I'm a bit late for this, but I have a question about the Buran:
I saw a documentary about the russian shuttle program on TV once, and they mentioned that the Buran was initially designed to be able to act as an orbital bomber. They even had a photograph of the shuttle with a vaguely bomb-shaped pod on a hardpoint under the craft's body. It seems that the russians did this because they thought at first that the american shuttle had similar capabilities... When they learned that that was not true, they dropped their plans for arming the Buran.
Can anyone confirm this information, or were they just talking out of their behinds?
Well, in the meantime I have a non-machine translation of the Bild article ready.
Note that I seem to have my facts wrong:
1. It IS known how the shuttle ended up there
2. The fate of the other three prototypes is known.
This is due to the fact that I actually got hold of this information in a newspaper (the Welt, and grabbed the first relevant link I could find. The newspaper article had some facts quite different, and I don't know which source to trust more. Anyway, here is the Bild text:
German tourist wants to buy lost russian shuttle
Russian spacecraft lands in arab desert
by DITTMAR JURKO
(image caption: The russian shuttle was deemed lost for years und was now found in the arab desert)
Moscow - It was the most ambitious project of the russian space program, code named "Buran" (snowstorm):
The first space flight with a russian space shuttle!
The flight was a success, but experts have been wondering ever since where the four prototypes went. Now BILD readers have found one of the russian space gliders in the arab desert!
Volker Hartmann (54) from Schaumburg, Chris G. Maier (32) from Düsseldorf and Kai Niedermeier (39) from solingen met the crown prince of the island state Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad al Khalifa (34).
He told him of the hiding place: "We drove near the border to Saudi-Arabia in a jeep. There was the shuttle - covered and abandoned."
The glider is the "Buran 002", one of the four airworthy space ships of this type. 36,67 metrs long and 17,37 meters high. She took off 25 times. 1993 the space project was cancelled. A Saudi bought the shuttle, but forgot it in the desert.
And the other spacecraft? One was destroyed, one dismantled, the mothership is now on display in Moscow's Gorky Park. One of the german finders now wants to buy the "Buran 002" for 300,000 dollars, and go on a world tour with it: "The sheik approves".
Aside from the obvious "Level degradation" some people (well, nearly all of the;) ) already mentioned, don't we have somthing like this already? Minimum specs, recommended specs, and The Newest And Most Expensive Box There Is. Looks like three levels to me...
Well, if everyones pushing their favorite MP3 Peddler in here, I might as well add Warp's Bleep. It is pretty limited and fairly expensive (damn brits), but if you are into intelligent electronica, you might give it a try. Un-DRM'd "LAME --alt-preset standard" mp3s, with full prelisten (the tracks fade out after 30 seconds, but you can restart them).
An no, I don't work for them either. Wish I did.
Mark Hamill Talks Star Wars Epis. 7, 8, & 9
Source: Scott Chitwood
Friday, September 10, 2004
This past Wednesday, ComingSoon.net had the opportunity to attend Lucasfilm and Fox Home Entertainment's roll-out of the "Star Wars Trilogy" DVD set (Coming Sept. 21st.) One of the surprise guests at the event was Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. He ended up being one of the highlights of the presentation as he enthusiastically recalled humorous anecdotes about the making of the original films, working with Kevin Smith, seeing TROOPS for the first time, and more.
However, his comments towards the end about Episodes 7, 8, and 9 really got everyone's attention. Mark told those in attendance what Lucas told him the third trilogy would be about. Hamill also went into detail about Lucas' original plans for those films, when they would be made, and more. Plus, Lucasfilm's Jim Ward confirmed that a "Star Wars" TV series is on the way in the near future (though he didn't say when it would be set).
We thought you might like to hear Mark Hamill's comments in his own voice. Simply download this 5 minute MP3 file and enjoy! It's only 2 MB in size:
MARK HAMILL TALKS STAR WARS EPISODES 7, 8, & 9
Check back soon for more on this presentation as well as a full review of the DVD set. Look for Q&A sessions with "Empire Strikes Back" director Irvin Kershner, DVD guru Van Ling, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, and more!
