Something I've found among rocketeers is the willingness to share equipment and knowledge. You need something? Ask the guy next to you, and chances are he'll gladly lend it to you, and if he doesn't have it, he'll point out someone who does.

That, more than anything, has impressed me since day one about this hobby.

Saturday was a perfect example. I had some parts that I no longer needed, but I knew that Bart, a good friend could make use of them. I also remembered talking to him about rail buttons, and mentioned that I had a bunch and would give him some to try. So I added those to the bag and found him talking to another club member, Mitch. Bart wanted to pay me for it, but I refused. Instead I asked for some advice.

My Level 2 rocket has been designed and I've collected all the parts except for the fins. I was going to use plywood, but more and more people were suggesting that I go with fiberglass sheet. I asked my friends what thickness they'd recommend considering the motor I was going to use. Mitch immediately said "use the thickness of the ones I'm going to give you for free right now," and he handed me three large sheets of G10 fiberglass. The stuff they make circuit boards out of. They're about 15" square, in pristine condition, and Mitch salvaged several hundred of them from his workplace when they started to throw them away. All in all, he gifted me with about $50.00 worth of fin material, along with instructions on how best to cut it into shape. He told me to consider it payment for giving Bart the rail buttons.

This kind of stuff happens all the time.

PS. Yep, I'm at home today. The sunburn is still bad enough that I can't wear a collared shirt, let alone a tie. I'll tough it out tomorrow, but for today I'm still slathered in aloe burn gel.

Posted by: Ted at 10:10 AM | category: Rocketry
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Man, I was an idiot yesterday. I had such a wonderful time at the rocket launch. Everything I flew worked to perfection, there were boy scouts and a high school physics class and junior ROTC and TARC rocket contest teams all over the place, in short, big fun the entire time. So much fun, in fact, that I never got around to putting on any sunscreen.

I am one hurtin' unit right now. I wore a ballcap to protect the ol' solar panel, but my ears and back of my neck are toasted to a screaming hot pink. I've got a nice little 'V' where my shirt was open too. Fortunately I'm prepared for this, because I'm stupid like this once a year or so, and I've got this soothing blue aloe gel that I've been coating myself in. Just going out into the sun in painful today, so no launch for me. Dammit.

On the plus side, yesterday was excellent! I said that, didn't I? Oh well, a detailed report (like you care) will be coming in the next day or two, but for now, I'd like to show you a picture that was taken yesterday by a student from Oakton High school. His name is Enrique, and I understand that he's the official photographer for the school's SLI team.

What's SLI? That stands for NASA's Student Launch Initiative, and these young ladies and gentlemen are headed to Huntsville, Alabama to take part in it. They're the next generation of engineers that're going to take us to Mars and beyond.

Enjoy the picture, click for full size. The rocket is an upscale of the Centuri Groove Tube, which was a tube-finned kit from the 70's and 80's. My version is about five foot tall, is 2.6" in diameter, and it's taking off on an Aerotech H165 Redline motor. The intensity of the flame washes out in photographs, but it's bright screaming red (yes, sorta like my ears). This is an amazing photo, and Enrique did an excellent job capturing a difficult shot.

Posted by: Ted at 01:00 PM | category: Rocketry
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Today and tomorrow. Yay!

Supposed to be beautiful weather here, hope it's as nice where you live. Have a great weekend.

About the picture: These are some downscaled models I built based on classic Estes kits from the 70's and 80's. They are (from left to right) Cherokee D, Big Bertha, Der Red Max, Alpha and Goblin. They're not all to the same scale. The Red Max (center) is just under 6" tall, and the brown cylinder next to it is a standard Estes rocket motor.

Posted by: Ted at 07:32 AM | category: Rocketry
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This week's collection of recipes is being hosted by Aussie Wife. Check it out!

Posted by: Ted at 06:36 PM | category: Recipes
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Nine out of ten doctors surveyed believed that a daily visit to Rocket Jones was good for stress relief. Doctor Kevorkian suggested a radically different approach.

Posted by: Ted at 05:57 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Not the TV series, and not the number of the greatest baseball player of all time (Willie Mays), but the number of a race car.

NASCAR's number 24 has a new prime sponsor: Bourdreaux's Butt Paste.

