DSB

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v16/n5/full/nn.3384.html

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v16/n5/full/nn.3356.html

tl;dr Thinking breaks DNA strands in your brain.


...wait what? why, how could... how am I going to live now? By not thinking? :V

rss test

disregard.

Variables

(Possible spoilers from rewrite?)

In Rewrite, there is a scene where the main character watches one of the heroines read something off a large map, and when the protagonist himself tries to read it, he realizes that on the map there are lots of symbols. He then continues to realize that each small symbol actually contains volumes and volumes of information, and when he gets to that point, his head quite literally explodes.

I feel I can relate to the protagonist now after taking my recent Probabilistic Graphical Models exam. "WHAT IS THETA? *HEAD EXPLODE* "

Moe

I need nothing else. All is right in the world.

RaNo

http://mitsukikioi.web.fc2.com/ranosuki/rano-suki.html

THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs

I would totally like a light novel just for the art.

Suits

http://www.nature.com/news/nano-suit-shields-bugs-in-the-void-1.12799

Clearly the next step in this research is to develop skintight body suits for prepubescent girls to enable them to battle in giant robots.

More Contest

This damn contest, just miss one day and I have to go through 15 pages of new GUMI art. CAN YOU GUYS JUST STOP DRAWING FOR ONE DAY SO I CAN CATCH UP, DAMMIT

EDIT: HAHA EVEN IF YOU DO THIS TO ME, YOU STILL CAN'T STOP ME FROM FINDING THEM! GUMI POWER GOOOOOOOOO


EDIT2: Yesterday was the contest deadline. That explains that sudden 10 page influx. Goddammit everyone.

Hug

http://kotaku.com/in-japan-theres-a-girlfriend-coat-to-hug-lonely-peo-470822962


WHY?

BECAUSE ITS -RESEARCH-

Love Live (Unfinished)

I am enjoying the show, but I must come out and make a statement:

Alpacas are the best part of this show.

(Agree/Disagree)

Tissue

http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-print-self-assembling-living-tissue-1.12743


Next up, 3D printing of humans! Now there's food for thought...

Contest

My current bane of existance. PIXIV, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HAVE TO SUFFER (through backlog) BECAUSE OF THIS?!? WHY COULDN'T YOU DO THIS AFTER I GOT MY LAPTOP!??!

Lecture Search

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/2002-mechanics-and-materials-online-0403.html

I don't really find shifting through lectures that much of a pain, but I can see the utility of searching in videos, then directly being able to watch that part of the video. Well, kind of... I just can't think of anything useful right now...

Fools

http://privatemoon.jp/rocg/


What can I say I don't know...


Also, date a tank.

http://panzer.illucalab.com/

Hype

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-03-30/hyperdimension-neptunia-anime-1st-promo-streamed


I predict this anime is going to be so bad but I AM SO EXCITED THIS WILL CLEARLY BE THE BEST AND WORST ANIME OF THE YEAR

Zombie Idol

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-03-25/yui-makino-sings-in-anime-short-promoting-hokkaido

I'm sure, somewhere, there is a shindan maker that combines random moe ideas together. And the person who is behind the creation of this, decided one day to try that shindan maker since he was totally out of ideas, and it came out with "Zombie Idol", and he was like "heck with it, sure".


Next up, VOCALOID software based on this character! Although Makino Yui VOCALOID actually doesn't sound so bad...


\o\ /o/ ZOMBIE IDOLING \o\ /o/

Neptunia V (Start)

You can obviously tell that 99% of the improvements they made into this game, where all the investment as gone into... is in the 3D CG models they use when the characters are talking to each other.

At first I thought they reverted back to the 2D models they used in the first game, which would have also been fine, but those 3D models are really impressive for 3D!


Here is to expecting that the rest of the game is significantly minor in improvements! :V

ALSO NEEDS MORE NEPGEAR! Plutia isn't too bad though.

Noire and Atelier

Some random game stuff on Siliconara:

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/03/17/hyper-goddess-faith-noir-extreme-god-black-heart-announced-for-vita/

Apparently a game where the main character is Noire. There is also an Idol game based on Neptunia characters coming out for Vita too. I guess it's time to get a Vita? Needs more Nepgear presence though. I can go for an Idol Nepgear...


http://www.siliconera.com/2013/03/17/new-atelier-game-announced-will-have-new-protagonist/

SHIT, desire to play Atelier Ayesha rising...

Google Reader

http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2013/03/powering-down-google-reader.html


GOOGLE HOW CAN YOU DO THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS


Taking rss alternatives now. Any suggestions?

More Unfinished Disgaea 4, Part 2

Continuing with the adventures of my aho mage, there is an amusing magichange skill that parodies heartcatch pretty cure.

...:V I should rename my mage into Erika.


I think there's also one that makes fun of touhou/danmaku games, but I didn't get that one yet myself.


On an unrelated note for the miniscule amount of people who recognize my presence online, my laptop died so I will not be available in the evenings anymore, at least for a while. Although, even if I still had my laptop I'm probably not around anyway since during that time I'd be playing Disgaea 4.

Diva Arcade

In general I felt that overall gameplay was easier, especially for easy and normal modes. I think this is expected because people are paying money for every 1 or 2 songs so if they made the game too hard it would be stupid and unappealing. Still, there are a few things that increase the difficulty, directly or indirectly:

1.) The combo button presses. Its not the the combos themselves that are hard (although it might take some getting used to), but that it seems to break your chain of concentration of following up what to do afterwards. At least how I play, I read which buttons to press ahead of time (in the case I didn't already memorize which button comes next), but when the combos come up all I see is those flashy red buttons and lightening effects, and I couldn't figure out as easily what was the button that I was supposed to press next.

