The Lasagna Paradox

My mom loves spices but her stomach does not, so when I made lasagna yesterday, I tried to tone it down significantly, cutting the spices by half and replacing the Italian sausage with ground beef [(velveting 1, 2] the meat to improve the texture). Hopefully it mellowed overnight, because when I tried it fresh out of the oven, it was still inexplicably quite zippy. Anyway, I hope she can eat it today. 😁

[Update: it still had a spicy finish to it, so I went back to the original cookbook, Tough Guys Don't Dice by the late James A. Thorson, and discovered that he handwaved the quantities of everything, and the precise values in my recipe had been invented over time as my gaming group tinkered with what fit into a standard Pyrex lasagna pan. I'm going back to the drawing board with this one, and definitely including the velveted ground beef option, which had amazing texture.]

Charming Sharra

Or, The Adventures of Karen of Ethshar. This is the first time I’ve ever just stopped reading one of Lawrence Watt-Evans’ fantasy novels, and it is entirely due to the main character being annoying and stupid. I simply don’t want to spend time with her as she demands to see life’s manager until (hopefully) learning her lesson and growing into a better person.

Hey, look, Bing Copilot worked for me!

I had a very specific problem that was poorly served by the way Google and other search engines chop up your search string, normalize the words, and then match them to wildly irrelevant results. And ads.

What I was looking for was a very specific type of fruitcake that my mother makes, and that she used to receive as a Christmas gift from her aunt decades ago. The first way it differs from the most common variety is by not being a cake; the small amount of flour is present only to coat the fruit and nuts so that they stick together when the only other major ingredient is added: sweetened condensed milk.

I’m pretty good at Google incantations, but because it just breaks language into keywords, it can’t tell the difference between recipes that contain a few tablespoons of flour and ones that contain several cups. The thing LLMs do well, on the other hand, is retain the connection between adjacent words, so I could specify “no more than 1/2 cup of flour” and have it correctly limit the search results.

The first pass included recipes that contained eggs and sugar, so I added “and no eggs”, and ended up with four “Texas” fruitcakes that aren’t what you’ll get if you buy a “Texas fruitcake”:

1. Stella’s Texas Fruitcake
2. Texas Fruit Cake
3. Homesick Texan’s Pecan Date Fruitcake
4. Never-Fail Fruit Cake

If I asked Copilot for more recipes like these, it just repeated the same list, and I’m willing to believe that there just aren’t a lot out there. The good news is that it didn’t insist on padding out the results with false positives.

Fun fact: with no actual “cake” involved, the ingredients are self-preserving, so it can’t really go bad (which is the original point of the heavily-sweetened alcoholic English fruitcake), but it should still be baked right away. We learned that the hard way this year, when, while stirring the pounds of fruit and nuts together with the cans of condensed milk, Mom got interupted by visitors, and had to cover up the bowl and set it out in the passively-refrigerated garage. One thing led to another, and it was three days before she fetched it back inside to portion into bread pans and bake. And it was a rock, firmly stuck to the mixing bowl. It took several hours of warmth and prying to break it up, and then restoring the original texture required some more condensed milk.

DanMemo ends (outside Japan)

The phone/tablet gacha game based on Is It Okay To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon is finally ending service in February. I sank a fair amount of time into it, and bought enough tokens to compensate the developers for producing a decent game with all the voice actors from the anime and original stories by the author. It gets old after a while unless you’re into throwing money at it, but it did have some nice cheesecake of the vast female cast, and several of the original songs are pretty good.

It sould be nice if they followed up the end-of-service announcement with a client update that bumped the point recovery and free gacha rates, so people could spend the next two months exploring character stories they could never unlock before. Probably won’t happen, though; they have another game now. Hopefully there’s an archive of ripped art and music out there somewhere.

(the Japanese servers are staying up, because apparently there’s a very active “PvP” community that still spends money on gacha pulls)

JMB/GG meetup

Gaston Glock has died, after a very full and successful life. I picture him meeting up with John Moses Browning in the afterlife and getting along just fine. Unlike many of their fans in this life. 😁

Purah Explains It All

Maplestar has promised a sequel to that Purah video by the end of the year. Clock’s ticking… [Update: January 4th!]

McPharmacist & Waifu & Sister, Too

The new trailer for season two makes it clear that Ruti loves Red in a completely inappropriate way. So whatever happens with the new hero-dick, they’ve got that going for them.

(wrong waifu, but I doubt I’ll get complaints…)

Hope everyone’s happy, healthy, stuffed, and loaded with goodies. I’m thinking next year I should make myself an Ammo Advent Calendar. Other than just stacking Federal and Remington boxes in a tree shape, I mean.

Ladies Served Fresh Daily

(obscure reference)

For women-women who might have found a Glock under the tree, my local members-only range has an upcoming confidence-builder:

Ladies Only ‘Ballistic Therapy’

This does not require a membership.