The driver is Kim Crosby. I don't follow NASCAR, is she the only female on the circuit? Anyways, it's like Stroker Ace come to life.

Thanks to McQ at Q&O for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 11:45 AM | category: Links
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I heard a commercial where AIDs was described as a "life challenging" condition.

Terminal. The word is "terminal". You get AIDs, you're gonna die from it. Eventually it's going to kill you. Coming up with yet another polite phrase to sugar coat reality isn't doing anyone any favors, it just degrades the message being communicated.

Update: From the comments and email, I've been reminded that more people die "with" than "from" diseases these days. While I understand the point and even agree with it somewhat, I think that our medical arts have advanced enough to prolong life despite whatever the terminal disease is. I'd guess that more HIV positive people die from pneumonia than from the actual AIDs itself, but that doesn't mean the AIDs didn't kill them, just that another complication facilitated by the AIDs was the final step.

People who succumb to cancer don't get that kind of consideration. And in the end, does it really matter?

Still, maybe "terminal" isn't the correct term to use. My objection (badly put it seems) was to the politically correct term "life challenging". The attempt to not offend anyone is vague enough to encompass everything after conception (or birth, depending on your viewpoint). I commuted to work this morning in the fog and rain on an interstate highway, that also fits the definition of life challenging.

Posted by: Ted at 11:35 AM | category: Square Pegs
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1 I respectfully beg to differ. You are going to die with it (for now), but not necessarily from it. It was a goal, back in the days when I worked on the clinical trials, to make HIV/AIDS a manageable condition like asthma or diabetes (albeit an infectious one, adding more levels of education and support to the management).

Posted by: nic at April 07, 2005 12:10 PM (etHvD)

2 I don't know - I have good friends now who have been living with AIDS for 10, 15 years now. It seems to me to be a completely changed landscape than it was in the 80s and 90s, when it was most definitely a death sentence (and one that would come relatively quickly). I agree with the diabetes analogy above.

Posted by: red at April 07, 2005 12:16 PM (qxKkx)

3 I have to agree with Nic, and not just because I live with her She's pretty much nailed it: with proper management, it seems as if HIV/AIDS is no more fatal than diabetes is. I concede she and I may be dreamers, but as Red said, people are living longer now with HIV/AIDS than they were expected to twenty years ago.

In fact, nowadays there are, IMO, very few truly terminal "common" diseases, save one: Life--No one has gotten out of it alive.

Posted by: Victor at April 07, 2005 06:32 PM (etHvD)

4 Hmmm.
I volunteer at what used to be an AIDS service organization, but in the last couple of years they have expanded their services to include clients who have "other live challeging conditions," I believe is how they phrase it. That includes cancer, ALS, anything where the clients are unable to shop for their own food and prepare their own meals because of their condition. Some clients need the services for a specific period...e.g., right after a round of chemo until they regain strength...others until they end up in institutional care or, well, die.
I don't see the phrase as politically correct B.S., I see it as a shorthand way to describe the situation.
And when I said that people may die with AIDS and not from it, I wasn't talking about pneumonia or another opportunistic infection that was fatal because of the HIV-compromised immune system...I'm talking about someone having a heart attack at 80.

Posted by: nic at April 08, 2005 08:30 AM (JijW0)

5 I want to aplogize if my last comment is too troll-like. I admit this is a hotbutton issue for me; and I probably hit "post" a little too fast there. Sorry, Ted.

Posted by: nic at April 08, 2005 08:58 AM (JijW0)

6 Nic, we've disagreed before and we both know that's ok. Your experience in this area is obviously greater than mine. I'm learning a lot from your comments, so fire away.

Posted by: Ted at April 08, 2005 09:34 AM (blNMI)

7 This reminds me of one of my favorite moments in radio.

Bob Edwards was interviewing a doctor on Morning Edition, who was describing some sort of long-term survey the details of which I forget. The doctor said (this is from memory, but close), "Four percent of the test subjects underwent the mortality experience."

There was a sound from Edwards that was probably a spit-take. He interrupted the good doctor. "Excuse me. They 'underwent the mortality experience?' Do you mean that they died?"

"Well, yes," said the doctor. "They underwent the mortality experience."

