bytex64.net

Ok, there's a long path to this one, but it all started with Nothing Nice To Say's hilarious Bananarchy comic. This got me thinking about the bananaphone song, and led me to the bananaphone entry on wikipedia. From there, to Shift_JIS art, and of course Giko, Shii, and Mona, and eventually to the 2ch entry. In the description for 2ch was a story about Densha Otoko.

Long story short, shut-in geek saves girl from imminent drunken groping, and in thanks, the girl asks him for his address. Several days later, an expensive tea set is delivered to his home. Completely unused to this kind of attention, he consults the members of 2ch for help. Eventually, he gets up the nerve to improve himself, talk to the girl, and eventually they live happily ever after. The story became so popular that it made its way from the 2ch boards to a book, several manga adaptations, a movie, and a TV series that's currently showing on Fuji TV. I'm downloading the first episode right now. Here is a more detailed description. It sounds pretty cool. Just in time, too. I finished Samurai Champloo, and I've got two episodes left of Mai-HiME.

Another interesting thing I found was kopimi. I guess the idea is that if you want to be copied, this is an easy way to show it. *shrug*.

I'll leave you with another disturbing Japanese cult phenomenon, OS-tan. Yes. Those are cute manga-ized representations of popular operating systems. Awww, isn't Linux cute?

I just came up with this, and it's awesome.

Ingredients

• Rice
• Four or five fresh radishes
• Two eggs
• 1tsp soy sauce
• 1tbsp water
• 2tsp honey
• a pinch of corn starch

Method

Cook rice. It doesn't matter what kind, just your favorite rice to put food on. Mix soy sauce, water, honey, and corn starch to make a sauce. Cut radishes into sticks. Scramble eggs. Heat up a skillet or wok, and stir fry radishes for a couple of minutes. Push radishes to outside, and cook egg. Once eggs are cooked, add the sauce to taste. You will probably not use all of it. Stir until coated, and serve over rice. Feeds one starving college student.

If any of you were wondering whether my sick sense of humor runs in the family, the answer is yes. Very yes. Those are from my sister Andrea. In my littlest brother Tim, it takes a slightly different form. I don't have examples from my othe two siblings, but I assure you, they're plenty demented as well.

Why, you ask? Blame my parents. One of my dad's signature jokes goes like this:

Son: Dad! I'm tired of walking in circles!
Dad: Shut up, son, or I'll nail your other foot to the floor.

Another favorite of his goes like this:

Q: If you're driving along in your motorboat, and all four wheels fall off, how many pancakes does it take to cover the roof of a dog house?
A: No, motorcycles don't have doors.

You can imagine that it's a very short leap from jokes like this to elephant jokes, then blonde jokes, polish jokes, dead baby jokes, and even jokes that are sure to shock my Catholic mother. It's a downward spiral.

Now after getting to the dead baby jokes, you probably think I'm an awful person. Rest assured that if I saw an actual peeled baby in a bag of salt, I'd be just as sickened by it as the rest of you. It's the fact that I've never seen this, and most likely never will, that makes the situation absurd, and therefore funny. I don't expect you to laugh. It really shouldn't be funny.

Haha. Pitchfork. Aw, I'm an awful person.

In The Groove has become my new favorite game, but not in the way you're thinking. Sure, it's very challenging for those of the step, step persuasion, but the game I'm talking about has nothing to do with arrows, or score, or even playing with friends. You see, ITG is a modified version of StepMania that runs on a PC.

The game? Get in.

If there is one thing that irritates me, it is a computer that refuses to do my bidding. It's the black hat in me. Fortunately, my need for control is limited to a specific subset of machines. I don't consider the DDR machine hackable because it runs completely different hardware. It wouldn't be worth my time. Even the Pump machine or the Ultracade box are out of reach, because they both use proprietary operating systems on PC hardware. But ITG uses everything that I'm familiar with: commodity PC hardware, Linux, X Windows, Stepmania. Furthermore, 99% of this code is available for me to peruse at will. And I've been perusing the bits out of it.

My first thought was the first thought of any hacker: Test its limits. ITG puts some XML data and an INI file on a USB key as a save system. This way, you can keep your scores, edits, and some personal info with you. I tried messing with the values, and so far the only thing I've found is that you can use lower case for the score name input.

Second attack: Trickery. Your score and preferences are stored in an XML file. Just edit it, you say? Well, that would be nice, but they're verified on load against a signature. An RSA signature, with what I believe is a 1024 bit key. It can't be any less than that. Allow me to put this in perspective for you. Suppose I tried to brute-force the key, that is, try every possible key until I find a match. Further suppose that I can harness the power of every atom in the universe. According to this, there's between 10⁷⁸ and 10⁸¹ of them. We'll use the upper bound. Now suppose every one of those atoms could check one billion keys per second. The very best hardware available today can do around 100,000 transactions per second. This will still take roughly 1.34×10⁶⁴ seconds. That's 4.25×10⁵⁶ years. I don't have that kind of time.

Now of course, there are probably better attacks on RSA, but they probably still take quite a long time (if they didn't, we wouldn't be using RSA, now would we?). I think I've been making the mistake of trying to break down the front door. What I need to find is another entrance entirely.

