciesist, maybe. If cats are attracted to laser pointers, it only stands to reason that catgirls are.

Posted by: RickC at Fri Sep 5 00:16:39 2014 (0a7VZ)

Posted by: Wonderduck at Fri Sep 5 00:57:42 2014 (eNsTS)

Posted by: RickC at Fri Sep 5 07:56:13 2014 (0a7VZ)

Posted by: RickC at Fri Sep 5 07:59:21 2014 (0a7VZ)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Fri Sep 5 15:13:27 2014 (DnAJl)

6 Hmmm, and I thought Remnant was the world were I could go to pick up short lengths of carpet...

(I watch the show at RoosterTeeth, since they let me buffer the whole thing at high resolution. 5 and 6 are up.)

Posted by: Mauser at Sat Sep 6 19:09:17 2014 (TJ7ih)

7 Yeah, 6 was up on time at CR too but for some reason it wasn't showing on their main page fora day or so. I looked at the series page because I re-watched the food fight. I've had trouble with the Rooster Teeth site freezing and I'm already a CR member so....

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Sep 6 19:17:11 2014 (DnAJl)

Posted by: Mauser at Sat Sep 6 21:23:32 2014 (TJ7ih)

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Fri Sep 12 15:47:34 2014 (DnAJl)

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September 03, 2014

AMVs From Before Time Began

A bit of Anime Music Video history....

One can certainly do worse than Takahashi and Terasawa.

Neither Space Cobra nor Urusei Yatsura were big hits in the US, both had been off the air in Japan for over 5 years when the videos were made, but the videos did pique some interest in anime at the time as they were shown on MTV.

However, it may be surprising to learn that that in 1991 AMVs were not really new. In fact fans had been making them for some years (mostly via Betamax), trading them and occasionally showing them at cons.

Due their existing long before internet streaming video existed in it's current form, and the limitations of magnetic tape as a medium, very few of the really early AMVs can be found. However, this faded, umpteenth generation copy of one I saw between 1989 and 90 is on You Tube...

It's been 24 years so I'm not sure WHO did it, but I think it was either Pam Buck or Keith Mayfield.

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Missing Plane Watch

Actually, one can't watch them because they are missing, but via Rand Simberg, come a solution to that problem.

Someone has helpfully generated a spreadsheet with a list of all the airliners that were based in Libya when the Jihadists took over and their current dispositions in the few cases where that is known.

This isn't QUITE the concern it could be, because aircraft ID codes are a matter of record. If one of these ended up flying into Vatican City or New York it would probably be intercepted and shot down. Note though that air defense personel are likely to be (quite rightly) very leery of blasting an Airbus out of the sky...at least the first time...so the number of planes missing does not translate into anything like a number of successful attacks. Add to this the availability of trained pilots and maintenance issues and using these craft for mischief becomes more difficult still

Of course if the terrorists were able to spoof the ID beacons then such a plane loaded with C-4 or a loose Pakistani nuke would be a matter of some concern.

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Meta-Blogging Follies

I downloaded an animated .gif from Giphy, loaded it into the images folder, changed its name to something more memorable than "GIPHYGIF" and suddenly, it was gone.

It took me a moment, but I soon realized what had happened.

At some point I had loaded a .gif, also labeled "GIPHYGIF" and it had been overwritten by the recent addition to the image files. When I renamed the file it remained in its place in the queue, albiet under the new name.

Somewhere in my archives, there is a post that is beset by an utterly incongruous clip of Megaton being nuked.

Oh well.

Always rename your files BEFORE uploading them to mee.nu.

UPDATE: Less meta, but tangentially related: Pip Boy!

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:24 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Try Checking Between the Cushions

The INS has lost 6,000 exchange students.

I'm sure there is nothing to worry about. This is less than a tenth of a percent (.89% actually) of the exchange students in the US so they're close, plus the video at the link explicitly mentions horseshoes and "close" counts in horseshoes!

Rather than getting all upset about the government loosing them, when there are so many to spare, we should be more concerned about these poor, wayward exchange students loosing stuff.

An exchange student looses some Karma.

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September 02, 2014

This Seems Newsworthy To Me For Some Reason

This also seems utterly blinkered.

I'm putting it out there as the source is Newsweek and not Info Wars or something.

They claim that Russia has threatened The Ukraine with...nukes.

I suppose this is in keeping with the Russian policy of de-escalation via fusion, but it seems awfully odd for them to make this sort of threat in the current situation.

There are, I'm sure, worse ideas for bringing the unpleasantness in the Ukraine to a close. I just can't think of any at the moment.

