This week, a new mystery: how in the hell did Our Megabusty Goofball Pony Gal ever fit into that ninja armor? Related, Our Slightly Gay Catgirl gets an extended flashback origin story, and I must say that she should ease up on the mousse and go back to a more natural hair style.

We’ve also finally reached events promised in the (wretched) OP animation, as Our Bony Hero tests his metal mettle against a sea monster. Time to get kraken! … okay, done; they didn’t even bother giving the poor thing a coup de grâce.

Verdict: there must be a law about Conservation Of Extended Flashbacks.

(still tinkering with sword-bearing fantasy cover-girl prompts; this first one, like Our Titty Elf, apparently likes sitting on bone)

Apple still struggling to find a use for AI

In iOS 27, Apple Intelligence will automatically rearrange your tabs by category. Apparently because it’s Yet Another Way To Move Things Around Behind Your Back, an Apple UI specialty in recent years.

Seriously, WTF?

Same article:

In the Safari settings accessible from the left of the URL bar, tapping into Create an Extension brings you to an interface where you can type in whatever you want an extension to do. Apple also includes suggestions in categories that include Boost Productivity, Improve Focus, Get Creative, and Develop and Design. Some of Apple’s extension suggestions:

• Create a citation for the current webpage and copy it to my clipboard
• Create a 3-minute focus timer for the page
• Set the minimum font size to 14pt
• Turn the page into pirate speak
• Style websites like 90s websites with bold colors and type
• Every time I open a new tab, draw me a different flower
• Highlight and show the dimensions of webpage elements when I tap on them
• Enter the design mode for a website so that I can edit the contents

…because I want to run down my phone battery and my data plan!

And more!

Safari can monitor a website for changes and alert you when new information is detected. Apple says it’s useful for monitoring when concert tickets go on sale or watching for a product to be restocked.

Magilumiere 2, episode 8

Our Shoulder-Chippy Loner grows up and learns to trust other people to be just as capable at their jobs as he is. Also, Our Cuddly Legal-Loli Miko has him so whipped that it doesn’t matter if he takes a job and moves to Tokyo. He’ll be back.

Verdict: thankfully, they’d used up their quota of extended flashbacks, and actually managed to beat the monster and finish the story arc.

(eh, close enough for winging it with just a prompt)

Isekai Ass-Guardian, episode 8

Bondage harpies, maid cosplay, deus ex goddess, and another teenage haremette who’s already thick as thieves with the other ones. Oh, yeah, and a battle so big that they even animated some of it. Not everyone is happy with Our Rump Protector’s decision to delay moving to the next district immediately, though; it seems Our Mighty Blonde Twintail is… impatient.

Verdict: Elitia’s going to be impatient for a really long time, since her goal is in district five, and the manga isn’t even halfway through seven yet. They’re doing things that suggest prepping for a future season, but I don’t see fan reactions that would support it getting green-lit.

(not as cuddly as Our Best Lizard Gal, but she’ll have to do)

Remembering code="R"

Back in the stone age, MasterCook had licensed recipes, automatic nutritional info based on a licensed database, flexible output options, recipe scaling, import from a variety of sources, and the ability to treat other recipes as ingredients and automatically print them alongside the main recipe.

No recipe manager app has added a significant new feature in at least 25 years. Most of them are less capable than MasterCook 6, with the possible exception of improved recipe-parsing from web pages, enabled by the common practice of cooking sites embedding JSON-LD on the page.

Pretty much everyone who claims to import Mastercook’s MX2 not-quite-XML export format simply ignores a bunch of the formatting, including the recipe links, which are simply ingredient records that have a code="R" attribute and a name that matches the name of another recipe in the same archive.

For reference, code “T” meant a text item like “or” or “(optional)”, code “S” was a section header for dividing ingredients by purpose, and the sometimes-omitted “I” was for normal ingredients.

