The Daily Rumpus
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From Stephen Elliott
Glasses, extra light wheelchairs, satellite technology, and even moon boot technology in KangaROOs.
But even more impressive is NASA’s ability to get Gloria Steinem and Charlton Heston in the same room. Just a few days after many were disappointed by the update from the Curiosity, Wired shares vintage PSAs that are endearingly genuine reminders of all that Space Technology has done for us.
...moreUsing a camera on its arm, the Curiosity rover took a break from its Mars excursion to snap a self-portrait.
Maggie Koerth-Baker documents the picture and explores how time passes on Earth versus how it passes on Mars, for Boing Boing. She explains that the Martian equivalent to an Earth day is a “Sol,” and is titled so because a day on Mars is slightly longer:
“What really stuck out to me, though, was the use of ’Sol 32′.
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In his children’s book This is Cape Canaveral (1963), Miroslav Sasek wrote, “On the east coast of Florida, 190 miles north of Miami, you enter a land of giants, of science-fiction-turned-fact, among whose denizens are the Atlas, the Thor, the Saturn, the Polaris, the Redstone, the Titan, the Jupiter.
...moreLast night, NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on the surface of Mars, beginning its year long exploration of the planet.
The Guardian has compiled a short history of Mars musing, which highlights scientists’ fascination with the planet. Since their first sightings in the 17th century, scientists argued about the planet’s capability for sustaining life:
“Lowell eventually ‘saw’ and published maps of not only canals but also vastly thick lines of cultivated vegetation, oases and cities, standing out against ‘one vast Sahara’.
...moreYesterday marked the fortieth anniversary of the launch of Landsat, America’s longest running Earth-imaging satellite program.
Since the NASA-run program began in 1972, Landsat has captured more than three million images of our planet. To look at some particularly stunning photographs taken by the satellite (pictures chosen through Nasa’s ‘Earth as Art’ contest), click here.
...moreThe publisher Tor/Forge and NASA will collaborate on the creation of “science-based science fiction.” The budding relationship will allow writers to consult scientists about the facts behind their stories.
“GSFC’s Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office will host a select group of Tor/Forge authors — some of whom already write science based fiction — to learn more about science and space exploration.
...moreAtlantis just returned from its last mission and here we are with our feet firmly on the ground. But surely there is an alternative to NASA.
For inspiration into space travel here on earth experience the short film Life as An Independent Astronaut and an interview with the documentary’s star and director David Wilson.
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The Space Age drifted all around me: Major Matt Mason toys in various heroic poses on the basement floor, plastic red-and-blue rockets ascending and landing, the interstellar playing out under the pool table as astral 45s by Eumir Deodato (“Also Spake Zarathustra 2001”) and Vik Venus (“Moonflight”) revolve on the Bonomo family stereo.
...more“We are little sacks of flesh and muscle and blood. We’re little frail things. What the heck will happen to us?”
...moreThe big news this week was the iPad announcement, including the tech-world’s dismissal of it. (Fraser Speirs addresses that nicely.) But there’s a lot more happening in the world of e-books.
For example, NASA just opened an e-book section and its first offering is a history of the X-15 hypersonic test aircraft.
...moreNASA is providing information from its satellites to aid in disaster relief in Haiti.
NASA’s Mars Rover Phoenix went to sleep for the winter, and now they’re trying to wake it up.
The biggest black hole in the universe.
Great images from Antarctica by National Geographic.
...moreIn yet another example of how the real world is far weirder than most peoples’ imaginations, I give you brain-shrinking algae.
NASA has an iPhone app.
There are scientific questions with surprising answers, and then there’s this one.
...moreGood morning, world. This week, the blogs are full of fun. Many of them had wondrous posts having to do with lovable, humorous, classic sci-fi authors like Vonnegut and Bradbury and Adams. It was a week made for me.
Also, apologies in advance for the sparse posts today.
...moreThe jokes write themselves sometimes–on the same day that the sitting President of the US wins the Nobel Peace Prize, we bombed the moon. To be fair, we had warned the moon repeatedly about pulling all that romantic shit.
When this thing can catch and eat bugs to power itself, call me.
...moreIn the months I’ve been the Saturday editor, I’ve noticed that a large number of my links and other posts come from science and technology sources: popular magazines, not hardcore stuff. But I rarely have much more to add to these pieces than “ooh, that’s cool” or “look at this picture.” So I’ve decided to start a Science Saturday linkfest, and it should be a recurring event.
...moreMumpsimus was digging through his attic and found an old editorial his grandfather wrote for The Needham Times after the moon landing. Funny how a forty year old opinion piece is a million times more enlightened than Sarah Palin’s recent op-ed in The Washington Post.
...moreDo you have what it takes to be the next Philip J. Fry? Turanga Leela? Bender Bending Rodriguez? Fox is apparently bringing Futurama back yet again, but is planning to recast the voices.
YouTube might be profitable soon, thanks to advertising.
...moreBecause it’s Saturday, and because at heart I’m a child, Who Pooped?
It’s hard to say just how super they are, but there are superheroes roaming around. I wonder if the warnings about Jim still hold?
Ever wanted to tell someone to wipe their ass with a TPS Report?
...moreThis series of very short videos compiled from images posted on NASA’s Earth Observatory, are shocking, and a little terrifying. See an artificial archipelago shaped like a palm tree appear off the coast of Dubai; watch Lake Powell and the Aral Sea disappear; witness the Brazilian deforestation from above.
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