Odds and Ends–Tech Edition

The Iview Cypad 760TPC I purchased earlier this month has been a lot of fun to monkey with. Being new to tablets and the Android OS, I have to say the stability leaves something to be desired. It appears to be app related and I did go in forewarned about the crash rates of mobile operating systems.

Battery life has been good since I disabled the telephone related drivers on it. I get better than five hours doing a mix of things including playing games, web browsing, reading, and watching videos. Performance has been fast, but with occasional slowdowns that seem to come from my monkeying with app installations too much. The temptation to play with new software is severe due to the plethora of freebies available.

One of the apps I really like is the Gospel Library one from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not only are scriptures available, but class manuals, conference talks, and magazines. All of them can be highlighted and annotated with that synced up to your Church account online. This week I matched up all of that from my hard copy of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. This week I will get the Holy Bible synched up as well.

Another app I have gone nuts with is the Kindle for Android one. Yes, I now have the equivalent of a Kindle Fire in many ways. The sheer volume of public domain books they have up had me downloading like mad while watching a movie Saturday night. Being able to watch something and multitask on the Net is an unexpected bonus for me. The IMDB app makes it a handy “look up the actor” tool, too.

I purchased one book and read it, The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. It was nice to find a straight forward translation, since the one I had dated back to the 1980’s and was aimed a business men. There are some formatting errors, but nothing egregious and it was a quick read. Reading on the Cypad is easier on the eyes than expected and the ability to look up archaic words is very handy.

After testing multiple browsers on the tablet, I have kept three on it: the included Android one, Firefox, and Opera. If a page does not render correctly in one, one of the others usually can handle it. Opera is my main one due to its much better controls and rendering. I am disappointed that embedded videos do not work well, if at all, on the browsers. Dedicated apps appear to be the only way to go since websites are detecting mobile devices and do not act normally as a result.

With a new mini HDMI to HDMI cable, I finally was able to test out the video output of the Cypad and was stunned by how well it upscales to 1080p. With only limited space to play with until I get a new microSD card, I can’t test a full length movie yet. I can see using this to teach Sunday school lessons with downloaded Church videos and one of our new flat screens.

On the PC end of things, VLC 2.0 is finally out and it looks like I will be going back to it for my video playing needs. So far it has rectified all my problems with VLC, but further tests await. Besides the improved performance and compatibility, a lot of little things have been added and tweaked. The ability to jump chapters in ripped videos means I will be able to do screen captures more efficiently for my Blu-ray reviews. Anything that speeds that up is good with me, because I resent having those huge MKV files taking up room on my hard drives.

I have been playing Star Wars: The Old Republic with a friend online and have some issues with lagging despite a 100-105 MS. It may be my old video card cannot handle some of the areas with only 512mb of memory or it may be the fact I live in the middle of nowhere. More playing should give some clues. The game is good and if you liked Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic you will love this.

Health 2-20-2012

Typing the date out in the title made me look not twice but thrice.

Anyway, last night was miserable and had difficulty sleeping due to coughing fits. I love it when an upper respiratory infection goes into the chest. That said, it appears that the end of the bout is nigh. At least I hope so.

It has been odd for my father to get ill with the same thing at the same time, so that has been a new experience.

Secret Investigation Record (2010)

aka Joseon X-Files: Secret Book

A stylish and intelligent science fiction drama from South Korea that offers up many questions and a few answers, Secret Investigation Record is highly entertaining  but all too short. Clearly a homage to The X-Files, it manages to be its own beast thanks to well fleshed out characters and historical setting. Being loosely based on real records from the era lends a Project Blue Book feel to it as well.

I was a big fan of The X-Files during its early seasons, having watched it from its broadcast premiere. Unfortunately, it became clear around the third season that the creator of the show did not have a clue to what he was doing and was making it up on the fly. So it was with a mix of curiosity and trepidation that I approached this Korean drama set during the Joseon Dynasty.

Luckily for me, the made for cable television show turned out to be very good right from the first episode.

Health 2-18-2012

While it is no fun to report that the cold has started to move into the chest and I have used up what reserves of energy I had to fight it, it seems like a mere trifle after hearing from friends that their young son has cancer. Perspective brings clarity and I find myself worrying a great deal over the boy and not at all about myself.

