Asteroids (video game)
Asteroids is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade game designed by Lyle Rains, Ed Logg, Dominic Walsh and released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field, periodically traversed by flying saucers; the object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases. Asteroids was one of the first major hits of the golden age of arcade games. In the 1980s it was ported to Atari's home systems, the Atari VCS version sold over three million copies; the game was imitated, it directly influenced Defender and many other video games. Asteroids was conceived during a meeting between Logg and Rains, who decided to use hardware developed by Howard Delman used for Lunar Lander. Based on an unfinished game titled Cosmos, inspired by Spacewar!, Computer Space, Space Invaders, the physics model, control scheme, gameplay elements for Asteroids were derived from these earlier games and refined through trial and error.
The game is rendered on a vector display in a two-dimensional view that wraps around both screen axes. The objective of Asteroids is to destroy saucers; the player controls a triangular ship that can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, thrust forward. Once the ship begins moving in a direction, it will continue in that direction for a time without player intervention unless the player applies thrust in a different direction; the ship comes to a stop when not thrusting. The player can send the ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen, at the risk of self-destructing or appearing on top of an asteroid; each level starts with a few large asteroids drifting in various directions on the screen. Objects wrap around screen edges – for instance, an asteroid that drifts off the top edge of the screen reappears at the bottom and continues moving in the same direction; as the player shoots asteroids, they break into smaller asteroids that move faster and are more difficult to hit.
Smaller asteroids are worth more points. Two flying saucers appear periodically on the screen. After reaching a score of 40,000, only the small saucer appears; as the player's score increases, the angle range of the shots from the small saucer diminishes until the saucer fires accurately. Once the screen has been cleared of all asteroids and flying saucers, a new set of large asteroids appears, thus starting the next level; the game gets harder as the number of asteroids increases until after the score reaches a range between 40,000 and 60,000. The player gains an extra life per 10,000 points; when the player loses all their lives, the game ends. Machine "turns over" at 99,990 points, the maximum high score that can be achieved. Asteroids contains several bugs; the game slows down as the player gains 50-100 lives, due to a programming error in that there is no limit for the permitted number of lives. The player can "lose" the game after more than 250 lives; the saucer in the original game design was supposed to take a shot as soon.
This action was altered. Additionally, the saucers can only aim at the player's ship on-screen, but are not capable of aiming across a screen boundary. In response to both of these behaviors, some players adopted a strategy referred to as "lurking", in which the player keeps the ship on the opposite side of the screen from the saucer when it appears moving across the boundary if necessary. By keeping just one or two rocks in play, the player can shoot across the boundary and destroy saucers to accumulate points indefinitely on a single credit, with little risk of being destroyed. Arcade operators began to complain about losing revenue due to this exploit. In response, Atari issued a patched EPROM to attempt to correct the issue, due to the impact of this exploit and other companies changed their development and testing policies to try to prevent future games from having such exploits. Asteroids was conceived by Lyle Rains and programmed by Ed Logg with collaborations from other Atari staff. Logg was impressed with the Atari Video Computer System, joined Atari's coin-op division and worked on Dirt Bike, never released due to an unsuccessful field test.
Paul Mancuso joined the development team as Asteroids' technician and engineer Howard Delman contributed to the hardware. During a meeting in April 1979, Rains discussed Planet Grab, a multiplayer arcade game renamed to Cosmos. Logg did not know the name of the game, thinking Computer Space as "the inspiration for the two-dimensional approach". Rains conceived of Asteroids as a mixture of Computer Space and Space Invaders, combining the two-dimensional approach of Computer Space with Space Invaders' addictive gameplay of "completion" and "eliminate all threats"; the unfinished game featured a giant, indestructible asteroid, so Rains asked Logg: "Well, why don’t we have a game where you shoot the rocks and blow them up?" In response, Logg described a similar concept where the player selectively shoots at rocks that break into smaller pieces. Both agreed on the concept. Asteroids was implemented on hardware developed by Delman and is a vector game, in which the graphics are composed of lines drawn on a vector monitor.
Rains wanted the game done in
Stardust Resort and Casino
The Stardust Resort and Casino was a casino resort located on 63 acres along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust opened in 1958, although most of the modern casino complex—including its main 32-story tower—was built in 1991, it was demolished on March 13, 2007, a short lifetime by Las Vegas standards, where casinos are torn down and rebuilt on a regular basis. Shortly after the resort opened, the defunct nearby Royal Nevada hotel and casino was converted to become part of the Stardust; the Stardust closed at 12:00 p.m. on November 1, 2006, after operating continuously for 48 years. It was imploded on March 2007, around 2:33 a.m.. In 2007, Boyd Gaming, which owned the property, began construction on Echelon Place, Stardust's intended replacement. Construction was halted in 2008, during the economic downturn. In 2013, Malaysia-based Genting Group bought the site from Boyd, with plans to open Resorts World, a Chinese-themed resort, by 2020; the famed Stardust sign became one of the symbols of Las Vegas.
