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Showing posts from July, 2012

U.S. Men's Water Polo, Today at 2:40 pm

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It's Tuesday, which means today's the day that I normally put out a new piece of my ongoing prose "webcomic" series Centurion Six .  Well, the good news is that I started working on Centurion Six again yesterday.  But the bad news is that I've not gotten far enough along to actually have anything to show you yet.  So look for an update next week, okay? In the meantime, if you missed the U.S. Men's Water Polo team in their opening match at the Olympics, you missed a pretty good match.   You can see highlights here .   The team's next match is today at 2:40 pm EST , and I hope like heck that I have a chance to catch at least some of it--if not today then tonight.

Getting Back in the Saddle: Recovering from an Athletic Layoff

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Alright, so the crisis at work is over, and as it happens, the summer isn't.  In Connecticut, we've got maybe a month and a half of weather that's good enough for open water swimming and probably a bit more than three months of weather during which we can do road races, either riding or running.   That said, the crisis at work was ill-timed.  I've been on the shelf for about five weeks, and in that time I've lost muscle mass and put on weight.  I went into the crisis weighing 192 lbs.  After spin class this morning, I weighed 196.  Considering the lost muscle mass and aerobic fitness involved in a prolonged mid-season layoff, I'm gonna guess that I'm carrying between eight and ten pounds more fat than I was six weeks ago.  On top of that, I had to put in seven all-nighters at work over the course of a crisis that lasted not quite four weeks.  So not only am I heavier and slower than I was, I'm also chronically behind on sleep.  That's a substantial i

Sunday Comics: The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai (Day 13)

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The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai : Page 13. Click here to see the page at full size . Surprised that there's a giant monster?  Don't be.  This is a (faux) Japanese comic.  I had to put a giant monster in there. As always, to read the story from the beginning, you can use the  Hiro  tag.  Or to read all of the Sunday Comics entries, use the  Sunday Comics  tag.

That Road Race Sucked

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Did you see the Olympic Road Race. Ugh. Highly disappointing. Your winner, Kazakhstan's Alexander Vinokurov.  Ugh. First off, let's say you're Team GB.   You've got only five guys, but one is the best sprinter in the world and another is the best time trialist. Plus you've got Chris Froome , who was freakin' dominant at the TdF . So why the Hell do you let 32 guys get away in the last 25 miles?  I mean, a breakaway sure, but 32 men? Ugh. Even Bradley Wiggins isn't gonna be able to chase that many dudes down, especially when it's Teejay VanGarderan who's setting the pace for the break group. When Wiggins popped, it was all over for the peloton, and they knew it.  Bottom line, they should've chased earlier... which was kind of the story of the race. American Taylor Phinney.  He needs to learn to chase all attacks with less than 10 km to go. For the Americans... First off, they were never favorites. But they had two really good r

Saturday Hair Metal: Too Close by Alex Clare (Acoustic)

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Yes, this is the song from the IE9 commercial.  I heard this a lot on the radio last week, and I really dug it.  This particular version is acoustic. It's awesome, of course.

Friday Mad Science: The End of the Crisis

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After almost four weeks,  the crisis at work is over , and my life is at last returning to normal.  All things considered, things went well for me, personally.  It's been awhile since I've gotten to lead guys in the field, but I got to do that these past few weeks, and that's been nice.  Not that every minute of every day was awesome because that definitely wasn't the case, but overall I had good guys, and I was lucky to have them. Plus it was good to be out there, doing my thing and feeling like I was contributing to the overall health of my employer.  All things considered, I enjoy doing electric construction work more than I ever enjoyed working as an officer in the Army.  There's something about building something; planning how it's going to get built, watching it go up, and then leaving it behind to serve the people of your community after you're gone.  I really like that. Anyway, my guys gave me a parting gift last night, and as you can see, I put it

Friday Hair Metal: Ball and Chain

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Acoustic!

Harpoon Rye IPA

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Sally bought me a six-pack last weekend.  I quite like it.  It's lighter than most IPAs and not as overwhelming with the hops as a lot of these beers have been becoming lately.  Still flavorful, though.  Not as distinct in the Rye characteristics as Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye, but that makes it maybe a bit more approachable. This is a very drinkable beer. If you don't trust me, here's what Beer Advocate says .

The Guardians of the Galaxy

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I liked the comic, but... can these guys carry a movie?

