Commonwealth of Marathon

[Jmouse]

Great daily! I love trains on curves - if you don't believe me just ask tooheys! The trees and crops look good, too, and that's one Texas-size jack rabbit at the bottom center!

Later...
Joan

[SpilltMilk]

$1600 - What is a Kiwi?

[threestooges]

Nice work with the double Jeopardy rounds Dustin. Fun clues. As for your recent pic, it has been a while since I've seen the post office used (and you've used it well) and the rural rail looks great. How do you manage to get passenger trains so long? Mine usually cut after several cars or so. Great work, you always seem to come up with something new.
-Matt

[thundercrack83]

alan_vzla: Thanks for getting your answers in, my friend! We'll see how you did in a moment!

Earth quake: Hello! We've missed you around Marathon—I do hope all is well!

alan_vzla: Thanks for posting again, rather than editing, my friend! As for the train skin, it is the VIA Rail Trains by den52. Enjoy!

bluesinjid: Hi! The official answers are on the way!

Zack (woodb3kmaster) Hello there, Zack! We'll be seeing if you've added to your lead very soon!

Dan (dsrwhat316): Hi, Dan! Unfortunately, today was the last round of Double Jeopardy! However, Final Jeopardy! is coming up around the corner, so get ready!

deathtopumpkins: Thank you, my friend!

Joan (Jmouse): I've found myself taking a lot of pictures of trains of curves—I think I'm in love with them, too! And that's a big sucker, isn't it? Though, from my experience on the Texas highways (well, I-45 from Dallas to Houston and back) it would have been an armadillo! Thanks for stopping by, Joan!

SpilltMilk: Welcome to Marathon! And thank you for getting in on the game!

Matt (threestooges): Hello, Matt! Thanks for your great comments and support, my friend! On the length of the trains, I usually use a train generator, so I'm not sure if that has any bearing on the length. I can look into it for you, though! Thanks for coming by!

Official results for December 19...

$400: alan_vzla, What is the Gulf of Riga?
$800: alan_vzla, What is British Columbia?
$1200: Zack (woodb3kmaster), What is Footnote?
$1600: alan_vzla What is Kiwi?
$2000: alan_vzla, What is London?

And our standings at the end of Double Jeopardy!

[tabular type=5]
[row]
[head]

CONTESTANT[/head]
[head]

WINNINGS[/head]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Zack (woodb3kmaster)[/data]
[data]

$11600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]alan_vzla[/data]
[data]

$6800[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Dan (dsrwhat316)[/data]
[data]

$4800[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Robin (rooker1)[/data]
[data]

$4800[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Paul (paroch)[/data]
[data]

$3400[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]deathtopumpkins[/data]
[data]

$2800[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]projectadam[/data]
[data]

$2600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Carmine (CarmineHilton)[/data]
[data]

$1600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]homefryes[/data]
[data]

$1400[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Derry (TheTeaCat)[/data]
[data]

$1200[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Jon (JBSimio)[/data]
[data]

$1200[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Matt (threestooges)[/data]
[data]

$1000[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Joan (Jmouse)[/data]
[data]

$400[/data]
[/row]
[/tabular]

In the eleventh hour, alan_vzla made a huge leap, but Zack (woob3kmaster) still has a commanding lead headed into Final Jeopardy! It is, by no means, a runaway, though!

As for Final Jeopardy!, there will be more on that over the weekend...

OK, let's continue!

DECEMBER 20

One word—xannepan!

The Gare du Nord is, hands down, my favorite train station ever, and the Bourse de Commerces is simply incredible! When you have amazing custom content like this, all you have to do is take the picture and let their magnificence shine through!

Updates (note the plural!) on the horizon...I know, I know! I've been saying that for a week!

[sim-al2]

   Oxygen starvation...   ...must reach bottled air.

[JBSimio]

Some great pictures the last few days, Dustin!

I missed a couple while battling the holiday travelers, but I'm rather glad you haven't gotten to that promised full update yet.  (I'd never catch up if you had!)  I loved the water!  It looked so... um... BLUE!  And also very... hmmm... WET!  Yeah, that's it...   In all seriousness, I do like the post office building with the highway running through.  It's almost too bad there was never a version made for sunken highways.  (Hmmm... might be something to think about for me someday... )  Either way, you managed to make it fit very well.

You can post FARR pictures all day and I won't mind a bit.  You have a great eye for capturing images that are fairly simple and yet still very full of detail and life.   

