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A post at Ani-nouto under the same title dealt with the Kanon angle of the port to iPad, let's look at the iPad itself as a vehicle for Kanon. It should be obvious immediately that as far as proprietary platforms go, iPad is infinitely superior to PSP. Screencaps required a hacked firmware on PSP, but are fully supported on iPad, for one thing. Of course games being 100% downloaded has the usual downsides of "end of ownership", but it's not like I could archive UMD media either.

A bigger problem really is the region lock. UMD was not region-locked, but finding Japanese games for iPad requires certain trickery. The sole reason I hit on Kanon was that it was one the few untranslated games available in the American iTunes. Having that much beats having none, however, which is the situation at Kindle.

Within the confines of iTunes, Kanon has an advantage of right-pricing: it's only $8. It's not one of the disposable $3 gamelets, and not the "equal price to what oppressed Japanese consumers paid on game consoles" (hello Shiny Festa, now back at $55). Best $8 I have every spent in Apple empire, no doubt. Having played it, I would actually be happy to pay more, say $20, considering the amount of entertainment hours extracted and the quality of it. But the problem is, I had no idea at the time. If it were $20, I would have put it on the wishlist, but not actually bought it.

Coming back to the whole untranslated game thing, iPad also offers an advantage of running support applications. I bought one Japanese lookup app and used it extensively with Kanon. Imagine fumbling with the volume of The New Nelson dictionary in a passenger seat of an airplane.

Speaking of which, the battery life of iPad and immersiveness of Kanon is the killer combo. I was able to play it on airplane for 4 hours at a time without being bored. At some point the guy in the next seat had a PS Vita, but too bad for Sony. Too little, too late.

Pictured: Kanon in Der Biergarten, Atlanta.

P.S. If someone could verify the status of Area 11 gaming in Google Store, that would be interesting. Note that on most tablets I can easily side-load APKs.

P.P.S. Or how to use Japanese iTunes.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 08:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Back in Kanon's day, the whole idea of the ren-ai game was a quest for pr0n. A Japanese off-shoot of Leisure Suit Larry, if you will. As such, the difficulty of getting the result mattered. The harder one had to work, the more valuable the sex scene became, or so the wisdom went. Kanon, however, redefined the rules completely. It is extremely simple to play. There are no magic reloads, looping conversations, hidden dialogs.[0] The player makes natural choices which lead to a natural outcome. I only had to reload once.[1] The value of the game is not in its difficulty, but in its content. It's the value of spending the time with its characters in its magical world.[2]

So, the versions of Kanon with the sex cut out are just as beloved as the H-rated original. Which is to say, all of them. I was not there, but I think it was necessary to have sex scenes in order to draw the players of the period in. They would not understand the concept of ren-ai without the final CG. Once they were familiar with the concept, the hook could be discarded. Came for the porn, stayed for the story.

[0] Strictly speaking, one must reload to get on Sayuri mini-arc of Mai path. But it does not matter.

[1] To get on Shiori path, one must refuse to go to school to retrieve Nayuki's notebook. That was not a natural choice.

[2] We now have games that combine great story and great difficulty. When I played Toradora Portable, I only managed to snatch Minorin once.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 08:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was a stick in the mud at Brickmuppet's on the topic previously, but the events seem to be overtaking my curmudgeonry. When the pro-Kiev paramilitaries burned some 40 people alive in Odessa on May 3rd, it could still be doubted just who exactly was burned: "protestors" or "terrorists". However, on May 9 in Mariupol a bunch of WWII women veterans staged a march to celebrate the victory day. Kiev regime prohibited such celebrations (because reasons). At some point, an Ukrainian tank opened machine gun fire on them, killing a few. It wasn't a withering fire, but since all of them were beyond 80 years old, I suspect a few more died in the stampede. Onlookers started grabbing plastic chairs in a nearby cafe and throw them at Ukrainian soldiers, at which point they got shot up a bit. The whole episode was filmed from many locations and there's a ton of videos circulating Youtube, Rutube, Vimeo, and whatnot.