Rerun Returns

Second season announced. No details about the story beyond what was in the last episode.

Important Pixiv note

If your “discovery” page has become cluttered with unwanted content, it’s likely because their algorithm is prioritizing viewed images over favorited. In other words, if you clicked on a thumbnail and it turned out to be something you didn’t like or weren’t interested in (or had such content below the fold), it’s still being treated as something to show you more of.

You can clear it from the profile menu under “Browsing history”. Note that doing so doesn’t cause your recommendations to refresh immediately.

How the sausage espresso is made

James Hoffmann takes a deep dive into how Nespresso gets away with it, extracting info about how their pods extract coffee, and why third-party and refillable pods aren’t as good, no matter what beans you put into them.

Tearmoon, fin

After the rush, the padded ending! Honestly, if they’d decided up-front not to bring in more than the barest hook for a followup season (the serpent book on the table), they could have paced the last few episodes better, and made it less dependent on narration and exposition.

Verdict: flawed but fun, and honestly, what comes after this is where the source material starts shark-jumping, as

Rerun’s Special Magic, fin

“My power is overwhelming!”
   “No, my power is overwhelming!”
“Back to me!”
   “I pressed the ‘I Win’ button!”
“Yeah, nah, I got this.”

Followed by a debriefing, a training montage, a showoff, the sight of Our Bushy-Browed Valkyrie wearing a literal bush, and The Big Sendoff. And, yes, even Bunnyboy’s official military uniform has him wearing short pants and thigh-highs.

Verdict: the biggest question I was left with was WTF was up with their hair coloring; the nicest thing I can say is that I didn’t quit it in disgust or boredom like I have so many others recently.

(you-know-who appeared briefly in a panned still, sigh)

The Apothecary Diaries, episode 12

Reminder: there are mini-episodes as well (just noticed you have to select the ミニアニメ tab). (don’t bother with the auto-translated captions; find a sub if you need it)

And so we reach the epilogue to the first book. If you’ve ever wondered what anime would be like if they didn’t chop up 3-4 light novels to fit them into 12 episodes, here you go.

Verdict: more, please.

(I haven’t read the books, because I really like the show, and don’t want to get into the adaptation-deficiency mindset)

New Frieren trailer

Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the tournament exam arc achievement! In most other shows, a multi-episode competition with lots of flashy action would be cause for despair, but I think they’ve given us sufficient reason to trust them.

Another winter show I won’t watch…

Fluffy Paradise – worked-to-death office lady reborn in another world as a loli granted the unique power of being loved by all non-human creatures. NO

Ah, the uncomfortable truths of adventuring: endless side quests and charisma checks! As usual, lot of nice little moments, including advancing the relationship between Fern and Stark. Nice tie-in for Kraft (the character, not the mac-n-cheese company).

Verdict: imagine what seasons would be like if everyone else in the business started with good source material and treated it (and the viewers) with respect…

(I didn’t have a cake for my recent birthday, but not for this reason…)

Unrelated

I’ll be hosting Christmas supper dinner lunch, so it’s time to start cleaning the house and converting the present-wrapping station back into a dining table. I haven’t done any exterior or interior seasonal decoration except pulling a pair of Santa figures out of the closet, so it’s just going to be food and prezzies.

Not this sort of “Santa figure”, sadly

I made the mistake of driving half an hour to a specialty grocery store earlier this week, and forgot my airpods. I’d gone too far to just turn back, so I was forced to spend nearly two hours listening to (shudder) Christmas Music.

I took damage.

“We don’t know if we’ll ever get another season, but just in case, let’s toss another ball into the air.”

They trimmed a fair bit of content to get (almost) everyone into place and wrap things up cleanly, and it involved a fair amount of standing around talking, but it worked pretty well. Our Speaks-Truth-To-Power Daughter did most of the work, leaving Our Peerless Daddy to simply welcome her home and reunite with Our Wastrel Wizard.

Verdict: more, please.

(welcome-home specialist Emily is unrelated; this show could really use more fan-art)

Unrelated dungeon-food-porn note

Delicious In Dungeon was licensed by Netflix, who’s paying for a same-day English dub. There’s a lot of money being thrown at this one, and I’m just not seeing the appeal.

(speaking of appeals I don’t see, at no point during her story did I think, “I really want to see Aura The Guillotine’s softer side”)

Who’s the bigger asshole?

The entitled dipshit who recorded himself getting pounded in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing room, or the Colorado Supreme Court cosplaying Alex and his droogs?

I see why they fall for it…

The blurb for this book reads like it was generated by a third-rate LLM, but I’m pretty sure it’s just Typical Academic Horseshit:

This wide-ranging collection seeks to reassess conventional understanding of Japan’s Asia-Pacific War by defamiliarizing and expanding the rhetorical narrative. Its nine chapters, diverse in theme and method, are united in their goal to recover a measured historicity about the conflict by either introducing new areas of knowledge or reinterpreting existing ones. Collectively, they cast doubt on the war as familiar and recognizable, compelling readers to view it with fresh eyes.

