Three cheers for the all-powerful Pixy Misa for fighting off the gremlins and bringing MuNuvia back online after they crashed the server.

We MuNuvians should scatter rose petals before his feet, and praise his name to all corners of the world! New wristband: WWPMD?

Can you tell, I'm honored to have been invited to reside here by good ol' Pixy, and at such a low, low rate, too! I'll be honest, I wonder just what he gets out of this, other than ducks quacking his praises. It can't be inexpensive to run a honkin' server and cover bandwidth.

So the fact that he got things back up and running so fast after a hard drive decided to spit itself out of its rack just AMAZES me... FOR FREE, for duck's sake! Pixy, I hope you're getting college credit or something for doing all this.

Because otherwise, I can't see how it's worth it to you. I'm glad it IS, but...

Oh, and thoughts and musings on the anime series NOIR and a repost of my comments on Azumanga Daioh later.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 01:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 182 words, total size 1 kb.

While I'm at work, I'll leave you this thread so you can talk amongst yourselves.

F1 coverage will resume this evening!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

Y'know what? I was going to expand on Flotsky's idea of Bernie Ecclestone as a pusher of the F1 drug tonight (I see him as being more of a Lieutenant of a kingpin), but the Wonderduck has had a nip of the ol' grape tonight. Okay, more than a nip.

Montgomery Scott: (drunkenly)"I've got somethin' better. I've got THIS."
Drinking Partner: (also drunkenly)"What is it?"
Scott: "It's... it's... uhm... (pause)... It's green!"

That's me right now. Typing is an adventure full of pitfalls and excitement.

More tomorrow. Wednesday. Whatever.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:43 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 95 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Colour is always a dangerous and exciting path to follow when drinking

Posted by: flotsky at August 16, 2005 08:07 PM (6T2ID)

2 It's a good thing ducks don't get hangovers... who are you people and why are you upside down?

No, seriously, I don't drink very often; last night a good friend took me out for my "birthday plus four months" party. Gave me 15 rubber duckies, she did. Then we went to the bar that we went to every week when we were both managers for (censored)denbooks.

And the bartender what loves us was there... and keep giving me free drinks. OOOOoooooohhHHhhHhhhh...

Posted by: Wonderduck at August 17, 2005 03:57 AM (ywZa8)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Watkins Glen. THE American road course. What Indianapolis is to oval racing, Watkins Glen is to road courses. Way back when, I had a game called "Speed Circuit." An F1 board-game, simple yet complex at the same time, it came with three tracks: Monza (the blue track) and Monaco (the orange track) on the inside of the fold-out... and Watkins Glen on the back. I actually remember WATCHING a F1 race from Watkins Glen in the '70s, I think. I've always remembered the track as being a delicate, elegant course.

That being said, watching NASCAR racers whip around the course puts me in mind of NFL linemen performing rhythmic gymnastic routines: completely out of place. Behemoths jumping on a balsa-wood bridge. Elephants wearing tutus. Using sledgehammers to perform brain surgery.

It just ain't natural! Darn it, this course DEMANDS carbon-fibre and 19000rpm engine screams, not sheet steel and bellowing engines.

At least they showed my favorite AFLAC commercial, where the duck chases the Chinese Food Delivery Guy back into his car. That always makes me laugh.

We here at F1 Update are going through Formula 1 Withdrawl.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:25 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 191 words, total size 1 kb.

Take the quiz: "Which Holy Grail Character Are You?"

The Dungeon Prisoner of Camelot
:clap: :clap: :clap:

...of course I am.
Go to Ambient Irony to see who Pixy wound up being (lucky dog).

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.

For some reason, THIS just makes me laugh.

Yeah, it's dumb. That's what's so good about it.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 20 words, total size 1 kb.

I graduated high school in 1986; my musical tastes stem from that time period... the song 1985 by Bowling For Soup strikes a chord with me, I'm afraid (on an anime tangent, there's a great AMV for the song by Suberunker Studeosh. You can find it here, but you have to be an AMV.org member to d/l it... maybe High Lord Pixy Misa can do another Bandwidth Sucking AMV List...)

It seems that, particularly recently, a few of my favorite musicians are bubbling THIS FAR (holds wingtips reeeeal close together) under the surface.

First, it was Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music headlining the Berlin stage of Live 8... and the crowd diggin' it with a big ol' spoon (even if I thought it was a lackluster set).

Now it's my dream teamup of Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson. Why didn't anybody TELL me they'd been touring together? And they were even on Conan O'Brien, too. Run, don't walk, to Joe's website for a few videos.

Joe Jackson is still my favorite musician, Todd Rundgren is in my top five, so something like this is close to an eargasm... and hearing them do my favorite 'Beatles-related' (i.e., by the Beatles, or one of the four's solo careers, including Wings and The Travelling Wilburys) songs caused me to geek like I hadn't done in an awful long time...