What do you think BBC said about it yesterday? One sentence: "Ukrainian troops clashed with pro-Russian militants and killed 20". I suppose those babushkas were pretty militant. I mean, who wouldn't, at ripe age of 85? But still, would anyone watching BBC even imagine what actually happened?

Not that BBC distorted reporting is anything new, but get what a supposedly sharp foreignblogger Michael Totten quoted approvingly while coblogging at Instapundit:

Lacking popular support in Ukraine, Putin’s warlords will do what terrorists do: seize buildings, promote anti-Semitism, imprison and kill opposition leaders, attack Roma and other minorities, take neutral observers and journalists hostage, and abuse the population of whichever cities or towns they terrorize. One especially brutal terrorist, the warlord of the Sloviansk Putinstan, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov recently told a female journalist the following: "We’ll adopt all necessary measures to prevent elections in the southeast from taking place. We’ll take someone prisoner and hang him by his balls. Got it?”

(originally by one Alexander Motyl)

I'm afraid I have a few questions, which Michael Totten forgot to ask. To begin with, we are told that "Putin's warlords" will do a bunch of awful things, if the popular support disappears. Will A. Motyl eat his hat if they do not? And what does it have to do with anything that's going on today?

Why is it important that the interviewer was female? Is Mr. Motyl a native speaker, and it yes, why did he never hear about "hanging anyone by the balls"? It's almost as good as Ann Althouse deliberating if Trayvon called Zimmerman a "creepy ass-cracker" or "creepy-ass cracker". Except that no anglophone knows the secret.

Anyhow. The Putin's aggression is a wonderful narrative, but it looks to me that it does not explain the hideous brutality of Kiev government, which easily exceeds what Putin has ever done (in Ukraine, anyway). Why, last time I heard about such stuff, it was done by pro-government death squads in El-Salvador. I am afraid that after dealing with it, a few residents of Ukraine might be inclined to provide the popular support for Putin, which Mr. Motyl declares non-existent. And we will never know, unless we visit YouTube.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 08:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sparrow did not have very large production run. Between the original, II, XTC, and Sport Special (SS), there were perhaps 100 to 200 kits shipped. Trolling the Internet, I identified 4 SS versions existing. Naturally, I keep tabs on them a bit.

One of them, N367BZ, is now for sale. The owner, Jim Steere, tried to sell it for a while, actually, and his price went down accordingly. A week ago he posted an ad to Barnstormers offering it for $10k. This is less than I paid for the same airplane.

I do not understand why he has trouble selling. Sure, he gets no points for the latest effort. Barnstormers ads work much, much, much better with pictures, and the airplane looks gorgeous in its previous photos. But he posted ads with photos before.

About the only area in which my plane is superior is that I have a BRS parachute. And a radio. Everything else is same or better on Jim's. Well, we could debate merits of my awesome Grove gear that is an envy of many homebuilders. Anyhow, N367BZ seems like a fine airplane, but... No sale even for $10,000. What gives?

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 05:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Planes movie is rather transparent in its setup: the story is simple and familiar with few deviations from the basic outline of the plucky hero winning a competition. Not much is there. However, as a love card for aviation, it exceeded all of my expectations. It's amazing, tremendous.

To begin with, all the details were gotten very right, starting with the iconic designs, and I'm not just talking about the F-4U. At one point a Cherokee taxied across the foreground, and I could tell right away that it was a Cherokee, and not, say, a Sundowner or Commander, despite all the catoonification. And the Cherokee was only shown in that one sequence. The operational side was a little less developed, except for the carrier ops, which are always exciting on video. Still, not bad.

Overall, I'm not one with American 3D animation, but this was great for me. I'm surprised and delighted that someone in the soulless machine of Disney permitted all this to happen.

The interview with the director and staff in DVD extras was a rather sad affair, however. It was very clear that although the director was the airplane nut, his sons were not into it. It is the problem of American aviation in nutshell.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 04:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I did not try to kill myself checking out every car this time (almost killed myself last year and did not like it). So, the personal highlights follow.

