Derek was the winner and I promised an actual prize. Now I knew that he was a goalie in a rec league, so in an inspired moment I figured I'd find an autographed hockey photo on eBay and send it to him.

Lots to choose from, but I was got sniped at the last second twice. The second one really pissed me off because it was an uber-cool picture of Gump Worsley stopping a point blank shot by Brad Park (Gump was the last NHL goalie to play without a mask).

Next I thought about concentrating on Patrick Roy stuff, since Derek is from Colorado and Roy (pronounced "Wah") has been wowing Avalanche fans for years. So I emailed him and cleverly grilled him ("so you're an Av's fan, eh?"), and he sang like a canary that he was really a Quebec Nordiques fan. The Nordiques stunk up the NHL for years and then when they moved the franchise to Colorado they immediately won the Stanley Cup.

So on eBay I started looking for Quebec Nordique goalie photos and stumbled across his prize. I'm glad he likes it.

So there ya go. Two opportunities to win and two actual prizes awarded, and neither one had a thing to do with rockets. Gotta fix that.

Posted by: Ted at 08:55 PM | category: Links
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Today is my daughter Robyn's surgery. We're headed out in about an hour to run a couple of errands and then to the hospital.

Tomorrow is Mookie's party. So far the RSVP list is 35, with more casual commitments on top of that. By one of those happy accidents of scheduling, tomorrow is supposed to be the nicest day we've had in a long time after a long run of 90+ days with high humidity.

Saturday is putz around the house day. Specifically, Mookie and I will be adding insulation batts to the attic. That's pretty much the end of the energy conservation upgrade we've put into the house over the last few years. New A/C, new attic fan, new windows, new doors, and now the attic. Short of pulling down outside walls, th-th-th-that's all folks!

In further Mookie-related news, an in-state college has been recruiting her rather persistently, to the point of actually calling the house. Now you may recall that Mookie hasn't graduated yet, she'll be a high school senior next year. The college has waived the application fee and offered her the chance to enroll beginning in the fall with a program designed to let her get her high school diploma at the same time she completes her freshman year. They do that by using the general studies requirements (needed for any degree) to do double duty by also fulfilling her required coursework for high school graduation.

There's no obligation, so she's applied. We're all discussing this right now. I'm leaning against it, for the simple fact that her class schedule next year is full of solid classes that will challenge her and she'll be able to use in life. If she were taking 3 study halls and an aide block before leaving early for work I'd feel different, but right now I don't see any need to rush things.

So that's what's going on in my world for the next short while. If I'm quiet, you know why.

(Update) Robyn came out of surgery just fine. She's doped to the gills right now and sleeping. Except for one particular nurse, everyone at the hospital was amazingly helpful and kind. The food in the cafeteria sucked though. Who'da thought?

Posted by: Ted at 07:51 AM | category: Family matters
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In Iran, a demonstration by women for equal rights. These weren't just university students either. Read about it here and follow the links for pictures.

Thanks to The Everlasting Phelps for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 04:22 PM | category: Links
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I started a post on it this morning, but didn't finish it before having to leave for work.

I should've known that Random Nuclear Strikes would be all over it. Better than I could've done too.

Posted by: Ted at 11:54 AM | category: Links
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Murdoc has the scoop on the latest electronic upgrade to the venerable B52 Stratofortress. In my opinion, the BUFF is easily the best military bomber of all time, and arguably the most successful aircraft of any type.

I spent many an hour walking in circles around one of these beasties in North Dakota.

Posted by: Ted at 11:44 AM | category: Military
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This is the world's easiest meme, and it's going to spread like wildfire because it's amazingly simple yet powerful.

Post something. That's it.

I tag Instapundit, Daily Kos, Michele Malkin, Wonkette and Little Green Footballs.

Check 'em out, and if they post something today you can marvel at my power and influence! Mwahahahahahahaha.

Posted by: Ted at 05:45 AM | category: Links
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Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America. It was founded in 1607 in what is now Virginia. One of the founders was Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, and there is evidence that a skeleton found outside the site of the Jamestown Fort is Gosnold's.

Archaeologists hoping to determine whether an unearthed skeleton belongs to one of the founders of the first permanent English settlement in North America began work Monday to excavate his sister's 360-year-old remains in eastern England.

A DNA match would be confirmation.

British and American researchers on Monday began work to remove a small part of Elizabeth Gosnold Tilney's skeleton from beneath the floor of All Saints Church in the English village of Shelley, 60 miles northeast of London. Scientists working with skeletal remains can only trace DNA through maternal relatives.

