Maji de!!!

If you hadn't been watching the "I Survived a Japanaese Gameshow" on ABC
the past few weeks, you missed a great finale tonight.

The most important thing I should stress is how they introduced Japanese
culture to "fish out of water" US citizens while in Japan. I wish they
had given these contestants some off-time to go out and see the Real
Japan, like the restaurants and shopping at Akiba between competitions.

I taped the 2 hour finale tonight. How do people sign up for these
things? If they do this again (and have it Japan again), I'd LOVE to try
getting on it. I have a passport already! I even know some Japanese. ^.^

From what I can tell, though, the game show they used as the backdrop
for this ABC series is fictional - it doesn't really exist in Japan. It
IS typical of the sort of things they would do though!

I wish it would get repeated, because I would / should have taped it. We
may never see it again - it might never be offered on DVD. For an anime
and manga / Japanese culture fan such as myself, I was completely
entertained by this show. Kudos to ABC for the thinking that went into
presenting it.

I liked the first elimination challenge they had the final four do - go
out onto the streets near Toho Studios and complete 5 tasks with people
they run into. ^_^

I might have cringed severely at the thought of having to do that.
Though it would be nice to make more Japanese friends! I'm still hoping
the woman I marry will be from Japan.

The Tokyo Mew Mew RPG game for Playstation - sugoi ne!

So anywho, I finally get my officially-made import Tokyo Mew Mew RPG
game for the Playstation. One thing that surprised me that it works in
our Playstation with Pro Action Replay without any problems so far. For
such a late release game, I expected it to give me the same problems
that the CCS Tetris game does in that it will refuse to run unless I've
modified the unit in some way and used an Activation code in the PAR
unit. But when I did the disk swap method and selected the right file
off the disk, it came right up and I was like "Yes!!! Money well spent!"
I felt it only right to get a real copy of the game rather than a
downloaded copy.

I've begun translating the instruction manual. I had a slight problem
with my Jornada last night and had to hit reset on the underside, then
reconfigure things, etc etc. Then had to go online real quick to find
out how to get the storage card folder to come back up, and once I did
that it was back in business. I should bring the PDA down so I can
translate in a more comfortable position and have it where I usually am,
most of the time anyway.

The 1G "Sylvania" USB flash drive MP3 players at Big Lots are just
another model made by... Curtis International. Dammit!!!

Colossalcon 2008 report of sorts

I got a load of goodies, ran 2 panels and sat in on the 4chan panel which lasted far into the early morning which left me sleep deprived to the point that I left early on Sunday in spite of being on staff. I had to, otherwise I might not have made it home and I was the one driving.

While I didn't get my "Autism and Anime Fandom" panel, I did get the Japanese cooking panel but it was mostly a video I had on DVD (complete with snazzy Japanese TV and anime toy commercials), and then the Collecting Anime Goodies panel after that. The DVD for the cooking panel, based on The Manga Cookbook, was also scheduled to run on the in-house hotel channel for the convention, but the computer they were using was a lousy AMD Celeron processor system that kept locking up, and nobody was keeping an eye on it.

Sailor Moon cosplayers were there well-representing our chosen anime. I had most of them pose with my Talking Luna plushie. And for an accurate and well-done Chibi-Usa wig, go to Garnet Studios.

It amazes me that people who don't like 4chan are on Gaia, at least according to experience from one girl in the local anime club. I mean, why pay for Gaia when 4chan is free, and it has a cool Firefox extension? What's there not to like? I have a blast on there, and find it a wealth of information. I've gotten help many times and consider it a valuable source.

Even in spite of going to Colossalcon, I still have money for a trip to Japan which for reasons I can't figure out, still hasn't happened.

Colossalcon 2008 goodies:

Magic Knight Rayearth Hikaru fashion doll - now to find her upgrade armor. I already have both Fuu and Umi and their armor.

DVDs - Kashimashi #2, Doki doki school hours (aka Sensei no ojikan) #4, Air TV #2, Scrapped Princess #4 (need #3 and any others), Banner of the Stars 1 #1.