My prayers go out to Jonas, for he and his family need them.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Blu-ray

After a couple of low quality attempts to adapt Marvel Comics’ star spangled hero, Hollywood finally succeeds with this big budget period piece. Old fashioned movie making uses modern technology to portray the journey a sickly young man takes to become a super hero.  Nazis get punched out, evil rears its (very) ugly head, and lots of things blow up --  just like they should in a comic book movie. But the real message of the movie is that it is what is inside that counts.

It was something of an article of faith amongst comic book fans that Captain America was a hero who could not be successfully adapted for a modern movie. His appearance was too hokey, he was too bland, and most of all he was too American. Being a remnant from a more innocent and patriotic time, it just would not translate onto the big screen in a way that audiences could connect to.

Fortunately for us, Marvel did not listen to the naysayers and neither did Paramount Pictures. Be warned and settle in for a long read, for this is going to be a big review of a big movie.

Health 2-15-2012

The sore throat started yesterday and the drainage is now terrible, which is making me a dim and irritable guy right now. It is the penalty for being with friends with small kids, so I cannot whine too much. Upping the H2O2 therapy to two glasses a day will help, hopefully.

We finally have above freezing temps and I’m wearing my thermal underwear to keep warm. Not a good sign.

At least the congestion has not gone into my chest.

Weird Al Has a Message for Everyone

This is sublime.

War Drums

As the world economic situation deteriorates, another problem is rising and that is the steady beat of war drums across the globe. Political, rather than economic, interests are the prime motivators as old grudges flare in some places and civil unrest lures in outside forces in others. The latest hotspot is one I did not see coming and would be ridiculous to fight a war over if it were not for changing geopolitical conditions.

Argentina is ramping up the rhetoric against Great Britain over the Falklands and it is getting more serious than any dispute over an island filled with sheep should get. After having lost the Falklands War in the early 1980’s, it appeared to be a nonissue until recently when South American countries began expanding their military arsenals. A steadily declining U.K. military is now unlikely to be able to defend their citizens living in the Falklands, so an opportunity has arisen for Argentina. Claiming the Brits are sending nuclear missiles to the area is an extraordinary claim, the kind that is usually ginned up for a war.

Another thing to consider is that they now have the backing of Brazil, which has become an economic and military regional power looking to expand their influence. There is a desire to get rid of all European influence in the area and also American influence. Throw in a presidential re-election campaign for Cristina Kirchner and things start getting restive.

While that little drama unfolds, the Obama administration is quietly preparing for war with Iran and an armed intervention in Syria much like what was done in Libya. That means bypassing Congress again and should be of concern to more people than it is. If we hit Syria, Iran will fight us since they have sent forces in to back the dictator Assad in what really has become a civil war. No matter what happens, I expect Islamic extremists to end up in control of Syria, just like Libya and Egypt.

Israel will most likely be forced to hit Iranian nuclear weapons facilities this year. Survival is an important thing to the Israelis and they need to protect themselves from the increasingly irrational Iranians. Civil unrest remains a fear in Iran and they recently cut access to large parts of the Internet in hopes of preventing more.

Asia is not exempt from all the “fun.” Continued over flights of neighboring countries territory by China is still causing tension and an arms race in the area. Their ships have been equally aggressive and have challenged Philippino sovereignty. Japan also has the Russians sending bombers over their territory as Russia tries to reestablish their might around the Kurile Islands. Oddly enough, tensions with North Korea appear to be abating or are on hold while the new regime sorts itself out.

Will any of these hotspots break out into actual fighting? I think the Middle East is the closest thing to a sure bet thanks to Iran and Syria. In the long run, Asia is building towards war, but internal stresses in China may derail that.

So why do I feel like the atmosphere is like that of the years leading up to World War I?

This Is the Droid I Was Looking For

After much deliberation, the replacement for my PocketPC ended up being an unexpected bargain. This post was composed on my new iview CyPad 7" Android tablet. I am trying out the Blogger app and typing with my thumbs, which is taking a lot of getting used to. At least the touch screen works for me -- iPhones and iPads usually don,t work with my fingers.

