One of the metrics I have for software is encountering bugs. That is to say if you really use a program a lot: you will eventually find bugs, even if they’re not epic ones. For really good software that you really use a lot: these things don’t happen often.

Well, somewhere in between a nice little repeatable for the Crunchyroll app on Fire TV. In the queue view (haven’t tried others): if you click the tile for a show, and then quickly hit a movement key on the remote: you’ll get the episode information, but the background art will be for the show last selected; hitting view series details will also go to the last selected show rather than the clicked one.

I’d be drunk to ever claim Crunchyroll’s apps don’t tend to suck more often than not, but I did find this bug amusing.

The other day, I decided to plug in my old Thor model HDX7, since I couldn't remember the last time I had bothered to charge it. Was surprised to find it with 6% remaining. But, my relationship with it regarding battery life has been kind of like the Energizer Bunny commercials with "Going, and going, and going"; or whatever it is they use as a slogan. I don't think I ever managed to really ding its battery, aside from leaving it idle for a couple weeks.

Extra surprising: the last update it got for Fire OS was 4.5.5.3 installed February, 2019.

That's really not bad for a device I got free from a Dolby developer raffle. Still running a form of Android 4.4/K, but considering the device came out around 2013, and had internals on par with the Nexus of the day—I'd say the little thang has faired pretty well.

I suppose one of these days, I should probably finish turning it into a digital picture frame, or something.

Check out what I'm watching on Crunchyroll! http://www.crunchyroll.com/rezero-starting-life-in-another-world-/episode-20-wilhelm-van-astrea-702439

In cycling back to ReZdro, where I left off at the subjugation of the white whale: I’m reminded that all great battles, should probably be fought in the name of love; and sometimes you’ve just gotta lead off with following the two idiots up front....lol.

Also pretty sure that eating the old man’s beloved wife was the biggest mistake the white whale ever made. Followed by the whole thing with Rem’s death in the Return By Death process that lead Subaru into this insanity.

Yes, never piss these folks off.

While I’ve met a few dogs in my life who could be called birders, Willow is more of a fisher as far as scavengers go. That is to say if her spider sense detects fish, she will likely be very interested.

The onigiri I made last night of course drew some attention, since tuna was involved.

But nothing quite gets their collective attention like treats 😁.

Check out what I'm watching on Crunchyroll! http://www.crunchyroll.com/my-next-life-as-a-villainess-all-routes-lead-to-doom/episode-4-i-enrolled-in-the-magic-academy-794622

Okay, as the ROFL continues, I’m definitely calling this worth watching.

The scene with her “Hijacking” the bullying event in the name of sweets, and giving them the death glare, especially made me laugh my ass off. Not to mention there’s several such awesome scenes in this week’s episode....lol

I don't miss dial-up, but here's some '90s PC stuff I secretly want back
https://flip.it/vQopBI


Gotta admit, they almost lost me at Clippy, but generally it’s a good lost, lol.

Unlike in my childhood: it’s kind of rare I have much ice cream these days. Rarer still with so many trimmings.

Of course this doesn’t mean Willow is content with my explanation of why it’s not for dogs...

Passing thought: it’s kind of sad The Outlaw King trilogy never ended up a TV mini series, or a feature length film. And probably never will 😕.

The whirlwind in the thorn tree, Law of the wolf, and Ten thousand devils made a rather good set of stories. Both when I read it years ago, and as I reread it, I enjoy this tale.

Possible signs that I have strange, or at least varied tastes: when my debate of what to cycle back to reading includes:

• Cow boys, writers, cyborgs, and interdimensional adventure.
• Gothic love-horror, and a side of witches and gaslighting.
• Horn dog comedy with a side of heart rending drama.

Also on that note: 

• The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree is an excellent series of novels, enough so that started reading it a second time. Enough years have passed for details to start to fizzle.
• The House in Fata Morgana is one of the better executed long form visual novels, but it's story has plenty of twisted shit.
• Edelweiss is both a hilarious visual novel, and one that may leave a lasting impression on your tear ducts.

I'm also pretty sure that combing reading, and snacking, would cause massive death glares from the hounds...lol.

Thumbing through my Steam library, my brain eventually floats off in various directions.

One is the reminder that Love In Space recently released their follow up to Shinning Song Starnova, and remember that last time I had checked their Patreon, and active projects post, the next installment of Sunrider was next on their road map. Much to my joy, it seems like Sunrider 4: Captain's Return is elevated to current project. Just as previously scheduled.