Young Electric Sign Company was hired to fabricate the sign. Kermit Wayne's design was selected for the roadside signs. Although Moe Dalitz, who took over from original developer Tony Cornero upon his death, said it was from his original plans, the sign was part of Cornero's original concept; the 1958 Stardust façade sign was 216 feet long and 37 feet high, wrapping around two sides of the building, was lit with 7,100 feet of neon tubing and 11,000 incandescent bulbs. It weighed 129 short tons, contained 32,000 feet of wiring, drew 3,000 amps. At the bend in the sign was a 16-foot diameter plastic model of the Earth. Cosmic rays of neon and electric light bulbs beamed from behind the model Earth in all direction. Three-dimensional acrylic glass planets spun alongside 20 sparkling neon starbursts. Across the universe was a jagged galaxy of electric lettering spelling out "Stardust"; the "S" alone contained 975 lamps. At night, the neon constellation was visible from over 3 miles away; the roadside sign was freestanding with a circle constraining an amorphous cloud of cosmic dust circled by an orbit ring and covered in dancing stars.
The hotel's name was nestled in a galactic cloud. In 1967, the old circular sign was replaced by a new $500,000 roadside sign; the new sign's form was blurred by a scatter of a shower of stardust. At night, incorporating neon and incandescent bulbs in the animation sequence, light fell from the stars, sprinkling from the top of the 188-foot tall sign down over the Stardust name, it was repainted in 1977 along with the refreshing of the building signage. In 1959, the Stardust took over the neighboring Royal Nevada Hotel, which had opened in 1955; the county abandoned the road that had separated the two properties in 1964 and the façade was extended in 1966 along with the main lobby building to encompass the Royal Nevada property. The façade sign was completed in 1968; the 1977 remodel of the building sign dropped the space theme in favor of an animated red and blue neon background, the covering of the porte cochere was lit with thousands of incandescent bulbs. The main name was reset in the Futura typeface and moved to the new West Tower after it opened in 1991, the building façade was stripped of many lights.
In 1991, the Stardust sign's Googie lettering was replaced with a subdued Futura typeface. The resort was conceived and built by Tony Cornero, who died in 1955 before construction was completed; the resort's assets were acquired and completed by John Factor, half-brother of cosmetics seller Max Factor, Sr.. John Factor leased the casino out to a company controlled by Moe Dalitz; when the hotel opened, it had the largest casino and swimming pool in Nevada, the largest hotel in the Las Vegas area. The Royal Nevada was the previous hotel on part of the Stardust site; the Royal Nevada opened north of the New Frontier on April 19, 1955, as the Showplace of Showtown, U. S. A; the resort's crowning glory was the crown. Al Sachs, who started as a dealer in illegal games before opening the Royal Nevada in 1955; the night before the opening, "atomic soldiers" from Camp Desert Rock were treated to a pre-opening party. Operation Teapot, the sixth in a series of nuclear weapons tests, had started earlier in 1955.
The Royal Nevada was plagued with financial problems from the start. While this resort seemed to "disappear completely", swallowed in 1958 by the Stardust and becoming the Stardust's Convention Center, portions of the two-story bungalow style Royal Nevada wing and pool remained in use up until 2006; the Stardust opened at noon on July 3, 1958. The attendees of the opening included governors, senators and county officials and Hollywood celebrities, the opening festivities were marked with fireworks and promised "a unique'ribbon cutting' ceremony"; the entertainment roster featured. Lido was conceived by Pierre-Louis Guerin and Rene Fraday, staged by Donn Arden; the performers were flown to Las Vegas on a chartered plane, arriving on June 20. The first showing on the night of July 3 was a preview reserved for members of the press, it was staged in the Cafe Continental, with seating for 700 and a rising stage capable of sinking 30 feet below and rising 10 feet above the floor
Stardust (Willie Nelson album)
Stardust is the twenty-second studio album by Willie Nelson, released in 1978. Its ten songs consist of pop standards that Nelson picked from among his favorites. Nelson asked Booker T. Jones, his neighbor in Malibu at the time, to arrange a version of "Moonlight in Vermont". Impressed with Jones's work, Nelson asked him to produce the entire album. Nelson's decision to record such well-known tracks was controversial among Columbia executives because he had distinguished himself in the outlaw country genre. Recording of the album took only ten days. Released in April, Stardust was met with near-universal positive reviews, it peaked at number one in Billboard's Top Country Albums and number thirty in the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, it charted at number one in Canadian RPM's Country Albums and number twenty-eight in RPM's Top Albums; the singles "Blue Skies" and "All of Me" peaked at numbers one and three in Billboard's Hot Country Singles. In 1979, Nelson won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the song "Georgia on My Mind".