...how long? Would you believe alllll the way back to 1994 or so, when I heard Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor cover "Dead Souls" on the soundtrack of The Crow?

Now if only Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson would do something together...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 272 words, total size 2 kb.

I've rediscovered Sifl & Olly.

Who would have thought that a sock puppet could have a greater range of emotions than Katie Holmes?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

The Shuttle made a smooth landing at Edwards AFB this morning. I have to admit to a sigh of relief when I read that (I taped the landing to watch when I get home from work).

Now comes NASA's "Night of the Long Knives."

Posted by: Wonderduck at 02:32 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 47 words, total size 1 kb.

http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/, both 20050731 and 20050805

Steven DenBeste is one of the best writers out there. His USS Clueless was one of the few multiple-times-daily reads I had, until he stopped blogging (Fortunately, he's shifted to writing about Anime, with the occasional foray into other topics). Agree with him or not, he always made you think on USS Clueless, and his eye for anime is excellent (even despite disliking Azumanga Daioh).

Recently, though, he's had two posts taking swipes at the Space Shuttle. While I agree that the Shuttle's sun is setting, he believes that the program should have been shut down right after the Columbia Disaster, noting that there have been two fatal flights out of 113: "A 2% failure rate is unacceptably high. It's time to end it."

A 2% failure rate is unacceptably high for airliners. A 2% failure rate is unacceptably high for ships. A 2% failure rate is unacceptably high for cars, plates, rubber ducks, and washing machines.

For manned space missions though, 2 in 113 is actually a little better than the past track records, believe it or not.

Consider: Mercury had 6 manned flights. Gemini had 10, and Apollo had 11. No fatalities, right? A perfect record.

Except for what was retroactively called Apollo 1, the Apollo systems test that resulted in the deaths of three astronauts, caused by an atmosphere of (amazingly) pure oxygen in the capsule, and a spark. It's fair to include this in the Apollo record, I suggest.

Adding one to Apollo's record gives it 12, Gemini 10, Mercury 6, for a total of 27. One fatal mission of 27 gives a rough percentage of 4%, twice as bad as the Shuttle. Throw in the Apollo 13 miracle, where a lot of sweat and luck got the crew back alive, and the number jumps to nigh on 8%.

Yet nobody called for an end to the missions on grounds of safety... Apollo was killed for bugetary reasons. I suggest that two fatal shuttle accidents in four times as many missions is, historically, a good rate. Only that they have been spectacular disasters and widely televised is different.

If you throw in Soviet manned space flight, the Space Shuttle's numbers get even better. I'll refer the reader to this Wikipedia article for details.

In his second post, he criticises NASA for sending 7 astronauts on what he calls a "garbage flight.": "Why risk that many people to operate a space-going garbage truck? If the damned thing had to fly at all, prudence would dictate that it carry the minimum crew capable of performing the mission."

To quote NASA's website, the mission objectives for this flight were to: "test and evaluate new safety procedures and conduct assembly and maintenance tasks on the (International Space) Station. A late addition to the timeline tasked the crew with first ever on-orbit repair of the Shuttle heat shield."

The Shuttle is vital to the continued existence of the ISS, as only it can carry the parts and such to perform maintainance to the station, as well as being able to carry broken parts back to be repaired and reused. If the Shuttle program was killed, the ISS would be written off. This would result in future exploration of space being limited to unmanned missions until the distant future, since the ISS will be used to stage manned flights out of (eventually).

Lets look at the crew assignment for this flight. You have the mission commander, a pilot, and two spacewalkers (for repairs to the ISS. They were also there for repairs to the shuttle, if needed). That's four of the seven right there. Throw in a Manipulator Arm Operator, an expert in that task, to support the spacewalks, and you're up to five crew as your minimum. The other two are expert extras, master redundancies (though, obviously, they're sharing duties with the others). Considering what was being done on this mission, seven crew doesn't seem excessive at all.

As far as DenBeste's gripe that the Shuttle is 'only' returning with 5000 pounds of trash, it's a little more complicated than that. I suggest James Oberg's views on the matter, found here.

But if you're looking for reasons to trash the Shuttle program, there are plenty of better ones than these listed above.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:49 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 719 words, total size 4 kb.

...I have a headache.

Clouds over the landing site in Florida, they'll give it another go on Tuesday.

I'll be venting spleen at Stephen Den Beste's criticism of this mission (at Chizumatic, look for 20050805) later tonight.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:31 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 40 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Just hoping they can get down okay, must be pretty tense for them.

And I know there has been criticism of the mission, but some of the footage has been mindblowingly beautiful, which works for me.

Posted by: flotsky at August 08, 2005 08:27 PM (6T2ID)

2 FLOTSKY!!! The blog's official Overseas Reader has shown up! Glad to see ya, my friend!

Posted by: Wonderduck at August 09, 2005 02:35 AM (6krEN)

3 Heh, good to make it over here. And interested to read all the shuttle stuff too

Posted by: flotsky at August 09, 2005 10:47 AM (vnSex)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

A Russian mini-submarine has sunk in roughly 600 feet of water, apparantly after tangling it's propeller in some cables and netting. The Indepundit has full coverage.

