Well, that year sucked awfully hard.

To all the readers of The Pond who bailed, I don't blame you. 

To all the readers of The Pond, old and new, who stuck with the place despite it all, thank you.  You're all great, and I'm lucky to have you.  I hope to be able to tell you just what all has caused this soon, but for now, thanks.

Here's looking forwards to a great 2014, one and all.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:31 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 81 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Eh, deleting the bookmark was too much work. :-)

Posted by: Mauser at December 31, 2013 11:05 PM (TJ7ih)

2 Meh, i'll just keep lurking. Although keep up the ships thing, thats a bonus.

Posted by: Carpe Jugulum at January 01, 2014 02:08 AM (aTw4s)

3 We'll always have Rio.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at January 01, 2014 09:42 AM (+cEg2)

4 Heck, I'm more or less new here, so who did I replace, and are they smarter than me?

Posted by: topmaker at January 01, 2014 11:51 AM (2yZsg)

5 That which doesn't kill you makes you ornerier!

It's been a hard year, but we're still here. We win.

Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at January 01, 2014 02:01 PM (cvXSV)

6 Man, tell me about it.  I've said repeatedly that this year can go straight to hell.

Which is probably where it came from.

Happy New Year, Wonderduck!

Posted by: Ben at January 01, 2014 03:12 PM (vwNc1)

7 We survived 2013.

We shall hold 2014 to a higher standard.

Posted by: GreyDuck at January 01, 2014 05:51 PM (CUkqs)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Now that Matt Smith's four year run as The Doctor has come to an end, I'm going to do something bonecrushingly stupid... I'm going to state a preference for one recent Doctor over another.

To whit: I think Matt Smith was a more successful Doctor than David Tennant.  This is not to say that Tennant wasn't good in the role; he clearly was.  After the disastrous run of Christopher Eccleston's PTSD Doctor¹, Tennant could have sunk the franchise completely.  He didn't, however, and without his years as the time-traveler, Doctor Who would not... could not... be as huge as it currently is.

In a broad sense, the success of Tennant's run is based on amazing episodes.  Take away "Waters of Mars," the Christmas specials (particularly 2007's "Voyage of the Damned", aka "the one with Kylie Minogue"), "Silence in the Library" (aka "the first one with River Song"), the wonderful "School Reunion", and my favorite of the bunch "The Girl in the Fireplace", and some others that I can't be bothered to look up right now, and you've got a rather lackluster overall picture.

Smith, Tennant's successor in the role of the Last Time Lord, brought more energy and humor to The Doctor.  His success is undoubtedly based on the entire run of episodes, as opposed to individual ones.  That's not to say there weren't excellent episodes; there surely were.  "Vincent and The Doctor," "The Doctor's Wife", and "Asylum of the Daleks" immediately come to mind.  However, Smith's Doctor is almost a throwback to the original serial version of Doctor Who.  While each episode is a standalone or half of a two-part, they all fit into the overarching storyline for the season, whatever that might be.

In any case, I believe that if you choose an episode at random of Doctor 10, and one at random of 11, you are more likely to see a very good one with #11. 

Smith also had the better "supporting cast" with him as well.  Amy & Rory were his companions for two-and-a-half seasons, and while they probably should have moved on earlier than that, they were clearly superior to anything Tennant had with him... though Rose was no slouch.  It may be personal bias that believes that makes me think that Clara will be better than either A&R or Rose.

So, yes, I find that Matt Smith is the best of the recent Doctors, and probably ranks just below Tom Baker in my mind in the Great List of Doctors.  The comment area is below... let the Flame War commence!

¹ I will admit that the more I've watched his one season, the more I've come to appreciate what he brought to the role.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:54 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 456 words, total size 3 kb.

I'm tired, I'm either sad or maudlin, I'm annoyed, and I had to work today.  I'm going to take a nap then go to sleep.

Thank you, everybody.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:53 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

It's Christmas Eve.  For the past few weeks, the only music I've been able to play at the Duck U Bookstore has been... you guessed it... Christmas music.  I am not ashamed to say that I'd rather gut myself like a fish than do that.  Which means it's time for a special CHRISTMAS EVE TUNAGE with DJ Wonderduck!!!

