The Stories and Novels By Derek Ward
This was one of the most surprisingly entertaining – and bizarre – shows I’ve encountered in a while. And the opening is very entertaining.
This is a pretty decent remake of the original. I’m trying to decide if I like it because of nostalgia or because the series is entertaining.
This was an interesting isekai with a lot of earnestness.
This is a cute “found family” / “odd couple” series.
New year, and time for links. I took a break and a bunch of stories happened. I’m not going to recriminate myself. I needed it. Anywhoo, this is also a bit of a tab clearing edition, so hold on.
Reason first.
New European rules have pretty much enshrined USB-C. I like USB-C. I think it’s a great technology. I hate it being forced down everyone’s throats at the point of Europe’s guns. I also hate that this will make it harder for new charging technology to be brought forward.
Based on their track record last time around, and looking at a recent ruling, the US Supreme Court is not going to be a rubber stamp for Trump.
Last week was the ten year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre – and Reason has a thinkpiece on the cowardice of the leadership class to blame freedom of speech than murderers. Fanatical murderers are the ultimate heckler’s veto, and the cowardice of institutions to admit that has been a growing embarrassment.
Coverage of Meta’s decision to eliminate “fact-checkers” among other changes. There’s been talk that Zuck is not only trying to ingratiate himself with the incoming administration, but finally feels the environment is strong enough for him to push back against the “hostage-takers” among his staff. Both of which are kind of pathetic reasons when you think about it. It still gets me a result I want, considering FB is normally how I distribute the blog.
The feds jailed a Montana rancher for – checks notes – cloning a sheep.
Ohio is going to charge people to get access to body cam videos. I’m actually going against Reason on this one. Since fees are capped at $750, it may be reasonable. However, considering governments generally are horrible at timely providing information, I can sympathize with organizations worried it’s just another speed bump in transparency.
Reason examining Biden’s decision to block the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel.
On to other news stories.
The Free Press is covering the current scandal in the UK about the plight of girls being raped and authorities ignoring it. Plus the anger of the politicos at Elon for shining a light on their disgrace instead of their underlings for not handling the issue.
NYT covers the new congesting pricing implemented for entering Manhattan. Congestion pricing is one of those ideas I like in concept, but don’t trust the government to implement. For example, all the fees from this new tax are supposed to go to a public transit system already overfunded and incompetent with no demand for improvement in the system.
Headline from the Economist – “Why people over the age of 55 are the new problem generation.”
WaPo on the shadow war between India and Pakistan.
Bloomberg on the power demands of new AI datacenters and it’s probable impact on the grid. This might be the needed kick in the pants to decentralize and modernize the nation’s power grid. And get more nukes.
From Reuters, Apple is to pay $95 million to settle a privacy case because of Siri. First, that’s a blow to Apple’s self-image of being the best in privacy. Second, I assume all the personal assistants are always listening.
Also from Reuters, US court stops last minute implementation of net-neutrality rules. As much as I hope that’s the nail in the coffin for that particular gambit, people still want to implement communism.
Wired has a think piece on why families should establish secret passwords.
Tampa Bay Times reports on the death of a Scientologist spokesperson turned vociferous critic. Cancer sucks.
With CES, we have some neat new tech.
The Verge discusses BMW’s new iDrive. The idea of a Heads-Up Display for the car intrigued me, and the limited one on the BMW that The Wife and I rented last summer was nifty.
Also from The Verge, LG has a new “AeroCatTower” which will purify the air while your cat sits – and weighs them. Depending on the cost, one of these may show up at Ward Manor. It’s just too nifty.
From CNET, a tiny kitty that sits on your cup and blows on hot beverages to cool them.
Engadget has a couple of articles on new power devices – Ecoflow’s new solar hat and Anker’s new solar umbrella.
A light item.
Like I did last year, I will include the trailers for the top five. The rest will be grouped into “Loved”, “Liked”, “Meh”. Each category will be alphabetical.
Top 5
Loved
A Sign of Affection
Ai Yori Aoshi
Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian
Banished From the Hero’s Party
Bocchi the Rock!
Bottom-Tier Character Tomozoki
Chiling Out In my 30’s After Being Fired From The Demon King’s Army
Chillin’ In Another World With My Level 2 Super Cheat Powers
A Couple of Cuckoos
Days With My Stepsister
Fruits Basket
Hanndyman Saito In Another World
Higehiro
I’m Giving The Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness
I’m the Villainess So I’m Taming the Final Boss
I’ve Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills
Love After World Domination
My Love Story
One-Punch Man
The Apothecary Diaries
The Devil Is A Part Timer
The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague
The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to be Archenemies
Tomo-Chan Is a Girl
Liked
Azumanga Daioh
Don’t Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Full Metal Panic
Highschool of the dead
KanColle
Love Hina
Macross Frontier
My Hero Academia
Recovery of an MMO Junkie
Space Battleship Yamato 2199
The Asterisk War
Meh
Arpeggio of Blue Steel
Campfire Cooking In Another World With My Absurd Skill
Hokkaido Girls Are Super Adorable
I Got A Cheat Skill In Another World
The Foolish Angel Dances With the Devil
This is a cute slice of life with a side of psychedelics. Do not take it too seriously.
This one I wasn’t sure if I would like. Some of it is cringe, but I couldn’t stop watching it.
