Mission To Mars

Six volunteers entered a capsule in Russia yesterday to see how long they last on a potential mission to Mars. From the BBC here.

George Orwell As Dad

From an article by John Carey at the London Times:

"What would it have been like to be brought up by George Orwell? Pretty grim, you might think. But you would be wrong. In June 1944, Orwell and his wife Eileen adopted a three-week-old boy whom they named Richard Horatio Blair (Eric Blair being Orwell's real name). Now a retired engineer living happily in an immaculate house in a picture-book Warwickshire village, Blair has never publicised the fact that he was related to Orwell, always preferring to remain in the background."

But he agreed to speak of his memories. The full article here.

Hacking Spaces

Where the hackers go to work. Bring your soldering iron! At Wired.

Norwegian Black Metal Photos

Via the Creative Review blog. Some photos by Peter Beste. The images of Norway's Black Metal fans are part of a show at Berlin's Pool Gallery

Short Film

Commercial

It's for Coke, but the message is wonderful. Watch here.

Quote

We must travel in the direction of our fear. - John Berryman

Another Photo

Baby bath, 1905. At Shorpy.

Photo

From a series of photos by fabian unternährer. More work here.

Goin' Green

Holi

It's a Hindu festival of color via The Big Picture.

Quote

"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself." -Michel de Montaigne

James Dean And Paul Newman

It's been floating around the web a bit, but I just found this one:

Photos Distorted

From a series of found optically distorted photos at Square America.

International Space Station View

Robot

Farmer Wu Yulu drives his rickshaw pulled by his self-made walking robot near his home in a village at the outskirts of Beijing January 8, 2009. This robot is the latest and largest development of hobby inventor Wu, who started to build robots in 1986, made of wire, metal, screws and nails found in rubbish sites. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause
More robot pix via The Big Picture.

Very Short Stories

Six word stories. Here is link.

The Current State Of Things

Helen Philpot of Margaret and Helen asks who we need in charge:

"A Harvard law graduate and former constitutional law professor, or a disc jockey with a drug addiction who flunked out of college, divorced three wives and publicly made fun of a disabled person? Because that is the choice we have between Barack Obama as leader of the free world and Rush Limbaugh as leader of the Republican party."

Sushi Go Around

Shot at a sushi bar in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan, here is a wonderful slice of life from Asia:



It won't be long before this kind of media will stream live via mobile devices from all over the world in real time.

Sliding House

This sliding house adapts to all seasons and lets the light in when you want it: