I didn't much care for the original, and I didn't watch the remake last night on the Sci-Fi channel. But a friend pointed out this page with a BG game, if you like shoot-em-ups.

Posted by: Ted at 10:10 AM | category: Links
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Hello {insert name of nitwit here},

We are conducting a survey, among those who utilize email, usenet groups, and other online systems in an attempt to make money through multi-level marketing schemes, sales of "get rich quick" publications, etc.

Please take a few moments to complete the following multiple-choice survey. Your help is genuinely appreciated, and will greatly assist our project.

1. Are you aware that you're a complete and utter idiot?

_ No, I honestly had no clue.
_ Yes, I admit it - I'm a completely clueless wanker.

2. Do you really think you're the first clueless twit who thinks they've discovered a way to make money by spamming about a REVOLUTIONARY NEW CONCEPT IN INTERNET MARKETING?

_ Gosh - yes, I really thought it was something no one had thought of before.
_ No, I realize others have tried before, but in my pathetic stupidity I truly believed that I could make money where no one else had succeeded before.

3. Are you supremely confident in your ability to avoid the life-long designation as a "pathetic loser", now that you've joined the ranks of half-witted, mentally defective drool-tards who conduct this sort of activity over the internet?

_ Yes, I truly believe I'm different from all the other retards like me.
_ No, I see what you mean - I now realize that I'm destined to be known forever as the blathering, drooling, defective pants-wetter that I am.

Thanks for taking a few moments to complete our survey. Please forward to 5 people on your mailing list, and request that they each forward it on to 5 others each, etc. etc.

(c)2003, everyone on the internet. Distribute freely without charge.

Thanks to BB on the rockets newsgroup for this one!

Posted by: Ted at 06:48 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Another specialized niche in the genre of pinup art. Yipee Ki-ay!

For another obscure bit of pinup history, check out my earlier post on Art Frahm.

Posted by: Ted at 06:09 AM | category: Links
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Oldest daughter Robyn made it home for Christmas with no problems. She's working day #1 at her old job right now, making as much money as possible to pad her savings account before she heads back to school. She'll be working six days a week the entire time she's home, including (I think) both Christmas and New Years for holiday pay.

Liz came home from the hospital yesterday. Her doctor, her nurses, and Liz agreed that it would be a better thing than spending another day there. She'd gotten a new roomie, and from my observations, I think the lady was terminal. She was loud and (understandably) ornery, constantly demanding pain meds - which she got - and more often than not there was a nurse there to deal with her. Sometimes there were two or three. Lots of noisy machines were hooked up to her. She was being fed through an IV, but she bitched so much that they finally gave in and brought her a tray too. I overheard a doctor say basically that it didn't matter anyway.

I felt bad for her, but that's not a good environment for others to try to get well in, so they sent Liz home.

She's doing great. Slept soundly last night, and the dogs have gotten the idea that they are not allowed up in her lap. I'm at her beck and call, which would be funnier if I were a girl... 'beck and call girl'... shut up, I'm tired too, and I slept on the floor again. That's one of those character-building things my parents used to lie to me about.

Once again, thanks to all who sent well wishes and prayers. We appreciate them more than we can say. Now, I've got some half-completed interview questions to take care of.

Posted by: Ted at 12:48 PM | category: Seriously
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1 Woo hoo! Sounds like the skies are only gonna get sunnier from here!

Oh, and sleeping on the floor makes me have horrible nightmares. What's the trick? I'd hafta move a cot into the BR, or something.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at December 08, 2003 07:40 PM (sKUSu)

2 Good to hear that Liz is home and doing well.

Now I have to go and vote for you. Again

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 09, 2003 01:05 AM (LBXBY)

3 Darn, it won't let me

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 09, 2003 01:07 AM (LBXBY)

4 Bless you both...I'm glad Liz is okay.
(how're YOU doing?)

Posted by: Stevie at December 09, 2003 01:45 AM (5q9rA)

5 Glad to hear things are going well, and that the dogs are smart!

Posted by: Victor at December 09, 2003 08:22 AM (16A49)

6 Glad to hear Liz is home...hope all is well.

Posted by: Jennifer at December 09, 2003 10:23 AM (k+MKr)

7 Yay!

Posted by: LeeAnn at December 09, 2003 11:29 AM (HxCeX)

8 *shudder* Hospitals are only good for surgeries and meds. The supposed aftercare (and wretched roommates) are enough to drive you into a padded room. I'm glad Liz can come home to such an incredible nurse. Will you be in candy striper gear?