2.) (Project Diva PS* players only) Arrangement of buttons. In general I think its easier, but the fact that the triangle is now on the other side of the circle throws me off once in a while. This is because on the PS* games, the triangle is just above the circle so you can slide your thumb right above. I think that while the general populace does better with this arrangement, people used to the PS* games might also need to break their traditional idea of the arrangement on the PS*.

Or maybe it's just me and I suck.

3.) That stupid flashing bar on the bottom that indicates if you're going to fail or not. This is the most annoying and terrible thing in Diva Arcade and I'm not sure if it's on purpose or if it's a flaw. At least in the PS* games if you're going to fail you don't really get distracted, and you only end with a "not clear" at the end. Diva arcade has this highly flashy and annoying "YOU'RE GOING TO FAIL IF YOU DON'T KEEP THIS UP" bar on the bottom and is really really distracting when you're trying to concentrate. I hate this feature the most. Maybe there's a way to turn it off, but I don't know how.

The people at Round 1 says that the trial period ends at March 18th, but if the feedback turns out to be good, they'll bring it back permanently around April 18th. So maybe people going to AX (coughmetacough) can have a chance to play.

EDIT: on a completely unrelated note, I realized I went to play Diva Arcade on 3/9. WHO WOULD HAVE KNEW

Undub

http://kotaku.com/5989361/hacking-the-japanese-voices-back-into-the-games

Best idea, I await when Atelier Ayesha gets this in some amazing manner.

Disgaea 4 (Unfinished)

For the record, my mage always say "mahou dayo", but I never hear the "m" sound so I always think she's saying "aho dayo".

Which, she is, and, it would totally fit her character.

...

"aho dayo~!"

Diva F

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/03/07/hatsune-miku-project-diva-f-might-be-coming-to-north-america-and-europe/

....Eeeeh? Well, convenience aside there's not much more reason to buy a japanese import vs a localized copy, since there's no real story. Oh well, Miku is getting way bigger than I imagined. :V

Cocktail

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/03/should-you-mix-those-two-drugs-a.html

Who needs the FDA or clinical trials when you have GOOGLE?!??!??! :V

Fly Wing

Well, ok, Cicada wing, actually.

http://www.nature.com/news/insect-wings-shred-bacteria-to-pieces-1.12533

Well this is interesting, a bunch of tiny spikes to pull bacteria to death. Never thought of that.

Skull Girls

THIS GAME HAS TOO MANY BUTTONS.

Even if you don't count the tag/partner buttons which add like an extra order of combinations you can do with the game, having 6 basic buttons is just so overwhelming. Even if you don't count any motion-moves (forward kick or something), your basic arsenal has already doubled - 6 moves standing, 6 moves crouching, 6 moves in the air. I've had 6 moves standing before USING that kind of motion-moves, maybe max 4 crouching type moves using motion moves (I had to get used to this too) and rarely any aerial moves past 4 as well. But this game DOES HAVE MOTION-MOVES so it actually has TOO MANY FREAKIN BUTTONS TO PUSH.

WITHOUT EVEN GETTING INTO THE COMMAND MOVES/SUPERS. Well, in return for having such a crapload of buttons it looks like their special skills are more limited, each character having like 2-3 command moves and 2-3 supers. Well, when you're typical 5aabc combo has now turned into a 5aabbcdf and its 10 other variants ("do 5abbdfe for a launcher!" "say what") I guess you don't need to care about special command moves anymore.

Blue Dress

NAOTO

IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOUR TAGS, HOW WOULD I EVER KNOW WHAT ANIME THIS IS FROM

MeguIngu

I find it kind of ironic that the original Japanese version looks more "American" than the English version. Unless this is British English Megpoid. Which, if it's the case, carry on.

Sharing

http://www.nature.com/news/intercontinental-mind-meld-unites-two-rats-1.12522

Next, we build giant space ships and encounter insect-like aliens. And idols.

What can possibly go wrong!

Sparkles

KIRA KIRA

Proposal

http://i.imgur.com/SKNl3VR.jpg

I guess you could say he's applying for a different kind of funding.


Other random: 1000TH POST

Barrels

Yup Barrels.

Rewrite - Quote from Terra (Spoiler?)

"Your action appears to have been expression of either desire or loyalty toward a member of the opposite sex."

"Therefore, it is clear that Tennouji Kotarou is lustfully enamored with Ka--"


FAIL KOTAROU, FAIL.

 "Tennouji Kotarou's lust is estimated to be astronom--"

HAHAHA HOW MUCH CAN YOU FAIL

"As compensation for your help, I will respond to your sexual desires."

He is at a point of no return.

"If you will save the planet, I will find it acceptable to perform horrible reproductive acts."

BEST PART OF TERRA.

EDIT: And then right after this conversation I get the "100 friends" quest complete. It probably doesn't mean anything but somehow I found that really funny and ironic.

Rewrite (Unfinished)

The only reason I'm making this blog post is because I am bored at work when I should be doing something else.


Kotori: The best.

Shizuru: Moebait. But her route was short and half of it was terribly boring.

Chihaya: Chihaya? no, you mean Sakuya. :V

Lucia: YOUR ROUTE IS TOO LONG

Akane: Shini.

???: Has short hair therefore by default is less moe than the others.

Pet

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/01/why-petting-feels-good.html

*nade nade*

My new goal in life is to create genetically engineered girls with lots of these cells and a phenotype for being short.

過食性:アイドル症候群

(┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ



It's an okay fun song (ok we can give some credit to MAYU, yay MAYU), but really, I only posted this here so I can use that funky icon.

(┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ

I don't really know anything from the title except that it has to do with idols. In fact I don't even know what this funky smiley even means. Yuisa Yuisa? :V

Google seems to think the second part is "Idol Syndrome", I have no idea what that first part interprets into, google says "overeating something". ...:V? Overdose maybe?