Loads of GACHAPON figures, including a Haruhi set with a Bunny Haruhi, one of girls from Namco games like Kosmos and Telos. PGSM Venus figure, and some others (Rishu from Mamotte Shugogetten).

Ame-comi Catwoman figure that I've modified to remove the stupid skirt.

Bunny Yuki 1/6 scale figure (yum)

Manga needs filled: Ichigo 100% Though I thought I bought #4 I can't find it. All of Pretty Face that I didn't already have, Some Eiken books.

2 Futago Hime candy toys. Talking Sumomo figure (actual size - episode 18 where they clean the apartment building is suitable to show to my nieces so they know who she is).

Some small Sailor Moon magnets for the fridge. They go nicely with 2 I got from Digi Charat. ^_^

2 Kia Asamiya mini figures

I just need some place to display my gachapon figures.

Thursday: I wasn't told until I found out about it, but the Colossalcon staff in charge of getting things going decided to have a half-day Thursday night. I know Anime North did this before, so I'm not surprised to see other anime conventions doing it, too. That means, me being on the Tech Crew, that we had to schlep 3 sets of equipment down to the 3 video rooms. Computer with keyboard, mouse, power cables, projector, and screens. I'm glad to say we managed to get things up and running by the time shown on the schedule. Each computer used had to have the media updated for most of the convention. I hope Adam just gets bigger and additional drives in the systems along with good cooling fans. I basically kept an eye on the systems for most of the weekend, with me actually sitting in Video 3 to run some stuff off DVD which I wanted to see anyway like Giant Robo and Gunbuster 2: Diebuster. Awesome.

Thankfully we thought ahead and put a schedule next to each of the video room computers, so in case they get off schedule or otherwise lock up and stop playing for whatever reason, I can get them going where they're supposed to be at that time I catch it.

I managed to get into the dealers room when it first opened on Friday. This is one of my "things to do" at any anime convention. Get in there at the first opportunity lest it be gotten by someone else. I had only an hour on Friday since I was the only one who seemed to be taking their volunteer role seriously. One or 2 other guys who were supposed to be on Tech ended up doing other things. And then I had to almost fight for my staff badge because for some reason I was "left off' the list of volunteers who were supposed to get staff badges, apparently some confusion because I was doing panels as well.

They were supposed to have a simulcast of the Friday character portrayal portion of the cosplay on the in-house hotel channel, but some difficulties in dealing with the technology the hotel provided and what the con staff had turned it into a simulcast AIM chat instead, which in some ways was more interesting than seeing the actual event.

If I had known they needed my high speed USB video capture box, I would have brought it along with my SNES and the Sailor Moon S fighting cartridge I recently got off eBay. One of the guys in the gaming room thought Sailor Moon fighting games are cool. ^_^

But they had things figured out for Saturday, borrowing someone's laptop with a built in webcame for the main even Cosplay which I'm told worked rather well.

There were some events planned for outside, but the weather decided to rain and that chased in a LOT of people during Saturday. I heard from someone who heard it from Security that somehow news got to our hotel that every hotel within a 5 mile radius of Colossalcon was sold out because of the convention. Woo!

I had a generally good time. Plenty of lovely ladies in china dresses to see. I need help getting the courage to do more than just take photos of them. T.T

Turnout for my Japanese cooking panel was pretty good. It would have run on the in-house hotel channel for the convention had someone kept an eye on the computer for that. At least the con-chair and a friend of mine, Adam, did come to see my panel and left hungry. ^_^

Considering how long it is taking me to recover my energy from staying up almost all weekend 2 weeks ago, next year I will pay for my own room if I have to and do panels only. I would also like to see if there are other conventions who'd be interested in having me appear to do a cooking panel with the ability to do a live demonstration.

Hopefully I'll get one friend to finally get a usable copy of my DVD on his system and dressed up with snazzy effects and slightly better editing. I have been offering copies of what I've got now, though.

It's rewarding to volunteer to help run a convention, but get your own room and plenty of sleep. The staff managed to kill at least but probably more than 16 pizza boxes during the course of the weekend.

Oh yeah, Saturday, when waiting to get in line for the dealers room, while security was performing crowd control, they were telling people to get their badges ready. I decided as is my habit to make light of the situation and added "and your money, credit cards, dna sample" - something I considered a light hearted attempt at humor. This was not appreciated by the jerk in front of me who promptly told me to shut up.

