flight

Wikipedia: Bar-Tailed Godwit

NY Times: "Migrating Thousands of Miles With Nary a Stop"

[...] scientists have tracked a number of other migrating birds, and they are beginning now to publish their results. Those results make clear that the bar-tailed godwit is not alone. Other species of birds can fly several thousand miles nonstop on their migrations, and scientists anticipate that as they gather more data in the years to come, more birds will join these elite ranks.[...]

As more birds prove to be ultramarathoners, biologists are turning their attention to how they manage such spectacular feats of endurance. Consider what might be the ultimate test of human endurance in sports, the Tour de France: Every day, bicyclists pedal up and down mountains for hours. In the process, they raise their metabolism to about five times their resting rate.

The bar-tailed godwit, by contrast, elevates its metabolic rate between 8 and 10 times. And instead of ending each day with a big dinner and a good night’s rest, the birds fly through the night, slowly starving themselves as they travel 40 miles an hour.

“I’m in awe of the fact that birds like godwits can fly like this,” said Theunis Piersma, a biologist at the University of Groningen.

As if needing to deal decisively with the Green Martians weren't enough of a reason to go back, scientist Joel Levine shows us why it's important to return to the Red Planet...this time, in an airplane. That'll show 'em! ;)

At TEDxNASA, planetary scientist Joel Levine shows some intriguing -- and puzzling -- new discoveries about Mars: craters full of ice, traces of ancient oceans, and compelling hints at the presence, sometime in the past, of life. He makes the case for going back to Mars to find out more.

The Zeppelin Eureka from Airship Ventures offers the only commercial passenger airship operation in the United States. It offers flight-seeing tours above San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Monterey, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles.

Alex at Ravens in Hollywood has been tracking the Zeppelin. I'm hoping for some action shots.

Here's another video from NBC 4:

Closing a bunch of tabs. This was a particularly good couple of days for cool things to link to.

Jacket Copy: "Balloon boy story is right out of Edgar Allan Poe"

The Balloon Boy story may have been a hoax, but it if was, the Heene family is in good company. No less than Edgar Allan Poe had an entirely fictional account of a balloon voyage published in 1844 in the Sun newspaper.

A.V. Club Interview: "Alton Brown"

There have been [topics they wanted to do a show on but couldn't] and there are, and most of those have to do with boundaries set by what Food Network wants to show and doesn’t want to show. You know, they’re not gonna let me do a show about rabbit, because they don’t want to think about killing the little bunnies. There probably won’t be a Good Eats episode on, you know, anything glandular.

LA Galaxy Blog: "Landon Donovan Named Honda Player of the Year and Player of the Decade"

In addition to being named the Player of the Year, Donovan was also named the Honda Player of the Decade. This honor comes as little surprise as he had won the Player of the Year award in six (2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009) of the last 10 years.

BBC Sport: "Republic face France in play-offs"

The Republic of Ireland will have to beat former World Cup winners France over two legs if they are to make it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Giovanni Trapattoni's side drew the 1998 champions for the play-offs to be played on 14 and 18 November and will play at home first.

Cyclelicious: "Bikes On Board: Stuttgart cog railroad"

German commuter trains have rush hour restrictions for bikes on board that many Americans who travel by train and bike are familiar with. "Die Zacke" cog railroad between Marienplatz in South Stuttgart to Degerloch, however, features this fantastic platform just for bikes.

BBC News: "At the centre of time"

Without it international travel would be in turmoil and calling friends in faraway places at the right time impossible. Exactly 125 years after the Greenwich Meridian line was drawn, how and why did Britain become the centre of time?

San Bernardino Sun: "Mayor unveils two-story globe design for SBIA"

A spiffy two-story world globe was unveiled Monday at San Bernardino International Airport as a symbol of world travel and sophistication in the city's plans.

The 19-foot objet d'art sits inside a 30-foot-wide fountain in front of the soon-to-be-completed passenger terminal on Leland Norton Way, said Steve Silver of TranSystems, who designed and engineered the globe.

NY Times: "One Reporter’s Lonely Beat, Witnessing Executions "

Of all the consequences of shrinking newsrooms, one of the oddest is this: Fewer journalists are available to watch people die. But Michael Graczyk has witnessed more than 300 deaths, and many of those were people he had come to know.

Jacket Copy: "Happy birthday, Ursula K. Leguin"

Today is Ursula K. Le Guin's 80th birthday. The multiple-award-winning writer is best known for "The Wizard of Earthsea" and is thought of for her science fiction, although she has crossed many boundaries.

[...] "I'm following Tolkien's prescription for fantasy creation. You are making a world out of words, and the only thing that's going to hold it together is its inner consistency.

"Writing science fiction and fantasy allow you to back off a little bit, to try to find the problems that always come back, that we never solve. Like gender relations, war -- once there's more than 50 of us living in one place we seem to have war.

If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats: "Heroes of American Literature #17"

John Steinbeck smoking and reading.

Phew! That's it. And Firefox should be feeling leaner as well. :)

I was only six months old at the time, but I remember every detail thanks to recordings, photographs, and written accounts. The event implanted in me an undying belief that humanity belongs out there on the Moon and in the vast void as much as we do here in our cradle, Earth. Forty years ago today, man's first unsteady footsteps on another world sparked the imaginations of millions of people.

The above picture of the Earth accompanied by its silvery satellite was taken almost exactly six years ago by the European Space Agency's Mars Express on its way to the Red Planet. Seeing the eternal pair of orbs together from afar lends a perspective that might be frightening to someone unable to face the void. But for humanity to grow up, to leave behind its infancy, the void must be faced with open arms and a wide smile.

A plaque was left behind by the Apollo 11 astronauts, attached to the Eagle landing module. It said this:

Yes, it still brings tears to my eyes.

Thank you to Neil, Michael, and Buzz for risking everything to inspire the entire world, and thanks to NASA (and to the ESA and all of the national and international space agencies) for continuing to dream.

Wondermark, wonderful as usual.

The War in the Air; Vol. 1 (1922) by [Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Raleigh_(professor))

The Germans, who as a people fall easy victims to agreeable sentiment, indulged extravagant hopes from war in the air, and expected great achievements from their Zeppelins. On the other hand, the English, who are less excitable, were comparatively slow as a nation to appreciate the importance of the new invention. Conservative and humorous minds are always conscious chiefly of the immutable and stable elements in human life, and do not readily pay respect to novelty. Those who were responsible for the naval and military defences of the country preserved great coolness, and refused to let judgement outrun experience. They knew well that the addition to man's resources of yet another mode of travel or transport does not alter the enduring principles of (p. 003) strategy. They regarded the experiment benevolently, and, after a time, were willing to encourage it, but 'up to the end of the year 1911', says an official report, 'the policy of the Government with regard to all branches of aerial navigation was based on a desire to keep in touch with the movement rather than to hasten its development. It was felt that we stood to gain nothing by forcing a means of warfare which tended to reduce the value of our insular position and the protection of our sea-power.' When the Wright brothers offered to sell their invention to the British Admiralty, the offer was refused.