Speaking of challenges, though, Kan, Yan, and I have all decided that we need to have an Iron Chef championship. None of us can figure out how it's going to work, though. We don't have a kitchen stadium, we don't have an army of sous-chefs at our disposal, and we don't have a flamboyant, vaguely homosexual host with a penchant for yellow bell peppers. Ah, well, we'll manage, somehow. :)

Ok, International Talk Like a Pirate Day is over, but I thought the phrase was appropriate for the storm we had yesterday. It was one of those where it rained horizontally. Stuff got knocked over left and right; I got home to see a fallen tree branch disturbingly close to my car, and apparently a tree got knocked over on the quad. I left from work at 5 pm, and got all the way to ISR before I had to seek refuge inside. (For those who don't know, ISR is a whole half a block away from my workplace) I did get a few pictures, though.

Oh, that reminds me. PIX is now filter-able in both HTML and RSS. You'll notice that after you apply a filter, the RSS link and associated <link> tag change to reflect that filter. So if you only want to be notified of new pictures of food, you can do exactly that. :)

On the anime front, Mai-HiME just got interesting. Takumi finally bit the big one, and Mai is toasting everything in sight. It is now officially on.

And on a completely bizarre front, I'm trying to figure out how to smuggle a dildo into St. Kitts. Why? Well, all sex toys are illegal in St. Kitts, and I percieve it as a personal challenge to try and defy that kind of stupidity. Besides, if I can do it, it'll probably be the only dildo on the island. It would be like the One Dong to Rule Them All, forged in silicone to bind the hearts and loins of women across the island. Well, it's fun to think about, anyway. }:->

It's officially International Talk Like a Pirate day today, mateys, so today's post'll be done in a swashbucklin' fashion.

*swigs from a flask of cheap rum*

That be done, let's be gettin' to the business at hand. I've been slackin' in me posts for two reasons. One, I been workin' on me new picture site. Yarr, quite a treasure, that. Two, I been watchin' anime. A lot. I be half-way through both Samurai Champloo and Mai-HiME. Samurai Champloo gets better and better as it goes, pickin' up new flavors 'n' intriciacies as it goes.

Mai-HiME is interestin' in a completely differin' way. Alright, I'll be on the level with ye, Fruit-chan no Kojimbo was a bit of a ruse. There ain't no such thing. 'Twas just a product of me and James's booty-addled minds. Most o' the inspiration for Fruit-chan came from Mai-HiME, though. 'Specially the parts 'bout mixin' humor and drama, tho' I still be witholdin' judgement on whether it be doin' so with "aplomb" or not. In some ways, Mai-HiME surpassed my imagination, tho'. Androids, cross-dressin' middle-schoolers, an' beer drinkin' nuns to start with. Madness, I tell ye.

Well, I be hittin' the rack, me mateys. 'Till next time, may your brew be fresh, your wenches be beauties, and the wind be at your back. Yarr!

So I just downloaded the first dozen episodes or so of Fruit-chan no Kojimbo, and I have to say that I'm hooked. It takes the campy large fighting robot action that I love from such greats as GaoGaiGar and G Gundam, and splices it with all the creamy magical girl goodness of Sailormoon, with a little bit of the ecchi that made DearS so great. Here's the synopsis from the back of the box. It sums it up better than I can...

Fruit-chan no Kojimbo is a story of a shy girl in high school, Mitsiko, in a distant post war future where the glory of mankind is lost. All the kids make fun of her, but things turn up for her when she is chosen by BleuKaze, the CheeseToad spirit, to fulfill her role as the leader of Saccharine Harbinger, an elite team of mecha pilots. But her arch rival and school bully, Haroke, is also chosen...

Like most genre-busters, this show starts off unassumingly. Mitsiko is just another girl struggling to make ends meet in a dystopian future. When her pet cockroach (All cute cuddly things weren't strong enough to survive the nuclear fallout) starts speaking to her, I was ready to resign this one to the "just another mahou shojou" bin. But then Mitsiko gets involved in a hilarious exchange with Haroke that escalates from petty pranks to vehicular manslaughter to grand theft robo. It is only after they level half the town with their ridiculously overpowered mecha that they are told that their purpose is to save the town. Now that's comedy.

Which is not to say that Fruit-chan no Kojimbo doesn't have a serious side, too. I think the combination of drama and comedy (dramedy?) is usually a little disorienting for some American viewers, but this show pulls it off with aplomb. With the exception of the flashback-generating villain in episode 12 (better known as "Oh, shit, we wasted all our money!" syndrome), the villians are all business. JabodeK THE Dark Bird (yes, it's spelled like that) is bad-freaking-ass. He's like the illegitimate child of a yaoi menage-a-trois between Kunzite, Fuuma Monou, and Sesshoumaru. (And I know all you fangirls are salivating at the thought of that exchange. }:->)

There's a delightful cast of supporting characters too. From the stereotypically nearsighted hentai grandpa, Kakeru, to the delightfully misanthropic Gokujin, there were occasions aplenty when I just couldn't stop laughing. Oh, and I think we can all enjoy the Strawberry Council, a circle of ecchi glasses-wearing librarians who ensnare the guys and the girls in their unspeakably strange designs.