Tactical...but not really practical.

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September 01, 2014

I'm Thinking That The Takeaway Is....

...don't buy a Taurus semi-auto.

Wow!

It's surprisingly reliable with the safety on and no finger on the trigger....but not in the right sort of way.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:52 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 That is a truly remarkable design flaw. It's one thing for a pistol with significant wear to occasionally double (a worn sear on a 1911 has surprised plenty of people), but with the safety on and no finger on the trigger?

Taurus has had their ups and downs in quality control, but this is the worst I've heard of. Unless it's the victim of amateur gunsmithing, this is cause for a major recall. Talk about failing the drop test.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Mon Sep 1 19:59:26 2014 (1CisS)

2 At least it only fires once with the safety on... that's something... I guess...

Posted by: Mikeski at Mon Sep 1 20:32:47 2014 (luDkn)

3 I have a Taurus PT99AF (Beretta Clone) and it works fine.

It would be good to see what a competent gunsmith has to say about the condition of this gun to explain the malfunction.

Posted by: Mauser at Mon Sep 1 20:58:11 2014 (TJ7ih)

It's really scary that a gun could do that. Whether it's a faulty unit or a dreadful design, it's still a scandal.

The Japanese Type 94 pistol had this problem, too. (or one very like it. I don't think you could fire the type 94 just by shaking it.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Sep 2 11:18:37 2014 (+rSRq)

5 This weapon, the Taurus 24/7, is the standard sidearm of the Police forces in Brazil., Apparently, the issue has been a real problem with those pistols all over the country. However, I've never heard anything about something like this with the pistols Taurus has exported here. It's likely a problem with a specific batch...but still....yikes.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Sep 2 15:08:50 2014 (DnAJl)

6 Modern pistol designs have a block that prevents the firing pin from moving without the trigger being pulled. One YouTube commenter suggested very astutely that the block isn't working, and the firing pin spring may be gone or broken, that would allow you to shake the pin into striking the primer.

Posted by: Mauser at Tue Sep 2 15:44:18 2014 (TJ7ih)

7 The current models on the Taurus web site have a completely different trigger design; either they upgraded it for export to the US (drop test!) or the service model is an older design. Disturbingly, however, their manuals warn that the manual safety must be on to protect against accidental discharge during drops, which is not happy-making.

I don't buy the argument that it's just an unobstructed firing pin with a busted spring. He's not snapping his wrist hard enough; the firing pin has very little mass, and needs a real smack to hit the primer hard enough to detonate. He's shaking the hammer loose from the cocked position. Since it only fires once each time, it's not just a worn notch causing the hammer to drop on its own; one of the other parts isn't stable, and I'm betting it's the thumb safety's mechanism.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Tue Sep 2 19:43:05 2014 (fpXGN)

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August 31, 2014

Being a Pompous Pinhead Throuought Time and Space

Well, the premiere of the latest season of Dr. Who was quite silly but it was great fun. This was a masterful bit of sadism in that it resulted in my eagerly looking forward to tonights episode so that the kick in the teeth was much greater.

The scale was off, the premise was dumb and The Doctor was in full pompous, provincial, aristocratic sneer mode.

more...

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1 I must be falling behind, I didn't know the new season was out. But I'm not sure if I want to see this, even if Clara is a damned cutie.

Posted by: Mauser at Sun Aug 31 04:10:16 2014 (TJ7ih)

2 Yeah, this one was kinda...yeah. I'm holding out a vague hope that they're going to do something with the Clara/veteran guy plotline, but I have my doubts.

Posted by: ReallyBored at Sun Aug 31 13:13:32 2014 (n3V1X)

3 My understanding is the next companion is going to be .

Posted by: RickC at Sun Aug 31 13:44:02 2014 (0a7VZ)

4 Also--I haven't seen but the first few minute yet, but Moffat needs some kind of boot to the head, and then to be strapped into a chair like Alex from A Clockwork Orange and forced to watch the old series.
The Doctor was only the scientific advisor for UNIT for like three of his incarnations--and his hatred for the Daleks should easily outweigh any dislike of these soldiers.

Posted by: RickC at Sun Aug 31 14:16:52 2014 (0a7VZ)

5 The whole anti-soldier vibe felt very out of place to me. Even if they intend to pull a switch in future episodes and show us how much of a "great guy" the ex-soldier teacher is, there was no need to throw all the animus into this episode.