Actually, an animated.gif is the only animation format you can just put into an tag. That makes a huge difference if you are working with systems that don't allow you to write plain HTML. Web forums, for example. Or picture upload sites. And many people think animations are great, even if some don't like them at all. So the need for animated.gifs is there - and right now, there is no alternative.
This is a trend I've been seeing in Movies (Shrek comes to mind) as well as in computer games:
Recently, the enhanced realism in computer graphics only shows how hard it is to do, and how much we aren't quite there yet (and maybe never will be). I find stylized CG (XIII or say, The Incredibles) much more interesting.
Video and software downloads? Looks we're back to the roots here.
From the article:
experts say the vast majority of file swaps are still unauthorized.
Well, isn't that a defining feature of file swaps? Swapping copyrighted files (as opposed to just downloading them, which can be legal or illegal) has always been illegal.
So surfing in movies not related to surfing is bad? And I thought I was the only one who thought that Legolas's shield-sliding/trunk-grinding antics were A Bad Thing.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a bit late for this, but I have a question about the Buran: I saw a documentary about the russian shuttle program on TV once, and they mentioned that the Buran was initially designed to be able to act as an orbital bomber. They even had a photograph of the shuttle with a vaguely bomb-shaped pod on a hardpoint under the craft's body. It seems that the russians did this because they thought at first that the american shuttle had similar capabilities... When they learned that that was not true, they dropped their plans for arming the Buran. Can anyone confirm this information, or were they just talking out of their behinds?
...because it will make sure that in ANY game EVER, the bad guy always shoots first.
Aside from the obvious "Level degradation" some people (well, nearly all of the ;) ) already mentioned, don't we have somthing like this already? Minimum specs, recommended specs, and The Newest And Most Expensive Box There Is. Looks like three levels to me...
Most FPSs do, but id software, for some reason, seems to prefer an OPEN, NON-MICROSOFT standard which is available for most platforms (OpenGL).
Well, if everyones pushing their favorite MP3 Peddler in here, I might as well add Warp's Bleep. It is pretty limited and fairly expensive (damn brits), but if you are into intelligent electronica, you might give it a try. Un-DRM'd "LAME --alt-preset standard" mp3s, with full prelisten (the tracks fade out after 30 seconds, but you can restart them). An no, I don't work for them either. Wish I did.
Seeing as the spelling is now corrected, i would like to add "..BEFORE posting the story."
Dear Editors: Like, read the submittals ONCE, if you please.
You know, that sounds mighty familiar...
"The Iragis themselves" being the 64 people who took part in this poll?
Actually, an animated .gif is the only animation format you can just put into an tag. That makes a huge difference if you are working with systems that don't allow you to write plain HTML. Web forums, for example. Or picture upload sites. And many people think animations are great, even if some don't like them at all. So the need for animated .gifs is there - and right now, there is no alternative.
This is a trend I've been seeing in Movies (Shrek comes to mind) as well as in computer games: Recently, the enhanced realism in computer graphics only shows how hard it is to do, and how much we aren't quite there yet (and maybe never will be). I find stylized CG (XIII or say, The Incredibles) much more interesting.
It's on MAME. Google for "MAME polyplay". I actually played it. Problem: It's really boring.
Yeah, who would have ever thought of that? The fact that this statement is seen as "bold" should be indication enough that something is amiss here.
From the article:
Well, isn't that a defining feature of file swaps? Swapping copyrighted files (as opposed to just downloading them, which can be legal or illegal) has always been illegal.
... if you check their Shootout list their motives seem to be less than friendly towards the other distros...
So surfing in movies not related to surfing is bad? And I thought I was the only one who thought that Legolas's shield-sliding/trunk-grinding antics were A Bad Thing.