Elephant
Centipede
Question: WTF? This makes no sense
Cheap Talk, throw your two cents in. Listen to what I have to say and you may actually enjoy yourself.
New Futurama Is Nearly Here | |||
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Nanosatellites weigh less than 10kg |
The "nanosats", each weighing 1kg, will blast into orbit on board an Ariane rocket in 2007, said Arianespace.
Each satellite will represent a nation, and will do small-scale research experiments during two years in orbit.
The former Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 was the size of a basketball and became the first artificial satellite of the Earth on 4 October, 1957.
"Just like 50 years ago, when the first manmade Earth satellite was launched, these nanosatellites will signal a new era for scientists worldwide," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive officer for Arianespace.
The company markets launch services for the European Space Agency (Esa).
"Arianespace is very proud to be participating in this commemoration," he added. "Supporting science and research is an integral part of our assigned mission."
Space race
Compared with Sputnik which weighed 83kg, nanosatellites weigh under 10kg and can be sent up in clusters in low-Earth orbit, which is less than 2,000km above the planet's surface.
Increased miniaturisation of electronic and mechanical components has made it possible to construct much smaller and lighter satellites.
Sputnik was the first human-made object to go into orbit |
UK satellite company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited has developed small satellites, like SNAP-1 which was launched in June 2000.
It weighed 6.5kg and carried micro-miniature GPS navigation, camera technology, onboard computing, propulsion and attitude control technologies.
Commercial telecommunications satellites are costly, commonly as big as buses, and can weigh up to eight tonnes.
At the time of Sputnik 1's historic launch, which was described as "the simplest kind of baby moon", the US and the Soviet Union were in a race to space.
Some voiced concerned about its launch because its orbit would take it over the US seven times.
Others speculated that its launcher rocket could be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon thousands of kilometres.
Sputnik 1 was followed a month later by Sputnik 2, which carried the first living creature, a dog called Laika, into space.
In December 1957, a US rocket carrying a test satellite exploded. The US successfully launched its first satellite, Explorer, in February 1958.
The mission for 2007 was announced at the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) congress in Vancouver, Canada.
I was just on Public Citizen's website (www.citizen.org) and found this very helpful webpage.
Click on this http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2524 to read it.
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp needs to establish an unwavering marketing strategy for its PlayStation 3 game machine to drive growth of its console business, the head of Japanese videogame publisher Square Enix Co Ltd said.
"Sony first unveiled the PS3 as a mighty home electronics product. Then, after some badgering from game companies, it shifted the position of the console closer to a game machine," Square Enix President Yoichi Wada told reporters on Friday.
"(The future of the PS3) would be tough if its marketing strategy is not straightened up," he said.
Sony's PS3 is packed with cutting-edge technologies such as a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player and a Cell microchip, dubbed "supercomputer on a chip", making it advanced enough to be a hub of living room electronics, a high-speed gateway to the Internet, as well as a game machine.
But on the downside, these state-of-the-art capabilities drove up manufacturing costs. The basic version of the PS3 retails twice as high as Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii.
The high price and scarcity of strong game titles have caused the PS3 to lag far behind the Wii in unit sales since their launches late last year.
In a sign of changing fortunes of the two Japanese video game makers, Nintendo in June became one of Japan's 10 most valuable companies, and in doing so, bumped Sony off the top 10 list.
Shares in Sony, locked in a battle with Nintendo and Microsoft Corp for dominance in the $30 billion video game industry, closed down 1.4 percent at 5,640 yen, while Nintendo fell 1.5 percent to 52,900 yen.
Square Enix, known for such blockbuster game titles as "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy", was up 1.1 percent at 3,750 yen.
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is a character in the movie Ghostbusters and the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. He was the cartoon mascot of the fictitious Stay Puft Corporation which produced marshmallows. He was thought to be a parody of the real-life Pillsbury Doughboy and Bibendum, the Michelin tire man.[11] Jonah Goldberg of the National Review referenced the Marshmallow man as a popular culture symbol that people assume is harmless, but can be turned to evil in the right circumstances.[12] The costume was created by Bill Bryan using miniatures, optical compositing and Bill Bryan himself in the latex suit.[13] His image has been found in a microscopic etching on a 1988 Mac computer chip.[14]
In the film, an ancient Sumerian god called Gozer arrives atop an apartment building on Central Park West in New York City, where it tells the Ghostbusters that the next thing they think of will be the form Gozer will assume to destroy their world. Despite their efforts to clear their minds, Ray Stanz imagines the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. As he explains, Mr. Stay Puft "just popped in there" as "something that could never possibly destroy us." Moments later a giant (112 feet 6 inches [34.3 meters] tall) Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is seen walking towards the apartment building. The Ghostbusters shoot at Stay Puft with their proton packs, setting him on fire, but not stopping his advance. The Ghostbusters eventually stop Stay Puft when Egon suggests that the Ghostbusters cross their proton pack streams as they fire at Gozer's portal—although Egon himself had warned them early in the film that crossing the proton streams "would be bad," he does assure them that there is a very slim chance in this case that they could survive. The plan succeeds in causing "total protonic reversal", destroying the gate. The explosion generated by the event incinerates the Stay Puft man, raining molten marshmallow down onto the roof of the skyscraper they are on and the street below.
