It's been a crazy last few weeks, so I'm behind on my posts. More important, it seems like lately several folks have forwarded me some incredibly cool/funny/entertaining videos. Here are a couple of my favorites:
And one incredible photo:
Given the ongoing frequency of my international travel, I thought this was insightful and funny (if not painfully stereotypical):
On October 31, 2013, I moderated a roundtable discussion at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna, Austria. The "Explorers Panel" including Ariel Fuchs of SeaOrbiter and Bas Lansdorp of Mars One, both of whom are working on incredibly ambitious entrepreneurial ventures. The Festival was a 3-day celebration of technology innovation, with 50+ speakers, 25+ startups, and 2500+ attendees.
There were some technical glitches that prevented the introduction and conclusion from going exactly as planned, but overall the entire session went quite smoothly.
It consisted of 4 sections:
Here is the video:
Since the final edit of the public video focused more on me and the panelists than on the constantly changing slides, here is the entire slide presentation:
This is a hilariously appropriate emergency exit sign ... found everywhere around the Atlanta Tech Village, a startup incubator.
My 14-year-old daughter is an aspiring photographer, and she was initially hooked by taking pictures of clouds. Well, Camille Seaman takes this type of photography to a whole new level. She was highlighted in a CNN feature, which is truly awe-inspiring. Here is just a sample:
Last month a couple of young Russian photographers made headlines for scaling the pyramids at Giza and shooting photos of the surrounding landscape. In order to preserve these ancient wonders, such climbs are strictly forbidden. The daredevils escaped unnoticed, and then brought down all sorts of public condemnation on themselves by making the photos freely available on the Internet.
I agree that the young men should have gone through proper channels for their project rather than taking it upon themselves to risk injury and property damage with a clandestine operation. However, I don't think anyone can deny that the powerfully unique images they captured are awe-inspiring. They should certainly help re-vitalize public support for preserving, studying, and protecting these and other treasures of human society.
Earlier this week (on March 13, 2013), the Catholic Church elected its new Pope to become the "Archbishop of Rome". The cardinal they selected, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was an historic choice on many counts, but he was also special for me through two very personal connections. First, he was formerly the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, which is where I was born and spent my first six years. Second, he selected the papal name of "Francis" after St. Francis of Assisi, who was also the namesake of my high school alma mater. Felicitaciones, Papa Francis!
I don't know where this image came from or how this guy is going to actually enjoy his Carlsberg, but all I can say is ... someday!!!
I don't know how I feel about this recent CNN story about five friends who have gotten together every five years to re-take the same group picture they took during a teenage vacation 30 years ago.
On the one hand, it is really cool that their friendship has lasted this long and that they have kept alive this tradition [and, in fact, created a web site to share it!].
On the other hand, I was a teenager just like them in 1982, and watching the progression of the photos makes me feel, well, old. Not that the guys look shabby today; they have simply aged. Like all of us. Like me. I just don't like to be reminded that I'm turning 47 this year and that next year will be time for my 30-year high school reunion. Yikes!
In an earlier post, I wrote about an updated image of Earth reminiscent of NASA's original Blue Marble. Now NASA has gone one step further, compiling images of our planet AT NIGHT ... hence the name, Black Marble.
I don't know who took these behind-the-scenes photos of Google, but they were forwarded to me recently and I think they are really cool. Click on each to see larger versions and to read the captions.
Like nearly 8 million other people around the world, on October 14, 2012, my family and I were glued to the Web (and Discovery News) watching Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team break several skydiving records as he jumped from his capsule at an altitude of 128,000 feet (roughly 24 miles!) and broke the sound barrier on his way down.
Not only did he succeed on virtually all of his record attempts (he came up ~10 seconds short of the record for longest freefall), but also the entire event was executed phenomenally well by Red Bull and all of its partners around the world. It was a huge publicity bonanza, continuing to garner public attention even weeks later. I wished that James Cameron, National Geographic, and their partners had executed nearly as well during his March 2012 record-breaking solo submarine dive to the deepest point in the ocean.
This is one of my favorite images from the historic day.
A friend pointed me to this cool site with some of the best photos of 2012 so far. Here are some of my favorites:
The innovative folks at Marine Advanced Research seem to be making tremendous progress with their manned and unmanned watercraft designed to ride smoothly on just about any wave or sea state. I wonder if they can carry, launch, and retrieve a submarine. Hmmm ...
Since she appreciates my passion for the connections between "inner" and "outer" space (see, e.g., Sea-Space Initiative), a friend of mine sent me this hilarious image:
Many of you have previously seen Blue Marble, NASA's image mosaic of Earth. However, the Russians recently one-upped the Americans by capturing the following image ... in a single shot:
This amazing photo was taken by a geostationary weather satellite (Electro-L). You can read more about it at Gizmodo, and you can see more in the incredible video below. Enjoy!
I was recently introduced to the Gigapxl Project, which is REALLY cool ... even if you know very little about photography (like me). I won't do it justice trying to explain it, so I will merely encourage you to visit the site, learn more about their work, and enjoy the many stunning images. Below is a sample ... but to be truly appreciated you should click on them to see additional details.
I don't know why, but I find this artwork really cool. It's an ad for Samsonite. It's a 3D work of art. It's a little of both. Click on it to view the larger image and study its details.
I recently discovered on the Web an extremely talented illustrator by the name of Gavin Aung Than. This guy is insanely good! I really like his Zen Pencils site, where he illustrates in comic book style some of the most famous quotes in history. My personal favorite is this one by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
I love infographics, especially when they relate to one of my passions!
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