There won't be ANY Christmas music in this one, oh no!  Just great rockin' good times in an attempt to crush the holiday music out of my brain.  Let's not wait, let's just do this!  TUNAGE!!!

more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:28 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 613 words, total size 5 kb.

As I always do... always... I got up at 630am today when my cellphone alarm went off.  For the next half-hour, I did the my usual routine: brushed my teef, took a shower, that sort of thing, y'know?  As I got out of the shower in the dark (I haven't showered with the lights on in 20-some-odd years... no I don't know why), I noticed a small flash of red light from my cellphone, sitting there on the sink.

This elicited a sigh from me.  Such a red light this early in the morning is never good news, as it signifies either a missed call/voicemail or a text message.  Perhaps an employee checking in to let me know that they're sick, or a misguided telemarketer, maybe a wayward text from Brickmuppet, or occasionally a weather alert from a local TV station.  Well, whatever it was, it could wait a few minutes while I dried off and got dressed.  This I accomplished, short of putting on the shirt I'd be wearing into the store that day... fewer wrinklies that way, don'tchaknow?  Sitting in front of the computer, I finally took a moment to see what was so important that it deserved my attention at 7am.

It was both a text and a voicemail from Duck U's Alert System.  "Due to weather conditions, the Duck U campus and offices are closed today."  I... what?  As it turns out, the fog/drizzle that was just beginning when I got home Thursday night never actually stopped, and all of Duckford had an unpleasant glaze of ice over it.  Heck, even Duckford Mass Transit had taken all their buses off the roads to keep them from, I dunno, ending up inside people's houses or where-ever they'd wind up after an unfortunate skid.

So, after contacting the employee who was to be working with me today and telling her not to come in, telling my boss that we were closed, re-recording the store's voicemail message from home, and double-checking with Duck U security that yep, campus was closed, I finally decided to go see what it was like outside.

Ice.  Ice everywhere.  Oh, don't get me wrong, it wasn't thick ice... news reports says less than 1/10th of an inch... but you don't need much to turn streets into skating rinks.  I didn't even try to head over to the DuckMobile.  I could see the sidewalk and parking lot were more appropriate for a Blackhawks game than for driving.  With that, I walked back into Pond Central, switched into a pair of sweats and fuzzy slippers, and proceeded to completely enjoy my first not-normal (i.e., not holiday or weekend, not like I've had many of those either) day off in five months.

Unsurprisingly, I did christmas shopping (thank you, Internet!) then took a very long, very needed, nap.  Tomorrow is grocery shopping in preparation for our first real snowfall of the season (well, that and I'm out of stuff), and Sunday is laundry day and getting ready to go back to work on Monday, but at least for today, I could do what I wanted... and it was good.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:50 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 528 words, total size 3 kb.

I don't have heroes, and I never did.  I suspect most people my age feel the same way.  Why bother?  In the end, we always find they have feet of clay.  Often enough it turns out a "hero" is really just someone who got lucky one day.

Which is why Larry Lujack wasn't my hero.  What he was, however, was the reason I wanted to get into the radio biz.  Growing up, his was the voice that got me going in the morning.  A deadpan delivery attached to a wickedly dry sense of humor resonated in my young brain, bouncing around and mixing with Monty Python.  But even in the depths of my callow youthiness, I could recognize pure genius when I heard it.  I don't know when it happened, but somewhere those formative years, I set my sights on being a DJ just like Ol' Unka Lar'.

Unka Lar' was the host of the morning staple on WLS, Animal Stories.  I've written about that legendary radio skit a couple of times before, no need to repeat it here.  But Lujack was more than a single gag.  His "Superjock" persona, "the greatest rock & roll DJ anywhere", was just an act... but it turned out that he may very well have BEEN the greatest.  He was honored with membership in the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2004, and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2008.

Larry Lujack died yesterday at the age of 73 after a year-long fight with esophageal cancer.  When I heard the news this morning, I didn't react much until I made it to the Duck U parking lot.  Only then did I close my eyes and let a few tears stream down my face.  A big piece of my childhood has passed away, and some part of my life is a little darker than it had been.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 317 words, total size 2 kb.