Nice dog... and also nice to see Santa sporting a little bling...

As for today's picture... well you already summed it up perfectly.  When you find buildings like that, no more really needs to be said!

See you next time, my friend!
JB

[paroch]

That sure is an awesome pic there Dustin - great custom content or not, you still have to plop 'em and get the traffic to flow!!

[Earth quake]

Wow, dustin. 
Excellent update.
I like the "gare du nord", It's my favourite bat (because I'm french)

So, I want a new update or teaser. 

[bat]

Great work on that newest picture there, Dustin! It is looking wonderful!!!

[thundercrack83]

sim-al2: Ha! Thank you, though I hope your got some air, my friend!

Jon (JBSimio): Hi, Jon! Those holiday travelers are insane, aren't they? Things have been compounded here in the Northeast by inclement weather, so I've been sticking close to home as much as possible. Thank you so very much for your wonderful comments, too, my friend! And, you're definitely right about the buildings, too! There's other ones that "stand alone in magnificence"—The Citizen Building, the Stearns Building, the Buder Building...well, you get the point! Hope you're weekend is going well, my friend!

Paul (paroch): Hi, Paul! Thanks so much, my friend!

Earth quake: Bonjour! I love the Gare du Nord, too. It's absolutely wonderful! Thanks for coming by, my friend!

bat: Hi, bat! Thanks so much for your support!



OK! Let's see what we have for this last Sunday before Christmas...

DECEMBER 21

Nothing says "Christmas" like an arena and a ballpark! These extraordinary BATs are courtesy of teemu_om, and can be found at ST. The Toyota Center is on the STEX, however Safeco Field—home of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners—is too large to be offered on the STEX, so it can be found in the North American Stadiums thread, started by teemu_om over at ST.

And speaking of the Houston's Toyota Center...I was actually fortunate enough to go there back in April to see Bruce Springsteen...

Great show at a great arena in a great city. Though, I must admit, I've been in so many arenas that a pretty much all look alike inside!

Be on the lookout tomorrow, too for the official rules and start of our Final Jeopardy! round!

See you then!

[kimcar]

So sorry mate to had miss a lot of your great work , but you know what is RL . Brillant idea the Jeopardy game , even if had no time to play Great pic too and for the rest an Happy Holidays and take care

[bluesinjid]

Wow now those stadiums really fit your cj perfectly! I agree they are really top of the line stadiums!

[Jmouse]

Great couple of dailies there, Dustin! You seem to be faring quite well during the holiday rush - completely organized, etc. - while I'm still looking for the "Start" gate! I don't know how you do it, but that's one tutorial you could make a million bucks on if you're willing to share!

And since I'm so far behind, I'll backtrack and agree that you won't see many jackrabbits between Dallas and Houston. But go a bit farther west and they're thicker than squirrels during the pecan harvest. We used to have a deer lease at Lampasas, about an hour or so NNW of Austin where we bagged a whole lot more jackrabbits than we did deer! Those were fun times long ago and far away.

Later...
Joan

[bat]

Wonderful new picture there for yesterday! It looks really nice!!!

[thundercrack83]

kimcar: Hi, my friend! Don't worry about missing stuff, it's OK! I hope all is well, and thank you for the great comments and holiday wishes!

bluesinjid: Thanks so much, my friend!

Joan (Jmouse): Hey, Joan! I have to say that part of my delay on starting an MD was the fact that I wanted to come up with some kind of organizational system for doing things, both in the game and as well as on the update and actual "MDing" end of things. I think I've got it pretty well figured out for now! And it sounds like the areas around Austin, Texas, have a lot of fun going, too! When I was at the concert in Houston, we met some people there that kept telling us that we have to get to Austin and check things out. Maybe next time I'm down in the Lone Star State, I'll have to get there! Take care, my friend!

bat: Danke, bat!



We'll start today with...

DECEMBER 22

...our picture!

Another simple downtown intersection picture. I enjoy making pictures like this because there's really no rules, just make sure you put buildings together that fit with each other, and you're on your way!

And what else do we have for today, hmmm...Oh! That's right—

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Originally, I was going to have everyone make wagers based on their total winnings, but then I figured that might get a bit too confusing, so instead we'll do Final Jeopardy! the same way as the first two rounds, only we'll have two rounds—today and tomorrow—with three questions apiece, and increased money values.

This is for all the marbles...Good luck!

