This is a few days old, but... Bernie has sold his (controlling) stake in Formula One... for THREE BILLION DOLLARS.

Rumors abound, of course. "It's a way for the manufacturers to buy the series!" "Bernie is bailing before it goes belly-up!" And on and on... I prefer to just CELEBRATE!

Until I think: It's possible that someone/thing worse can take over. And then I cry.

In other F1 News:

Robert Doorknob is going to be Friday Driver for the Bovines of Crimson. Aren't they lucky? They deserve him.

Narain Karthekeyain's sponsor in India, Tata Motors, is apparantly giving thoughts to getting into auto racing in a big way... read: maybe F1-level big.

Super Aguri F1 still is laboring to get ready for next year. Rumors are saying that either A) they'll be using last year's BAR-Honda chassis, or 2) the 2002 ARROWS chassis. Great googly mooglie, what's next? The six-wheeled March/Lola? The 1970s-era John Player Special? (Please? Pretty please?)

Midland-Jordan is no longer Midland, Jordan, or any combination thereof. They are now officially MF1. Hold all "M-F" jokes, please. They've got a snazzy paintjob, if nothing else.

...and I'm tapped out for today. Lots of backstage stuff in F1, little that's interesting, though. Until next time, Make Mine Minardi!

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...but it's kinda funny anyway.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo!!!

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1 Heh, happy #100! May all your leglocks be figure-fours.

Posted by: flotsky at November 29, 2005 08:44 PM (6T2ID)

2 Thanks kindly, Flotsky... and may they never be reversed!

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 30, 2005 03:27 PM (M7kiy)

3 Heh, you've just reminded me of one of the great simple angles of all time. Ronnie Garvin vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Valentine was using a figure four as his finisher at the time, so Garvin came up with the "Hammer Jammer", a bit of plastic he strapped to his leg, that made it pointless applying the hold. Great stuff

Posted by: flotsky at November 30, 2005 08:22 PM (6T2ID)

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...little kids are exhausting. I dunno how parents do it.

Just as a FYI, this is post #99 on the new blog.

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It's off to gnaw on some bird! Everybody who celebrates, enjoy and don't eat too much. To those who don't, excuse us while we signifigantly lower the population of turkey in the world.

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Flotsky, some of your countrymen have got some SERIOUS 'splaining to do.

Why? Because somebody over there has gotten the 'smart' idea to remake... remake...

...I can't even bring myself to say it!

To remake THIS! What in Sam Hill is goin' on over there, anyway? Remaking the best SpecFic TV show ever?

Rover: kill!

(thanks to Banana Oil! via Chizumatic)

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1 You don't know the half of it. If the BBC were going to remake it, it would still be a bad idea, but they would have a good go at it. It is SKY TV who are doing it (Rupert Murdoch's British Wing). They genuinely cannot make good tv to save their lives. They are fairly good at buying US tv, but when it comes to their own programmes, their finest achievement is a soap opera about soccer. I use the word finest advisedly...

Posted by: flotsky at November 23, 2005 01:16 PM (vpJ8N)

2 Oh, lovely. Go ahead, keep telling me the good news, Flotsky.

So not only is the remake NOT going to have anything to do with the original series, it's going to be made by a crappy producer. Spiffing, just spiffing... two down, thirteen to go.

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 23, 2005 04:50 PM (ywZa8)

3 You should try and bittorrent an episode of Dream Team, just to get an idea of exactly how bad they can be

Posted by: flotsky at November 23, 2005 08:17 PM (6T2ID)

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According to the Agency France Presse, Giancarlo Fisichella has lost his driver's license.

For speeding.

I'm withholding all obvious jokes.

Really.

Doesn't mean you guys can't make some in the comments, though.

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The F1 circus now has another kingly butt to kiss: Prince Albert of Monaco was crowned King of that teeny country today.

Rah.

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Over on CHIZUMATIC, Steven DenBeste said recently:

It's too bad that the Kimura character is in Azumanga Daioh. I'd really like to love the series, but he ruins it for me.

In that Azumanga Daioh is probably my favorite anime of all time and I've been trying to get SDB to give it a chance, I'd like to make an offer to him. To whit:

I, Wonderduck, will go through the entire 26-episode series, note exactly when Mr. Kimura appears, and send him the list of times. That way SDB, armed with the list, can avoid Kimura (almost) entirely. There are very few episodes (only two leap to mind, and one of them is on DVD 1) where Kimura plays a 'major' role in the story, and the rest of the episodes have only short appearances by him.

