View from the Edge

Modern Mechanix » New NASA Space Telescope
OK … I HAD to comment specifically about this one, lol, if only to point you towards the comments of Modern Mechanix.
The funny thing about this ad is that “NASA Space Telescope” was the original name of the Hubble Space Telescope and Perkin-Elmer is the contractor that delivered a […]

Sometimes, it’ll be a month or more between my visits to Modern Mechanix but all that means is I’ll find more fascinating bits, lol. I think one of the reasons I go so infrequently is I know that I could easily spend a LOT of time daily at the sight.
Spent a few hours yesterday wandering […]

Taking the paper trail to Washington | Salon News

I don’t have much of a stake in the issue of electronic voting machines in the US. We can argue about the effects of US politics on the world all we like, but the fact is, how a country…

This Modern World | Salon Comics

This Modern World is a perfect example of the adage that cartoons do NOT have to be funny.  While the strips sometimes do make me laugh, the point of This Modern World is far more to make us think than to make us laugh.  This one in particular was one […]

I am a voracious reader of newspapers.  I read at least 2 physical papers a day … the Globe and Mail and the Calgary Sun (well, this is assuming I am at home and not travelling) … plus several others on-line on the average day.  One of the main reasons I read so many different […]

Astronomy Picture of the Day
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060719.html

This is such an amazing picture.  And in light of my recent post on the size of the universe, Feeling Insignificant Yet?, its perhaps another image to add at the beginning of that set of images.  Ostensibly, this is just a normal day at work for Michael Fossum.  Whether he was […]

BibliOdyssey: Michael of Rhodes
I just adore old books and manuscripts.  Even if I can’t read the language, to be able to flip through a book that is 300 years old is something that has always turned me on.  Illuminated manuscripts have always been a particular favorite of mine … there is art inherent without even […]

globeandmail.com : Air Canada, Air Transat finalize plans to evacuate thousands of Canadian refugees fleeing Lebanon
This whole operation is something important, and I wanted to draw attention to it. Aside from the issues of leaving behind people who haven’t the option to leave, it makes sense for foreigners to evacuate in a time like […]

Inflatable Satellite Launched Into Orbit - Forbes.com
This is a fascinating article on a (sort of) new kind of space craft being tested by Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace. The concept isn’t entirely new … NASA has experimented with this in the past, and even considered an inflatable part of the ISS before rejecting it.
The main advantage […]

Look at Me, a collection of found photos
This is one of those websites where I can get lost for hours.  There’s something compelling about old photos for me … there’s an almost eerie sense of recognition, alongside a sense of discovering the unknown.  The mix of the unknowable and the familiarity is very compelling for […]