From the man who brought you the X-Prize, the next big thing in sports:
The Rocket Racing League:

""It's bringing 21st-century racing into people's personal living rooms. ... It's really the mix of NASCAR excitement and spaceflight," Diamandis told journalists Monday.

Contestants in the Rocket Racing League would not necessarily pass the 62-mile-high (100-kilometer-high) threshold to outer space, but would vie to go the fastest and the highest in the atmosphere. In that regard, the EZ-Rocket — a rocket plane powered by liquid oxygen and isopropyl alcohol that takes off and lands like an airplane — provides a better model than, say, the air-launched SpaceShipOne rocket plane that won the X Prize almost exactly a year ago.

"For me, it's sort of a remembrance of 'Star Wars' pod racing," Diamandis said. "

Oh yeah! But where are they going to get Jedi to pilot the pods?

More info on the Leaguehere, the X-Prize festival here.

(h/t: HWNNL)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So as you are well aware, the primary laptop (because it was running XP, this POS is running 98 and I'm afraid to upgrade....it runs pretty well) crashed and burned. So I have been catching up on making this little one as user friendly as the other was. First I upgraded Sage and added as many feeds as I could remember. Today was Firefox plugin day. I upgraded to the newest version of FF and then I added the Gmail delete button (YAY!!!), ForecastFox, FoxyTunes, FlashGot, IE Viewer, Translate, and my personal new favorite, ReminderFox, which is a handy lite calendar/to do list that pops up at the bottom of the screen. I hate outlook and all other full calendar programs, and I forget to use them. This one highlights at the bottom of the window when you have a current reminder, and you can just mouse over to see what you needed to remember. All in one window. Excellent.

Now I need to go get Gmail notifier since GoogleTalk doesn't run on Win 98...

Love me some Firefox. What are your favorite extensions and plugins?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:35 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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here's how pathetic I am: Since the other laptop died, I have been without a complete feedlist in my Sage RSS reader, so I took 2 hours this afternoon to go through and attempt to reconstruct the list from my blogroll and others (thanks Ith, Jay and Deb) since I have some blogs on my reading list that hadn't made it into my blogroll yet.

If I drop by your blog frequently, and you don't see me in the next few days, remind me to add you to the feed reader again

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Visitor #50,000 arrived at 4:38 pm PDT courtesy of the lovely Da Goddess, who linked to this post.

I'd like to thank my fairy blog parents, Jay and Deb, for poking me with sharp things until I started blogging; Pixy Misa (which is Aussie-speak for God of all things MT) for my pretty MuNu digs; Beth and HWNNL for giving me huge numbers of recipe readers every week; Baldilocks and Ith for asking me to guest-blog; all the BFLers (who are AWESOME) and especially, Da Goddess, without whose RACK I would not see half so many google hits...

And I how could I forget Boromir and his Fellowship of Ninja Wizards.....
You love me, you really, really love me.....[/sally field]

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:49 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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This is awesome!

A comparison of the scale of the ships from nearly all of your favorite Sci-Fi worlds. There are also a couple of real ships thrown in for comparison.

You know what they say about men and the size of their vehicles.....
So what does that say about this guy? I guess that would also explain the light saber....

(h/t Harvey)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:17 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I got 99 on the Constitution test, for goodness sakes.....

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

(h/t Her Caffeinated Crankiness)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:19 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Ooh. I like my new nickname! "Her Caffeinated Crankiness" has a nice ring to it!

Posted by: CrankyBeach at August 31, 2005 05:10 PM (VA6NK)

2 This quiz was way to easy.

Posted by: Contagion at September 01, 2005 11:51 AM (Q5WxB)

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Jay writes that bloggers all seem to share phone phobia as one of their quirks. Yet we're all big email (and to some extent chat) fans.

I think that has to do with the difference in immediacy between a phone call and email/chat. When you're on the phone, you have to interact, you have to respond. Over email or chat, you can choose to respond when you want, if at all. Over email, you can evaluate the message and the sender more carefully than in a phone conversation (this applies more to talking with people you're not comfortable with) and couch your response more appropriately.

What do you think about that? Do you like email or the phone better? What about chat vs the phone?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:36 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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I now have google talk. Citgirl99 if any of you want to chat....

Problem is, you need a google account, which of course you can only get by invite.

I have several since I have a number of personal gmail accounts, so if you want an invite, drop me a comment**

**if you are a random person that I've never seen on here before, tough luck. Invites go to regular commenters/bloggers first....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:09 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Cool. Guess I might have to break down and do this.

Posted by: vw bug at August 25, 2005 04:08 PM (coJPb)

2 If you've still got one available, I'll accept an invitation. BTW, I don't talk trash during college football season, for obvious reasons.