Stardust was on the Billboard's Country Album charts for ten years—from its release until 1988. The album reached number one in New Zealand and number five in Australia in 1980. In 2003, the album was ranked number 257 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in December 1978. In 1984, when it was certified triple platinum, Nelson was the highest-grossing concert act in the United States. In 2002, the album was certified quintuple platinum, it was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame class of 2015. After the critical and commercial success of 1975's Red Headed Stranger, Nelson became one of the most recognized artists in country music, he replicated this success in 1976, releasing Wanted! The Outlaws, which became the genre's first certified platinum album. By 1977, Nelson had decided to record a collection of American pop standards. During that time, Nelson was living in the same neighborhood in Malibu as producer Booker T. Jones.
The two became friends, Nelson asked Jones to arrange "Moonlight in Vermont". Pleased by the results, Nelson asked Jones to produce an entire standards album for him. Nelson selected his ten favorite pop songs from his childhood, starting with "Stardust". Nelson and his sister Bobbie had sheet music for the song that he had tried to perform with his guitar, but did not like that arrangement. Jones adapted the song for Nelson, who picked for the album "Georgia on My Mind", "Blue Skies", "All of Me", "Unchained Melody", "September Song", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "Moonlight in Vermont", "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" and "Someone to Watch Over Me"; the executives of Columbia Records were not convinced that the album would sell well, because the project was a radical departure from his earlier success in the outlaw movement. The album included pop and folk music styles, in addition to country, it was recorded from December 3–12, 1977. The album was released in April 1978; the album peaked at number one Billboard Top Country Albums, number thirty on the Billboard 200.
Meanwhile, the songs "Blue Skies" and "All of Me" peaked at number one and three on Hot Country Songs. Stardust was certified platinum on December 1978 and was named Top Country Album of the year for 1978; the album charted at number one in Canadian RPM's Country Albums, while charted at number 28 in RPM's Top Albums. Nelson became the highest-grossing concert act in the United States. In 1979, Nelson won a Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance for "Georgia on My Mind". In 1979, "September Song" peaked at number fifteen in Billboard's Hot Country Singles. Stardust spent two years on the Billboard 200, the album charted 540 weeks on top country albums. In 1980 the album ranked at number one in New Zealand top albums, while it ranked at number 5 in Australian top albums. In 1984, the album was certified triple platinum, it was certified quadruple platinum in 1990, quintuple platinum in 2002. It was ranked by Rolling Stone at #257 in The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In honor of the 35th anniversary of the release, it was announced that Nelson would perform the entire album live, with the accompainment of an orchestra directed by David Campbell during two shows on August 9–10, 2013 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California.
In December 2014 the induction of Stardust to the Grammy Hall of Fame was announced. In 2008, Columbia Records issued a version of Stardust subtitled 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition; the album contained a 16 track bonus disc of standards from Nelson's other albums. None of the bonus tracks date to the original Stardust sessions. Stardust received positive reviews from most publications, both on its original release and for its various reissues. Rolling Stone praised the album: "For all the sleek sophistication of the material, Stardust is as down-home as the Legion dance. Heard coast to coast in lounges and on elevator soundtracks, these tunes have become part of the folk music of exurban America, and that's the way Nelson plays them—spare and simple, with a jump band's verve and a storyteller's love of a good tale. By offering these songs, he's displaying the tools of a journeyman musician's trade—worn smooth and polished by constant use—and when he lays them out this way, they kind of look like works of art.
Nelson may be acknowledging both his own and country music's debt to Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, but he's showing these hallowed musical institutions how the country makes their music its own". Billboard delivered a favorable review: "Unusual p
Cosmic dust
Cosmic dust called extraterrestrial dust or space dust, is dust which exists in outer space, or has fallen on Earth. Most cosmic dust particles are between a few molecules to 0.1 µm in size. Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust and circumplanetary dust. In the Solar System, interplanetary dust causes the zodiacal light. Solar System dust includes comet dust, asteroidal dust, dust from the Kuiper belt, interstellar dust passing through the Solar System. Thousands of tons of cosmic dust are estimated to reach the Earth's surface every year, with each grain having a mass between 10−16 kg and 10−4 kg; the density of the dust cloud through which the Earth is traveling is 10−6/m3. Cosmic dust contains some complex organic compounds that could be created and by stars. A smaller fraction of dust in space is "stardust" consisting of larger refractory minerals that condensed as matter left by stars. Interstellar dust particles were collected by the Stardust spacecraft and samples were returned to Earth in 2006.
