April 07, 2004
On January 5, 2003, Titan - Saturn's largest moon and the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere - crossed in front of the Crab Nebula, a bright, extended X-ray source. Titan's transit enabled Chandra to image the one-arcsecond-diameter X-ray shadow cast by the moon (inset). This tiny shadow corresponds to the size of a dime as viewed from about two and a half miles.
This may have been the first transit of the Crab Nebula by Titan since the nebula was formed by a supernova that was observed to occur in the year 1054. The next similar conjunction will take place in the year 2267, so this was truly a once in a millennium event.
Posted by: Ted at
07:13 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 141 words, total size 1 kb.
The reason the game was on was because I couldn't stand another minute of Mars Needs Women. Lord knows I tried, but even I have limits.
So while the game was on, I did a quick check of all those little sticky notes on my desk...
Terra Taco is back! Yay!
Denita of Who Tends the Fires showcases her artistic talent by presenting not one, but two internet creatures: The DU Spawn and the Spam Golem. Mmmm, spam. Gimme an onion and a skillet and I'll whip up some good eats!
Rob at Left & Right tells a hilarious story that falls under the category of Stupid User Tricks. Years ago I saw a 'computer alphabet' and the letter 'V' stuck with me:
V is for Void
A vast empty null
A lot like the inside
Of a user's skull.
I had to wave my wife over to the PC to read this classic from Kelley because I was laughing too hard to read it to her.
Now here's a twist to the old Nigerian scam that I might fall for: Save the Nigerian Astronaut! Thanks to Transterrestrial Musings for the timely intervention.
Bunsen. Red Sox. No surprise there, it's funny.
And just so this doesn't turn into a one-note chucklepalooza, take a look at Travelling Shoes and his link about fruit fly fights.
Wizbang guest blogger Rodney links to the story that the Mars rover Spirit has officially completed all tasks on its original mission. NASA has plenty more lined up, but from here on out it's all icing on the cake.
Short list this time, life has been hectic. If I post less often, does that mean the quality on Rocket Jones improves because the frequency of suck goes down? Any statitstics wizards out there?
Posted by: Ted at
06:13 AM | category: Links
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 351 words, total size 3 kb.
April 06, 2004
Softcore Lesbian Spoof movies shot direct to video.
Man, I can't wait to see the Google hits that one generates. The movie I saw on late-night television was titled Lord of the G-Strings: Femaleship of the String. The main characters were all female, and it was an obvious and not terribly bad parody of the Tolkien works ("terribly bad" as per my definition). I love crap movies, so if your tastes run to the normal, then these probably aren't for you.
In the movie, Dildo the Throbbit is entrusted with the task of delivering the G-String of Power to... uh, someplace... for destruction. Need I go on?
The sex is simulated and overwhelmingly (but not exclusively) lesbian. The characters get naked often. There is a plot of sorts, and actual acting is attempted at times. The humor is pretty hit and miss, but there are some laugh-out-loud moments.
And then there is the leading lady. Her screen name is Misty Mundae (go on, I'll wait for you to stop snickering). She's killer cute, with an innocent face and the morals of... well, no... she has no morals that I can determine, at least as far as making softcore lesbian spoof flicks. (Mental note: run that job search through Monster.com)
Misty Mundae has made numerous movies over the last several years for Seduction Cinema, and seems to have a cult following built up, including her own Yahoo group fan-club (as does Seduction). The movies have titles like The Erotic Witch Project and The Sexy Sixth Sense, as well as some not-spoof flicks. Apparently it's not all mindless T&A either, as I saw some good reviews of one movie as a noir thriller offering.
So what do I think? I went through the satellite-guide for the month and picked out a couple of other related flicks. I'll let you know after I've seen Play-Mate of the Apes and Gladiator Eroticus: The Lesbian Warriors. I'd pick these up if I see them in a bargain bin somewhere, but they're not going onto my "must buy" list.
Favorite review snippets:
"This is just under ninety minutes, which means total production time was about ninety minutes.""Best scene: the gorilla having sex with the sex-doll... now there's something I hadn't seen yet..."
"...What surprised me about this movie, is that it actually worked. The movie made some sense. The formula actually worked."
"three beautiful women get lesbo-crazy in front of a camera. Talk about entertainment!"
Sexy fun, and there's nothing wrong with that. Uh huh, I already know I'm a pig. Oink.
Posted by: Ted at
05:49 PM | category: Cult Flicks
Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 474 words, total size 3 kb.
I know Victor is one happy camper!
Now, if I could just get Nic to post pictures of herself doing the happy dance...
Posted by: Ted at
05:01 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 77 words, total size 1 kb.
It's not an 'or' thing, and never was.