I didn't know that part about maternal relatives. Archeologists also believe they've located one of Gosnold's nieces and will attempt a DNA match from her remains as well.

Gosnold, though largely unrecognized historically, is considered a primary organizer and head of the expedition that led to Jamestown's founding. Capt. John Smith's role received most of the attention because Gosnold became ill and died at age 36 - three months after arriving in Virginia.

You can read the whole story here. I also did another post about Jamestown way back, there are good links there too if you're into history.

Posted by: Ted at 04:23 AM | category: SciTech
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Wolf brings up some good points about Scientology and it's chief spokesdrone.

This site purports to have the real story about the Barefaced Messiah. Plenty of sordid sex and cult wierdness.* I've been reading it off and on for a while now as time allows. One thing is undisputed: L. Ron Hubbard was an odd duck, and he had a knack for attracting other gullible oddballs to himself.

I tried reading that Dianetics book once or twice, but just couldn't wade through the pseudo-scientific gibberish to make any sense of it. I don't think I got past the first 30 pages.

*Ok, there's more cult wierdness than sordid sex, but what are you really more interested in?

Posted by: Ted at 08:54 PM | category: Links
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Mookie informed me today that she was looking around at the Sims 2 website and found a downloadable game version of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpiece Fallingwater.

Being me, I immediately thought of zombies (thanks to this post) and sure enough:

One of the new career tracks that comes with "The Sims 2 University" is the Paranormal career. The Paranormal career reward object is the Resurrect-o-Nomitron, an object that can be used to bring Sims back from the dead.

Oh yeah, Sims 2 zombies and Frank Lloyd Wright. It's a natural.

Posted by: Ted at 05:27 PM | category: Links
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Denzel is pure class.

Sean is pure ass.

Posted by: Ted at 04:43 PM | category: Links
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And I don't think it's me.

I can't find the exact quote, but yesterday while speaking about the Congressional apology about lynchings, Prince William County Supervisor Jack Johnson said (something like):

The apology is nice, but I think the healing will happen when there is verbal atonement.

I wasn't aware that Congress did that bit of business via interpretive dance.

Posted by: Ted at 06:13 AM | category: Square Pegs
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NASA style:

''I have to do that to get the door of my pickup truck open sometimes.'' - Rookie astronaut Donald Pettit after he used his ''Fonzie touch'' to open a hatch on the International Space Station

Cheaper than $400 hammers. Cooler too.

Posted by: Ted at 05:02 AM | category: Space Program
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I knew that Airbus had been chipping away at Boeing's longtime dominance in the world aircraft market, but I hadn't heard that Boeing has since rallied strongly and has put "Airbus on the ropes".

From Der Spiegel:

While Boeing is practically fighting off demand for its new 787, which consumes significantly less jet fuel than earlier models, Airbus's managers are seemingly ripping each other apart in internal power struggles and intrigues.

Boeing has already received firm orders and commitments for over 260 787 Dreamliners, which is made entirely of lightweight synthetic materials. It's also using the technology and experience gained to update their popular 737 aircraft. Meanwhile, Airbus concentrated solely on it's A380 superjet and a new military jet, all but ignoring its aging small-to-midsize line of passenger jets.

Despite lots of buzz about the superjumbo, Airbus faces heavy customer penalties (measured in the tens of millions of Euros) as they recently announced that first deliveries will be delayed by at least six months. In addition, Airbus was once considered the leader in the competition to supply the US military with new tanker aircraft, but congress has since passed legislation forbidding the award of contracts to companies subsidized by governments, on the theory that such subsidies allow the artificial lowering of bid prices. Airbus now has almost no chance with the contract that they believed they could win.

Airbus isn't nearing collapse or bankruptcy, they've just squandered the chance to continue to grow their share of the world airliner market.

Thanks to Transterrestrial Musings for the pointer. Read the comments there too, because they bring up some points and counter-arguments that I hadn't heard or considered before.

Posted by: Ted at 04:36 AM | category: SciTech
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A blog devoted to NFL Cheerleaders, with plenty of links and photos.

Posted by: Ted at 11:31 AM | category: Links
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Simon is asking for your help. In the past, various surveys have been done based on the number of hours a McDonalds employee must work to be able to buy a Big Mac. Now it's time for an update.

We need three things:

1. Your location (city and country).
2. The price of a Big Mac at your local McDonalds.
3. The hourly wage (in local currency) of a worker at that McDonalds.