...

WHO CARES, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT! (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ (┓^ω^)┛ﾖｲｻﾖｲｻ

Review: SI of mGluR LTD

http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/NECO_a_00408

Ever since I started my PhD program I always wanted to do a weekly review, post on a science paper to keep me up to date, focused, and refine my scientific knowledge, reading, and writing skills.


Well, that never happened.

But this time I did write something up. I hope I can have enough motivation to do this again some time, though. Review/Summary of the paper is as follows.


=====

Long term effects on synapses are currently a hot topic in the neuroscience community as it is associated with learning and memory. Two of the major forms of long-term plasticity, known as Long Term Potentiation (LTP) and Long Term Depression (LTD), are studied extensively to understand its underlying mechanisms. In computational neuroscience, we try to use models to further our understanding of LTP and LTD; this paper is just one example of how one may try to go about this.

The schematic of this paper seems rather simple: conduct experiments which will induce LTD, then use System Identification to model it. Nevertheless the work required for such a paper is extensive. This model in particular focuses on mGluR-dependent LTD, in contrast to NMDA-dependent LTD (as is most other models currently available out there). For the experimental portion of this paper they use a chemical known as dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) to stimulate mGluR-dependent LTD... I’ll assume that the references support that this is indeed mGluR-dependent.
For modeling they use a Systems Identification approach, a top-down method where they attempt to extract the dynamics of LTD using transfer functions. They used four different datasets with differing DHPG concentration, duration of DHPG application and sampling rates; the input was defined as the DHPG concentration while the output was the fEPSP (post synaptic current) slope percent change as a result of application.

The transfer function used is of particular interest to me as it is more abstract and thus difficult to grasp than the experimental portion. From the paper, it seems the focus of the transfer function is the polynomial expansion using a “backward shift operator” z^-1. Basic definition of a backward shift operator is:

z^-1 * Y(t) = Y(t-1)

essentially, then, z^-1 = Y(t-1)/Y(t), a ratio of the past inputs compared with the current input. The polynomial coefficients are then estimated depending on a range on order (z^-n represents nth order) and time delays (1-10). The best model was determined through 3 statistical criteria (R^2, Akaike, Young) which each have their own criterion and reason for use.

The results of this paper are simple yet significant. For lower sampling rate (0.0033 Hz)Applying DHPG for 5 minutes at 15 uM gives about 20% reduction in slope size; application for 15 min give about 30% reduction; and applying 30 uM DHPG for 25 min also gives, on average, 30% reduction, but the effects take longer to stabilize. The authors state that the models approximate an integrator, meaning that time of application for input (5, 15, or 25 minutes) changes the response of the system.
The paper then discusses the results of the higher sampling rate (0.033 Hz). It gives a reasoning on why higher sampling rate should be used, but raises the question as to why they did not use this higher sampling rate for their previous experiments, as well, and instead have the higher sampling rate to be separate from the results of the others.
In all their results the highest order with the best fit turns out to be 2nd order. Judging from how the pattern of LTD looks, this seems accurate since there does not appear to be complex nonlinearities in LTD. The paper goes on to describe LTD as a certain subprocesses (serial, parallel, feedback), second order meaning there are two subprocesses, one with fast time constants and one with slow time constants. The results they give suggest there could be either parallel and/or feedback structures for their model.
In terms of the subprocesses, there is still some lack of understanding on behalf of myself to completely know how the coefficients and time constants relate to them, therefore I may need to determine how to work with them better.

As the experiment itself was rather conceptually simple, the discussion doesn’t seem to add much more to what is already known. Dynamics of the system is briefly mentioned. Additionally, they present evidence to support the experimental protocols which they used and explain a bit more about the modeling results with how it compares to the currently know physiological processes.

Overall the paper is a useful reference to see how System Identification can be used to model physiological data and how to interpret the model. As for its significance and usage, it seems a bit too rudimentary to have such a model in a larger scale modeling scheme such as EONS. The conditions are too specific and the experimental data to support the model is not enough. Nevertheless such a model can prove useful, not only through analyzing the dynamics, but as more is learned about mGluR related LTD, it can serve as one of the stepping stones to bring the entire process of synaptic plasticity together, which would then serve use to EONS in the future.

Undefined

Dat Miku Voice. O.O Nothing else to say about the song but WOW THAT VOICE SOUNDS SO DIFFERENT.

浮かれバケモノの朗らかな破綻

Alright that title is too long so I don't think I'd want to translate it right away.

This song, I don't really understand the lyrics, but that doesn't matter because the video is pretty well done. The singer is male and the song is okay, but what's really cool is the video and the story behind it. Just watching video makes you laugh and feel happy inside, it's something you don't really listen for the music but instead for the animation. There was a recent miku one like that before, but I really liked this one, including its designs.

I mean the girls in this video are so cuuute! :V

BTW the title on google translates it to: Collapse of cheerful monster spree. Uh, okay google. Cheerful monster spree it is. :V

ケッペキショウ

I haven't posted a vocaloid song in a while, it seems. I haven't really been listening to a lot of recent VOCALOID either. The more recent ones didn't sound good until this one showed up, although there was also this other really neat GUMI song which I think I never posted here... I should do that some time later. For now there's this one, and I happened to remember to post it this time. :V

The instrumentals in this one sound really cool, so that's why I like it. GUMI isn't too bad in singing this either. The video seems dramatic but I don't really know the meanings behind the theme as my Japanese is rather limited, so :V It's a neat song though so I can see why it reached nearly #1 not too long after it was released. 

The tital says "keppeki shower"... eer I think. What? :V what does google say? "Fastidiousness show" I see. No, I don't. 

Fujoshi Fish

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/12/scienceshot-homosexual-fish-more.html

The fandom... it exists in other species.

