According to the Great and Glorious Pixy, one of the servers that MuNu/MeeNuVia reside upon coughed up a memory module and fell over.

Everything seems to be fixed now, so regular service should resume shortly.  Don't be totally surprised if things go down while gremlins are stomped on.  Thanks for your patience, folks, and all hail Pixy for his efforts on our behalf!  A better webmaster/service provider/guy we could not ask for.

Edit: reticulating splines.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 78 words, total size 1 kb.

Today, October 1st, is The Day Of Dredd, the day all good citizens of Mega-City One rally in support to see our favorite Judge on the big screen again.  Now, I'll be honest.  I'm not a Dreddhead by any means.  I've read some of the stories, and found it to be particularly British in its flavor, in a way that didn't quite resonate with me.  However, I found the 2012 movie to be very entertaining, and representative (if not 100% accurate) of the Judge Dredd universe.

I'm not asking you to do anything if you don't want to.  However, I am of firm belief that Dredd deserves a good sequel, and if signing the official online petition will help in getting one made, well, there ya go.  You know what to do, or don't do, as you will. 
Go to www.2000ADonline.com/dreddsequel to sign the official petition today.

Then you will sleep the sleep of the peaceful, for you will not stare into the fist of Dredd today.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:28 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 168 words, total size 1 kb.

I have two major projects I'm working on for The Pond at the moment.  One is the writeup for Ep09 of Ben-To!, and I'm not ashamed to say that it's rough sledding.  The way the episode is structured makes it difficult to write a coherent (shaddap!) narrative.  The second is a secret, but it has to do with the "proof of concept" I put up a few days ago.  That one also involves a package of 60 sets of chopsticks, double-sided tape, and more than a bit of vituperative language.

The sad thing is that the effort required to do either of them seems to be beyond me at the moment.  I wanted very much to do one or the other today, and neither occurred... along with, it must be said, anything else.  Still, there's always tomorrow.  Right?

Right? 

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 143 words, total size 1 kb.

You've probably heard by now that India's ISRO space agency put a probe into orbit around Mars the other day.  Dubbed "MOM", for Mars Orbiter Mission, this is a noteworthy success in a number of ways.  First and foremost is that it succeeded at all.

Mars has always been something of a bugaboo for human space missions.  Though NASA hasn't had a failure since 1999, roughly 2/3rds of all missions bound for the Red Planet have had mission failure in one way or another.  Some of these failures were spectacular (the Mars Climate Orbiter's metric-imperial mixup), some less so (Zond 2's loss of communication three months before reaching the planet), but there were an awful lot of them.  That a space organization got it right on its first try at Mars is impressive enough, but there's another reason to be surprised.

The entire Mars Orbiter Mission reportedly had a price tag of around $74 million dollars.  Construction, launch, salaries, catering, you name it, covered by that number.  Force India, the Formula 1 team owned by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, has a race budget of right around $100 million... and that doesn't count catering.

Now, to be fair, all MOM did was deliver a 15kg satellite into an elliptical orbit around Mars, some 60 million miles away.  Force India, on the other hand, delivers a 70kg payload to sixth place after 190 miles or so.

Food for thought, that.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:44 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 243 words, total size 2 kb.

1 I suspect that if the rules of F1 where "build something like car using whatever means you like that can go around these tracks faster than anything else" Force India might be surprisingly competitive.

Posted by: Ben at September 25, 2014 02:04 PM (DRaH+)

2 There was something like that once, I think it was called The Wacky Races.... :-)

Posted by: Mauser at September 25, 2014 02:29 PM (TJ7ih)

3 Isn't there an NHRA category like that (except that the track is straight, not curved)? I've seen pictures of some amazing vehicles, like cars and trucks with jet engines. (Of course, on a real race track, you couldn't follow one of these guys too closely or you'd get cooked.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at September 25, 2014 05:08 PM (+rSRq)

4 Looks like India saved money by using some standard Kerbal Space Program parts, like the Probodobodyne QBE command module.

Posted by: flatdarkmars at September 25, 2014 06:07 PM (ToEpQ)

5 Steven, jet cars (or jet trucks, which are 100% guaranteed to bring out the 6-year-old in me!) are, essentially, show cars only.  There used to be a NHRA ProJet category, for exhibition only, no race category.  However, that was years ago; I can't find hide nor hair of the designation anymore.

But DAMN they look cool! 