This is serious by the way. If you get a chance, grab a Mac and ask the cashier what they make. Then send the data to:

And help spread the word. They'll be publishing the results soon.

Posted by: Ted at 06:10 AM | category: Links
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1 Thanks Ted. I'm looking forward to your results!

Posted by: Simon at June 14, 2005 08:53 AM (eFUIt)

2 This requires them getting ONE FREAKING ORDER RIGHT and me not wanting to reach out and kill them. Sorry, I had a drive-thru experience from HELL today.

Posted by: dawn at June 14, 2005 09:01 PM (Dh1V0)

3 So the food was hot, but smelled of sulpher? I hate that.

Posted by: Ted at June 14, 2005 09:12 PM (+OVgL)

4 Numbers, people, numbers. That's all that matters.

Posted by: Simon at June 15, 2005 08:52 AM (zNXEy)

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GreenPeace
PETA
Amnesty International

Because with them, it's their way or no way, and we've all heard how that kind of black & white thinking is wrong.

Posted by: Ted at 05:55 AM | category: Square Pegs
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1 wow, and you harass me about quippy off the cuff inflammatory comments

Posted by: Oorgo at June 13, 2005 11:45 AM (lM0qs)

2 You have better manners than I do in someone else's comments.

Posted by: Ted at June 13, 2005 04:07 PM (+OVgL)

3 It's everything I can do to keep from going fuckin' ballistic right now.First,Ted,you tease me by bringing up the Second Ammendment now you throw these self-righteous lyin' ass liberal hippie freaks at me? You're trying to give me a stroke aren't you?
You know,even though I don't do politics I still can't stand a wussy ass liberal crybaby.Simply put these ass wipes are all dangerous.The sooner they're gotten rid of the better for everyone.That goes for their freakin PC shit,too.Sorry but NO! you don't have a right not to be offended.You do have a right to walk away when you don't agree with me just as I you.Don't like it?Tuff shit!Believe me when I say that checks and balances isn't worth it.Then again C&B was never suppose to be about one side of a debate being totally full of shit and hell bent on destroying every basic principal this nation was founded on either.
Also,you are only fooling yourself when you make up bullshit and try to pass it off as prime rib.Do you all really think we're that stupid?
BTW,if you're one of the gullible,moronic dumbasses who happens to be braindead enough to follow these cum belchin' shitty dick lickers then perhaps you should drop by activistcash.com and check out who you human heros in the pink tights are sleeping with.
Speaking of bullshit have you ever wondered where this trash comes from?Check out Penn and Teller's Bullshit:College on Showtime for an eye opener.
Gun control?Sorry asshole but it's a Bill of Rights and NOT a Bill of Needs.Also,if you wanna argue that then you don't NEED more than one car,or more than one painting on your wall.You don't NEED to read more than one newspaper...blah....blah....Get it?If you wanna throw that "need" shit around then let me tell that I can disappear into the woods right now and live just as fullfilling and comfortable a life as I can here at home.All the while the only thing I'll "need" is a sharp knife,a ball of string and a .22 pistol.I wonder how many city bound liberal wussy woodsman wannabees will follow me?None I'll bet.
Plus,don't throw that "guns where only supposed to be for the army" shit at me either because i'll throw back dozens of quotes from early Americans,including our forefathers,at you that prove otherwise.Sorry dipshit but this is America,I'm an America,I want to shoot my gun so I will.Period!Don't like it?Then fuckin' leave!
while we're on the subject of guns let me take a moment and explain why it is that libs hate them.You see it is much easier for libs to pick on a harmless mechanical device than to admit that their own liberal free for all lifestyle is the root of most problems,especially murder.These people don't believe in God so they haven't a higher authority to answer to when they act like degenerates or let's coddle the crook and just blame the gun."Oh,but if he din't have a gun he would have never killed".Bullshit!For thousands of years manking went without guns and they did a pretty damb good job of slicing and dicing each other back then.
Let me tell you a story about me.Growing up in the mountains of Va. I always carried a gun with me everywhere I went.Very much the thing to have handy when you're in the woods miles from anywhere as we often where.Everyone else I grew up with was the same way.Whenever we would walk to the store we always knew who was inside by who's gun was on the porch.It had been this way for hundreds of years.Now did any of us ever kill each other?NO!Playing football and winding up in a fight did any of us ever feel tempted to pick up his gun only feet away and shoot the other?NO!Why?Because we had christian family morals and values.Something that libs care nothing about.A fight is a fight and defending yer home or your life is another story.Lib terds don't believe you have a right to defend yourself.However,if you kill someone else you do have a right to not go to jail.After all the gun made you do it.Right?To them even if you do try to kill someone and get shot you are a VICTIM of gun violence.Don't believe me?Don't think they're that bad?Check this out:http://www.niagara-gazette.com/story.asp?id=1776
this should put a knot in yer bloomers.
Now as for animals if I am bearing down on a big ol' buck with my .300 weatherby he has a right be killed quickly and cleanly by me in a sane and humane fashion.He also has a right to not be wasted unnecessarily.Beyond that PETA can kiss the fattest,whitest part of my venison fed ass.To make this long story short don't buy into their "caring about the animals" shit.Most "animal rights" activist care very little about animals.In fact I love confronting these idiots on Yahoo and watching them flunk out of the most rudiment trivia about animals,their habitat,natural resources management and the environment in general.Most of these people really are stupid.That's why they're so quick to just readily accept any old junk science that comes along.All you have to do is make sure that your "research" makes humans look bad.Being as how most "animal rights" activists are really just anti-human activists in disguise that's usually all it takes.
Well gotta go.To wrap this up i'll ask a favor.If you are a liberal tree huggin,gun grabbin,butt pumpin hippie freak then please do the environment a REAL favor by finding the tallest building you can and taking a flyin fuckin leap!
Oh,and one last note.How long do you think you'll be able to exercise your First Ammendment right to make up lies and run yer freakin' yap after you succeed in taking away my Second Ammendment rights?If you said anything besides "not long" then you really are stupid and probably should be queer just so you won't fuckin' breed.