A few Fantasy Sword Gals

I created a bunch of LLM-enhanced backgrounds, swords, and outfits, and mixed them together. Sadly, the LLM got a bit too creative, and I need to delete all references to mushrooms, jellyfish, moss, coral, lichen, feathers, birds, seaweed, thorns, and leaves. From all three sets.

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Tan Teen Oni Waifu, episode 8

FYI for the translator: not only does yoroshiku tanomu not mean “I hope this works”, what idiot thought that Our Mighty Hero would ever say “I hope this works” to his troops right before a battle? Have they watched the show?

This is far milder than the sort of localization errors that really set fans off, where woke morons are rewriting the scripts to change the point of entire scenes and the nature of major characters, but come on, even the still-mostly-broken online translator apps don’t mistranslate a simple phrase like “yoroshiku tanomu” (“I’m counting on you”).

Anyway, The Big Battle doesn’t go as either side expected, but if you were expecting things to go badly for The Good Guys, clearly you haven’t been watching the show, either.

Verdict: Boy Gets Doggy Girl. And I suspect Our Loyal Sidekick will be less reticent than his master, so I expect puppies soon.

(unrelated GenAI doggy girl is one of the few I got who didn’t have a muzzle)

10 Years A Harem Lord, episode 8

Okay, so they did cast the queen, and brought her on-screen this week, which means that they could easily have followed the source and had her show up earlier, both in locking down the vampire’s Big Magic Rock and in providing a bit of late-night fan-service when they opened the tunnel. Which makes it look like they just didn’t want the fan-service?

Anyway, no one should be surprised that the crime boss was easily defeated and that they found plenty of evidence he was Up To No Good, and also that there are still vampires running around behind the scenes.

Also, we have a new damsel in distress, and this one’s got red underrim glasses, so you know she’s worth rescuing. Speaking of haremettes, the loli redhead is going to be a real heartbreaker in a few years.

Verdict: Good Clean Fun.

(yeah, just throwing out unrelated pics tonight…)

Amazon fixed estimated delivery times!

By removing them! This week, none of my orders that reached the “out for delivery” stage has an estimated delivery window, and while the map view still gets loaded, it no longer indicates how many stops away the driver is or their approximate location.

Dear Apple,

Could you please unfuck the behavior of the “repeat” functionality in the MacOS Music.app? Eventually? If I select “repeat one”, I expect it to do two things:

1. repeat the same song until I choose another one.
2. stay selected until I select a different option.

This hasn’t worked since you replaced iTunes with this PoS that demonstrates that you don’t need vibe-coding to write garbage.

Playing with Obsidian

I’ve been having issues with Joplin’s sync (for a long time, actually), and a co-worker suggested I try out Obsidian, which has various sync options including an end-to-end encrypted service they run for a small fee, as well as a robust plugin architecture.

Which you need, because out of the box it’s kinda limited for the sort of things I want from a note app. To achieve rough parity with Joplin, I had to add:

• Importer - required to get your existing data into Obsidian.
• Note Toolbar - basic formatting buttons.
• Frontmatter Date Manager - update the “updated” field on edit; otherwise you simply can’t sort notes by recent edits.
• Fold Properties By Default - otherwise you lose a lot of screen space to note metadata.
• Vault Backup - export to compressed archive.

One thing that took a while to figure out was a reverse-chronological display of every note in a vault, regardless of where it was stored in organizational sub-folders. Turns out you need to use “Bases” and set up a list view that sorts by the “updated” metadata field (which is never… updated by the basic app). The results aren’t terribly pretty, but it works.

Pity it’s Yet Another Node.js App.

There are some recipe-management plugins, which might make it a decent alternative to the current crop of paid apps, and it’s apparently got a big following in the role-playing community, for setting up and running games.

(fun fact: the randomized prompt didn’t specify an animal species for this one)

Oh, look, more GenAI horseshit!