This is going to be a bit long. There’s a lot here on civil rights being threatened by both sides of the aisle.
Of course, we start with Reason links.
Venezuela’s Maduro is bad for both his own country, and the United States. I have a nasty feeling that country is going to be the latest example of “you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way back out.”
A recent poll says the First Amendment gives too many protections. This is an example of a worrying trend where both sides want fewer civil rights so that they can use power against the other.
Speaking of free speech, the Trump mob came for Kyle Rittenhouse when he dared speak against their god-emperor. You want to know why I will never vote for Trump? It’s shit like this.
Justice Gorsuch is promoting his new book that we have too many laws allowing for prosecutors to abuse their power. This is why I’m in favor of removing prosecutorial immunity and replacing it with a malpractice model.
A piece on EU’s aggressive tech regulations made the CrowdStrike fiasco much worse.
Pacific Legal Foundation has a new report out on how to deal with squatters. The report makes the point that “squatters’ rights” bills hurt the people they purport to help – the poor. Which is so often a result of these kinds of laws.
Moving on to a couple of Ground News aggregations.
NVIDIA is the latest company to come into the regulators’ crosshairs.
Florida deputy rushes into a lake to rescue an autistic kindergartner. As much as I slam police abuses, sometimes it’s important to spotlight those who do the heroics.
Moving on to other sources and stories.
From Bloomberg, a federal judge rules Google violated anti-trust law. Considering the AI wave coming, I’m really getting late nineties Microsoft echoes. The most ridiculous claims the prosecutors put out? That because of Google’s dominant position in search, they failed to innovate and hurt consumers. Bitch, that’s what’s called a market opportunity.
From Gizmodo, Logitech had to walk back comments that hinted they were looking at a subscription model for a new mouse. I think we’re seeing the end of making everything a subscription.
From the Only Guns and Money blog, John Richardson has announced he’s seeking to run for the NRA Board of Directors. If you’re a voting member, go take a moment and help someone who would be a voice for reform.
This is from Fox News, so I’m not sure how click-baitey the story is. However, the fact that the Met’s Commissioner says it will seek extradition for folks violating their ridiculous social media laws regarding their recent rioting is enough to make me want to dig more. My immediate reaction is very Molon Labe. My next reaction is that it’s very rich that Britain has refused to extradite murderers because they were facing the “barbaric” death penalty. I think the American government would be in the right to tell the Brits that turnabout is fair play. My final thought is that the states should go tell the feds to pound sand if they try to extradite any of their residents to the Brits over this shit.
Via The Brother, we have this Ars Technica article about a Russian chess player poisoning their rival’s chessboard with mercury.
Finally, we have a couple of articles from The Wrap on Crunchyroll. First, Crunchyroll has surpassed 15 million subscribers. Second, a piece delving on how Crunchyroll is succeeding in the streaming wars. Honestly, I think a big part is how Crunchyroll understands it’s niche and isn’t out to become the next Netflix or Hulu.
This is going to be a tab-clearing edition as the Ward household has been out of state for the past couple of weeks.
Let’s start with our normal Reason links.
A bunch of redditors who hate Christians decided to sic Florida’s DCF folks on a family. A good example of how an online mob can whip itself into a frenzy and cause real world havoc.
More analysis on the lasting impacts of the school shutdowns during COVID.
Michigan Supreme Court tells Detroit their civil asset forfeiture program is wrong. No idea if they will block Detroit from working with the feds to sidestep any restrictions.
Thinkpiece on the FTC and its unconstitutional power grabs. This is another symptom of Congress not doing its damned job and putting in some guardrails on the FTC. But then again, the incentives for Congress is to let the FTC run wild and demagogue.
Over 1 million people have fled Cuba in the last couple of years. Apparently, this is around 10% of the population. But it’s supposed to be such a paradise.
A pilot of Universal Basic Income found it didn’t help people work more. UBI is one of those ideas I like in concept on the premise that its better to let people make their own decisions with their money. Unfortunately, society can’t stand by when people make bad decisions with their money. So, I can’t see how UBI is going to work.
Kamala’s Gen Z appeal is not what it appears to be. You’ll excuse me if I’m unimpressed by the youngins new fads when it comes to politics. Also excuse me if I’m unsurprised that the youngins are planning on voting for the Dems.
The government is exacerbating issues in the wine industry. Color me surprised, particularly when it comes to California.
Now on to some other stories.
From the AP, the FTC is looking into “surveillance pricing”. You’ll excuse me if I don’t trust assertions from the FTC about “possible” issues. Please see previous Reason link above.
From TFB, CZ is looking at opening factories in Ukraine. Hey, I’d like to get a Bren stamped “Made in Ukraine”.
From Active Response Training, an article on pet first aid for cats.
From Venture Beat, Microsoft has come up with a new LLM for spreadsheets. I’m kind of interested in playing with this.
Now on to some anime / weeb news.
Ranma 1/2 is getting remade and will show up on Netflix later this year. I’m very interested in this as Ranma was one of those shows in the nineties that got me into anime as anime.
A Couple of Cuckoos is getting a second season. This was a previous anime recommendation, and I’m glad it’s getting a second season.
Sanrio is causing some havoc by claiming that its iconic character Hello Kitty is not a cat, but a young girl living in London. Well, that’s a bold assertion cotton.