Episode 6 of the SciFi adventure Silent Universe is up! Clicky here for the previously posted Rocket Jones review.

And the second season of Second Shift has begun!!! Two episodes and a supplimental podcast have already been posted. If you didn't catch the first season, you can still get them by following the link. Here's the Rocket Jones review of the first season.

Hey!!! Oh, uh... Update: I just looked at the new Second Shift advertising flyer and guess who's review is quoted from? Rather prominently, I might add. Woot!!!

Really though, it's a lot of fun. Give 'em a try.

Posted by: Ted at 05:18 AM | category: Links
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 105 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm re-reading A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts*, and thought I'd pass along a few things that fired my imagination as I read.

Nothing like a little history to refresh your memories, or to educate you youngsters who don't remember back that far.**

Apollo 8 was crewed by Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders. They were the first men to fly to the moon and go into orbit there. It was quite a jump for the day because the farthest away man had been from the Earth before them was 850 miles. Their destination was 240,000 miles away.

If the Saturn V (pronounced "saturn five") was standing next to the Statue of Liberty, the crew could look down and see the top of the torch about six stories below them.

The crew had lunch with Charles Lindberg the day before liftoff. During the conversation, they figured out that in the first second of their flight they would burn twenty times as much fuel as Lindberg used on his trans-Atlantic trip.

Forty seconds after liftoff, they went supersonic.

As the crew was preparing for liftoff, Bill Anders noticed a hornet building a nest on the outside of the window of the Command Capsule.

I'm sure there will be more of this trivia as I continue the books. Wonderful stuff.

* The Amazon link is to a paperback version released with a Foreward by Tom Hanks. I have the original 3-volume hardcover set.

** I'm one of those youngsters. I was too young to pay attention to Mercury and Gemini, and barely recall the later flights of Apollo and the moon landings.

Posted by: Ted at 07:32 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 280 words, total size 2 kb.

A Quiz: How Technologically Useful Are You?

Seven out of ten! I'm almost ready to head back in time and take advantage of my educashun.

Posted by: Ted at 11:43 AM | category: Links
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.

I've been meaning to post a photo of my latest project, but hadn't gotten around to it. Taking the photo, that is. Probably a good thing, since I discovered last evening that I am going to have to extend the airframe by four inches. Wouldn't want y'all to be seeing this thing all stubby now, right?

So by the end of the week, I'll have pretty pictures for you.

Posted by: Ted at 05:58 AM | category: Rocketry
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 71 words, total size 1 kb.

"Looking silly does not automatically make them harmless"

Thanks to Random Nuclear Strikes for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 05:19 AM | category: Cult Flicks
Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

You gotta love it!

Psst, Jimbo... check out the "Metallic Crocodile" brand. Woo-hoo! Big fun!

Thanks to Maelstrom for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 07:45 AM | category: Links
Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Egads!

I have visions of putting a shoe box full of M-80's in that metallic beast's arse.

Posted by: Jim - PRS at July 17, 2007 05:55 PM (bMUXJ)

2 comment4, Greatest airline discount ticket military
, 6950, lindsay lohan sex tape
, 03994, Kim Kardashian Sex Tape For You
, >:-D, bad credit student loans
, 415, Best very short skirts
, 170,

Posted by: best4you at February 06, 2009 05:12 PM (I28Mb)

3 comment5, Pictures of knock off coach purses
, 7908, Pamela Anderson Sex Tape For Everybody
, =(, Cheapest groping train
, D, Paris Hilton Sex Tape All Kinds
, nqih, No Credit Check Loans Pictures
, izjaz,

Posted by: hhvdks at February 10, 2009 06:11 PM (aRq4G)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

This week at Joe Horror I review Addicted to Murder and Addicted to Murder II: Tainted Blood. Check 'em out, along with all the other cult flick reviews.

Posted by: Ted at 06:33 AM | category: Cult Flicks
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.

Yesterday. I didn't forget, except the posting about it part. Good thing I'm married to a woman with a better memory than I.

We didn't go see her because she's up to her neck in her summer job getting the second show up and running. La Boheme premiers on Saturday, we'll be seeing it in two weeks.

"It's an opera." I'll pass on the body-cavity search.

(Points to whoever identifies the reference.)

Posted by: Ted at 06:37 PM | category: Links
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 78 words, total size 1 kb.

I went to the monthly NOVAAR rocket launch this morning, ready to generate some serious thrust. I had two big rockets prepped, but wound up leaving before either could fly due to a family emergency, which turned out to be nothing (and I'm ok with that!).

There's always next month.

Posted by: Ted at 12:48 PM | category: Rocketry
Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 62 words, total size 1 kb.

Ok, so maybe not as bad as *poison*, but still...

Friends, I can cook. I'm a damn good cook! A few of you have been to our house for meals and I'm confident that you'll back me up on that.

But...

My guacamole sucks. Seriously bad suck, which makes it worse because I love the stuff. I've gone the zen route with just avocado, tomato, onion and cilantro. I've tried adding all kinds of goodies and extras to it, but nothing seems to help.