I was wandering through Amazon recommendations, because there’s a new release of Asimov’s Lucky Starr novels, and came across an “enriched edition” of The Stainless Steel Rat, with the following blurb. I shit you not:

In Harry Harrison’s book ‘The Stainless Steel Rat’, readers are taken on a thrilling journey through a futuristic world filled with advanced technology and cunning criminals. The book combines elements of science fiction and heist genres, offering a unique and engaging reading experience. Harrison’s witty writing style and fast-paced storytelling keep readers on the edge of their seats while exploring themes of morality and rebellion in a society governed by strict laws and regulations. The Stainless Steel Rat is a classic example of Harrison’s ability to blend humor, action, and social commentary in a thought-provoking narrative. Harry Harrison, known for his extensive work in science fiction, brings his expertise to ‘The Stainless Steel Rat’. His background as a military engineer and involvement in political activism provides insight into the themes of rebellion and social justice present in the book. Harrison’s rich imagination and attention to detail make ‘The Stainless Steel Rat’ a must-read for fans of science fiction and adventure. I highly recommend ‘The Stainless Steel Rat’ to readers looking for a captivating blend of futuristic technology, clever heists, and moral dilemmas. Harry Harrison’s masterful storytelling and unique narrative style make this book a standout in the science fiction genre, offering a thrilling and thought-provoking read.

In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience:

• A succinct Introduction situates the work’s timeless appeal and themes.
• The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
• A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era’s events and influences that shaped the writing.
• A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
• Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work’s messages, connecting them to modern life.
• Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
• Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.

The so-called “editorial reviews” are about completely unrelated books. The release is from 2020, but I can’t help but think someone had their chat-bot “freshen” the blurb recently. Much as dog urine could be used to “freshen” a fine whiskey.

The worst part is that they reused the ASIN listing for the actual book, so Amazon thinks I own it, and likely would try to “upgrade” the copy I have if I re-downloaded it.

Magical Girl Lyrical Tanya 2, episode 7

What do you do when there’s no chance of winning? Change the game. But first you need to explain the lives of ordinary people to Our Heroine, who’s not known for her empathy. Then you recruit her into your conspiracy.

(the author was inspired by a piece of Nanoha fanfic that he read, but some earlier claims that Tanya’s story grew out of the author’s Nanoha fanfic apparently were the result of poor translations of Japanese fan sites)

Bumpkin & Harem 2, episode 7

While Our Bumpkin’s away, Our Dutiful Daughter has her routine upended by a temporary move into the dorms. Where she gets an unexpected lesson in discipline, but at least she’s with a friend.

Meanwhile, Our White-Haired Haremette is very unhappy to discover that a noble has assigned his pretty younger sister to “protect” him from other women.

Verdict: “why, no, I have no idea where your sister went; have you checked the disturbed layer of sod over by the midden?”

(I’m not even looking for fresh fan-art for this show any more; here’s my favorite recent GenAI mouse gal)

Seems like only yesterday I updated MS Office…

Oh, wait, it was yesterday. And the week before. And maybe a few days before that. Imagine how fast they could update it if Github worked!

(today I accidentally invented a timeline where Frank Frazetta did the cover art for gay romance novels)

Horse and Bridal…

Saddle ’er up!

Host: Mac Mini (2024, M4 Pro, 64 GB)

Model: google/gemma-4-26b-a4b-qat (MLX, 4-bit quantization)

Performance: ~60 tokens/second

Prompt:

Create a list of 100 unique, creative image-generation prompts describing scenic locations that present a high-fantasy adventure aesthetic. Do not use names of real places. Do not include people. Do not include art style, medium, or depth of field. Describe only the visual elements of each location in concrete terms, as a self-contained paragraph of 25 to 75 words. Do not number the list or include any text formatting.

Now, let’s see what sort of “thinking” process led to these results…

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Okay, whatever they’ve been feeding those beastkin to make them build that well that quickly, I’ll take a dozen bottles; I’ve got a lot of work that needs done around the house.

Also, I would very much like to see more of Our Busty Romantic Book-Loving Ninja Horse Gal.

Verdict: a very silly interlude. I approve.