Posted by: Siergen at Sun Aug 31 17:16:41 2014 (Sn+fi)

6 I thought the premiere had too much Vastra and Strax, as well as a very awkward attempt to transition Doctors by having Capaldi attempt Smith-ish behaviors and physical comedy. And Clara's "anger" scene just didn't work for either actress. Jenny was really the highlight of the episode.

The second one was just... random. It felt like a collection of scenes in search of a story to tell.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Sun Aug 31 17:51:23 2014 (1CisS)

7 Having seen the whole episode now, I can only assume it was a setup for Clara's final line.
unrelated:

Posted by: RickC at Sun Aug 31 20:46:27 2014 (0a7VZ)

8 Trying to work my way through it, but it's tough going. I keep having to stop when someone says something totally out of character. If it were a drinking game I'd be dead now.

I mean, did Clara forget that she was there for the entirety of the Doctor's life, helping in little ways, etc? You'd think she'd be used to Regeneration by that point.

And the scene where she's introduced to Mr. Pink (what is this, Reservoir Dogs?)... Nothing isn't done for a purpose, so why is Clara prominently displaying a copy of The Guardian?

Posted by: Mauser at Mon Sep 1 02:44:39 2014 (TJ7ih)

9 Every time I try to convince myself to dip a toe into the Who-continuum, I see a thread like this and thing "you know... let's not after all."

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Mon Sep 1 05:58:44 2014 (ZeBdf)

10 Av, threads like these are the same as posts saying that the upcoming anime season will be "the worst ever." They're almost never right.

We're now two episodes into the new Doctor's run, and people are already proclaiming him to be terrible, awful, the worst one yet.

Yeah, and they said the same about Smith, Tennant, and Eccleston too.

Maybe Capaldi will prove to be the worst ever. Maybe the show has finally jumped the holographic space shark (after 50+ years). Or maybe we should give them more than a couple of episodes to figure out the show's new voice.

Posted by: Wonderduck at Mon Sep 1 07:22:03 2014 (eNsTS)

11 Actually, 'Duck, so far I like him. I just don't like the rather rabid anti-military stance of this episode.
Like I said, though, the last line held some promise.

Posted by: RickC at Mon Sep 1 10:27:56 2014 (0a7VZ)

12 As I said, I'm continuing to watch and am actually hopeful.
Avatar, threads like this can also indicate that suckage is anomalous enough to warrant comment. In general it has been entertaining.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Sep 1 13:24:11 2014 (DnAJl)

13 There's also an element of backlash against the hype surrounding this season. They made a lot of big promises about the new season and the new Doctor, and... under-delivered.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Mon Sep 1 20:05:40 2014 (1CisS)

14 There's also an element of backlash against the hype surrounding this season. They made a lot of big promises about the new season and the new Doctor, and... under-delivered.

IT'S TWO FRICKIN' EPISODES!

Posted by: Wonderduck at Mon Sep 1 21:02:53 2014 (eNsTS)

15 I don't mean "man, I guess this season of Who isn't as good as past seasons" so much as "Jiminy Cricket, just how much Who do I need to have watched to grok what's going on?" It's like trying to pick up a Spider-man comic these days... I mean, sure, I could watch and just kind of let it flow over me, I'm sure, but if I wanted to actually get into it, I'd be way, way, waaaaaay behind.

It's like, if a buddy said "hey, I watched an episode of Naruto at random and now I'm interested, how much is there?" I would just respond with "I know how you feel, but don't go there."

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Tue Sep 2 00:40:25 2014 (ZeBdf)

16 Yes, it's only the first two episodes, but first impressions count. There are only 10 more, after all, and there's a fair amount of information available on what's in them (including, sadly, the importance of Missy).

Also, I'm buying them from Amazon (cheaper than upgrading my Dish subscription to add BBC America), so each week I have to ask if it's going to be worth it, or if I should just wait until the season is free on Prime.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Tue Sep 2 02:56:48 2014 (1CisS)

17 They can also be torrented from EZTV.

Posted by: Mauser at Tue Sep 2 05:15:05 2014 (TJ7ih)

18 The Doctor's bias against soldiers goes back to the Patrick Troughton days (the First Doctor was biased equally against everyone) - so it's at least as old as I am - but he's also frequently been shown to be unjustified. And having seen what Steven Moffat has come up with over the past 10 years - he wrote probably eight of the top ten episodes since the reboot - I'm inclined to trust that he's going somewhere with this.

As you say, Brickmuppet, soldiers Pink and Blue are presented very sympathetically in this episode, more so than the Doctor.

And yeah, Missy and her little slice of heaven is... Strange stuff. Strange with cake, but strange.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue Sep 2 08:06:20 2014 (PiXy!)