Posted by: physics geek at August 25, 2005 08:58 PM (DAgzB)

3 At last count, I had approximatley 150 invitations. If a few hundred of your closests friends need an invite and you're out, lemme know.

Posted by: Margi at August 26, 2005 02:00 AM (nwEQH)

4 I heard that Google was going Alpha?

Posted by: Paladin at August 26, 2005 05:20 PM (6rrD3)

5 I finally succumbed and signed up for a gmail account so I could get Google Talk. I wasn't going to, but a friend sent me an invitation. But I'm an IM addict I think. I've got AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and now Google Talk, all handily run through my Trillian program.

Posted by: songstress7 at August 28, 2005 03:31 PM (ie93s)

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Hot Sh*t we're back! At least for the time being....

And it doesn't look like I've lost much if anything...

YAAAAAAAAY!

Pixy is a god.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:24 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Here's Pixy's explanation:

:Crapweasels
A combination of blog-spam, an ineffective denial of service attack, an inadvertant denial of service attack, and possibly other factors, managed to slow the server down to the point that it might as well not have been there for that past few hours.

While I was asleep. The one time each month I'm not logged in, and that's when it has to happen. Mad

Sorry about that, folks. We're back on the air and I'm working to make sure it doesn't happen again."

UPDATE: Trackbacks are off for a while due to the issues we had this morning that appear to be continuing. If you link me, drop me an email or leave a comment!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Read 'em and weep fellow Sudoku addicts.....

Oh yeah!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:00 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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This week's meme appears to be quirks. Several bloggers have been admitting their quirks as of late, so here are mine, I guess...

1. I am like the queen of hospitality. I guess it's the Armenian in me. If you come into my house expect to be served a drink and any kind of food you want in the house. Put your feet up, watch my TV, use my phone, whatever. It may not be the tidiest house on the block, but I can guarantee that you'll feel at home. If you're not comfortable in my home, that makes me sick. It's more important to me that you enjoy yourself than that the house is spotless. However, I expect to be treated the same way in the homes of my friends, and I can get a little irritated if I'm cheaped out on. Especially by someone who has been in MY home many, many times. That makes me feel freakin' used, you know? It really bugs the crap out of me.

2. I tend to get really into the good stuff going on in my friends' lives. Getting married? Expect a big shower and shopping trips and all kinds of help putting everything together. Having a baby? Expect to be deluged with booties and blankets and me asking how you're doing. Having a birthday? At the least a card or email, and if you're in the same town, dinner and a cake. In our lab at UNC, I was known as the one who collected the $$, did the shopping, and organized the party whenever someone got married, graduated, or had a baby. And it was fun. I love doing fun things like that.

3. Here's a weird one: I CAN NOT stand the sound of people chewing. I mean even polite mouth-closed eating. If I'm eating too, it's totally ok, but if DH is sitting next to me snacking while I work, it drives me batshit. I always make him go away to eat. Most other little noises don't even faze me, but chewing can make me retch. Go fig.

4. Like Michele, I have to be covered when I sleep. This doesn't mean PJs necessarily, but I have to at least have a sheet over me or I can't sleep. I think this comes from sleeping directly under a front-facing window growing up. It kind of drives DH crazy. The rheumatoid arthritis has actually made this one worse, since I get weird chills now if I get a draft under the covers.

5. I abhor talking to strangers. I hate using the phone, even to call for pizza. I hate answering the phone and I hate calling anywhere where I don't personally know who I am talking to. Even if I know you and I've never spoken to you over the phone before, I hate calling. (take note those bloggers whose phone #'s I have.... ) I hate drive-through windows, too. It was YEARS after I learned to drive before I went through a drive-through. I can be quite social at a party, and I am more than willing to get up in front of a room full of people and give a presentation, but the phone and the drive through, no way. As an extension of this, I also hate going ANYWHERE alone. ANYWHERE. For years I wouldn't even go to the grocery store alone. Being an army wife with a husband stationed 1200 miles away for 3 years changed that, but I still HATE going anywhere alone and I won't if I can help it. It makes me feel strange and vulnerable.

6. I get really antsy when I ride in the front seat while someone else drives. Especially if I think they're too close to the car in front. Super- especially while braking hard. I've been in 2 serious car crashes (wasn't hurt in either one -- props to Chrysler for making Neons so awesome in a crash), and both of them were front end collisions on my end. So if I'm in your car and I tell you to slow down or stop, just ignore me unless I see something in front of you that you don't.

7. (Bonus round) Quickies:
**Must. Have. Remote. (DH and I each have one for the bedroom TV)
**I Hate predictable situations in movies and TV. It's not funny and it makes me cringe.
**Oh yeah, and TP goes under, not over.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:28 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 I totally knew #2. You've been so wonderfully supportive of me, the DH and our lil' peanut, I just knew that was the way you are. Don't change a hair for me. . . )

Posted by: Margi at August 22, 2005 12:48 AM (nwEQH)

2 TP under?? No way, uh uh. If you ever make it out to Australia and visit, if you use up the roll, don't be putting the new one on, I'll do it! hehe And I am so with you on the driving/going places alone thing. Except for going to work, I hate driving by myself, especially if it is a fair distance. I feel vulnerable too, like I'm going to come across a situation that I am so not going to be able to deal with.

