#richard garriott

[theactioneer]

Akalabeth: World of Doom (California Pacific, 1980)

[masturbatress]

I miss playing the Ultima games like when I was first introduced to them. Man, numbers IV, V, VI and VII were so fucking good introductions to computer RPGs and some of their aspects really haven't been topped since.

[kaiyves-backup]

Sending people party invitations that contain codes telling you to hold the paper over fire (but not burn it) and then put it in the freezer to get the real message convinces me that Richard Garriott is the kind of person edutainment games, books, and cartoons were warning us about.

[ultimacodex]

If You Haven't Checked Out Majuular's "Ultima" Retrospectives, You Really Should

Majuular's has been publishing video retrospectives of the "Ultima" series; he's already done the first five games, with more to come.

YouTube streamer Majuular‘s channel is full of retrospectives of many classic games, but recently his attention has been on the Ultima series. He’s covered Akalabeth and Ultima 1, Ultima 2, Ultima 3, Ultima 4, and (most recently) Ultima 5, and delves into significant detail about each game. The earlier videos run to about an hour in length; the two most recent ones clock in at nearly two hours.…

[generallemarc]

You've heard of Lord British, now get ready for:

The link won't display it, but he's also styled as Lord German. This is the one man who can kill Lord British without needing exploits, provided he can strike quickly before he loses to superior airpower.

[kingofdoma]

battle of the richardgars let's go

[justwatchmyeyes]

Chaos and Order are not enemies, only opposites. ~ Richard Garriott

[linusjf]

Richard Garriott: Preparation and opportunity

“Luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity. Opportunities parade past all of us all the time. The key is that you must be paying attention to see them, you must be willing to take risks, you must expose yourself to the possibility of massive failure and you must believe in what you are doing so much that you do it anyway.�� —Richard Garriott.

[kaiyves-backup]

I remember reading for years about how this movie couldn’t be released because of rights issues with the various space agencies but that it was groundbreaking for these reasons and starred the astronauts I was familiar with. By the time it finally did make its way online, I don’t think anything could have lived up to the hype I had for it in my head.

And, well… it’s a home movie. It’s about the same as any silly movie you made with your siblings or friends on a camcorder as a kid, except it was made in space. It’s exactly what any space nerd in 2008 would imagine from the phrase “Mike Fincke trying to act in a home movie”.

Apogee of Fear

The first science fiction film made in space. Filmed by Richard Garriott creator of the Ultima videogames series. It was written by fantasy novelist Tracy Hickman.

The film's principal photography was accomplished during Garriott's time aboard the International Space Station as a spaceflight participant on October 12, 2008.

There's a lot of folks talking about 'when will the first fiction movie be shot in space' going around on clickbait fandom blogs. The answer is 'already has been'

[donb]

Ha ma az ember rákeres a fent említett Richard Garriottra, gyakorlatilag az első nagy sikerű grafikus online multiplayer szerepjáték megálmodójára, a magyar nyelvű Wikipédián azt találja róla, hogy „Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux (Cambridge, Anglia, 1961. július 4.–) angol–amerikai űrturista. A 6. űrturista”. Alatta, az életpályájánál: „videójátékokból szerezte vagyonát”. Ami pontosan olyan, mintha Szent-Györgyi Albertről azt írnák, hogy „Nagyrápolti Szent-Györgyi Albert Imre (Budapest, 1893. szeptember 16. – Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 1986. október 22.), hobbimotoros. Az egyik első híres magyar hobbimotoros”. Majd alatta, az Életpálya alcímnél: „Nobel-díjából szerezte vagyonát”. 

[risingquotes]

Your Daily Quote

Chaos and Order are not enemies, only opposites.

-Richard Garriott

[writergeekrhw]

Which video games have you been playing lately? Any recommendations? (Also, I know you and Alexander Siddig have talked about how you were playing the same video game, I think it was Ultima Online?, during DS9 but didn't know. How did you first figure that out? I just love that story, thanks)

I honestly haven't played much. No time. I pretty much quit playing video games, especially MMOs, when I dropped WoW to write my Billy Smith and the Goblins novels.

Sid and I figured out we both played UO when I attended one of his SidCity Social Hours to celebrate his birthday, and Richard Garriott, the producer of the franchise, was also a guest.