The Russian Navy (and before them, the Soviet Navy) has had a long and exciting history with their sub force, with a relatively large number of sunken submarines. You may remember a movie that came out a few years back called "K-19: The Widowmaker" starring Harrison Ford. That was based on the real-life Soviet K-19, which had an astonishing THREE incidents that involved loss of life amongst her crew, two of which involving her nuclear reactor.

I don't remember the movie mentioning the K-19's real nickname amongst the Soviet submarine community: HIROSHIMA. That'll give you some idea of what that sub's luck was like.

There were many others as well; the Yankee-class SSBN that sank in the Pacific Ocean (that the CIA eventually recovered part of using Howard Hughes' Glomar Explorer), another sub grounding on the rocks off the coast of Norway, and the infamous Kursk tragedy of a few years ago.

US, British, Japanese, and Russian rescue equipment are on the way to the scene. Hopefully, one of them'll get to the sub before air runs out for the seven souls on board.

The ocean is a dangerous place, at least as dangerous as outer space, yet tragedies such as this aren't as "exciting" as a Shuttle disaster. More commonplace, I suppose; more sailors, more submarines, fewer cameras. Yet the pressure of 600 feet of water will kill you just as dead (possibly deader, if possible) as vacuum will.

Good luck, guys.

Updated 8/7/05
Russian Sub Back Up Again!

The Brits were first on the scene with a Remotely Operated Vehicle, and they managed to use it to cut the cables the minisub was caught on. All seven crew were fine, if probably a little creeped out.

Bravo and well done!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 323 words, total size 2 kb.

Monday, it was tornado ("Big blowy wind thingy" for my friends overseas) warnings and lots of "we're all gonna die!" Tuesday, it was fire alarms at the office.

So far today, no emergencies... though I'm still betting on an earthquake. Thursday, toxic spill. And Friday?

Godzilla.

I can't wait to get home. It's safe there.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

Okay, here's the word, all of you. I'm going to a Manager Training session on Sunday, I'll be gone all week. Don't think that I've gone away and left this place high and dry.

I'm sure High Lord Pixy is somewhat disappointed in my lack of productivity; after seeing my other blog he would have expected more from me. :-/

I'm not happy 'bout it either, but after this stint at the Home Office, I should have some more time on my wings.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 85 words, total size 1 kb.

Nurgle. Blurg.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:25 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 3 words, total size 1 kb.

One more day on the F1 Update. The remains of Hurricane Dennis are making their way up towards the Pond, so the humidity level has gone through the roof... and taken my head with it, in the form of The Sinus Headache From Hell.

Plus, I've just spent the last two-and-a-half hours talking with my friend, Ned Mallard, whom I've known for nigh on 30 years, and his charming wife, Goose Mallard, whom I've only met once, ten years ago. They live in San Francisco, so I have little chance to see either of them, but they were in the neighborhood. Even with the headache (and believe me, a duck has sinuses you wouldn't believe), it was a great time.

Funny how things happen... Ned's stepsister is my boss at Duck U. Didn't know that when I applied; when I called to make sure they got my rezoomie, I said "Yes, I'm Scooter T. Wonderduck, and I sent you my resume a little while ago...." She then replied "Yes, I know you, I'm Ned's sister!" My bill hit the floor, lemme tell ya. Then I did a few wing-pumps, 'cause I knew I had the job right then and there.

So, anyway: no F1 Update until tomorrow, I've got a Monty Python skit running around in me 'ead.

(crossposted at the Original Wonderduck's Pond, which I'm still running until I figure out MT well enough to try full-time... check the whole place out at www.wonderduckspond.blogspot.com until I get up to speed here)

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 260 words, total size 1 kb.

Could you hand me those pliers? I've got a dwarf I can't crush...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:28 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.

Honey, I'm home... it's gonna take me a bit to get used to this setup!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:41 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.

(bumped to top)
I'm afraid I have some unhappy news to announce.  The F1 UPDATE! crew will probably not be able to do a report for the upcoming Australian Grand Prix Qualifying sessions Friday night. 

This past Sunday night I went to bed, but about five minutes after my head hit the pillow, the left side of my mouth felt like someone had shoved a white-hot knitting needle into it.  It didn't stop until I figured out that it hurt only when I was laying down; I got about two hours of sleep sitting in an armchair.

I got into the dentist's office this morning, and she took one look at the x-ray and said "Yup, there's no chance of saving that one.  Plus there's some swelling, too.  If we let it stay in there, there's a good chance it'll REALLY start to hurt, and get infected to boot."  A few minutes later, I got 'lucky': there was a cancellation in the oral surgeon's schedule for Friday, so they'll be able to get me in for an extraction under general anesthetic. 

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:45 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 301 words, total size 2 kb.