A fine Christmas was had by all.

In particular, Lionel got My Neighbour Totoro on DVD (though he fell asleep watching it), and I got a set of Totoro crockery. See! I'm not hard to shop for at all!

Then we had the traditional Christmas dinner, where they* wait until everyone is completely and utterly stuffed and couldn't eat another bite, and then bring out five irresistable deserts. I was only able to eat two helpings, alas.

I also got to hold Harry for a little while. He's still concentrating mainly on I/O functions; babies take a little while to notice the outside world. He wasn't too impressed with his Tigger, either - though I suppose that a tiger as large as you are can be a bit alarming at that age.

Anyway, Munuvia's DNS seems to be working again (little surprise present from our ISP there), so I'm off to read Hyperdolls and work on my digestion.

* They being Lionel and Harry's grandmother, in this case.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:59 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 I bought Totoro for one of my nieces after she fell in love with Kiki's Delivery Service. We both enjoy those movies...

Posted by: Susie at December 27, 2003 02:53 AM (0+cMc)

2 Other than Akira, My Neighbour Totoro is the only anime thing I've ever watched. I had a Totoro backpack for a while.
See? I was almost cool for a bit, huh?

Posted by: LeeAnn at December 27, 2003 09:58 AM (HxCeX)

3 You're both cool.
P.S. I haven't seen Akira...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 27, 2003 01:11 PM (jtW2s)

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The presents are wrapped; the bread is baked. I'm off to play Santa Pixy.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:47 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I like my breadmaker. It's the perfect kitchen appliance for me:

1. Dump ingredients in bowl.
2. Wander away for a few hours.
3. Eat bread.

Mmm. Almost Christmas. Maybe I should actually wrap some presents.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:54 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 I bought a bread machine back when I was a bachelor because I love fresh baked bread. For someone as lazy as me, however, even that was too much work. So I married a woman who loves to bake bread.

Posted by: Rossz at December 25, 2003 09:04 AM (43SjN)

2 Yeah, that works too.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 25, 2003 09:22 AM (jtW2s)

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Tim Blair has a wonderful collection of quotes up, reviewing the best and worst of 2003.

Not to be missed.

Now excuse my while I go and wrap your present.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:11 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Is he gone? Good.

Harry got a Tigger. I looked at various things, but the classic (not Disney) Tigger won out. After all, Lionel got a lion, so why not?

I managed to install Hordes of the Underdark on Kei. It didn't want to go. I was updating the installation on my external hard disk, but the registry keys were missing. Possibly because this is a completely new computer with a new copy of Windows.

The secret: Run the updater routine. If there's a new patch out, it will download and install the patch, and re-create the registry keys in the process. Then you can install the new expansion pack.

If there isn't a new patch out... Well, then you're in trouble.

Now, I have wrapping paper, sticky tape, gift tags... Everything except bread mix. Have you ever tried to buy bread mix on Christmas Eve? Pfui.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 01:51 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

From Ranma in Ranma ½ to Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop, from Lina Inverse in The Slayers to Lime in Saber Marionette J, by way of Momiji in Blue Seed and Pai in 3 x 3 Eyes, Megumi Hayashibara is without doubt my favourite anime voice actress (or seiyuu).

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a voice actress, there's no better or funnier introduction than the Megumi-Toons.

While you're there, you might also like to check out these translations of Azumanga Daioh.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:47 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Christmas shopping: done. Except for young Harry. Since he's only two weeks old, he's a tough one to shop for. All he wants right now is his mummy and a clean nappy.

I bought a few things for myself along the way, including volumes four and five of Ai Yori Aoshi and the new expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights, Hordes of the Underdark. The only oint in the flyment is that I have to get it all home somehow... And there are no trains running. Not a one.

Where's Thomas the Tank Engine when you need him? He'd get these striking slackers sorted out, quick smart.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:40 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

And here they are. I could have compressed the files more (and I have in some cases), but everyone has broadband now, right? Except Tiger.

Azumanga Daioh

A charming little series about a group of high-school girls, and the funniest thing I have seen this year.

Opening (24MB) Small Version (14MB)
Ending (31MB) Small Version (10MB)

Bottle Fairy

An educational children's show, and a good way for Westerners to learn a bit about Japan. Warning: high cuteness factor.

Opening (16MB)
Ending (19MB)

Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu
"The jungle was always nice, then came Guu"

Or maybe this is the funniest thing I've seen all year. It's certainly one of the weirdest things I've seen, and also one of the best. These are the opening and closing sequences for the TV series and for the OVA series that followed it, Jungle Guu Deluxe. Note that the files sizes for the openings are somewhat on the large side due to the frenetic scene-shifting involved. The closing sequence of Jungle Guu Deluxe is a classic, but you really need to watch the show to appreciate it fully.