(no new fan-art, so it’s back to the GenAI mines)

How it’s going…

The “top picks” on Amazon’s recommendations page for me currently include:

• Fahrenheit 451
• Animal Farm
• Lord of the Flies

Also, Logic for Programmers, but that’s because it was already in my cart.

Sold or stolen?

I should check to see if Dropbox has been hacked recently, since I’m getting a lot of spam to the email address I only used with them. Fortunately, I don’t use their service any more, so I can blacklist that address.

Magilumiere 2, episode 7

This week, Our Big Fish learns that he was swimming in A Small Pond, and there are in fact other people as smart as he is. Naturally this leads to a series of flashbacks about growing up smart and lonely, with the only bright spot in his life being His Truly Magical Girl.

The villain accidentally managed to split the party, though, with two of Our Gals inside the barrier and the other two outside. So we now have two teams, with Our Boss trying to get there as fast as he can… next week.

Verdict: I’m not fond of the way they keep dropping everything for lengthy flashbacks. Otherwise, this was fine.

(I’m honestly surprised I haven’t seen doujin porn of Our Naughty Villain crossing over into the innocent world of Magilumiere; there would definitely be Gushing)

Isekai Ass-Guardian, episode 7

“Adventurers Assemble!” This week, Our Harem Party adds a big guard dog (female, of course), an emotionless semi-demi-catgirl, and a big hint that they need one more to cover all bases. We’ve already seen her, but she won’t be available until the monsters that showed up in town at the end destroy her livelihood. So, next week, and that should be it for haremettes for a while.

Meeting the leader of The Party Formerly Known As First Place means we’re getting close to moving up to district 7, and you may recall that I mentioned that the latest manga volume is still there with a ways to go before advancing further, so I’m not sure how they’re going to spend the next five episodes. Things have been moving pretty fast so far.

Verdict: a lot of walk-and-talk-and-talk-some-more, but Our Best Lizard Gal gets some nice moments, and the rest of the gals have signed off on her getting in the tub with Our Rear Observer, so on the whole, I’d say it went well. And we learned something very interesting about the process of becoming a demi-human.

Her husband doesn’t reveal that his wife’s a catgirl this week, she won’t be appearing this season, and I don’t remember them giving a detailed description of her looks, so I’ll just say that it would be nice if she were somewhere between these two:

(probably the latter, maybe with a mask like Theresia)

Cosplay Harem season 2

In production.

Despite being much tamer than the manga, this show was still full of fun and eye candy, so the new season is going on my list, whenever it ends up being released.

Mac screen sharing considered harmful

In a “complete takeover of your machine if you’re on a public wifi network, even with the firewall turned on, because Apple automatically opens holes for their own trash software” kind of way (link goes to Ars, where I’m sure they blame Trump for the exploit).

My defense against this sort of attack is never leaving the house.

On the bright side…

If you can stomach the Liquid Ass GUI of MacOS 26, you can unlock your encrypted boot drive over ssh, allowing you to finish booting after an OS update without a physical screen, keyboard, and mouse.

Hopefully this won’t be removed in MacOS 27.2.3, which is likely when I’ll consider upgrading from 15.7.9.

More fun with Engadget’s Headlines For Dummies

• Why are RAM prices so high right now?
• Here’s how to reset your ASUS router
• How to request an Xbox refund
• What is analog TV and how is it different from digital TV?

Honestly, at this point I’m surprised they’re still using complete sentences.

Traffic safety?

Flock cameras near my house:

• just north of an intersection on a “minor arterial” street, aimed at road.

• between a motel and a coffee shop, aimed at minor side street.

• other end of that minor side street, aimed across street at empty commercial property.

• a pair aimed both directions on side street adjacent to highway onramp, covering two gas stations.

• residential street, aimed at apartment complex parking lot.

• residential street, aimed at apartment complex parking lot.

• residential street, aimed at apartment complex parking lot.

• just north of (closed) public pool, aimed at apartment complex parking lot.

• dead-end street, aimed at community park parking lot.

Flock cameras located in downtown Miamisburg:

• N Main St, industrial zoning, aimed south at road.