Posted by: Wonderduck at September 25, 2014 06:55 PM (BCjxQ)

6 At Reno they had a Waco Taperwing with a Jet Engine bolted underneath flying stunts, hearing the power transition from the snarling radial on the way down, to the whoosh of the jet on the way up was unreal, and the machine could do some amazing stuff. (Like climb at 4000 feet per minute straight up.)

Posted by: Mauser at September 26, 2014 07:34 AM (TJ7ih)

7 Ben: we did have a mostly unlimited series, it was the Can-Am from '66-'87. Great noisy beasts w/great drivers and IMO the best racing I've ever seen. Wiki has a good overview if any would like more info. I still treasure the autographs I got from Mark & Bruce at Road America, it was the last US race I saw till I got out of the AF in 84.

Posted by: vonKrag at September 26, 2014 12:45 PM (ArsMf)

8 it was the Can-Am from '66-'87.

I really should do a post on Can-Am.  It was the first racing series I have memories of, some time in the early '70s.  Somewhere back at the Old Home Pond, there's a box of Ektachrome slides from a trip to Road America my father took me on when I was about six or so.

I haven't seen them in years, but I remember one of them had a fantastic profile view of a Chaparral 2J in race trim.  I can only assume it was on a demonstration lap, since it was long past being deemed illegal.

Posted by: Wonderduck at September 26, 2014 08:29 PM (BCjxQ)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

It was five years ago today that we lost Momzerduck.

It's been a long, unpleasant, five years.  I wish she was still here... it still hurts.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:54 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.

Yup, worked.  I'll be durned... that's exactly what I expected to see.  Huh.  Sometimes I guess I get lucky.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 12:41 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 22 words, total size 1 kb.

On Monday, something is going to occur to me that hasn't happened in over 10 years.

I'm going to have phone interviews for a job.  Two jobs, actually.

I don't know if I'm going to get either of the jobs.  I have no idea how the interviews are going to go.  There's even a tiny little part of me that's afraid that I'll get one of the jobs, thus ending my "vacation."

I'm almost scared I'll screw up the interviews.  Yep, this is my brain.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:25 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 86 words, total size 1 kb.

I love Skyrim.  That's no surprise, I've talked about it before, about the good, the bad and the goofy.  It just looks so good sometimes!

No mods, onboard graphics, no picture editing except for size, and it looks like this?  Man, how cool is that?  Computers are spiffy.  But then, it'll also cough up hairballs like this one:

Really?   Now, Serana is a vampire, so I guess she can do things like that, but I'll be durned if I've seen it before.  She's the headless companion!

Oh.  Heh.  Never mind. 

Really, though... prettiest game ever?  Just wait until I actually slap a stand-alone graphics card into the computer.  Man, that'll rock.

Now if only I had the time...  Oh.  Heh.  Never mind.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:43 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 124 words, total size 1 kb.

So earlier today, in my copious amount of free time, I decided to check the weather forecast.  I had heard something about thunderstorms when I had gone out to pick up my "Keep Wonderduck Alive" pills, and I wanted to find out just when this was supposed to happen.  Imagine my surprise when this greeted me:

Dammit!  I just did laundry, too.  Now I'm going to have to dig sweatpants out of storage and do another load separately.  This has got to be a glitch, right?  It isn't really going to go down to -2°F tomorrow, right?

Dammit.  Well.  That's going to be... um...  quite the temperature swing.  I think I'm going to be not outside at that time.  Actually, best to be safe: I'm not going to go outside ever again.  It'll be better that way.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:02 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 139 words, total size 1 kb.

As opposed to SPAM, everybody's canned precooked meat product made in Austin, Minnesota, home of the Gear Daddies and just down 2-18 from Owatonna, at which point you jog left on 14 to Mankato where yours truly attended grad school.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:25 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 207 words, total size 2 kb.

My evil master plan nears fruition.  Soon, you will all kneel down before me and praise me as your rightful lord and master!

Or, y'know, I'll have a blog post up, one of the two.  Look forward to it, either way, won't you?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:23 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

I woke up at 6am, groggy and fuzzy-brained.  At 9am, I went back to bed.  I got up around 1pm, ate something, and went back to bed around 4pm.  I woke back up at 8pm, and here we are.  I know what this is, I done played this game, and it ain't good. 

Not only did I not accomplish anything, I didn't even attempt to accomplish anything.  Ben-To! writeup?  Nope, and I don't care.  Wash dishes?  Nope, don't care.  Clean the living room?  Don't care.  Grocery shopping?  Don't.

