Tag: random

Where do we go from here?

I missed out on the Space Race.  From all accounts though it was an amazing time to be alive.  The Russian launch of Sputnik into space revitalized American research and development and finally put Americans on the moon and created a permanently manned space station that orbits the planet (I was there for that part.)  It seems though that the drive to put a man on a moon and one day other planets as well as spent itself.  Despite making plans as early as the 1950s to put a human on Mars, nothing has come of it.

There of course has been a lot of talk.  The President of the United States is even talking about a modern “Sputnik Moment.”  A call for re-training and educating the Americans to deal with an economy that has moved beyond the twentieth century is a good thing and is greatly needed in our country.  I doubt though that NASA and other such pursuits are not going to be the beneficiaries as they were of the first “Sputnik moment.”  United States interest in the stars has steadily been declining, as has funding for such missions.  In fact, one can argue that government funding for Science has been under attack since the Reagan administration, the latest example being Congressman Cantor’s idea to have non-experts cut science grants they don’t understand (or don’t agree with, or any ol’ reason.)

A manned mission of Mars seems to be a pipe dream at this point.  But, only for Americans.  China, Russia and India have announced plans to send probes to the red planet, Russia has discussed it since the 50s and India is actively calling for a joint international mission.  Despite the President’s call for NASA to pursue a manned mission to Mars the agency doesn’t have any sort of plans for such a mission (their plans go beyond 2020 but fail to mention any manned missions.)

The debate recently heated up though when Paul Davies of Arizona State University and Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University published a paper advocating a one-way trip for astronauts to Mars.  They aren’t advocating a suicide mission but instead the beginning of a permanent presence on the planet.  This is exciting, even more exciting is to know that after the paper was published the authors in-boxes began to fill with people volunteering for the mission.  What is lacking though isn’t the human spirit and will, it is the political will to make anything happen.

What has happened to Americans?  When did we begin to dream small?

A Late Apology

I was going to write about the Pentagon’s report on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell today.  I was going to laud the report’s findings and our military’s commitment to equal rights.  I might have even crowed a little about how bigots in D.C. and elsewhere can no longer use the Military’s policy as a shield to hide behind anymore.  Even throw in a joke or two at Senator McCain and Mike Huckabee’s expense.  But, the report speaks for itself, and many other, more qualified people have already spoken on the matter (here is a single example.)

I have to say I don’t understand why letting the courts do it is such a bad idea, but he Pentagon seems really against it…  Anyway I’m not talking about that am I?

I’m writing to apologize to Finch.  Who is Finch?  Finch is that guy in your group of friends who exists merely to make fun of.  This type of friend is most prevalent in high school, and Finch was ours.  The group of people I knew and associated with in high school were a mix of the “coolest”and the smartest, as little as that means… and by all metrics Finch shouldn’t have been eating lunch or talking to any of the people that he did, I know High School is cruel.

I can’t think of a single time I was nice to Finch.  Even worse, I don’t even know Finch’s real name.  I think Finch was his surname but I really have no idea and my high school yearbook is.

So, Finch sorry for treating you as an object instead of a person.  Sorry, for using you to make myself feel better.  I hope you didn’t let how we all mistreated you get to you and that you are wildly successful today…

Wouldn’t that show us?

New Things at Di Mortui Sunt

I’ve added a ‘Let’s Play’ tab at the top there with ‘What I Am’ and ‘What I Like’ etc. That page has links and short descriptions of the LPs I’ve done over at the Gamespite forum: Talking Time. I will most likely be changing the theme soon as too, seeing as the current one bores me. This is probably the first step in a process-design the site.

Why the re-design? I have some extra time right now and I feel that the sight needs to be better organized in order to serve me, and incidentally you, better. With a new more focused design I’m hoping that the purpose and role of the site can be focused to.

No entries this week, I’m taking the time off to enjoy the holiday with my wife and family. See you on the 30th.

Contra Vs. Probotector Part 3

 

Hard Corps. Edition

 

Comparing the two NES games to each other was an easy task.  The Contra game released on the Sega Genesis/Megadrive is a much more difficult task.  Called Contra Hard Corps. here in the States it was simple referred to as Probotector on the Megadrive in Europe.  What makes comparing these two games more difficult than the last two is the fact that the Megadrive version is relatively rare, making getting a hold of a manual difficult.  Second, the game has four different playable characters ans seven different endings!  Ending in which the character your playing as has a prominent place.  In order to get screenshots of each ending with each character in both version of the game I’d have to play through it 56 times!  That is not going to be happening anytime soon.

I heartily recommend playing Hard Corps. though!  The game has an excellent soundtrack, a branching storyline, and furiously, difficult gameplay.  The western versions are exceptionally difficult as the health system that was put in the Japanese version of the game has been removed.

Covering Hard Corps is going to take more than one post.  In this one I’m just going to compare the various playable characters:

 

Hard Corps on the left, Probotector on the right

 

These are the mug shots you see at the character select screen, except for the last one.  That guy down at the bottom is the military officer/robot who gives the orders at the beginning of each level.  There is another playable character not included in the comparison, it’s the little robot that looks identical in both games. In-game the characters look  like this:

So far there doesn’t seem to be any difference in the enemies you are facing.  But, I haven’t played through the all seven routes in both of the games.  The next post, will reveal changes in enemies and will compare at least two of the endings from the game!

 

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