From Pratt Hobbies, the Surface to Idiot Missile.

Disclaimer: It's a sad but true fact that in today's world it must be explicitely stated that it's a joke. *sigh*

Posted by: Ted at 09:58 PM | category: Links
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File this under "why didn't I see this?", from Hold the Mayo:

How ironic that the argument goes that illegal immigrants are just here doing the jobs Americans don't want to do when the one job the government seem to be trying hard to avoid doing is dealing with illegal immigration.

For that matter, why doesn't anyone else see the simple beauty here?

Posted by: Ted at 09:50 PM | category: Links
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A Rocket Jones bondage post is long overdue, and wouldn't you know, the news provides the hook.

First of all, I have a problem with the headline:

Church ousts Dominatrix from Vicarage.

When you read the story, you find out that the Dominatrix rented the property from the church and she claims she held a long-term lease with an option to buy. Once the church found out what her business was, then they wanted to evict her.

She decided not to fight the church in court. They didn't "oust" her, because I suspect that they didn't have a legal leg to stand on.

A couple of questions come to mind. First, is being a Dominatrix illegal in South Africa? It doesn't appear to be, judging from the story. She had even given a tour of her "torture chamber" to reporters. Notice also that she didn't have sex with her clients and it wasn't a brothel. You were paying to be dominated by a woman, you weren't paying for sex.

Was there a "morals" clause in her lease? You know what I mean, something that states that the tenant will only behave in ways acceptable to the church. I don't know if that's enforcable, especially if said actions aren't illegal.

Finally, are any of the church congregation clients? Just curious. It would be professional suicide for her to mention names, because confidentiality would be crucial in her line of work. I wonder if any of the church members are heaving huge sighs of relief that this is all going away (semi) quietly.

Whip me, beat me, make me evict you. *snicker*

Personally, I think she was in the right, but decided that the fight just wasn't worth it. That's a shame. I'm all for tweaking the nose of authority whenever possible.

Posted by: Ted at 05:55 AM | category: Links
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Nanny Stateism strikes again:

The European Commission is to propose legislation aimed at slashing "unproportional" charges on international mobile phone calls within the European Union (EU).

EU commissioner for information society and media Viviane Reding said the executive European Commission has to propose an EU regulation after mobile telecom operators failed to respond to her calls for lower costs six months ago.

"I have warned the industry repeatedly that price must be brought down, but it seems the industry has had trouble understanding my message," Reding told a press conference on Tuesday.

Got that? She asked telecom businesses to lower their prices, and they had the gall to ignore her. So her solution is to ram through a binding "regulation" that will force the companies to limit their rates. Never mind what charges the market will bear, you've got to provide another entitlement to all those unemployed youngsters I guess.

I love this part:

"There is no way that these prices are justified," said Reding. "The regulation would ensure that operators do not charge substantially more than the actual cost."

The wholesale savings of operators would then be made to pass on to consumers, she said.

Yep. Don't allow the Telecoms to make a profit, then pass the "savings" on to the people!

She dismissed fears that EU-level intervention would push operators to make up their lost revenue in the domestic market.

Of course she did. Cause and effect doesn't apply to fantasyland. Just ask the California electricity industry.

Posted by: Ted at 04:37 PM | category: Links
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More pictures of women in the military than you can empty a magazine at. Safe for work, but definitely not boring.

Thanks to the Jawa Report for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 06:05 AM | category: Military
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Jennifer hangs it up.

The guys down at Whitakers, North Carolina lost their flying field. It's not actually lost, it's just been turned into a corn field without prior notice.

Posted by: Ted at 04:41 PM | category: Links
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Uncle Sam does, and he's had it for half a century now.

Happy 50th Birthday to the B52 Stratofortress. One seriously bad mofo.

Thanks to Transterrestrial Musings for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 07:22 PM | category: Links
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My friend Doug Pratt has started a rocketry blog, and named it, appropriately enough, Pratt Hobbies Blog. It will soon be on the sidebar.

He's off to a great start, including a post about how the BATFE is reacting to their recent smackdown by the Federal courts regarding rocket motors. Short answer: they are not taking it well, and it seems that the retaliation against the hobby has started. Read more over at Doug's blog, and, like most of us, he wanders off onto other topics as the fancy takes him. Check it out.

Posted by: Ted at 05:58 PM | category: Rocketry Resources
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1 Whoa! I didn't expect such a fanfare...and in big type too. Tanks, dood...you're my inspiration.

Posted by: Doug Pratt at March 18, 2006 07:33 PM (ia2zV)

2 LOL I have no idea what happened, but when I put the rocket doggie banner up top, it completely hosed my template.

Uh, I mean, yeah, your blog got the big type treatment, because it's worth it.

Posted by: Ted at March 18, 2006 08:43 PM (+OVgL)

3 Well, don't feel like the Lone Stranger. Something is hosed on the new blog, too. For some reason the messages are spaced down the page and don't start until after the sidebar. I've emailed customer support at Hostway, which has been very good in the past.

Posted by: Doug Pratt at March 18, 2006 09:19 PM (ia2zV)

4 Must be an IE thing, because it looks fine in Firefox.

Posted by: Ted at March 19, 2006 12:04 AM (+OVgL)

5 Yeah, I tried it late last night with Firefox and it works. This morning Hostway customer service emailed me and said they replicated it with IE but not with Firefox, and they're working on it. Pretty good service for a weekend! Hostway's been good to me.