People - don't be THAT GUY at any convention. A good rule to follow. Because I did what anyone would do when armed with video equipment - I got video of the jerk.

Don't be That Guy. Be Excellent to Each Other.

I have to refresh the firmware?

According to Curtis' website, if I use the mini CDrom that came with the player, I should be able to use that to refresh the firmware and it'll behave correctly once again.

Thing is, it shouldn't go bad in the first place. I have one of their 256MB models and it's still working great.

There are no firmware updates available on the website. I did manage to get the player to plug into the USB interface and stay on for over 8 minutes while I copied everything off the player.

I will try to use the CDrom with my Win98SE box to see if I can refresh the firmware and get it to stay on like it should.

How does the firmware get damaged in the first place?

Latest Curtis MPS533 bites the dust just about

Sent to Curtis International:

OK. So you guys there probably remember the 512MB MP3 player that
someone sent to you smashed up because it died when it should not have.

Then you replaced that (kindly) with an MPS533 model, but that got sent
back to you rather quickly because it kept shutting off and then
eventually refused to turn back on.

I sent that one back to you only to get yet another MPS533 model. That
was about one year ago.

Since then, I have kept ahold of that 2nd MPS533 model and sparingly
used it. Last night, while copying a few more MP3 files to it, nearly
filling the memory (46 MB free), then going to bed and listening to the
new files on it, it suddenly shut off for no reason. I had a fresh
alkaline battery in the unit.

While fiddling with this MPS533 in the middle of the night, I observed
it not wanting to stay on for any useful length of time. Several
attempts at making sure the battery was making proper contact resulted
in the unit not interested in staying on. Removing the battery and then
reinstalling it got the unit to switch on again each time, but it would
not remain on. The previous MPS533 had this problem before it refused to
turn on as well as not turn on when plugged into the USB port.

Fortunately I have a backup of all files I have placed onto the unit on
a burned CDrom.

I am not sending this 2nd replacement MPS533 back to you at Curtis
International because I am fed up with this model of MP3 player and will
replace it with another model from another manufacturer. I have a Coby
1G model that has a buggy USB interface, but it seems like it will hold
up, though I should buy another 1G MP3 player model with a better
inferface and a Win98 USB driver CDrom.

This model is also out of warranty period since I let it sit around
unused for most of the past year considering my previous experience with
the last MPS533. I did one experiment in using it to record and let it
sit for over 4 hours one day and it was still on when I came back, so I
thought that was a good sign. Until last night.

I think using the Hold feature on the unit might have something to do
with this, but who knows? I hadn't used the Hold switch before and for
some reason I decided it might be a good idea to use it for once, in
case it got switched on by accident - providing that even though I had
it inside a case for a VHS-C tape, it had little chance of happening.

If there is a firmware update for the MPS533, I may seek it out,
providing I can get this unit to stay on long enough while plugged into
the USB interface (which I haven't tried yet, but will considering its
current semi-functional state), which in that case I would just copy
everything off, reformat, and try the update. I mean, what's the bother
if the damn unit won't stay turned on?

My MPS257 (256MB model) still works great.

Best regards,

Some pressing issues

First off, we find that the Evil Cable Company, aka Time Warner, is
conducting what I call "business as usual" in that once you get suckered
into using their services, they start raising rates without
justification.

Our Road Runner Light service, 768kbps, was initially $14.95 a month. I
pay this for Cannet Dialup. As of August 1, 2008, Time Warner decides to
jack up the cost another $5. Let me try to understand this. They cut off
Usenet access through their network, they are not upgrading the service
to a faster speed, but yet they claim they need to bleed us for another
$5 more each month for less service at the same speed? The electricity
they use to power their equipment didn't go up in cost. I demand they
justify the increase. I'm going to contact the state attorney general,
our state rep, and the FCC about this.

