June 23, 2007
Apropos of apathy...
I haven't been feeling the joy of blogging recently, so I'm taking a semi-almost-kinda-break. To tide you over until I get back into it, here's a music video from way back when.
How to be a Millionaire by ABC.
Loved it then, love it now. Hard to believe it was 22 years ago...
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June 05, 2007
Midway Myths Debunked
Today, June 5th, is the 65th anniversary of one of the biggest victories in US Naval history, the Battle of Midway. LGF
links to a post on the battle that, while well-written, brings out the usual myths of
"The Miracle At Midway".
The story of Midway is well-known by now, thanks to numerous books and one feature film. Most of these books, and the movie, were mostly (if not entirely) based on American sources and a perishingly few translated Japanese "I was there" accounts that were never checked for accuracy.
Now that more researchers are able to read the raw Japanese data, such as the official War history of Japan (the Senshi Sosho), it's clear that much of what we "know" of the battle of Midway needs to be reevaluated.
Let's go over some of those myths, shall we?
1) "The near total destruction of the first wave of U.S. pilots and crew on board the "low and slow†torpedo bombers was not in vain; it alone made possible the exact conditions that allowed 50 U.S. dive bombers to send the Japanese armada to the bottom of the ocean minutes later."
2) "Four sitting duck Japanese carriers, without their protective shield of Zero fighter planes, with scores if not hundreds of Japanese planes sitting on the carrier decks, strewn with ordnance, fuel and crew..."
3) "The combined Japanese Alaskan and Midway forces, including those in support role, involved 200 ships, including 8 carriers, 11 battleships, 22 cruisers, 65 destroyers, 21 submarines and approximately 700 aircraft."
4)"A small Japanese carrier group first launched an attack on Alaska, intended to draw the U.S. Fleet out of Pearl..."
5)"The US Navy - outnumbered in carriers, ships, technology, planes and pilots - had achieved the greatest naval victory in modern history."
I'll discuss all of these below... read on, won't you?
more...
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1
When I saw the title of the post, I said to myself, "I'll bet he's read
Shattered Sword." One of the best nonfiction books I've ever read, BTW.
Posted by: Mike at June 05, 2007 10:36 PM (gJDlA)
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Meh, a lot of this is just contrarian hair-splitting. Almost every battle won by the inferior force is fought by nearly-even elements at the point of contact, and most feature local superiorities of force by the victory. It's rather the point, achieving superior concentration of force, isn't it? Look at Jackson's May 1862 Valley campaign - he was outnumbered decisively at every moment of the campaign if you total up the theatre resources, but he enjoyed significant numerical advantages in every single tactical battle.
I'm not much on naval history - if the four ships of the Carrier Force only carried ~250 planes, and the other three fleets in the theatre only had four light carriers between them, how do we get to a total force of 700 planes? Is that number just bullshit?
As for techological imbalances, was radar a tactical factor in Midway? I seem to remember from the few books I read on the battle that everybody was flailing around with line-of-sight flying boats. I'll grant you superior damage-control & carrier design, but the torpedo imbalance cancels that out, and the worthlessness of the torpedo planes & the period superiority of the Zero seem to be rather important elements which bear out the myth.
Your other myths seem to be more akin to misperceptions & mis-statements than actual errors - the torpedo plane runs *did* expose the carriers to the dive bombers when it mattered, the repeated American attacks *did* keep the Japanese carriers from mustering a decisive attack on the American fleet, the Aleutians force *was* an attempt at concentration-in-time.
There are much more controversial & mis-understood battles out there - you ever want to see fur fly, bring up Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing. Or Perrysville/Chaplin Hills. Or Stones River/Murfreesboro. Or even Antietam/Sharpsburg. Hell, they can't even agree on the names, let alone which side won, or how!
As decisive battles go, Midway was pretty danged decisive, although naval battles tend to be somewhat more decisive than land engagements in general.
Posted by: Mitch H. at June 06, 2007 12:49 AM (iTVQj)
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Mitch, if you take the maximum number of planes the eight Japanese carriers could theoretically carry, and add in the seaplanes carried by the Midway Assault force, you come within sighting distance of 700. Closer than that, I can't get, so I don't
know where the number 700 came from. But that's the same rationale that says that the US faced "8 carriers, 11 battleships, 22 cruisers, 65 destroyers" at Midway.
You say
"Almost every battle won by the inferior force is fought by nearly-even elements at the point of contact, and most feature local superiorities of force by the victory."
Here's the thing: IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY. The Japanese fleet specifically and knowingly threw away their advantage in ships and planes, and
didn't care. They WANTED to have it that way.
Was radar a tactical factor at Midway? Not a huge one, I'll grant you, but it WAS there, and the US used it to vector their CAP around much better than the Japanese could ever hope for.
Gotta go to work, more later.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 06, 2007 01:14 AM (2nDll)
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The Pacific Theater geek in me is thoroughly pleased. Well done, fellow waterfowl!
