Oho, itÂ’s another classic, a word search! Full of fun nicknames and pet names people have had for Bill over the years. In case you donÂ’t know the game, look forwards, backwards, up and down and diagonally for the words hidden in the grid below.

Posted by: Ted at 03:22 PM | category: Links
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Dr Pickering was a Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and an early pioneer with the US Space Program. He became known as "Mr JPL".

Silent Running has an excellent post about him, well worth the read.

Posted by: Ted at 12:00 PM | category: Space Program
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First they tempt the young with the minor demons FrankenBerry, Count Chocula and Boo Berry, who are truly abominations unto His eye.

Once in the unholy grip of the sugar coma, they roll out the big guns (in the extended entry). more...

Posted by: Ted at 08:53 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Here are a whole heap o' places where you can find detailed plans for models constructed of paper. Historical spacecraft and satellites, aircraft and ships, robots and more.

NASA's site with many plans for satellites and space exploration related equipment. Rated easy to challenging.

NASA's Mars pages have a nifty model of the Pathfinder here, and a different set of plans for the Pathfinder here. Each focus on different educational goals.

This incredible site has everything from precision paper airplanes to models for several versions of the Delta, communications satellites, UFO saucers and many more.

Submarine.

Beaucoup models here of everything under the sun. Sydney Opera House or Wrigley Field anyone?

Robots, Japanese style.

There were plenty of rocket models in the links above, but how about a real flyable model rocket kit made completely out of paper? FlisKits is producing some of the most innovative designs out there, and one of them is their Midnight Express. Yes, it really flies! Note that the link leads to their product page, scroll down a little bit and click where it says "Free Download".

Texas-based Art Applewhite offers some unique saucer designs, including this page of free stuff to build and fly.

And of course, you just knew some clever genius came up with software to turn your CAD file into a paper-model plan.

Thanks to BoingBoing, Texas Best Grok, EGB, and the Rec.Models.Rockets newsgroup for these pointers.

Posted by: Ted at 05:48 AM | category: Links
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The difference being that this one isn't work safe. Not even close.

The 100 Worst Porn Movie Titles.

Posted by: Ted at 05:05 AM | category: Links
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Bob Zangas' Journey In Iraq. Bob Zangas was killed in an ambush wednesday last. He was on his second tour in Iraq, first as a Marine, then as a civilian working for the Coalition Provisional Authority. His posts provided an inside look at what some are doing as they help rebuild Iraq.

Thanks to A.E. Brain for the pointer. His words are better than mine.

Posted by: Ted at 10:16 AM | category: Links
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Fifty Word Fiction.

This is an interesting idea, and I love some of the different approaches taken. Give it a try. Either leave it there, leave one in the comments here, or put it on your site and link back to this.

Look for mine soon. You, in the back, knock it off!

Posted by: Ted at 08:16 AM | category: Links
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Say hello to Debbye over at Being American in T.O., the newest Munuvian. As far as I can tell, if you imagine Iron Chef Rivendell, speaking only in verse whilst competing in a dessert battle, you've got a fair idea. Then again, first impressions can be so misleading.

Welcome Debbye. I'm not really an idiot (see 'first impressions', above).

And if you didn't already know about it, over on the right I have a tagline that changes once in a while, and a tagline archive with some classic favorites.

Posted by: Ted at 06:01 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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Our dog Sam has always been a grunter rather than a barker. But as he gets older, his voice is getting deeper, to the point that now he sounds like Karl, played by Billy Bob Thorton in Slingblade.

"I'd like me some of those french fried potatoes. Mm-Hmmm."

Posted by: Ted at 05:10 AM | category: Family matters
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(Serenity, you probably don't want to click the link below, and most certainly don't want to enlarge the picture there)

All I can say is that I'm thankful that Australia is completely waterbound. You can keep 'em down there, mate!

Gahhhh!!!!

Posted by: Ted at 10:39 AM | category: Links
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1 Yikes! I never how many different kinds of spiders we had 'round these parts until I moved into this house. Some day soon I'll have to figure out a way to post photos of the giant slugs that used to crawl out of my garden and up the back stairs; they were about 8" long, as I recall.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 15, 2004 07:33 PM (PucHz)

2 T.S., I think those are called "snakes".....

Posted by: Susie at March 16, 2004 10:55 AM (UqvvQ)

3 What's the big deal? They're not small, but I've been bitten by bigger ones in my back garden. Hurt like hell, bled profusely, but no great drama.