I  will write a proper review next week if I can get the latest ROM to flash. So far the camera is the only thing not working.

Odd and Ends 2-9-2012

Fighting off a sinusitis flare up makes getting up and out to get a haircut more of a travail then it should be. Despite that, I survived and am no longer shaggy. In theory I am more presentable, but theories and reality are very divergent I find.

Currently I am working on HD screen captures from Captain America: The First Avenger for a review of the Blu-ray and DVD release. As I suspected, the film looks better in 2D than 3D. I cannot wait for that fad to die out again and from the way theater attendance has dropped the studios will be forced to give up within the next couple of years.

So far subscribing to Hulu Plus has been a good decision. I am finding things of interest that are not on free Hulu and have begun to dip my toe into the waters of Korean dramas. The show I started watching last night is particularly interesting because it blends a 17th century historical setting with The X-Files. If it sounds strange, that is because it is! Secret Investigation Record follows the investigation of an honest magistrate in the corrupt government trying to unravel a sighting of a mysterious glowing giant gourd flying through the sky and the disappearance of an entire village. So far it has been very good.

Silent films are another thing I have been getting more into and Hulu Plus has a good selection of classics there as well. It has been decades since I have seen Nosferatu or Phantom of the Opera and as an adult I think I will appreciate them more.

There has been controversy over the Obama administration issuing waivers to some states in regards to the No Child Left Behind standards. For once, I agree with them on something. The program has done nothing to really improve public education despite having noble intentions. As it is, I suspect we are drifting toward the Japanese model of having private schools as the only way up and out, with public schooling being a death knell to one’s prospects. That is in the very long term, unless the coming economic collapse hastens things. Our systemic education issues will not be resolved through the government, I am afraid.

I am not sure how I feel about Smith Brothers Warm Apple Pie throat drops. If it were not for the cinnamon bits in them, they probably would be disgusting. As it is, they serve to remind me how much I like cinnamon.

One has to love translations from one language to another and the misunderstandings that can be involved. In this case, I just opened a booklet to a multimedia device and the second thing listed under notes says:

Avoid strong beat and collision.

But what if I want to put some techno on it?

Causus

My father and I went to the local Republican precinct caucuses tonight and I  noticed that the local high school had put up signs directing the two parties to their assigned rooms. Both signs spelled caucus as “causus” much to my amusement and despair. Boy, public education is really working out well, is it not?

In a somewhat more serious vein, it was a fairly mellow caucus with only a little bit of angry debate on resolutions. Normally there is much more than what occurred. Rick Santorum was the big winner in our part of Houston County and it was not even close. This was no surprise and went the way I expected.

I will admit I was one of two “Other” votes, for I wrote in Sweet Meteor of Death aka (SMOD) to register my extreme lack of motivation/approval/endorsement of the remaining candidates. It really looks like the GOP is determined to assist in the Obama re-election efforts in every way possible and I am very weary of it.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Scandal Silver Lining?

Check out The New York Times article via Instapundit for the details.

Quotes that indicate something good may have come out of this fiasco:

The events of the past couple of years, though disheartening to chronic fatigue syndrome patients, may have a silver lining: Research into the disease, much of it privately financed, is ratcheting up.

and

“The disease had languished in the background at N.I.H. and C.D.C., and other scientists had not been paying much attention to it,” said John Coffin, a professor of molecular biology at Tufts University. “This has brought it back into attention.”

Dr. Coffin, who at first supported the mouse retrovirus theory but later disputed it, noted that the illness “does seem to have characteristics that would suggest infectious origins” and that other retroviruses could be involved.

It has been a bleak thing waiting for medical science to come up with anything to deal with the illness and I stopped holding my breath for even a treatment a long time ago. It is one of many things that caused me to lose what little faith I had left in government organizations to solve problems, but only one. My hopes are that the private sector’s ability to innovate will eventually pay off though I doubt it will be in my lifetime. So little is truly understood about the immune system that the science involved can only be considered to be in its infancy.

Bleach Ep. 14: Back to Back, A Fight to the Death

The duel between Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryu Ishida is finally resolved in an episode dominated by combat. However, more questions are raised than answered as events careen from serious to silly at a frenetic pace. While it may be a conclusion to a small arc, the episode feels like a setup to something bigger.