I remember playing Mask of Arcadius, and enjoying how they combined turn based fleet + mech tactics with a visual novel setting. Because who doesn't want to laugh your ass off between being out numbered like 80:1 in a space battle? I think MoA is still free, and it's worth playing both for the intro to Sunrider's story, and for the campaign.

When Liberation Day came out it was a rather shuddup, and take my money response. Excellent improvement on the mechanics, and enjoyable for the same reasons. But of course the damned thing ends with a cliff hanger end on par with Old Ben Kenobi, so it's been a long wait to see what happens next.

The purely VN based expansion with a side story / alternate endings for the crew was also pretty amazing. Give or take how many jokes you can make about the story twists that Claude aka miss boob rockets presented in the campaign. Won't spoil the details, but let's just say between her attempts on Captain Shields, and what she turns out to be, you can probably enjoy that lark a lot more than the other plot twists. Because it totally fits her personality, and should make you revisit some of your beliefs in religion and science :P.


Ahh, in a few years perhaps we will have Sunrider 4....hehehe.

was there ever any doubt that I am the wrong species for being comfortable?

This is an interesting perspective IMHO. Even more so, as a Pro 11 user: who debates a larger model as an upgrade path in 3-5 years. The physical difference between the 11”, and my 9.7” Samsung isn’t big enough to really mind, but the 12.9” is rather heavier.

I kind of abuse my tablets enough that a larger screen is a plus. But my experiences with 12” tablets has mostly been phrased by too heavy, too expensive, and too big to be a main device. But that’s more to do with 16:10. When I saw the 11” and 12.9” models side by side, I kind of decided the aspect ratio made the two iPads close enough in physical screen size, not to care about the greater size, so much as the greater weight to heft.

For me, coming from a Galaxy Tab S3: I found the 11” Pro a pretty safe bet. Comparable enough in size and weight that it shouldn’t interfere with my couch surfing, or being my bench notebook. In practice the difference is minor, just large enough to make a keyboard case a more practical option than before. While still maintaining that near perfect size that 9.7” tablets achieved.

Having a SoC that should be suitable for about as long as the iOS updates keep coming, or until hardware makes a notable difference, I’m also quite thrilled by the lasting power being closer to my laptop’s life expectancy than my tablets. Well, give or take that my true reason for the hardware change was my Samsung’s screen getting cracked....lol.

Something I also like is Ali’s point about the Pro. Because to be honest, selecting the Pro for me, was more about not rewiring all my things from USB-C to Lightning than about the performance jump from an Air to a Pro. Let’s just say, I’m not interesting in the fruity connector instead of what the rest of the world is doing 😛.

10 Anime To Watch If You Love Overlord

To this: I’ll just append the note that all of these are worth watching 😝

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION APOLLO 13 TECHNICAL AIR-TO-GROUND VOICE TRANSCRIPTION Prepared by Test Division Apollo Spacecraft Program Office

I’ve always figured this was published somewhere given the nature of the Apollo program, and how things turned out with that mission in particular. But didn’t think a public version would be this detailed, or complete.

Captain's Log, Star Date 2020.106

For the most part, I've been fortunate: I've lived a relatively peaceful life compared to my turbulent  childhood. I've accomplished most of what my younger self viewed as the best case scenario for this stage of my life; whether that holds out for the remaining 10 ~ 60 Years that I should have left to live, one can at least hope the rest of life is pretty decent.

But sometimes I think over my life, and I wonder if I may have missed the most important parts of what I wished my life would be by now.

This is less a fear of missing out, and more like a longing for something missing. I've probably
missed out on more them a few thing since I was born, but don't really care about most of what comes to mind. rather it's like some wires are in my system, but have insufficient connection at the other end. Or as I like to think of it: some things don't really have a concrete answer, or one will only be forthcoming in heaven, if at all.

Sigh, there are some things that can't really be planned, just as they have no concrete answers in the world.

Check out “Salt” on Netflix
https://www.netflix.com/title/70118402?s=i&trkid=13752289

While a pretty good thriller that pretty much is what it sounds like, and perhaps in need of a little plot armor, I’ve got to admit two things:

1. I enjoyed it for what it is.
2. It went in unexpected directions.

And that going off in an unexpected direction is part of why I enjoyed it, lol.

Check out “Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll” on Netflix
https://www.netflix.com/title/81208936?s=i&trkid=14170286

Rather thrilled to find the #VioletEvergarden movie released, and made its way to Netflix.