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man also appears in the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, contradicting the events of the original film. No explanation is offered as to how Mr. Stay Puft, originally the newest incarnation of Gozer, became his own entity. Although Stay Puft was portrayed originally as a mindless monster in "Cry Uncle", by later episodes he had become a kind-hearted, almost child-like figure. Again, this change is never fully explained, save a vague reference by Peter that he is "all better now" when a police officer reminds him of Stay Puft's previous rampages. Mr. Stay Puft soon became an ally to the team, helping the Ghostbusters defeat enemies too powerful to fight on their own. The character was voiced by John Stocker, and later by Frank Welker.
Over the years, a moderate amount of merchandise has focused around the character and has become an icon for the Ghostbusters film. A number of McDonald's Happy Meal toys have featured the character. To coincide with the film's release, Kenner released an action figure with limited articulation that included rotation in the head and arms in 1986. A Japanese vinyl kit of the character was also released by Tsukuda as was Kenner's plush Marshmallow Man.
In 2004, company NECA licensed the Ghostbusters franchise to produce a number of modern Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (and other Ghostbusters related) merchandise such as a Bobble-head toy, a resin statue and a 15 inch roto-cast plastic action figure. The NECA version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man displayed a more menacing and evil version of the character compared to that of Kenner's, which portrayed the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man as a more gentle looking figure. This was probably what he would have looked like as he was destroying New York, rather than Kenner's, which would portray him as the more consumer friendly version that would appear on packages of Stay Puft Marsmallows.
He has been referenced several times in popular culture. On the television series Lost, one of the nicknames Sawyer gives Hurley is 'Stay Puft', due to his weight. On the MTV Show Viva La Bam, Don Vito is referred to as the Stay Puft Man due to his weight. The movie Shrek 2 includes a scene with a giant gingerbread man named Mongo that is intended as a spoof of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. In the Homestar Runner Halloween toon "Homestarloween Party", one of the characters, Pom Pom, dressed up as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for his Halloween costume.
The person inside the Stay Puft costume during shooting was the costume's creator, Bill Bryan. According to the Ghostbusters DVD special features, the 10 second scene of Stay Puft climbing the building while on fire cost almost $100,000. The first take was ruined when the costume caught fire too quickly and Bill Bryan had to be extinguished. A new suit had to be constructed, at the cost of around $50,000 a piece. Originally, when Mr. Stay Puft is destroyed in the movie, there was a scene in which, in addition to the marshmallow goo, Mr. Stay Puft's hat also falls to the ground. The scene was ultimately cut due to the "hat", a large cloth replica that works much like a parachute, was deemed too unrealistic. In the scene where the containment grid is shutdown in the first film, a Stay Puft poster can be briefly seen on a wall. The earliest design of Mr. Stay Puft had a different head design. it was the appearance of a cartoon like man with a scary looking face, but was scrapped and replaced with the more recognizable marshmallow-shaped head Mr.Stay Puft was also featured in several of the Ghostbusters video games.
1 AM | 4 AM | 7 AM | 10 AM | 1 PM | 4 PM | 7 PM |
Temperature / Dew Point (°F) | ||||||
78 / 70 | 76 / 70 | 75 / 71 | 83 / 71 | 89 / 70 | 91 / 71 | 88 / 71 |
Humidity (%) | ||||||
75% | 83% | 88% | 66% | 53% | 52% | 57% |
Wind (mph) | ||||||
2 214° SW | 1 208° SSW | 1 202° SSW | 3 180° South | 6 158° SSE | 6 172° South | 5 188° South |
Conditions | ||||||
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Probability of Precipitation (%) | ||||||
10% | 10% | 10% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% |
Cloud Cover (%) | ||||||
41% | 41% | 41% | 44% | 46% | 46% | 61% |
I'm so very tired. It's almost all the time now.