Movie Trailer ~ Kumiko The Treasure Hunter

The Wizard!

Word of the Day -- Hook (Grappling)

A grappling hook is a device with multiple hooks (known as claws or flukes), attached to a rope; it is thrown, dropped, sunk, projected, or fastened directly by hand to where at least one hook may catch and hold. Generally, grappling hooks are used to temporarily secure one end of a rope. They may also be used to dredge for submerged objects. Historically, grappling hooks were used in naval warfare to catch ship rigging so that it could be boarded.

A common design has a central shaft with a hole ("eye") at the shaft base to attach the rope, and three equally spaced hooks at the end, arranged that at least one is likely to catch on some protuberance of the target. Some modern designs feature folding hooks to resist unwanted attachment. Most grappling hooks are thrown by hand, but some used in rescue work are propelled by compressed air (e.g., the Plumett AL-52), mortar or a rocket. Grappling hooks are used by combat engineers breaching tactical obstacles. The grappling hook is launched in front of an obstacle and dragged backwards to detonate trip-wire-fused land mines, and can be hooked on wire obstacles and pulled to set off booby traps on the wire. Two tools are available for this purpose; the rifle-launched grapnel, a single-use grappling hook placed on the end of an M4/M16 rifle, or the crossbow launched version. A grapple can clear up to 99% of the trip-wires in a single pass.

The Slow Death of Venus Express

The ESA's Venus Express has slipped into the atmosphere of our neighboring planet. For six years the European Space Agency's probe has been skimming that planet's atmosphere gathering data. Last month as her fuel began to run out the operators sent her into the murky clouds and into the atmosphere where she bounced and ricocheted along for awhile. At last she has lost energy and slipped into the clouds, a long slow descent follows.

They connected with her a few times since, but the language is garbled and impossible to decipher.

Venus Express is in her death dive.

God speed!

Movie Trailer ~ Cinderella

Babylonian Music!

Okay this is pretty cool. After a great deal of research and study and attempting to understand the ancient languages she is singing in, crossed and compared with modern variants, Stef Conner has composed a number of tracks, remaking ancient Babylonian poetry into song.

So it is very possible that this is something like what it would have sounded like (minus the recording studio, though the did have batteries, so who knows?).

I can't get it to embed, so just follow this link.

Here

Word of the Day -- Knacker

A knacker is a person in the trade of rendering animals that have died on farms or are unfit for human consumption, such as horses that can no longer work. This leads to the slang expression "knackered" meaning very tired, or "ready for the knacker's yard", where old horses are slaughtered and the by-products are sent for rendering. A knacker's yard or knackery is different from a slaughterhouse, where animals are slaughtered for human consumption. In most countries Knackery premises are regulated by law.

A horse carcass, rendered, had many uses. In the U.S., the meat could end up in the food at a mink ranch or fox farm, or a greyhound race track, or for pet food, or to a pig farm. Bones were ground up for bone meal fertilizer. Hides went to leather and joints processed to make glue for the furniture and paper trades (hence the idea of old horses being sent to the glue factory).

However, in modern usage, especially in Ireland, the word has come to describe both those from lower-class backgrounds who tend to engage in anti-social behaviour, as well as those of an Irish Traveller background. In this sense, the usage of the word "knacker" is akin to the usage of the term "chav" in England and ned in Scotland. Members of the travelling community in Ireland live in what would ordinarily be considered temporary accommodation, such as roadside trailers or caravans.

The word "knacker" was first used in 1812. It is from the Scandinavian word represented by O.N. hnakkur saddle and hnakki "back of the neck".

Let There be Dragons

Daily Cosplay

Codex of Aihrde on Kickstarter

The world of Aihrde spins upon an earth-like axis of ancient civilizations where good and evil have struggled for countless years. It is a world that bears the markings of its past; where ancient evils slumber, stained with the power of eldritch wizardry; where gods dwell in bejeweled halls of wonderment, worshiped by men and women of all creeds; where dragons live in great dens of heaped treasure; where the new stands upon the ruins of the old in beds of ancient glory.

For a thousand years and more, the dark god Unklar ruled the world in a terrible reign of Winters Dark. But now, banished to the Great Empty, Aihrde is a world reborn.

In the After Winters Dark, heroes tread in iron shod boots and wizards lean on crooked staffs to plunder the buried wealth and power of the ages. Here, the eternal struggle goes on, age after age, for Aihrde is a world of adventure, of undaunted heroes, untainted by the decadent philosophies of those meek who suffer in the shadows of lesser men. For here, the stone columns of history are wiped clean, awaiting the bold to carve their mark and gain entry to the halls of immortality!

Excerpt...

After many days, Aedgen stumbled, hungry and tired, upon another river. Broad and swift, it cut its way through the forest in a rocky channel. Trees grew in abundance along its banks, flanked by reeds and water grasses. Coming to the river, he saw the sun for the first time in many weeks and learned that he was heading west, and not north as he had hoped. He was utterly lost, for his brother Areos had been his eyes in the wild. He stood there, upon the river and glared down its length, pondering what course to take. No fear crept into him, only a determination to return to his people before they were lost.
It is here that Tefnut found Aedgen. She alone of the Val Earhakun had had no contact with man or dwarf for all the long ages, dwelling as she did in the rivers and forests of her home. She found Aedgen upon the shores of the Tarvish River and was curious. She watched him, until at last she could bear her curiosity no further, and she rose from the waters. She stood thus, without raiment of any kind, a marvel of beauty, and called to him.
Aedgen was amazed. Tefnut’s beauty was beyond that of any mortals, and the light in her greater than any he had ever seen. They talked upon the river's edge, and such was his speech that she became enamored of him. And her voice echoed the deep places of the forest and conjured images of safety and power, and Aedgen loved her in turn. Tefnut nursed him to health, and learned all there was to learn of him, his people, and their journey. She guided him then to the deep vale of country that lies between the Tarvish and Ardeen Rivers and gave him that land. It was unspoilt by any and he marveled at it.

They dwelt there together for a long season.

Castles