Brain Cells

http://www.nature.com/news/brain-cells-made-from-urine-1.11985

If this flies this is actually an incredible feat. Although its still funny to think about. Gives a new meaning to "mind in the gutter"! :V

Rapping

http://www.nature.com/news/brain-scans-of-rappers-shed-light-on-creativity-1.11835

This guy gets a name on a paper for being a rapper.

THIS IS ACADEMIA! THIS IS RESEARCH! THIS IS SCIENCEEEE

Gloss

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v15/n11/full/nn.3221.html

I do have to admit, gloss does WONDERs to an CG artwork at times. I think they started putting that in a lot of anime too (see: Denpa Onna). Not entirely logical, though, but I guess it tickles the brain! Just like this paper suggests.


GLOSS!

Where there's a Kan...

...I will steal it.

CHANKAN #6

The World Is Ending.

A PSP rhythm game based on GUMI is coming out.

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/10/09/report-new-vocaloid-game-featuring-megpoid-coming-to-psp-this-spring

命短し恋せよ乙女

I'm pretty surprised, a Teto song that sounds pretty good. Well, it could have been that there are lots of good Teto songs out there but not many of them reach the top 10, that's for sure. I do like the pacing and the art designs in this song. I think I'd like the lyrics too if I knew what it was talking about... :V

I think the title has to do something with life and love and young maidens... Something about short-lived maidens? :V

...Google Translate says "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may". Wait... what?

Atelier Meruru part ??? (I forgot already)

Pepped up Healing Salves are the best.

If there was one thing I regretted in Totori coming from Rorona, it was that I couldn't register the Pepped Up trait (because in Totori they don't let you register high level traits). You could get your chims to do it, but you might as well let your Chims make some better, high end items like N/A or Elixirs instead, so really the Pepped Up trait was lost through obscurity.

But, in Meruru they brought that back. In Meruru items have a tendency to be stupidly expensive so while you can register high end traits your items tend to be ridiculously expensive as well. But not if your item itself is relatively cheap. Healing salves is like the crappiest of all healing items, but that's all you really need if you ever get hit.

So now I get these awesome, autoheal-on-hit healing salves that heal for a reasonable amount of damage, then when my turn rolls around I recover even more damage from HP regen, then Convert lets me regen even more HP upon attacking... and then even if the enemy manages to kill me, I have auto-res so I don't really die...Endless HP is great!


...too bad this doesn't help when your enemy moves 5 turns in a row, choosing to heal 3k HP each turn... NEW PLAN NEEDED

Vocaloid Art (naoto)

Amazing art is amazing. GUMI-CHANNNN~~~ (IA too~)

Atelier Meruru 2nd Playthrough Pt. 2

I may have said this before somewhere, but when Totori is on the topic of making homunculi she has the best and cutest face ever.

"e-he! I can't tell you yet!"

You truly wonder what's going on in her mind... :V

EDIT: Story parts aside, I have already begun the "overpowering chars to break the game" process. I notice that most people in the boards are going for speed such that enemies can't do a thing before they get obliterated by Meruru's team. because of the whole "doesn't use a part of your day if meruru doesn't get a turn" thing, this would make sense - pump the speed of your allies so that they obliterate everything before Meruru can even move. For the most part this is cool with the common enemies.

For bosses though, it's cooler to see their attacks and see how you can withstand them! So I'm going the defense and HP healing route. Sadly defense is mostly for non-elemental attacks only, and getting full elemental immunity for all 4 elements seems like a really difficult task. Luckily, we have HP regen! And luckily, we have a ton of traits for HP regen that can stack on top of each other! And then we have auto-KO recover (after one turn)! So essentially the only way an enemy can obliterate my team is if it launches some wide-scale attack that would OHKO anyone... well... lets hope that doesn't happen. But...

Totori's HP regen is looking freaking amazing right now, though. Heals for 78 HP per turn without items, with the mystery Ankh it heals for 100 HP per turn, then, pocketwatch for auto KO recovery... HAHAHA COME AT HER YOU GUYS, JUST TRY AND KILL HER, SHE'LL COME BACK ALIVE LIKE A ZOMBIE HAHAHA

Oh right we can also top it off with some Lively or Pepped Up trait and along with the convert function which absorbs HP from attack HAHAHA TOTORI IS UNSTOPPABLE HAHAHAHAHA

Atelier Meruru (2nd Playthrough)

THESE ENDING REQUIREMENTS HOLY CRAP WTF WTF WHAT WHAT WHY IS IT NOT JUST "increase char friendship" ;o; ;o; ;o;

Ren＊Ai

The song that starts in the middle.

No, seriously. :V Certainly gave me a "wait, what?" feeling since I was tabbed out to do other things, and suddenly the pace of the song changed.

It's not too bad of a song, but then again I don't think there's been a lot of good songs lately. There seems to be some theme of China and GUMI for whatever reason, which is interesting, but not that good sounding imo. Oh, there is also this rather realistic and slightly freaky video of Miku singing Disappearance... the eyes don't have enough saccades so the model doesn't turn out as realistic as it could have been (putting aside the unrealistically perfect proportions in other parts of the body). But that's not this video. This video is LOVE!

Hi-Res Printing

http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v7/n9/full/nnano.2012.128.html

They say " security, steganography, nanoscale optical filters and high-density spectrally encoded optical data storage"

I say QUALITY (color) DOUJINSHI

Rinshan

Closed Kan on dora.

Flipped over 3m.

drew 4m, also dora.

was winning tile, as well as keeping me in tanyao.

Took a while to get my first rinshan, but looked to be a good one! :V

Hey look red dora too!

Neptunia Anime

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-08-28/compile-heart-neptunia-rpgs-also-get-anime

In honesty I really didn't think Neptunia would get an anime, at all, considering it is a relatively not-so-great series although the concept is pretty amusing.