Posted by: Dawn at December 10, 2003 10:53 AM (L6pam)

9 Very glad to hear she's home and well.

Posted by: Simon at December 11, 2003 02:09 AM (GWTmv)

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More than 2200 links about telescopes, observatories, the solar system, societies, deep-sky, space agencies, space missions, rockets, space stations, astronauts, launch facilities, aerospace companies... and much more.

Posted by: Ted at 11:46 AM | category: Links
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Kevin at Wizbang has created and is hosting the Weblog Awards. There are many categories and this gives you a chance to heap some recognition on your favorite blogs.

Thanks to Susie, I found out that some misguided soul nominated Rocket Jones in the most likely to get the chair Best Marauding Marsupial category. Thanks!

Posted by: Ted at 06:50 AM | category: Square Pegs
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This is a series where we build a model rocket step-by-step. You can find the rest of the series here.

The main part of the post is in the extended entry so you donÂ’t have to deal with it if you donÂ’t want to, but I hope you follow along because when we get done youÂ’ll have built and flown your first model rocket. Questions asked from before are answered too.

If you have questions, please leave them in the comments or email me. more...

Posted by: Ted at 06:41 AM | category: Build It
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Did you hear about the new Chinese/German restaraunt?

The food's great, but an hour after you eat, you're hungry for power.

Posted by: Ted at 08:05 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Yet another company making the move into space without help from NASA. I guess a good way to get noticed is to tow your rocket booster through downtown Washington DC and park it near the National Air & Space Museum. You can find more info about SpaceX Corporation at their official web site.

Posted by: Ted at 07:14 AM | category: Space Program
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What guy wouldn't love a woman who was rich, classy, dabbled in espionage, and owned a pink six-wheeled limosine? Ah yes, Parker, go get the car...

Follow the link in that article to see the movie trailer for the new Thunderbirds movie, due out next summer. International Rescue rides again. Woo-hoo!

Thunderbirds was one of a series of sci-fi adventures produced by Gerry Anderson and the BBC during the 1960's that used puppets and the technique called Supermarionation. Similar shows included Fireball XL-5, Stingray, SuperCar and Captain Scarlet.

This is a neat page showing several of the various vehicles modeled and rendered. It includes several of the rocket ships from these shows in formats compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator.

And if anyone was wondering (Bueller? Bueller?), I've seen flying rocket models of Thunderbirds 1, 2, and 3 (4 was a submarine, 5 the space station).

Posted by: Ted at 07:01 AM | category: Cult Flicks
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Pure propaganda, but interesting.

Posted by: Ted at 09:44 PM | category: Space Program
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A long time ago, in Dragon magazine, there was an article about role playing games that left a huge impression on me. In it, the author talked about a team of adventurers who were exploring a dungeon (what else), and at one point they were confronted by a Balrog.

I just realized how simple LOTR has made this explanation for me, because now you all know what a Balrog is, and just how formidable it can be.

Anyways, the author tells how the Dungeon Master controlling the game built the scenario up with words, and each player had to envision the action in their heads, and at the end they barely managed to defeat the demon by the flukiest once-in-a-thousand longshot magic spell.

He went on to tell about another game played later, this time using little lead miniature men and monsters and graph paper maps and such. At the climactic point of the adventure, the Dungeon Master ominously announced "Your path is blocked by a Balrog". Then he placed a two-inch tall painted figure on the map.

And that Balrog didn't seem nearly the obstacle that the first one was, and the team beat it. They had won the game, but that first group had had an adventure!

