:: You must fight the bear! ::

:: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 ::

Blog Tech Update
Alright, I've gotten tired of not being able to tell whether anybody has posted to the Shout Outs without going through and clicking on each link, so I'm going to start using a new service.
You should notice the new Idle Ramblings link under the posts now.
I didn't want to take the "Shout Outs" off yet, since that would mean all the feedback that's been written in those would be lost, so for the time being at least, both feedback systems are still on the blog.
I would ask that you start using the Idle Ramblings now, though, instead of the Shout Outs (preferably during this transition time even if you're responding to something somebody wrote in Shout Outs), and we'll gradually phase the old system out.
Thanks.

:: David 12:11 PM [+] ::
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Columbia Update
The cause theory has been modified a little.
Also, the CAIB is preparing to make its first two recommendations by Thursday, recommending that NASA increase inspections of critical thermal panels, and that the agency have satellite photos taken of Shuttles in orbit.

:: David 10:01 AM [+] ::
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Daily Dave Friend
Richie suggested that I start posting pictures of other members of the "You Must Fight The Bear" family in the blog, as I did for Lain a while back. So, here's Richie's pic. That's likely the end of this series, unless I get any requests.

OK, this has got to be about the biggest waste of bandwidth yet in the Daveblog. No offense, Richie.

:: David 9:46 AM [+] ::
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DVD Release Dates
After over a year of waiting, The Simpsons Season Three will be released to DVD on August 29.
Also recently announced was a July 29 release date for the Daredevil DVD.

:: David 9:44 AM [+] ::
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Daily Hatbag
Plus, there are so mane benefits to common cultural touchstones.

:: David 9:40 AM [+] ::
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Morning Curmudgeon
You wanna know one of the tragedies of the modern world?
Remember Bob Ross?
The guy that would teach you to paint on PBS? Soft voice, big 'fro? "Happy little trees?"
Of course you do. Everybody remembers Bob Ross. People that couldn't paint anything to save their life remember Bob Ross.
They were talking about Bob Ross on the radio morning show today, and of course, everybody knew who Bob Ross was. And then they started talking about some program on PBS today, and had to go into great depth explaining what it was.
And here's why--You had to watch Bob Ross. When we were little, you had four channels if you were really lucky. And most everybody had PBS. So if you watched TV, when you changed channels, eventually you were going to see Bob Ross. It was just a given, no way around it.
Today, our TV with the fewest channels still goes almost all the way up to 100. I don't know what all's out there, and I know there's just tons of stuff out there I've never seen. Heck, Bob Ross has been dead for like 8 years, and I don't know if he's still on TV or not.
There's something sad about the loss of shared experience, that handy little universal references like wishing you could just twitch your nose like Samantha on Bewitched are going away.
OK, I'm through griping. On with the blog.

:: David 9:38 AM [+] ::
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Come for the avengence!
This is good stuff!

:: David 6:59 PM [+] ::
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Hooga Hooga
While you're waiting for the Knight Rider movie, you can go here.

:: David 6:47 PM [+] ::
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Search Me
After quite a bit of waiting, my blog has been crawled by Google. Get ready to watch the traffic soar (um... thanks to the flying minivan below).

:: David 3:41 PM [+] ::
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Mr. Denley, whoa-oh
During a ceremony to be held on Friday, April 25, the Student Media Center at Ole Miss will be renamed "The S. Gale Denley Student Media Center." A tribute book is being assembled, and anybody wishing to contribute a salute or anecdote to Mr. Denley can get in touch with me and I'll forward the info to you.
Here is my own tribute to Denley, written at The DM, on the occassion of his induction into the MPA Hall of Fame.

:: David 1:37 PM [+] ::
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Deep Thoughts On Space Travel
One of the readers of the Liftoff site suggested a couple of weeks post-Columbia that NASA is thinking about space travel all wrong, and that we should launch the Shuttle from a platform established in geostationary orbit. Crews would change on the Earth, but that way the whole operation would take place in space! It seems to be there's something wrong with this logic, but I just can't put my finger on it.

:: David 1:25 PM [+] ::
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Big Day For Dave At AICN
Rumor has it that both Batman and Superman movies will begin filming later this year.

Even though I read something about it not that long ago, I had basically just assumed that this movie had fallen through and wasn't going to be made. The liner notes for one of the Knight Rider DVDs said that the movie will feature KARR, which would be cool, but I don't know if that's still true.