Posted by: GreyDuck at June 06, 2007 01:47 AM (2Yvi7)
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"...the repeated American attacks *did* keep the Japanese carriers from mustering a decisive attack on the American fleet."
Yes, quite true. However, that's not what the original article said, and the many many books on the subject don't say that either. They simply say that the death of the various Torpedo squadrons 'drew down the Zeros', and that's NOT what happened.
"...the Aleutians force *was* an attempt at concentration-in-time."
I'm afraid that's entirely incorrect.
Concentration would be putting everything in the same place. The Aleutians force was the exact OPPOSITE of concentration. Those two carrier decks, if put in with
Kaga, Akagi, et al, could... perhaps WOULD... have made Midway a completely different event.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 06, 2007 02:31 PM (A5s0y)
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"Concentration in time" is a goofy strategic concept you run into a lot in discussion of the American Civil War. The idea is to put as many of your elements in motion at the same time, so as to overwhelm a numerically inferior enemy with threats & hopefully provoke an ill-timed reaction such that the force in motion is unavailable at the crisis, being in transit. The classic example is Halleck's attempt at concentration-in-time by coordinating operations between Grant, Burnside, and Rosecrans in December 1862, which supposedly worked because a large division was en transit from Bragg's army in Tennessee to Mississippi instead of pitching in with the rest of Bragg's troops at Stone's River.
The fact that none of the December 1862 operations were what you'd want to call particularly successful (they included Fredericksburg, Grant's first failure against Vicksburg and the bloody tactical see-saw in front of Murfreesboro) didn't divert Union commanders from repeatedly trying for the same thing - concentration in time. The ugly mess in Virginia in May 1864 was yet another swing at the concept.
Concentration-in-time is usually employed by a numerically superior force in a logistically problematic theatre. If it's theoretically easier & cheaper to move three forces of 40k along three separate axes than one lumbering, starving mass of 120k along a single axis, then you'll have somebody pushing for concentration-in-time. That obviously wouldn't apply in the Midway example... hmm.
So if the Aleutians diversion wasn't a concentration-in-time effort or a true feint, what was it? Clearly, the Japanese would want to engage the American naval force away from the ground bases at Midway or Honolulu - engage his fractions with your mass, not vice-versa. I know the Japanese didn't realize that the
Yorktown was in theatre, they'd already had a recent demonstration in the Coral Sea that American carrier groups weren't pushovers even *without* the support of a nearby airbase or string of airbases.
Posted by: Mitch H. at June 07, 2007 04:43 AM (iTVQj)
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I always took Midway to be a "Turning Point in World History" in that it is probably the clearest of the second world war battles in which victory is won through information supremacy rather than industrial supremacy, something which holds true even though the sides were much closer to being equal than is often acknowledged. The Battle of Britain is probably the first example, although one that is not as well defined as a battle. As modern warfare is much more warfare of informational supremacy rather than warfare of industrial supremacy, Midway does represent the start of an important trend. World War 2 may be seen as the last of the wars of industrial supremacy and the first of the wars of informational supremacy.
The tendency to romanticize great moments in history is something that will always be with us, for good and for ill.
Posted by: Civilis at June 07, 2007 09:57 AM (rgi1K)
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The last account I read on Midway was in Keenan's book on intelligence - he used it as an argument that even thorough and precise intelligence was often unhelpful in the actual combat encounter.
Did the Japanese suffer from a lack of concentration of forces? Absolutely - like you said, a few of those light carriers might have turned the tide, or at least prevented the kind of fatal damage to the Japanese fleet carriers that made the engagement decisive.
A lot of the reason -why- the Japanese had done so, however, was a fundamental miscalculation of which elements constituted the strength of the fleet. It's easy for us to say "duh, the carriers are more important than everything else put together" - we're looking back at the issue through the lens of history, especially the history of the Pacific Theater, where carriers came into their leading role.
The Japanese admirals, though, -simply did not appreciate that fact-. What Midway was designed to do was provoke a "decisive battle" with the American fleet, and to the Japanese, that meant the American battleships. If you look at their fleet deployment as putting the big battleships in front, and deploying the carriers to cover the battleships like some kind of long-range artillery... of course it didn't work, especially as we knew that they were doing things that way, but it was definitely a conventional way of looking at a fleet engagement.
The Japanese knew that carriers were important, but still believed in their battleships, right up until the end; the US went from the same opinion to using battleships for "harbor defense" in port. ;p There were also big differences in aviator training and replacement programs, so that the US naval aviation experience survived some pretty heavy losses during the war, while the Japanese reserve of (very) skilled pilots was utterly exhausted even before the carriers and planes ran dry.
Posted by: Avatar at June 07, 2007 11:02 AM (s42Qj)
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"So if the Aleutians diversion wasn't a concentration-in-time effort or a true feint, what was it?"
A seperate operation altogether. Particularly after the Doolittle raid, the Japanese were very paranoid about attacks on the Home Islands. They feared that air attacks could be launched from the Aleutians against Japan, so moved to prevent that from ever happening.