[moonwatchuniverse]

40 years ago Seiko A829 alarm chronographs in space NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, who had flown on the Skylab space station (1973), seen onboard space shuttle Columbia mission STS-9 in November 1983. Note the Seiko quartz Alarm chronograph with dual LCD screen, a watch which was worn on spaceflight missions between 1983 and 1996. During the October 2008 Soyuz TMA-13 mission, Owen Garriott's son entrepreneur Richard Garriott flew as spaceflight participant onboard the International Space Station, wearing 2 Seiko SpringDrive Spacewalk chronographs. These Seiko watches were worn during the December 23, 2008 EVA-spacewalk by cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and returned to Earth in April 2009. In this way, Seiko became one of 12 wrist watch makes directly exposed to outer space! (Photo: NASA)

[ultimacodex]

Andrea Contato’s New Book, “Video Games: The People, Games, and Companies - Part II”, is Crowdfunding an English Translation

Andrea Contato has launched a fundraising campaign for his next book about video gaming history. Back it today!

Andrea Contato, as you may recall, is the author of Through the Moongate, a two-volume book that chronicles the history of Origin Systems and Richard Garriott’s career as a game developer. He is also the author of a five-volume work, published (or soon to be published) in Italian, on the history of video games and the gaming industry. The first volume was translated into English and published…

[beardedmrbean]

A Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises as a massive operation searched early Wednesday in a remote part of the North Atlantic for a submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic.

A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be, though it offered a glimmer of hope for those lost aboard the Titan. The vessel is estimated to have as little as a day's worth of oxygen left if it is still functioning.

Three search vessels arrived on-scene Wednesday morning, including one that has side-scanning sonar capabilities, the Coast Guard tweeted.

The Coast Guard wrote on Twitter that a Canadian military surveillance aircraft had “detected underwater noises in the search area" and that an underwater robot sent to search that area has so far “yielded negative results.”

Still, authorities pushed on Wednesday to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the sub is found.

The Coast Guard statement about detecting sounds underwater came after Rolling Stone reported that search teams heard “banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes.”

The report was encouraging to some experts because submarine crews unable to communicate with the surface are taught to bang on their submersible’s hull to be detected by sonar.

“It sends a message that you’re probably using military techniques to find me and this is how I’m saying it," said Frank Owen, a submarine search and rescue expert. "So, that’s really encouraging if that’s the case.”

Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the president of The Explorers Club, wrote an open letter to his club’s adventurers, saying he had “much greater confidence” about the search after speaking to officials in Congress, the U.S. military and the White House.

However, no official has publicly suggested they know the source of the underwater noises.

Meanwhile, questions remain about how teams could reach the lost submersible, which could be as deep as about 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface near the watery tomb of the historic ocean liner. Newly uncovered allegations also suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during its development.

Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert.

Three transport planes from the U.S. military have been used to move commercial submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to aid in the search, a spokesperson for U.S. Air Mobility Command said.

The Canadian military said it provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships, including one that specializes in dive medicine. It also dropped sonar buoys to listen for any sounds from the Titan.

Authorities reported the 22-foot carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s.

The submersible had a four-day oxygen supply when it put to sea around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, which oversaw the mission.

Owen said the estimated 96-hour oxygen supply is a useful “target” for searchers, but is only based on a “nominal amount of consumption the average human might consume in doing certain things.” Owen said the diver on board the Titan would likely be advising passengers to “do anything to reduce your metabolic levels so that you can actually extend this 96 hours.”

Chris Brown, a British adventurer who paid a deposit to go on the Titan voyage but later withdrew because of what he called safety concerns, said word that the searchers have heard sounds is both good news and bad news.

“If the sounds are coming from below the water indicator then that indicates that they may be alive in the water, but now we’ve got time pressures in getting them up to the surface,” Brown told ABC’s “Good Morning America” Wednesday.

The submersible had seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that drop off and an inflatable balloon.

Aaron Newman, who has been a passenger on the Titan, told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday that if the submersible is below a couple hundred meters and without power, the passengers are in complete darkness and it's cold.

“It was cold when we were at the bottom,” he said. “You had layered up. You had wool hats on and were doing everything to stay warm at the bottom.”

Meanwhile, documents show that OceanGate had been warned there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way the experimental vessel was developed.

David Lochridge, OceanGate’s director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company’s testing and certification was insufficient and would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible.”

The company insisted that Lochridge was “not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan.” The firm also says the vessel under development was a prototype, not the now-missing Titan.

The Marine Technology Society, which describes itself as “a professional group of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers, and educators,” also expressed concern that year in a letter to Rush, OceanGate’s chief executive. The society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers. The New York Times first reported about those documents.