It's not the dinnerplate-sized bird-eating spiders you have to worry about, it's the Funnelwebs and Redbacks, the largest of which are no bigger than your fist. Even then, there are antivenoms, hardly anyone dies of a spider bite these days.

Drop Bears are a different matter, of course. But they're never found in Urban areas.

Posted by: Alan E Brain at March 17, 2004 10:14 AM (3sl+m)

4 He dares to ask, "what's the big deal?"

Is he ill? And a paook "no bigger than your fist" is one fist size too big a paook.

Once again, Ted, thank you for the warning. You bet your sweet bippy I did NOT click that link.

Posted by: Serenity at March 17, 2004 04:01 PM (3J3iK)

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I had one of those 'oh shit' moments this morning when I opened my email.

If you've been reading regularly, you've heard me mention that we're installing brand new computer software which bears a remarkable resemblance to Linda Lovelace.

Last week, my boss's boss asked me a couple of questions about the old and new software. I was on my way out the door, so I gave some off-the-top-of-my-head answers. The next morning I came in and wrote up a detailed analysis based on his questions because I wasn't satisfied with what I'd originally told him. I sent it to him via email and forgot about it.

Since it was an informal email, it was written much in the style of this blog: full of odd contractions, slang, quick jokes and asides, but it did get the message across. Here are the last lines:

I feel like Tevya: on the one handÂ… on the other handÂ… Oy!

Ted

So this morning I open my email and get a very nice thank you for the "excellent write-up - balanced and reasoned." The thank you came from my boss's boss's boss's... aw hell, it's from four levels above the guy I sent it too. The forwarding trail shows where each boss in turn read it and sent it on up the line.

It's good analysis, but I'm waiting for someone to come talk to me about how to compose 'official' correspondence.

Posted by: Ted at 07:57 AM | category: Square Pegs
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A lot of people seem to really have it in for hippies, and it's just not fair. I grew up in the 60's, and my best friend from those days had an uncle who had a barbershop right on the edge of the Haight Ashbury district of San Fransisco (talk about poor location!). My friend and I would visit his uncle during our summer vacations, and since he was working, we'd basically run the streets all day. Remember the days when you could do that without worry? Here's what I experienced: like any other group, there were good people and bad people. They didn't stink, they weren't all stoned all day, a lot of them had jobs, or at least something that they worked at. Nobody ever offered me drugs, and as a child I was treated with respect and kindness. Pretty freakin' horrible, eh?

Yet a lot of people who start raising hell when someone labels an ethnic group with an offensive word or stereotype have no problem joking about "smelly hippies". Enough with the negativity, hypocrites.

Learn something about what being a hippie really meant. You don't have to agree with them, I don't. But having different beliefs doesn't mean you have to look down at them either.

In some ways, hippies were the ultimate 'minimal government' movement. "Do your own thing", "whatever turns you on" and other phrases all boil down to "Leave me alone". They were never, and could never get organized enough to become a real political force.

Being a hippie was more than long hair and beads and bell bottoms. A lot of people dressed like hippies, because it was trendy. For a while in the 80's a lot of people dressed like Rambo, that didn't make them mercenaries.

So there's my minor-league vent about hippies. And here's a twofer: take most everything I said above and apply it to bikers too.

Posted by: Ted at 05:30 AM | category: Square Pegs
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There are thousands of pictures on the internet that show celebrity skin, and a lot of them are fakes of varying quality. For a cool look at how some of these fakes are created, and how to tell if a pic has been 'photoshopped', take a look at the link below.

The Fake Detective (not work safe).

Posted by: Ted at 05:05 AM | category: Links
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So anyone who's read the Sunday funnies today and saw this joke in Pickles is wondering how my dad anticipated that.

Parents just know stuff. Like how my folks always knew when I came home from school that I'd cut a class or two, even though the school hadn't called and they were at work all day anyways. They just knew.

I once told my mom that I was glad they named me Ted. When she asked why, I said that it's what everyone called me. Pretty smart (ass), eh? I probably got smacked, or at least sent outside to pester the neighborhood.

Oh, and that whole 'cutting class' thing... the rule in our house has always been "Do as I say, not as I do". Right Mookie?

Posted by: Ted at 12:22 PM | category: Square Pegs
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Not for me (though I certainly need one), but for the dogs. A few times during the warm months, Liz and one of the daughters gets down on the floor and shaves Sam and Trix. It's a two-person job, and I only get involved towards the end when the dog has had enough and starts to really squirm.

