At the moment, people use money as a means of evaluating the world ‘objectively’ and although we understand that it is essentially a false valuation mechanism in its current format, the reality is that without it, most would be entirely unable to evaluate the world in any effective way and the true cost of resource usage and labour will be completely incalculable, meaning that environmentally or socially damaging practices may go completely unnoticed until its too late. I believe that by altering our valuation methodology (removing the profit mechanism from economic transaction) we can allow the entities participating in economic transactions to calculate and understand the true cost of their actions. This is so vitally important, because it is the lack of true cost-accounting in society that has allowed the disassociation we see from responsibility for the planet. In essence, zero-profit/pure-cost communities are able to provide the means for responsible living (ie. Intentional living).

(via inspirement)

“A sense of wonder is not our only starting point. It can also be our destination.”

Sharman Apt Russell | Anatomy of A Rose: Exploring the Secret Life of Flowers

Nixon Park Nature Center is nestled in a stream valley about 5 miles south of York city. Secluded, yet nearby, this 181-acre park is the only one within the York County Park system set aside solely for wildlife and education allowing only foot traffic on the trails. The property offers habitats ranging from oak dominated dry hillsides to stream side forests to meadows and old fields. Three clear flowing streams and two small ponds add to the landscape. These aquatic habitats attract their own special animals from stunningly colored wood ducks to lumbering snapping turtles. A system of loop marked trails, offers a combination of habitats, topography and totals 6 miles.

Nixon Park’s centrally located 14,000 square foot Nature Center is rivalled by few other County Park systems. The combination museum and nature center has something for every nature lover. Housing a fine collection of stuffed, taxidermy mounts, the displays revolve around the nature of York County and animals from Africa, Northern Rockies and the Arctic. Built in two sections (1978 and 1992) the focuses are divided between the two wings. Anyone from outdoors person, to animal lover, to animal planet and discovery channel junky, from pre-schooler to senior learner will find something to suit their tastes.

The original center (1978) houses displays on York County Wildlife. With 80 bird mounts, including 28 waterfowl, 20 birds of prey and 32 songbirds, visitors can get a close look at many of the species that inhabit or visit York County throughout the year. The 20 mammal mounts show past and present inhabitants of the county. Additionally there are displays about: honey bees including a working observation hive, insects, reptiles including several live specimens, local Native American artifacts, mans role in preserving habitat, geology and soil. Housed in a building made to resemble a York County barn there truly is something for everyone’s interests. Seven large windows look out on the nature center’s feeding stations, stream and woods beyond. During the fall and winter the feeders attract 35 different species per year. Included in this portion of the nature center is the touch room whose revolving themes help young learners explore a habitat or animal group through hands on activities, puppet shows, a dress up box as well as a reading nook.

The main display room (1992) presents a collection of game mounts from around the world. Grouped into three main regions the displays focus on African, Northern Rocky and Arctic wildlife. Primarily the collection of William Koller, a York businessman, a visitor can stare in awe at a Polar Bear or a Kodiak Brown Bear both standing eight feet tall, as well as marvel at the smallest antelope from Africa or peer at a Hippopotamus exploding from its watering hole. The museum quality mounts are dramatically displayed in dioramas with fully painted backgrounds. These scenes depicting plant life, geology, climate and landscapes give the visitor’s eye a true feel of these diverse habitats. Display panels containing information about the individual animals as well as different ecological topics surround each diorama. Additional displays throughout this portion of the building include something for all ages. Visitors can learn more about specific animals or groups of animals, young visitors can measure themselves to life size animal drawings, work on their numbers or test their knowledge on the animal alphabet. The soaring dinosaur mural lets you look back at life from a bygone age.

Must Watch: Neil deGrasse Tyson Moderates a Debate on Nothingness

Its been said that something cannot come from nothing, but is “nothing” even conceivable?

If you’ve got two hours to kill on nothing, this is the video for you.

(Source: divineirony, via fyeah-degrasse-tyson)

From How Space Stations Work:

On May 14, 1973, NASA launched its first space station — Skylab 1 — into orbit. During the launch, the station was damaged. A critical meteoroid shield and one of the station’s two main solar panels were ripped off and the other solar panel was not fully stretched out. That meant that Skylab had little electrical power and the internal temperature rose to 126 degrees Fahrenheit (52 degrees Celsius).

The first crew, Skylab2, was launched 10 days later to fix the ailing station. The crew consisted of Commander Charles “Pete” Conrad, Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin. The Skylab 2 astronauts stretched out the remaining solar panel and set up an umbrella-like sunshade to cool the station. With the station repaired, the astronauts spent 28 days in space conducting scientific and biomedical research.