I've succeeded in turning Kimura-haters into fans of the show in the past (see THIS review of the show for an example), and I believe SDB would become a huge fan if he'd give it a chance.

So what say you, Steven?

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Wow, hotel blogging... who'd'a thunk it? I'm currently sitting in the Doubletree Hotel (Oak Brook, IL)'s "Business Center", and let me tell you... if you're coming to the Western Suburbs of Chicago, and you need a top-class hotel, this is truly the one for you.

The evening Guest Care Specialist, Eric, managed to solve a major problem for seven of us managers by driving the lot of us to the place we were eating, Buca di Beppo's. If you're lookin' for Italian food served 'family style,' i.e. lots and lots of different foods (and a drop-dead tiramisu... no, not THAT one, Pixy... though I'd pay a lot more to have Hayashiabara-chan as a dinner partner!), it's a sweet deal.

Well, some of us are meeting down in the sports-bar, so I'd best finish this up... I'll be back in Pond Central Thursday night!

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BMW, who recently decided to run their own F1 team, has decided to name the team "BMW Sauber."

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said "It reflects the make-up of the team - run by BMW but with a core of almost 300 Sauber employees. Plus, the 2006 car was developed by Sauber's proven engineers."

So Sauber won't be entirely gone from F1 in 2006... would it have been so hard for the Brick Brahmas to include "Minardi" in their team-name???

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Click HERE to see the new Ferrari. It's amazing.

If they really field this one, winning the Constructors Championship'll be a snap!

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The following was taken from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

MINNEAPOLIS (Nov. 13) - World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Eduardo Gory Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room Sunday morning in Minneapolis, where he was scheduled to appear that evening in a WWE Supershow.

When Guerrero, 38, didn't respond to a wake-up call, hotel security at Minneapolis Marriott City Center and Guerrero's nephew and fellow WWE wrestler, Chavo Guerrero, forced entry into the room shortly after 7 a.m., police said.

The 5-feet-8, 220-pound wrestler was found on the floor. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. There were no apparent signs of foul play or suicide, police said. An autopsy was planned at the Hennepin County medical examiner's office.

He was a featured star on the UPN series "WWE Smackdown!" and son of Mexican wrestler Gory Guerrero. He is survived by his wife, Vickie, and daughters Shaul, 14; Sherilyn, 9; and Kaylie Marie, 3, according to WWE Web site.

"This is a huge loss," said WWE chairman Vince McMahon. "Eddie was a wonderful, fun-loving human being. Eddie was a consummate performer."

Chavo Guerrero and McMahon said Guerrero was open about his past drug and alcohol abuse but they said he'd been sober for four years.

Guerrero was in the Twin Cities with 60 to 80 other wrestlers to film "Friday Night Smackdown" at the Target Center. "I know Eddie would want the show to go on," Chavo Guerrero said.

In February 2004, Guerrero became the second wrestler of Hispanic heritage to be WWE champion when he defeated Brock Lesnar, a former University of Minnesota wrestling standout. Guerrero lost the title four months later.

In May 2004, UPN aired the special "Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story." The one-hour program chronicled his childhood and his struggle with drug addiction that almost cost him his job, family and life before his recovery and eventual capture of the WWE championship.

Guerrero grew up in El Paso, Texas. He and his three older brothers were all wrestlers.

This is a horrible, horrible loss. Eddie was one of my wrestling favorites, because he was human-sized. He wasn't one of those 'roid rangers like HHH or Brock Lesnar (for example), he wasn't 7'-0" like the Undertaker... he was muscular, sure, but that's because that's what his job was. He was also very open about his history of drug abuse, and in THIS case (and maybe this case only), I'm able to believe Vince McMahon when he says that Eddie was clean. I doubt that Eddie was on steroids... he wasn't cut enough (though it wouldn't surprise me to hear that he had used them in the past).

He was an amazing character in the ring, with a ton of personality and a style honed both in lucha libre and puroresu... and one of my favorite highlights of Wrestlemania XX came just after Chris Benoit won his championship match. Guerrero, holding HIS championship belt as well, came out and embraced Benoit... a fine bit of history showing itself (they'd wrestled together in WCW, ECW and Japan [Black Tiger II], and came over together to the WWE).

