Will be coming to Rocket Jones this monday, so dig deep into your archives and send an oldie but goodie. It's easy to do, and all the cool kids are doing it. Plus, if you'd rather nominate someone else, go for it! Or multiple posts, that's ok too. Anarchy rules.

That's like 'jumbo shrimp' or 'MicroSoft Works' isn't it?

Anyways, please please please make sure you put "BestofMe" or "Symphony" in the header of your email, because I've got a super-agressive spam filter and I don't want to miss anyone.

Posted by: Ted at 06:07 AM | category: Links
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I've had a few naughty links lately (and more to come, I'm sure), so to even things out a little bit, I present an extensive gallery of links to Religious Art.

Posted by: Ted at 05:00 AM | category: Links
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Some you may know, some may be new to you. Enjoy.

Remember a few weeks ago when Tuning Spork and StMack held their First Annual InterMunuvian Trivia Death Match and Pizza Demolition (or some such title), I asked a question of StMack, two questions actually, about the most expensive spice in the world (saffron, which he got right), and the second most expensive (vanilla, which he didn't know - go me). The point? I forget...

Some silly billies in Tennessee want to pass a law making it illegal for homosexuals to live in their county. Which county? Why, the same one that wanted to outlaw the teaching of evolution. Makes perfect sense to me, since evolution obviously doesn't apply there. Ably covered over at Classical Values, Norbizness, SilverBlue and Alphecca. Y'all go'way now, y'heer?

DUSTBURY! That's what I meant to say earlier about the saffron and... He gives the reason for the rising costs of vanilla and background and analysis and, and-

Ever get into something that you couldn't get out of? Yeah, like the paragraph above. Move along, nothing to see here...

I shall distract you with Babes with Guns. Courtesy of the Flea.

Mother Earth almost caught a rock. Read the details over at the Ministry of Minor Perfidy.

And if that wasn't serious enough for you, check out this bit about voting over at Anticipatory Retaliation.

When I take pictures of my dogs, their eyes get that weird demon-possessed glow. Someone once told me it's because of the way a dog eye is constructed. So if humans had that same thing happen, how would camera's be different?

Once again, I digress, but this time I remember my point, which has to do with dogs, dogs in pictures, and cameras! Go visit Two Nervous Dogs, firstly because she has a sweet demon-possessed doggie on her banner, and secondly because she stalks the neighborhood at night to document her neighbors Christmas decorations. Which are still up and running.

Random Nuclear Strikes celebrate St. Patrick's Day as only the nuclear-armed can.

Staying militaristic - sorta - over at Texas Best Grok we get a rundown on his extended visit aboard the USS Lexington aircraft carrier, now open as a floating naval museum. Three parts, too cool.

The synergist in Michele emerged with this brilliant fusion of two blockbuster movies of the year.

I shall mention here that I've been watching a live taped performance of Jezebel Diary, courtesy of Mr. Helpful. Now I can say I knew them before they were huge. Rock on!

Starhawk (who annoys me by living in Houston where they're having beautiful weather at the moment) posts about a new VIP member of the Dead Poet's Society.

Say Uncle is pondering blog slogans, and he's got some good ones there. He also has an interesting link about computer security and how to Google up passwords.

Wanna know why the US military kicks butt? Because of ideas like this. A mortar shell that you fire high over the battlefield, where it deploys a parachute and hangs there, transmitting a battlefield picture from the camera in it's nose.

Nic posted a very good piece about misfits in the workplace. We have a couple in our company, probably everyone does. I once had one as my contract supervisor, and though I only saw him once a month, my client hated him. He had zero people skills. One day our Vice President said to me "He's the type of guy you lock in a room and let him do great things." But for heaven's sake don't let him interact with the paying customers.

Thanks to H.D. Miller of Travelling Shoes for pointing up this little bit of scholarly research. An Iraqi professor collected data about graffitti on the streets of post-Saddam Bagdhad. Interesting and enlightening.

All right, that's where my notes run out.

Posted by: Ted at 12:29 PM | category: Links
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Topher's Breakfast Cereal Character Guide.

Posted by: Ted at 07:08 AM | category: Links
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The intervention over at Bloviating Inanities is over. For a brief time yesterday afternoon, BI sucked a little less than usual. You can tell things are back to normal, because Bill is back to being a whiny little bitch.

I'd like to thank the rest of the swarm:

Jennifer
Susie
Michele (my apologies for misspelling your name before)
Ron, the blogless
Paul
Wind Rider
SilverBlue
Keith, the photoshop wizard

Special thanks to the organizer of the event.

Nothing says "Love" like being TP'd, even online.