Some of you may remember Zork, the classic text adventure by Infocom. If you remember it well, you understood the title of this post right away. For those that don't, Zork was the best known of text adventure games, where all information was presented to you in story format, and you interacted by typing in words and short phrases as commands. For instance:

"You are on a forest path."

SOUTH

"You see a house."

EXAMINE HOUSE

"It's a small one-story house painted yellow. There is a window on this side."

OPEN WINDOW

"Opened."

...and so on. The idea was to figure out what was going on, and then complete the objective (not always obvious), usually by poking around and exploring things and solving problems. Some of these problems were devilishly tricky! In one early game (not Zork) the scenario was that you were on a submerged submarine, working inside an airlock, when a traitor among the crew used poison gas to kill everyone. It was just you and the traitor (or traitors), and you were stuck in an airlock. First step was figuring out how to get to an oxygen mask. Then it got really tough.

The key to all of these games was that you had to use your imagination to build on the vivid descriptions of the landscape and action, just like in a book. Much different from the graphic-intensive games of today. And in my mind, this was a strength, because more thought and creativity went into the story itself, and not the glitz and glamour of the graphics and user interface.

One interesting review of these games, written by someone too young to play them when they originally came out, was that because they were text based (and old), they were small, which made them perfect to play on a Palm or other PDA. Hmmmm... now there's a thought!

I'll be digging around a little bit and I'll post updates as I find out more. I owned a lot of Infocom adventures in various formats for various machines, and I'd like to find compatable copies again. They're that good.

Posted by: Ted at 08:57 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Wow, I had no idea that Mookie got an email yesterday. For those who were wondering, mom and I discussed this with her a couple of weeks ago, and we had no problem with it. The only restrictions we put on it (besides the usual 'parent' ones), was that she had to arrange for her own rides back and forth because I would be busy, and that it depended on the weather.

With me spending all day at the hospital, there wasn't much difference between Mookie staying home or going to her friend's house. She doesn't like hospitals (who does?), and there just wasn't any point to her hanging around the house. I tried to get her to channel her anxiety into cleaning, but she wasn't fooled by that little ploy (and I noticed that she did do some yesterday before she left, probably a little stress-reduction on her part).

To whoever sent the email - or to those that thought the same thing - this wasn't a case of Mookie being selfish and unfeeling. I understand appearances, but this time you're wrong.

Posted by: Ted at 08:44 AM | category: Seriously
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Thanks to all for the prayers and good wishes! Liz came through her surgery in good shape. Right now she's pretty well doped to the gills on morphine, and she's got the 'happy button' that she can press when she needs an extra jolt. We expect she'll be coming home on monday.

Posted by: Ted at 10:41 PM | category: Seriously
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1 I'm glad to hear it, Ted. We're continuing with the good wishes, tho. Couldn't hurt

Posted by: Victor at December 06, 2003 06:11 AM (16A49)

2 Fabulous news! Now I have to go to Mookie's site to see if she ever made a decision about going out.

Posted by: serenity at December 06, 2003 07:50 AM (GChd/)

3 Great News!

Posted by: Paul at December 06, 2003 10:18 AM (LGEPm)

4 Yay! (The traditional Munuvian accolade)

Posted by: Susie at December 06, 2003 10:22 AM (0+cMc)

5 Mmmmm, happy button....
And I'm really glad she's doing well.

Posted by: LeeAnn at December 06, 2003 09:31 PM (HxCeX)

6 What everyone else said

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 07, 2003 03:57 AM (jtW2s)

7 speedy recovery

Posted by: jim at December 07, 2003 01:43 PM (lN8eP)

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Ok, if youÂ’ve read the first few of these, then you know what its all about. This is the personal stuff, the things I need to vent about or get off my chest or even just reminisce about in an attempt to de-stress myself. ItÂ’s inside the extended entry, read it or not, itÂ’s up to you. more...

Posted by: Ted at 07:51 AM | category: Seriously
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1 Nice story.
Good luck on the operation.

Posted by: Starhawk at December 05, 2003 08:24 AM (pAghI)

2 Now that's a wedding!

Best wishes for Liz.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 05, 2003 10:58 AM (jtW2s)

3 Charming story. Good luck with the operation, and have faith.

Posted by: Camilo at December 05, 2003 11:16 AM (c+J6+)

4 great story, it did make me laugh.