Opening (41MB) Small Version (25MB)
Ending (17MB)

Deluxe Opening (34MB)
Ending (11MB)

Kiddy Grade

Um, I haven't watched this yet. Something something.

Opening (23MB)
Ending (16MB)

Mahoromatic II

Mahoromatic II is the sequel to Mahoromatic. [Duh — Ed] Mahoro is a retired combat robot now working as a maid. I like the original ending sequence better (the Mahoro Mambo), but this one is cute too.

Opening (14MB)
Ending (8MB)

Nanaka 6/17

Nanaka has lost her memory and regressed to the age of 6. Silly on the face of it, but surprisingly moving. Because if Nanaka recovers and regains her memories...

Opening (27MB) Small Version (15MB)
Ending (14MB)

Popotan

Another series that is silly on the surface but has some real depth. Also, in this case, boobies. And ferret-girls, and dancing dandelions. Una!

Original Opening (15MB)
Revised Opening (16MB)
Ending and Ferret Girl (9MB)

Scrapped Princess

An adventure story involving a young princess prophesied to destroy the world.

Opening (18MB)
Ending (34MB) Small Version (10MB)

Secret of Cerulean Sands

An adventure story set in the 19th century, based loosely on the works of Jules Verne.

Opening (18MB)
Ending (11MB)

Stellvia of the Universe

The story of Stellvia and her evil plot to take over the Universe. [What?! No it isn't! — Ed]

Opening (17MB)
Ending (21MB)

Tokyo Mew Mew

The story of a group of Mew Mews in Tokyo. Sorry, I haven't watched this one either.

Opening (29MB)
Ending (28MB)

UFO Princess Warukyure

Also known by those who can spell as UFO Princess Valkyrie. Warning: Contains boobies. Contains very boobies.

Original Opening (20MB) (more boobies)
Revised Opening (20MB) (less boobies)
Original Ending (5MB) (no boobies to speak of)
Revised Ending (10MB) (still no boobies to speak of)
Ending (19MB) (boobies return with reinforcements!)

Ultra Maniac

The story of a young witch who has come to our world seeking an education. Chaos ensues. Of course, chaos always ensues. You'd think we'd have learnt that by now.

Opening (24MB)
Ending (10MB)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:44 AM | Comments (356) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

The first batch of anime video clips is uploading now... About 700MB worth. I need a faster internet connection. Mind you, that's always true.

If I lived in Sweden or Japan, I could have a nice shiny 100Mbit connection for something like the same money I pay for my 512k ADSL. That's 200 times faster. Waaah!

The best I can do here is 2Mbit, which would set me back $550 per month. Alas, unhappy Pixy...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 01:57 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Pixy Misa's Doesn't Suck Award goes today to VirtualDub. VirtualDub is a simple, free video dubbing program. You give it an input file, tell it how you want the output file to be, and it does it. Want the first 90 seconds of a file? Or the last 60? No problem. You don't even need to recode the file - it extracts the bitstream directly and builds a new file for you. Want to overdub with your own soundtrack, or add subtitles? Go for it.

It's not fancy. It's a little bit fiddly to get the start and end points to exactly the right frames. But it does what you tell it to. That's a key feature missing from every commercial video package I've tried.

What does all this mean? It means that very soon I'll have a little library of anime video clips up for your enjoyment and education. Watch for them!

Update: Hmm. It seems to be having a slight problem with Popotan, which is the first clip I've tried in a widescreen (16:9) format. Some more tinkering required...

Update: Don't know what is causing the problem, but recoding the file fixes it. Speaking of which, for fast encoding, reasonable quality, and reasonably small video files, Xvid seems to be the codec of choice. It's also free.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Check out Ghost of a Flea to see why. But this is really far more accurate:

You are a Cyberculture Floozie. The theoretical
aspects of postmodernism interest you only
insofar as they can be used to make cool blinky
things. You probably take psychedelics and
know at least one programming language (HTML
counts!). Other postmodernists call you a
corporate whore. They're probably just jealous
because you make more money than them.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:56 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

An hour and a half spent with a screwdriver, kernel modules, random config files and the latest nVidia drivers and I have finally have both Kei and Yuri working perfectly at 1600x1200 at 85Hz. Crisp, clear, rock solid.

The 3D performance on Yuri is still somewhat lacking... I have no idea what to make of this, since I have never tried to do any serious 3D graphics on Linux anyway. It's certainly not the card - a GeForce 4 Ti 4600 Ultra - so it's either a problem with the drivers or with the way I installed them. But 3D on Linux is not a priority right now; the only thing I'd use it for is pretty screen savers.

Kei, meanwhile, has a nifty new GeForce FX 5700. This makes no difference at all that I've seen so far, but over Christmas I expect to spend some time playing Knights of the Old Republic, so we'll see how that goes.

