It may not have been incredibly faithful in terms of storyline, but its visual style is just on a completely higher level of awesomeness compared to the sci-fi miniseries.
If they can make the story more like the book, but try to keep at least some of the design elements of the Lynch version, I will be happy.
Mars Express may have had really great resolution, but unlike NASA, the ESA doesn't release raw images to the public from their spacecraft. They may do it in tidbits (I'm sure there's been one or two instances of it that I am not aware of), but not nearly on the same level as what NASA offers. I have tried, in the past, to contact the ESA regarding making full-resolution, raw images available. They said that they don't offer that sort of thing. Contrast this to something like the twin rovers, where it's easy to obtain full-resolution raw images in fairly short order. And if anyone has ever stumbled upon the big online archive of the Mars Global Surveyor images, they would be amazed at the sheer amount of raw image data that is available.
So, in conclusion, it's great and wonderful that ESA craft have imaging capability that is almost as good as NASA's, and I'm sure it's wonderful for all the scientists working in the field. But from the perspective of someone who enjoys looking at the raw data from various space missions (and is not a scientist), I am far more excited about NASA's projects.
If you are replying to the comment about Monsanto making money off superweed, then I believe that you completely misread that comment. The poster specifically said superWEED, not superWEEDS. That is, he was referring to marijuana, or the impregnation of THC (active ingredient in marijuana) into other types of plants.
So while your reply may be correct, it's not replying to anything that was actually posted.
I dunno how it works for retail, prolly similar, but I bought mine off of steam.
A steam account is free.
If you download it and your hd dies, then yes you can just re-download it again using your steam account. As far as the "more than one computer" thing, don't really know. My guess is that whichever computer you Activated the game on last is the only one that can play HL at a time. Thing is, you can play offline mode through steam with hl2, so I don't know if you can somehow rig it to where one's activated but playing offline while another uses it normally or something.
But for me, the bottom line is that I bought the game the friday before it came out, preloaded all of it by sunday, and was playing it when I got home from work on tuesday. Oh yea, and it's mad fun. I guess I place more emphasis on enjoyment than nitpicking about every possible way they could screw me.
It's worked well so far, so all the people who have been screwed, all I can say is that it sucks to be you, and I'm glad that I'm not you.
I don't particularly like the original Star Trek, so quite frankly I could care less whether they stick to canon. I know some hardcore trekkies will prolly be up in arms about this, but they're a shitty audience to begin with. Hardcore fans(Whiners) are the worst people to market to, since it tends to reduce the real entertainment value of something, just because an earlier (and more than likely shitty) episode of some show or other said one thing or another.
The fact that cinema and literature are fields where histories can not only be created, but altered, is what makes them so appealing and ENTERTAINING.
Be thankful that it's not a Voyager movie, at the very least.
I don't quite get what people are all bitching about, in regard to enterprise. I mean, yes for the first couple seasons it was pretty lame, but that's always been a standard for Star Trek series'. TNG, seasons one and two blew donkey balls. DS9, while personally my favorite, also had some fairly shitty episodes in its first two seasons. As far as voyager is concerned, even that series was decent up until about season five or so. If any of you dittoheads would just watch the latter part of season two, and up to the latest episodes, you might notice that it doesn't quite suck anymore. In fact, I'd rate it higher than Voyager, even when I put myself back to a time when I actually liked it.
I agree that a captain that's not a gigantic linebacker, or one that doesn't have an english accent, may not be as impressive at first as the former. But archer has really developed a much-needed ruthlessness, and overall has gotten more comfortable in his role, which really helps flesh out the character, and I've even noticed a much smaller emphasis on showing off T'pol's tits for rating's sake.
So, conclusion: Enterprise is doing what every star trek series EVER has done, it's gone from being incredibly shitty the first two seasons, to actually being decent and even GOOD. Now if you mindless assholes would just give the show half a chance, maybe you'd realize how wrong you were. Then again, this is slashdot...
I think that what most mainstream users mean when they say they wish there was an "alternative," they really mean they could still play all their windows games and use their MS Office, but without having to use Windows or learn any new interfaces or commands.
I personally love my cell phone. I pay a reasonable rate, and with that I get nationwide calling and wireless internet. This is so much better than having a land line that I actually don't bother wasting money on one. As it is, I don't have to worry about any stupid long distance charges or anything. And if I don't want to be reached? Simple, mine has this awesome feature called a power button, it actually lets me turn the power on and off. Amazing! But then again, I don't have friends that try to call me for inane reasons, so a simple solution could actually be to stop being friends with phone-happy idiots.
In conclusion, my cell phone is like having a more useful and versatile home phone, and I love that fact.
Man, with no magnetic field, we'll prolly have some kick-ass looking auroras all over the planet. The boiling atmosphere thing doesn't sound quite as fun though. =/
This is just my guess, but I think that Radiation is a big factor. There was a story posted relatively recently on space.com about how astronauts on the ISS are getting more radiation exposure than they originally thought. And the ISS has earth's magnetic field to shield some of the effects, the trip to mars and back would likely give the astronauts radiation poisoning. Not to mention all the problems with being in microgravity for a year or more.
But will any geek actually get off his/her ass and look outside?
Screw all that "outside" nonsense, get all the mars you want right here, straight from the Mars Orbital Camera. Note, requires a special program to view the files, but it's free.
Slashdot Mirror
Ion thrusters have been around for a long time; NASA and the ESA have been using them for over a decade.
Finally, an iPhone for the rest of us.
Just in case you didn't get the reference: Brane
It may not have been incredibly faithful in terms of storyline, but its visual style is just on a completely higher level of awesomeness compared to the sci-fi miniseries. If they can make the story more like the book, but try to keep at least some of the design elements of the Lynch version, I will be happy.