Modified from the third stage of a Saturn V moon rocket, Skylab had the following parts:

• Orbital workshop - living and working quarters for the crew
• Airlock module - allowed access to the outside of the station
• Multiple docking adapter - allowed more than one Apollo spacecraft to dock to the station at once (However, there were never any overlapping crews in the station.)
• Apollo telescope mount - contained telescopes for observing the sun, stars and Earth (Keep in mind that the Hubble Space Telescope had not been built yet.)
• Apollo spacecraft - command and service module for transporting the crew to and from the Earth’s surface

Skylab was manned by two additional crews. Skylab 3 consisted of Commander Alan Bean and astronauts Jack Lousma and Owen Garriot. They spent 59 days in space. The final crew, Skylab 4, consisted of Commander Gerald Carr and astronauts William Pogue and Edward Gibson. This crew spent 84 days in orbit, conducted experiments and photographed comet Kohoutek.

Skylab was never meant to be a permanent home in space, but rather a workshop where the United States could test the effects of long-duration space flights (that is, greater than the two weeks required to go to the moon) on the human body. When the flight of the third crew was finished, Skylab was abandoned. Skylab remained aloft until intense solar flare activity caused its orbit to decay sooner than expected. Skylab re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and burned over Australia in 1979.

Learn more about Skylab over at NASA’s mission hub. Image credit: NASA.

(Source: howstuffworks, via howstuffworks)

Lanzamiento del Skylab (NASA).

(Source: astroperlas, via space-pics)

Zombie Worms Mate Inside of Whale Bones

by Carrie Arnold

When it comes to the creepy factor, Osedax worms—nicknamed “zombie worms”—beat out even the goriest movies.

A recent study reveals that these faceless, mouthless worms enjoy making sweet, sweet love inside decomposing whale skeletons that have fallen to the bottom of the ocean floor.

Originally discovered off the coast of California in 2002, Osedax—whose name is derived from the Latin for “bone eating”—got its name for its peculiar living quarters: the bones of a decomposing gray whale. These deep-dwelling worms secrete acid to bore through the hard outer bones of whales and other large vertebrate skeletons to reach the nutritious oils within.

The weirdness doesn’t stop there. Unlike many species of animals, female Osedax worms are much larger than the males—so much larger, in fact, that 50 to 100 males can live inside the female in one of nature’s most bizarre harems…

(read more: National Geo)                     

(photo: Norio Miyamoto/Naturwissenschaften)

(Source: rhamphotheca)

Our Earth ‘Michael Jackson’
via The Film Artist

My wonderful niece asked me to make this version of my last Earthlapse film to appeal to her generation a litle more. Compiled from 20k+ photographs, I have added a few more timelapses and re-edited it to make this full screen version. Michael Jackson was truly an enlightened and good soul, enjoy! :) Please join our new Nasa Timelapse Club

(Source: facebook.com)

Chris Hadfield and Don Pettit are instrumental in saving the space programme…

(Source: asonlynasacan, via for-all-mankind)

Skylab: America’s Humanity’s First Home in Space Launched 40 Years Ago Today

With all the futuristic talk today about missions to Mars, lunar bases and asteroid mining, it’s easy to forget that man has already been living off of the planet on and off for decades. Forty years ago today, Skylab — America’s Humanity’s first outpost in space — was launched. The three-man orbiting laboratory was designed to conduct scientific experiments in space, such as studies of the effects of weightlessness on man and other living organisms, and observations of the sun.

Here’s a look back at the pioneering Skylab mission, including mechanical failures, an aborted rescue mission, a crew mutiny and an unplanned crash landing on Earth.

View Wired Skylab Gallery

video: NASA, space.com
article: wired.com

In honor of Skylab’s anniversary, here is a documentary worth every second of your time. Educate yourself on the space race and private industry as it concerns us today.

Orphans of Apollo is (description provided by mirforpeace) …the extraordinary true story of a rebel group of entrepreneurs who seized command of the Russian Mir Space Station. It was the pioneering efforts of these brave, free marketeer buinessmen who launched the New Space Revolution, and kick-started the privatization of outer space as we know it today. This is the greatest story never told, and one film you are not supposed to see…

“Orphans of Apollo” is the award winning documentary that has been called the “greatest space story never told.” The film tells the extraordinary true story of a small group of entrepreneurs who felt, ‘orphaned’ by President Nixon’s decision to end the NASA Apollo Moon program and the subsequent years of nominal space activity. This band of brothers took matters into their own hands, and commandeered the Russian Mir Space Station, behind the backs of NASA and the US government. The rebellious, yet pioneering efforts has been credited with launching the new commercial Space Revolution. This is the remarkable untold story of the greatest secret in the new space race.