..saying a prayer for you and the Mrs.

Posted by: jim at December 05, 2003 11:44 AM (RCjGK)

5 *swoon* I love that story!

All my love to you and Liz during this difficult operation and recovery! I will be thinking about both of you, and this story, for a long time to come.

Posted by: Dawn at December 05, 2003 07:10 PM (0zfIx)

6 I'm thinking about you and your family. I hope all goes well.

Posted by: Mr. Green at December 05, 2003 08:15 PM (IXXAV)

7 You and yours are in my thoughts and prayers.

Posted by: Tink at December 05, 2003 09:39 PM (Pp0b1)

8 I've been praying for your wifes successful surgery and recovery for weeks now--now I'm just cranking it into overdrive... PLEASE let us know how things go, dear!

G-d bless you and your family, and may your wife come through with flying colors...

--TwoDragons

Posted by: Denita TwoDragons at December 05, 2003 09:54 PM (DhGyZ)

9 I didn't read this post. I went straight for the coments.
You and the girls are awesome!
Everything'll work out 'cause we said so and we mean it.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at December 05, 2003 11:43 PM (jdUSj)

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Musical instruments I wish I could play:

1. Bagpipes
2. Steel Drum
3. Steel Guitar
4. Xylophone
5. Fiddle (not violin, I mean fiddle!)

Didja know that for a little more than a hundred dollars ($US - I keep forgetting Munuviana is international), you can get a chanter, which is what pipers practice with?

Och, and if that don't blow a warm breeze up yer kilts mon, I dinna ken what woot!

Posted by: Ted at 06:54 AM | category: Square Pegs
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At work, there's a carton of egg nog in the refrigerator. That's normal, the holiday season is upon us.

The expiration date on the carton is December 28th. It's way in the back where it stays coldest.

Due to the massive turnover of the last year, I may be the last person left in the section who knows that it's December 28, 2002.

I have dark fantasies.

Posted by: Ted at 06:19 AM | category: Square Pegs
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When I left work today, there was the lightest flurries whirling around. By eight o'clock, we had huge fluffy Dr. Suessian flakes falling outside. It looks like about 2" so far, and we're projected for up to 5". The big storm is supposed to kick in tomorrow evening, when the nor'easter gets going down in the Carolinas. I love a pretty snowfall.

Posted by: Ted at 11:02 PM | category: Square Pegs
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Last night, I made a pot of this soup that is similar to the Pasta e Fagioli served at Olive Garden. We had it as the beginning course, followed up with a lasagna and crescent rolls (brushed with butter and garlic powder - we didn't have breadsticks), but it's hearty enough to have as the main meal with some crusty bread. Yum!

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup carrot, julienned
1 cup celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 16 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 16 oz can red kidney beans (with liquid)
1 16 oz can great northern beans (with liquid)
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
2 12 oz cans V-8 juice (less for thicker soup)
1 Tbsp vinegar or Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
3/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb Ditalini pasta (I found it in my regular grocery store, it looks like button macaroni)

Directions
1. Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat. Drain off most of the fat.
2. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes.
3. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.
4. About 50 minutes into the simmer time, cook the pasta in 1½ to 2 quarts of boiling water over high heat. Cook pasta for 10 minutes or just until pasta is al dente, or slightly tough. Drain.
5. Add the pasta to the large pot of soup. Simmer for 5-10 minutes more and then serve.

Posted by: Ted at 10:15 AM | category: Recipes
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Kudos to fellow Munuvian Simon for the link to the Blogosphere map of Munuviana (aka Munuvia)!!! Tres cool. I suspect that if Simon had anything to do with it, our inclusion involved the promise of crocodile-skin boots and/or HK hookers in rugby shirts. He seems like a guy who can solve multiple problems with one fell swoop.

Update: Pixy has informed me that Susie is the one who led the coup. All hail the Mater Cartographica!

Posted by: Ted at 09:38 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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