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I Survived the Endless Eight... (I mean, it's not like it was unwatchable. I can't see myself ever wanting to re-watch it, though...) For all you moe fans out there I want to mention Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream. This was such a cute idol-type show, I enjoyed it just as much as Love Live in its own way. "Pu-pu-pu! Pu-reti ri! Pu-re-ti rizu-mu!" So now my idol show hall of fame will include: Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream Love Live Idolmaster Love Get Chu Lovely Idol Mermaid Melody Pitchy-pitchy-pitch Idol Defense Force Hummingbird (I probably forgot something)

I'd like to take a moment to report that as of today I'm finally done with studying 2000 kanji (I'm a proponent of the kanji-last method). Before I began this study, I relied on osmosis(?) kanji learning such as glancing through the kyouiku grades, recognizing them together with new vocabulary/readings, and sounding out new words I came across while reading. But while that has worked well for reading manga with furigana / reading PC VNs with a text hooker, it doesn't suffice for the next step, which is reading a manga or light novel or game assisted by only a standard dictionary (well actually three). Not sure how efficient my methods for Japanese really are. I only know they are effective for me. That's because I never learned on a schedule--only when the spirit moved me. Speaking of which: "He that in reading would improve Must first with reading fall in love; For true love for true pains will call, and that's the charm that conquers all." (I personally think that stretches the "love" metaphor to its breaking point there, but anyway, happy reading...)

If that was supposed to be "Hanabi, I wonder what's wrong with Onii-chan?" then I think you still have a translators issue . . .

Ebola can be transmitted through the air via tiny droplets that emerge when you cough or sneeze. Even you don't breathe them in, if these tiny droplets should land on you or some object near you... Have you ever been in a situation where you were on a plane, in a theater, in a meeting, etc. and somebody was coughing right near you for a period of time? Have you ever forgotten to wash your hands before eating, or touched something that a sick person used and touched your own eyes or nose without thinking about it? Most people know how to avoid getting a cold, but mistakes can happen. When you're risking just getting a cold, it's not so bad. When you're risking getting a killer hemorrhagic fever that has no cure, you might want to take it more seriously. The people who treated the Ebola patients, don't you think they took every precaution imaginable? And then came down with it anyway? Isn't it better to err on the side of caution given the symptoms of the illness and its recovery rate?

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, one of the later and better games of this type Karnov's a platformer, not a brawler. Your main weapon is breathing fire, and you do a lot of jumping...

I am a fan of Miku.* This sounds rather interesting.* Although it surely pales in comparison, I went to Anime Weekend Atlanta last month and saw the Miku concert there. It is of course not the one with the live musicians but still I got quite a thrill out of being there. I also got a new character art book / manga book of her, and I managed to get the autograph of Hachiouji-P while I was attending the Vocaloid panel. * I'm not the type to get all emotional in writing

"A fish won't do anything but swim in a brook, He can't write his name or read a book. To fool all the people is his only thought, And though he's slippery, he still gets caught. But then, if that sort of life is what you wish, You may grow up to be a fish."

Easy enough to fix. The outside world shouldn't ever see you.

It doesn't really "mean" January, more like, it falls on January. See, Japan didn't always use our Gregorian calendar. Shougatsu was the first month of the year in old Japan. It coincided with the Chinese New Year (no surprise there). In modern Japan, they changed to celebrating our New Year's Day (on January 1st). But they still call it Shougatsu. Well, anyway, that's why 正月 means New Year's

Back when I was looking, I didn't find a good tutorial specifically for VNs. I just used Google to find interesting stuff: win32 API x86 assembly language data compression data encryption You'll need to get a hex editor and a windows/x86 assembly language debugger. Before you attack it, though, you'll want to identify which visual novel system your game uses. Maybe it has been hacked (or at least partially hacked) already... You'll want to check existing VN tools like the ones on tlwiki.org -- some of these have the source, too. But to go from a CS major to a hacker, it may be that all you need is to read a few articles and some source code...and then learn by experience.

about missing walkthroughs, some like Mirai no Uta... Rin ga Utau... Mirai no Kimi... are kinetic novels and don't need a walkthrough