The search for the missing vessel has drawn international attention. In Dubai, where the missing British adventurer Hamish Harding lives, Crown Prince Hamadan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum wrote: “Dubai and its people pray for their safety and hopeful return home.”

Others aboard include Pakistani nationals Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, whose eponymous firm invests across the country. In Pakistan's port city of Karachi, employees at his firms said they prayed for the two's safe return, as did government officials. French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet also was on the vessel.

Describing Harding and Nargeloet as “tourists” is a misnomer, said Newman, the former Titan passenger.

“These are people who lived on the edge and loved what they were doing. If anything’s going on, these are people that are calm and thinking this through and doing what they can to stay alive,” Newman said, adding that he felt safe and in the hands of professionals on his descent. “It’s a good set of people.”

[bikerpoliticalreport]

Underwater Noises Heard in Frantic Search for Missing Sub

A Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises as a massive search continued early Wednesday in a remote part of the North Atlantic for a submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic.

   A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be, though it offered a glimmer of hope for those lost abroad the Titan as estimates suggest as little as a day’s worth of oxygen could be left if the vessel is still functioning.

   Meanwhile, questions remain about how teams could reach the lost submersible, which could be as deep as about 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface near the watery tomb of the historic ocean liner. Newly uncovered allegations also suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during its development.

   Lost aboard the vessel is pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family, and a Titanic expert.

   The Coast Guard wrote on Twitter that a Canadian P-3 Orion had “detected underwater noises in the search area.” Searchers then moved an underwater robot to that area to search. However, those searches “have yielded negative results but continue.”

   “The data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans,” the Coast Guard said.

   The Coast Guard statement came after Rolling Stone, citing what it described as internal U.S. Department of Homeland Security emails on the search, said that teams heard “banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes.”

   In underwater disasters, a crew unable to communicate with the surface relies on banging on their submersible’s hull to be detected by sonar. However, no official has publicly suggested that’s the case and noises underwater can come from a variety of sources.

   Yet the reports have sparked hope in some, including Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the president of The Explorers Club. He wrote an open letter to his club’s adventurers, who include the missing British man and the Titanic expert aboard the Titan, that they had “much greater confidence” now after they spoke to officials in Congress, the U.S. military, and the White House about the search.

   Three C-17 transport planes from the U.S. military have been used to move commercial submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to aid in the search, a spokesperson for U.S. Air Mobility Command said.

   The Canadian military said it provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships, including one that specializes in dive medicine. It also dropped sonar buoys to listen for any sounds from the Titan.

   Rescuers have been racing against the clock because even under the best of circumstances the vessel could run out of oxygen by Thursday morning.

   In addition to an international array of ships and planes, an underwater robot had started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic and there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the sub is found.

  Authorities reported the carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s.

   The submersible had a four-day oxygen supply when it was put to sea around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, which oversaw the mission.

   CBS News journalist David Pogue, who traveled to the Titanic aboard the Titan last year, said the vehicle uses two communication systems: text messages that go back and forth to a surface ship and safety pings that are emitted every 15 minutes to indicate that the sub is still working.

   Both of those systems stopped about an hour and 45 minutes after the Titan was submerged.

   “There are only two things that could mean. Either they lost all power or the ship developed a hull breach and it imploded instantly. Both of those are devastatingly hopeless,” Pogue told the Canadian CBC network on Tuesday.

   The submersible had seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that drop off and an inflatable balloon. One system is designed to work even if everyone aboard is unconscious, Pogue said.

   Meanwhile, documents show that OceanGate had been warned there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way the experimental vessel was developed.

   David Lochridge, OceanGate’s director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company’s testing and certification were insufficient and would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible.”

   The company insisted that Lochridge was “not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan.” The firm also says the vessel under development was a prototype, not the now-missing Titan.

   The Marine Technology Society, which describes itself as “a professional group of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers, and educators,” also expressed concern that year in a letter to Rush, OceanGate’s chief executive. The society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers. The New York Times first reported about those documents.

   The search for the missing vessel has drawn international attention. In Dubai, where the missing British adventurer Hamish Harding lives, Crown Prince Hamadan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum wrote: “Dubai and its people pray for their safety and hopeful return home.”

   Others aboard include Pakistani nationals Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, whose eponymous firm invests across the country. In Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, employees at his firms said they prayed for the two’s safe return, as did government officials. French explorer and Titanic expert Paul Henry Nargeolet also was on the vessel.

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