19 Mauser:

Did Clara forget that she was there for the entirety of the Doctor's life, helping in little ways, etc? You'd think she'd be used to Regeneration by that point.

Yes, she did forget. All those versions of her died; she apparently remembers little bits here and there because the Doctor pulled her back out of his timeline, but it's mostly faded and dreamlike. (Or so I gather, having rewatched the last few episodes from last year.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue Sep 2 08:12:19 2014 (PiXy!)

20 I have a vague memory that the Pertwee doctor spent a lot of time hanging around with soldiers.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Sep 2 09:17:47 2014 (+rSRq)

21 Yep, UNIT, who are still around in the new series.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue Sep 2 09:39:47 2014 (PiXy!)

22 Steven, yeah, see my comment #4. Doctors 3, 4, 5 (?) and 7 were all involved with UNIT, which was somewhat of a different organization than the one in the reboot (although a LOT of things are that way!)
Hell, Matt Smith even called up the Brigadier's rest home, although Also: I just logged in yesterday to comment and just had to do it again just now.

Posted by: RickC at Tue Sep 2 19:00:42 2014 (0a7VZ)

23 Not .all. soldiers. He was genuinely saddened to learn that the Brigadier had died.

Posted by: Douglas Oosting at Tue Sep 2 19:00:43 2014 (sdWdc)

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August 30, 2014

I'll Just Leave This Here

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Railgun S Ends

Well, the second half of A Certain Scientific Railgun S has finally been released and arrived last Friday. Like its predecessor, it's a 'juvie', though rather dark at times. It's also more thoughtful and entertaining than most.

Because of the ongoing spoiler tag issue, I'll conceal my shameful fanboy prattlings below the fold.

I'd wondered what that .gif was about...now I know.

more...

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Meanwhile....

While all eyes are multitasking between a variety of extremely unpleasant developments on the other side of the world, the Chinese government has declared that...

China can build whatever it wants on its islands in the South China Sea, a senior Chinese official said on Monday, rejecting proposals ahead of a key regional meeting to freeze any activity that may raise tensions in disputed waters there.

Above is the Chicom outpost on the manmade island that was once Kennan Reef, part of Scarborough Shoals in the Philippines.This is just one of several reefs the Chinese are building outposts on.

Since the Chinese consider these to be new Chinese territory, they claim the 200 mile EEZ around them, which is most problematic for the Philippines as Scarborough Shoal is not just claimed by the Philippines, it is well within the Philippines' EEZ, only 150 miles from Luzon and has been part of the Philippines since the Spanish organized the islands against the Sulu jihadists in the 1500s. When, after the US annexed the islands, the Philippinoes voted for and were granted independence from the US, Scarborough shoal was explicitly included by the US in the deal.

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August 29, 2014

This Week....

My first week back from vacation coincided with the pre-labor day rush at work and the first week of school. After irresponsibly setting my circadian rhythm to getting up at AM:ish, the sudden need to awaken at 02:00 has been most unwelcome as has the requirement to lift boxes weighing up to 70 pounds in rapid succession for hours on end. The high tempo of work, school and multiple other annoyances has left me looking something like this...

...except rather worse as I'm a dude and not especially good looking on the best of days.

Fortunately, a 3 day weekend looms which should allow me to stay up about 48 hours, reset my circadian rhythm and thereby fix most of these self inflicted first world problems.

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August 28, 2014

Pluckiness Defined

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Things Fall Apart

The center cannot hold

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

Hello Kitty is not a cat. Sheâ€™s a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. Sheâ€™s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and itâ€™s called Charmmy Kitty.

I don't know what to believe anymore. (via)

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August 23, 2014

Info Bleg

Does anyone know of any arcane majiks that can convince Microsoft that the Windows 7 activation code in the box I bought before my hard drive was replaced is legit and my copy is not, in fact, pirated?

Also: Is this where pineapple grenades come from?

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August 21, 2014

Aw Come ON!

I didn't put in any pictures, center anything or use an animated .gif inside the spoiler tag of the last post and yet the spoiler tag put every bit of text that was inserted into it, on the outside.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:43 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Well. That Was Underwhelming.

This weeks episode of RWBY seems to have been eaten by ants. Instead we were presented with a 2 minute 16 second slideshow explaining the show's main deus ex machina, 'dust'.

Narrated by "Mysterious Narrator" (playing herself) it tells us, the poor hapless viewers very little save for one tantalizing detail.

It does pose some interesting questions, certainly more than it answered.

more...

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