And, appropriately enough considering the item two posts down, AICN had news on Tron 2.0. The game by that name comes out in August (according to the article), and will be released for multiple platforms, which makes me happy, since previously I had only heard about a PC release. Hopefully that means it will be coming out for my PS2. Anyway, supposedly a script has been approved for a Tron movie sequel, but has not yet received the greenlight, and whether it does so will apparently depend at least in part on how the game does. So reserve you copy today (except Lain).

Some rumors could be taken to mean that James Cameron will begin filming next year on a big-budget, 3D, largely digital Alien 5. The interesting thing about this article, though, is that on down into it, talking about the possibility of Cameron eventually filming in space as mentioned recently, it says that Cameron "stressed that he was willing to do anything NASA required of him..." Hmmm... I wonder how exactly this works... 'cause I really would like to see another decent Alien film...

Of course, now I've made this entry too long by putting all this news in one post, probably stopping these important issues from each getting all the feedback they deserve. Whoops.

:: David 11:35 AM [+] ::
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This Week on Liftoff
There's a new story this week on NASA Liftoff and NASA Kids about astronaut observing auroras from space (and in case you missed it, there's links to the five most recent Liftoff stories at the bottom of the sidebar to the left).

:: David 10:28 AM [+] ::
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Old Poll
Tron and War Games tied as the 80s sci-fi movie most deserving of a sequel in the last poll, with seven votes each. The Last Starfighter and D.A.R.Y.L. each received one vote as well. I know there was some serious multi-voting on this one, with Lain casting several votes for War Games, at least in part due to his dislike of the Tron, and I suspect the other results may be somewhat skewed as well.
A War Games sequel in the era of homeland security could really be an interesting movie, with a more thriller-esque feel to it. And, of course, Joe could produce a great Tron sequel script just as soon as Disney asks involving virtual reality.
But who wouldn't go see a movie that was a sequel to both Tron and War Games--how cool would that be?!

:: David 10:23 AM [+] ::
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New Poll
Since "You Must Fight The Bear!" is nothing if not a blog of the people, I've posted a poll today to help me better serve the people. Even if you're just a casual reader, I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to fill out the poll, which should only take a second. Feedback about the poll can be posted to this entry.

:: David 10:18 AM [+] ::
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Columbia Update
NASA officials are saying that Columbia will not be simply buried as Challenger was.

:: David 10:16 AM [+] ::
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One Short Flight, One Giant Leap
Anybody who wants to buy me one of these is welcome to.

:: David 9:45 AM [+] ::
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NASA Saves Moore's Law
One of the things that really bugs me is the people who talk about the fact that there aren't any spin-offs of the space program any more. It really isn't our fault that those people don't pay any attention to the world around them. Further complicating the matter is that people are far more fascinated by the spin-offs of the Apollo era than ones today that have a far more significant impact largely because today's spin-off technology is more complicated. Tang and Velcro were wonderful space sping-offs, because you could drink your own Tang, and wear your own Velcro shoes. Carbon nanotubes that could provide another decade of steadily increasing microchip speeds are far less noteworthy, in as much as that you can't drink the nanotubes or make snazzy shoes with them.

:: David 9:43 AM [+] ::
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Ladies and Gentlemen ...The Flying Car!
Students participating in a NASA contest are working to create a prototype flying minivan.

:: David 9:36 AM [+] ::
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I, Zod
Is there another Kryptonian on Earth? Find out on tonight's Smallville, and expect some griping from Dave in the morning if there is.

:: David 9:19 AM [+] ::
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Co-habitating Toward Gomorrah
Ole Miss will have co-ed dorms this summer. Kinda.

:: David 9:15 AM [+] ::
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Daily Hatbag
Ha! After struggling to find related strips, this one actually contains the same key concept as the post below. How you like me now! Huh! Boo-yah!
(BTW, I was also more of a Coleco cat myself)

:: David 9:03 AM [+] ::
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Atari Boy
Still have all those old Atari 2600 cartridges, but hate having to sit in front of your TV to play them? Let this guy build you your own custom handheld Atari machine.

:: David 9:01 AM [+] ::
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Land That Washing Machine, Forrest!
Apollo 13 will open on the Imax screen in Huntsville Memorial Day weekend. If anybody's interested in coming to see it, let me know.

:: David 8:57 AM [+] ::
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The Biggest Development In The History Of The Internet
Yoda's Mud Hut is BACK!

:: David 4:18 PM [+] ::
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Tech Check
Since I have not done so before, Lain asked that I put a picture in the body of my blog. So now I have.
The one catch is that the picture has to already be online, and I don't have a way to post pictures online except at my computer at home. So that's why I never do it. Although, I guess I could. Oh well.