Posted by: Doug Pratt at March 19, 2006 02:20 PM (ia2zV)

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Princess Cat is closing in on her first MuNuversary and has a goal. Click the link and bump her hit counter.

Oh yeah, just like that.

Again.

Faster.

Don't stop.

And size does matter, so you higher traffic blogs should be joining in with a mention and links as well.

Treat the lady right.

Posted by: Ted at 10:52 AM | category: Links
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Over at Off Wing Opinion, Eric has been on a video jag lately. Check out the Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby highlights, and don't miss my personal favorite, the New Zealand National Rugby team doing a Maori Haka. Awesome!

Posted by: Ted at 08:31 PM | category: Links
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I was visiting Wegglywoo and found a link to a new group blog that she's part of.

The post titiled The Rules of Life for Australian (Heterosexual) Men had me laughing out loud. Here's a sample:

11. It is permissible to quaff a fruity alcopop drink only when you're sunning on a tropical beach... and it's delivered by a topless supermodel and it's free.

26. The morning after you and a girl who was formerly "just a friend" have carnal drunken monkey sex, the fact that you're feeling weird and guilty is no reason not to nail her again before the discussion about what a big mistake it was.

Posted by: Ted at 07:24 PM | category: Links
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Mark Oakley hadn't posted anything for quite a long time, which is understandable since he's busy working for one of the original X-Prize challengers. They're still in business, because being the first to do it (Rutan) doesn't necessarily count for anything more than historical recognition (is the Wright Aircraft Corporation still around?).

Anyway. TGV Rockets is hiring.

Related to that, check this out from RocketForge:

You don't steer the elephant, you just drive around him in your new car.

Posted by: Ted at 11:57 AM | category: Space Program
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From Parkway Rest Stop, an abundance of amusing bass guitars.

Posted by: Ted at 01:15 PM | category: Links
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Rich points out that there are now Google Mars and Google Moon. Very cool.

While you're there, check out his link to the worst Transformer and GoBot characters ever. Laugh out loud funny!

Posted by: Ted at 07:26 PM | category: Links
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Not the frozen planet way out yonder, nor the Disney dog.

Project Pluto, which I talked about a couple of years ago, mostly in the context of the ramjet engine that was to be it's source of power.

For those needing a refresher, Pluto was to be a nuclear powered cruise missile, capable of Mach 3 at treetop level, dropping nuclear warheads in its wake. There were serious, ah, problems shall we say, with the concept. It was possible, but eventually people asked if it was desirable.

Thanks to Ghost of a Flea, we have a new link to a nicely detailed history of Project Pluto. Fascinating stuff.

Posted by: Ted at 11:10 AM | category: SciTech
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Alien loves Predator

Make your own Flying Spaghetti Monster. (Thanks Owlish!)

K, proprietor extrordanaire of Kimochii (Asian cuties in various stages of dress and undress), has combined his several sites into one. Enjoy K's Lounge (NSFW).

Posted by: Ted at 09:49 PM | category: Links
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Over at Q&O, I saw that an animal rights group is complaining that Oscar nominee Brokeback Mountain was "too rough on sheep".

Stunt doubles? Setup for the sequel? I'll never know.

Posted by: Ted at 08:23 AM | category: Cult Flicks
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If you do a search (over on the right) within Rocket Jones for "BATFE" or "Ashcroft", you'll unearth some posts where I talk about the hobby rocketry organizations in the US suing the Federal Government over their classification of our rocket propellants as explosives.

We won.

The BATFE is expected to appeal, although they're kind of stuck at the moment because in order to adjust their definitions, they'd have to classify other useful things as explosives. Things such as gasoline.

Basically, we've whupped 'em in every battle, but the war ain't over. Soon, hopefully, but the fat lady is still warming up her pipes.

In other rocket-related news, construction has begun on my Level-2 certification rocket. As soon as I get the beastie assembled, I'll post pictures. It's a bigg'un.

More rocket stuffs. BattlePark 2006 will be held again in Culpeper, Virginia on April 22 and 23. This is one of the biggies for the eastern US, with folks from all over attending (including those who say "eh?"). I'm planning on being there for both days.

Let's see... rockets... oh, how's about some hockey? Yepper, my beloved Sharks scored five, count 'em, FIVE power play goals and beat the mighty Detroit Red Wings last night. San Jose needs to rack up some wins to get back into the playoff hunt after their horrible start. They also signed goalie Toskala (maybe you saw him at the Olympics?) to a two-year extension to back up Nabokov (I know you saw him at the Olympics). If the Sharks play well, they'll keep 'em both, but the rumor mill is in high gear because Vesa Toskala is hot property right now (8-0-2 in his last 10 games) and that makes him worth some major trade value.

On the Cult Cinema front, I've been watching, I just haven't been writing! But I hope to remedy that in the near future. Zombies line dancing. That's just a hint.

Speaking of zombies, another couple of chapters of my serial story will be posted "real soon now". Honest. I haven't forgotten the title contest either, so you can sleep at night.

All that and more, coming soon to a Rocket Jones near you!

Posted by: Ted at 11:27 AM | category: Links
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