In comparison, Cannet, the dialup service we've had since late _1997_
has always been $14.95 a month. That's 11 years of service that's never
gone up in price. If Cannet can keep the price the same and other DSL
providers can provide lifetime price guarantees, why can't Time Warner?
We were not told the $14.95 RR Lite was only an introductory price, nor
were we advised the rate "could" go up. No documentation stated anything
of the sort. If they insist on business as usual (which is the reason I
refuse to get cable TV again) then I demand they explain themselves
fully.

I recently bought the Coby MP300 1 Gig USB flash drive MP3 player. It
was $20 at a local Big Lots.

This is a nicely built unit. The case feels strong and sturdy. It's made
mainly to play MP3s or WMAs on its internal flash drive.

Some gripes: There's no Windows98 driver CDrom. A search on Coby USA's
website turns up nothing for my unit. I can only hope a friend with
another Coby model has the CDrom and the driver will work with my 1G
unit.

The interface to Windows XP over the USB connection has a minor bug. It
connects in MSC mode, but it should be MTP mode, I think. Anywho, the
first time after the initial plug-in and copying of files onto the unit
resulted in My Computer displaying only 8 files. I have way more than
that already on there by now! After a few tries plugging the thing in
and disconnecting (and My Computer freezing up) I eventually just went
ahead a copied a new file to the unit. Immediately the file list in the
window for the unit expanded and all my files appeared! I mean, What the
heck!? But trying to immediately copy a 2nd new file resulted in Windows
saying the directory was corrupted and unreadable. Oh great. Unplug,
replug, copy a 2nd file, but not a 3rd. Eventually, through some
plugging and unplugging I got 4 more files on there. But at some point I
got the unit to respond properly and was able to just copy a bunch of
MP3s at once.

Subsequent attaching the unit to the USB port also made
shorter-than-I-know-should-be-on-there directory lists until I copied a
new file onto the drive.

None of my other units, including USB flash drives, do this at all.

I apologize for not putting up the Colosalcon 2008 report just yet, but
I should get to it soon. It's up on Genvid. ^_^

FCC punishes Comcast for blocking bitorrent

So Comcast has been outed for knowingly and illegally interfering with
people using file sharing applications like Bittorrent for no reason,
other than they claim it is "network management," but in fact it's just
one company being a bunch of assholes. The FCC is punishing Comcast for
illegally interfering in its "open access" policy for denying users
their use of Comcast's DSL network.

BY ALL RIGHTS The FCC should also look into the illegal blocking of
Usenet access on Verizon's and Time Warner's Road Runner networks, which
happened partly due to the caving in of these wimpy companies and
pressure and demands from the New York State Attorney General. Last time
I read about this, only the Federal level may force companies to do
this. If any State Attorney General wants to block this, they should get
FCC clearance if they can do so - AND ONLY IN THEIR OWN STATE.

The Use of Newsgroups via Usenet servers is included in one's Internet
Service, and blocking access to them because of one state attorney
general's demands that, ooooh, someone might be doing something
"illegal" on them while perfectly legal things are going on at the same
time, ALSO falls under this same policy and blocking them Violates the
FCC's Policy on Open Access to Internet.

The New York State Attorney General should be told to go mind his own
business by the FCC. And upon that, over turn and force Verizon and Time
Warner to restore service to Usenet newsgroups through its own network.
They cannot claim there was low usage - they know perfectly well it was
being used and with considerable volume. They're just trying to use a
lie as an excuse because we know what they're really doing. And just
because one state attorney general pressured the company into illegally
blocking Usenet newsgroup access in in that state, they had no
jurisdiction to force the company to shut off access in Other States as
well.

If you have become a victim of Verizon's or Time Warner's illegal
violation of Open Access to the Internet as it concerns access to Usenet
Newsgroups, then I encourage you to write a letter about this issue to:

Federal Communication Comission
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20554

I feel the New York State Attorney General overstepped his bounds and
stepped on what is essentially a Federal issue and not one for the
states. If the FCC can punish Comcast for interfering with bittorrent,
among other uses for their network, then they must look into this issue
as well and restore access to Usenet through Verizon and Time Warner
Road Runner also!!

I believe this is a valid point and it must be heard!

Microwave burned out, George Carlin, Doug Henning?

Well, it happened.

