The ravens are looking a bit sluggish. Tell Malcolm they need new batteries.
Monday, March 22
Crapple
When I plug in my iPod, iTunes crashes.
Update: The iPod lost all the music, but still had the podcasts. So I tried resetting it - whereupon it lost everything and wouldn't even start up. Which left me with an hour's commute each way, no iPod, and a notebook with a 20-minute battery life.
Update: Reset, reboot, restore, and Unagi-tan is back to life, albeit very empty. And now it thinks it's syncing. Ah, there we go. It's just worked out that it's a 160GB iPod and I have nearly 500GB of stuff in iTunes, so it's selected some unspecified subset for me...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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Sunday, March 21
A Terrible Thought
If Hidamari were to return for a fourth season, then Sae-san would graduate and have to leave the show.
Nooooooo!
Though... Come to think of it, she was a second-year in season one, and only moved up to third year in season three, so we're safe for now.
If Hidamari were to return for a
fourth fifth season, then Sae-san would graduate and have to leave the show.
Nooooooo!
Oh, and: Kimi ni Todoke continues as the heir apparent to Gurren Lagann in terms of pure awesome, and K-On Goes to WarSora no Woto ain't half bad either, as it turns out.
1
I'm glad there's someone else out there who has a deep abiding affection for our glasses-wearing, short-haired authoress. FWIW, the anime just might catch up with Vol 4 of the translated manga, and (at least) one more will be released in Japan.
So unless Hoshimittsu completely tanked in Japan, we'll see another series!
Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, March 22 2010 06:34 AM (mfPs/)
2
I like all the girls, even our new-found soggy biscuit, but yeah, Sae is my favourite. In case you hadn't guessed.
I admit to some initial trepidation with respect to the current season, but they've carried it off with all the charm of the first two, and I'd now welcome a fourth.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, March 22 2010 10:27 AM (PiXy!)
Book 5 of Charlie Stross's The Merchant Princes. The initial adventure story has, at this point, devolved into a seven-sided war spanning
four universes which is just the way I like it.
Update: One problem with this series is that Stross appears to have let his political views colour the story, and his political views are asinine. If those aren't his actual views, he's still badly mismanaged that part of the story.
1
I'm through three of those, and sort of taking a break before picking up #4. I like Stross well enough (just got into him midway through last year) but there's something just a bit off-kilter about his storytelling, I find I can only take him in one-or-two-book doses.
Posted by: GreyDuck at Friday, March 19 2010 11:51 PM (7lMXI)
2
There is in some of his books, yes. The more hard-SF ones like Iron Sunrise and the lighter ones seem to be free of this, Merchant Princes has a touch of it, but Accelerando I found unreadable.
I've also got a new Glen Cook SF novel and a new Alastair Reynolds after that, so I think a nice quiet weekend is called for.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, March 20 2010 12:02 AM (PiXy!)
3
Book 6 recently appeared here, I'll get to it shortly, I think. IIRC, it would not be wrong to characterize Stross as socialist, economically speaking, is that what you thought was leaking?
Posted by: Kayle at Saturday, March 20 2010 08:26 PM (hphNU)
4
The basic economics seem reasonable to me (I'm no economist) - a big part of the plot is that the Merchant Princes are running a, what's the term, mercantilist economy, and Miriam is trying to introduce them to capitalism.
On the topic of political economy, particularly with regard to our own world-analogue (he slips in some facts to indicate that it's not precisely our world), he's talking nonsense. And since he appears to actually hold the views expressed by the plot in that respect... Yeah.
Bit of a shame, since he's a fine writer and (I've chatted with him briefly online) a genuinely nice guy. It's not enough to ruin the story, but it still detracts from it.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, March 21 2010 12:02 AM (PiXy!)
5
IIRC, Stross is some sort of cognitively dissonant left-wing libertarian-anarchist, who's nominally in favor of the free market, but can't resist all sorts of altruistic rentseeking giveaways which necessitate governmental tyrannies, while always pining for pie in the Singularity, in a Marxist withering-away-of-the-state sense.