 

Bleach is something of a high wire act, with rapid mood swings the norm and events usually threatening to go out of control. Yes, I do believe the word “manic” applies to the series and this episode in particular. The last Quincy, Uryu brings out the worst in substitute Soul Reaper Ichigo and vice versa with an entertaining mess being the result.

Going Intellectually Bankrupt

One of the more interesting chapters in the Intellectual Property (IP) wars was the takedown attempt of the Pirate Bay website. While Sweden sent the creators of the site to prison, it did not really end the site. Conspiracy theories abounded about the Unites States government being involved and now it has proven to be true. It is interesting material for those fascinated by IP laws getting out of hand, but there was a talkback post by an anonymous person that lays out the real reason this is going on. Read the whole post, but this is the best paragraph:

The drive is to twist the world into accepting intellectual property as if it were something tangible. The US pushes this hard because it is the only thing they have left. The idea is not to own the methods of production, but to own the instructions for the methods of production, and make others pay for using the instructions.

In a nutshell, that is exactly the situation and why Hollywood has disproportionate say in Washington, D.C. When NAFTA was passed back in the 1990’s, it was the beginning of the end for American manufacturing and, in my opinion, nation security/stability. What we are seeing today is the final result of believing in getting money for nothing.

And that is not going to end well.

Shades of Orwell

The FBI has a new flyer out suggesting people watch other Web users at internet cafes. If this isn’t playing Big Brother, I do not know what is. The vague definitions of what you should watch for cover a wide range of legitimate behaviors. For some reason I no longer mock people complaining about a growing police state.

Sigh.

Found at DSL Reports forums.

Reading

Over the past couple of years, my book reading has dropped like an ACME balloon launched by Wile E. Coyote over the precipice of a cliff. Since late December, I have taken steps to rectify the situation. Step one actually predates that and was the result of my realizing just how many books I had started without finishing them. So no more reading multiple books at once!

Step two was lining up the started ones and knocking them off, except I ended up inserting  Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom at the top of the order. So much for that part of the plan. It has turned out to be a compelling read that is also dryly technical, oddly enough. If I did not have so very many books to read I would get the rest of his writings.

Next up will be finishing The Confessions of Saint Augustine. It will be more of a chore, since  I find him to be a rather dull writer. While autobiographies are narcissistic by definition, there is a tendency to be pedantic in this book. But I will persevere.

After that I will be inserting a gift from my paternal aunt and uncle, Founders by Ray Raphael. Little did they know it, but accounts by and of forgotten players and everyday people involved in the Revolutionary War are my favorite parts of history from the period. I am looking forward to it a great deal and it will spur me to finish The Confessions.

Following it I will finish The Histories by Herodotus, which I started years ago. Yes, it is the book that gave the name to accounts of the past and I find Herodotus to be an entertaining author.

On the spiritual side of reading, I am keeping up with at least two pages of scripture a day along with the King James version of The Apocrypha. So far I have not found much of value in the latter, but I have only begun Esdras II. I finished The Old Testament straight read through in January after many years of nibbling at it. It doesn’t get the attention it deserves these days and I think many a Christian would benefit from reading every book contained in it – as would anyone trying to understand Western law.

The more I look at my bookshelves the more I believe a Kindle would not be a good thing for me to get. Maybe when I finish off every book I own, but they will have to come up with a way to extend my lifespan for that to work out!

Tablet or eReader Time?

It is with great reluctance that I have come to the conclusion that my Dell Axim’s days are numbered, simply because it is a very out of date platform. It cannot be upgraded to Windows Mobile 6 and the future is Android and iOS with their associated formats. Being cheap and hostile toward Apple, the iPad is not an option which limits my choices to something Android flavored.

But the big debate I am having with myself is whether to go for something with more functionality or with something that has an eInk display. I would love to be able to read in sunlight, but I also want to be able to keep contacts and appointments with me along with note taking. That would be more along the lines of getting a tablet than a reader.

While the Kindle Fire is pretty much a stripped down tablet, the lack of standard Android apps is an issue. Asus is coming out with a Tegra 3 quad core based tablet for $250 later this year and I wonder if that would be a better solution. I should mention that smaller is better and 6-7” screens are the desired size range.

