Guard Dog

A spent all day working on my new secret project. It is going to be extremely cool once it's finished. I converted my garage into a TV room last year and I've been trying to decorate it in a retro 80s theme. Anyway, I've got the perfect thing for it and anyone who was a teen ager in to 80's is going to LOVE this. What is it? I can't show because it's not working yet. But it will be cool once I repair/refubish it.

I have been getting into this a lot lately. I have had pretty good results with Sony Vegas Movie Studio and Sony DVD Architect . They are packaged together and cost around $59.99 to $79.99 US. The only big flaw is that if you need to crop or mix audio you need a seperate editor to do it. And it is not terribly user friendly but it pretty powerful once you learn how to use it.

I remember the day I scored high enough to roll the Asteroids game over. And it was on the hard setting where the UFO was invisible and the asteroids went diagonal as well as up and down. I was in a zone! It was the greatest accomplishemt in the nine years of life I had lived! Hmmm based on how my life has gone, maybe it still is.

No it has a faux wood front. It was plastic with an aluminum frame. Remember is was made in the 70's, they thought fake wood grain was cool back then. They also thought the Beejees and Donnie and Marie were cool too so you have to make allowances. The amazing thing is this system has less computing power than a cheap microwave oven. It got very hot too if you played it too long.

Excerpt, link to original:Sun Sentinel This is so cool. I still have mine and I pull is out every once in a while for some nostalgic space invader zapping. If you ever owned one of these what were your favorite games? For me is was Tanks, Outlaw, Asteroids, and Star Raiders.

In 1939 the French based all of their defenses on static fortifications. In other words they were preparing to fight WW1 over again. They were not prepared for the mobility of the German blitzkrieg. A fortification is useless if you can get around it, and the Germans did that by attacking through The Netherlands and Belgium something the French did not consider. Where they did give battle they were hopelessly outclassed. It was not fair to say they did not fight hard to repel the invasion, they were simply overwhelmed. However, when the armistice was signed in June 1940 over 70% of the French armed forces were still intact and for the most part they meekly obeyed the order to cease fire. And of course there is the despicable Vichy faction who surrendered without firing a shot. And worse they began to actively aid the Germans. I can not imagine a US military that is 70% intact to stop fighting an invader simply because Washington DC fell and a President was forced to capitulate. It would never happen. American history has many examples of our tenacity in war. At the Alamo they fought to the last man rather than surrender. At Wake Island every single able defender died fighting off the Japanese despite numerous calls to surrender. When the Corregidor fell and Wainwright ordered all US forces in the P.I. to surrender most went into the hills to fight as guerrillas. During the revolution the Continental Navy fought the Battle of Valcour Island literally to the last ship to prevent or delay a British landing in North Carolina that may have won the war for Britain. The 101st Airborne was totally surrounded at Bastogne and outnumbered 10 to 1 by the Germans. When asked to surrender and save his men Gen McAuliffe answered "Nuts". They fought for two days and held the Germans out until Pattons 3rd Army broke the siege. There are many many more examples. Heck was the war of 1812 over when the British captured Washington DC? No! The point I'm trying to make here is that it is not fair to say the French did not fight back, but it is fair to say they gave up pretty easily once the capital fell. That is a big reason why so many speak of the French with disdain. But that is not deserved either. Most of the French today never surrendered to anyone.

I forget where I read this. I think it was in Kissingers book Diplomacy. French antagonisim of the US actually began in the height of the Cold War before and leading up to the Berlin Air lift. The French were taking a more concillitory tone with the Soviets. They argued more for accomedation rather than confrontation. But the rest of NATO decided to side with the US and take a more confrontational track with the Soviets. It seems the county that suffered greatest in WW2 did not learn the lessons of it.

Well my favorite by far is not actually from a game but a mod of a game. The soundtrack to the Rome: Total Realism mod for Rome: Total War is simply outstanding. Far better than what actually is in the vanilla game. If you want to give a listen check out the mod here. http://www.rometotalrealism.org/ If you download the mod it's easy to poke around in it and extract the audio files. I don't remember what format they are in but they convert to MPEGs easily enough. I also loved the soundtrack to the original Medieval Total War. The new one, not so much.

It's almost 1 AM here in South Florida. I've just made a drink (Wild Turkey and Dr. Pepper), I've got a Stone Coyotes CD playing (Church of the Falling Rain) and I'm heading out to the back porch to enjoy the peace and quiet. Life is good! Hmmm I may call in sick tomorrow.

Too funny, I just spilled coffee everywhere reading that!

Well heck, if the dolphin took him out for drinks and dinner it's going to expect something from him!

Our whole nuclear arsenal needs to be reduced as well. Now if only there was a way to reduce the world's total number of people and nukes at the same time.

I bought it today. I'll give it a shot after I finish off the Byzantines in my MTW2 game.

At Target the 4 disk jewel case is $10

Disciples II gold and it's expansions can be had for $10 US. Is it any good? I know nothing about it.

Rereading The Sea Wolf by Jack London. This was far and away his best work. Wolf Larsen: "Look at him now. True he is not what you would term muscular, but he has muscles, which is more than he had when he came aboard. He also has legs to stand on. You would not think so to look at him but he was quite unable to stand alone at first." Van Weyden: "I stand on my own legs and I have yet to stamp upon others with them" Wolf Larsen: "Your education is only half completed then." Literary gold

I doubt there is a bigger advocate for humane treatment of animals on this board than me. But if this is being done for food that I can understand. Dolphins are not endangered after all. If it were being done for sport or spite that of course would be abhorrent. Don't look for outcry from hollywood types or American liberals. Their croccodile tears are only shed for causes that are politcally expedient. This one is a non starter. But as far as a news story goes I'm more concerend about the recent slaughter of Dolphins in Wembly Stadium.

OK, heart beating faster, breathing speeding up, yes I do believe I'm feeling it. Yes, it is! Excitement! Enthusiasim! It's been so long!

Totally agree with you on this one. This movie does not work on a regular movie set. The location and setting made that what it was.

I'm surprised there are no Hellraiser fans here. The movies are not great but they do have a certain shock value. But then we haven't heard from Dark Raven yet.

For basic training I'll give you the same advice I got before getting on a bus for Parris Island, "Don't be first, don't be last. Don't be fastest and certainly don't be slowest. And above all, don't give them a reason to remember your name." Do that and you will have a much easier time of it!

Call me crazy but I also loved the Blair Witch Project. It was a really novel concept that had not been done before or since. Remember how many people thought it was real? By never actually showing what they were running from or screaming at it really heightened the suspense.

Getting into the Halloween mode here post your favorite horror movies. Any language, any era. Know of a good one? I want to hear about it. My favorite is The Exorcism of Emily Rose. It was great for all of the reasons The Exorcist was without the cheesy effects. And the fact that it was based on a true story added to the atmosphere.

I could not do your job for all the corn in Iowa. I have no people skills and it is at least likely I would have punched that guy.