My friends, the potential exists that I'm dealing with a touch of depression.  Please bear with me if I'm not funny or anything.  Not, he says self-deprecatingly, that I ever was.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:32 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
Post contains 122 words, total size 1 kb.

Free ice cream coming soon.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 9 words, total size 1 kb.

There are days where Skyrim does stuff like this just to play with my mind, I know it.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:28 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I think that's less "too much skooma" and more "not enough skooma".

Posted by: Avatar at August 15, 2014 01:00 AM (ZeBdf)

2 That's why you should use an up stroke for your killing blow rather than a down stroke.  That way you'd be less likely to drive the corpse into the ground... 

Posted by: Siergen at August 15, 2014 08:49 PM (8/vFI)

3 Seems like it was a cork-screw stroke since it also turned it upside down.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 16, 2014 05:03 AM (+rSRq)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

So there I was, cruising on the Milwaukee River one evening, munching on a lovely dinner and groovin' to smooth jazz, when I have this... epiphany.  It's a simple thought, but one hit me with the force of a thousand chipmunks: photography does not have to be about ducks.  Oh, don't get me wrong, ducks are fantastic things to photograph, just like pizza is a fantastic thing to eat, but man or Wonderduck cannot live on pizza alone... though I've given it a try once or twice in my life.  But I digress: photography.  Fortunately, the Milwaukee River has no lack of interesting things to take pictures of.  UNfortunately, my skill at capturing said things in picture form is limited, at best.  Still, it could have been worse:

Posted by: Wonderduck at 01:04 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 208 words, total size 2 kb.

You don't mess with Rondo Hatton.  I just felt the urge to point this out, in case any of my readers was thinking of doing so.  Don't do it.  Just... don't.  There isn't any need to mess with Rondo Hatton, no matter what you're thinking.  Not even if you're drunk in a bar somewhere, full of liquid courage and testosterone.  "I'm going to mess with Rondo Hatton," you're thinking, "and then I'm going to go put some sweet, sweet moves on Beverly Garland."  And really, nobody would blame you for having carnal, libidinous, even fleshy thoughts of Beverly Garland, but if the entire process must begin with you messing with Rondo Hatton, well, I'm afraid you've just got to rethink your entire evening.  Because you don't mess with Rondo Hatton.  It's not worth it, man, it's just.  Not.  Worth.  It.  And it's not like Beverly Garland would be impressed with you for messing with Rondo Hatton.  She's a classy dame and wouldn't go for that kinda stuff nohow.  So are we cool here?  You're not gonna be messin' with no Rondo Hatton?  Solid.  Because I don't want to hear about it if you do.  I would be very disappointed.  Don't get me wrong.  Rondo Hatton doesn't need my help if you do decide to mess with him, for he is the type you don't mess with for a reason.  He can handle himself, thank you very much.  However, I say it again: don't mess with Rondo Hatton.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:51 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 249 words, total size 2 kb.

It's time!  It's time!  Get your greasy little faces up next to the speakers because it's time for everybody's favorite music break, Saturday Night Tunage featuring DJ Wonderduck!

Yeah, you know you've missed it.  Yeah, you know you need it.  So I'm here for your musical edification, bringing you the best tunes from the 80s, 90s and... um... more 80s?  Something like that, because (cue old man voice) today's music is all crap!  CRAP, I tell ya.  Get off my speakers, you whippersnappers before I hit ya with my tonearm.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:50 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 1072 words, total size 8 kb.

So here at Pond Central, I've learned that thunderstorms are fun and exciting and unless there's hail involved, generally nothing more than that.  Oh, wind may blow down branches, and rain may cause flooding, but for the most part my little corner of heaven and rye bread is awfully secure.  Heck, the last time a tornado hit the Duckford area proper was over a year before I was born (interesting fact: two days later, three inches of snow fell on the town hit by the twister).  I know plenty of people who believe that "cities never get hit by tornadoes anyway," so why worry?  Personally, I believe there's nothing I can do about such things occurring... I don't control the weather after all, though I'm willing to take on the job... but that doesn't mean I'm blind to the possibility.

So when the tornado sirens go off here, I take notice.  Not that anybody could ignore them; here at Pond Central, they sound like an autotuned tablesaw ripping sheet after sheet of plywood, mixed with a metallic twang like a really pissed off bandsaw.  As it turns out, there's a whole siren spotter thing on youtube... someone even has the Duck U siren cataloged.  Anyway, around 745pm tonight whilst in the middle of a pretty nasty thunderstorm, the sirens started wailing and yours truly started to try and find out why.