I think I will bug one of my friends who got the Fire for Christmas and find out more about its capabilities. 

Odds and Ends 1-29-2012

Sitting here at home, I am only slightly annoyed about not being able to go to church today. Mainly that is because  I am so tired I would not remember anything heard there anyway. Last night was worse as the week caught up to me at last.

After Tuesday’s very early expedition to retrieve the car from Madison, I was out of commission that afternoon through Wednesday. To my relief, I was able to handle another early morning expedition up to the St. Paul Temple on Thursday – only because I was not driving either way. It was very good to get to the temple again and get a well needed spiritual recharge.

Once again, I fell apart afterward and spent Friday being completely brain dead. Saturday was not much better though a test run out to see how I was doing and meet with Congressional District 1 candidate Mike Parry in Winona went well. I like his stances and hopefully he will get the GOP nomination. Politics will begin in earnest next month after everyone finds out what districts they will be in.

Unfortunately, that trip out exhausted the last reserves of energy I had. Last night was not fun because I hit that nasty little area of fatigue where I cannot sleep but am unable to do anything else too. Not even watching movies or television is possible when I get there and an attempt to watch Star Wars failed abysmally.

At the moment, I am listening to Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky soundtrack and for some reason it fits the mood I am in. When I am tired, I tend to get very grouchy and that would be how I am feeling. There is no reason to be and no target for my annoyance other than all of existence. At least I am not being discriminatory.

It is time I replaced the ancient cassettes of Der fliegende Holländer with MP3’s. The quality of Amazon’s downloads has gotten quite good and while I still prefer CD (or better), I can afford this version of it a lot more easily. According to serious opera buffs, this is the performance to have. Tomorrow I’ll purchase it, since it is the Sabbath and I do not shop on it.

I may have to do a full review of the Samsung BD-5700 Blu-ray player. I only have two features yet to try out, but it has been a terrific buy. Upscaling has lived up to its good reputation and animated material is my torture test for that. Hard contrast and lots of straight lines will show every flaw when resampled to bigger resolutions.  DVD’s of Studio Ghibli films and Bleach were my choices, since the latter was not optimized for progressive scan widescreen TV’s. Both look fantastic to my surprise since I was prepared for a quality hit with Season 1 of Bleach.

A tiny USB flash drive will be ordered to enable Blu-ray live and see what that is all about. Also, I will enable my Hulu Plus account to see how well that works. Using set top boxes and Blu-ray players to access the Net still seems like a silly way to do things. My media center PC is a much better solution using dated components, but I can see price being an issue for people who have no technical expertise (or spare parts).

Squid Girl Episode 8

UPDATE September 4, 2018

More DMCA take downs have hit the blog despite screen captures long being considered fair use. Due to my not being able to afford a lawyer, I have no choice but to remove them or have the blog suspended. Only the words will be left.

TVTokyo is proving to be foolishly draconian in targeting posts meant to get people interested in seeing the Squid Girl anime and perhaps even purchasing it on DVD or Blu-ray. Being anti-piracy myself this is infuriating that they are targeting posts I wrote hoping to encourage people to try out a delightful show.

Squid Girl faces a serious illness, discovers a new ability, and discovers the wonders of umbrellas in an uneven entry in the comedy series. While first two segments are a mixed bag, the third story redeems the episode with one of the more charming stories of the series.

Who’s a Sick Cephalopod?

Having tentacles would be very handy in my opinion, especially if they were as capable as Squid Girl’s. However, I could see them getting hurt in all sorts of accidental ways. But having one get caught in an ice shaving machine was not one I could imagine.

When a dazed and muted Ika Musame starts shaving one of her tentacle tips off and doesn’t notice, Eiko becomes concerned. Looking flushed, everybody’s favorite inkvader appears to have come down with something. Funny, I was expecting her to look green around the gills, not flushed.

Finding all the  suggested ideas from the Aizawa family to be less than helpful, Squid Girl reveals that her illness is something potentially much more serious than thought. Bed ridden, delirious, and desperate her condition spirals downward.