The "funny" thing is that they had little concept of the weather up there, and how miserable it was to fly in; the US had pretty much given up on staging bombers out of there.
The Aleutians were also a compromise. Pre-Doolittle, the Army were opposed to the Midway operation (remember, the Japanese military was very stratified; the Army and Navy often refused to work together). Post-Doolittle, the Army said that they'd support the Midway landings if the Navy would agree to the Aleutians operation. It was a scheduling quirk that had both kicking off at the same time.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 07, 2007 02:11 PM (2nDll)
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"In such things as radar, anti-aircraft weaponry and fire control, and particularly damage control aboard carriers, the US had an overwhelming advantage. For example, according to Senshi Shoho, the Akagi suffered only one bomb hit and two near misses during the climactic attack, yet this was enough to set her ablaze fatally."
In part. There were several factors involved, however:
- It wasn't until after Coral Sea and Midway that the Navy deployed improved firefighting equipment on its ships. Before this the US and Japanese were essentially equal in the firefighting departments.
- The Franklin survived because (a) it was a tougher, more modern Essex class carrier and (b) the foam-emitting firefighting equipment used was a generation more advanced than that of the older carriers.
- One of the principle reasons Japan went to war was to gain control of the vast oil reserves in the Dutch East Indies. W/O those reserves they would not have been able to attack Midway. The most attractive features of these fields were their purity and quality - they required almost no refining to be used as bunker oil. Unfortunately, the Japanese didn't glom onto the "almost required almost no refining" part and took it straight out of the ground and into their fuel bunkers. "Almost" means that there were free radicals and volatiles still in the oil, making it highly volatile and likely to explode. Commercial-grade refined oil, in comparison, is much harder to ignite accidentally. The oil in Japanese fuel bunkers tended to explode when hit, making their ships powder kegs just waiting to be lit off.
- The principle advantage of the US fleet at Midway was that they had cracked the Japanese naval code and knew what the enemy was up to. They knew the enemy plan of attack and how best to counter it. The Japanese on their part had very poor intel on the US Fleet. They thought Yorktown was crippled and would be out of action for at least 6 months. They thought Nimitz would sortee the Pacific fleet to defend the Aleutians, when he had no intention of doing so even if he hand't known the Japanese's prime target was Midway.
Posted by: Orion at June 12, 2007 05:02 AM (xGZ+b)
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"It wasn't until after Coral Sea and Midway that the Navy deployed improved firefighting equipment on its ships. Before this the US and Japanese were essentially equal in the firefighting departments."
Almost correct. The US had instituted one firefighting technique that almost certainly saved the Yorktown during it's first Midway bombing, that of draining the aircraft fuel lines and filling them with carbon dioxide.
The
Lexington, sunk at Coral Sea, eventually died due to a massive explosion, caused by fuel vapors 'cooking off'. The
Yorktown's damage control specialist knew this and suggested to the Captain that clearing the lines and filling them with an inert gas would prevent this, and indeed, it did. It wasn't until the torpedo attacks from both Kates and submarine that the carrier was given up for dead.
"They thought Yorktown was crippled and would be out of action for at least 6 months."
Actually, the Japanese thought the
Yorktown was dead, sunk at Coral Sea. Minor point, but there nonetheless.
"They thought Nimitz would sortee the Pacific fleet to defend the Aleutians..."
Not so. The Aleutians attack was scheduled to occur on the same day as the Midway attack. It was only due to the Midway fleet's inability to sail on time (refueling problems) that the Aleutians attack occurred 24 hours before Midway. (please see debunking #4 in the main post for more details)
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 12, 2007 09:51 AM (h/YdH)
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Midway's influence extended far beyond the Pacific as it radiated into North Africa, into Normandy and into the Russian front. Even for the Pacific your reasonment assumes the Japense do nothing and just let the USN buildup.
Midway allowed Roosevelt to set a policy of Germany first (even with the Midway victory the Democrats paid a heavy price for it at the midterm electioons): D-Day came very close to be a failure and the German defences would have been far stronger in 1945, without Midway it would have been probably impossible for Roosevelt to lend to the British the Sherman tanks who won the Battle of El Alamein, without Midway operation Torch would have been impossible since the carriers who covered it would have had to be assigned to the Pacific. Operation Torch pinned in the Mediterranean crucial assets who, at least for the air ones, could have been used to strengthen Von Manstein's attempt to relieve the Sixth Army trapped at Stalingrad, also when the Germans tried to supply the Sixth Army only half of their transport planes were available, the other half was supplying the forces who had been sent to oppose Torch. Finally, Hitler had assumed that the Japanese would keep the Americans busy for a couple years, Midway altered his plans and in a little known but first magnitude unforced error he transferred several elite units to the West at a time the Sixth Army could have taken Stalingrad on the run had it had just one or two additional divisions. Of course, we know that there was no way the Allies could do more than a large scale raid in 1942 but nevertheless Midway was one of the main factors in why Hitler sent those divisions to France instead of to the Sixth Army. In 1943 when faced with the option of staying in the defensive Hitkler embarked in the ill-fated offensive at Kursk because he believed Germany needed to knock out the USSR in order to be able to turn West and face the Allied landings.