BUT HEY

NEPGEAR, RIGHT? :V

I think I'd have preferred an Atelier anime series though.

EDIT: What IS apparently happening with the Atelier series: http://andriasang.com/con2ew/atelier_totori_vita/ <<< proof that Totori is the best 

Growing Brains

http://www.nature.com/news/tissue-engineering-the-brainmaker-1.11232

Since this is Japan, I hope that in the future we can have home-grown moe maid humanoids~!

I saw a good amount of fanart for this song so I wanted to check out and see what it's about. Apparently, it's about China! :V I think the song in itself isn't too bad, but I believe the acting and the lyrics are what makes this video pretty amusing. I don't understand all of what's going on, but I do notice the times when the VOCALOIDS try to speak Chinese, which is pretty funny.

The title seems to say some kind of fanclub... what does google translate say?!? ...nope google translate isn't helping me either. ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Atelier Totori 2 (Unfinished, part 2)

From now on I'm no longer calling this game "Atelier Meruru", but in actuality it will be "Atelier Totori 2" because clearly (to me) this is just a sequel to the first Atelier Totori game. And "Atelier Rorona" is of course "Atelier Totori 0".

TOTORI IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OKAY.


Anyway. There is some early spoilers but I highly doubt anyone who is interested in the game will have not played it by now.


So Hom-chan is back! I'm happy, but I liked her outfit in the first game better :(. But still, nice to have artificial humans running around doing my work for me. We get them pretty early in the game too, so that's nice, along with the registering of items. This is useful considering how annoying it is to synthesize items that require like 7 steps when you start with the basic gatherable ingredients...

Oh yeah. Astrid is such a jerk. :V

Atelier Meruru (Unfinished, Part 1)

Oh god Totori's win pose is so cute.

Oh man oh man oh man TOTORI I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK TOTORIIIIIIIII TOTORIIIIIIIII


...what? Meruru? Who's that? :V

Comiket 82 Day 3

1. That feel where you go in circles in an area for so long after having bought so much stuff, you aren't sure if you bought doujin from that good looking booth already or not.  (and of course you have too much stuff you're carrying to bother looking through and checking)

2. People say its awkward when they see a cute little girl selling hardcore ero doujin. I find it more awkward finding 50-60 year old people selling loli moebait stuff... >.> Oh well, don't discriminate!

3. Screw east hall ero doujin, west hall 2 original works is where its at. Everything is SO AMAZING THERE.

4. Comiket traffic is like everyday Hong Kong rush hour subways, except you tend to have goods you want to protect rather than yourself. But I daresay Hong Kong at the subway is a worse experience in general than Comiket.

5. Somehow, I had the MOST stuff I wanted to buy today, but I finished up comiket the earliest today. I blame pointless 3 hour lines in the previous days which I desperately avoided today.

6. Advice for future comiket goers: use the backdoor to go between east-west. Less than 5 minutes to go from one hall to another. I had no trouble going from west to east to west again.  It was more trouble going through the halls itself, especially east hall. 


...I need to buy a new suitcase. :|

Comiket 82 Day 2

"Hah! I don't need to buy tapestries, they're useless!!"

*buys 2* "..."




"Okay, no more bags, I can't carry all of them back and they're terribly hard to pack. No more bags, no more bags."

*gets special edition set because... of the bag* "Wait... shit."

Comike 82 Day 1

Buying that seemingly useless bookcase cover was the best purchase I have ever made so far.

History Cycles

http://www.nature.com/news/human-cycles-history-as-science-1.11078

This is pretty cool, mainly because I really can see something happening in 2020. Judging just from the rancor on facebook alone, it will probably be something about gay rights, industry copyright vs freedom of internet, or both.

I think the medium might be different though. Whereas before there is a lot of riots straight out on the streets, I think there's going to be a lot more focus on online activity when the next "revolution" comes.

Jurassic Park

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/08/01/0435229/australian-billionaire-wants-to-build-jurassic-park-style-resort

Eerm. wtf, really? :V


ga-GAOooo... :V

チルドレンレコード

Actually, I don't think song was that great at first but it kind of grew on me again. It's Jin I guess, what do you expect. Although this song hasn't let me win a mahjong game once yet. Probably not the best song to play for mahjong. I think IA isn't a good choice for music when I play mahjong. :|

Title seems to say "Children Record"... okay... :V 

Pathogenic Treatment

http://www.nature.com/news/can-bacteria-fight-brain-cancer-1.11080

This is a pretty scary concept... purposely try to boost the immune system response with an infection to fight off cancer? That's dealing with the immune system, bacteria, and cancer at the same time... this is a really scary concept. :|

The people being treated have to have a REALLY healthy body other than cancer for this to work!

39

Its a deco27 (and sasakure.uk) Miku song on my birthday! Happy Birthday! A song like this must be great right?!?! Well, honestly its not the best, but still not too bad. Something not too bad to listen to in loop for a while.

In other news, its my birthday but not much exciting stuff happened. I was supposed to have a birthday dinner but it got cancelled, so instead I watched smile precure... for a rather gloomy birthday Smile Precure put a smile on my face... ;_;

Beauty goes "こっち　こっち!" Waaah she's so cute! :V

Exploding Termites

Just going around, looking at random articles lazily when suddenly I see:

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/07/old-termites-blow-themselves-up-.html


how can I not read this.

Franken-Jellyfish

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/07/artificial-jellyfish-swims-like-.html

Next stop, Ika-musume zombies! she'll eat your brains-ika!

Cell Simulation

http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(12)00776-3

Nothing else to say, other than this is really really cool.