Posted by: Amanda at August 22, 2005 01:23 AM (8Bhm3)

3 I enjoy being the cruise director / party planner too!! Sounds like you're the bestest hostess! TP under!??

Posted by: Marie at August 22, 2005 07:45 AM (410kz)

4 Over! But totally with you on the phone thing.

Posted by: Jay at August 22, 2005 12:28 PM (NxYzY)

5 Yeah. The phone thing. I absolutely despise the telephone, and wish it could somehow be de-invented. I would much rather communicate with people face to face, by email, by IM, by snail mail, or even by passenger pigeon. Anything but that damn telephone!

Posted by: Paul Burgess at August 22, 2005 02:08 PM (q36UY)

6 If you come into my house expect to be served a drink and any kind of food you want in the house Awesome. Can I come over? My grandmother has that, but to the point where you kind of want to give her a Xanax at times. I run out of ways to say "No, grandma, really, everything is wonderful and delicious and swell and I swear on all that's holy I am not just saying that." She is an excellent hostess, but I think she drives herself a little batty with it now and then. Re: last asterisk--I absolutely second that. UNDER. Make the weight of the roll help you in separating the tissues! It's not, ha ha, rocket science! And the boyfriend and I totally argue over who has to call for pizza as we're both phobic about talking to strangers, too. Maybe I should have gone for an extrovert.

Posted by: ilyka at August 22, 2005 05:54 PM (z+oQt)

7 Who hoo! Free liscence to mooch! I'll be visiting soon . I swear, you and my #$^%$ing mom with the TP, sheesh.

Posted by: Ben at August 22, 2005 08:15 PM (NIpoo)

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I added the category archive links..... more minor tweaking to come.

Some of you should appreciate the humor behind the latest character......

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My life is rated R.
What is your life rated?

(h/t Jay Solo)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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For those of you who have gotten through the book....

Who do YOU think R.A.B. is?

My guess below the fold... more...

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:08 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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During my jaunt across the country I got hit with a minor tidal wave of spam comments and a few trackback spams. Since I had about ZERO time to deal with it, I marked all of the errant bits and left them in the mailbox to be dealt with later. Imagine my surprise when I sat down to clean up the old blog this morning and found that ALL of them had been wiped already, except for a trackback spam that arrived this AM. Fluffy (the MuNu anti-spam watchdog) had scared them all away already.

There's a reason we pay that dog in prime steak.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:15 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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PERMANENTLY.

I passed!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:24 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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1 YAY!!!! Now I really wish I could see you this weekend!

Posted by: Ith at May 26, 2005 01:49 PM (nt+rp)

2 Hoo-rah! Congratchamalations!

Posted by: CrankyBeach at May 26, 2005 01:55 PM (tG1DG)

3 Woohoo!!!

Posted by: Jay at May 26, 2005 02:02 PM (8n5zS)

4 Woo-hoo! Yay! Congrats! Enjoy your vacation!

Posted by: Deb at May 26, 2005 02:02 PM (8n5zS)

5 Congratulations!

Posted by: IB Bill at May 26, 2005 02:29 PM (6WcMd)

6 Congratulations. Does this mean you're buying at He's Not or Top of the Hill?

Posted by: Super G at May 26, 2005 02:57 PM (EeQUM)

7 Congratulations! I knew you would do it. Have a great vacation!

Posted by: shrinkette at May 26, 2005 03:21 PM (hqlzt)

8 Congrats, Doc.

Posted by: Jon at May 26, 2005 03:48 PM (9tzOa)

9 Congrats Dr!

Posted by: vw bug at May 26, 2005 04:01 PM (V4mW3)

10 Congratulations Dr. CalTechGirl! Enjoy the vacation.

Posted by: Laughing Wolf at May 26, 2005 04:11 PM (NsECb)

11 Woohoo!!! Dancing rodents form a line and wind their way around the room doing 3 steps and a kick.

Posted by: Jenna at May 26, 2005 04:48 PM (f/kUC)

12 Congratulations!!! So, how would you like us to address you now... Dr. Caltechgirl? or Caltechgirl, PhD? Have a great vaca!!

Posted by: Marie at May 26, 2005 04:48 PM (cRiTs)

13 Hey, congratulations!!!!!

Posted by: Paul Burgess at May 26, 2005 06:01 PM (7EVyU)

14 Well done you! Congratulations!

Posted by: amanda at May 26, 2005 06:30 PM (cqrWD)

15 Congratulations. Hey doc? I have this funky looking growth on my foot, do you think you could take a look at it for me? I know... not that kind of Doctor.