The other point is that you assume that had the Americans lost at Midway it would have been just a matter of the IGN having four more cariers in 1944 and the Americans two less. But a victorious IJN could have conquered Hawai or least make it it thus depriving the USN of a crucial base and severely curtailing its ability to operate against them. The Japanse would have been able to put an air base at Guadalcanal and cut the communications between Americans and Australia. They could have conquered New Caledonia thus depriving the Allies of half the world production of Nickel, a metal used in stainless steel and many alloys. But most importantly there is a definite possibility that the USN would have not had the leisure to build and train the impressive force who mopped the floor with the IJN in 1944, instead it is very possible as soon as out of the shipyards new US carriers would have been to be sent piecemeal to put out the fires set by the IJN and be destroyed in battles were they would have been outnumbered.
Despite my critics about your conclusions over the importance of Midway I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed your article. In fact I have spent several days trying to find it after coming on it a couple years ago but failing to bookmark it. That is why I datred to post a reply four years after the initial post.
Posted by: JFM at July 11, 2011 07:23 AM (avBnI)
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June 03, 2007
AirFest Sunday
The day began with lousy weather, and flip-flopped between lousy and great. It rained, there was blue sky, there was thunder... very weird.
All of which made me decide to stay inside for most of the day. But not for the Blue Angels, oh no. 320pm, I was out in the middle of the field.
There was almost no wind, and the sky was blue... over the airport. Where I was standing, though, it was dark, and further towards the east it was almost black. I figured that the Angels would fly their "low" show (yesterday was the "flat" show)... and I was right. Almost everything they did was higher today than yesterday. I heard them take off (from almost five miles away), and got ready...
...all all hell broke loose.
How a fighter jet can sneak up on you is entirely beyond me, but this one did... and he was on a speed run towards the airport. I'm actually happy to have gotten this picture, because he wasn't in sight very long.
Clicky for more!
more...
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I've had the chance to see them during Fleet Week here in San Francisco. My boss lives in a tall apartment building (there are two towers in his complex) and the Angels use the buildings as a marker for their show. In fact the commentary going out over the radio to the public comes from a pier right below his building. They kept telling us on the radio that they never get closer than "X" number of feet to any spectators (can't remember exactly).. but we were on the roof of the building and one of the jets came over inverted, fast, and so close I hit the deck (along with the 60 odd other people on the roof) and little kids started crying! To this day, I swear I could see the pilot's face he was so close. The only thing that went through my head... I'm glad they're ours! I can't imagine what it's like when that flies over your city in anger. It was breathtakingly awesome.
Posted by: madmike at June 05, 2007 03:15 PM (lIt6a)
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June 02, 2007
AirFest Saturday
Just like last year, I'm woken up by the hammering yowl of an 12-cylinder Merlin engine screaming by The Pond. There's nothing on earth that sounds like a P-51, in this case named
Moonbeam McSwine... Al Capp would be proud.
After breakfast, I realize I'm out of duck chow and rye bread (it's like crack cocaine to us ducks), so I have to go to the grocery store... and, gee, there just happens to be one even CLOSER to the airport than The Pond. Of course, I never go there, but what the heck? I suppose just this once it'll be okay. Oh, and I'll take the camera, too... just, y'know, because...
Glad I did... as I get out of my car, these just happened by:
Given the number of photos still to come, click below to continue... I promise, they get better!
more...
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1
They don't do them often (if at all) anymore, but the loudest airshow demonstration I've ever heard was a takeoff and high-speed pass by a B1B. It was on the ragged edge of painful.
I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head, but I think the F-15 and F-16 use engines with a higher bypass ratio than the F-18. That would give them a lower quiter rumble. Older planes with zero-bypass turbojets, like the F-4, have a very high=pitched shreak to the exhaust note.
Posted by: Will at June 03, 2007 04:49 AM (olS40)
2
Makes sense, Will. There was a B-1 here last year, but it didn't do a high-speed pass. It was still plenty loud.
This year, a B-52 is sitting at the Airport. They had to modify one of the runways so it could land here... the radio said something about 'removing the runway lights' because the wings droop so much they'd've destroyed them all.
As you can guess, Jumbos don't fly out of Duckford.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 03, 2007 04:59 AM (2nDll)
3
When I lived in Nebraska, my house was only a few miles away from
Offutt AFB, which just so happened to be where
these suckers were based. I got used to being "buzzed" by them on a daily basis... and I put that in quotes, because, in reality, they'd be lumbering along so slowly that you'd think they were a second away from falling out of the sky and crushing you right then and there.
Unfortunately, the one time Air Force One visited with POTUS on board, it landed from a different direction. I had been looking forward to giving it the one finger salute from the comfort of my back porch.