For now, I've also yanked the cable from the gigabit ethernet port. It's just not worth the bother for a 60% speedup (which is all Windows seems able to manage). I'll fix it another day.

At one point I managed to drop Kei on her head - I had propped the case up on a chair, but it turned out not to be very well balanced. No harm seems to have been done... And I can't type without touching wood here at Pixy Central.

Pixy's Tip of the Day

If you are assembling a new Linux box, don't buy a video card less than six months old. Unless it's for a server and you never plan to use the console in anything other than text mode.

Just don't. It's not worth the money or the time you will waste trying and failing to get it to work. Last year's cards, on the other hand, are cheap and plenty fast enough, and work just fine.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:53 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

It's early morning, just before dawn, with the sky beginning to lighten to the east. To the south I can see the lights of the city; across the valley, above the houses, hangs a crescent moon, its circle just visible by reflected Earthlight. A breeze stirs the ferns in the garden below my balcony, and a few clouds drift lazily northwards. It's cool now, but a a fine warm summer's day is promised.

Time for bed.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:08 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Anyone out there who understands Windows networking?

If so, does Windows actually comprehend the concept of having more than one network card? And of, like, routing packets to the 10.1.1.x network out the card configured with the 10.1.1.y address? (Yes, my netmasks are correct.)

Or should I just give up and configure my Linux box as a router?

I now have six network interfaces - 100M ethernet, Gbit ethernet, three firewire interfaces, and another one calling itself "Microsoft TV/Video Connection" that just magically appeared one day. Sometimes some of them work. Sometimes some of them don't work.

Meh.

Pixy's Tip of the Day

If you wish to experiment with TCP/IP over Firewire, do not use the Firewire chain with your external hard disk on it, as this will likely cause the disk to be unavailable to either computer.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:08 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I spent a pleasant evening yesterday reading comic books.

No, really.

Wandering around Kinokuniya the other day I discovered that they had in stock both Sergio Aragones' Groo the Wanderer and Mark Crilley's Akiko on the Planet Smoo. I have a fair collection of Groo, but I've been looking for Akiko for a while now. Disappointingly, they only have the novel of Akiko on the Planet Smoo and not the original comic, though they do have six* volumes of Akiko's further illustrated adventures. So far I've read volumes one through three, which comprise the tale of The Menace of Alia Rellapor. It's lovely stuff, and highly recommended for children of all ages.

On the Groo side of things, I picked up The Most Intelligent Man in the World and Groo and Rufferto. The latter is particularly remarkable for a highly detailed five-page index.

Kinokuniya used to be my local bookstore, so I was disappointed when they closed their store. I was rather happier when they opened their new store in the Galleries Victoria (across the road from the Queen Victora Building in Sydney). The old store wasn't small, but the new one is at least five times the size. Now they've been there for a while and have had a chance to fill all that space with books, and I have to say that they are probably now my second favourite bookstore. First, of course, is Galaxy, Sydney's Science Fiction bookstore, where I have been a faithful customer for twenty years.

Not only do Kinokuniya have lots of stuff I want (first rule for success in business: have something people want), but their prices are reasonable, and they gave me a discount (10% on Tuesday, 15% when I went back today), and they gave me some free gift vouchers, and coupons good for 20% off in January and February.

Now all of you go away for a little while, as I still have three volumes of Akiko* to read.

* And another one.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:09 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I can't read my own blog at work. Not until Miss OpenBSD and Miss Linux scroll off the page, anyway.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:48 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I got my email working properly at home. It was last seen alive on Sunday.

I am presently downloading just over 1100 new messages.

I will get back to you. Really. (Just as soon as the spam filter finishes with them. That should cut it down a bit.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 01:04 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I need to buy a new pair of jeans. Like now.

Hmm. I guess it's not that obvious.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I installed my two new computers, Kei and Yuri, in Lian-Li 6070 cases, which feature quiet fans and sound insulating foam. I also used Antec super-quiet power supplies.

And then I installed 8 hard drives in Yuri.

Which proved to be something of a problem. I turns out that the reason quiet fans and quiet power supplies are quiet is that the fans are slow. And being slow, they don't move much air. And not moving much air means not cooling the system very well... And 8 hard drives produce a lot of heat.

So I got a nice fast high-volume fan, and I stuck it in Yuri at the back to blow all the hot air out. In fact, I had to duct-tape it to the existing fan, because there is only exhaust vent and the existing fan is attached with these annoying plastic rivets which are impossible to remove. It's far from ideal, but there's a lot more air blowing out the back now, which is a good thing.

But. All the air is coming from the newly-enhanced case fan, and none of it from the power supply fan. And the case above the power supply is starting to get a little warm. A lot warm, really.