Desperate times require desperate measures as Eiko does her best to help Ika. Help from an unlikely source is forthcoming, but is the cure worse than the illness?

Is That a New Agilllity?

Squid Girl demonstrates a new ability, that of being an art critic when it concerns sand castles. Not impressed with her critique or effort at making a better one, Takeru’s friend mocks her back and points out she has weird things on the sides of her hat. Yep, we have arrived at third grade humor here.

Only just realizing she has fins on her head makes the anthropomorphic squid wonder what they are for – especially once they start twitching. Calling in outside experts to help her figure it out, i.e. her immediate friends, is once again not very helpful.

But there are bigger fish to fry when the dad of Takeru’s friend shows up to do battle over sandcastle building. Inexplicable power ups, cheating, and more art critiques follow.

Shouldn’t You Jet an Umbrella?

Another rainy day and a need for supplies introduces Squid Girl to the wonders of umbrellas. Fascinated like a little kid, Ika marvels over the mechanisms and different kinds she sees. Smitten with the cheap vinyl umbrella given to her by Eiko, the younger girl cannot resist playing with it.

Left to her own devices while Eiko shops, Ika drifts off into a world of fantasy and fun with her umbrella, Squid Unit 01. Yes, she even names it and decides it is her most useful tool for invasion. As she daydreams about their adventures together, Squid Girl keeps adding names to it such as MK II in spoofs of mecha and other animes. Playing around in the rain never looked like so much fun.

But all good things come to an end…

Thoughts

The first two stories are mildly amusing here and there. I suspect children would find them more amusing. Fans of Sannae will be pleased as she gets a lot of time in both and masochistic slapstick abounds. It is hard to peg anything in a slice of life comedy as filler, but both stories have that aura about them – though they are adapted from the manga.

It is the last story that lingers in the memory and salvages a very uneven episode. Perhaps it is because I can remember how amazing the first umbrella I saw was and how much fun the first retractable one encountered was to play with. In this episode, a pure example of childhood innocence and fun can be found.

That awful crushing sadness of breaking something you love is also beautifully presented. Often it is the first encounter with heartbreak for a young soul and I loved how it was handled. It simply rang true, as did Eiko’s older sister method of dealing with the situation. The growing sense of family relationships between Ika and the Aizawa’s adds much to the show, elevating it to more than just a comedy. That last scene of the two was gently sweet in its humor and rang just the right note.

IP Rights Battles Are Only Beginning

There seems to be a great deal of celebration over having derailed SOPA and PIPA in the U.S.A., but they are not completely dead yet. In the meantime, ACTA has been passed by the majority of the EU nations. It still has not yet been ratified. That is little comfort, for I suspect it will be ratified easily when the time comes. To get an understanding of why this is a big deal, please check out my earlier posts on it here and here.

Another blow to the free travel of information came when the Supreme Court ruled that works in the public domain can be taken out of that status and copyrighted again. So those of you who have downloaded eBooks and movies in the public domain may end up becoming law breakers in the future. This aggravates the erosion of having limited copyrights and sets them well on the way to perpetuity, despite what Justice Ginsburg wrote.

It is ironic that there is such an effort to stifle the flow of knowledge and creativity in a time when we can finally share such things quickly and easily. Innovation is dying out in large part to actions such as these. Sure it sounds warm and fuzzy to talk about helping families of celebrities who were ripped off by their managers/producers/record labels, but resting on the laurels of those who came before is lazy. In the end, only the big media companies and their puppets in government truly benefit as most copyrights will be held by large corporations, not individuals.

So while a battle has been temporarily won, the war continues. If things keep up the way they are going, a long period of cultural stagnation is ahead for us. I firmly believe that humanity needs to keep striving and creating to advance. To my eyes, we have ceased doing so over the past twenty five years and the momentum generated in the past is fading away. We need some intellectual turmoil and the best way to create that is to ideas, concepts, and collaborations bouncing around like mad. Caging those is a huge mistake.

A Not Quite Unexpected Journey

While Bilbo Baggins got to go on an unexpected journey, the one I embarked on yesterday did give me some warning before hand. It involved a trek to Madison to recover the totaled Subaru Outback and get it back home to attempt repairs. Plans for assistance in driving the car fell through due to miscommunications, which meant I would have to drive the car the entire three hours plus it takes to get home.