I've done this twice before, and it's been amusing both times, so let's do it again!  It's time for the third installment of Ask Wonderduck (Almost) Anything!  Here's how this thing works... you ask a question, and I'll answer it!  It's just that simple!  But wait, great news!  The best question (in my opinion) will get a full-length post devoted to the answer!

There are a few questions I won't answer: anything related to current politics or religion.  I started The Pond lo these many years ago in an attempt to get away from political or religious squabbles, and to this day I've pretty much managed to stay clear of those things.  There are plenty of people out there who write about those topics and do so in ways I couldn't even hope to approach, so go read them for answers to those questions.  If you DO ask me a question related to such topics, please expect to be mocked horribly.

Now, if you ask me a technical question ("How do I install a V12 engine into a Smart Fortwo?"), I'll do my best to answer it, but you use said answer at your own risk.  And take pictures, please, for the sake of posterity.  And humor.

So, without further ado: Ask Wonderduck (Almost) Anything!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:33 PM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
Post contains 222 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Oookay...  What's your second favourite anime series?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 17, 2013 07:09 AM (PiXy!)

2 Oh, that one's easy!

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 17, 2013 07:47 AM (Izt1u)

3 Twisting that theme a bit.. if you were in charge of setting up an anime de-programming video (as in A Clockwork Orange), what would be shown to the poor subject?

Posted by: David at December 17, 2013 01:40 PM (vtKcn)

4 How's this one - if you could push through any rules changes in F1 that you wanted, what would you do?

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at December 17, 2013 02:07 PM (pWQz4)

5 It'd be highly entertaining seeing a V12 shoehorned into a fortwo.  Reminds me of a line in one of the old Star Wars books about putting a dormer on the Falcon to fit something.
I used to own a Geo Metro with a 3cyl 1.0L engine.  We always thought it'd be funny to drop a V6 in it, but figured that if you did and floored it, the engine and front wheels would tear right off the frame, cartoon-like.

Posted by: RickC at December 17, 2013 03:33 PM (A9FNw)

6 I saw a youtube video some time ago on the subject of "how to get a Smart FourTwo to do the 1/4 mile in 15 seconds."  And the answer was to put in on a trailer behind a performance pickup that would normally do it in 10 or so..
Much easier than trying to retrofit a V12 into the Smart FourTwo

Posted by: David at December 17, 2013 03:56 PM (vtKcn)

7

Who is the greatest f1 driver of all time?

What is the best fighter of ww2?

What was the most important ship in Pacific in ww2?

Military blunders are always talked about. But what is the best single maneuver/action/stratagem of pacific war?

You watch a lot of anime. Ever watched Moomin? Is it counted as anime?

Posted by: Ari at December 17, 2013 05:59 PM (zvmpn)

8 Avatar, the one rule change I'd push through would be removing Ferrari's two bonuses: they get a percentage of the annual prize moneys BEFORE they're divvied up between teams, and they get veto power over any proposed rule change.  They deserve neither of these anymore.

If I got another rules change, I'd remove most of the engine restrictions.  Want a W12 engine?  Go for it!  Think of a way to stick a rotary engine in the back of a Caterham?  Okay in my F1 world!  The only limit would be that it would require pistons: no jet engines.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 17, 2013 09:05 PM (Izt1u)

9 David @ #3, unfortunately, that one too is easy: Clubbed-To-Death-Angel Dokuro-Chan.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 17, 2013 09:10 PM (Izt1u)

10 Ari @ #7:

1) The BBC lists the best as Ayrton Senna, followed by St Fangio the Quick and Jimmy Clark.  You could choose any of those three as "the best" and I wouldn't argue with you.  Ph.Duck's favorite is Clark, so I'll go with that today... catch me in a good mood, though, and I'm prone to say Zsolt Baumgartner.

2) I still intend to finish my "Best Fighter" posts, so I'm not answering this... yet.

3) The USS Cimmaron. 

4) Sho-Go 1.  In sports terms, the Japanese Navy faked Admiral Halsey out of his jockstrap and put themselves in position to just slaughter the Philippines landing forces.  That Admiral Kurita peed the chance right down his leg should take nothing away from the effective strategy that put him there.

