retromantique

"[Space exploration] is in financial trouble. Yet by many standards, such missions are inexpensive...."

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:30:17 -0400

“

[Space exploration] is in financial trouble. Yet by many standards, such missions are inexpensive. Mariner Jupiter/Saturn costs about the same as the American aircraft shot down in Vietnam in the week in which I am writing these words (Christmas 1972). The Viking mission itself costs about a fortnight of the Vietnam war.

I find these comparisons particularly poignant: life versus death, hope versus fear. Space exploration and the highly mechanized destruction of people use similar technology and manufacturers, and similar human qualities of organization and daring. Can we not make the transition from automated aerospace killing to automated aerospace exploration of the solar system in which we live?

”

- Carl Sagan (via throughaliseyes)

This is basically how I strive to live.

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:00:18 -0400

This is basically how I strive to live.

friendlyatheist: edwardspoonhands: tyleroakley: Oops. lololol...

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:30:18 -0400

friendlyatheist:

edwardspoonhands:

tyleroakley:

Oops.

lolololol

Yeah, tell the atheist to thank the lord now that they are homeless.

These photographs document several of the various types of...

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:22:15 -0400

These photographs document several of the various types of mould which can be found growing on your average loaf of bread, given enough time and neglect. I am interested in the inherent contradiction of finding aesthetic beauty in something almost universally perceived as disgusting. I was also fascinated by the extraordinary structure and microscopic nature of these life forms, something that those of us not involved in the biological sciences are probably only vaguely aware of.

oh, the things i would do to you

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:00:22 -0400

oh, the things i would do to you

naylemonstre: Speed painting of a very good friend of mine for...

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:42:00 -0400

naylemonstre:

Speed painting of a very good friend of mine for her birthday. Go visit her blog, it’s one of the most interesting I’m following on tumblr, honest!

oh bby I didn’t see you post this on Tumblr *__* thanks for the promo :3

"Most prayers in this room begin with a request to bow your heads. I would like to ask that you not..."

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:27:23 -0400

“

Most prayers in this room begin with a request to bow your heads. I would like to ask that you not bow your heads. I would like to ask that you take a moment to look around the room at all of the men and women here, in this moment, sharing together this extraordinary experience of being alive and of dedicating ourselves to working toward improving the lives of the people in our state.

This is a room in which there are many challenging debates, many moments of tension, of ideological division, of frustration. But this is also a room where, as my secular humanist tradition stresses, by the very fact of being human, we have much more in common than we have differences. We share the same spectrum of potential for care, for compassion, for fear, for joy, for love….

For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.

”

- Atheist lawmaker opens session with Carl Sagan quote instead of prayer (via @pourmecoffee)

wonderful

(via amyvdh)

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:00:22 -0400

jtotheizzoe: Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your...

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:59:49 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your nanogarden grow?

Harvard engineer Wim Noorduin has a green thumb. Only his thumb is only a few microns wide. By carefully controlling gradients of chemicals, he guided the construction of flower-like crystal structures to match their larger biological forms. It’s certainly art, but it also demonstrates a masterful manipulation of chemistry on the nano scale.

Just how small are they? As NPR reports, these flowers could fit in the lapel of the tiny Abraham Lincoln statue on the back of a penny (back when pennies had the Lincoln Memorial on them, anyway). These electron microscope images are false colored to recreate fantastic flowers, and these manipulations will one day help control the construction of useful microstructures.

If you’re seriously engineering-inclined, here’s the original research as it appears in Science.

the future is knocking.

ianbrooks: Science and Space Posters by Ron Guyatt Part of a...

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:30:15 -0400

Space Rocks by Ron Guyatt / posted by ianbrooks.me

Mountain of the Gods by Ron Guyatt / posted by ianbrooks.me

ianbrooks:

Science and Space Posters by Ron Guyatt

Part of a series for spacevidcast.com to help inspire and spread the Good Word of Science! Prints available at etsy.

Artist: Tumblr / Website / Facebook

singyourlifemeow: forever relevant

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:21 -0400

singyourlifemeow:

forever relevant

"The thing that doesn’t fit is the thing that is most interesting."

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:30:16 -0400

“The thing that doesn’t fit is the thing that is most interesting.”

- Richard Feynman (via explore-blog)

One picture to illustrate the superiority of Tennant as the...

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:00:21 -0400

One picture to illustrate the superiority of Tennant as the Doctor.

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:30:42 -0400

willgrahammys: robowtie: willgrahammys: Can there be a Time Lord that goes by the name The Dude...

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:00:20 -0400

willgrahammys:

robowtie:

willgrahammys:

Can there be a Time Lord that goes by the name The Dude and he’s just this surfer dude with long blonde hair and he says ‘radical’ a lot and his TARDIS is a surfboard

someone take the computer away from me

OH MY GOD

astronomypictureoftheday: Red Sprite Lightning with...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:30:12 -0400

astronomypictureoftheday:

Red Sprite Lightning with Aurora

What’s that in the sky? It is a rarely seen form of lightning confirmed only about 25 years ago: a red sprite. Recent research has shown that following a powerful positive cloud-to-ground lightning strike, red sprites may start as 100-meter balls of ionized air that shoot down from about 80-km high at 10 percent the speed of light and are quickly followed by a group of upward streaking ionized balls. The above image, taken a few days ago above central South Dakota, USA, captured a bright red sprite, and is a candidate for the first color image ever recorded of a sprite and aurora together. Distant storm clouds cross the bottom of the image, while streaks of colorful aurora are visible in the background. Red sprites take only a fraction of a second to occur and are best seen when powerful thunderstorms are visible from the side.

Image Credit & Copyright: Walter Lyons (FMA Research), WeatherVideoHD.TV

maid-en-china: I was testing out some cloud brushes I made in...

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:30:09 -0400

maid-en-china:

I was testing out some cloud brushes I made in Photoshop last night and went little crazy with them. Each drawing was done under an hour. I will be making a tutorial plus download to the brushes after I finish the next Fisheye Placebo strip :)

westeros’s celebs read mean tweets (ps: all tweets are real)

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:18 -0400

westeros’s celebs read mean tweets (ps: all tweets are real)

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:30:09 -0400

thelookingglassgallery: “Girl” by blindinpink

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:00:20 -0400

thelookingglassgallery:

“Girl” by blindinpink