CAN I BE OF ASSISTANCE?
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Tuesday, April 30

Geek

Daily News Stuff 30 April 2019

Okonomiyaki Edition

Tech News


Video of the Day

Okay, remember this, which I've posted before because the Zettai Karen Children opening has been scrubbed from the internet?



Well, one of the girls who sang the theme song is Suzuka Nakamoto, better known these days as Su-metal.



The other two members of Babymetal, Yui Mizuno and Moa Kikuchi, got their start with the idol group Sakura Gakuin by performing this song as a duo at an audition.

Update: Everything is on the internet if you dig hard enough.



That's them.  That's the audition that eventually led to Babymetal.

Also, there's apparently 51 volumes of ZKC manga now, most of it fan-translated.  That's one volume for each episode of the anime.  We need a new season, and not that The Unlimited thing either.


Disclaimer: I didn't do it.  Nobody saw me.  You can't prove anything!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 354 words, total size 4 kb.

Monday, April 29

Geek

Daily News Stuff 29 April 2019

Gyoza Party Edition

Tech News


Disclaimer: All the news that fits, we print.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 97 words, total size 1 kb.

Blog

Question For mee.nu Users

Anyone else having trouble with the edit functions, like trying to edit a post and it takes you to the post rather than the editor?

I think it was limited to just this site where I'm testing the always-HTTPS changes.  I turned off my custom header template and it fixed the problem.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:20 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

Sunday, April 28

Geek

Daily News Stuff 28 April 2019

Nyanpasu Edition

Tech News

  • Indiegogo has banned anti-vaccination fundraisers.  (Tech Crunch)

    Given the crap that Indiegogo allows, this is something of a surprise.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.  Yes, anti-vaxxers are dead wrong and get children killed.  And Indiegogo are in no way obliged to help them do so.

    But censorship for good reasons leads directly to censorship for bad reasons.

    On the other hand, we are already neck-deep in censorship for bad reasons...

  • AMD's Ryzen 2 chips are coming and so is a new chipset.  (WCCFTech)

    Available information suggests that it's a big upgrade over the X470.  A PCIe 4.0 uplink provides double the bandwidth, and the PCIe lanes available from the chipset are upgraded from 8x PCIe 2.0 to 16x PCIe 4.0 - eight times the bandwidth.  Though you can't use all of that at once since the uplink isn't fast enough.

    Up to 12 SATA port and 8 USB 10 ports.  Almost certain though that you won't be able to use it all at once - most likely the SATA lanes will share pins with PCIe lanes, so you can get 16 PCIe lanes and 4 SATA ports, or 8 PCIe lanes and 12 SATA, or something in between.

    PCIe 4.0 does some magic here, delivering 8GB per second to the chipset, enough for two NVMe drives or a second video card.

  • Facebook is run by crazy people.  (Phoronix)


Picture of the Day

https://ai.mee.nu/images/NonNonManga.jpg?size=720x&q=95

A colour page from the Non Non Biyori manga.  The anime is entirely faithful to the manga (as far as I've read) in art and story, but rather less so in chronology.  The second season of the anime isn't a sequel (or prequel) but more of an equel - it goes back and picks up chapters of manga that the first season skipped. 

Each season of the anime covers one year, but it's the same year: The second season starts a day before the first and ends a day after.  There's about four volumes of new manga since season two, so maybe a third season will continue from there.

This one is strongly recommended if you're looking for warm fuzzies.  The most dramatic moment in the whole series is when the girls are out picking berries and get mugged by a squirrel.

Having run out of Non Non Biyori I checked out a few turkeys (No Game No Life, the new Boogiepop, Renai Boukun) and settled on Amaama to Inazuma.

More warm fuzzies it is then.  

Update: Not purely warm fuzzies, perhaps; this one has a little more texture.  But mostly warm fuzzies.

Update: I've been bamboozled.  It's not slice-of-life, it's a cooking show.


Disclaimer: Well don't do that then.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:44 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Saturday, April 27

Geek

Daily News Stuff 27 April 2019

Actually Got To Sleep In For Once Edition

Tech News



Anime Opening of the Day






Disclaimer: Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 430 words, total size 5 kb.

Friday, April 26

Geek

Daily News Stuff 26 April 2019

Bad Guy With A Leafblower Edition

Tech News


Anime Ending of the Day



That was rather more wholesome than I expected from the title.  What show was it we used to call "better than it has any right to be"?  Popotan?