And a funny story with regard to the B-52... I grew up in Fort Worth, about 8 miles away from Carswell AFB, which was (at the time) home to the 7th Bomb Wing. Quite often, in the dead of night, I'd hear a low rumble off in the distance. Since we lived near a major rail line, I always figured I was hearing passing diesel locomotives. One day, however, I decided to ask my Dad, who happened to be working on the F-16 program at General Dynamics at the time. He informed me that I was hearing the B-52s with their engines running on the flight line at Carswell... from 8 miles away!
Posted by: Jeff Lawson at June 03, 2007 07:17 AM (VgF1Y)
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Duck Dreams...
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What a duck daydreams about. Beautiful photo.
Posted by: Momser at June 02, 2007 10:05 AM (2nDll)
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Well done, well done indeed.
Posted by: GreyDuck at June 03, 2007 04:43 AM (v8i3E)
3
Thanks, Grey! I almost hate to admit that it's a photoshop... but not much of one.
It's two pictures, both taken from the same spot. Everything but the F-15 is one picture, the F-15 is from one that used 4x zoom on the camera.
They're also from different days (duck Friday just before a big honkin' storm hit, the F-15 on Saturday).
FWIW, the F-15 really was in that position. The photoshopped picture COULD have been taken easily enough.
There was also some color, brightness and contrast adjustment, of course.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 03, 2007 05:05 AM (2nDll)
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June 01, 2007
It's AirFest Weekend!
One of the reasons I love where The Pond is located started today... The Duckford AirFest! It's based out of the Duckford Airport, which is about 3 miles from The Pond.
Usually, it's a small annoyance, since one of UPS' major hubs is located there, and their planes start taking off around 3am. I've gotten used to it, I'll admit, and it takes a particularly low takeoff for me to notice.
But then you have AirFest weekend... and The Pond is within the Performance Cylinder for the jets. Which leads to this:
The Blue Angels are the main attraction this year. If their performance plan is anything like the one the Thunderbirds had last year, I should get some pretty darn good photos: the T-Birds were going very low, very slow, in formation, right over The Pond.
And if I'm feeling particularly brave, The Blue Angels will be joined by... The Blue Duck!
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What..praytell is the Blue Duck?
I fear the answer...
Posted by: Brickmuppet at June 01, 2007 01:33 PM (V5zw/)
2
It's a little known fact of nature that some ducks can mount jet engines under their wings...
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 01, 2007 01:37 PM (A5s0y)
3
My parents' house is nearly under the flight path of what used to be Williams AFB. The Marine Corps and Army have some maintenance facilities there now, so we get Hornets, Harriers, and the occasional Apache flying overhead. Harriers are some of the most god-awful loud airplanes in the air. You can't miss one of those coming over.
Do those same ducks have hard points for ordnance?
(I had to look that up just now. It didn't look right to me. Ordinance, ordnance, and ordonnance are three very different things.)
Posted by: Will at June 01, 2007 05:27 PM (olS40)
4
We're kinda like A-10s. Engines mounted far back, loads of room on the wings.
I just noticed that the picture looks like (and the 'hover text' implies) that the F-15 was directly overhead. It wasn't; it was a mile to the west, in a hard turn to line up for landing.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 01, 2007 05:52 PM (A5s0y)
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We're kinda like A-10s. Engines mounted far back, loads of room on the wings, and praying that fighter cover will show up before we get slaughtered...
Posted by: astro at June 01, 2007 06:16 PM (q4NkN)
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Astro's jealous of the guys who get to play in the mud...
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 02, 2007 04:45 AM (A5s0y)
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Check it out my man:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cGmM2PN7V90
P.S. Love the fighter jet screen caps
.....Makes me remember those dreams I had as a kid of becoming a pilot and training at Top Gun.....still one of my favourite movies btw!
Posted by: Kanon_fan82 at June 02, 2007 04:03 PM (X4Eu+)
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May 28, 2007
CICADAGEDDON 2007
This whole
Brood XIII has been something of a disappointment up through now, truth be told. To date, the only cicada I've seen...
...has been this poor example from ep7 of Lucky*Star.
I thought I heard one this evening, but it was only an air conditioner.
More updates from the Cicadageddon 2007 newsdesk as events warrant. Don't hold your breath.
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May 27, 2007
The Order of the Honorary Duck
FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE to The Pond, I hereby bestow upon Jeff Lawson of
Hop Step Jump membership in
The Order of the Honorary Duck, with all the rights and glory that brings unto him.
Jeff becomes the third member of the Order Of The Honorary Duck, joining only Pixy Misa of Ambient Irony and Don of The Kawaii Menace.
When I set out to create my first AMV, I sent him an e-mail, asking if he'd be willing to be my Technical Guru. He gladly accepted. Henceforth, he replied to every e-mail quickly and intelligently. He never seemed to grumble or complain, even though I'm sure some of my questions were stupid. When it came out that he was going to be moving AND changing jobs, it became even more amazing when I realized he had been doing all this at a rather stressful time of his life.
For all of these reasons, as well as being a Rocket Girl, Jeff Lawson richly deserves induction to the Order of the Honorary Duck.
Thanks, Jeff!