…and now I’ve freed up 40 GB on my laptop!

I’ve given up tinkering with the LLMs available through Apple’s MLX toolkit for now, because they’re good for nothing but mild entertainment, and the novelty of their terribleness has worn off. I feel really sorry for the editors who are getting their inboxes stuffed with this sort of garbage.

Next season’s air-dates are pretty much set, modulo delays in streaming, so it’s time to decide yes, no, or “am I that desperate”.

Let’s just get the obvious taken care of first:

• Frieren – YES
• The Apothecary Diaries – YES

January 2

• Ishura – big CGI fights strung together by king-of-the-mountain plot. NO

January 3

• Gushing Over Magical Girls – um, do ya really wanna use gushing over here? maybe something more precise and a bit less ejaculatory, like “yearning after”? (watches trailers) Never mind, you nailed it. NO

January 4

• Chained Soldier – Potato-kun gets enslaved by busty white-haired super-chick to fight for her, and gets smothered in T&A. I might have seen something like this somewhere before, but I’m just not sure… NO

• My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! – I’m already tired just from reading that. NO

• Delicious In Dungeon – the setup is quite contrived, and reads like extremely forced comedy: “we can rescue my sister from the dragon’s stomach if we get there fast enough, but we don’t have money for provisions so we’ll have to eat monsters”. MAYBE

• The Demon Prince Of Momochi House – just kidding. NO

January 5

• Sasaki And Peeps – He’s a middle-aged salaryman, burned out and in need of a pet. He’s a wizard from another world, trapped in the body of a small bird. Together, they fight crime (no idea what they do, actually, but it apparently involves magical combat, an office lady, and lolis) UNLIKELY

• The Wrong Way To Use Healing Magic – that “way” is abusive physical comedy with lots of shouting. NO

• Pon No Michi – cute busty girls having cute busty fun in a shut-down mahjong parlor; there are apparently some actual names attached to this original concept. UNLIKELY

January 6

• Solo Leveling – y’know, him. Pity fans will have to get used to new names for every single character. YES

• Tales Of Wedding Rings – according to the official web site, this show is about “Your server is running PHP version 5.3.3 but WordPress 6.4.1 requires at least 7.0.0.”, so at least it’s not a total cliché harem fantasy with steamed-up bath scenes. No, wait, it is. NO

• The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids -A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero’s Party- – is it possible to get tired of shows about nice guys being kicked out of the hero’s party? Yes, yes it is. NO

• A Sign of Affection – love is deaf, say it with fingers. NO

January 7

• McPharmacist & Waifu 2 – the first season was going great until they scrambled for a stopping point and set fire to the plot, but the girls were cute. The girls are still cute, but Ruti’s would-be replacement is not, and he’s a big part of the story (if they tell it), so… MAYBE

• 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! – what’s that, Lassie? Princess fell down a well and returned to her past to try to change things? Again? Y’know what, let’s leave her there this time. NO

• Mr. Villain’s Day Off – not a clue. NO

January 8

• The Unwanted Undead Adventurer – or, Three Babes And A Boner. UNLIKELY

• Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! – cheesecakes of the frozen north. BLIZZARD-ONLY

• ’Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess – remember Sleepy Princess? Looks like pretty much the same thing, only louder and dumber. NO

• The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil – y’know, usually when demons “recruit” high school girls to boost the morale of their troops, it doesn’t end well for the girl, but this is a romantic comedy, and she’s an angel, so what could go wrong? NO

January 9

• Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord – yeah, NO

January 10

• Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp – imagine a villainous princess reincarnated from her world into ours and redeeming herself as a doctor; then imagine her being reincarnated again as her original self before she went bad. Now imagine me watching this. NO

• Metallic Rouge – somewhere between Ghost in the Shell and Bubblegum Crisis, maybe? Not getting much out of the trailer. MAYBE

• Sengoku Youko – 37 episodes booked up front? Somebody must have heard of this one. NO

• Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! – a gay wizard, no less. NO

January 11

• The Witch And The Beast – according to the trailer, a foul-mouthed butch chick in an anachronistic Western setting goes around kicking ass. NO

• Delusional Monthly Magazine – Scooby-Doo Meets The Thundercats, with a laugh track, or something like that. NO

• Brave Bang Bravern! – I didn’t read past the title. NO

• The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash – ditto. NO

January 12

• Snack Basue – a gag comedy so cheap it doesn’t have a trailer. NO

January 13

• Bucchigiri?! – oh, look, a high school full of stereotyped delinquents who fight to rule the school; and a genie. NO

Side note

Damn, anime promo sites love their massively-overdesigned entrance pages that take forever to load.

(“please slip some good surprises onto the schedule”)