Idiots piss me off. Thanks to Simon for the tip.*
*The referenced expression of appreciation was interpreted and approved by whoever-the-hell is really in charge in Hong Kong.
Posted by: Ted at
06:49 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 49 words, total size 1 kb.
Vice-captain Yousuf Youhana, who had struck a fighting century in the first test at Multan, was on 33 on an increasingly friendly wicket for batsmen.Pakistan had resumed on their overnight 61 for one with Farhat hitting leg spinner Anil Kumble for four in Tuesday's first over and then driving left arm paceman Irfan Pathan backward of point for another boundary.
Yasir Hameed joined in, immaculately driving Pathan on the up through the off side.
But the 26-year-old was out for 19, edging a wide delivery from medium pacer Ajit Agarkar to Rahul Dravid at second slip.
Agarkar was nippy in his five-over first spell, which got him one wicket for 17, hitting Inzamam on the helmet with a well-directed bouncer.
The Pakistan captain shrugged off the blow, cutting Agarkar behind square for four and then slashing him through the covers.
Huh? Don't try to explain, it's rhetorical.
Posted by: Ted at
06:04 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 164 words, total size 1 kb.
Posted by: Ted at
05:34 AM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.
April 05, 2004
For some reason my inner-synergist is inspired by this.
Munuviana - Holy Multitudes
Ambient Irony - Holy Alter-ego
Practical Penumbra - Holy Perfect pitch
Blather Review - Holy Blackout (I'm guessing this applies to his keyboards)
Stranger in a Strange Land - Holy Missing relatives
Publius & Co. - Holy Purple cannibals
Jennifer's History and Stuff - Holy Jelly molds
MookieRiffic - Holy Molehill
The Cheese Stands Alone - Holy Chutzpah
Hoppings of Roxette Bunny - Holy Rainbow
D.F.Moore - Your Daily Dose of Pizzazz - Holy D'artagnan
Caught in the XFire - Holy Crack-up
Angelweave - Holy Armadillos
Anger Management - Holy Astringent pomite fruit
Snooze Button Dreams - Holy Split seconds
Everyday Stranger - Holy Escape hatch
Simon World - Holy Squirrel cage
Tom's Nap Room - Holy Trolls and goblins
Semi-Intelligent Thoughts - Holy Skull tamper
Civilization Calls - Holy Crucial moment
Hold the Mayo - Holy Hot foot
Minx Development Blog - Holy Mechanical army
annika's poetry and journal - Holy armour plate
Trying to Grok - Holy Travel agent
Ilyka Damen - Holy impregnability
Being American in T.O. - Holy bat-logic
Read My Lips - Holy Red herring
G'Day Mate! - Holy Geography
Miss Apropos - Holy Masquerade
Little Miss Attila - Holy Levitation
Triticale - Holy Terminology
Backstage - Holy Bijou
Um's Musings - Holy Unrefillable prescriptions
Rambling Rhodes - Holy Reverse polarity
XSet - Holy Uncanny photographic mental processes
Lemur Girl - Holy Looking glass
Educated Beyond Her Intelligence - Holy Einstein
Primal Purge - Holy Priceless collection of Etruscan snoods
Flying Space Monkey Chronicles - Holy flight plan
A Likely Story - Holy Las Vegas
There's One, Only! - Holy One-track Bat-computer mind
Mamamontezz's Mental Rumpus Room - Holy mesmerism
Light & Dark - Holy Magic Lantern
It's All About De - Holy Diversionary tactic
TexasBestGrok - Holy Toreador
Fear Your Future - Holy Fugitives
2Flower To You - Holy Fishbowl
Anticipatory Retaliation - Holy alphabet
The Meatriarchy - Holy Mashed Potatoes
Ellis Island - Holy Fourth of July
Holy uneven effort, Batman!
Posted by: Ted at
08:20 PM | category: Links
Comments (4)
| Add Comment
Post contains 379 words, total size 2 kb.
A 1,000-ton barge rammed into a pier supporting an aging bridge over Florida's Apalachicola Bay last week, delighting civil engineers, who plan to ram it a dozen more times.
Depending on your job, it isn't often that you get real-life data to work with. These structural engineers are loving life right now, getting to study the effects of bridge and boat collisions. With the goal of improving national construction standards, of course. I watch NASCAR for the racing too.
When stationed in Germany as part of the US Air Force, I'd heard that the runways at Ramstein AB were going to be redone. Part of the plan was to let pilots blow hell out of things with live ordnance (great training), followed by Prime Beef teams repairing the runways afterwards (more great training). This was supposed to go on for some time as aircrews were rotated in for the chance to actually blow something up for real.
I transferred back to the States before that happened. Did it? If it did, I bet it was a great show.
