Word: signalized
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...stranded on a desert isle, about the only comfort a notebook computer can offer is a nice long game of solitaire. The right watch, on the other hand, might save your life. Breitling's Emergency watch comes with a tiny transmitter that sends a distress signal that can be picked up by search planes or rescue boats as much as 250 miles away...
...gets into the elevator on another floor," he writes, "a man who gives her no undue attention, who presses the button for a floor other than the one she has selected...who stands a substantial distance from her, is not likely to hurt her without giving some signal." If she'd read his book, she would have been able to unclench. That is, until the next human appeared on the horizon...
...opening sequence--a zoom-out from Earth, past planets, stars, galaxies, accompanied by radio sounds transmitted by Earthlings (including bits of human history), and reaching a surprising final destination--is intriguing, and much more satisfying than anything that follows. The movie lumbers along for about an hour until the signal arrives. Then it kicks into high speed, only to lapse once again into plodding. There are a few unexpected and welcome turns--most notably the chilling sight of the first visual image transmitted from Vega; and whenever elusive, eccentric billionaire S.R. Hadden (John Hurt), Ellie's secret ally, pops...
...rather dimwitted machine. Its route from rock to rock will be programmed for it by a controller at a J.P.L. console, those instructions will be relayed to it through the Pathfinder lander and only then, if all looks safe, will the car be allowed to push off. Since even signals traveling at the speed of light take 11 minutes to cover the 119 million miles between Earth and Mars, it's impossible for controllers to stop Sojourner from running into an obstacle or over a cliff. The car thus moves excruciatingly slowly--just 2 ft. per minute--reducing the likelihood...
Inside the lander, computer-driven devices measured the soil samples and fed them into the miniature biology lab, where they were analyzed for signs of growth, metabolism and respiration, processes that would signal the presence of living microorganisms. In one of the tests, a soil sample dampened with "chicken soup"--a nutrient broth--gave off a burst of oxygen. In another, unexpectedly large amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide were released. While both results produced flurries of excitement at J.P.L., scientists eventually--though reluctantly--concluded that the gases resulted not from life processes, but from some exotic Martian chemistry...