Our Emerson microwave made August 1988, died today in a blaze of glory.
Not really, but still it died. Using Hitachi parts, it worked
beautifully. 1.4 cubic feet at 1450 watts (microwave frequency was 2450
Mhz). Lasted nearly 20 years. They don't make them like that anymore. It
was serviced once - for a blown fuse. When that blew again, I bought a
more substantial one and never blew it again. The only other thing that
we had trouble with was the servo motor that turned the glass table
inside. That stopped working a few months ago.

I still can't believe George Carlin passed away. Last I heard, he knew
he had heart problems a few years ago but had been working on that. Not
only was he a genius messenger for comedy and made complete sense, he
was a masterful and most eloquent pundit. He reminded us of the asburd
thing(s) that went on around us and made sure we stuck a finger in its
eye.

By the way, all of Carlin's HBO Specials are available on DVD (something
I hope to acquire), but why is the only thing I can find of Doug Henning
on DVD is his Broadway show? He did 8 TV specials and none of them are
on DVD?? I have a tape of one he did in the early 1980s. Where can I get
tapes of his other shows?? It's not right we can't see all of Henning's
shows again.

Two people who helped make me what I am today are no longer here, and I
will be one who will not forget what they did.

Firefox 3!

I participated in the Firefox 3 Download Day World Record Attempt today.
As I type this, there have been, according to one webite, well over 3
MILLION downloads at about the halfway point for their 24 hour period to
set the record.

The developers are expecting for just over 1 million downloads, but
hoping for 5 million. They may get there in winning fashion.

Of course, I'm going to wait before I install FF3. I want my extensions
that work under Firefox 2 to import effortlessly into Version 3, as well
as all my Ad Block Plus blocking rules. I spent a lot of time figuring
out what to block to stop stupid things happening on pages and I intend
to keep those rules if I want to use Firefox 3.

Extensions I currently use: 4chan's plug in, Video Downloader, Ad Block
Plus, Flash Block, RefControl, and Download Manager Tweak. I also want
my other cookie and image blocking preferences also kept and imported
into FF3, as well as all my bookmarked favorites.

I grabbed a copy of the Firefox 3 installer just before 3 pm EST. Some
comments posted by people about nitpicky crybaby points about the time
of executing the download and stuff just show the stupidity of
themselves. I was able to figure out how to get the thing and when -
certainly other people can figure that out, too?

Anywho, congrats to the launch of Firefox 3. NOW GET MY EXTENSIONS TO
WORK!!!

Got up out of the wrong bed...

This morning, the universe decided to make my bed fall apart without my
permission. And so subtly, without me knowing it was going to do so. At
first, the one piece of metal (let's call it a bed rail) that had been
bent since the first moment I used the bed years ago (instead of my
sturdy twin bed I had used for so many years without trouble) that had
also been propped up with a stack of books and a piece of wood was
becoming more bent in spite of my best efforts to prop it up and attempt
to keep it more or less unbent. Then the foot of the bed, the part of
the frame that sees your feet most often, well it had been in a state of
disrepair (ie it was continually trying to fall apart even though I
managed to drive a few good drywall screws into it) and continued to do
so to the point where those little fingers that go into the frame to
grab metal pins imbedded in the wood by some skillful craftsman at one
point don't grab. They don't even line up because they're BENT.

After some examination and moving of mattress stuff which is hard
because I have no room to move mattress stuff, I find that the two
pieces of hooked wire that had been used to keep the 2 side rails
together (I don't know why they made this bed frame like that, it
doesn't make sense), well one of those 2 pieces of wire had one hook end
snap off completely. This action rendered the 2 side rails more useless
than they had already been.

I was able to locate the foot end of another bed frame which I wish we
had kept the entire thing because it was made of much sturdier metal and
shaped in such a way that we had no trouble at all from it in the years
we had it at previous addresses.

I still have the frame of my twin-size bed, and I'm like 1 inch away
from throwing this other frame out the window and digging out the twin
frame and setting it up. At least the bottom of that is more than 2
pieces of metal tied by a wire.

I've noticed that my grandparents could have things for years and years
and for some reason never have any trouble with them. We get ahold of
the same items and they go to pot rather quickly. It's like their
possessions hate us.