Brickmuppet says that there was "a break in the storm about an hour ago"... which means he took a direct hit by the eye.

He also says that they are forecasting 16-21 inches of rain. I can't even imagine anything like that. But I believe it. The storm is sitting right on the coast, sucking water out of the Gulf Stream and delivering it like a conveyer belt onto Virginia. (And everything else.)

When I was living in Massachusetts, one time we had 6 inches of rain in one day, and there was ridiculous flooding all over the place. I was living in Arlington Heights, which is in a valley. The stream that owns that valley is tiny and usually runs about as much water as the creek in my back yard. But after that rain storm, it went out of its banks and started running down Mass Ave. Which was pretty exciting.

Even so, that's a mere moistening compared to what Brickmuppet is going through. The flooding is going to be terrible.

UPDATE: By the way, this video is amazing to watch.

UPDATE: I was wrong. It wasn't the eye.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 03:15 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I think I'm glad I live on the opposite coast!

Everything I'm reading says that Irene is the real thing, and it's gonna be real bad along most of the east coast starting with North Carolina, if the storm does anything like what they're predicting. And if you're smart, you'll believe them.

If you're in that area and you haven't already done so, lay in supplies. Fill containers with drinking water. You want to have as many gallons of water as you can because there's a chance that the water system will be knocked out. When it comes to things like drinking water, better to have too much than not enough!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 01:34 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Umm....

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 04:47 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I just learned about a web comic called "Outsider". It is really good!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 01:25 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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1 Yes, it's great, and he's basically admitted that the Loroi are based on Elerians.

The downside is... he averages 9-10 pages a year.  This year is shaping up to be the best yet--we might get a dozen or more.

Posted by: BigD at August 04, 2011 01:48 PM (1VXek)

2 ...and the last few updates were even on time!  (less of a 'wheres my free ice cream' and more of a 'I hope the creator hasn't thrown the towel in!'...was getting concerned.)

Posted by: Douglas Oosting at August 04, 2011 01:48 PM (sdWdc)

3 Yeah, it's been a treat seeing them show up in my RSS feed on a regular basis.  I remember having the same thought as Douglas, "I hope he's still doing these..."

Posted by: CatCube at August 04, 2011 03:14 PM (20436)

4 Reproductive biology:

Males are rare and protected so military personnel are females? (And, apparently, Alex, the protagonist could have as much sex as he wanted.)

What, do Loroi women have quasi-fetal pups to limit pregnancy length? They've only got two breasts, so they likely don't have litters....

The human arrangement makes females the sole reproductive bottleneck, allowing males to be disposable warriors.

Both Loroi sexes are bottlenecks, but even at an eight to one ratio, it seems that having to make your females the warriors is dangerous.

Not that the Loroi get to chose their biology, but how did that evolve? Is there a terrestrial equivalent?

There are social implications as well: Alex is likely a fairly dominate male.  The only reason his status is low is because of he's something of a loose-cannon. Going to be interesting to see how that plays out in a society of dominate females.


I like the art, and the Loroi characters have distinct personalities.

Here's hoping the release schedule picks up.

Posted by: refugee at August 04, 2011 06:23 PM (auErC)

5

Is there a terrestrial equivalent?

In fact, sex determination happens in all kinds of ways.

Most plants are bisexual, producing both eggs and sperm (aka "pollen"). Some are not (e.g. marijuana) but the seeds have the potential to become either male or female plants. In the case of marijuana, when conditions are right you can get as much as 90% female plants.

In colonial insects (bees, ants, termites), sex is a function of chromosome count. Females are diploid, and males are haploid. Males only get created in mating season, and then only in small numbers.

There's a kind of shellfish where young adults are all male. After they age a bit more (and grow considerably larger), they convert to female.

In birds it's controlled by chromosomes, just as it is in mammals. But it isn't precisely the same. The sex determination chromosomes are known as W and Z. Males are ZZ; females are ZW.

Now this has an interesting consequence. If you keep a lot of chickens without any roosters around, occasionally one of the hens will convert to a rooster even though it's still ZW. It isn't as fertile as a real rooster would be (because one quarter of its offspring will be nonviable WW, equivalent to YY in mammals) but it's enough to keep the species going in cases where by mischance all the roosters get killed off.

(And, I think, it's the basis for the cockatrice legend, which says that a cockatrice comes from an egg laid by a rooster.)

In a lot of these cases, the sex ratio isn't 1:1. In some cases (e.g. termites) it isn't even close; probably more like 1000:1 over the life of the nest.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 04, 2011 07:08 PM (+rSRq)

6 I just looked it up, and it seems that WW can indeed be viable in some cases.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 04, 2011 07:14 PM (+rSRq)

7 Interesting. I should have thought of the social insects.

I also just discovered the Insider pages, with all sorts of explanatory material, including this on Loroi biology and society. I think most of my questions are addressed here.
Despite a large number of castes, Loroi women are not like insect queens. They're all fertile constantly over a several hundred year lifespan.

Posted by: refugee at August 04, 2011 07:19 PM (auErC)

8 Huh, I didn't know that about chickens.  I imagine that is why they have their chromosomes "backwards" versus mammals:  if the females were WW, they couldn't produce a Z chromosome from nowhere.

Posted by: metaphysician at August 04, 2011 07:25 PM (hD30M)

9

I imagine that is why they have their chromosomes "backwards" versus mammals: if the females were WW, they couldn't produce a Z chromosome from nowhere.

It's doubtful there's any reason behind it. It's just the way it worked out. Seems as if the dinosaur/bird line developed sexual differentiation independently from our ancestors, way back there somewhere.

And it isn't really that big an advantage. Mammals have done just fine without that ability.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 04, 2011 07:39 PM (+rSRq)

10 And right in time, too. I was getting tired of Erfworld. Unfortunately, it seems like not updating much.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at August 05, 2011 03:57 PM (9KseV)

11 Thanks! My webcomic list was missing a good sci-fi series.  This one seems to be leaning towards hard sci-fi too.

Posted by: Tom Tjarks at August 09, 2011 10:01 AM (T5fuR)

12 That's the kind of story that makes me wish he'd write it as a novel and get it published.  Although then we wouldn't get the eye-candy.

Posted by: ubu at August 09, 2011 05:02 PM (GfCSm)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Don needs a new hosting solution and is asking for advice.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 07:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Aroduc has his, and THAT has theirs.

UPDATE: Random Curiousity has one, which includes a schedule.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 08:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Chaikamatic? Yikes!

I do have to confess that I think Chaika is pretty awesome.

UPDATE: Since I'm doing a linky post, here's another. There's going to be a reboot of XCOM. Frankly, from the sound of it, I'm probably not interested.

UPDATE: Not a link, but... Amazon JP just shipped the two Rio BDs. I have a DHL tracking number, but it's not in DHL's system yet.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 01:57 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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Duck feet are now high fashion.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 06:41 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Kabitzin, over at Sea Slugs, finally got around to watching To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. And he loved it. "5 out of 5," he says.

Too bad Pete is so busy with aereoplanes these days.

UPDATE: I wonder why Sofuteni hasn't hit the torrents? The only raw I've seen is 512*288. (What's with that size?)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 08:18 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Divine has a post about which shows were delayed last week and which ones will be delayed this week.

In particular, Madoka 11 will not air this week.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 02:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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