I've been watching it non-stop up to episode 14. I guess I'm going to have to wait, since 15 isn't out yet. It looks to be a doozie, though. Here, since I'm too lazy to paraphrase it for you, is something I shamelessly stole from another fansite (and edited for what must be obligatory spelling mistakes):

Ep15: Mitsiko is smitten by Haru, only to later find he is a servant in the army of JabodeK THE Dark Bird. If she successfully executes the Forever Windmill, which she and the Harbinger girls have been training for for months, then Haru will die. Mitsiko feigns ignorance, much to the delight of Haroke. But her best friend Pelo's undying honesty may be Mitsiko's downfall, as she cannot justify keeping such a dangerous secret from the Strawberry Counsel when the fate of the kingdom hangs in the balance.

Oh, and the part where Mitsiko steals an unnamed street racer's AE86 Sprinter Trueno and proceeds to drift down the mountain, beating all existing records: freaking awesome.

This might be my new favorite show. Go find this one, you won't be dissapointed. :)

Since I'm posting back-to-back, don't miss the recipe for Pico de Gallo below.

It seems that in my rush to sort out my fastest deleted list, I forgot one notable series: CosPrayers. I believe I watched four or five episodes of this before deleting it, which puts it at #4. A show that puns on cosplayers (In the show, CosPrayers is an shortening of Cosmopolitan Prayers, a multi-dimensional monster killing squad. You know the type.) would seem to have lots of potential right off the bat. Unfortunately, the show misses any and all opportunity for plot or character development (it's a 15 minute show), instead veering toward some good ol' fashioned fanservice. If you like tentacles without nudity, then you will enjoy this show immensely.

Partially through my own means, and partly through my connections (domo arigato misuta sukotto), I've been watching a lot of anime lately, and here's the rundown.

• Samurai Champloo - Yes, I know you've already seen this on Adult Swim. In the original Japanese, however, the show seems less like an alternative storyline for Cowboy Bebop, and more like something original. (read: It's nice to believe that that's not Spike in a samurai getup). Taking place at the birth of Imperial Japan, the show playfully mixes historical anachronisms, a hip-hop soundtrack, and some good old fashioned samurai swordfights. It's a good combination, and I don't think you'll be dissapointed, especially if you liked Cowboy Bebop (did I mention it's the same guy?).
• Lupin III Season one - This is not what you've seen on Adult Swim. This is the original first season. It's the same predictable formula, though: Lupin and friends get into and out of an impossible situation, making Zenigata look like a fool, and Fujiko strings Lupin along just long enough to make off with the loot. If you liked the second season (what Adult Swim shows you), you'll like this, too.
• Gunslinger Girl - Do you like girls? With cybernetic enhancements? Who assassinate people? In Italy? Yes, Gunslinger Girl is just that awesome. Far from being a cybernetic rampage like Ghost in the Shell, the series focuses more on the personal aspect of the girls. For all intents they are slaves, but they are all somehow better for being so. It's a drama, and it's a bit slow, but it's far from awful.
• Kanon - I've mentioned this before, but I'm further into it, so it warrants another mention. At first glance, Kanon appears to be another boring drama about a small town and its inhabitants. The further you get into it, though, the weirder things get. Spirits haunt the high school. Some people almost die. Some people are terminally ill. Some people aren't people. It's messed up, and I've probably already spoiled too much of it.
• Mai HiME - Now this one is a strange 'un. It starts off much like any other show. A normal girl begins a new life in a new town. Oh, wait... small girls with demonic swords? Girls on motorcycles with guns? Is that one of the Voltron cats? What the hell is going on here? This show mixes high school drama, magical girls, fanservice, and GAINAX-style not-quite-mecha to a dizzying effect. This is one of those I'm going to have to watch twice to figure out everything that's going on.

I've seen a few single episodes of other things too, like Moekan (stupid), Mamotte Shugogetten (seems too much like a cheap version of Ah My Goddess), and Beet the Vandel Buster (Oh, look, another show based on a card game. The ending song is pretty good, though. Go Nana Kitade.).

Oh, a fun thing to do: Go get mplayer if you don't already have it. Open up your favorite episode with it, and hit the ] key until you're going about 2x. Try and watch the entire episode without laughing. I bet you can't. :)

Ingredients

• Four Roma tomatoes
• Four Jalapeño peppers
• Two or three Hungarian Hot peppers
• Four to six cloves of garlic (depending on size)
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar

Method

Finely chop tomatoes and peppers. If you want it really hot, leave in the pepper seeds. Crush garlic, then chop finely. Mix all ingredients together.

Yes, it's that simple.

I like flickr. I've recommended it to many of my friends. It doesn't, however, have the level of customizability I want (which is the ability to customize everything :) ). I have to upload all my images to their server (slow), and flickr also has monthly upload limits (stupid). With my system, I mountthe camera, run one command, and it's done. Besides, I seem to recall you made your own image hosting script back in the day. :)