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Human Cargo

By N. Rain Noe | October 10, 2008 | 2

We know the economy’s in the shitter, but damn a staycation. Sometimes you need to get out and about and see things your local park and monuments can’t provide.

Problem is, older you get, higher the chances are you’ve already been to Paris, Tokyo, and Chiang Mai; so where should you go next?

Well, never mind the where, think about the how. Ever been on a cargo ship? Montreal-based A la Carte Freighter Travel will put you on a ship loaded with 7,000 containers but only 11 other passengers (and maybe as few as five or six). Here are some details:

TAGS: Things We Like

Obama’s $3 Million Overhead Projector?

By John H Lee | October 9, 2008 | 1

Photo by Howard Covitz

I am an Associate Professor of Astronomy at the University of Chicago (the University that today has added yet another Nobel Prize winner in the sciences for the US). I would like to comment on Sen. McCain’s statement during today’s debate that Sen. Obama has earmarked “$3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Ill. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?”

The way Sen. McCain has phrased it suggests that Sen. Obama approved spending $3 million on an old-fashioned piece of office equipment (overhead projector).
The 3 million is actually for an upgrade of the SkyTheater—a full dome projection system, which is probably the main attraction of the Adler Planetarium and is quite sophisticated and impressive piece of equipment.

I find it appalling that Sen. McCain would call a science education tool for public (largely children) for a historic planetarium with millions of visitors a year a wasteful earmark. The planetarium’s focus, as stated on their website (http://adlerplanetarium.org) is “on inspiring young people, particularly women and minorities, to pursue careers in science.” Is an investment in such public facility at the time when US competitiveness in math and sciences is a constant source of alarm a waste?

— Andrey Kravtsov, Chicago, IL

To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support—which was not funded—to replace the star projection system in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI projector—not an overhead projector—is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The Adler’s projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium projector in the Adler’s 78 years of operation.

Star Projection System

TAGS: Current Events

Banksy Opens NYC Pet Shop

By John H Lee | October 9, 2008 | 2

From WoosterCollective.com

While New Yorkers have been consumed by the stock market meltdown, a tiny little pet store quietly opened four days ago at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street in the West Village of New York City.
There are no puppies or kittens in the windows here.
Instead, a live leopard lounges on a tree in the window.
Or is it?
Clearly, that this isn’t your typical pet store.
So who’s the “owner” of the Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill at 89 West 7th Avenue?
Banksy.
Once inside Banksy’s pet store, you discover such things as breaded fish that swim in a large round bowl while hot dogs are living the high life under heat lamps in cages near the cash register.
Open now til Thanksgiving. 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street.