While the series is principally Violet's story, the film is a more heartwarming tale focused on the side story of the two sisters that she meets. Which I think is a rather lovely thing. The side story takes place at a time after Violet has developed as a character, and shows a world that has like her, begun to recover from the war. So it makes more sense for a movie like this than one focused on Violet's story; the main series rewards us with a character that can create such an aside, and not have to devote extra to her development. Well, providing you actually watched the beautiful series ;)

Violet Evergarden is one of a handful of anime characters that will likely stick with me a long time. A character introduced to us as constantly on fire, and not yet able to realize that her arms were perhaps the smallest thing she lost to the war.

Because of how the main series tells Violet's story, I can appreciate the depth of the backdrop even more. You'll notice how rapidly the city has evolved, and how common place postal service has become. It's quite nicely executed behind the story, IMHO.

Razer’s Pikachu earbuds come in a pokéball case for all your charging needs

And then there are days when my inner child is glad such things are still more expensive than I’m willing to pay for earbuds....lol

New COVID-19 dashboard just for the US offers rich, county-level data

That’s pretty nifty.

US's digital divide 'is going to kill people' as Covid-19 exposes inequalities.

A touch sensationalist for a headline, but an issue worth considering. A key point worth remembering in this context is also our population, and our geography. The United States has a population in the 300 ~ 330 million range, last I looked. We’ve also got a pretty vast quantity of land. Figures of 20-40 million probably ain’t bad in that context.

Actually, it’s always been kind of amazing how wide spread electricity, phone, and running water has been across the country. In my lifetime: you’ve usually been able to take those three things for granted, or you may end up carving red rum on your walls.

Connectivity has exploded in my life time. I can still remember having to be cautious when selecting dial up phone numbers, back when the phrase long distance has a billing context. Today, well: I’m pretty swell on the networking front. Many places not so much.

One thing that is for sure: we won’t be using less Internet as society marches on into tomorrow. Well, unless the mushrooms start a sprouting....

In an effort to catch up on some of my reading backlog, I recently found myself revisiting The Fruit of Grisaia, both the visual novel and the anime. Because sometimes time for reading is limited, and the story is pretty damned long.

In doing so, I'm kind of reminded of several things. The anime adaption while extremely well executed is also extremely condensed. Many key scenes are filtered through but as a whole: you only get something on par with 20% of the visual novel's content. That is to say: the anime is great, but it's like looking through a pinhole compared to the original media. Episode one's one line summary of each character's story is also spot on.

About 90% of the crude humor that makes Yuuji's school life so enjoyable is cut, and each characters story is condensed heavily for time. For me that's kind of sad because the joking and clowning around is part of why the novel left me laughing my ass of more often than not.

Considering that each characters story is practically a novel in of itself, the anime fairs pretty well for cutting out so much. You still get key moments like burying his classmate alive, but much of the detail around it is lost, such as the airhead's true nature. I think Amane's story is the only one that really escaped massive trim: probably because there's no way to actually trim her story and keep the jist. By contrast, Sachi's which is the longest character story in the novel: only got one episode that struggles to tell the jist of her condition. And the series totally misses out on her sadomasochist sense of humor to a fine degree, and Michiru's constant bombardment of idiocy and subtle kindness. All sorts of things in the name of fitting into a standard season length.

Likewise things are quite twisted to create a point of co-existence out of the novel's ladder like structure. So we don't get to see how much Yuuji / Makina truly mirrors his relationship with Asako, as that would be destructive to a shared finish. And a host of other things. I don't think we even get the hilarious Lamborghini and frozen turkey scene from Yumiko's route which was just freaking awesome sauce. Instead a new ending is sort of created, and much of the characters' suffering and healing is drifted off to the cutting room floor. But if you had to cram it down to about a dozen episodes, I'd say the anime is about as good as could be done with the story.

But then I remember what really made me interested in the story wasn't Gurizaia no Kajitsu itself: but the anime adaptions of the follow on media. Which pretty much starts out by telling Yuuji's story, and the road from his truly fucked up youth to his master, Asako, saving him for the pits of hell. It wasn't until after the anime adaptions of the The Labyrinth, and The Eden of Grisaia that the original visual novel really went on my radar.

Which kind of leaves me wondering: and just how heavily condensed was the rest of the trilogy when they adapted them to anime!?

Going with a dinner double feature of Olympus Has Fallen, and Angel Has Fallen was an interesting pair.