Where I first saw this info:

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/07/20/2131234/software-emulates-organisms-entire-lifespan?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

走れ

Lots of good GUMI songs lately, GUMI seems pretty popular these couple days! Must be because her birthday recently passed. I really like how this song has a steady melodic "up and down" pattern in both the stanzas and choruses. It starts off pretty straightforward, then goes a bit up and down, sort of like strolling around hilly areas.

Speaking of strolling, I'm pretty sure the title to this song means something like "Walking".
...google says "Hashire". ...What?

Concerts

I went to two concerts while I was in Hong Kong (I think I briefly mentioned this before on my blog). I never did anything for the KOTOKO concert and now I mostly don't have too much to say about it anymore, except that she did some of her older songs, some of her not-so-old songs, and some of her recent releases. Overall, I liked it and I think in general, concertwise, the KOTOKO concert was better.


Shoko-tan concert had, interestingly enough, a much more enthused atmosphere. Perhaps because it was advertised more or she's more popular in Hong Kong, I'm not sure. But whereas the KOTOKO concert there was no benefit for coming early, I really should have came earlier for the Shoko-tan concert because there was actually quite a few cosplayers and people who dressed up. For the cosplay there was Mikus, Saint Seiya people who i don't know (I think Saint Seiya is very popular in China... :V) and a pair of Smile Precure cosplayers! As usually my incredible shyness prevented me from getting  a picture of them, but its okay.

Shoko-tan concert was... hmm... how to say it, I wasn't quite as enthused I feel as the other concerts. Maybe its because I don't know a lot of her songs in general. But she did sing quite a few anime songs, songs which are a bit older. The anime songs she sang were:

Gurren Laggan Intro (obviously)
Some series I didn't watch
Saint Saiya intro (only know this because she said she'd sing it, well, also the chorus has "SAINT SAIYA" in it)
Don't Be Lazy (I guess a lot of HK people watched K-On)
the Ranka Kira song I keep forgetting the title to (which btw not a lot of people seemed to know, not even much reaction to "kira"... I guess Macross F wasn't big in HK)
Aquarion intro (people who haven't watched the anime even know this song... I'm guessing most of the HK fans did watch it though...I think)
God Knows... (Man, to think Haruhi is considered old now...)
Sailor Moon (remake coming in 2013, derp :V)
Chinese Gurren Laggan Intro (...wow really?)


She also sang a bunch of her own songs which I didn't know of. One of the songs was some cat song, and then the dancers came out with a bunch of freaky cat mask things... it was uh, not too cool imo, but oh well.

In particular one of the things that seemed bothersome about the concert (besides loud nice, but that's in every concert) is the lights. The lights often flashed really brightly, to the audience, and also at a really high frequency so it actually became rather bothersome. It seems likely it could be seizure inducing! Well, aside from that, it was an interesting experience and I don't regret going to the concert. It could be better, but it was fun all the same.

And now I should get back to work. :V Actually I have something to write up somewhat related to my work but I shall write that another day when I feel like procrastinating again.

卯月の嘘

I really like the pacing of this song. Sometimes it goes at normal speeds, sometimes it goes at slow, steady, emphasize beats, and sometimes its just fast (at the chorus). Really fun song to listen to. And play mahjong to. But maybe the latter is just because I seem to win when listening to this song. :V GUMI songs are the way to go for me with mahjong! :V The title seems to say... some moon's lie? Let's ask google! "Uzuki's Lie"? April's Lie? April fools?!?!? :V

Rewatching Saki

Spoilers but seriously who hasn't watched saki first season anymore.


HOLY CRAP I DIDN'T REALIZE WHEN I FIRST WATCHED BECAUSE I HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON, BUT KAJIKI YUKI COULD HAVE MADE A COMEBACK WITH ANOTHER CHANKAN AGAINST SAKI... IF SHE WAS IN TENPAI WITH THE KOKUSHI MUSOU YUKI YOU ARE SO AWESOME

Additionally, skipping through the show, it seems like only one east was discarded (east and the 1p(obviously) were the two Yuki was missing) and none of the others had East in their hand, so her chances seem REALLY likely.

I feel like Momo now. :|

藤ちょこ

http://www.fuzichoco.com/

Why choco, when did you ever get your own domain name.

And facebook page.

Clearly I haven't been paying attention to her enough...! :V

EDIT: http://overload.co.nz/

Seriously fuzicoco you're going to NEW ZEALAND OF ALL PLACES???? ;o;  Why can I never meet her...? ;o;

random cat. do not worry about this.

　　　　　　　　 ,-､　　　　　　　　　　　　,.-､
　　　　　　　 ./:::::＼　　　　　　　　　 ／::::::ヽ
　　　　　　　/::::::::::::;ゝ--──-- ､._/::::::::::::::|
　　　　　　 /,.-‐''"´ 　　　　　　　　 ＼:::::::::::|
　　　　　／　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ヽ､::::|
　　　　/　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ヽ|
　　 　 l　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 l
　　　 .|　　　 ●　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　|　　　　んーと
　 　 　l　　, , ,　　　　　　　　　　　●　　　　 l
　　　　` ､　　　　　　(_人__丿　　　　､､､ 　 /　
　　　　　　`ｰ ､__　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 ／
　　　　　　　　　/`'''ｰ‐‐──‐‐‐┬'''""´

　　　　　　　　 ,-､　　　　　　　　　　　　,.-､
　　　　　　　 ./:::::＼　　　　　　　　　 ／::::::ヽ
　　　　　　　/::::::::::::;ゝ--──-- ､._/::::::::::::::|
　　　　　　 /,.-‐''"´ 　　　　　　　　 ＼:::::::::::|
　　　　　／　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ヽ､::::|
　　　　/　　　　●　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 ヽ|
　　 　 l　　　, , ,　　 　 　 　 　 　 ●　　　 　 l
　　　 .|　　　 　　　　(_人__丿　　　　　､､､　　|　　　　よく分かんない
　 　 　l　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 l
　　　　` ､　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 /
　　　　　　`ｰ ､__　　　 　 　 　　　　　　　／
　　　　　　　　　/`'''ｰ‐‐──‐‐‐┬'''""´ 