If you make great guacamole, please pass me the recipe. If you only make good guacamole then I'd still love the recipe, because it's gotta be better than the crap I've been turning out for far too long.

Thanks.

Posted by: Ted at 10:52 PM | category: Recipes
Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 137 words, total size 1 kb.

I've been getting ready for it all week. I'm planning on making a flight using my new Missile Works altimeter and the Contrail hybrid motor, another using a new hemispherical parachute that Liz made for me, and I'll be posting some pictures of my newest rocket.

It's supposed to be beautiful, have a great weekend!

Posted by: Ted at 09:23 PM | category: Rocketry
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 61 words, total size 1 kb.

Today is our 26th Anniversary.

Never My Love

by Don and Dick Addrisi

You ask me if there'll come a time
when I grow tired of you;
never my love, never my love.

You wonder if this heart of mine
will lose its desire for you;
never my love,
never my love.

What makes you think love will end
when you know that my whole life
depends on you?

You say you fear I'll change my mind
I won't require you,
Never my love,
never my love.

How can you think love will end
when I've asked you to spend your
whole life with me?

I love this song as performed by The 5th Dimension. I feel this song every day for my wife.

Posted by: Ted at 04:57 AM | category: Family matters
Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 128 words, total size 1 kb.

I mean, tossing out the whole "unity" thing.

Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.

Fair is fair. I remember being told by a Southern Baptist that all Catholics were going to hell.

Posted by: Ted at 11:19 AM | category: Links
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 75 words, total size 1 kb.

I have no idea why, but for the last year I've been on a major pineapple kick. I'll often have a can of pineapple chunks in juice for lunch, I love to grill pineapple rings, and the other night I even hacked up a fresh pineapple and carmelized it in a butter-rum sauce (with vanilla ice cream - yummmmmm!).

Now you know. The caring part is up to you.

Posted by: Ted at 11:13 AM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 79 words, total size 1 kb.

Mu.Nu has been getting hammered with gibberish spam. Not only that, but it's booby-trapped so that when folks add it to the blacklist, valid domains like google.com get inadverdantly blocked too. That bonks the comments in a big way.

I've been busy working on a couple of other projects, hence the light posting here. Pictures and announcements coming soon.

I know it's not original, but I couldn't resist the title. Damn, it's hot!

Posted by: Ted at 05:24 AM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

Over at Joe Horror, this week's reviews have been posted. Check out my take on Abby (aka "The Black Exorcist") and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. Go on, you know you want to!

Posted by: Ted at 05:04 AM | category: Cult Flicks
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 44 words, total size 1 kb.

There's some disagreement in the comments about whether it's in Tibet or China, but still, this is insane

Follow this link to Damn Cool Pics for more of what the title promises.

Posted by: Ted at 07:28 AM | category: Links
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

There's only one of these, so far.

What appears to be a half-squid, half-octopus specimen found off Keahole Point on the Big Island remains unidentified today and could possibly be a new species, said local biologists.

The specimen was found caught in a filter in one of Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority's deep-sea water pipelines last week. The pipeline, which runs 3,000 feet deep, sucks up cold, deep-sea water for the tenants of the natural energy lab.

"When we first saw it, I was really delighted because it was new and alive," said Jan War, operations manager at NELHA. "I've never seen anything like that."

3,000 feet! Pitch black at that depth.

War, who termed the specimen "octosquid" for the way it looked, said it was about a foot long, with white suction cups, eight tentacles and an octopus head with a squidlike mantle.

The octosquid was pulled to the surface, along with three rattail fish and half a dozen satellite jellyfish, and stayed alive for three days.

Tough little sucker too, to manage three days after undergoing a pressure change such as that. Follow that link for a picture of the odd little beastie. It's a beautiful bright ruby red.

Posted by: Ted at 11:08 AM | category: SciTech
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 210 words, total size 1 kb.

Baseball fans know that the San Fransisco Giants stadium is built on the edge of the bay, and that just behind the right field wall is "McCovey Cove", where during any given game many fans float around in kayaks and canoes or anything else that floats. They do this in the hope of catching a home run ball that travels far enough to clear the stadium and plunk into the water.

San Fransisco hosts this year's All-Star Game and it has been announced that motorized watercraft will not be allowed in McCovey Cove for safety reasons. Also, to accomodate the press, the Giants have chartered two media boats for reporters, which prompted this quote:

"Most of the media appreciate this," Daum said. "They didn't know how to charter their own boats."

To which Grant replies:

I knew a guy who majored in Boat Chartering at M.I.T., so I understand where they're coming from. You can't leave that kind of fact-finding and research in the hands of people who do fact-finding and research for a living.

*snicker*

Posted by: Ted at 05:13 AM | category: Links
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 192 words, total size 1 kb.

Pixy is testing a problem we're having with Movable Type. This post is trying to recreate the problem for him.

In related news, I definitely have a problem. Just ask my wife.

Update: Dang. It worked perfectly this time... I don't know whether to be happy or not about that.

Posted by: Ted at 07:15 AM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.