Posted by: Contagion at May 27, 2005 09:02 AM (Q5WxB)

16 YAY!!! Good work, chick! Now come home! ;-)

Posted by: Pam at May 27, 2005 10:19 AM (eDzc4)

17 Congrtulations, Dr. Techgirl! Can we still call you Cal?

Posted by: Xrlq at May 27, 2005 05:01 PM (585Ar)

18 How about Dr. Supergenius?

Posted by: caltechgirl at May 27, 2005 05:31 PM (MyDiA)

19 Are you going to start referring to us as the "little people" now? ;-) Congratulations, Dr. Girl. Now go do something spectacular.

Posted by: Kathleen at May 28, 2005 10:45 AM (zGCA0)

20 Congratulations!!!!

Posted by: Bou at May 30, 2005 10:49 PM (z7nbM)

21 That is just awesome! Congratulations. You should be proud of your hard work! Now go bask in your success! :-)

Posted by: Sissy at May 31, 2005 10:24 AM (MWVDQ)

22 Congrats! Go party!

Posted by: Princess Jami at May 31, 2005 11:20 AM (0gPLe)

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I got your "Hand-Raiser" right here, Ben.

Me and Hermione Granger.

Hand-Raiser You are 85% Rational, 57% Extroverted, 42% Brutal, and 42% Arrogant.

You are the Hand-Raiser, that annoying kid in class who always had an answer for everything. No doubt, as a child you probably sat in the front of the class, anxiously waving your hand back and forth in the air while your teacher desperately tried to avoid calling on you because you were the ONLY f*cking kid that answered her questions. Clearly, the key traits of your personality are your rationality and your extroversion. You are like a little talkative calculator, in other words. You also tend to be rather gentle and less arrogant than most people. So what is your defect, then? Well, you're boring, and when you're not boring, you are just plain annoying with your ultra-logical responses and constant need to talk to others. So keep waving that hand in the air, son. I'm still not calling on you. You are too logical, you talk too much, and your humility and gentleness only makes me hate you more, because they make me feel like I almost SHOULDN'T hate you. But I do. Big time. To put it less negatively: 1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive. 2. You are more EXTROVERTED than introverted. 3. You are more GENTLE than brutal. 4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant. Compatibility: Your exact opposite is the Brute. Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Braggart, the Haughty Intellectual, and the Robot.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:06 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 "Oh pick me teacher, I'm ever so smart." Martin Prince Heh. I though you might end up a Haughty Intellectual, but I gguess you work with enough of those.

Posted by: Ben at May 22, 2005 06:01 PM (NIpoo)

2 I got "Smartass" Didn't see that one coming a mile away....

Posted by: the Pirate at May 23, 2005 02:19 PM (SksyN)

3 No. not at all

Posted by: caltechgirl at May 23, 2005 02:23 PM (5VQpT)

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Scientology is so passe. How about Fictionology? Now there's a pseudoreligion I could get my mind around.

"Fictionology's central belief, that any imaginary construct can be incorporated into the church's ever-growing set of official doctrines, continues to gain popularity. Believers in Santa Claus, his elves, or the Tooth Fairy are permitted—even encouraged—to view them as deities. Even corporate mascots like the Kool-Aid Man are valid objects of Fictionological worship.

"My personal savior is Batman," said Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Greg Jurgenson. "My wife chooses to follow the teachings of the Gilmore Girls. Of course, we are still beginners. Some advanced-level Fictionologists have total knowledge of every lifetime they have ever lived for the last 80 trillion years."

"Sure, it's total bullshit," Jurgenson added. "But that's Fictionology. Praise Batman!""

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:58 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Notice which school was first? Huh? Didja? Notice which school (MIT) wasn't on the list?

Mwahahahahahahahaha

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:10 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Hey...I stopped paying attention once I was rejected by Stanford after being acccepted by MIT. Despite spending my work-study years working in the Admissions Office; sometimes I still thing that at some point...they just start picking names out of a hat or something!

Posted by: PurpleMD at May 12, 2005 04:02 AM (R9Nla)

2 I bow to your great geekitude! Funny that David Duchovny is on the list... So, when you gonna run for pres?

Posted by: Marie at May 12, 2005 07:10 AM (cRiTs)

3 I wish this had been around when I was in high school, I would have known where to apply and actually get in

Posted by: KG at May 12, 2005 12:07 PM (8u5Sl)

4 Some might think that you are overcompensating for the fact that your high school didn't provide you with the opportunity to try out for the pep squad. Not me, mind you, but some.

Posted by: Peter Sean Bradley at May 12, 2005 05:22 PM (pO1tP)

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