That, and he's got a simply monstrous case of revolutionary fetishism. It creeps into every one of his books I've read.
What are the facts which set his Earth Prime apart from the real world, Pixy? I didn't notice any in the first four volumes; I've not bothered reading the fifth one yet.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Sunday, March 21 2010 03:30 AM (jwKxK)
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The Earth Prime-ness doesn't really pop up until the fifth book. I kind of get the impression he wasn't intending it to be that way, but then real world political events meandered away from his plot setup.
Posted by: Mark at Sunday, March 21 2010 05:30 AM (bBxKr)
7
I seem to recall there was something in book four, but can't remember exactly what it was.
But in book five - Chief Justice who?!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, March 21 2010 10:58 AM (PiXy!)
Posted by: Wonderduck at Thursday, March 18 2010 03:45 PM (mfPs/)
3
That 40% is just through today, btw. You know TRSI and their fondness for rotating studio sales. They treat themselves just like every other studio...
Posted by: Mitch H. at Friday, March 19 2010 02:33 AM (jwKxK)
But the only other option is to buy a 27" iMac and a compatible DisplayPort video card, and the only compatible DisplayPort video cards are the Radeon 4890, which has pretty much been discontinued, and the 5970, which costs as much as this monitor by itself, so the total cost comes out to three times as much.
1
The Imac does cost three times as much. But it does have a computer built into it. I just happen to have one sitting across from me and can testify that it is a great screen.
Not to mention computer. And its not mine.
I got the U2410 before Christmas for an ungodly cheap price. IPS screens are terrific. Especially when they are matt.
(Sorry Imac. I still like you).
Posted by: Andrew at Thursday, March 18 2010 12:20 AM (cB03i)
2
I'm quite fond of Dell monitors, though I don't have one myself. I've never seen/used a bad one, even when they sold CRTs.
Except for the one that caused my eyes to bleed. Literally. That one wasn't so good.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Thursday, March 18 2010 08:56 AM (mfPs/)
3
I have two 21" IPS (actually S-PVA, but essentially the same thing) Samsung monitors now, but the new 27" models would give me the same pixel count in a single display.
I was considering splashing out on the 27" iMac, then I learned that the DisplayPort input was basically incompatible with everything else in the world. Don't know whose fault that is, but it makes it kind of impractical.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, March 18 2010 10:10 AM (PiXy!)
4
There are DisplayPort adapters available for VGA, DVI and HDMI. I picked up an DisplayPort - HDMI adapter last weekend from Amazon for about US$12, and was able to hook my MacBook Pro up to my Samsung LCD TV via HDMI without more than a minute or so's worth of fiddling.
Link to Amazon search for "DisplayPort"
Posted by: Rich at Friday, March 19 2010 04:05 AM (2ldMO)
5
Yep. But what I'd need is a dual-link DVI to DisplayPort adaptor. They do exist, but the only one I've seen cost $200, and I don't know if it would work for this.
Easier to just buy the Dell monitor which has 2 x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA. (And component and composite too.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, March 19 2010 10:06 AM (PiXy!)
6
How much does delivery to Australia cost? (Presumably by air; surface would take weeks.)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Saturday, March 20 2010 10:41 AM (+rSRq)
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It generally ranges between exorbitant and absurd.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, March 20 2010 03:19 PM (PiXy!)
8
Too bad they can't deliver hardware through the internet.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Saturday, March 20 2010 05:45 PM (+rSRq)
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Fortunately in this case, the monitor is actually cheaper (given the exchange rate and sales tax) from Dell Australia than from Dell USA.
Dell's international pricing - I've mentioned this before - is weird. Some specific server components cost twice as much in Australia as the US - and for others, it's the other way 'round.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, March 21 2010 12:06 AM (PiXy!)