Anime Trailer of the Day



Well, that was good timing.  Season 2 starts in July.



Disclaimer: THRAAS is the new TANSTAAFL.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Thursday, April 25

Geek

Daily News Stuff 25 April 2019

ANZAC Day Dawn Moving Van Edition

Tech News

Relevant Observation of the Day

http://ai.mee.nu/images/ChunibyoGarbage.jpg?size=720x&q=95

Just finished Chunibyo.  Well, both TV series, both OVAs, a couple of the little specials, and the second movie.  The second TV series is a little wobbly precisely because the first series ended strongly, but the second movie puts everything back together.

The first movie is a retelling of the first TV series, so I've skipped that one for now.  Watch it in that order: TV 1, OVA 1, TV 2, OVA 2, movie 2.  All the little specials aside from the two full-length OVAs are optional.

As a whole I give it three idiots out of four.  A bit uneven, but recommended.

I'm starting to run low on things to watch, having recently burned through:

Dirty Pair TV & OVA
Endro!
My Roommate is a Cat
Hinamatsuri
Iroduku
Bunny Girl Senpai
Sakura Quest
Golden Time
Chunibyo

Currently moving on to Danmachi and Non Non Biyori, which will hit the bottom of my unwatched pile.  Then I'll need to move on to the partly watched stuff, both old (Zettai Karen Children) and new (Made in Abyss).

Recommendations welcome.


Disclaimer: Do not chain your sushi.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:50 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Wednesday, April 24

Geek

Daily News Stuff 24 April 2019

Chunibyo Edition

Tech News

  • Oppo's Reno 10x Zoom has a popup selfie camera.  (AnandTech)

    This one pivots rather than sliding, which might be a more robust design in the long term.  6.6" 2340x1080 OLED display, 48MP main camera, 12MP telephoto camera, 8MP wide angle camera, and 16MP front camera.  Snapdragon 855 with 8GB/256GB and a 4065 mAh battery.

  • Meizu's 16s is basically the same thing with no moving parts.  (AnandTech)

    Its front camera has a diameter of 2.5mm so while this model has a bezel it is very small.  The headphone jack is also very small, being entirely absent.

  • Nvidia launched their GTX 1650 which is simultaneously slower and more expensive than AMD's Radeon 570.  (AnandTech)

    It does use less power, though, so if you're stuck with an older OEM system and have to rely on slot power, it's probably the best you're going to find.

    Most interesting part of this launch is that Nvidia didn't allow reviewers to test the card before, providing neither sample cards nor the drivers required to run this model.

    Despite that, the verdict has been delivered already and it's a resounding meh.  (Tom's Hardware)

    The card they tested didn't even have the decency to run on slot power, its only real advantage.  So make sure you check carefully if you need that specific functionality.

  • Fractal Design produces clean, understated computer cases.  This is not one.  (PC Perspective)

    Well, compared to some of the monstrosities out there I guess it still is, but ech.

  • Sandisk may not have 1TB cards out yet but Lexar does.  (SSD Review)

    Well, review samples anyway.  No listing on Amazon yet, but their 512GB model is a promisingly affordable $82.

  • DO NOT WRITE YOUR OWN CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROTOCOLS.  (TechDirt)

    Is your name Bruce Schneier?  I think not.

    [I'm planning on ignoring my own advice tomorrow.  Watch this space.]

  • Intel announced 34 new CPUs.  (AnandTech)

    These are all just marketing variants of the Coffee Lake Refresh die, which is the same as Coffee Lake, which is the the same as Kaby Lake, which is the same as Skylake, which is almost identical to Haswell.  More cores at the high end but those parts had already been released, so this announcement is a big dish of nothing.

  • Washington Post music critic hates podcasts.  (Washington Post)

    "Just anyone can blather on endlessly these days," he added.  "What is the world coming to?"

  • QEMU 4.0.0 is out.

    If you need to run S390 software with hot plug support, or Arm with more than 256GB of virtual RAM, or RISC-V with USB, this is what you've been waiting for.

  • JavaScript is space cancer.  (Reddit)

    Best comment: I look forward to awe-inspiring images of the [object Object] supercluster.

