Overwatch

Blizzard is pushing beyond its WoW and Starcraft boundaries and announced a brand new game at this past Blizcon 2014: Overwatch. Its a first person team shooter, but here's from Blizzard:

The action of Overwatch takes place in a technologically advanced, highly stylized future earth. In a time of global crisis, an international task force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities known as Overwatch had come together to restore peace to a war-torn world. After many years, the group's influence waned, and it was eventually disbanded. Overwatch might be gone now . . . but the world still needs heroes.

With an emphasis on accessibility and pure fun, Overwatch brings Blizzard's signature easy-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay to the FPS genre.
There ya have it.

Now enjoy the look of it:

Movie Trailer ~ The Hobbit (trailer 2)

The Black Knight Satellite

The Black Knight Satellite was discovered in 1959 (some accounts are 1960, though it seems the images of it were taken in 1960). The Black Knight was an object noticed in the higher polar latitudes by a number of observers. It was quickly linked with some odd radio transmissions that several HAM radio operators had picked up, which were later deciphered into star charts). It was dubbed the Black Knight by the press.

The official response is that the the debris was a piece of the housing from Discover VIII, one of a long series of secret test satellite launches the US Government was doing at the time. It eventually lost orbit and fell to earth. And that the HAM operators were just a little over zealous.

Several pictures were later snapped of the object and used to precisely identify the object.

I couldn't find the link on the NASA site, might warrant looking into the Blue Book.

Word of the Day -- Fossil Water

Fossil water or paleowater is groundwater that has remained sealed in an aquifer for a long period of time. Water can rest underground in "fossil aquifers" for thousands or even millions of years. When changes in the surrounding geology seal the aquifer off from further replenishing from precipitation, the water becomes trapped within, and is known as fossil water.

The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System is among the most notable of fossil water reserves. Fossil aquifers also exist in the Sahara, the Kalahari, and the Ogallala underlying the US Great Plains. A further potential store of ancient water is Lake Vostok, a subglacial lake in Antarctica. Fossil water is, by definition, a non-renewable resource. Whereas most aquifers are naturally replenished by infiltration of water from precipitation, fossil aquifers are those that get little or no recharge. The extraction of water from such non-replenishing groundwater reserves (known as low safe-yield reserves) is known in hydrology as water mining. If water is pumped from a well at a withdrawal rate that exceeds the natural recharge rate (which is very low or zero for a fossil aquifer), the water table drops, forming a depression in the water levels around the well.

The Force Awakens

You've no doubt heard the new title of the Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Sounds good to me and keeps in line with, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back etc etc. I'm really looking forward to this flick, hope they do a good job bringing the world of Star Wars to a third generation of fans.

We'll have to wait and see . . . .

To Gamehole Con we go!

All this weekend Steve Chenault and Tyler Morrison will be wandering around southern Wisconsin. Actually they won’t, they’ll be in Madison for Gamehole! There you can find a booth load of Castles & Crusades. Tyler running games and Steve’s giant 20+ person game.

If you're in the region be sure to come by and say hello!

We’ll try to get some pictures and video posted over on the blog and the various other pages.

Don’t forget to sign up for the new and official C&C twitter page here.

Trollzah!

Daily Cosplay

Movie Trailer ~ Furious 7

Comet Stench

Holy carolina! Comets apparently stink. Smelling something like a horse barn...which can be pretty pungent for those who have never been in a horsebarn. Studies from Rosetta have shown that the comet she's about to put a probe on stinks pretty hefty. Too much ammonia.

One never things about that when watching sci fi shows. Unaccustomed smells. The ship itself would smell pretty good, all these people living there for weeks on end. It would have to be pretty well ventilated and everyone required to bath regularly or everyone would pay the price. Then there's the dismount on alien planets, dealing with aliens and their own bathing habits. What did Jar Jar Binks smell like or the Tharks on Barsoom? What about that fat little flying merchant from the Phantom Menace? And Darth Vadar? did he bath at all? The force was with that one for sure.

Remember. Bath in space.

Word of the Day -- Monastery

A monastery (plural: monasteries) is the building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplace(s) of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in communities or alone (hermits). The monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church or temple, and may also serve as an oratory.

Monasteries may vary greatly in size, comprising a small dwelling accommodating only a hermit, or

in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds. A monastery complex typically comprises a number of buildings which include a church, dormitory, cloister, refectory, library, balneary and infirmary. Depending on the location, the monastic order and the occupation of its inhabitants, the complex may also include a wide range of buildings that facilitate self-sufficiency and service to the community. These may include a hospice, a school and a range of agricultural and manufacturing buildings such as a barn, a forge or a brewery.

In English usage, the term "monastery" is generally used to denote the buildings of a community of monks. In modern usage "convent" tends to be applied only to institutions of female monastics (nuns), particularly communities of teaching or nursing Religious Sisters. Historically, a convent denoted a house of friars, (reflecting the Latin), now more commonly called a "friary". Various religions may apply these terms in more specific ways.

Naga