There are several "ancient" anime on my MAL list, but is there any way to show/sort by the dates of those shows?

http://www.renpy.org/doc/html/quickstart.html Read that, the examples show you how

Such an animal does exist. It's called "Rin ga Utau, Mirai no Neiro". Miku is there. Pizza is there. https://fuwanovel.net/novels/rin-ga-utau-mirai-no-neiro

I don't have much time to post around here anymore, but I wanted to quickly mention that I watched Hyperdimension Neptune and was glad I did. It's kind of rare for me to not be too keen on a show at first, but then like it much better as it went along. By the time the last few episodes rolled around, I really got into it. Usually it's the other way 'round...

I finally finished, after a long intermission, watching the rest of the 1st Mobile Suit Gundam series. I'm now convinced that, at least for me, the old Gundam series are the best. I liked Robotics; Notes. It was different from most other robot shows. Then there's Giant Robo. Probably too old for people here to know about, but again, much different from most other robot shows I've seen. And I always enjoy re-watching Sky Girls...

Never thought I'd hear that word uttered by an English teacher

-visit vocaloidotaku.net and spend some time browsing through the forums, they talk about the software, the characters, the music, the videos, the games, etc. -watch youtube videos. there are a lot of them...even if you restrict yourself to just Miku Hatsune (I recommend this), there are a lot of them... -if you have a PSP or PS3, have a look at "Project Diva" -if you have a PC, have a look at "Mirai no Kimi to Subete no Uta ni"

IMHO though, Nanoha is one of those ones where every series is better than the next. Nanoha the 1st was great. Nanohs A's was good. Strikers was so-so. So I'm happy to hear about the new show, but am prepared to write it off if it's not good.

Christianity. Primarily of the Roman Catholic persuasion, because it is one of the forms with the oldest lineage. (I guess we will probably not find any Fundamentalist Christians on a forum like this :-) ) I could fill a whole page with "Why Christianity?" Instead of talking about that, though, I'd like to consider what makes people gravitate toward a religion or not. A lot of it has to do with finding the meaning of life. Is it possible to find the meaning of life in this world in which we live? If you can decide for yourself what to make of your life, and accomplish the things that you yourself want to accomplish, is that the meaning of life? Or, is the meaning of life only truly found by transcending this world, and discovering the existence of a higher power? Which do you think? By the way, there is a movie (and a book) called "The Life of Pi". Came out a couple years ago. If you want to understand what it's like to have faith, you should see this movie. (Quite a bit of action in it, too.) Several of the world's major religions are mentioned in it. It tries to show you the common factor underlying these different faiths, and why and how people come to truly believe in something.

I think you're misunderstanding something. Dogs burying bones? You are talking about behaviors that can be explained instinctively. Saving food is a survival instinct. The way squirrels store up nuts for the winter. A hunger strike is not at all in the same category. The mirror test is only the mere beginning of sentience. Even if you think that the difference between human and animal intelligence is a matter of degree, what a degree that would be! Animals do not exhibit human-level creativity or ability for abstract thought, or show any signs of having a philosophy. I can't common on the belief that only people of a certain race have souls--I plead ignorance on this one. Actually, this is the first I've heard of it. It sounds rather absurd... But, I don't see how you can claim what advanced aliens would think. But they might judge us by our space probes. As far as I'm aware, no gorillas or dolphins have sent probes into outer space...

"The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates What traits does a human being have that an animal doesn't? -the ability to reject your instincts. Human beings go on hunger strikes. They deliberately abstain from sex. They force themselves to stay awake when they are sleepy. And so on. As far as I know, animals don't do these things... -they are sentient. They are not only aware of their own existence, but they can also question it. -they have a complex language. Many people feel that words are the basis for humans' ability to reason. All around the world, languages that were once assumed to be primitive, once carefully studied, turned out to have the same ability to express abstract concepts as the languages in supposedly higher civilizations. And unlike writing, no one has been able to trace spoken language back to its origin. It seems that as long as humans have existed, language has existed.