This dramatic tale chronicles the adventure of the boldest business plan the Earth has ever seen. ‘MirCorp’, the entrepreneurial company ’s vision to transform the Russian space station into an outpost for what was intended to be the first phase of a trillion dollar business. The project was to include mining of asteroids, gravity free laboratories, a space ‘hotel’, and a research facility. MirCorp was the ultimate start-up company, and unlike anything the universe had ever seen.

Join this band of rebels out to change the course of history in space, as they board a private jet, fly to Russia, negotiate one of the most remarkable business deals of the final frontier. Follow this diverse group as they pioneer their way through this new business of space. Listen to the management team as they struggle with issues of branding, finance, technology, and engage in the ultimate slugfest with the most powerful governments and bureaucrats.

Orphans of Apollo is an intimate and compelling epic which eloquently communicates the real origins of the private commercial new space revolution. Now for the first, and possibly the last, time, “Orphans of Apollo” combines archival material from original NASA film footage, Russian archival footage, personal footage, IMAX footage, with interviews and or footage with key players including Tom Clancy, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Rick Tumlinson, Walt Anderson, Gus Gardellini, Jeff Manber, and others. Available via Google, Amazon, Amazon Instant Video

website | blog

Virgin Galactic Hires Former NASA Astronaut as Spaceship Pilot

Just a week after Virgin Galactic made history with its first rocket-powered test flight, the commercial spaceflight company announced that it is hiring two veteran pilots, including a former NASA astronaut, who will help bring space tourists to new heights above Earth.

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael “Sooch” Masucci and former NASA space shuttle commander Frederick “CJ” Sturckow will work out of Virgin Galactic’s Mojave, Calif., location to conduct flight training and testing with the suborbital SpaceShipTwo and its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, the company said in a statement.

Sturckow is the first astronaut to be plucked from NASA’s ranks by Virgin Galactic. He logged more than 1,200 hours in space over four shuttle missions, including STS-88, the first U.S. launch to the International Space Station in 1998. A retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, Sturckow also has 26 years of military flight experience under his belt. [Photos: Virgin Galactic’s 1st SpaceShipTwo Powered Flight Test]

“CJ will certainly be missed by the Astronaut Office,” said Bob Behnken, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “He was a role model for leadership, and his expertise as an aviator and shuttle commander led to the success of the shuttle and station missions. His experience in spaceflight and ground operations will be difficult to replace within our organization. We look forward to his continued contributions to the future of spaceflight as he moves on to the next phase of his career.”

Masucci, meanwhile, is an experienced test and combat pilot who has logged more than 9,000 flying hours in 70 different types of airplanes and gliders.

A suborbital trip aboard SpaceShipTwo promises to bring passengers to the edge of space and back for $200,000 a ride. The flights would not make a full orbit of Earth, but they would allow passengers to experience brief periods of weightlessness and glimpse the planet from space.

“Viewing the Earth from space is such a unique and unforgettable experience,” Sturckow said in a May 8 statement. “I’m excited to be a part of the Virgin Galactic team that is revolutionizing access to space, making this opportunity a possibility for all.”

Virgin Galactic, founded by the British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, held its latest, and 26th, test flight of SpaceShipTwo on April 29 at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port.

The vehicle was brought into the air by the carrier WhiteKnightTwo. After it was released, SpaceShipTwo went on to reach a maximum altitude of 56,000 feet (17,000 meters) before it flew back to Earth. In a first, the space plane also fired its rocket engines during the flight, which propelled the vehicle to a supersonic speed of Mach 1.2. (Mach 1, the speed of sound, is about 762 mph, or 1,226 km/h, at sea level.)

Virgin Galactic officials have said that SpaceShipTwo could carry passengers as soon as this year or 2014. More than 500 people have signed up for the flights, which will be run out of Spaceport America in New Mexico once the testing phase is complete.

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Stay Curious! Watch Black Sky : The Race For Space about Space Ship One, and how a small team backed by Paul Allen achieved human suborbital spaceflight and win the Ansari X Prize. The documentary provides insight about how the rocketplane was built, the challenge they faced when they flew it, the vision of Burt Rutan about the future of this technology (tier two and three), and his thoughts about NASA and government. [x]

(Source: facebook.com)