Wiggins Wins Tour; Next Up: Olympics

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Monday Mad Science: Still Sleepy

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I'm still working six days a week, twelve-pus hours per day, and at this point, I'm getting sleepy.  The good news is that I finally got a chance to see The Amazing Spider-Man with my girls earlier in the week--I had a day off after working all night one night this week--and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  I mean, I can see why a lot of reviewers called the movie "good but unnecessary".  They re-tell the origin story of a hero who is, at this point, familiar to virtually everyone.  On the other hand, a goodly bit of the re-telling is an improvement.  The scene where Uncle Ben dies is probably the strongest scene in the movie, and then too, as many others have noted, the on-screen romance in the new movie is better than anything that's in the original trilogy. Dan Slott saved us from bad Spidey stories with "Brand New Day" , his first arc as the writer of Amazing Spider-Man . I saw where one reviewers noted that the Spider-Man movie that she wan

Sunday Comics: The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai (Day 12)

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The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai : Page 11. Click here to see the page at full size . As always, to read the story from the beginning, you can use the  Hiro  tag.  Or to read all of the Sunday Comics entries, use the  Sunday Comics  tag. .

Friday Hair Metal: Photograph

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Here's the perfect Friday Hair Metal video.  The song is one of my wife's favorites, and the video features a beautiful half-nekkid woman.  Hurrah!

Sierra Nevada Summerfest Review

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It's hot this week.  I'm at work.  And badly missing summer beer.

Item 47

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Intriguing, no?

New TMNT This Fall

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I had no idea that there was a new TMNT series coming out.  This one looks pretty good. BTW, there's a little more coverage on Major Spoilers if you're interested .  The clip they've got is a pretty good one.

Sunday Comics: The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai (Day 11)

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The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai : Page 11. Click here to see the page at full size . As always, to read the story from the beginning, you can use the  Hiro  tag.  Or to read all of the Sunday Comics entries, use the  Sunday Comics  tag.

Saturday Mad Science: Finally, A Day Off!

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It's Saturday, and for once, I actually have the day off.  Thank God!  I am exhausted.  I don't want to get too much into this, but I will say that I'll be happy when the crisis ends, and peace is restored.  I mean, the crisis has been profitable for me personally, but at this point, I miss my bike and my regular schedule. Eh.  What are you gonna do? So.  Right now it's a big time of the year for Danno's Lair .  Not only is it the middle of the Tour de France , it's also the San Diego Comic Con . I've been enjoying the Tour.  Granted, it's not all that easy to follow it on my phone from various spots in and around where I'm working, but still... so far, so good.   The battle for the Yellow Jersey is sort of subdued in that British time trial specialist Bradley Wiggins has a commanding lead on all of his rivals , but some of the other stories of the Tour have been riveting.  In particular, I've been rooting for BMC's Teejay Van Garderen

Beer Geek Nation: Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum

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One of my favorite beers these days is Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum .

Preview of Today's Stage

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Yeah, I know.  I said I was gonna take a break, and yet here I am.  Guess you'll have to keep checking back daily. I found this video on the Podium Cafe , SB*Nation 's pro-cycling forum.  It's a preview of today's stage, and it's excellent.  Enjoy!

Famous Last Words

"I'll be back." But for now, I've got to go.   You might remember about a week ago when I mentioned that some personal and professional issues were conspiring to change the posting schedule around here.  Well, they've gotten worse, to the point where I've been reassigned.  That's not a bad thing--at least, it's not for me anyway--but it does mean that my ability to work on this little project is about to be seriously curtailed.  So.  I'll miss you, and I know that you'll miss me, but for we've got to take a break.   But don't worry.  I'll be back. No, really.  I will be.

Playing with Fire

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Sally and I took the kids to a local Mid-Summer Fantasy Renaissance Fair yesterday.  In general, the place was kind of rough--more Dungeons and Dragons meets the S&M sub-culture than any sort of revival of High Middle Ages life--but there was one part that we all loved--the bardic magician Daniel Greenwolf . Here we see him playing with fire. We also liked the belly dancers.  But in fairness, that was a lot of belly.

Sunday Comics: The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai (Day 10)

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The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai : Page 10. Click here to see the page at full size . Uh oh!  Nothing good can come of this... As always, to read the story from the beginning, you can use the  Hiro  tag.  Or to read all of the Sunday Comics entries, use the  Sunday Comics  tag.