EDIT:
　　　　　　　　 ,-､　　　　　　　　　　　　,.-､
　　　　　　　 ./:::::＼　　　　　　　　　 ／::::::ヽ
　　　　　　　/::::::::::::;ゝ--──-- ､._/::::::::::::::|
　　　　　　 /,.-‐''"´ 　　　　　　　　 ＼:::::::::::|　　　つ
　　　　　／　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ヽ､::::|　　　っ
　　　　/　　　　　ノ　　　　　　　　　　　　　ヽ|
　　 　 l　　　　　　　　　　 　 　ヽ 　 　 　 　 l
　　　 .|　　　 ＞　　　　　　　　　　　　　u　　|　　　　わかんない
　 　 　l　　, , ,　　　　　　　　　　　＜　　　　 l
　　　　` ､　u　　　　(_人__丿　　　　､､､ 　 /
　　　　　　`ｰ ､__　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 ／
　　　　　　　　　/`'''ｰ‐‐──‐‐‐┬'''""´ 

Sing GUMI, Happy Birthday!

Looks like some good GUMI songs for her birthday came out after all.



It's tearfish's illustration! Bonus points for that! (Although her illustration looks more like miki than GUMI :V) That aside, I'm not too sure about the monotonic parts for most of the song, but I think chorus is pretty cool to listen to, as is the intermission. Instrumentals and illustration make this song pretty decent. I'm guessing the red haired girl is why the song is called "Cranberry"....



Somehow, I get the feeling the lyrics to this song would be really amusing to read. The video is pretty cute as usual, and the song has a nice "informative" feel to it. I guess its a pretty amusing song to listen to while watching the video, which is pretty fun. :V "Heartbreak Headlines"! Sounds like a good relationship song huh.



The first place song, and the song I've been listening to most of the day. A pretty normal song that's reminiscent of a few songs from supercell and KOTOKO (uh, just from my experience...). The more of the melodic ones that is, without excessive rock or excessive "poppy" style. Just a good "Rising" song if it makes song. I guess it tries to sound epic! As if, it were the World's Last Confession or something!!!!

First Mahjong Game

A long long time ago (ok maybe like about a year ago) I played tenhou for the first time. In my very first game, I got a yakuman. I didn't know really how to play or what I was doing. I never took a screenshot so I couldn't relive the moment ever again.

I think it looked something like this.

What's that? I got the yakuman again? No, that's not important. What is important is the fond mahjong memories of the past! Ah, past life... if only I had that same kind of luck I had before...

Oh wait.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUMI

This year, I came prepared for the onslaught. Last year I was caught off guard and then it was like "WHOOSH HUGE AMOUNT OF PAGES OF GUMI PICS TO GO THROUGH". Well, this year, just as expected, there was still a huge amount of pictures, but I was prepared! Still have to go through 29 pages and counting, the pictures are still coming in since her birthday's not over yet...

I would include some vocaloid videos but I don't like any of the more recent ones that much... I already put the ones I liked in the previous post, so now I'll just take some pictures directly from pixiv. :V

Suddenly, lots of VOCALOID

...songs.



The current highest ranking song. A rather serious and dark song for IA, with a reasonably good melody. Usually these kinds of songs are too rock-type for my tastes, but sometimes they sound pretty good. GUMI's Moziak Role was about the same. Admittedly, not the best song I think for IA, but I think it's still pretty neat. Title is something like a "complete trap love rater"? :V HAHA THAT SAYS LOVE LETTER GOOD JOB. :V "Perfect Crime Love Letter"



It looks like Happy Synthesizer all over again, except Miku instead of Luka! The little charms in the song are pretty cute and catchy. The voices weren't done too well I think in this song, but the song is definitely cute, so its a fun song to listen to. The title is "Love Potion", I'm pretty sure I didn't get this wrong this time.



Classic melodic GUMI song! You're classic soft rock song with gentle melodies and love themes. Well, we have enough of these songs, but hey, its GUMI, and its GUMI's birthday tomorrow, so why not?!? Anyway I have no idea what the title is supposed to be so we use google again!!! "Hoshi Ai" I guess something like "want love"? :V



WARM AND FLUFFY!!! FLUFFY FLUFFY SONG!!! :V SOOOO PUFFY AND WAFFY!! V: ...PERFECT SONG FOR MAHJONG, don't you think? Well, it earned me a win with up to 50k points... but... this song is so FLUFFY!! makes you want to turn around in circles and dance in the snooooooow waaaaff fluffy fluffy.... V: Wait the title? "And then you got the moon", so it seems to say... wait I didn't need to use google translate for that... hmm, this is bad, I might know too much japanese now... actually I'm probably wrong so lets see what google translate says. "became the moon". Oh, really? You became the moon? that's nice. FLUFFY

PhD Reasoning and Review

http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7403-431a Yeah, I think this is a pretty good article.

こちら、幸福安心委員会です。

In a continuation of weird titles... well... :V

Man what the hell is this song! Something about happiness? Google translate says..."Peace of Mind is Happiness" Committee. WELL THEN.

人畜無害

My god the voice is so terrible in this but THE COSTUMES THE COSTUMES THE COSTUUUUMEEESSS

COOOOOSTUUUUMMME PLAAAAAYYYYY

The title seems to say something like Human something No Harm but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong so lets ask google translate again: Harmless man/beast. Well, okay. :V Maybe humans shouldn't harm beasts? Sounds like a vegetarian song!