Posted by: Ted at
02:26 PM | category: SciTech
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 190 words, total size 1 kb.
Highlights for the year for me were one glorious day when I stood alone in first place. I was fighting for third as recently as three weeks ago. Third through sixth were closely contested.
Offensively, I was in the top five for goals scored, power play points, short handed points, game winning goals and shots on goal. I also finished on the plus side for the +/- stat. I consider that a victory because I spent much of the season in the negative and made several trades specifically to improve in that area.
For goaltending, I was in the top half for wins and shutouts, but only because I had three goalies that played a lot. They werenÂ’t very good, but enough mediocre adds up. Everyone ahead of me was significantly better in net.
Early on I talked about some things IÂ’d noticed in our league, and now that itÂ’s over I think those observations held up pretty well.
Lessons learned: Play lots of games. Get starters for every slot on your roster. A lot of teams fall behind because they have marginal players on the fourth line. They donÂ’t play often, and when they do they donÂ’t get many minutes.
Manage injuries. I was lucky, and only suffered four major injuries to my team all year. Three I was able to put on IR and wait for their return, and the fourth player returned to the ice sooner than anyone expected. Move those injured players and pick up replacements as soon as possible. When the injured players return, cut loose your least-productive players. Which brings us toÂ…
DonÂ’t be sentimental. If your favorite player is having a lousy year, trade for value or otherwise get rid of him. Same thing if you stock your team with your favorite teamÂ’s players. Diversify, and donÂ’t get too attached.
Consider trades early. By this I mean trading hot players while theyÂ’re still hot, when theyÂ’re worth maximum value. The perfect example of this for me was Atlanta Thrashers goalie Pasi Numinem. He was insanely hot for the first third of the season, and I should have realized that he (and the entire Atlanta team) couldnÂ’t keep the pace up. He faded badly, and I shouldÂ’ve traded him before the all-star break for another scorer or solid everyday goalie.
So I had fun, and I'll probably play again next year. Any fellow Munuvians interested, start thinking about it and we might get enough for a "fun" league amongst ourselves. You too Nic, you're an honorary Munuvian as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: Ted at
06:21 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 473 words, total size 3 kb.
The San Jose Sharks found one more marvel in their bottomless bag.Brad Stuart tied the game with two goals in the final 20 seconds of regulation, and Vincent Damphousse scored with 3:10 into overtime to send San Jose into the playoffs with a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
With three goals in 3½ minutes, the Sharks capped the best season in franchise history with a stunning comeback in both teams' season finales. The Pacific Division champions, seeded second in the Western Conference with 43 victories and 104 points, wound up with the NHL's third-best record one year after finishing 25th.
I said early in the season that following the Sharks was going to be a roller-coaster ride this year. I meant the ups and downs bit, I had no idea I'd be having this much fun on the way!
Posted by: Ted at
05:13 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.
April 04, 2004
The original TCM remains one of the most disturbing films of all time. It's intense in ways that Hitchcock approached only at his very best. Considering its reputation, there is surprisingly little gore and only one murder by chainsaw. Where it gets you is the unsettling details in every scene and unrelenting suspense, because it just never lets up.
A major gripe with the original was "poor cinematography". It's pretty dark and murky much of the time, which adds to the atmosphere in my opinion. I also don't agree with the complaints about plot (or lack thereof). This movie doesn't tie up loose ends, and there's very little understandable motivation for the characters. Imagine the scariest book you've ever read, but the first and last chapters are missing. You get the distilled essence of terror, without any of the context that helps you to rationalize it. That multiplies the experience because things happen that are just on the edge of making sense.
The DVD contains several scenes that never made it to the theatrical release, including background and thoughts from the actors involved. There are plenty of other extra features too.
On to the remake. The story has been changed. It makes (a little) more sense than the original, but much of the urgency and sense of not knowing what was coming next was lost in the update. The movie just feels more modern, and that's not a good thing in this case.
The acting is better. The actual filmwork is better. The 'good guy' characters are more likable. The special effects and gore are more gruesome, and there's more blood splashing around. The lead female character, played by Jessica Biel, is a good looking lady, and she gives a fine performance.
But throughout the film the director went for the modern touches, like gore and sex jokes. Instead of suggesting, they went for explicit. Even the creepy little details that made the original so memorable seemed contrived in the remake, placed for effect instead of being the disturbing minutinae that set the scene.
So far, everything I've said about the remake are in comparison to the original. And don't get me wrong, the remake is a pretty good movie. It will scare the hell out of you. Some people will like the new version better because it is a more complete movie. My personal opinion is that the original is a scarier experience.
The remake DVD is pretty sparse in the special features department, offering the TV ads, the movie trailer, and a lame-ass music video.
