Program updates! ... except not.

I've had Apple Software Update for a while to get updates to the Safari browser. I saw it pop up not too long ago:

I have neither an iPhone nor any earlier version of the Utility, nor do I have QuickTime.

There has been earlier controversy about how new programs are placed in the updater. I think the separate "New software" list was the right thing to do (they have largely stuck to it in my experience), and I can't imagine they can accomplish monopolist goals with an "iPhone Configuration Utility", but vigilance is key to keeping programs from becoming disingenuous. (For those curious, Windows Vista doesn't list e.g. Windows Live Essentials separately in its Windows Update either, and I've set to "Ignore" the two Apple updates.)

Nvidia drivers.

I am not a fan of the Nvidia display driver installer's old-ish look: it covers up the screen with a faux-maximized window and prints the software's name in big bold-italic Times New Roman. It always installs quickly, though, and much more so when I upgraded my card's driver from version 185.85—to my pleasant surprise (and as Microsoft has promised Vista would allow for years), installing 186.18 didn't restart the rig, as a few others have noticed.

Well, sort of. It does restart Windows Explorer, at least, and that nukes taskbar icons of programs that don't know better. A simple logoff and logon (relogon?) fixes that in a flash, and lets me finally enjoy Vista's "no-reboot" boast.

Y. Signal.

So I've been looking at the local FCC DTV reception maps, and noticed the gain/loss maps linked on the left side (just after the nav bar and search box). For WNBC and similar stations, expect bad signals north and northwest of the city when the "transition" occurs tomorrow.

In less important news, we're all gonna die!!!

(Yes, the title is a reference to a video game.)

Tetris Friends.

I learned about Tetris Friends through Neave.com; Neave made a variant that is now one of its games. It's damn addictive.

I linked my TF profile in the "Me on the Web" section.

Show me the Honey.

Having already realized that “Skyscrapers Jihad” was a bad translation for the name for an anime episode that actually shows Honey in Hurricane form crashing a small airplane into a giant skyscrap—er, skyship, I was checking Cutie Honey's edit history, like any completely screwed-up, solitarynormal person would do, and noticed the Chinese Wikipedia's version was added. I checked the article and decided to use the Google's +5 Wand of Comprehension on it.

Now, I know it's in beta, and despite its aforementioned “Skyscrapers Jihad” oddness it is easily my favorite Web translator, but...“Jerry Maguire soldiers”??? What?

I'm not sure I want GOOG to correct that, though. I can easily imagine a hot animated girl willing to change into seven (or more) forms to defend the honor of Tom Cruise—weirder things happen in cartoons. Besides, for Jessica Calvello to say “Sometimes I'm a beautiful secretary. Sometimes I'm a warrior in gleaming white armor. And sometimes I'm the loudest fighter pilot on couches!” would probably create a brand-new genre of transgender comedy or something.

“you want security just go mac.”

Through slashdot, I got what they call "lulz".

Cut__ Honey

How does one say キューティーハニー in English? Apparently it's no easy task.

Wikipedia's article transliterates the title as Kyūtī Hanī . I've seen everything from Cutey Honny to Q-tey Honey for various works, but most use Cutey Honey, others Cutie Honey, and still others "ANIME SUCKS GB24CHAN BECAUSE INSULTING PEOPLE'S METHODS OF ENTERTAINMENT OVER INTERNET TUBES IS FUNY LULZ!!!!!" I'll leave your personal methods to you, but mine shall be:

• For the franchise in general or the 1973 series, Cutey Honey or Cutie Honey interchangeably.
• For the 1973 manga and its 1992 follow-up, I'll use The Ultimate Manga Guide's spellings.
• For the 1994 OVA and キューティーハニーF, Cutey Honey until either gets remastered to say otherwise. (Part of me wants a fully shaded HD remake of the former…)
• For the 2004 movie and the current series, Cutie Honey as they specify.
• For anything else after 2004, Cutie Honey unless it says otherwise.

As for the opening song lyrics, I've noticed some write the first lines as "Kono koro hayari no onna no ko" and "Oshiri na chiisana onna no ko". The last page of what is apparently a 1982 print* of volume 2 of the 1974 2-volume version of the original manga (that's a mouthful) suggests "Konogoro …" and "Oshiri no …", respectively.

ADV's New Cutey Honey's "Essential Anime" release corroborates that, and the original anime agrees (with respect to the second part anyway).

Feel free to comment on your own transl[iter]ation beliefs. Stupid comments get trashed accordingly.

*See also Wikipedia's article on the Showa Period, through which I finally got a clue on the date notation after lots of fruitless searching. I fail at languages.