:: David 3:55 PM [+] ::
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Spock
Check out the Marshall Star to see Nimoy give Huntsville the two-handed Vulcan salute.

:: David 1:09 PM [+] ::
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"I Now Inform You That You Are Too Far From Reality"
Everybody needs some products from this store.

:: David 10:59 AM [+] ::
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What's In A Name?
As pointed out on Dave Barry's blog, this is possibly the coolest college name ever.

:: David 10:18 AM [+] ::
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Free Blog
So far, it's a slow day, and I've got nothing to say. If you do, do it here.

:: David 10:05 AM [+] ::
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Daily Hatbag
Um... since the only thing I've posted here so far today is about the internet, kind of, this strip is also about the internet, kind of.

:: David 10:05 AM [+] ::
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Safari
Apple has released Safari Beta 2. I've downloaded it, but haven't installed it yet.

:: David 10:03 AM [+] ::
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The Tower
You must fight the bears.

:: David 8:11 PM [+] ::
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Goodnight, Dino-moon
The guy who allegedly stole the Moon rocks also was alleged to have stolen other things, such as dinosaur bones.
Lain raised the excellent question of what a person would need with both Moon rocks and dinosaur bones, and offered these possibilities:
-Breeding dinosaurs...on the moon!
-Training dinosaurs to throw rocks
-Training dinosaurs to ROCK! (this is how the Rolling Stones do it)
-Cloning the moon, possibly in case the U.S. government feels the need to destroy it.
-Something involving Canada

:: David 8:05 PM [+] ::
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Quotes of the Day
Lain sent me these quotes from Newsweek.com:

"We have to know the difference between defense and offense. I also think this war was about a pretext. It was not about whether they had weapons of mass destruction. Let's face it: Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction, homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction, lack of adequate education is a weapon of mass destruction, our children not having good neighborhoods is a weapon of mass destruction. We're blowing up bridges over the Tigris and Euphrates, (but) we're not building bridges in our own cities."
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
Obviously, Rep. Kucinich believes the U.S. needs to start pre-emptive bombing of the poor and uneducated before they have a chance to deploy their WMD. While I believe this is probably a little harsh, I could suggest some good "shock and awe" targets to begin the campaign. "Well, it's OBVIOUS that man never landed on the Moon because... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

"I opposed the war and I'm still saying that I do not see the necessity for the war. I do not see where we've seen the nuclear weapons that we were told were there. I do not see the imminent danger. I do not see the necessity for the military action. I'm glad Saddam was toppled, but I also would like to see things toppled in this country, like no health insurance, like illiteracy, like childhood obesity. The real question to me is if we can come up with billions to occupy Iraq, why can?t we come up with money for the budgets of the 50 states we already occupy?"
- Rev. Al Sharpton of New York
Clearly Sharpton has the same outlook on the results of the Civil War as many of the people I knew in Mississippi.

:: David 7:58 PM [+] ::
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Improv
The local improv group will be holding performances on Fri. and Sat., April 25 and 26. I believe this will be the first performance with the troupe of my co-worker JoCasta's daughter Megan.

:: David 7:54 PM [+] ::
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Centuries Of Missiles
After watching the Great Moonbuggy Race Friday, Nicole and I went yesterday and saw my brother's Boy Scout troop(?) hold a catupult building competition, and then last night we launched some Estes model rockets for my first time in probably 12, 13 years. Great fun.

:: David 7:54 AM [+] ::
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Daily Hatbag
Happy anniversary to this strip.

:: David 7:49 AM [+] ::
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EW Update
According to the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (or, at least, the most recent one I've got), The South is "In," and Tori is writing a book.
(The West Coast, BTW, is "Five Minutes Ago" [The quake must have hit], and The Northeast is "Out," making the dispositions of the North and South a complete turnaround from 140 years ago.)

:: David 7:31 AM [+] ::
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More Apple Rumors
According to informed sources, Apple has a new behind-the-scenes plan to make me give them money.
Sooner or later, I will most likely own an iPod, whether I want to or not.

:: David 8:36 PM [+] ::
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WAR! Huh! What is it good for?!
Answer: this site, which is working now. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, be sure to check out WeLoveTheIraqiInformationMinister.com.
And while you're at it, here's an interesting article about the site.