Mar-Rie-d

http://kotaku.com/5919810/when-getting-married-means-goodbye-fan-club-and-no-more-sexy-pillows

Wait, isn't she the one that does Neptune's voice from Hyperdimension Neptunia?!?

CANNOT SEE NEPTUNE AS MARRIED, CANNOT--

Well, maybe her CPU form, I guess... :V

And time moves on slowly...Chii...

Scientists and Squirrels

http://scientopia.org/blogs/blather/2012/06/18/squirrel-war/

Sometimes, reading academic blogs is quite amusing.

RISING...

On the left, we have someone who didn't know which button to press to win the game.

On the top, we have a hand that's worth no points, so he can't win.

...I don't know what's going on on the right.

...WELL, a yakuman is a yakuman I guess!

Arata-Naru Sekai (Announcement)

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-06-07/denpa-onna-iruma-madhouse-plan-arata-naru-sekai-anime

hmmmm I like this concept quite a lot. Unfortunately, this doesn't look like it will work in the US very well since  its not likely all three will be translated all at once, especially for the light novel department... But maybe. It sounds cool!

初恋学園・純愛科

It's a manga-video! But man, why does GUMI have to be a guy? V: Stupid Rin... Also, it seems like twitter is no longer receiving my blog posts... I'm going to need to investigate, some time in the future. Wonder if something broke with the connector service thing. Anyway the title says something like first love school... something something afterwards. Innocent love or something. Well, I can worry about it later... maybe. V:

Miku Vita

http://www.jp.playstation.com/psvita/crystalwhite/miku/

>August 30th, 2012

>will only be in Japan August 9th to 14th


DAMMIT

I guess I'll just have to settle with Diva Extend.

如月アテンション

Lately, this "Jin" artist has been producing some decent songs. A few of his (her?) earlier songs I didn't like too much, but I really liked the fantasy forest song and this one isn't so bad either. I also really like the fact that he seems to use characters from his/her previous songs and includes them in his newer songs. I think that gives kind of a "fun" feel to it! The title of this song is uh... something moon attention. Well, it has to do with idols, right :V Google says 如月 is "Kisaragi"... thanks google, that helps a lot. :|

恋愛フィロソフィア

MIKU IS SO CUTE IN THIS VIDEO, EVEN THOUGH I'M WATCHING THIS IN LQ BECAUSE OF HIGH BW HOURS ... I need to watch this video again during low traffic hours so I can fully appreciate the moe... The song itself... well its nice. I wouldn't say its something too amazing but it fits the video pretty nicely, and the video is really nice. The title is something like "love"... firon fire? I have no idea what the middle part is. Lets as google! oh that's not a "n", its a "so", so philosophia? what? :V

Irony

Starting off I didn't think this song was that great, but I think here the song has a powerful sentimental effect, its sadness sort of touches people... well, at least for those who are feeling sad, anyway. Maybe. :V It's a nice a video, albeit pretty... sad. LOOK AT MY GREAT VARIATION IN VOCABULARY

Daydream

http://idle.slashdot.org/story/12/05/21/1721245/allowing-the-mind-to-wander-aids-creative-problem-solving?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

I guess this is supposed to be a good thing, especially for me? I'm not sure that thinking about the next anime I should watch is spurring my creativity in work, though. :V

空想フォレスト

IA IS SO FREAKIN CUTE CAN'T HELP BUT LOVE~

I've noticed that my commentary for Vocaloid has been deteriorating more and more... um... I'll figure what to do about it eventually. Maybe.

Title, I think, has to do something with... "empty" forest? Forgotten forest? Let's ask google!! ..."Fantasy" well, I wouldn't have guessed that!

Mr. Wonderboy

MAN THIS MIKU IS SO CUTE

Unfortunately, nicovideo has times where it lowers the quality of the videos due to high traffic... I'm going to need to watch this again during the less traffic hours, although that's harder for me now since I'm actually close to Japan time now... :/

Subway Systems

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/05/17/0134254/worlds-subways-share-common-mathematical-structure

01:39 <@GUMI-chan> the only exception to this is LA.
01:40 <@GUMI-chan> however
01:40 <@GUMI-chan> LA DOES have this sort of setup with its freeway system.
01:40 <@GUMI-chan> hmm
01:40 <@GUMI-chan> actually that's pretty interesting.

Concerts

Thought Process, about 2 hours ago.

"Hmm... So I heard about this Shoko Nakagawa concert yesterday, and I'm pretty interested in going... I'll need to see if I can find people to go with me. But in the meantime, let's check it's pricing... hmm... not bad, nothing over 100$, prices seem reasonable. I wonder what other concerts there are...

...wait...

...is that KOTOKO?...

...performing THIS FRIDAY??...

........................."


BLAH, we have a new schedule. You better come to this.

FONTS

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/05/scienceshot-large-fonts-elicit.html

RESEARCH IS SERIOUS BUSINESS

Mayu

http://mayusan.jp/

http://www.vocaloidism.com/2012/05/07/exit-tunes-announces-vocaloid-during-live-event/

ExitTunes is kind of big, I think, so this is pretty interesting.

"Yandere Middle School Student" and gothloli frillies? :V I am curious.

Ultimately, though, how the voice will turn out will determine how successful it will be. And maybe which producers will use her. But then again, ExitTunes! Might work. She looks so moe though!

セツナトリップ

I CAN GO TO HON-- wait wrong topic.

ANYWAY this song is pretty interesting. My mood is pretty good right now, so I might be more optimistic than usual. I think the voice in this song is done pretty well, although overall in the middle of the melody, I got kind of...hmm what's the best term, bored? Maybe not to that extent, though.

The title says something like "Setsuna Trip", where I'm not quite sure what setsuna means.

Oh right. "AH, MOU, GIIITAAA~~!!!"