There were times that I hated the role he was playing (Chyna, anybody?), but was always impressed by his matches in the ring. He was believeable, which should be the main goal of any pro wrestler. Like many others, I thought he was destined for greatness a lot earlier than he got there.

The image of his elbow, shattered after one of his patented 'frog splashes' (and who can forget the first night he and the rest of the Radicalz showed up in the WWE... backstage, they met up with some of their old friends, and there was a quick exchange heard between Eddie and Rob Van Dam: "Hey, nice move." "You too!" heh), makes me wince to this day. Without that, he might have been a title holder a year earlier.

Bloody damn shame. I just hope the autopsy doesn't reveal that he was back on drugs. *sigh*

This might sound trite, but Via Con Dios, Eddie.

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The Center for Disease Control has released a list of symptoms of bird flu.
If you experience any of the following, please seek medical treatment
immediately:

1. High fever
2. Congestion
3. Nausea
4. Fatigue
5. Aching in the joints
6. An irresistible urge to crap on someone's windshield

(hat tip, Dave)

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You may have noticed that the Pond was down for a bit last night. This is because He Who Must Be Obeyed was busily moving all of MuNuvia onto a pair of new servers... servers named Kei and Yuri.

Longtime anime fans (and some better-educated n00bs) probably have a smile on their face now. Kei and Yuri are better known as The Dirty Pair, and are LEGENDARY in anime history. As Steven DenBeste puts it, they're THE canonical "Girls With Guns," or rocketlaunchers, or any other implement of destruction that you can think of.

There's a TV series (unreleased in the States; c'mon ADV, you've got the rights... stop sittin' on them!), three movies, and a 10-episode OVA (Original Video Animation, which means that it was made specifically for home release, not broadcast. Unlike "straight to video" here in the States, OVAs usually have bigger budgets and better animation than broadcast shows). There were also multiple books, a 'sequel' series (Dirty Pair Flash, which is a re-imaging of the original characters. Not awful, but not as good as the Classic pair), and a series of comic books here in the states (Adam Warren's Dirty Pair, which are well worth the read).

These days, the Classic Dirty Pair look somewhat dated (hand-drawn and animated, no computer help at all), but still hold up well if you're looking for humorous characters and lots of explosions... they're fun, nothing more or less.

Why "Dirty Pair"? Well, Kei & Yuri are a pair of elite troubleshooters for the WWWA (a galactic government), code named "Lovely Angels." However, where-ever they go, massive destruction follows in their wake... space stations, biospheres, cities, entire planets... but, as they always point out, "It's not our fault!" Indeed, the 3WA Head Computer has always cleared them of wrongdoing (it really ISN'T their fault... um...), and they keep on doing their jobs.

As you might guess, the media has paid attention, and tagged them with the moniker "The Dirty Pair," which name they HATE. The only time they do serious harm is when someone calls them "The Dirty Pair." There's no surer way to piss them off, which you do at your own peril.

I've been informed that The Pond is currently running on Pixy Misa's "Yuri." Which is cool, but I've got a thing for Kei, m'self.

Quack quack!

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1 If you're after a blog hosted on Kei, you could take a look here.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 13, 2005 12:20 AM (QriEg)

2 I have all the Adam Warren comics, and a couple of "film comics" produced from cels from the TV series, back when anime wasn't a blip on the Western market. The only thing I don't have is the re-released versions of the movies.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 13, 2005 12:41 AM (QriEg)

3 I've didn't know they made "cel comics" of the Angels! I've got a couple of those for the wonderful Tintin, which isn't anime, but IS animation.

I'll be picking up the re-released versions perhaps later this week... the copies I have are on very, very old VHS.

These days, the Warren Angels seem to be what leaps to mind (for me) when someone mentions the DP... simply because he's done new stories recently (note: 'recently' means 'in this century'). Considering that his 'Biohazards' series was my initial exposure to the DP, I suppose this shouldn't be surprising.

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 13, 2005 04:08 AM (M7kiy)

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Getting back to the retrospective, I found this in an unused folder of my computer... the first F1 Update of the year. Call it the Ur-version of The Pond. Just look... below the fold! more...

