Chaste local idols don't go around flashing naked armpits.

I ordinarily would have dropped Million Doll already, but instead I re-watched its first six episodes in preparation for the show's final stretch. This was only possible because each episode is four minutes long. Million Doll has entirely too much frightful 3D CGI for me to watch six full-length episodes, let alone re-watch that many. Even aside from the 3D CG, the show looks cheap as Hell. (Are we still allowed to claim a show looks "cheap" in a post-Shirobako world?)

I also cleaned my IBM Model M keyboard.

I bought this oppai mouse pad thanks to CliffyB's glowing review. (The review is sort of tsundere, so you have to read between the lines.) As for the boobie mouse pad itself, I'm just about certain that it's an unlicensed Chinese bootleg, but the quality is adequate for what it is. The underside is a solid flat non-slip surface. Once you peel off the protective plastic film, the mouse pad will stay firmly planted to your desk no matter how vigorously you mouse.

The best part about having a $2400 laptop suffer a hardware failure while you're away from home is relying on dubious bittorrent clients on your phone to stay up to date with currently airing anime. Turns out Golden Time was worth it this week, though.

halfadeckshort writes:

One alternative since you're already paying for web hosting might be Fever...but you do have to purchase the software. I've got an instance up and running and it works (for me) as well as reader did, though it's not quite as friendly for older archived material (but I use Pocket for that). I'm sure that someone is going to step in to fill the Reader gap, but if you don't want to leave it to chance Fever is an alternative that won't open you up to ad spam / subscription fees. Just thought I'd mention that and the fact that I love the bonus content you provide.

I don't think I want to implement my own server-side solution at this point. I'm reasonably satisfied with Akregator thus far. I'll probably want the ability to sync read articles across multiple computers again eventually, but this is all right for now.

That's bad luck, Eita.

Okay, Google Reader isn't quite all dead. It'll be around until July. My dismay at its loss is based on pretty much the same reasons everyone else who used it is upset to see it go. In particular, I use it to follow feeds that update irregularly and ones I don't want to miss. Attempting to extract this kind of same functionality from some sort of short-attention-span Social Media Buzzword ephemeral construct is pretty undesirable from my point of view. Unfortunately, I have to admit I'm the only person I know in real life who even knows what RSS is, let alone used Google Reader, so I'm not entirely surprised to see it go. (My own subscription list has been linked on the sidebar for years.)

I like how Ai conjures her brassard out of thin air.

According to the statistics Google Reader provides, I have a little more than a hundred subscribers, which I guess isn't very many. I don't know how many readers use different RSS clients (I'm transitioning to Akregator), but I doubt it's more than that combined. (In fact, I don't even know how much traffic this site gets anymore since I disabled my web logs several months ago.) Still, I've been providing bonus content for more than four years specifically for these subscribers. I intend to continue doing so (even though I've now officially blown the lid off this poorly kept secret), but I wonder if I'll have to identify another segment of quasi-techno-savvy curmudgeons to cater to after July?

No, this update didn't really have anything to do with Oreshura.

IBM Thinkpad T42p now on its sixth life.

This time the hard drive died. Well, I was running out of space anyway, and this gives me an excuse to upgrade to something larger, although buying a PATA hard drive seems kinda silly nowadays. At least everything was backed up on the server anyway. I think.

The screen went out again, this time thanks to my shoddy workmanship earlier. Disassembly was easier than before, but re-soldering the CCFL and properly insulating the ends was a bit more difficult as was re-assembly. My eyes are definitely not as sharp—nor my hands as steady—as they once were.

IBM Thinkpad T42p fan.

So, to recap, my IBM Thinkpad T42p with the sweet ass (and extinct) UXGA monitor died once in 2006 when the fan stopped working. That one was covered by the warranty and IBM fixed it right away even though I was out of the country at the time. Then the CCFL stopped working (again while traveling) in 2008, but that was my fault for trusting it to checked baggage, I'm pretty sure. Well, the fan burned out again a few weeks ago. (Note to self: Do not run Chinese-built Thinkpad 24-hours per day, seven days per week.)

IBM Thinkpad T42p fan.

Well, thanks to the magic of eBay, I was able to find a replacement fan easily enough. Swapping them out was a lot easier than replacing the CCFL, let me tell you. Typing on a different keyboard in the interim? A nightmare.