Edwards made it through the rest of the interview; he's a pro. But you could tell it was one of the most absurd things he'd ever heard from a guest.

Posted by: Doug Pratt at April 12, 2005 12:30 PM (D6ZyB)

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It's been so bad the last couple of days, that Spork posted on it too.

Here's a relavant quote from the Tagline Archives:

Imagine standing at a street corner and spitting on people to get their attention, then trying to sell them something. Spamming is a better marketing method than that only in that you get punched less often. -- Esa A. Peuha

So true.

Posted by: Ted at 06:11 AM | category: Square Pegs
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We have entries in the Rocket Jones Banner Contest!

Go check 'em out (yep, it's another linkevent).

Derek, who names computers after dairy products.

Amy, who is flamboyantly and extravagantly carnivorous.

These are wonderful and I can't wait to see what you come up with. Yes, you.

Posted by: Ted at 06:09 AM | category: Links
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1 Man, it's hard to compete with those.

Posted by: Victor at April 07, 2005 07:35 AM (L3qPK)

2 Would it help if I changed the "contest" into outright begging for new banners from everyone? That's what it is, basically.

Posted by: Ted at April 07, 2005 09:05 AM (blNMI)

3 Well, it'd be more honest.

Posted by: Victor at April 07, 2005 10:22 AM (L3qPK)

4 aww, man, We're supposed to be COMPETING!? I've gotta go make more better ones.

Posted by: Derek at April 07, 2005 04:22 PM (wEVXE)

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Lynn S posts this hilarious conversation between God and St. Francis.

Subject? Yardwork.

Yips to the Llamas for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 04:25 AM | category: Links
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I heard a commercial on the radio advertising half-off plastic surgery.

That's like "buy one tit, get the second tit free".

Posted by: Ted at 08:33 PM | category: Square Pegs
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1 How does this apply to nose jobs or breast reduction surgery?

Posted by: Brian J. at April 06, 2005 10:01 PM (V04ml)

2 A woman in my neighborhood had breast enhancement. While in there, the doc told her if she wanted her eyes done, he'd give her a discount if she got everything done together.

I said to my husband, "What is this? Get one set of eyes done, get the other at 1/2 off?"

The guy was a quack and botched up her eyes... the ones on her face. Too bad. She was all of 36.

Posted by: Boudicca at April 07, 2005 12:00 AM (z7nbM)

3 Perhaps Tom Green can finally get himself a pair of stunt doubles!
Or,if I get an extension do they have to be parallel or in series?HAHAHA!!!!

Posted by: Russ at April 07, 2005 12:04 AM (ObxzR)

4 At a meeting today, someone mentioned getting "a hummer for a whole weekend." Imagine the men's dismay when the speaker was talking about the car as an item in a silent auction.

Posted by: dawn at April 08, 2005 03:57 PM (jFpDX)

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I heard on the radio that 5,000 people are attending Johnny Cochran's funeral. That's impressive.

Then I heard that an estimated one million people have stood in line to view Pope John Paul II's body in state.

Posted by: Ted at 04:10 PM | category: Square Pegs
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Brian J. Noggle celebrated his 3rd blog anniversary yesterday.

Why aren't you a Munuvian?

Posted by: Ted at 12:25 PM | category: Links
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Kicks ass.

Posted by: Ted at 06:12 AM | category: Links
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MuNu and Rocket Jones got hammered last night by a flood of spam comments. What a pain.

Update: It's still going on.

Update 2: I finally remembered that I could block the IP. Doh! Oh well, mess cleaned up.

Posted by: Ted at 06:00 AM | category: Square Pegs
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That's the official Munuvian greeting and expression of joy. Find a fiver on the ground? Yay! Your team is playing like they're unbeatable? Yay! Girlfriend comes home from a bachelorette party half-sloshed, horny as hell and arm in arm with her bisexual college roommate? Well, duh. Yay!

Like I said: expression of joy.

But it's also the official Munuvian greeting. So go visit these latest residents and if they've bothered to post something, leave 'em a Yay! in the comments.

Rhymes With Right
Possumblog
Something for the Weekend
Seven Inches of Sense
Stolen Beauty
View from the Pew
A Swift Kick and A Bandaid
Professor Chaos
Cal Tech Girl's World

Tell 'em Ted sent ya.