Stephen Conroy and the Rudd Labour Government are the enemies of free speech and of human rights in general. They are ignorant and dishonest in equal measure, and their only saving grace is that they are neither competent enough nor popular enough to get their abominable legislation passed through the Senate.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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by the way:
Yuuno is a shape-changer. His true form is a cute boy about Nanoha's age. She find that out in ep 7 (or 8?), and her reaction is priceless, in part because he's been sleeping in her bedroom in a basket on her desk and she's been changing her clothes in front of him. Not to mention taking him into the girls-side dressing room at an onsen.
It's something of a trope in mahou shoujo (magical girl) shows that there should be a cute talking animal sidekick for the magical girl, who gives the girl a magical gem that she needs in order to become a magical girl. It's not universal but it's quite common. This series uses the trope, and then subverts it. Yuuno does give Raising Heart to Nanoha, but Raising Heart is a product of high tech and doesn't really fit the mold. (For one thing, sometimes she argues with Nanoha. In fact, she can be very stubborn.)
But this show does a lot of that. The first few episodes of the series make it seem like a rip-off of Card Captor Sakura. Then when Chrono shows up, everything changes (and IMHO improves) and it strikes off on an entirely new path.
In A's, the sequel, Yuuno only uses his ferret form briefly, in the last half of episode 3.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Monday, March 15 2010 10:54 AM (+rSRq)
At the start of the first episode, you see his real form, and then he transforms into a ferret.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, March 15 2010 12:13 PM (PiXy!)
6
I saw the show name late last night, and was too tired to bother googling it. Sometime around lap 30 of today's race, I finally figured out what you were talking about.
At which point, I choked on my soda. Nicely done!
Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, March 15 2010 03:49 PM (mfPs/)
Update: I wasn't expecting that (ep 6) but truthfully, it's the only thing in the show so far that survives the refrigerator test. Of course there'd be something like that.
Update: Odd little show, very uneven, but worth a look. What is with that clock, though?
Update: Only two episodes left to go? That might work out just right.
Update: I haven't found the original that they modeled the clock on, but:
Yeah, it's real. Yeesh, the places people choose to live.
1
Are you watching anything else this season? I have been watching Durara!!, Katanagatari (coming out monthly, each episode is 50 minutes), and a couple of others.
Posted by: Penfold at Thursday, March 11 2010 07:26 AM (1PeEC)
2
So far just Sora no Woto, Hanamaru Kindergarten, and Hidamari Sketch. Oh, and Kimi ni Todoke, continued from last season.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, March 11 2010 10:54 AM (PiXy!)
3
I am watching Kimi ni Todoke as well, I like it, a bit slow paced (which I think is intended), but it is no Toradora! Haven't watched Hanamaru Kindergarten or Hidamari Sketch.
Posted by: Penfold at Friday, March 12 2010 03:03 AM (1PeEC)
4Hanamaru Kindergarten is a nice show; not amazing, but worth a look..
Hidamari Sketch, though, is just wonderful, all three seasons of it. Very highly recommended.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, March 12 2010 09:22 AM (PiXy!)
Okay, my auditory frequency response isn't shot. I can still hear up to about 17.5kHz, which is not much short of the 19kHz or so I could hear as a teenager.
Next time I test my hearing, though, I'll turn the volume down first.
1
Not me; I couldn't hear anything even when the sweep reached 12 KHz. I guess that's yet another indication that I'm old.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Monday, March 08 2010 02:01 AM (+rSRq)
2
I was surprised, I was expecting to be down below 15kHz (normal range for over-forties).
On the other hand, my knees hurt.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, March 08 2010 02:19 AM (PiXy!)
3
I have teenage normal hearing in my left ear, which is great for someone about to turn 42. I'm literally half-deaf in my right ear.
Eight years of working in the radio biz, and 14 years of theater is to blame. I wore headphones/headsets all that time, and I always made sure I had one ear uncovered to hear what was going on around me. As every theater I was in had the stage manager to the left of the lighting control board, that was the ear that was uncovered. In my first radio booth, the door was on the left, so I left one uncovered and carried on doing so through the years.
So... deef.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, March 08 2010 12:57 PM (mfPs/)