UPDATE: I was reminded that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies were inspired by the real-life person Ed Gein (warning: link has some graphic photos). Despite what the movies claim, they are not true stories. Ed Gein was also the inspiration for Bloch's Psycho, later turned into the peerless classic film by Alfred Hitchcock. For more information on Gein and other mass and serial murderers, check out the Crime Library.
Posted by: Ted at
08:21 PM | category: Cult Flicks
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 549 words, total size 3 kb.
Nothing says wow like real military hardware.
Picture the impact your tulip bed would have as it frames a 155mm howitzer. That mixed bed of hostas perfectly sets off your new M-5 Stuart light tank (as an added bonus, it'll keep those pesky kids out of your yard too!).
The Kenosha Military Museum not only has lots of real vintage hardware on display, but they also buy and sell equipment. Spring is in the air, why not spruce up in a big way?
Posted by: Ted at
10:20 AM | category: Links
Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 140 words, total size 1 kb.
April 03, 2004
When the competition was announced just eight years ago, many were skeptical that any privately financed team could meet the requirements to collect the prize: Build a spacecraft capable of taking three passengers 62.5 miles (101 kilometers) above the planet, then make a second successful suborbital trip within two weeks."It's going to happen in 2004. Someone will win it," said Gregg Maryniak, director of the St. Louis-based X Prize Foundation, a group created to spark development of reusable spacecraft that can take average citizens into space.
Rocketman Blog has followed progress closely, and has conducted a series of fascinating interviews with X-prize candidates. In fact, he's gotten a job with one of the companies as a result of his blog!
So if you're interested in the commercialization of space (and you should be, it's the next boom to happen), then head on over to RocketmanBlog and read up on some of the pioneers taking those first baby-steps.
Posted by: Ted at
04:25 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 192 words, total size 1 kb.
Feel Like Making Love - Bad Company
South City Midnight Lady - Doobie Brothers
Dreadlock Holiday - 10cc
C'mon folks, let's hear from the peanut gallery. Guys, what would you want to hear? Ladies, what songs would inspire you to give your best performance?
(6/8/2005) Update: Besides the great suggestions still trickling in in the comments, I've collected a lot of them into one long list of "Favorite Stripper Music". Enjoy, feel free to add to the list via the comments, and most of all, thanks!
(8/22/2005) Update: Up until now, when someone asked about where to find pole dancing lessons, all I could do was offer generic advice about where to look in their local areas, and to wish them luck.
Until now.
This first link, A Pole Lot of Fun, looks to be a 'party' style setup, similar to the way Tupperware used to work.
We bring the pole, you bring the friends and together we create a magical night of fun, laughter, and support.
Follow that link above and see if there's someone local to you.
This link, PoleStars, is based in the UK and Australia. It looks like this is more of the traditional class instruction on the art of pole dancing and strip tease.
Both sites offer equipment and clothing too. If you try either of these, or something else you've found in your area, drop by and leave a comment to let everyone know how it went.
Posted by: Ted at
10:12 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (66)
| Add Comment
Post contains 297 words, total size 2 kb.
April 02, 2004
Posted by: Ted at
05:10 PM | category: Links
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.
Posted by: Ted at
04:35 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 53 words, total size 1 kb.
(in the extended entry, for those bored by sports stuff.) more...
Posted by: Ted at
11:48 AM | category: History
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 606 words, total size 4 kb.
Compared with Gasoline Think a gallon of gas is expensive? This puts things in perspective.
Diet Snapple (16 oz @ $1.29) = $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea (16 oz @ $1.19) = $9.52 per gallon
Gatorade (20 oz @ $1.59) = $10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray (16 oz @ $1.25) = $10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid (12 oz @ $3.15) = $33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil (6 oz @ $8.35) = $178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol (4 oz @ $3.85) = $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout (7 oz @ $1.39) = $25.42 per gallon
Scope (8 oz @ $3.99) = $59.04 per gallon
And this is the REAL KICKER...
Evian water (9 oz @ $1.49) = $21.19 per gallon?!?
$21.19 for WATER - and the buyers don't even know the source.
So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Scope, or Whiteout, or - God forbid - Pepto Bismal or Nyquil.
Posted by: Ted at
10:11 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 182 words, total size 1 kb.
Play something sweet
Play something mellow
Play something I can sink my teeth in like jello
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues.Play something sweet
And make it funky
So I can lay back and grin like a monkey
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues.-- Three Dog Night
*If I have to explain...
Posted by: Ted at
07:39 AM | category: Waxing Lyrical
Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 74 words, total size 1 kb.
83 queries taking 0.1177 seconds, 318 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