The dogs do appreciate the results, but at best only tolerate the process. If Liz didn't do it, I'd probably just schlep them down to PetSmart or something and pay to have someone else deal with it. Liz soothes and talks and plays quiet music while she does it, whereas I'm the "Sit. Stay." kinda barber. She's also a lot more particular about results. To me, short is good enough, I'm not gonna worry about making a dog beautiful.

Sam is first today, and Trix (the younger) is clinging to my side, fretting and having mini-nervous breakdowns every time Sam whines or yelps. If I sit down, Trix the empath wants up in my lap and snuggles in, worried to death.

Liz just hollered down the stairs that we now have three dogs, the pile of hair removed from Sam being large enough to have it's own name. The birds are gonna love it when we put the fur out for nest building.

To compensate for not helping with haircut day, I take care of the crappy little chores that nobody gets around to around the house. This morning I've cleaned the aquarium, dealt with the houseplants and overwintered outside plants in the basement and might run to the grocery store later.

Liz calls it "guilt putzing".

Posted by: Ted at 11:05 AM | category: Family matters
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As opposed to the vandals who tag indescriminately, regardless of how talented they are.

These guys are artists, although they probably did get their start by spraypainting everything that didn't move.

Posted by: Ted at 08:14 AM | category: Links
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pictures in the extended entry, popup style

The winds never did calm down, but it was still a beautiful day for rockets. Temperatures were in the mid-40's and everyone stayed bundled up, but it wasn't too bad. It helped that there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so the sun was warm. We had a great turnout, including a dozen or so high school teams making practice flights for the Team America Challenge, and two kids doing documented launches for Science Fair projects.

I personally only made one flight, and that was the maiden launch of our "Build It" rocket, the Fat Boy. It was a nice flight, but it weathercocked into the wind quite a bit and didn't get as much altitude as it should have (maybe 500'). It was recovered without damage and will fly again.

The team I'm mentoring was there and ready to go. They brought two completed rockets, and made three flights total. On their first flight, they had perfect ignition of all three first-stage motors, perfect ignition of their upper stage motor, and overshot the target altitude of 1250', hitting 1588'. That's not too bad, because it's easier to make a rocket go lower than it is to make it go higher. Both eggs were recovered in perfect condition, and they learned a lesson in picking the correct size parachute for the wind conditions (they had a long walk to recover the rocket).

Next flight for them was in their second rocket, and this time they used a smaller upper-stage motor. Another perfect ignition, but this time they didn't get enough altitude and had a problem with staging and the booster lost a fin when it separated.

Their third flight (first rocket again) was perfect except that at some point the altimeter reset when the battery came loose, so they don't know exactly how high it went. On all three flights, the eggs were recovered unbroken. They'll be ready for their qualifying flight on April 2.

Last year, there was probably an overall 80% failure rate for Team America flights. Today, I'd say there was a 90% success rate, and most of the malfunctioning flights happened at the end of the day when teams were rushing to get in one last flight. I manned the safety check-in table for the last hour, and the variety and quality of the rocket designs was striking.

Great day. Great fun. more...

Posted by: Ted at 08:28 PM | category: Rocketry
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The sun is out, the sky is clear, the field is dry, winds are diminishing and we're gonna fly some rockets! Pictures later.

Posted by: Ted at 08:19 AM | category: Rocketry
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You know in the beginning of The Simpsons, where Bart is writing some wicked message on the chalkboard? Ever wish you could do that?

Now you can. (sample in the extended entry) more...

Posted by: Ted at 07:37 AM | category: Links
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1 I love it! How'd you capture the image? I wrote mine as "I will not pat my colleagues' heads with a brick" and would like to display it on my site. I suspect they are not friendly to we uber-cool Mac users.

Posted by: Dawn at March 13, 2004 11:23 AM (Q0xHi)

2 I had to do a print-screen, then paste it into a graphics program and crop the rest of the screen out. It ain't real friendly towards us PC folks either.

Posted by: Ted at March 13, 2004 05:02 PM (ZjSa7)

3 Well, that sounds like a lot of work. I'll just have to be content that y'all's imagination can envision Bart having written "terrorism is not speech" 15 times or something...

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 13, 2004 08:05 PM (THq6X)

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Real Hardware. Photos and some historical background. Especially intriguing is the page about the ROTON. Alas, that company went bankrupt a while ago.

Posted by: Ted at 07:10 AM | category: SciTech
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