After a few moments I realise that the new high speed fan is doing such a good job pulling air out of the case that it is reducing the air pressure to the point where the slow fans in the power supply can't cope. I should be glad that at least it's not sucking air in through the power supply (which would dump lovely pre-heated air directly on top of the CPU).

So I took the side panel off the case. It's running much cooler now, with both fans working together to blow the hot air out. But it's not exactly quiet any more, is it? I said, it's not exactly quiet any more, is it?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 12:13 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Someone from the recruitment agency we use at work just popped in to say hello - and drop off two big boxes of Krispy Kremes as a Christmas gift.

Mmmm. Burp.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:31 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

My new mouse has seven buttons and a scrollwheel.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:42 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Over on Trey Givens I found this interesting test which tries to recommend a presidential candidate based on your opinions on various policies. I got this:

1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%)
2. Libertarian Candidate (61%)
3. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (54%)
4. Gephardt, Rep. Dick, MO - Democrat (51%)
5. Socialist Candidate (44%)
6. Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (43%)
7. Clark, Retired General Wesley K., AR - Democrat (42%)
8. Lieberman, Senator Joe, CT - Democrat (40%)
9. Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (40%)
10. Bush, President George W. - Republican (40%)
11. Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol, IL - Democrat (40%)
12. Green Party Candidate (38%)
13. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (36%)
14. Kucinich, Rep. Dennis, OH - Democrat (32%)
15. Phillips, Howard - Constitution (21%)
16. LaRouche, Lyndon H. Jr. - Democrat (16%)
17. Hagelin, Dr. John - Natural Law (10%)

Then "Big" Dick Gephardt.

Then a fictional Socialist Candidate.

Then John Edwards, about whom the only thing I know is that he is probably less loathsome than fraudulent TV "psychic" John Edward.

Then Clark, Retired General Wesley K. "Krusher", the anti-war general.

Then Joe Lieberman, who at least appears to inhabit the same planet as the rest of us.

Then the Immensely Reverend Al Sharpton. The only thing he has in his favour is that he isn't Dennis "The Menace" Kucinich.

Then Bush, President George W. I don't care much for some of his domestic policies - the War on Drugs he inherited, but Faith-Based Initiatives is his own - but he is the only one of the lot I would trust to run America right now.**

Here's a little note the test designers attached to the info page:

What sort of score should my top candidate have? If your top candidate scores in the 90’s or the high 80’s then you’ll be very pleased with this candidates positions.
If your top candidate scores in the low 80’s or less, retake the selector, but this time try varying the priority settings below each issue area--set some “high” and some “low”. Optionally, you might try taking the selector again, but this time, do not answer those questions on issues for which you have little passion or interest.
If your top candidate did not get at least 50%, then all we can is that you have a unique combination of political views.

I wouldn't have thought my political views were unique... But maybe they are somewhat unusual in the context of mainstream America.

* He is, isn't he?
** Since I'm an Aussie and have no say in the matter, it is a good thing for me that he is running America right now.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:31 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

OpenBSD or Linux?

Downloaded from here.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:54 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

You are Kermit the Frog. You are reliable, responsible and caring. And you have a habit of waving your arms about maniacally.

FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS:
"Hi ho!" "Yaaay!" and "Sheesh!"
FAVORITE MOVIE:
"How Green Was My Mother"
LAST BOOK READ:
"Surfin' the Webfoot: A Frog's Guide to theInternet"
HOBBIES:
Sitting in the swamp playing banjo.
QUOTE:
"Hmm, my banjo is wet."

What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

(Via Ghost of a flea. Again.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Kei, my new 2.6GHz Pentium 4 Windows box, is up and running.

As I thought, gigabit ethernet works just fine with a standard cross-over cable. Since I only have two computers that support gigabit (well, three, but don't tell anyone) this saves me the cost of buying a switch.

I can get about 16 megabytes per second over Samba, disk to disk. That's only about 16% of what gigabit ethernet can do, but is three times what I got from my old server and my old Windows box.

On the other hand, Windows XP's routing is screwy. I'm blogging from Linux until I get that worked out. Windows can find the router just fine, but won't actually send packets there to be routed. I might just set up Yuri as a router for Kei - since they're plugged directly together, that at least should work. (In fact, Kei seems to be using the 100M ethernet port as a back-channel for the Gbit port... But still, it's working.)

On the third hand, I installed the nVidia drivers on Yuri, and they don't seem to work terribly well. It may be that they just don't support the GeForce FX 5700 fully; I can try swapping it for my old GeForce 4 and see if that works better. The GeForce 4 is at least listed as supported.

Oh, and Saddam Hussein has been captured. Hit Instapundit for a boatload of links.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:41 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)