Car of the show is Mitsubishi Mirage. I know that it was maligned by the car press and that supposedly it drives poorly. Sure, it's made by Mitsubishi, which teeters on the exit from the U.S. market. But it only costs $13k! THIRTEEN. I was in the market for "cheap" cars last year (got a Fit). You could not even get a poverty spec Spark for that much. And the Mirage is rather comfortable even for someone 6'5" or 200 cm tall. Even steering and pedals are in the right place. I drove a FIAT 500, and had to drive it with outstretched arms. Sorry, Sergio, but this is way better. I am fighting the urge to visit the dealer and drive one of these.

Of course if we consider quote-unquote "cheap" cars overall, then Honda Fit is still the king. They rolled out the redesigned 2015 model, and it's just as good as the one I bought last year. A little full of electronics, but whatever, it's the life.

The civilian Ford Transit Connect was the close runner-up after Mirage. It's awesome in how purposeful it is. If you need a universal transportation module, nothing better exists on the market. And that headroom! Kickass! Only $25k, too.

Ford brought out the new 2015 Mustang with the IRS, but it was labeled "Prototype Vehicle Locked For Your Protection". Jerks. Jeep people did not bring Renegade either.

The hachiroku is still very nice. Well, there was no change from 2013.

Forrester is nice but overpriced.

Nissan continues to boycott the show, except for Infiniti.

The entry BMW still has a better interior than Mercedes, but the difference is not anywhere as stark as it was in 2013, when Benz was crazily bad. A lot would come down to their infotaiment, but cars were unpowered. Neither brought out one of their new FWD cars. I can understand missing 2AT, see Ford and Jeep above, we are in deep flyover country that did not deserve it. But CLA is a 2014 model! Perhaps I missed it after all?

I had time to sit in S-klasse. Ugh. Gauche as all get out. Even has the analog clock. If that's what the rich have to deal with, I don't want to be rich.

Finally, I pinched my fingers in an Acura door. Window was open and I closed the door while holding the frame. That hurt 3/10. I was too used doing so in the Jeep, but was no Jeep. I suppose it only takes one lesson not to do that for an Acura owner, and it was my own fault, but not an excellent first impression anyway.

Tags: cars

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 04:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A discussion at PoA reminded me that writing down one's impression can come handy later, even if, or precisely because it may be distorted or completely false due to inexperience. So, here's what it was getting into Carlson Sparrow Sport Special.

Firstly, I realized that since the Sparrow SS is a single-seater, I had to check myself out. So, I went for a tailwheel refresher with Mr. John Lorenz, widely considered the best tailwheel CFI in the area.

FAA, in their wisdom, dedicated a special attention to low-inertia, high-drag airplanes in Advisory Circular 90-109, Appendix 4. They were concerned that it was too easy for a pilot coming down from traditional airplanes to lose airspeed and crash. While perhaps a potential hazard, it didn't feel like an issue to me. Sparrow SS is not a Quicksilver. It's more like a Cub in how it slows down, and I was equipped to handle that.

The ground handling was the biggest problem and hazard, in particular on rollout. I experienced all kinds of dangerous PIO, both up and down (enough for a prop strike) and left to right (enough for a good look into irrigation channel that lines the runway at my field). But in the air the handling is benign. There's no excessive adverse yaw, stalls are gentle with 27% MAC.

As far as PIO goes, it took about 6 hours to get comfortable. I see now why insurance requires 10 hours in type. I made something like 100 landings in that time. I learned to raise and lower the tail at the right moment, how step on the rudder decisively, and what the aileron input does on the ground. This controls the usual left-right PIO. Fortunately, I have a Matco tailwheel, which allows for easy steering.

To control the porpoising, the biggest help was getting low enough to the ground and stay low while increasing AoA all the way to stall. People mention the sight picture in regards to it, and that's exactly what the main problem was. That, and having the stick in your gut at touchdown. I haven't tried a wheelie yet, as the original builder warned me not to attempt it.

So, rather than the problems with low inertia and high drag, Sparrow presents problems with tailwheel. Otherwise, it's nothing, really.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 07:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I had no idea these even came in actual 1:72 rather than DLC.

