S C I E N C E: Space probe begins descent to Saturn moon Titan

A European-designed space probe broke away from its NASA mothership on a plunge toward the mysterious Saturn moon Titan, starting a journey researchers hope will end with answers about one of the most puzzling bodies in the solar system.

Ground controllers received a signal indicating that Huygens had separated from NASA’s Saturn probe Cassini, as small explosives sheared away locking bolts and a set of springs gently pushed the probe off on a collision course with Titan. “The only thing we have to do now is assess how it left,” said Earl Maize, deputy programme manager for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here, referring to the probe’s trajectory and how it spins as it heads to Titan.

Huygens will “sleep” for the next three weeks, coasting in a suspended state toward Titan and waking just four hours before its arrival on January 14.

The European Space Agency-managed Huygens aims to shed light on the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere, a place where the surface may not be solid and the truth, scientists say, is almost certainly stranger than fiction. “There are several books on the subject and I’m sure that they’re all wrong,” said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, the Huygens project manager with the ESA.

Long a favourite home for science-fiction tales, Titan is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto. Its atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, like Earth, but its surface temperatures of about minus-180 degrees Celsius make it inhospitable. “In some sense it’s a trip to early Earth,” said David Southwood, director of the scientific program for the ESA.

One of the biggest questions, Southwood and colleagues said, is whether there is any liquid on Titan’s surface – like lakes filled with methane rain. Huygens will hopefully answer that question, having already traveled 2.2 billion miles to Saturn over seven years on the hip of the NASA craft Cassini.

About 2.5 yards wide and shaped something like a flying saucer, it was due to make a leisurely descent of about two-and-a-half hours through Titan’s atmosphere, using three parachutes to reduce its speed and give the on-board instruments time to take detailed readings.

Once it reaches the surface of Titan, presuming there is a solid surface for it to impact, Huygens is expected to remain operational for only a brief time, possibly as little as 30 minutes, before its batteries die. “It’s fair to say we have very little idea what the surface is,” Southwood said. “We don’t know if we’re going to splash down or crash down.”

Scourge of Worlds DVD Review

Scourge of Worlds is a Dungeons & Dragons Adventure DVD where you get to pick the outcome of the animated film. It appears to be a joint venture of Rhino, Hasbro and Wizard of the Coast.

Supposedly there are 990 stories on the one disk, but ultimately only 4 different outcomes. It takes about an hour and a half to get through this adventure since you are constantly being asked where you want to go or what you want to do.

The animation is similar to early computer games, in otherwords not the lastest and greatest cgi.

True D&D fans should enjoy it, especially the fact that everytime you watch it you will experience a different fantasy and be confronted by angels, wraiths, druids, orcs and demonic beholders.

Your goal is to save the world. The stories revolve around three heroes -- Regdar a human warrior, Lidda a rogue halfling, and Mialee an elf wizard who set out on their quest to recover a stolen map and its thief. This map leads toan ultimate weapon created by an ancient race of mages who made it to destroy their enemies and end all wars. This weapon, the Aryx Orthian or Scourge of Worlds must not fall into the wrong hands and there are those out to stop them at all costs.

My first attempt at watching [or is that playing] this DVD everyone ended up dead and the Scourge of Worlds was recovered by an evil enemy. Upon rewatching it I did indeed have a completely different experience as I made different choices for the characters.

The website has more information on the film and characters, plus some nice screen shots to take a look at.

http://www.scourgeofworlds.com/

Review of A Tale of Two Sisters

The style of this film is on the same scale as The Ring, The Grudge and The Eye and it appears that Asian filmmakers are giving us something American filmmakers can't [or at least need to remake for wide release in the US] and that is a creepy factor that is off the scale.

While this film may not keep you up at night [as The Ring did that first we viewed it] there is something here that sticks with you long after you have returned to your normal life.

The first few minutes minutes of the movie seem to be leading you somewhere yet it is hard to keep your focus with the slow pace and artful transitions between scenes. The painfully slow beginning is worth the sitting through to get to the rest of this film. Especially, if you have not read the synopsis [above]. There is a point in the film where you feel the shock of the plot twist nearly as much as the character it is happening to.

The effects are hauntingly similar to other Asian horror films to hit these shores but they are sure to please the avid horror fans among us. While many horror films have relied on chilling music to help produce those feeling of dread and fright [Halloween would not be Halloween without the music would it?], this film relies heavily on other auditory devices to thrill and fill your imagination and get your adrenaline pumping. Heck you could just listen to this film and get scared.

However, the film never truly fills in all the gaps that some of the imagery produces and leaves us wondering if we have gone equally as mad as the main character Su-Mi.

I give this 3.5 out of 5 stars. [In other words it is worth seeing.]

http://www.scifislacker.com/films/tale_two_sisters.shtml#review