Saturday Mad Science: The End of TomKat!

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Not a lot going on today.  Let’s get to it, shall we? * * * The  U.S. Army  is getting ready to change its camouflage pattern  because the current one apparently doesn’t work very well  even though it cost a fully five billion dollars to field .   Slate  and a few other sources tell the story like this: the Army got jealous when the  Marine Corps  fielded its newest camouflage patterns because  they’re awesome digital designs based on Canadian models .  So then the Army brass wanted cool digital patterns too, but they decided to go with a one-pattern-fits-all-terrains model in order to avoid logistics problems, and as it happens, that wasn’t a very good idea. Army leaders got jealous of these awesome-looking USMC uniforms.  And how could they not? The Marines have always been the better service at managing their image. If you’re curious, the problem with the old patterns was that while the uniforms themselves came in a variety of colors, the very vast majority of the Army

Comic Review: The Defenders (Vol. 4), Issues 1 to 7

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I picked up  Matt Fraction ’s new  Defenders  series on a whim the other day.  I was at my local shop when I saw the  Black Cat  on the cover of issue #7, and then I noticed that they also had a copy of the first trade, collecting issues 1 through 6, and I thought, “What the Hell, let’s give it a whirl.”  The thing is, I really like comics, especially when they’re good.  But finding good comics is a little like finding leprechauns—not at all easy, and often accomplished by accident.  I’ve gotten frustrated lately with the new  Justice League —in fact, I’ve given up on the new DCU entirely—so I’ve got a little space on my Pull List at the moment.  And while I’m not overly familiar with Fraction’s work, fact is you hear good things about him, and I mean, who doesn’t want to read a book with the  Silver Surfer  and  Doctor Strange  in it?  Also: why is there a  Red She-Hulk ?  So there you have it.  Nothing to do but give this thing a look. The Defenders #1 As it happens, this

Trailer for Locke & Key

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One of my local libraries has been buying the new hard bound collections of IDW 's Locke and Key . And let me tell you, it is awesome. I've read the first four of a total of six volumes, and I'm just loving it. And then I remembered that they were gonna turn the books into a TV series. Anyway, the show doesn't have a network yet, but here's hoping.

Google Glass Demonstration

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You probably heard about this.  I've not had a chance to see it yet, but it certainly got a lot of press.

Centurion Six #2: The Devil and the Agent from the FBI (Part 3)

Our Story So Far: Last night, Captains Blaine “Centurion Six” Winters and Jacob “Zulu” Mbeke of the New York State National Guard Enhanced Forces Division (EFD) were called out by the NYPD to consult on a multiple homicide in the south Bronx.  The case seemed like routine “skrag” gang violence until our heroes stumbled upon evidence that implicated a former teammate in the murders—ultra-human drug addict Jason King.  However, before Blaine and his team could begin to investigate, they were attacked by a killer cyborg robot-monkey mounting a highly advanced stealth/security system and a small-caliber machine pistol.  In the ensuing firefight, a police officer was killed, the crime scene burned to the ground, and the cyborg robot-monkey escaped. EFD commander Colonel Joachim “Aguilá” Rodriguez calls in the FBI to help with the investigation, and Special Agent Nora Mahoney is assigned to the case.  But Ms. Mahoney finds the EFD to be a strange and disconcerting assignment. Note:  

Lot's of Stuff Going On

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So look, I've got a lot going on right now, personally and professionally.  I don't really want to get into the details, but it's very likely that the publication schedule around here is gonna get thrown off for the next few weeks.  It's a shame because we've picked up a lot of new readers lately, but it's also unavoidable.  I'd ask for your patience and understanding over that time if all that gets posted is silly pictures and YouTube videos.  Eventually, we'll get back to normal, I promise. With that in mind, here is the first of what is likely to be a string of music videos.  Sally sang this last night as we walked home from the ice cream shop.

Sunday Comics: The Adventures of Hiro Arturian, Samurai (Day 9)

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The Adventures of Hiro Arturian , Page 9. Click here to see the page at full size . When I was writing this, one of guys who helped me with research was the Navy guy who'd been stationed in Japan.  He tipped me to the Japanese concept of Blood Magic, and all the bad things that can come from it.  Consider that a warning... As always, to read the story from the beginning, you can use the Hiro tag.  Or to read all of the Sunday Comics entries, use the Sunday Comics tag.