5) No, and nope.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 17, 2013 09:26 PM (Izt1u)

11

Was there ever an anime that made you angry at having sat and watched through the entirety of it?  Note that this does not include any anime you just gave up part way through.

 

Posted by: cxt217 at December 17, 2013 11:27 PM (l1UEN)

12 CXT, yes, the original Evangelion.  Those last two episodes basically made the preceding 24 worthless... which really pissed me off. 

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 17, 2013 11:40 PM (Izt1u)

13 You know, I devoted half a review to Dokuro-chan....
(I'm still writing reviews, although I don't think anyone's noticed.)

My question is, when they run cute duckling pictures on iCanHazCheeseburger's RSS feed (which I view on LiveJournal) do you want to be forwarded a link?  Or is it only rubber ducks?

Oh, and I did see some videos about stuffing a 1000 cc Honda Motorcycle engine in a Smart4Two, which apparently does turn it into a wee beast.

Posted by: Mauser at December 18, 2013 05:16 AM (TJ7ih)

14 > Mauser - That would be the Smart Diablo with a 1-liter Suzuki Hayabusa from the GSXR sport bike.  If you look on YouTube, there's a video of the Smart Diablo smoking a Ferrari 430 in the quarter mile.

Posted by: JT at December 18, 2013 07:33 AM (iStSI)

15 From the Hero Ship post - why is HMS Ark Royal "the greatest name for a ship ever?"

If the two Akrons had not gone down by the mid-1930s, but radar development had run as normal, would production ZRSs (Independences to the Akron's Ranger) have had a significant role in the Pacific war?

What is the most significant engagement that gets the least written about it in the Pacific war (the un-Midway, so to speak)?

Posted by: Ranger Rick at December 18, 2013 10:20 PM (G1HTO)

16 Rick...

1) Cuz I said so?

2) No, I don't think so.  Oh, perhaps as sub hunters, sure, but I just don't see much advantage otherwise to something as fragile as a zeppelin/blimp/whatever in wartime.

3) The Kokoda Trail.  Epic stuff, rarely written about here in the States.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 18, 2013 10:37 PM (Izt1u)

17 Hey!  You skipped me!

Posted by: Mauser at December 20, 2013 02:15 AM (TJ7ih)

18 Why Baumgartner?

Posted by: Ari at December 20, 2013 10:59 AM (vVZ0M)

19 Mauser: no need.

Ari: because Minardi was the greatest team ever, Zsolt Is God, and Takuma Sato is his prophet.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 20, 2013 12:48 PM (Izt1u)

20 Do you have an opinion on Last Exile?

Posted by: Dreamshadow at December 20, 2013 06:43 PM (T5fuR)

21 None whatsoever.  Sorry!

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 20, 2013 08:24 PM (Izt1u)

22 As a fan of WWII naval ships, do you plan on watching Arpeggio of Blue Steel or the KanColle anime?

Posted by: muon at December 24, 2013 03:56 AM (jFJid)

23 Blue Steel, no.  I watched the first couple of episodes, and decided the premise was too stupid for me to stand. 

KanColle, on the other hand, I'm very much looking forward to.  No, I can't tell you the difference between the two series, and no, that doesn't bother me.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 24, 2013 07:33 AM (Izt1u)

24 I haven't seen it yet, so can you say what the problems with the premise were? (Blue Steel seems to going for straight SF, while KanColle seems to be more comedic.)

Posted by: muon at December 25, 2013 04:15 AM (jFJid)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

...except for the whole "going into work on a Saturday" part.  I mean, yeah, that was a drag, but it was a successful drag.  Like "RuPaul meets Tony Pedragon" successful.  I had three major and two minor tasks to accomplish, and had them all done by 5pm, a mere six hours after I got there... not so bad. 

Of course, I could have spent another six hours at the store doing stuff... there's easily that much and more to do every day... but I was tired and hurty and hungry and I wanted to be not there anymore.  So home I went.

In retrospect, it wasn't really that great of a day.  But in comparison to what I've had of late?  Today was a good day.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:31 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 131 words, total size 1 kb.

Buyback Week is over.  But guess who'll be going into his Bookstore on Saturday for at least five hours, and probably longer?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 41 words, total size 1 kb.