Posted by: Russ at June 13, 2005 08:02 PM (ObxzR)

4 Dang Russ, first you ask if I'm trying to give you a stroke and then you practically have one.

Calm, my friend.

Posted by: Ted at June 13, 2005 08:33 PM (+OVgL)

5 Wow Russ... that just...


wow

Posted by: Oorgo at June 14, 2005 06:42 PM (lM0qs)

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Recently at Mookie's high school, they held a ceremony to dedicate a new memorial. Gar-Field High School has lost two alumni in Iraq, and another school in our county, Hylton High, lost two more, including one last week. I've heard that there is another one or two from other schools, but I don't have any solid information about that.

The write-up was in the local paper, but because I'm not confident that their links will last for any length of time, I've reprinted almost the entire article in the extended entry (click below on "light this candle...").

One interesting note. I've heard that while setting up this memorial, a search was made for similar things done at other schools. Apparently, their research turned up the fact that no school has dedicated a permanent Memorial to the military since midway through the Vietnam War. This was attributed to the fact that wartime memorials fell out of favor at that time because of the general anti-war and anti-military feelings of the public. Take that with a grain of salt, because although I thought it interesting enough to mention, it's all second-and-third-hand information.

In any case, I'm very proud of the school for doing this. Mookie and Robyn were at the dedication, and they said it was a moving and emotional event. Pictures of the memorial will be posted in the next day or two (assuming Rachael gets a few moments between classes). more...

Posted by: Ted at 05:04 AM | category: Links
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Sometimes NASA flies balloons.

The westward flight from Esrange [Sweden - RJ] to Alaska will test NASA's new long-lasting balloon vehicle and carries a 5,940-pound telescope at an altitude of 25 miles for six to nine days.

These are huge balloons. For example, an NFL football field is 300 feet long.

The balloon is 396 feet high and 462 feet in diameter. It is made of advanced materials and uses a pumpkin-shaped design to achieve flights up to 100 days. It holds up to 1.3 million cubic yards of helium.

Some interesting stuff happening. Who knew Sweden had a space corporation?

Posted by: Ted at 04:42 AM | category: SciTech
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From Mystery Men.

"We're on a blind date with destiny, and she just ordered the lobster." -- The Shoveler

This flick is available in the $5.50 discount bin at WalMart.

Posted by: Ted at 09:42 AM | category: Cult Flicks
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Because the guys over at the Ministry of Minor Perfidy are talking handguns, and rating them by the only scale that really matters: its effectiveness as an anti-zombie weapon.

Check out the latest object of my lust the Kimber .45 ACP and the Smith & Wesson 686P in .38/.357 Magnum.

I love the original Model 1911's, and owned an earlier version of the S&W, which was a fine weapon. Go read the reviews, and don't forget to lock your doors and windows at night, just in case Bub gets hungry.

Posted by: Ted at 08:54 AM | category: Links
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