  • Gigabyte has a new 2U 256 core server.  (Serve the Home)

    Well, 4 node cluster, anyway.  Time to plug in some 100Gbit cards and fire up OpenMP.

  • Nintendo's Switch has now outsold the N64.  (One Angry Gamer)

    In one third the time, too.

  • Memory prices are finally coming back down.  (Tech Report)

    Not to historic lows yet, but much cheaper than what we've been faced with the last couple of years.

    AMD was also selling the 16 core Threadripper 2950X at about 20% off but that one's already gone.


Random Anime Screenshot of the Day

http://ai.mee.nu/images/ChunibyoGirlSquad.jpg?size=720x&q=95


Disclaimer: Making a sequel to a story that ended perfectly rarely succeeds, but it's still better than a prequel.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:29 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Tuesday, April 23

Geek

Daily News Stuff 23 April 2019

Considered Harmful Edition

Tech News



Anime Stuff

  • I tried Chunibyo when it first aired and bounced off after a single episode.  Giving it another try now, and yes, it's a lot better than my first impression led me to think.

    I've been watching a lot more anime lately because I've been working with Ethereum, and it's horrible beyond all imagining and I need something to reset my brain afterwards.  Even Golden Time, which frankly was kind of bad.


Picture of the Day

https://ai.mee.nu/images/NightShift.jpg?size=720x&q=95

The Night Shift  Art by Atey Majeed Ghailan




Disclaimer: Considered harmful considered harmful.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:24 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Monday, April 22

Geek

Daily News Stuff 22 April 2019

Toradora With Traumatic Head Injuries Edition

Tech News


Anime Review - Golden Time

Golden Time is a 2013/2014 series that I completely missed when it came out, and just watched over the Easter long weekend (at least, it is here in Australia).  It's based on a new series of light novels by the author of Toradora, and received a first-rate anime adaptation by J.C. Staff.

The production values are top notch, the characters are engaging, the writing is often laugh-out-loud funny, and the plot is a train wreck.  And not one of those interesting train wrecks where the explosions and screaming go on far longer than you would think possible, but one of those boring ones where it simply falls off a bridge into a river and everyone dies.

Our protagonist Banri is a first-year student at a Tokyo law school, a refreshing change from the innumerable high-school romantic comedies.  On his first day (he's running late, of course) he meets and makes friends with fellow freshman Mitsuo who is promptly assaulted by his psycho ex-girlfriend Kouko (voiced by Yui Horie).

Things happen, Banri and Kouko and a group of fellow freshmen are kidnapped by Scientologists, Banri makes up a story about amnesia to fool them into letting the others go...  And then it turns out that he didn't make it up.  Cue the sound of air being let out of the show's tires.

Where it really goes off the rails though is a few episodes later when we see Banri's lost memories being represented by a ghost Banri.  I thought that was a fine metaphor - losing your memory is as close as you can get to dying without actually stinking up the place.

The problem is, it's not a metaphor.  It's an amnesia Force Ghost.  Who places a curse Banri for not making the decisions ghost Banri wants him to make, and nearly gets the entire group killed...  Only in the end they walk away with literally a scratch and it makes no difference to anything.

I didn't realise going in that it was written by the author of Toradora.  If I'd known that I would have had higher expectations and been even more disappointed than I was.

The occasional scene like this kept me watching:

http://ai.mee.nu/images/GoldenTimeBird.jpg?size=720x&q=95

Or this:

http://ai.mee.nu/images/GoldenTimeNextNext.jpg?size=720x&q=95

But there aren't enough moments like that for me to suggest that others do the same.

Taiga from Toradora is iconic.  Kōko meanwhile is treated as a secondary character throughout (even though the show is marketed as if everything revolved around her).  She could have been iconic.

https://ai.mee.nu/images/GoldenTimeChirpChirp.jpg?size=720x&q=95
https://ai.mee.nu/images/GoldenTimeSkull.jpg?size=720x&q=95

But no matter how hard J.C. Staff and Yui Horie worked, she had that whole trainwreck thing to contend with.

Two blunt head traumas out of four.  Not recommended.


Picture of the Day

https://ai.mee.nu/images/Floooooof.jpg?size=720x&q=95



Disclaimer: Blunt head trauma is not recommended for children under the age of 12, pregnant or nursing women, or, basically, anyone else.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 597 words, total size 6 kb.

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