Cosmic dust was once an annoyance to astronomers, as it obscures objects they wish to observe. When infrared astronomy began, the dust particles were observed to be significant and vital components of astrophysical processes, their analysis can reveal information about phenomena like the formation of the Solar System. For example, cosmic dust can drive the mass loss when a star is nearing the end of its life, play a part in the early stages of star formation, form planets. In the Solar System, dust plays a major role in the zodiacal light, Saturn's B Ring spokes, the outer diffuse planetary rings at Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, comets; the interdisciplinary study of dust brings together different scientific fields: physics, fractal mathematics, surface chemistry on dust grains) meteoritics, as well as every branch of astronomy and astrophysics. These disparate research areas can be linked by the following theme: the cosmic dust particles evolve cyclically; the evolution of dust traces out paths in which the Universe recycles material, in processes analogous to the daily recycling steps with which many people are familiar: production, processing, collection and discarding.
Observations and measurements of cosmic dust in different regions provide an important insight into the Universe's recycling processes. The astronomers accumulate observational ‘snapshots’ of dust at different stages of its life and, over time, form a more complete movie of the Universe's complicated recycling steps. Parameters such as the particle's initial motion, material properties, intervening plasma and magnetic field determined the dust particle's arrival at the dust detector. Changing any of these parameters can give different dust dynamical behavior. Therefore, one can learn about where that object came from, what is the intervening medium. Cosmic dust can be detected by indirect methods that utilize the radiative properties of the cosmic dust particles. Cosmic dust can be detected directly using a variety of collection methods and from a variety of collection locations. Estimates of the daily influx of extraterrestrial material entering the Earth's atmosphere range between 5 and 300 tonnes.
NASA collects samples of star dust particles in the Earth's atmosphere using plate collectors under the wings of stratospheric-flying airplanes. Dust samples are collected from surface deposits on the large Earth ice-masses and in deep-sea sediments. Don Brownlee at the University of Washington in Seattle first reliably identified the extraterrestrial nature of collected dust particles in the latter 1970s. Another source is the meteorites. Stardust grains are solid refractory pieces of individual presolar stars, they are recognized by their extreme isotopic compositions, which can only be isotopic compositions within evolved stars, prior to any mixing with the interstellar medium. These grains condensed from the stellar matter. In interplanetary space, dust detectors on planetary spacecraft have been built and flown, some are presently flying, more are presently being built to fly; the large orbital velocities of dust particles in interplanetary space make intact particle capture problematic. Instead, in-situ dust detectors are devised to measure parameters associated with the high-velocity impact of dust particles on the instrument, derive physical properties of the particles through laboratory calibration.
Over the years dust detectors have measured, among others, the impact light flash, acoustic signal and impact ionisation. The dust instrument on Stardust captured particles intact in low-density aerogel. Dust detectors in the past flew on the HEOS-2, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Giotto and Cassini space missions, on the Earth-orbiting LDEF, EURECA, Gorid satellites, some scientists have utilized the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft as giant Langmuir probes to
Stardust (Lena Meyer-Landrut song)
"Stardust" is a song recorded by German recording artist Lena. It was written by Rosi Golan and Tim Myers and produced by Swen Meyer for her third studio album Stardust; the song was released on September 21, 2012. "Stardust" was composed by Israeli-American singer-songwriter Rosi Golan, American musician Tim Myers, a former member of OneRepublic. Golan had written the songs "Bee" and "I Like You", which have been recorded and performed by Meyer-Landrut. In 2010, "Bee" was Meyer-Landrut’s second best-selling track reaching number three on the German Singles Chart; the song was presented for the first time on July 2012 in Munich during a promotional event. Its radio premiere was on August 8, 2012; the first international presentation was during the 40th anniversary of Porsche Design in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles on September 4. The track was released on CD single and as a digital download as the first single from Meyer-Landrut's same-titled third album on September 21, 2012 in Germany and Switzerland.
The single features the song "Time". This song is a Ben's Brother cover, written by Jamie Hartman. In December 2012 it received a Gold certification in Germany for more than 150,000 sold copies and downloads, it was chosen as title track for the film Jesus liebt mich, released in German cinemas on Christmas 2012. In March 2014, it was first used as promotional music by the British TV channel ITV for their spring-summer programming advert. In 2014, the original composer Rosi Golan performed an own version for the soundtrack of the film You're Not You starring Hilary Swank and Emmy Rossum; the music video was shot in August 2012 in a Spanish semi-desert. It was released on 7 September 2012; the director was Bode Brodmüller who worked with Joy Denalane, Max Herre, Jan Delay. The video is focused on Lena, either dancing, standing and laying on the floor in several dresses or is bathing; the women in the background are covered with mud. On 21 March 2013, the music video was awarded as best video at the German ECHO Awards.
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