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The induction ceremony doesn't involve paddles or candle wax, does it? I'm not going through THAT again.
Posted by: Jeff Lawson at May 28, 2007 07:31 AM (VgF1Y)
2
No, no, none of that.
Much.
Posted by: Wonderduck at May 28, 2007 08:37 AM (2nDll)
3
You do have to eat a lot of stale bread, though.
Burp.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 28, 2007 02:59 PM (5BN3s)
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May 22, 2007
May 21, 2007
The mind reels*
John Cleese
has been 'honored' by a small town in New Zealand. I can only imagine how little he cares... though I'd be willing to bet he'd like the sign.
*actually, these days the mind mp3s...
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May 17, 2007
Can't Blog, Clowns Will Get Me.
Still working on the AMV, filing off the rough edges. Also long hours at the Duck U. Bookstore. Sleep is for the weak. Will be back soon... why not go read
Jeff Lawson (who's about to start a new job) or
Brickmuppet? They're really good.
If you can't wait for the AMV to finish, here's something to whet your appetite:
UPDATE: Greatest. Commercial. EVER.
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May 04, 2007
May 01, 2007
Megatokyo
(
UPDATE: Hardly 'outraged', as Steven puts it. If you don't like the story, you don't like the story... it's a personal thing. I'm more amused by his relying on the same old tropes as reasons to dislike the strip... the biggest of which hasn't been valid for years. Read on and see!)
Steven's complaining about Megatoyko again, and rolling out all the old saws to boot: "It's too slow, all the characters look the same, it jumps around too much."
Each chapter of Megatokyo comprises a day of strip time. Chapter 8 took about 8 months to complete, running from 6/28/06 to 2/14/07 (Chapter 9 began earlier this month). That's roughly 90 pages of hand-drawn artwork, many with insane amounts of detail. Considering that Fred Gallagher, the man behind MT, also runs his own merchandising company and has his fifth book coming out in a few weeks, I'd say he's doing well to get one strip out every 3 days. If that's too slow, then so be it.
As far as 'jumping around too much' goes, I'm guessing that the story moves storyline threads every two weeks (six strips) or so on average. I don't think I've ever thought that Gallagher changes p.o.v. too quickly; the comic moves at it's own pace. Yes, we could just follow Piro or Kimiko around all day, but then you'd be missing the other character's stories.
The complaint that I read the most often is that there are TOO many characters, and that I won't disagree with. There are a bunch, and there's no offical guide to MT to help the beginner. Fortunately, there ARE a few fan guides (like this one, or this one) that are excellent.
Steven says "I have a hard time telling the girls apart. The only distinguishing feature is hair style, and even those aren't all that distinctive."
Indeed?
At one time this was a valid complaint. I don't think it is anymore.
A couple of things I'll agree with Steven about, though. It IS a soap opera with an otaku setting. Actually, Gallagher would probably say it's a comic strip with a dating-sim setting; same thing, really.
And nobody knows what's the story behind Miho. We have learned quite a lot, but it's still a mystery, probably the biggest one in MT.
Largo isn't the psychotic one, though. That'd be Dom.
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Well, I kind of think Largo's still psychotic, he's just not a sociopath like Dom & the other one. Given his behavior & wild mood swings, I'd wager that Largo's almost certainly some flavor of bipolar. With maybe more than a little Asberger's thrown into the mix.
On the other hand, the Megatokyo universe seems to specialize in poorly defined realities & schizoid experiental relativity, so perhaps psychotic personality development is a survival trait.
I don't know, does the Largo end of Megatokyo reality cause actual fatalities on the boring end of the sanity continuum, or do they just plod along unaffected by the outsize ultraviolence of those in the mad end of the gene pool?
Posted by: Mitch H. at May 02, 2007 05:23 AM (iTVQj)
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I have a lot of trouble telling the girls apart as well. Anime often uses hair colors to help us out, but of course you can't do that in pencil. I think it just takes practice to tell who's who. For the longest time I thought #2 and #3 above were the same girl, just sometimes she put her hair up. (Of course this makes no sense, everyone knows anime girls never change their hair!)
Despite this, I do love his artwork. I'd prefer the high detail pencil-only finish to some other system where he might everything but leave out all of those wonderful details.
I can't get into his story, but I do love to stop by and admire the visuals. He's a talented guy.
Of course, I feel like I have even less of a right to critique his work now that I run a comic of my own which has NO ART WHATSOEVER, and in fact just defaces the art someone else made.
Posted by: Shamus at May 02, 2007 03:19 PM (GDT1x)
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Like Shamus, when I was reading Megatokyo (and I have three or four volumes of the dead tree edition), I had a lot of trouble telling the girls apart.
With that little detail in their faces, you have to rely on hair and clothes - things that you'd assume would change from day to day anyway.
Which is why so many anime girls have blue/green/pink hair.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 04, 2007 03:23 PM (OSmRV)
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Some of anime girls do have differing facial features, if only the eyes (e.g. Azumanga). But sometimes eyebrows and lips get used, even ears. This usually is a feature of "realistic" anime though.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at May 04, 2007 06:36 PM (9imyF)
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"...things that you'd assume would change from day to day anyway."