There are more “traffic” cameras covering my suburban neighborhood than there are surrounding the nearby Dayton Mall, which is surrounded by high-traffic streets and two highways. Interestingly, about a mile east of the mall is a non-Flock traffic camera pointed in all four directions at a major intersection with tons of businesses and a highway on-ramp. That brand of four-way camera is only installed at major intersections, while none of the Flocks are.

How To Train Your (Chibi) Dragon Waifu

Same prompt structure, just adding “chibi version of” at the start of the character description. First try, I got 2 out of 100, because it kept leaving off either the horns or the tail. So I explicitly requested horns and tail. And a steampunk aesthetic, which didn’t always work either.

“Genie woman” and “demon woman” didn’t work at all, and “devil woman” had the same problem with leaving off horns and tails most of the time; I suppose I’ll have to do a general monster-girl test to see which ones are well-represented in the training data.

Related, I’m back to testing LLMs for creating sets of unique prompts, and the “thinking” process remains painful to watch; I can’t imagine being an LLM developer at these companies and feeling proud of your creations.

I asked shiny new release qwen3.8-27b for 100 unique scenic fantasy locations between 25 and 75 words in length. It “decided” to make them all exactly 30 words in length using Madlibs-style template substitutions, and then spent 42 minutes burning GPU power on the task. The results were as generic and uninspired as you might expect, so I fed them to another LLM for creative expansion, which took 4 minutes to pad them out to an average of 175 words. Then I used a third LLM to compress them back down to a sensible length, which took another 6 minutes. Silly as it sounds, breaking the task up this way was easier and much faster than trying to write a prompt to write a prompt to write a prompt that did it all at once in the first LLM.

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Tan Teen Oni Waifu, episode 7

This village is really going to the dogs. In a good way, at least for Our Loyal Sidekick, who doesn’t make it through “hello” before falling for Our Cute Canine Guide Gal. Fortunately, seeing him treat her charges as equals is enough to melt her heart, so there shouldn’t be any problems with this second interspecies relationship.

All is not simply slow-life in the middle of nowhere, however, as the plot once again raises its ugly head, in the person of the less-inept-than-you’d-expect fallen noble who’s been behind pretty much everything so far. This time, he’s persuaded Evil Princess to swipe power and authority to make another invasion attempt.

Fortunately, there’s a Good Prince, as well, and he tries to stop the mess before it gets out of hand. Next week, war!

Verdict: the sooner we’re past this conflict, the sooner we never see Princess Diane again. With luck, that’ll also be the end of The Gelded Noble, who kind of ruins any scene he’s in.

(no fan-art, as usual, so I had to gen up a cute white-haired doggy gal; not easy, since Krea2 tends to really go for breeds with long muzzles)

10 Years A Harem Lord, episode 7

I’ll give the show credit for one thing: the thugs terrorizing Our New Loli Housekeeper might want to sell her into slavery, but just as a general worker, not an underage sex slave; other shows tend to be less “wholesome”.

Anyway, apart from finding a loli and patching up a hole, things move pretty slowly this week, but end with the promise of a fight and a new maiden to rescue from shadowy villains.

Verdict: “hey, let’s leave the runaway loli out on a street corner, with a guard dog who’s kinda vague on the concept, so we can get her kidnapped again.” Also, still waiting on a definitive answer on Our Chicken Holder’s gender; s/he gets some very pretty closeup shots this week, but the subtitles using “he” are an interpretation, not a reflection of the Japanese dialogue, unless I missed a line.

(I may have to knock together a prompt for Our Devoted Wolf Girl, but meanwhile, here’s another cute doggie)

Gate novels finally available in translation

It took Amazon five months to inform me about a release from an author I follow, and only after the second book was released. Sigh.

Also Amazon

I am actually more surprised that Amazon delivered my latest order on the day promised than I would be if it were late. That’s how bad their logistics have been for me recently.

D is for Dragon-gal

I got some nice lizard gals in recent batches, so I decided to level them up.

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