[tabular type=5]
[row]
[head colspan=3]

FINAL JEOPARDY!
MONDAY, DECEMBER 22[/head]
[/row]
[row]
[head][/head]
[head][/head]
[head]

___________________________________________________________________[/head]
[/row]
[row]
[data]

$1000[/data]
[data]

MEDITERRANEAN GEOGRAPHY[/data]
[data]This southern Greek peninsula was once called Morea, or "Mulberry", for its mulberry-leaf shape[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]

$2500[/data]
[data]

ON THE MAP[/data]
[data]Name two of the three countries classified as extending across two continents[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]

$5000[/data]
[data]

WORLD CAPITALS[/data]
[data]This capital city of 113,000 is the closest national capital to the Arctic Circle[/data]
[/row]
[/tabular]

Oh, and there will be an update later tonight...or else!

[art128]

great picture Dustin, you use the good BAT to go here. 
The pictures I missed are also great my friend, good work with the Toyota Center and the stadium on the left top, combined with a great train station ! 
As for the "quizz"

$1000 => What is Mani Peninsula ?

$2500 => What is Russia and Turkey ?

$5000 => What is Reykjavík ?

[CasperVg]

Oops, sorry for not having a peek in here for the past few days, but I must say I liked everything I catched up with.

Gah, you beat me to them, Arthur!

[Jmouse]

Oh, I really like this daily - the foggy atmosphere is very well done without being overdone.
Good luck to the Jeopardy contestants, and to all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!.

Later...
Joan

[thundercrack83]

Arthur (art128): Thanks for playing, my friend! We'll see how you did in a little bit!

Casper (caspervg): Hi, Casper! No worries, this time of year is hectic for all of us!

Joan (Jmouse): Hi there, Joan! I'm glad you enjoyed today's picture! And a Happy Holidays to you, too, my friend!

Official results for December 22...

$1000: No correct answers, yet.
$2500: Arthur (art128), What are Russia and Turkey (Egypt is the third)?
$5000: Arthur (art128), What is Reykjavik?

The $1000 question is still up for grabs, though Arthur has punched a big hole in the lead that Zack (woodb3kmaster) has for himself!

Moving on...

UPDATE XII
STR...Simply Tremendous Rails!
(Or, ST—(A)Ren't These Amazing?!!?)
22 December 2008

So, here's that update I've been mentioning for a little while now...though, truth be told, it's not the update I had in mind the whole time. But, something pretty incredible has come up!

You're probably already aware by now, but our great friend David (dedgren) and the RAM Team have unveiled the first BETA Test group for the Single Track Rails, or STR, over at 3RR.

Well, since I have the pleasure and the privilege of being a BETA Tester, I thought that I would put together a bit of a "Who's Who?" of the STR!

We start with...

...the STR pieces themselves!

1. Starter Piece
2. 90° Curve
3. 45° Curve
4. 90° Curve Off STR Switch
5. 45° Curve Off STR Switch
6. 90° Curve Off Dual Rail Straight Switch
7. 45° Curve Off Dual Rail Straight Switch
8. Single Track to Parallel STR Switch
9. Double Track to Parallel STR Switch
10. S-Curve
11. Double to Single Track Transition
12. Diagonal STR to Orthogonal STR Switch
13. Diagonal Dual Rail to Orthogonal STR Switch
14. Diagonal S-Curve
15. Straight Filler Piece
16. Diagonal Filler Piece

The Starter Piece...

...allows for draggable STR...

...which inof itself, is pretty groundbreaking!

There's some little things to be aware, though...

Circled above, you can see that after placing one of the ploppable pieces (the 90° Curve Off STR Switch in the above picture), the regular dual rail pieces are at the end. How do we handle that, you ask?

Well, for one thing, DO NOT...

...try to delete them!

Taking a step back—

What you can do is...

...plop a starter piece facing the dual rail section...

... then just connect them!

Here's the switch all finished up.

Here's a few pieces in action!

And where would we be with out a bit of eye-candy?

Tunnels work, too...

More eye-candy...

And one last picture with me fooling around!

So that is the STR as it stands now. Since it's only in a BETA, I'm sure that things will be tweaked here and there. If and when they are, I'll be sure to address them here!

If you're looking for more STR stuff, or just looking for something incredible to look at, I'd suggest heading straight over to 3RR immediately!

See you over there!

[deathtopumpkins]

Excellent STR pics Dustin!

As for the $1000 Jeopardy question though, I'm stumped.