Just one problem with that – my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome problems cause me to quickly loose awareness and concentration after about an hour and a half of driving. If I am having a good day, I can stretch that to two hours. Equipped with caffeinated soda and a lot of prayers said before and during, I managed to get home without undue incident. For that, I am supremely grateful.

So today I am barely functioning and this post took over twenty minutes to write. I will say it was not much fun driving the final leg home.

Now we have to tear into the car and see what all will need replacing. While the adjustor condemned the radiator, it appears intact and is functioning without leaking. First up for replacement will be the headlight and hood, with both looking to be major endeavors. That car will not be going anywhere soon.

Panic Has Hit the File Sharing Services

So after going through my normal routine of to start the day, I decided to check on some of the tech sites to see what effect the Megaupload arrests were having on the online community. While Anonymous continues to make sporadic and ineffective attacks in retaliation, other file services are beginning to react. Filesonic has stopped allowing file sharing altogether, which means users can only upload and download their own files. Slightly less panicked, FileServe has reportedly ended their affiliate program where users were paid when they got others to join the service. As many have already commented, who needs SOPA or PIPA when the U.S. government can already reach out and have people in New Zealand arrested?

While I do not like the ease with which the international arrests were carried out at the behest of Hollywood, it was painfully obvious what these file services were created for. So I do not mourn their passing in the least. Yet I wonder what affect it will have on the legitimate file locker companies? While I am not terribly enthused about cloud based computing in general, I do use Amazon’s cloud service to back up my purchased iTunes and MP3 files. Oh and then there is Steam, which is a cloud like service that I am fond of.

I am feeling some ironic amusement though. If you went through various technology and multimedia forums in the past couple of years, the pro-pirate forces had declared bit torrenting dead and the entire future to be these file locker services. As anyone familiar with how spy and terrorist organizations operate, the easiest ones to roll up and eliminate are the highly centralized ones. That is one reason why they operate in cells. Painting big old targets on yourself is not particularly smart and that is what these companies did.

My suspicions are that we will see the file sharing sites gone or inaccessible from America in the very near future. Torrenting will increase with a move to decentralize magnet links becoming the new standard. All of this reminds me of Spy vs. Spy in Mad Magazine as Hollywood and the recording industry use the U.S. government against the pirates.

Kimi ni Todoke Volume 1 Premium Edition and Ep. 1 Review

Karuho Shiina’s beloved romance manga is adapted into a beautiful anime depicting an outcast girl’s attempts to make friends in high school. When strange feelings stir in her after meeting the most popular boy in class, Sawako finds a whole new world opening before her. But will that world accept a weird looking girl who has little in the way of social skills?

In 2005, a shojo (girl’s) manga (comic book) debuted about a shy girl falling for the most popular boy in school. It is a theme done to death in the genre, but what set Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You) apart was the execution and attention to detail regarding the characters. Only the second series by author Shiina, it ended up becoming a smash hit and won multiple critics awards. Being a slow moving character piece, it would not have been a surprise if the anime adaptation changed things considerably. Surprisingly faithful, it not only stayed true to the story, but rendered it with such care that it became a thing of beauty.

The Problem with Newt

Articles: The Myth of 'Newt The Great Debater'

John Ziegler lays it out like it is and I imagine he will take a lot of flack for it. One of the many problems with the extended primary debate season is that it has fooled conservatives and libertarians into thinking they are the only audience. The last I checked, 40% of the country consider themselves "independents" and they will decide who gets the Oval Office after 2012. People need to remember how easy it was for people to hate Gingrich the last time he was in the national spotlight. Toxic does not even begin to describe how bad it will get if he gets the nomination. While I have problems with Santorum and Romney, I would take either of them in a heartbeat over the walking and talking train wreck called Newt.

Stop SOPA and PIPA!

Contact your local Senator and Congressman to let them know you support free speech on the Web.   Allowing web sites to be taken down by the government simply based on a complaint from someone else about copyright violations is ridiculous. The whole idea of the world wide Web is to allow linking to other sites to share information and these bills would jeopardize the very structure of the Internet.