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1 Ahhh, so long ago, when it looked like Fisi might sweep up all in his path

Posted by: flotsky at November 10, 2005 08:16 PM (6T2ID)

2 Yeah, well, I don't know that I ever thought THAT, but it was a shock, that's for sure...

And I was about as wrong as you can get about the second race, wasn't I?

And Schumi had won his first Moooo-ve already! I had forgotten all about that!

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 12, 2005 05:29 AM (6krEN)

3 Comment comment...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 13, 2005 12:13 AM (QriEg)

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...to bring you the stunning news that Adrian Newey, The Car Designer (note capitals) of Formula 1, is leaving McLaren at the end of December for the Crimson Steers. It's unknown at this moment which team of the Bloody Bullocks he'll be working with, of if he'll be the designer for both.

This likely won't have any effect this season; if the Carmine Longhorns don't have a car already built and ready for testing by now, they'll suffer VERY badly in 2006. However, he'll be able to tinker and tweak the car they have, while working on the 2007 vehicle.

It's rare that one person can make a huge difference in a F1 team. It's even more rare when that one person ISN'T a driver. However, Newey is one of those freak talents that could take a mediocre team and make it great. It may take a couple-three years, but this is huge news for the Maroon Brahmas.

Conversely, McLaren has GOT to be unhappy as all get-out. The MP4-20 is a 100% Newey design. I'd assume the... MP4-21?... is as well. But then what for them?

At least he didn't go to Jordan... MIDLAND. I've got to remember that.

Oh, speaking of which, Tiago Montiero is apparantly going to be teaming with Christijan Albers next year. THAT'S gonna be a fun pair to watch....

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The second of the old F1 Updates! from the original version of Wonderduck's Pond over on blogspot. After rereading these, I'm amazed at how ANGRY I was.

This entry is actually something like 12 seperate entries over a week of time; unlike the originals, these are in chronological order (Friday's practices were watched out of order, due to work-related reasons).

So, below the jump, the saga of the US Grand Prix! more...

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Okay, as I mentioned yesterday, I'm bringing over the entries from the old version of Wonderduck's Pond. BELOW THE JUMP, the Canadian Grand Prix entry from Monday, June 13th, 2005... enjoy! more...

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I felt like it was important to have access to the old Blogger version of Wonderduck's Pond, but I realized the only thing I particularly cared about was the F1 Updates.

Over the next day or so, I'll drag over all the old articles and post them here... think of it! All ten or so posts covering the USGP, right here, all in one place. Yay!

Okay, you guys might not care, but I think it's kinda cool... and it'll make it easier for me to do the F1 UPDATE'S YEAR-IN-REVIEW.

I bet you thought I forgot about that, didn't you?

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Okay, so here's the news of the weird, with hat-tips a-plenty to the good folks at GrandPrix.com.

So, Takuma Sato hasn't yet been signed to SuperAguri, but that's pretty much a sure thing. Here's the more interesting part: SuperAguri might turn out to be an all-Japanese-driver affair, and I've even heard of this guy! His name is Kosuke Matsuura, and he was the IRL's rookie of the year in 2004. Seems to be a good one, he does. Of course, we all know Takuma (Suicide) Sato. As near as I can tell, this combination may very well make the greatest Japanese pair of drivers on one team ever.*

But what I'm really the happiest about is the official announcement of Christijan Albers to Team Jorda... er... Midland. I don't think it's any secret that I think that he's gonna be a solid driver in the future. Heck, he's shown it already... just surviving a year with Minardi, and raising eyebrows with his mad driving skillz, shows that he's got some ability.

Speaking of Minardi... the thing that I was most looking forward to next year was Minardi using a "detuned" V10 against all the V8 engines out there. See, I suspect that a V10, even a "dirty" one, will have higher torque, and a better top-end, all things being equal, to the V8s... just imagine a Minardi having a higher acceleration than everybody else, along with a competetive top speed.

I note that The Emperor and Darth Bernie have been trying to get dirty V10s to be the standard for a while. I think this whole "you can use a clean V8, or a dirty V10 engine" thing was just a way for them to back-door their desires. I'm guessing that somewhere around the halfway point of the season, you'll find maybe half the teams using 2005 engines again... if they can figure out how to shoehorn them into the cars.

But then, I'm just a duck, what do I know from F1 cars?

*note: this is like having the best team of Dutch drivers ever, like Minardi had this year... i.e., there's never been two Japanese (or Dutch) drivers together before.

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