Rubenerd

Earlier this week, one of the most upstanding members of the Anime@UTS club had her birthday. She’s made a habit of doing this every year.

As someone who recently experienced that surge of pain at the prospects of becoming older than one preferred to be, I could relate to her hesitation to celebrate. We’d all planned to do something for her anyway, but always the illustrious Event Organiser™ she figured out several fun activities during the day, including a high tea and a piping-hot gastronomically delectable Korean dinner.

(Gastronomy has to be one of the most unfortunate culinary terms ever bestowed upon the language).

Clara and I don’t drink, but we still had a great time seeing all our friends who we’ve barely seen owing to exams, assignments and all the regular fun stuff we otherwise occupy our existences with. She’d scoff at such a notion, but the turnout was just a testament to all the people who think she’s a great friend. So there!

tipsbowlerhat

As for the photo? Apparently that’s me in cat form (private account link). Nyan~ ^o^

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

Clara: Marukunaru plushie based on the popular Hatsune Miku song from Nico Nico Douga. Image from AmiAmi.

It’s so very cute, so much want.

Edit: better images here.

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

In the same theme, I found this.

(Via michail.at)

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

I saw someone use this image as an avatar once on App.net, but I’ve only recently gone about and found the image in its full glory.

(Via wallpaper4me.com)

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

Clara: That which Ruben shared with me. Interested in a fig like this? There’s one like this.

Image from yande.re.

From my girlfriend Clara’s site:

I heard today that uni funding has been cut again [..] the gist is that the 10% discount on upfront payments of HECs will be scrapped, voluntary paying back of HECs loans will lose the 5% bonus and Student Start Up Scholarships must be repaid once the student starts working.

The constant political infighting, the watering down of the Mining Tax, this complete and utter contempt for university students and the future of the country (paying back “scholarships” is my favourite)… I regard this current Australian government as nothing but a joke at this stage.

But here’s the truly depressing thing. Labor knows I would never vote for the conservative coalition under Tony Abbott, so they know for people like me they can get away with this. I’ve seen Labor MPs on Twitter defend the plan by saying Tony Abbott would be worse. What a platform.

Update

Great catch from by Alex Masso on Twitter, seen via Greens Senator Christine Milne:

senatormilne: RT @alexmasso: “I fervently believe in and will continue to advocate that increases be made in funding the university sector” – David Gonski

Every man and his dog is asking why PC shipments are going down (many of whom don’t have as much assonance in their headings… or is that alliteration?) so I couldn’t be silent any more!

It’s reason season

Some (well okay, most) armchair analysts blame users dropping Windows 8 like a metro-riding hot potato. Others point to the iPad and the general move towards the cloud and virtualisation as reasons why people don’t see the need for new hulking towers. The Gruber says sales of PC “trucks” are in decline as we all move to smaller, more efficient “cars”.

I suspect a large part of the reason is far less exciting, and has more to do with corporate rather than consumer decisions.

Care to buy a second hand PC?

During the last economic downturn, companies delayed purchasing new machines. New machines translate to new licensing costs, training people, exhaustive compatibility testing. If you’re being squeezed financially, it’s understandable why you’d look at these expenses, and put them off.

In doing so, it’s possible these companies realised they could continue using these machines productively. Extended support can be costly, but still far less than procuring new equipment they’ve since realised they don’t really need. Besides, their employees probably use MacBooks and iPads at home anyway.

What we could be witnessing is the end of the 2-3 year corporate upgrade cycle, and the transition into something far more sustainable. It makes nothing but business sense, though you can understand why corporate IT providers are nervous. Perhaps there’s something to this services-orientation stuff.

I’m only speaking from the inside perspective of two large companies, but I think there’s a pattern here. Or I could just be entirely wrong; my haters would be the first to point out this possibility.

Which reminds me…

The word possibility looks like the word possum.

Picture of Hatsune Miku and that veritable ocean of windows by 7zu7 on Pixiv.

I am unreasonably excite, and not just for the cityscape pr0n either.

Honestly, sometimes I think I’m the only guy alive who preferred Raingun to Index. It’s not everyday where you can say a spinoff or sequel was better than the original. Misaka Mikoto is boss. Actually, I like the whole gang, though I can imagine having Shirai Kuroko as a roommate would get awfully difficult after a while.

After my midsem exam, I’ll be downloading and watching this. As well as catching up with all my Kyoani stuff, and maybe Vividred, and maybe some 90s stuff including the Evangelion manga on my iPad. Maybe.

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

One of those newfangled Internet sensations… Well, no, but it sure is getting popular in Pivix lately. This picture has been sitting in my drafts for a while though.

Image by ゲン on Pixiv, via Konachan.

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

Kyuubei Curry. Image from WonFes 2011 coverage by dans.