I’ve decided for the month of May, I’m going to do the openings of some of the anime that recently caught my eye. My plan is to post the actual opening and then the full version of the song.
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Monday Links
It’s going to be a little sparse on the ground this week.
First, we have a Reason article about Disney suing DeSantis. Based on statements made and the timing of actions, I think Disney has a decent case. I’m also not liking this populist trend of DeSantis using government power to achieve political ends regardless of civil liberties.
Next, Professor David Yamane has an article in The Hill explaining that Stand Your Ground laws do not give people a license to kill. I agree with a lot of commentators that the consistent repeating of this mantra is misinforming a large segment of the populace – who then rely on that misinformation to inform their actions. When it comes to self-defense, that has life-changing and life-ending consequences.
From The Verge, we have an article that Microsoft is shuttering a large segment of its peripheral business. They’re shifting to “premium” Surface-branded peripherals. Which means I probably need to stock up on some Sculpt keyboards.
The Drive has a profile of an Oregon company that does custom lifts for Subarus. Okay, the idea of lifting the Ward Wagon intrigues me, but the likelihood of me using any off-road capability is minimal.
Finally, Blabbermouth reports that a new Savatage album is coming next year. According to Jon Olivia, this will be the last album for Savatage. Thank you Jon for giving me decades of music.
Friday Quote – Wilson Mizner
If you steal from one author it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many it’s research.
I Know This Was Supposed to Be Humorous…
But it really does a good job of explaining Macross Valkyrie design up to after Flashback. Which I still really need to sit down and watch. Assuming I can find a decent subbed version.
Bad News, Good News – Upgrade Edition
A while back I mentioned that The Wife and I purchased new robots to replace the current robot vacuums and a new double oven range. There were issues with setting everything up over the weekend.
First, the robots. I opened the first box and started unpacking. What’s this slip of paper? Certified refurbished? I don’t remember that being on the listing. Continue unpacking. Robot is missing one of the spinners. And no instructions. At this point, I’m annoyed heading towards angry. I go back and re-read the listing. Nope. Nowhere does it say that I’m buying a refurb. Well, fuck that. Start the return process. I box up the opened robot. While The Wife is busy handling the labels, I look on Amazon. Huh. The same robots are on sale for about 80 bucks less than when I bought them. And they would be here the next day – as opposed to the better part of a fortnight for the others. I buy those while The Wife and I lug the other ones to the UPS store. Where we find out we need to pay for shipping. The clerk at the store says that sometimes Amazon will refund the shipping charges. I’m going to let The Wife fight that one. She is much better at it than me.
Then, the oven. It was going great until we saw that it was sticking out a couple of inches. WTF? The culprit was the cord. With the double oven, there was no place to tuck the cord, so we had a gap. The install guys tried a couple of things, but no joy. Well, it gave The Wife to add a shelf thing to the top. Except the magnets didn’t want to stick to the top of the range. So, adhesive. The Wife and MIL did a couple batches of cookies to christen the new oven. They were suitably impressed, but they made it clear they’ve got some learning to do.
Ward Manor has been upgraded.
Metal Tuesday – Brother’s Choice – Fires in the Distance – Echoes from Deep November
I mentioned this album in my Top Albums of 2020, but wanted to call it out separately for a few reasons:
- The intro to the first song, The Climb, still crawls into my head from time to time, years later.
- They released an instrumental version of the album on Bandcamp that I came across a month or so ago that I have been really enjoying.
- Their second album, Air Not Meant for Us, is releasing on my birthday and the songs I have heard off of it are also pretty dang good and I’m really looking forward to the full release.
Monday Links
Of course, we’re going to start with some Reason links.
First an article on the administration’s plan to charge borrowers with high credit scores additional fees to subsidize borrowers with lower credit scores. “Oh, it’s only $40 a month more.” That’s a tank of gas. Also, law of unintended consequences in 3,2,1…
Here’s an article on Fox settling with Dominion for almost $800 million.
DeSantis signed a law no longer requiring unanimous juries for death penalty recommendations. After having read about all the abuses from prosecutors’ offices, I’m no longer in favor of the death penalty, much less lowering the bar.
Also, the FDA head wants the authority to regulate “misinformation.” Oh, yeah, that would never be abused.
This one’s more for the journal-side of this blog. Last week, Floridians were awoken by an accidental emergency alert. Before 5am. The Wife and I were at the gym, but needless to say, there was much uproar. And the contractor responsible was fired.
From ABC, the manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin have been dropped. Rumors are that the weapon was found to be modified and found to be faulty. I’m sure we’ll learn more. It still doesn’t excuse the complete lack of safety protocols on that set.
From Larry Correia is a rant that readers need to get over the hurt inflicted by authors who promised and never delivered. Because there’s a lot of new authors that deserve a chance. As someone who may be one of those new authors, I wholeheartedly agree.
Finally, from Gizmodo is an article on Netflix ending its DVD rental program after a quarter-century. First off, I didn’t know they were still doing that part of their business. On the other hand, it does bring fond memories of the early aughts when I was a master on the quick churn of the red envelopes.
Friday Quote – Kerry McDonald
School socialization is based on an expectation of obedience, compliance, and conformity. It was about rule following. Learning was secondary. Exuberance was a liability.
Tab Clearing
Monday Links was pre-empted by history. I still need to clear out some links that I’ve built up.
Let’s start with a few Reason articles.
First, one on the EPA banning the production of gas-powered cars. I’m not a fan of mandates. I know surprise.
Second, a discussion on the benefits of teen employment. I am a fan of young people learning work ethics from their first job. My years managing fast-food showed me the best and worst of employing teens.
Third, a discussion on proportional representation. I’m kind of leaning more and more to something like this.
From ABCNews comes a story about every gun owners worst nightmare. Police get wrong address, homeowner comes to the door with a gun, and as the article states “chaos ensues.” Homeowner ends up dead.
An article from Android Authority reports that the FBI warns not to use public charging ports. Also, don’t plug your phone into the USB ports in a rideshare or taxi. Just don’t.
An article from Bounding Into Comics about WoTC’s decision to remove half-races from Dungeons and Dragons. On the one hand, it invalidates decades of lore and characters (both in the novels and players’ favorite characters). On the other hand, it would be more in line with actual biology – unless orcs and elves are some form of human. On the gripping hand, the stated reason for the change is fucking bullshit.
Finally, an article about finding the original recording of the Wilhelm scream. H/t to FB friend Rob Reed.
Waco at 30
Thirty years ago, the siege of the Branch Davidian compound ended in a horrific conflagration.
ATF fucked up. FBI fucked up. The media were fucking parasites. All of this contributed to the botched raid and the botched siege. The botched raid and the botched siege stoked the growing fears of a government hell-bent and out of control.
Koresh was a fucking sociopath. I have no doubts that the bastard decided that instead of magic kool-aid, he wanted to ride the fire. In the end, he was responsible.