Terminator

The original Terminators created by skynet had rubber skin and were very easy to detect and destroy.

Later the T-800 was created. This terminator was often adorned with human skin. This made them much more difficult to detect. Dogs were often used for this purpose. The kind of Terminator that was originally sent to kill Sarah Connor was a T-800. It was also the kind that was reprogrammed and sent back to help save Sarah and her son later.

After this the T-1000 was developed. This kind of terminator was created out of liquid metal which allowed it to change its form into anything that it touched. This adds both resiliance and stealth to the machine. The-T 1000 was the type of terminator sent to kill Sarah's son.

Somehow these machines managed to find themselves in two movies of the same name.

Along with the various androids, a terminator is one who terminates.

It is also a device that ends electrical signals.

The terminator is also the line on a planet (or moon) dividing night from day. The points at which the sun is on the horizon, just rising or just setting. Generally, the sun is far enough away from planets that the terminator can be said to divide the planet in two equal hemispheres (ignoring the equatorial bulge).

Apart from points inside the Arctic and Antarctic circles, midnight and midday are the times when you are furthest from the terminator. Dawn and dusk are when you are on the terminator. During the solstices, the North and South poles are farthest from the terminator, and during the equinoxes, the North and South poles are on the terminator.

Probably the weirdest practical joystick ever built.

Terminator was shaped exactly like a fragmentating hand grenade.

The wire to the computer (with a standard-of-the-day Atari-joystick 9-pin D-connector, used in most 8- and 16-bit computers) came out from the "bottom" of the grenade, and the top that had the pin and everything had a short metal stick, used as the 8-way controller. The "handle" acted as the fire button.

The reasons for its coolness:

• For a flight sims of the day, the sticks may have been nice. For Commando on C64, you need something more appropriate to get to the proper mood. =)
• The mechanics used microswitches, which meant the stick was very durable (beated most cheap leaf switch-based designs).

Some people didn't like the stick part because it was somewhat short, though.

I don't know the manufacturer. A review of many, many joysticks in MikroBitti in 1989 said it was made in Denmark - the review also said that this sort of joysticks may be difficult to transport in airplanes...

(TAC-2 remains my favorite C64 joystick, though.)

Terminator's construction is ingenious. Metal rails circle the planet on the northern forty-fifth latitude. Set between the rails are metal cylinders that expand in the heat of the Mercurial day. The city is set on these rails. As the tracks expand in the sun, the city is forced along the rails to where they have not yet expanded at about three kilometres an hour. This keeps the city within the terminator of Mercury, the rotating band of dusk between freezing night and incandescent day.

Track laying on Mercury started in 2142, with rolling construction (by necessity) throught the 2150's.

Terminator is either the only major city on Mercury, or simply the only city on Mercury. We never learn if there are more cities, but there are some underground refuges, scientific posts, power facilities, and at least one art gallery. Terminator's police force is known as the spasspolizei. The spasspolizei enforce the many restricting rules and laws in Terminator. The Mithraists have plenty of power in Terminator government. The main feature of Terminator is the Dawn Wall, the easternmost wall. It is terraced, and lined with buildings. The higher the terrace is, the smaller it will be, and the more important the buildings will be. The offices of the Lion of Mercury, the leader of Mercurial government, are in the highest terrace, a single story high.

Terminator features in Blue Mars and The Memory Of Whiteness and the short story Mercurial in the short story collection Vinland the Dream.

lethal cocktail- Oh i promise i wont mention the Mr G incident.

1/5 shot Irish Cream
1/5 shot Kahlua
1/5 shot Sambuca
1/5 shot Grand Marnier
1/5 shot Vodka.

Please remember: Not to drink in excess. Moderation is the keyword, but when do we ever want to listen to advice

Ter"mi*na`tor (?), n. [L., he who limits or sets bounds.]

1.

One who, or that which, terminates.

2. Astron.

The dividing line between the illuminated and the unilluminated part of the moon.

© Webster 1913.