And then the power went out.  Not for a long time, less than a minute probably.  I decided that until the sirens stopped, it'd be best if I went and hung out in my bathroom... it's safer there.  It wasn't until afterwards that I realized I had lost over 500 words of a post.

I hate weather.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:25 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 291 words, total size 2 kb.

It's been a while, but it's not like I don't have a reason.  Hell, to be honest I didn't even really need a reason, but I had one nevertheless.  The past couple of weeks have been a little rough.  Sure, I'm probably better off, but I'm still kinda shaken about the whole thing.  I haven't done much of anything, to be honest, other than sleep a lot.  I left my apartment for the first time this week earlier today... went grocery shopping.  I hadn't actually talked since Monday night, either.  I suspect the cute girl at the cash register thought I was a freak, but there's nothing unusual about that... one of the reasons I became a hermit in the first place, actually.  Now that I don't actually HAVE to go out into the world every day, it's easier.  That's the problem with being a hermit, though... you feel so cut off.  It takes me two hours every morning to get out onto the moors, collect my berries, chastise myself, then two hours back in the evening.

Well, I may still be a flesh and meat hermit, but a cyberhermit?  That's just overkill.  So I'm shaking the dust off my keyboard and returning to The Pond.  Hopefully I'll be posting something every day, though I make no promises about the quality.  Then again, you folks clearly don't come here for quality. 

I hope to live up to your standards.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:24 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 243 words, total size 2 kb.

1 I went through a period where the net was my only social outlet. When I was out of work as well.

Actually, it still seems to be, even though I work around a lot of people, they're not "My People".

Posted by: Mauser at August 01, 2014 12:43 AM (TJ7ih)

2 Yay! Glad you're feeling a bit more social. Even if you don't have deep friendships with your neighbors or the local store associates, there's a lot of human need to interact instead of being a hikikomori. And probably the same thing is true online. A little comment here and blog there is like nodding and smiling to each other and making small talk.

Now, see what I meant about getting outside and playing? Happy Mr. Vitamin D is out there. You'll feel a lot better if you get some. (And if you're not getting enough from sunlight, you really should be taking vitamins.) At least take an early morning constitutional, even if it's just a five minute walk, or maybe walk as a digestive for your meals.

You are not a freak. Come on, this is retail we're talking about! I'm pretty sure that girl at the checkout sees weirder things than you with her breakfast cereal, and certainly among those buying their own breakfast cereal.

Posted by: suburbanbanshee@gmail.com at August 01, 2014 04:04 AM (iXS2r)

3 I knew what that first video link was before clicking.

I clicked and watched the whole thing anyway, because, duh.

Posted by: GreyDuck at August 01, 2014 07:42 AM (CUkqs)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Okay, I've managed to compose my thoughts enough to explain just exactly what's going on over on this side of the screen.  To whit:

I'm unemployed.

Monday afternoon, the Regional Manager stopped into the Duck U Bookstore, asked me casual questions about how the renovations to the building were coming, then fired me.  While I wasn't expecting it to occur, particularly after attending the regional meeting last week, long time readers of The Pond know that I've been living with a metaphorical sword over my head for the past year.  That took a lot of the terror out of it when it finally happened.  It also was good that he was at least polite about it: none of that "get out, we'll box and ship your stuff," he let me pack up the collected rubber ducks, emergency tie, cell-phone speakers, bag o' coal, that sorta thing.  And then I left my place of employ for the past ten years, drove home, and took a nap.

I'll admit, I'm not exactly heartbroken.  Oh, sure, I'm unemployed in a rather poor economy, and that's not exactly woo-hoo-making, but we're talking about a job that hasn't let me take a real vacation since December 2011, and has required me to work 10-12 hours daily for the past year, including most Saturdays.  I think, and I say this with no hyperbole, that the job was legitimately killing me.  So I haven't done much of anything, and nothing of any redeeming value to society, since Monday afternoon.

I'm okay with that.  Oh, I met some great people over the 10 years I was there... students, faculty and staff alike, not to mention people from the company... and I'll miss them, surely.  But I thought it would hurt more to lose this job... after all, it's the longest I've ever been at one place by years.  However, there's been no more work nightmares, no more waking up at 3am to mull over something that happened the previous day at work, and this is most important, I can actually relax for the first time in almost exactly a year.  And now, it's time for something new.
That's always exciting.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:31 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 364 words, total size 2 kb.