Posted by: Ted at 07:15 AM | category: Links
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From Sophont (who points out some of the coolest stuff):

"Think of a diamond in the sky," says Robert Rochte.

Rochte, director of technology at the Grosse Pointe Academy, and his eager third-grade students hope to see a tetroon within the next month, depending on the sun and wind conditions, when they launch the fifth in a series of experimental balloons from Grosse Pointe Farms in an effort to learn about weather, navigation and electronics.

They're also having fun.

Go read the whole thing, it's really impressive.

Posted by: Ted at 05:10 AM | category: Links
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Bill sent me this thank you e-card, which just goes to prove that he's more than a little creepy a considerate guy.

His attached message was “Oho!"

No Bill, thank you!

Posted by: Ted at 05:00 PM | category: Links
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Everyone knows about Where’s Waldo, those busy little cartoons where you’re supposed to find that red & white striped twerp in a crowd of people. Oho, what fun!

Let’s play the Bloviating Inanities special edition version: Where’s Bill? (in the extended entry – nsfw)

Hint: he’s not staff. more...

Posted by: Ted at 03:30 PM | category: Links
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Everyone knows about WhereÂ’s Waldo, those busy little cartoons where youÂ’re supposed to find that red & white striped twerp in a crowd of people. Oho, what fun!

Let’s play the Bloviating Inanities special edition version: Where’s Bill? (in the extended entry – nsfw)

Hint: heÂ’s not staff. more...

Posted by: Ted at 03:30 PM | category: Links
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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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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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(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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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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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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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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Some not so ghostly, but plenty of cool photos, if you dig around a little.

And here's the home page for a whole web ring of ghost town sites. To get to the good stuff, scroll to the bottom and click "Previous / Next / Random... " I'd suggest "List Sites" so you can pick and choose what interests you.

Posted by: Ted at 11:44 AM | category: Links
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Peeps, I've been busy. Swamped busy. Not too busy to blog some (although my backup supply of Beal-concealment posts has been greatly diminished), and I'm managing to at least drop by your place every couple of days.

I've also been working on a side-project that will hopefully be ready in the next few days. I've talked about it before, but it's been consuming a fair amount of time and energy and a great deal of emotional reserve. Soon.

In the meantime, I'll pull out the forty-'leven post-it notes I have stashed on my desk, each one reminding me to take a closer look at this or that post. Throw 'em together, tack on the title suggested by Susie the Wonder Llama-tamer, and hey, it's a post!

Red Ted Keeps A Diary, and he's starting a series about logically evaluating President George W. Bush. Here's his opening paragraph:

One of the striking things about people is that smart folks can look at the same body of information, focus on different aspects of it, and come to radically different conclusions. This process is fun to look at from the outside, but dreadfully frustrating when otherwise smart people look at the same body of information that you are looking at, and then come out completely opposed to your views. How, one asks, can someone who is otherwise so clever, be so very wrong? And does this mean that I am wrong? I can't be wrong!

Sentinal Chimneys. Velociman. It's the part of history I love most, the "I wonder what happened here?" part.

Jay at Sophont tells of the Pocket Vault, which is the neatest little gizmo I've seen in a long time. It wouldn't be very useful for me, because I don't carry a lot of credit cards, but for business travelers I can see it as being a very handy item. Check it out. (If it's blogspotted, scroll down to Chameleon Card Changes Stripes, and say hello to his llama).

Zero llama count observed at SilverBlue, QandO, and The Meatriarch, though I suspect JimiLove has been kidnapped by peruvian maoist llamas. It's been a while since he posted, but he's shown up in comments here and there.

Via Ghost of a Flea, we find The Exorcist and Apocolypse Now, starring llamas bunnies! Yay!

Mark Oakley of Rocket Man Blog has just accepted a position as lead propulsion engineer at TGV Rockets! This is great news, and I'm thrilled for him. Go say hi and congrats, and be sure to mention me for a valuable discount on all your consumer rocketry propulsion needs.

Over at Left & Right, Rob posted a hilarious roundup of comments regarding his Official L&R Top 100 Guitar Players list. There seems to be general consensus that his list is better than Rolling Stone's list, but still sucks big gorilla... uh... llama.

This was bound to happen. A Swiss Army Knife with USB flash memory stick. It's probably at least as useful as the corkscrew that comes on many of their knives. And it's great for survivalists, who can now take their porn with them into the mountains. Listen carefully and you can hear llamas all over the world heave a sigh of relief. Thanks to The Ministry of Minor Perfidy for the pointer.

Thanks for joining us for this edition of Rocketing Around the Blogosphere, and we hope you join us again soon. At this time, we ask that you please return your llamas to the upright position and welcome to the end of this post.

Posted by: Ted at 05:22 AM | category: Links
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