Conan imagines Star Wars, rebooted by Wes Anderson.
The Erie Canal Museum turns 50 this year, and those who attended the Erie Canal Museum’s birthday bash on July 28 were treated to several “blast from the past” moments during the day.
I produced this for the Summer 2012 Newswriting and Reporting class at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
Carl Sagan’s message to Mars, recorded a few months before he died. Transcript via io9.
Hi, I’m Carl Sagan. This is a place where I often work in Ithaca, New York near Cornell University. Maybe you can hear, in the background, a 200-foot waterfall right nearby, which is probably — I would guess — a rarity on Mars, even in times of high technology.
Science and science fiction have done a kind of dance over the last century, particularly with respect to Mars. The scientists make a finding. It inspires science fiction writers to write about it, and a host of young people read the science fiction and are excited, and inspired to become scientists to find out more about Mars, which they do, which then feeds again into another generation of science fiction and science; and that sequence has played major role in our present ability to get to Mars. It certainly was an important factor in the life of Robert Goddard, the American rocketry pioneer who, I think more than anyone else, paved the way for our actual ability to go to Mars. And it certainly played a role in my scientific development.
I don’t know why you’re on Mars. Maybe you’re there because we’ve recognized we have to carefully move small asteroids around to avert the possibility of one impacting the Earth with catastrophic consequences, and, while we’re up in near-Earth space, it’s only a hop, skip and a jump to Mars. Or, maybe we’re on Mars because we recognize that if there are human communities on many worlds, the chances of us being rendered extinct by some catastrophe on one world is much less. Or maybe we’re on Mars because of the magnificent science that can be done there - the gates of the wonder world are opening in our time. Maybe we’re on Mars because we have to be, because there’s a deep nomadic impulse built into us by the evolutionary process, we come after all, from hunter gatherers, and for 99.9% of our tenure on Earth we’ve been wanderers. And, the next place to wander to, is Mars. But whatever the reason you’re on Mars is, I’m glad you’re there. And I wish I was with you.
(via shortformblog)
Walkin’ and smokin’ and eatin’ breakfast. Like a boss.
Love this.
East Chagrin, Ohio, found an interesting way to cover a bear sighting.THISis the kind of hard-hitting, self-aware, tongue-in-cheek journalism I aspire to.
Awesome.
Orchestral rock cover of “Call Me Maybe” by Miracles of Modern Science (They started at Princeton! Also, is that a mandolin? Amazing.)
If You Ever Need Someone - The Family Bones
This is what a music video using 25,000 Post-it notes looks like.
Via the band’s description on YouTube:
We spent nearly four months creating this stop motion animation for the debut single off of THE FAMILY BONES upcoming record. We used a green screen for the live action elements and utilized a few loops and split screens to make it possible to pull this off without a label or a budget. All of the post its you see are real and were put up by hand
Filed Under: Patience.
Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is.
In a recent TED talk, Chip Kidd walks us through the design process he used to produce iconic book covers over the last 20 years, from Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park to David Sedaris’ Naked.
His thoughts about digital books and tablets: “Much is to be gained by eBooks: ease, convenience, portability. But something is definitely lost: tradition, a sensual experience, the comfort of thingy-ness — a little bit of humanity.”
Bonus, Part 01: Has Kindle Killed the Book Cover? via The Atlantic.
Bonus, Part 02: Is the Book Cover Dead, via Technology Review
Planet Earth, narrated by kids
(H/T The Atlantic)
Smart, timely ad: “It’s OK, the Internet will be just fine without you.”