Tags: anime

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 08:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Due to various circumstances, I was running low on the "pure" gas, so I refueled with 100LL at a pump for big boys.

While I was there, the next guy in line helped me to deal with the hose. Hose of an airplane pump is much thicker and heavier than that on a common car pump, and something was not working in the latching mechanism of its spool. Anyhow, he held it down while I filled up for 6 gallons (a Cherokee in which I learned to fly takes 50). The helpful gentleman was quite amazed that it was all.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 02:36 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I cannot stop watching this terrible romcom and I blame two things: Evirus and Crunchyroll. I don't think I would ever bother torrenting, and I would not give it a second chance after the facepalm of ep.1 without Evirus' advocacy and spoilers.

Oh, and one other thing: the comparison with the classics is very instructive here. When I watched, say, Initial D, I never paid any attention to the moldy tropes as they occured, because they were masterfuly deployed. When I watched Yowapeda, the same tropes were obvious and painful. What is that magic of competence? I am sure Yamakan would love to know. Golden Time, too, makes me appreciate initial Ai yori Aoshi and the original Nodame this much more.

Tags: anime

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 07:26 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I probably should feel ridiculous, but sadly with my long neck and the sharp insides of Carlson this is necessary even before we talk crashes, so I don't. The most unpleasant part is not the pretend-pilot looks, but that with only 56 horse-power on tap, every pound is precious, so I would be quite happy to leave this get-up on the ground in exchange for 5 more f.p.m. climb rate.

The only other aircraft where I bumped my head in a painful way was, surprisingly, the vaunted Cessna 162, the future of S-LSA and all. Due to extreme weight problem, Cessna omitted all the interior upholstery from the 162. The result was predictable and painful.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 04:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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22 mpg in daily driving? Better believe it. Note the Mileage Counter A and the fuel gauge: 280 miles on something like 12 or 13 gallons. I reset the counter when I refuel.

Truth to be told, it's mostly an artefact of traffic not being heavy around there. Cruising at 75, Jeep does about 19. Slowing to 65 stretches a bit about 20 at flat land. Getting into a traffic jam can get really bad quick.

Tags: cars

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 10:58 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Just posting to commemorate my success...

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 06:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I visted an airport open house in Belen on Saturday, which was quite well attended, and even included an amateur air show with 5-ship formations (local RVers from Albuquerque put it up)! One piece of visiting hardware in particular was remarkable, I think. Check it out:

It's a gyroplane with a Subaru engine. The owner put a turbocharger on it, the combo delivering 230 hoursepower. The top speed is 120 mph, or half greater than my airplane! Of course the gyro costed quite a bit more, but still... Impressive. It can haul a ton and land vertically.

Also observe the lack of tall amortizing landing legs, present on e.g. SportCopter Vortex. The owner said that he does not need them even when he lands to a confined spot. He opted for a heavier main rotor, which stores enough energy to level off after a descent and put it down gently. The excess engine power hauls the heavy rotor easily.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 12:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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What if a local gas station started to sell a gas for one dollar per gallon? The traffic jam would be huge, don't you think? AvWeb reports on the aftermath of the Redbird Skyport experiment:

Redbird’s San Marcos, Texas, Skyport made quite a splash earlier in October when it sold avgas for two weeks at a buck a gallon. Yet two weeks after the cheap gas experiment ended, flight activity is still up threefold at the airport, according to Redbird CEO Jerry Gregoire. [...]

"We’re glad to say the demand is out there to fly. It surprised us quite a bit. We expected in the first two weeks to sell about 16,000 gallons where we would have normally sold about 2000 gallons in that period of time. We ended up selling 90,000 gallons," [...]

"Now what we’re seeing after this is that the amount of flying into this airport and the flights scheduled into this area are up about threefold on a daily basis since that promotion ended,” Gregoire said.

In exchange for gas at a dollar a gallon, Redbird interviewed more that 1600 pilots flying in a total of about 1000 airplanes [...] Pilots were asked about how much they fly, where they fly and what type of flight they typically make. Interestingly, almost a quarter — 23 percent — said they hadn’t flown in at least a year before the cheap fuel became available.