...but a day in
MT is 80 or 90 strips long, if not longer. And as far as hairstyles changing in comic strips goes, I think Blondie and Mary Worth would like to have a chat with you.
Posted by: Wonderduck at May 04, 2007 07:42 PM (A5s0y)
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...but a day in MT is 80 or 90 strips long, if not longer. And as far as hairstyles changing in comic strips goes, I think Blondie and Mary Worth would like to have a chat with you.
Well, yeah, but if you drop in on Megatokyo you're still more likely to assume that there are, say, two girls who are both suffering from dissociative disorder than that there are actually five girls who basically look the same.
There's no colour; they essentially have no noses or mouths; their eyes are mostly the same. That doesn't leave a whole lot of cues.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 04, 2007 09:11 PM (OSmRV)
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I don't remember ever having trouble telling the girls apart, but I often lose track of story threads. after a few weeks spent in another scene. I have failed to recognize a few of the minor characters when they've turned up in a scene without being named.
I generally keep up with it, even though I don't think it works well as a one-page webcomic; I tend to gloss over the plot until the collections come out, and just focus on the characters, which usually manages to amuse me once a week.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at May 05, 2007 03:42 AM (2XtN5)
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April 29, 2007
Ballplayer Killed
Josh Hancock, relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning. Reports say that Hancock's Ford Explorer drove into the back of a parked tow truck, which was assisting a disabled car in the left lane.
Tonight's game against the Cubs has been postponed. A few seasons ago, the Cardinals lost Darryl Kile to a drug overdose the night before a Cubs game (though in Chicago).
According to WSCR-AM out of Chicago, the Cardinals had a scare with Hancock earlier in the week. He overslept, and didn't wake up until the 20th call to his house. With the death of Kile, the Cards are justifiably twitchy to players falling off the face of the earth, so...
I'm a Cubs fan, and I hate the Cardinals Team intensely. I do not hate their players, though, and I offer my condolences to his family, friends, and fans.
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April 26, 2007
SACRILEGE!
This is dedicated to the Duck U. student that didn't believe me when I told her.
Katie Casey was baseball mad,
Had the fever and had it bad.
Just to root for the home town crew,
Ev'ry sou
Katie blew.
On a Saturday her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go
To see a show
But Miss Kate said "No,
I'll tell you what you can do:"
more...
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It's part of why baseball is the only sport I really enjoy watching. What other sport has its own national anthem, which is sung by the crowd at every game?
Does your student know the story behind the Seventh Inning Stretch? (I'm sure you do.)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 26, 2007 05:21 PM (+rSRq)
2
Probably not... she's a White Sox fan, I think. Heck, when she didn't even believe that the third most played song in the US actually has more lyrics than just the chorus? (to be fair, I only remember the first part...)
Regarding the history of the 7th Inning Stretch, it's amazing what can happen when a President attends a game, isn't it?
I tend to listen to baseball games on the radio more than watch them anymore... and when I DO watch them, I've got the TV volume turned down, and the radio turned up. I blame Herb Carneal for that, but the Cubs' announcers (Pat Hughes and Ron Santo) pretty much solidified it these past 10 years.
Plus, c'mon: there's only a handful of people on TV games that don't flat-out suck. Vin Scully (and his vocal clone, Jon Miller) are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Forget the morons on ESPN, none of their broadcasting crew could announce their way out of a paper bag.
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 26, 2007 06:19 PM (h/YdH)
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April 23, 2007
39 Years Ago, At 719pm, April 23rd...
Momzerduck deserves all the praise, I deserve all the blame. Momzerduck also deserves pity: I was a month late and nearly 10 lbs.
UPDATE: Thank you, Brickmuppet!
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Congrats!
Given the timezone difference, you would have been born on the exact same day as my younger brother. We went out to celebrate his last-one-before-40 on Sunday
Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 23, 2007 03:16 AM (LcMoG)
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Thanks, Pixy! And pass best wishes to your brother for me.
You're older than 39? Good heavens, Pixy, I never would have guessed!
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 23, 2007 03:18 AM (2nDll)
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One of the best days of my life! Lilacs were in full bloom and you were almost named Patrick.
I am honored to be your momduck.
Posted by: Momzerduck at April 23, 2007 04:06 AM (h/YdH)
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So I've known you for almost three quarters of your life so far. When I first met you, you were proud that most of your shirts had pizza stains on them. You've cleaned up a bit since then.... Many happy returns, etc. We've still got a long way to go!
Posted by: Vaucanson's Duck at April 23, 2007 06:18 AM (oplPK)
Posted by: Will at April 23, 2007 08:42 AM (SOx9v)
Posted by: Andrew F. at April 23, 2007 02:10 PM (A5mLC)
7
Uh...
t'anks, Andrew! I think.
And Will, Astro, even Vauc (did you
have to mention that?), thank you all.
Silly hats and cake for all!