Mars Express may have had really great resolution, but unlike NASA, the ESA doesn't release raw images to the public from their spacecraft. They may do it in tidbits (I'm sure there's been one or two instances of it that I am not aware of), but not nearly on the same level as what NASA offers. I have tried, in the past, to contact the ESA regarding making full-resolution, raw images available. They said that they don't offer that sort of thing. Contrast this to something like the twin rovers, where it's easy to obtain full-resolution raw images in fairly short order. And if anyone has ever stumbled upon the big online archive of the Mars Global Surveyor images, they would be amazed at the sheer amount of raw image data that is available.
So, in conclusion, it's great and wonderful that ESA craft have imaging capability that is almost as good as NASA's, and I'm sure it's wonderful for all the scientists working in the field. But from the perspective of someone who enjoys looking at the raw data from various space missions (and is not a scientist), I am far more excited about NASA's projects.
If you are replying to the comment about Monsanto making money off superweed, then I believe that you completely misread that comment. The poster specifically said superWEED, not superWEEDS. That is, he was referring to marijuana, or the impregnation of THC (active ingredient in marijuana) into other types of plants.
So while your reply may be correct, it's not replying to anything that was actually posted.
hmm, imagine a beowulf cluster of 9/11s!
In Soviet Russia, New Orleans floods hurricane Katrina!
Wrong thread, asshole. This one's about the fancy new 16Gb FLASH memory.
I dunno how it works for retail, prolly similar, but I bought mine off of steam.
A steam account is free.
If you download it and your hd dies, then yes you can just re-download it again using your steam account. As far as the "more than one computer" thing, don't really know. My guess is that whichever computer you Activated the game on last is the only one that can play HL at a time. Thing is, you can play offline mode through steam with hl2, so I don't know if you can somehow rig it to where one's activated but playing offline while another uses it normally or something.
But for me, the bottom line is that I bought the game the friday before it came out, preloaded all of it by sunday, and was playing it when I got home from work on tuesday. Oh yea, and it's mad fun. I guess I place more emphasis on enjoyment than nitpicking about every possible way they could screw me.
It's worked well so far, so all the people who have been screwed, all I can say is that it sucks to be you, and I'm glad that I'm not you.
I don't particularly like the original Star Trek, so quite frankly I could care less whether they stick to canon. I know some hardcore trekkies will prolly be up in arms about this, but they're a shitty audience to begin with. Hardcore fans(Whiners) are the worst people to market to, since it tends to reduce the real entertainment value of something, just because an earlier (and more than likely shitty) episode of some show or other said one thing or another.
The fact that cinema and literature are fields where histories can not only be created, but altered, is what makes them so appealing and ENTERTAINING.
Be thankful that it's not a Voyager movie, at the very least.
I don't quite get what people are all bitching about, in regard to enterprise. I mean, yes for the first couple seasons it was pretty lame, but that's always been a standard for Star Trek series'. TNG, seasons one and two blew donkey balls. DS9, while personally my favorite, also had some fairly shitty episodes in its first two seasons. As far as voyager is concerned, even that series was decent up until about season five or so. If any of you dittoheads would just watch the latter part of season two, and up to the latest episodes, you might notice that it doesn't quite suck anymore. In fact, I'd rate it higher than Voyager, even when I put myself back to a time when I actually liked it.
I agree that a captain that's not a gigantic linebacker, or one that doesn't have an english accent, may not be as impressive at first as the former. But archer has really developed a much-needed ruthlessness, and overall has gotten more comfortable in his role, which really helps flesh out the character, and I've even noticed a much smaller emphasis on showing off T'pol's tits for rating's sake.
So, conclusion: Enterprise is doing what every star trek series EVER has done, it's gone from being incredibly shitty the first two seasons, to actually being decent and even GOOD. Now if you mindless assholes would just give the show half a chance, maybe you'd realize how wrong you were. Then again, this is slashdot...
I think that what most mainstream users mean when they say they wish there was an "alternative," they really mean they could still play all their windows games and use their MS Office, but without having to use Windows or learn any new interfaces or commands.
That may be true, but the speaker magnet probably reorients the databits more evenly, and is a more reliable defraggling. for super fast datamachine!
I personally love my cell phone. I pay a reasonable rate, and with that I get nationwide calling and wireless internet. This is so much better than having a land line that I actually don't bother wasting money on one. As it is, I don't have to worry about any stupid long distance charges or anything.
And if I don't want to be reached? Simple, mine has this awesome feature called a power button, it actually lets me turn the power on and off. Amazing! But then again, I don't have friends that try to call me for inane reasons, so a simple solution could actually be to stop being friends with phone-happy idiots.
In conclusion, my cell phone is like having a more useful and versatile home phone, and I love that fact.
Man, with no magnetic field, we'll prolly have some kick-ass looking auroras all over the planet. The boiling atmosphere thing doesn't sound quite as fun though. =/
This is just my guess, but I think that Radiation is a big factor. There was a story posted relatively recently on space.com about how astronauts on the ISS are getting more radiation exposure than they originally thought. And the ISS has earth's magnetic field to shield some of the effects, the trip to mars and back would likely give the astronauts radiation poisoning. Not to mention all the problems with being in microgravity for a year or more.
But will any geek actually get off his/her ass and look outside?
Screw all that "outside" nonsense, get all the mars you want right here, straight from the Mars Orbital Camera. Note, requires a special program to view the files, but it's free.
The Hubble already DID take pictures of the moon, the best it could resolve was ~280 feet. It's right here.