Screams of a Winter Night is available now on Blu-ray via Code Red. It has been restored in 2K from the original 16mm camera negative. Limited to 1,000 copies, you can grab it for $26.95 from Dark Force Entertainment.
The obscure 1979 horror anthology is the only film directed by James L. Wilson. Matt Borel, Gil Glasgow, Patrick Byers, and Mary Agen Cox star.
Screams of a Winter Night includes both the theatrical cut and the never-before-seen director’s cut, which includes a long-list fourth story. Special features are listed below.
Today, we’re expressing gratitude for the opportunity to rove on Mars (#ThanksOppy) as we mark the
completion of a
successful mission
that exceeded our expectations.
Our Opportunity Rover’s last communication with Earth was received on June 10, 2018, as a planet-wide dust storm blanketed the solar-powered rover’s location on the western rim of Perseverance Valley, eventually blocking out so
much sunlight that the rover could no longer charge its batteries.
Although the skies over Perseverance cleared, the rover did not respond to a final communication attempt on Feb. 12, 2019.
As the rover’s mission comes to an end, here are a few things to know about its opportunity to explore the Red Planet.
90 days turned into 15 years!
Opportunity launched on July 7, 2003 and landed on Mars on Jan. 24, 2004 for a planned mission of 90 Martian days, which is equivalent to
92.4 Earth days.
While we did not expect the golf-cart-sized
rover to survive through a Martian winter, Opportunity defied all odds as a 90-day mission turned into 15 years!
The Opportunity caught its own silhouette in
this late-afternoon image taken in March 2014 by the rover’s rear hazard avoidance
camera. This camera is mounted low on the rover and has a wide-angle
lens.
Opportunity Set Out-Of-This-World Records
Opportunity’s
achievements, including confirmation water once flowed on Mars.
Opportunity was, by far, the longest-lasting lander on Mars. Besides
endurance, the six-wheeled rover set a roaming record of 28 miles.
This chart illustrates comparisons among the distances driven by various
wheeled vehicles on the surface of Earth’s moon and Mars. Opportunity
holds the off-Earth roving distance record after accruing 28.06 miles
(45.16 kilometers) of driving on Mars.
It’s Just Like Having a Geologist on Mars
Opportunity was created to be the mechanical equivalent of a geologist walking from place to place on the Red Planet. Its mast-mounted cameras are 5 feet high and provided 360-degree two-eyed, human-like views of the terrain. The robotic arm moved like a human arm with an elbow and wrist, and can place instruments directly up against rock and soil targets of interest. The mechanical “hand” of the arm holds a microscopic camera that served the same purpose as a geologist’s handheld magnifying lens.
There’s Lots to See on Mars
After an airbag-protected landing craft settled onto the Red Planet’s surface and
opened, Opportunity rolled out to take panoramic images. These images
gave scientists the information they need to select promising geological
targets that tell part of the story of water in Mars’ past. Since landing in 2004, Opportunity has captured more than 200,000 images. Take a look in this photo gallery.
From its perch high on a ridge, the Opportunity rover recorded this image on March 31, 2016 of a Martian dust devil twisting through
the valley below. The view looks back at the rover’s tracks leading up
the north-facing slope of “Knudsen Ridge,” which forms part of the
southern edge of “Marathon Valley
There Was Once Water on Mars?!
Among the mission’s scientific goals was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils for clues to past water activity on Mars. In its time on the Red Planet, Opportunity discovered small spheres of
the
mineral hematite, which typically forms in water. In addition to these spheres that a scientist nicknamed “blueberries,” the rover also found signs of liquid water flowing across the surface in the past: brightly colored veins of the mineral gypsum in rocks, for instance, which indicated water flowing through underground fractures.
It was mathematics, the non-empirical science par excellence, wherein the mind appears to play only with itself, that turned out to be the science of sciences, delivering the key to those laws of nature and the universe that are concealed by appearances.
“
—
Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind (via philosophybits)
Up now on my eBay! Various furry and anthropomorphic comics from 1994-1999! Buster the Amazing Bear by Tommy Yune, Castle Waiting by Linda Medley and Furrlough from Antarctic Press! Also up for grabs: my superheroine comic collection (70’s-80’s stuff), random Radio Comix books and various indie comics! My house is super small, and I am still selling off thirty years’ worth of collectibles to raise money for ongoing back taxes & various upcoming large expenses, so every little bit helps. Thanks for looking & sharing!
This day 47 years ago British troops opened fire on unarmed Catholic civil rights protestors, killing 14 people, 30 January 1972, Derry, Northern Ireland
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