I'm sure this will add ammo to people who claim that aviating always was too expensive and there's nothing new to it. Unfortunately, a 3-fold increase in traffic still puts us a half again below the levels of 1980s, when the population was only 280 million.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 02:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In the middle of Arizona desert, there lived a man, Mr.X. Not a unabomber or a pedophile, just a regular kind of working man. Mr.X had an illegal airplane, a very small one, which he bought for $6,000. He wasn't a drug traffiker. But the U.S. Government decreed that his airplane should not exist. Not for any reason related to public well-being, but simply because it could.

American airplane pilots and owners reading this have probably already guessed what was up. Mr.X did not register the little tube-and fabric airplane by the 2010 deadline, when it became impossible. Well, okay, you can still register it in the "Experimental Exhibition" category, I think, maybe. Then, all you need to visit a Casa Grande fly-in is a fax from your local Flight Standards District Office. It's a category in which people flying jet fighters register. Still... Isn't it kind of... excessive? Maybe something they do in a police state where citizens must register motorized bicycles.

P.S. I probably should mention that I did not buy Mr.X's little airplane. The truck, from the cab of which the picture was taken, is carrying a different, fully legal airplane that was based on the same airfield.

Personally, I do not see anything wrong with an illegal airplane, as long as it's not used to commit crimes against persons or property. But I do not live in the middle of Arizona where I could get away with it.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 06:38 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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So.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 04:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, that was different. Just look at all that water:

Okay, just kidding. The water had no import on the flight, however the Bravo was on the bucket list for a while. And surprisingly, they even cleared me into it, albeit on the way back.

You can tell it wasn't like Denver, where a controller once told me: "I don't have the time to deal with you", after the usual "Squack VFR, remain clear of Class Bravo". I went into Glendale (KGLU), and thought better than zig-zag around without knowing the landmarks. Instead I squeezed on top of the Scottsdale Delta at 4800 and then dived down under a shelf at 2800, from where it was smooth sailing to a 45 degree entry for right traffic at 16. Score!

On the way back it was another story, as I had to gun 2700 r.p.m. all the way from Metro Center and contemplated a careful switchback to climb on top of Deltas. Speaking of Metro Center, I never saw it on either way there or back. So much for a supposedly prominent landmark.

Another funny thing happened on departure, too. Since I went left crosswind for a north-east departure out of GLU, I checked in with Phoenix at 120.7, who immediately told me to contact Luke at 118.15. That was despite me hearing how they called me as a traffic to someone else. When I got through to Luke, they bounced me back to Phoenix, while also advising another aircraft about me. Fortunately by that time was almost at Metro and Phoenix agreed to deal with me.

It felt like both controllers were confused by my attempt to get on top of Scottsdale. Apparently locals take north and go around Deer Valley in such circumstances. Oh well, it was Sunday. I never saw another airplane except in the pattern at Glendale.

Oh, and one other thing. While the scaremongering about thraffic and ATC turned out to be overblown, the airspace is complex indeed. I had to resort to flying by the terminal approach chart, because Phoenix sectional was just too dense with symbols. In Denver, TAC only made me confused due to scale being twice off, but here I had to suck it up and focus on hitting pre-planned altitudes carefuly (which would be impossible even to write on the sectional).

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 01:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The subject is a reference to Wonderduck's series of "mystery ship" postings, but only a reference. I am not asking anyone to guess what it is, and there's no prize. But it certainly offers a mystery. Like, if it actually flies.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 06:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Now that Vladimir Putin stymied President's Obama attempts at war in Syria, there is a talk of giving him a Nobel Peace Prize. I think this would be incorrect, and Nobel Prize Committee ought to give him at least 2 prises.

President Obama already has one Peace Prize. Therefore, should Mr. Putin be awarded the same prize, he would be of equal rank. However, it is clear that in the fight for peace he's victorious. Therefore, the situation would be incorrect.

One possibility to correct it would be to institute a "Super Nobel Peace Prize", awarded for forcing regular Prize holders to maintain or establish peace. But I think awarding two Prizes would be more expeditious.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 08:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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