Month: July 2011

The wait is over….choose you side.

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The wait is over Star wars the old Republic has yet to arrive, but they’re taking pre-orderings though!  Star Wars the old republic MMO | Massive Multiplayer Online is a large expanded universe than to Star Wars Galaxies. You step in determining your character and density much on the same game genre universe as Star Trek online. Operations, social hangouts, chosing your ships, blasting away with Blasters, swapping your Phasers with a Lightsaber just to  kick even more ass online getting the total feel of the Jedi or Slith.

The MMO as I gather is similar lines to the Star Trek Online, chose your sides, chose your character, building your story, partake in operations, and choose your ship.  So when it comes out always have a Wookie as a sidekick, you never know when you’re in a dangerous place of  entanglements.

– An update the Star Wars Old Republic is due to be release out on the months on December 2011, at the moment is in beta release, but each copy purchase will have a 30 day subscription after then subscription will apply from then, unlike Star Trek online will be soon in later 2011 will be F2P, Free To Play with some limitations sliver memberships, than to gold memberships.

Dates for release:

– Northern American- December 20th-2011

-European Territories- December 22rd-2011

-Just an update fort the Southern Hemispehere release form 02/15/2012 that the release is going to be on the first of March 2012 in New Zealand, Austrialia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

For more information on the Asia Pacific release lanuch.

For more information about the subscription is on the SWTOR news update.

For the first time…..first lanuches…

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As the Space shuttle program draws to a close during this week on spending its last duration flight of 12 days in space in with the International Space station, and Atlantis ending the program on STS 135, ending a brilliant 30 years hard-working  programme in which could lasted a little bit longer, given that there was another vehicle emplaced from the last time Atlantis lands on that runway, for the very last time. on that note it’s also the Day when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

One interesting thing watching the 30 years of the  Space Shuttle programme, is the televised shift from analogue to complete digital now viewed from the Cathode Ray Tube to the internet of watching it through NASA TV, via USTREAM.

Space Shuttle Enterprise OV 101– the sister that start in all.

Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102 STS 001

Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099 STS 006

Space Shuttle Discovery OV-102 STS 41-D- with an abort launch.

Space shuttle Atlantis OV-104– STS 51-J

Space Shuttle Endeavour OV-105 – STS 49

K9 | not just your pet dog?

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The Phillips K9 was an amazing simple television set back in days from watching black and white Television on the Cathode. One of the greatest moment in time is watching the first NASA Space Shuttle launches, also to the first USSR ( Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ) the Buran, Space shuttle launch also. which the Russian design is a little more complex and completely different from the United States Shuttle fleet design.

The set itself has 6 channels in which you could selectively analogue tune from below from array of variable capacitors, to manually tune the television frequencies. instead the screen going blue instead it images a white static noise that you see, and has you tune it slowly till you see a filtered image on the screen in colour, or if you decide to have it in back to black and white there’s an option. During that time it was the first colour Television sets introduce into New Zealand. it was pretty cool, then came the National VHS with the overloader( but that’s another post ), and watched ever so constant of the Star Wars original movies from the A New Hope to Return of the Jedi, this is before it was digitally remastered, with the CGI added too it as to the digitally second edition, also watching Star trek TOS The Original Series was a treat to in colour than from the first episode The Cage.

It didn’t have s-video cabling, but it just had a Power point, and antenna plug. and one nifty interesting thing the sound isn’t great in mono, there’s a switch right next to the mono coloured switch, is the stereo sound. making it sounds like stereo sound but only having one speaker, that was revolutionary in sound in those days. when it first came out it was one of the expensive sets in the market, due to it was in colour and it offered a stereo sound. Another thing it did had its CRT | Cathode Ray Tube, scary it may sound, it was used for most computer displays untill LCD, Plasma displays became the revolution to this today onwards.

Phillips K series Television advert. cirica 1970’s

STS | space transport system

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That  night staying up till the early hours in the morning  and didn’t get to sleep till roughly fourish in the morning. watching the last launch of the Space Shuttle programme on NASA TV on ustreamTV.  It was ionic sad really that a there’s no transitional vehicle program to immediately to replace it within straight after. But least a year or so we’ll have to wait till when Space X with their Dragon and Falcon heavy or Boeing’s Orion and using the Shuttle’s heritage design to replace the role of the Shuttle.

Looking back when back in the early Eighty’s, that is the late twentieth Century on the date of  April 21 1981. Watching on the Phillp’s K9 Cathode Ray Tube color television set where TVNZ,  was live broadcasting the live launch of  the Space shuttle Columbia, OV-102, with it’s nicely matt white  painted (ET) External Tank, which carries the fuel of liquid Hydrogen and Oxygen to be combust in the (SSME) Space Shuttle Main Engines, also strapped right next to the ET, a pair of older designs of the ( SRB ) Solid Rocket Booster. using the O-rings, now days they use the J-ring seals designs, a very hard lesson learnth after the STS-51L (Challenger OV-099), which ground the shuttle fleet for a couple of years, till it got the okay to fly on Discovery (OV-103) behalf, also on the return to flight on Columbia’s on July 4 2006 independence Day, after a fatale hull breach of Columbia on February 1st 2003. 

In which lessons from the incidents lead to many redesigning of the existing systems, multiple new cameras was installed on the ET, SRB’s also following after launch checks of the newly extend Canada arm, (RMS) Remote Manipulator System  to do inspecting the Shuttle’s hull scans any foam damage or incursion that incurred during launch also the (ISS) International Space Station  plays a partakes in safety aswell.

Television coverage over the last few decades of watching NASA, have dynamicaly change in from watching coverage from television to the internet and through NASA TV to the NASA app on the iphone. On that note with the advet of the internet providing social media to keep in real time information through Facebook, and Twitter.

One thing I’ve notice in the end of this great programme is the way how they used, the names of the shuttles, for Discovery it been used to inspire once more ever so again to see what’s out there after Challenger and Columbia.  Given the naming of Atlantis, it’s fitting that it there will be another manned vehicle of a different heritage  soon to bear that name also her sisters once more.

– Enterprise- OV 101, – Columbia – OV 102- , – Challenger – ov 099 – , – Atlantis  – OV 104, – Discovery- OV 103,- Endeavour OV 105–

From STS 001– Columbia-OV 102

To STS 135-Atlantis-OV 104