I should have known better.  Any day that started the way today did deserves to be drowned right at the beginning.  I mean, it started with my alarm going off at 615am... that right there makes it a bad day.

It also involved me getting into the shower without a washcloth.  But that's okay, because I also didn't have a towel.  I managed the rest of the pre-going-to-work routine without incident... even put on my shirt correctly... and headed out into the HOLYCRAPWHERE'DALLTHEHEATGO to get the DuckMobile warmed up. 

Walking towards it, I saw there was some small amount of snow covering the right side of the car... y'know, the type that'll blow away the moment you put the car in gear and barely touch the accelerator... so I change course, brush it off with my glitten-covered hands, then begin walking around the rear of the DuckMobile, heading towards the driver's side door.

I'm sure my readers who live in the Midwest may have noticed a small earthquake around 745am central time.  I need to apologize for that, as it was my fault.  My bad.  I rounded the corner of the car, made it about even with the license plate ("WNDRDUK"), when the invisible asphalt weasels reached up and grabbed my ankle.  Next thing I know, I'm headed towards the surface of the parking lot at fairly high (and increasing!) velocity. 

Left knee hit first, followed by the right knee, my face, and then the rest of me.  I'm lying there, spitting out snow and meltysalt, probably looking like a particularly comedic walrus, and all I can say is "ow."  Yeah, that's me, Mr Witty Repartee, in the flesh.  I haul myself to my feet, get to the driver's door, and where the fsck are my keys?  Sure enough, they were lying there, in the middle of the Khumbu Icefall, right where I dropped them during my failed attempt at a gravity turn.  Fortunately, my recovery mission did not result in Impact: Parking Lot 2: Electric Boogaloo.

While I drove in to the Duck U Bookstore, I began to realize that I might have done myself some harm.  The giveaway was the intense throbbing in my knees, though it was with a sense of relief I noticed no marks on my face... surprising, considering that it felt like I left an imprint of my chin in the concrete.  Not because I'm vain about my looks... after all, I know what I look like... but because customers find blood and open wounds to be off-putting.

By the middle of the day, I could feel my left knee stiffening up something fierce.  Great, just swell!  Then the student came in to sell some books back who decided that since I wasn't offering 200% back on her titles, it was okay to start swearing at me.  It's not like I'm unused to that... during Finals week, I'm the most hated duck on campus, after all... but on top of the rest of the day, it was quite the moment.

So eventually the day ended, I limped out to my car, picked up some stuff at the grocery store, came home, and took another header in the Icefall... this time while carrying two cases of soda.  It should go without saying that once again my left knee discovered that gravity ain't just a good idea, but the law.  The bruise should be amazing. 

So here I am, blogging, and I've got to go to bed and do it all over again tomorrow.  I love my life and everything about it right now.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:31 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 603 words, total size 4 kb.

The Fall semester has come to an end at the Duck U Bookstore... except for Finals week.  And when it's Finals Week, that means it's also Buyback week, which means that Wonderduck is going to be in Hell.

Which would be bad, except I've been there all semester.  As yet, I still can't get into all the details, but let's just say that I still don't have an assistant manager, and probably never will again.  What I also haven't had is another keyholder.  Yup... since July 30th, I've been open-to-close every day, minimum 9.5 hours.  Minimum.  Also five home football games, a few visit days, and quite a few days where I went in on Saturday to get stuff done. 

Like I'll be doing tomorrow.  Because I've got to get that stuff done before Monday, or we're seriously screwed.  But I lost a filling a week-and-change ago, and I can't go get the tooth pulled until I've got another keyholder.  I'm doomed.  Doomed, I tell you.

I hate working on Saturdays.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:26 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 172 words, total size 1 kb.

FINALLY!

Sure, maybe everybody else has already managed to get into orbit around Mün, or landed there for that matter, but I never pulled it off.  Until tonight, courtesy of my Delta-K rocket, some seat-of-the-spacesuit piloting, and a metric fsckton of luck.  Even better, I think I'll have enough go-juice to get Jebediah back, to boot!

The next step?  Land on the darned thing, and get back.  I think the Delta-K will have the oomph to get the lander up... I hope.  I have high hopes.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:05 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 89 words, total size 1 kb.