:: David 8:32 PM [+] ::
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Tin Roof, Blasted
U.S. troops have discovered Saddam's Love Shack.
"One of the airbrushed paintings depicted a topless blonde woman, with a green demon behind her, pointing a finger at a mythic hero. From the tip of her finger came a giant serpent, which had wrapped itself around the warrior."

:: David 8:24 PM [+] ::
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On This Day
Today marks the 42 anniversary of the first manned spaceflight, and the 22 anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch.

:: David 8:22 PM [+] ::
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Daily Hatbag
I still haven't decided whether to get that Q-bert arcade game. Maybe if they'd come down another $50.

:: David 9:56 AM [+] ::
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Face It, Saddam
According to the Mars Face people, Saddam is part of the interplanetary conspiracy. Check out these pictures. The "Saddam Airport Face" will likely change your life.

:: David 8:45 PM [+] ::
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I'm The King Of The ... Um, Well ...
If he can work it around The Princess Bride in his schedule, perhaps one of the next space tourists will be director James Cameron.

:: David 4:31 PM [+] ::
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Go, Peggy!
One of my favorite recent astronauts, Expedition 5 Science Officer Peggy Whitson, has said she wants to go back up.

:: David 4:28 PM [+] ::
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Stop Untrue NASA Rumors!
Responding to the piece from The Onion that I linked to Wednesday, NASA astrobiologists have reported to NASA Watch that they "are not cranky."

:: David 4:23 PM [+] ::
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Visit Once-Watery Mars
Landing sites have been selected for the two new Mars rovers that will launch this summer.

:: David 4:20 PM [+] ::
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The Rocket
Read the official newspaper for the coolest city ever.

:: David 4:13 PM [+] ::
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Apple Records
Hmmm... this is kind of an interesting development, if true (of course, that's the big catch...considering that past rumors about Apple-media mergers include such things as Disney buying Apple and Jobs running both, these things have to be taken with a grain of salt).
Apple has done an excelent job integrating multimedia functions into Macs in the last few years, and with the new online music sharing service on the way, this would be a consistent next step. Apple is creative enough to figure out a way to bring the music industry into the internet era, something that no one else has done succesfully. Achieve such synergy and controlling means of production would give Apple a huge advantage. And if this article's Pixar speculation is true, Apple really could be positioning to be a major media player.
Of course, rather than translates into anything other than Apple continuing to be really cool is yet to be seen.

:: David 2:15 PM [+] ::
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Moonbuggy!
The late blogging today was due to the fact that I was serving as a scorekeeper at NASA's Great Moonbuggy Race.

:: David 2:05 PM [+] ::
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Oops, I Explored The Attributes Of A Finite Barrier Quantum-Well Again
I had seen this before, but upon having it sent to me again by an actual engineer working in a scientific field, I decided it was worth including it here.

:: David 1:45 PM [+] ::
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Another NASA Conspiracy
The Mars-face people contend that you can find secret truths in certain NASA images if you study them closely enough.
Certainly that's the case with this brand new NASA image which reveals something we're probably not really supposed to know: Nobody actually lives in Canada.

:: David 1:19 PM [+] ::
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This Week At NASAexplores
Two new stories at NE this week:
Finally, the long-awaited astronaut underwear story is online for the enjoyment of all. Thrill as you learn about ISS crewmember wearing undies for days at a time! Learn how Don Pettit grew plants in his dirty spaceunder wear! Learn the secrets of the Russian scientists working to unleash an underwear-eating bacteria! All this and more! Don't miss it!
In addition, find out about the Eagle, which could be the first airplane to fly through the skies ... of Mars!

:: David 11:16 AM [+] ::
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Humor, Explained
Lain sent me this link.

:: David 10:13 AM [+] ::
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Admirable Chirac
Any way the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me.

:: David 9:30 AM [+] ::
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The Loons, Chakotay
Perhaps now that Kate Mulgrew is playing Katherine Hepburn, the can figure out a way to create a very special Trek in which Hepburn plays a really, really old Janeway. This should somehow be central to the temporal cold war.
And if you haven't been back to read it, the Trek discussion several posts back has now turned to what you expect from a good Vulcan.

:: David 9:20 AM [+] ::
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The Core Was Nothing
NASA Watch brings to our attention some very important questions raised during a Congressional hearing yesterday with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, such as what NASA knows about "any pollution resulting from our space probes that cut through the thin veil of light that surrounds the globe." When you go to NASA Watch, scroll down until you find the section titled "Congressional Babbling."

:: David 9:15 AM [+] ::
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Daily Hatbag
As a tribute to the Concorde, I give you this strip.