I remember watching the first film in the series on cable shortly after it came out, and finding it a nice action movie if a tad brutal. Give or take that a bunch of office workers who have barely played Halo or CoD, would probably make better cannon fodder for guarding the front door. But that was kind of the point I suppose.

Angel Has Fallen is a rather more varied film. Starting off with a return to its more Call of Duty generation like approach before descending into The Fugitive, and than back into straight up action. Somehow though, I find the best parts are about Mike and his dad.

'Cuz if his dad had to be a crazy old man, at least he's a rather handy, crazy old man. And the ending after the credits may have made me laugh quite a bit.

Some levels of comfort may be limited to the dogs amongst us, lol

Artist Makes Fun Illustrations Of Problems Faced By Girls And Other Crazy Situations (64 New Pics)
https://flip.it/MZDl0N

These are great. Number 7, and 21, especially made me snortle 😄.

Wired’s Article on iPad Use in Hospitals to Combat COVID-19 is Eye-Opening.

While I would say that modern iPads are a touch overkill, and expensive for such a mission, I kind of like the idea. The old video phone concept will probably never catch on quite like sci-fi suggests, but given the situation: I’d say use the technology you’ve got.

These days pretty much everything tends to have the capabilities for a video call, and I imagine none of us are that fond of the protective gear. Both the amazing medical staffs, and their patients.

You know, there hasn't been many developments of genius that terrify me in the context of world history.

The US Air Force saw no pressing need for a solid fuel ICBM. Development of the SM-65 Atlas and SM-68 Titan ICBMs was progressing, and "storable" liquids were being developed that would allow missiles to be left in a ready-to-shoot form for extended periods. Hall saw solid fuels not only as a way to improve launch times or safety, but part of a radical plan to greatly reduce the cost of ICBMs so that thousands could be built. He was aware that new computerized assembly lines would allow continual production, and that similar equipment would allow a small team to oversee operations for dozens or hundreds of missiles. A solid fuel design would be simpler to build, and easier to maintain.^[11](p153)

Hall's ultimate plan was to build a number of integrated missiles "farms" that included factories, missile silos, transport and recycling. Each farm would support between 1,000 and 1,500 missiles being produced in a continuous low rate cycle. Systems in a missile would detect failures, at which point it would be removed and recycled, while a newly built missile would take its place.^[11](p153) The missile design was based purely on lowest possible cost, reducing its size and complexity because "the basis of the weapon's merit was its low cost per completed mission; all other factors – accuracy, vulnerability, and reliability – were secondary."^[11](p154)

Hall's plan did not go unopposed, especially by the more established names in the ICBM field. Ramo-Wooldridge pressed for a system with higher accuracy, but Hall countered that the missile's role was to attack Soviet cities, and that "a force which provides numerical superiority over the enemy will provide a much stronger deterrent than a numerically inferior force of greater accuracy."^[11](p154) Hall was known for his "friction with others" and in 1958 Schriever removed him from the Minuteman project and sent him to the UK to oversee deployment of the Thor IRBM.^[11](p152) On his return to the US in 1959, Hall retired from the Air Force, but received his second Legion of Merit in 1960 for his work on solid fuels.^[12]

Although he was removed from the Minuteman project, Hall's work on cost reduction had already produced a new design of 71 inches (1.8 m) diameter, much smaller than the Atlas and Titan at 120 inches (3.0 m), which meant smaller and cheaper silos. Hall's goal of dramatic cost reduction was a success, although many of the other concepts of his missile farm were abandoned.^[11](p154) 

Now that is fucking terrifying as far as concepts go.

The older Titan IIs themselves were pretty frakkin' terrifying when you consider the ~9 megaton payloads. We had dozens of Titan IIs kept on constant alert during the cold war, and they were pretty dangerous beasts just being kept ready.

Now a farm concept? Holy fuck is that terrifying. Perhaps with conventionally armed missile, such a complex might be a nifty defense structure. But in the context of our strategic missile programs? That kind of arsenal would almost be Sky Net scary. In retrospect, I think it seems even more terrifying a concept today than it must have been in the '50s and '60s. Fancy electronics, and shit have come a long way in the past sixty'ish years--making such automata even easier to imagine.

If I have trouble sleeping, I"m blaming Wikipedia's article on the LGM-30 Minuteman, and the late Edward Hall.

Yeah, I’m never going to end up this comfortable, lol.

So how, dogs manage to be especially comfortable. As for me, coffee IV, stat!

Misty: must be comfortable.
Willow: must be watchful.