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 23, 2007 04:34 PM (h/YdH)
8
Ack! I missed this!
Happy belated birthday!
Posted by: Nick at April 24, 2007 05:40 AM (lFlQd)
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Andrew's comment reads
Otanjoubiomedetou.
It's possible he just cursed you and all your family for life, but I'm pretty sure it's just happy birthday.
Posted by: Will at April 24, 2007 08:00 AM (SOx9v)
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April 21, 2007
Blue Angel Down
Aw,
hell.
The news is still breaking, so hopefully the one dead is a mistake, and everybody is okay. Hopefully. Knock on wood. Please?
The Blue Angels were scheduled to be the headliners at this summer's Duckford Air Show, after the USAF Thunderbirds were here last summer.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, there wasn't a mistake. The plane crashed into a residental area, damaging houses and cars, and killing the pilot. It appears, though, that nobody on the ground was badly hurt.
Obviously it's way too early to tell what happened, but one thought from the scene is that there may have been a bird ingested into an engine (according to the article I was reading, birdstrike is not uncommon in the area). Conflicting with that, though, is the report from a man who was mowing his lawn a short distance away from the crash site and saw it happen; he said he didn't hear anything obviously wrong with the plane. Not sure if you could tell that an engine was out just by listening, but.... More as warranted.
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Sucks.
These things happen, remember F-117 crashing once due to a structural failure?
At least it wasn't like Lviv 2002, with 84 killed.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at April 21, 2007 11:14 AM (9imyF)
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I haven't heard anything on it, but it is unlikely a bird down the intake took him down. The Hornet flies fine with only one engine, and the first action would be to zoom and convert airspeed to altitude. Several of my buddies sucked down birds on low levels and they all made it home fine (I never sucked one down an intake in a Hornet, although a few bounced off my canopy).
More likely he clipped a powerline or a tree. If he wasn't the lead pilot he likely was not looking forward and never saw it coming (much like how the entire Thunderbird formation bought it a few years back when the lead flew them into the ground).
Could be a lot of other reasons as well. We won't know for sure until the mishap report comes out.
Posted by: astro at April 22, 2007 04:47 PM (fh7ip)
3
Astro, when it comes to this sort of thing, you've got the experience, and will defer to your thoughts.
The only thing that even suggests to me that it's a possibility was the report that said that #6 fell out of formation. The Angels were at the conclusion of their program, and were heading for the runway for landing, and #6 suddenly headed down. Is it possible he didn't have
time to climb for height?
Again, total speculation. No clue what happened, no idea if this scenario is even plausible. Just a damn shame... I'm sure it could have been worse if the pilot hadn't stayed with the plane. Brave man, Lt. Commander Davis was.
I was looking forward to seeing them at the Duckford AirFest, and comparing the Angels to the T'Birds, too. I'm sure they'll cancel their appearances (and rightfully so) now.
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 22, 2007 05:03 PM (2nDll)
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April 17, 2007
In Memoriam.
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Great Moments in Animation
Duck Amuck, 1953
Completely unrelated, happy birthday to occasional commentor Vaucaunson's Duck! What's it like on the far side of 39?
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Truly one of the brilliantly original (not to mention hilarious!) works in animation, ever.
Posted by: GreyDuck at April 17, 2007 03:09 AM (7eLDR)
2
Seems like an odd way to commemorate the Bay of Pigs fiasco, if you ask me.
The far side of 39 is a lot like the near side, except your knees hurt more.
Posted by: Vaucanson's duck at April 18, 2007 05:28 AM (oplPK)
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April 07, 2007
No Thappy.*
No thappy at all.
Instead of spending the evening working on The Kanon Project, I was forced to spend it stomping on a couple of pieces of scumware that got into Chiyo-chan.
Even after repeated virus scans, spyware cleanings, and regedits, the damn things kept coming back, apparantly digging themselves deeper into Chiyo-chan's brain than I was willing to go. I was forced to use the Tactical Nuclear Option of Windows System Restore (as opposed to the Strategic Nuclear Option of a full wipe), and reset back to 10pm Friday night.
That appears to have worked; I've had no reoccurance of the various nasties. Fortunately, I know where it came from (an allegedly amusing e-mail that someone in my fantasy baseball league sent me), so it's not a site I visit or anything like that. Knock on wood.
On the plus side, nothing important disappeared in the restore, as I've not managed to accomplish anything of value because of this. Except for one thing...
...I finally preordered the Haruhi Special Edition, from (as Steven calls it) "Brand X". They've a 40% off special going, including pre-orders; while their price was originally higher, with the discount it wound up being about $10 less than my usual place of anime shopping.
And, to be fair, I've never had anything close to the problems that SDB has reported with "Brand X". That's probably because I've only ordered one or two things at a time, where he ordered 10 or 15, but I calls 'em likes I sees 'em.
I still prefer Robert's Anime Corner Store, though. Any company that manages to ship boxes of Pocky without a single stick breaking (and doing it quickly!) is Number One in my book!
*The meaning of the title of this post is below...
more...
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