Posted by: Ted at 05:10 AM | category: Links
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1 Uh, Ted, I feel really compelled to ask, has that ever happened? The sloshed girlfriend with the bi-sexual college room mate? Or is that something that belongs more in a publication with a story which might start, "I was a freshman in a small northeastern liberal arts college and I never thought anything like this would have happened to me, but . . ."? Here's hoping it happened!

Posted by: RP at April 06, 2005 03:25 PM (LlPKh)

2 Oh, how to respond?

A gentleman never tells. That's always a good answer, and it applies exceptionally well here.

Or maybe it's just the biggest "Yay!" event I could come up with as I whipped out that post.

Now, as to your supposed letter, let me point you towards this: http://rocketjones.mu.nu/archives/010684.html

I hope that doesn't clear things up too much.

Posted by: Ted at April 06, 2005 04:16 PM (ZjSa7)

3 Excellent reply. As for your letter clearing things up, I knew that a man of taste and distinction, such as yourself, would immediately get the stereotypical beginning of far too many Forum letters. In fact, for kicks, back in college we used to all get together on the floor and read them out loud to each other for the general amusement of the floor mates.

As for biggest yay! event you could come up with, I'll go on record as acknowledging that you (one) think big and (two) fully grasp the yay! concept.

Posted by: RP at April 06, 2005 05:21 PM (LlPKh)

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Around here, bus systems like to use the word "link" in their name. We've got OmniLink and MetroLink and who knows what else. Just south of here is the oldest continuously chartered town in Virginia, Dumfries.

What einstein thought Dumflink would be a good name for their bus service?

Posted by: Ted at 04:39 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Un-freakin-believable!

Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin has been stripped of her title because pageant officials say she can stand — and point to a newspaper picture as proof.

Janeal Lee, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a scooter, was snapped by The Post-Crescent newspaper standing among her high school math students. The photo was not an expose.

Standing. Not walking or bowling or skating or running track, she was standing.

“I’ve been made to feel as if I can’t represent the disabled citizens of Wisconsin because I’m not disabled enough,” Lee said Thursday.

Well honey, your feelings are right on the mark, because that's *exactly* why they booted you. Count your blessings that you don't have to deal with those politically correct nitwits any more. Why do I say "politically correct"?

Candidates for the crown have to “mostly be seen in the public using their wheelchairs or scooters,” said Judy Hoit, Ms. Wheelchair America’s treasurer. “Otherwise you’ve got women who are in their wheelchairs all the time and they get offended if they see someone standing up. We can’t have title holders out there walking when they’re seen in the public.”

Yep, can't offend the real crips. You know, the ones who are disabled enough. And of course we all know who gets blamed for this farce:

Hackel said Lee should have been aware of the rules.

You knew it was coming. It's her own damn fault.

I wonder if Miss Black America ever got bounced because her skin wasn't dark enough?

Posted by: Ted at 05:02 PM | category: Links
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This has been sitting in my inbox for a few weeks now, not out of neglect or indifference, but because these posts are so damned hard to do. Even after all these years.

I wasn't "on the scene", but I was dealing with several wives who's husbands were. I had several airmen (generic term includes women too) who worked for me, there that day doing crowd and traffic control.

Gordon Tatro, who has generously shared his reconstruction and photographs of the aftermath, passes along this link to a new website posted by Roland Fuchs, a German gentleman who lost his wife and 5 year old daughter at the Ramstein Flugtag that day. Included on the site are photos of his family, the day itself, the actual crashes, and the monument and memorial that have since been erected to honor those who died. This photograph shows clearly the list of names of the Flugtag casualties, and underscores just how many young victims there were.

I still receive email and comments about Flugtag, and I'd like to thank Gordon, Roland and the many others who've shared their experiences from that day. May everyone find peace.

Posted by: Ted at 04:19 PM | category: Flugtag '88
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Rand Simberg of Transterrestrial Musings provides pointers to these nifty sites:

Google Maps - in about 5 minutes I zoomed to a map of my street, and then with one click of a button got a fairly detailed satellite image.

Economics in One Lesson - the classic by Henry Hazlitt, now available online.

Posted by: Ted at 12:36 PM | category: Links
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