:: David 9:05 AM [+] ::
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There's A Demon That Lives In The Commercial Sky
Supersonic commercial flight is on the way out as the Concorde fleets will be retired later this year. Despite its operational problems in the past few years and the still-amazingly-high ticket price, the Concorde remains state-of-the-art in high-speed passenger flight, proving that some technology remains viable even after 27 years. Um, other than the fact they're being mothballed.

:: David 9:01 AM [+] ::
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My DogCow Won't Bite If You Sit Real Still
In an example of Dave's dream syndergism, Tori Amos has teamed up with Apple (and also Rollingstone.com) to give you a chance to create the video for her next single. Check it out at Tori's Taxivision. As always, anybody wishing to form a team-up, let me know. Hopefully, this will lead to an ongoing Tori-Apple relationship. "Snow iMacs can wait, I forgot my mittens," "You bet iLife it is, just put in the password," "Made my own customized G4 machine ... iBooks on my right side, iBooks on my left side."

:: David 8:48 AM [+] ::
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What Family Is For
On behalf of my brother, who lacks a paypal account, I just purchased this.

:: David 8:34 AM [+] ::
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If You Believe They Put A Man On The Moon ...
As a reward for your loyal readership, here a link to a free lunar lander game. Enjoy!
(Though they have a slightly different definition of "virtual reality" than I do)

:: David 2:20 PM [+] ::
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If You Believe They Put A Man On The Moon ...
As a reward for your loyal readership, here a link to a free lunar lander game. Enjoy!
(Though they have a slightly different definition of "virtual reality" than I do)

:: David 2:20 PM [+] ::
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Today In History
Forty-four years ago today, the Mercury Seven were announced.

:: David 1:50 PM [+] ::
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Return to Flight
Spaceref.com posted this schedule from Johnson Space Center showing a proposed STS-114 date of October 1, 2003. This has not been announced to the public yet and is not official (in fact, the date has changed in the last two weeks or so--this one was set Tuesday), but it gives you an idea of what the agency is looking at.

:: David 1:44 PM [+] ::
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OSP, PDQ
The Houston Chronicle has one of the best articles I've read recently about NASA's planned Orbital Space Plane. In it, O'Keefe says the timetable for development of OSP could well be sped up by a couple of years, and he paints an interesting picture for OSP support of the International Space Station.

:: David 1:29 PM [+] ::
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War Update
Dear Worldwide Court of Public Opinion:
This should count for something.

:: David 1:18 PM [+] ::
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Columbia Update
Interim recommendations from the CAIB could come as early as Friday. The board currently plans to issue its final report in June.
Also:
Is Hubble in trouble?

:: David 1:15 PM [+] ::
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DVD Update
You'll be happy to know that Robin Williams' "Popeye" will be released on DVD on June 24.

:: David 1:09 PM [+] ::
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Daily Hatbag
Ah, remember Hootie?
(Actually I think they have a new album out.)

:: David 1:03 PM [+] ::
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Vote For NASA
Cast your vote in the Webby People's Choice Awards for NASA and the Earth Observatory.
Please.

:: David 1:00 PM [+] ::
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No life on Mars
Mean NASA scientists have announced that Mars is devoid of advanced life, according to The Onion.

:: David 8:38 AM [+] ::
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Trivia
I got this in e-mail. Long post, but these are kind of cool:

Can you guess which of the following are true or false?

1.. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning. 

2.. Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a bellybutton. 

3.. A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 yrs. 

4.. People do not get sick from cold weather; it's from being indoors  a  lot  more. 

5.. When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop even your heart!

6.. Only seven (7) per cent of the population are lefties.

7.. 40 people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute.

8.. Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until they  are  2-6 years old.

9.. The average person over fifty will have spent 5 years waiting in  lines. 

10.. The toothbrush was invented in 1498.

11.. The average housefly lives for one month.

12.. 40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year.

13.. A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.

14.. The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.

15.. Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than the rest of the day. 

16.. Most of us have eaten a spider in our sleep.

17.. The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to  search  for water. 

18.. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning  it's head are the rabbit and the parrot. 

19.. John Travolta turned down the starring roles in "An Officer and  a  Gentleman" and "Tootsie". 

20.. Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State  anthem.

21.. In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk.

22.. Prince Charles and Prince William don't travel on the same airplane just in case there is a crash. 

23.. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato  can for a carburetor.

24.. Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are reused in vein transplant surgery. 

25.. Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana. They were 7th cousins. 

26.. If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.

(ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE TRUE)

:: David 8:21 AM [+] ::
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