Every now and then I do remind Willow that she is not allowed to eat the neighbors.

Willow’s response to dinner is sometimes to inspect my beard for crumbs.

Catching up on some of my backlog, I’m not sure if it’s sad, or not, that I kinda hope that Isekai Quartet gets milked for every season it’s worth as an idea—but I’m really glad that there is a third season planned 😆.

Needless to say: Willow is out right comfortable, and Misty is perturbed that I’ve returned bearing coffee instead of snacks.

I’m pretty sure that Misty’s face could raise money for charity, if you bribed her with the right food offerings...

Check out what I'm watching on Crunchyroll! http://www.crunchyroll.com/my-next-life-as-a-villainess-all-routes-lead-to-doom/episode-1-i-recalled-the-memories-of-my-past-life-794619

Okay, I figured it would probably be amusing, and I was right, lol.

Particularly like the planning committee inside her head, and how the princes proposal kind of ends up with her going “Oh, shoot!” at failing to dodge such a clear doom flag. Once Keith shows up, amusement continues, and her efforts seem more successful.

Because who doesn’t want to be the villainess in an otome game, who either ends up exiled or killed in every boy’s route? 😄.

It can be a happy family that naps together, or maybe it’s a sign that dogs are more comfortable than humans?

Reasons to love tablets += 1

In my efforts to avoid wrist pain, I’m reminded of one of the great things about tablets: it’s not a keyboard. Also it’s one hand friendly.

Every now and then, I tend to get wrist pain like inflammation near the tunnel zone. In my experience, not pissing it off further, it usually tends to subside within a week or so. Faster if ibuprofen or naproxen is available.

Probably a good thing that most of my home computing tends to route through my tablet, or a TV.

“Why are you going to make coffee instead of bringing us another treat? Bad, human!”

Willow spent most of my haircut sitting by the door, wondering about my mental health.

Me: I'm just glad for shorter hair.

Misty doesn't care, and is saddened to see a camera instead of food in hand.

Corky knows where the warm nappy spot is.

And Willow remains unconvinced that becoming a shorter haired gorilla is a good thing.

As for me, I think it's time to make some coffee. Everyone has had a post-haircut threat but me, and some kind of lunch is probably past due. But in any case coffee is making my mouth water...hehe.

As someone that tends to skip breakfast, or turn it into a granola bar to go, this is one of my concepts for a large breakfast.

The five frozen sausage are quartered, and meant to be shared with the hounds. Roughly a 2 for them, 3 for me kind of arrangement. The toasted waffle (often, toasted bread) for belly filler. And 3 eggs scrambled for yum. In this case with soy sauce, salt, brown sugar, and some cheddar mixed in.

Of course after breakfast: the doggos require proper treats to follow up their share, lol.

Not sure where the phrase, “It’s nine o’clock: do you know where your children are?”, and the like came from, but it’s still a pretty safe bet my doggos are comfortable.

Also that they are far more comfortable than I ever will be, lol.

Modular Computer: iPad Pro as a Tablet, Laptop, and Desktop Workstation BY FEDERICO VITICCI.

Most websites covering news about software and tech for nerds, are pretty meh at best. One of the reasons I like dropping by Mac Stories is because it takes a short at doing things decently. It's probably the only one focused on Apple that I don't roll my eyes at, but then again I'm not part of various the fruit cults.

Also Federico is probably a worse tablet whore than I am, and after nearly a decade of using tablets: I don't personally know anyone who uses their tablet more than I do, lol. Thus, I am more likely to find interesting stuff on Mac Stories.

Coming from the land of Android tablets, the bane of my modularity has long been the laptop issue. Handling tablet and desk mode has been straight forward for the most part, but accessories pretty much suck unless you buy some form of iPad. Meanwhile pretty much everyone seems to make something for the iPad with a keyboard to go.

iPadOS bringing a desktop style mouse experience, and discarding the Android like one, makes me more tempted to try docking Nerine instead of relying on Stark and Centauri for desk duty. Much as its many Android forbears have over the past decade.

Exploring the Most Impactful iPad Apps of the Decade BY MACSTORIES TEAM

Rather nice read, and a look at several major applications.

Contrary to popular belief, Willow does in fact eat dog food, lol.

Opinion: The Way The U.S. Beat TB Could Be A Boon In Battling Coronavirus

Have to admit: my first thought was, “And how long ago was it that TB was a serious issue in this country?”.

STFAH

Very #nsfw but yes, you probably should.