Telstar Logistics

NASA to Reveal "Astrobiology Finding That Will Impact the Search for Extraterrestrial Life"

Has NASA discovered ET? Did it have a Close Encounter of the Third Kind? Did Barack Obama receive a signal from a distant galaxy that says "Klaatu barada nikto?" Or even worse, one that said "You will be assimilated!"

We don't know... yet... but the agency's announcement about a press conference that will take place this Thursday certainly sounds tantalizing:

MEDIA ADVISORY : M10-110

NASA to Hold News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery
Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 11 a.m. PST On Dec. 2

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. PST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov.

UPDATE: Kottke has done some very nice background research about the people who will speak at Thursday's event. He also cites a Tweet from Alexis Madrigal discouraging speculation about a big announcement concerning extraterrestrial life. Hmmmmmm....

 

(Tip of the observatory to Paul Saffo)

Gran Turismo 5 Intro Video Delivers Heavy Industrial Zen

If you compiled a montage of images designed to release a very large dose of serotonin into the Telstar Logistics central cortex, it would probably look a lot like this opening video for Kaz Yamauchi's new Gran Turismo 5 videogame, which went on sale last week.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

(Tip of the crash helmet: Metacool)

Ho! Ho! Ho! Ride Along as We Transform Two Vintage Streetcars Into Santa's Own Public Transit

Sometimes, the big city feels like a small town.

One of those occasions transpired last weekend, when Telstar Logistics joined other volunteers with San Francisco's Market Street Railway to decorate two of the city's vintage streetcars for the holidays.

It's a lovely little event, actually, as older railfans collaborate with well-organized coordinators and about a half-dozen kids to transform the two cars -- New Orleans No. 952 and Milan No. 1818 -- into Santa's own form of public transit. The event provides a unique opportunity for kids of all ages to experience these wonderful streetcars in a relaxed setting, and it filled us with seasonal mirth to be involved.

Pour yourself some egg nog, put some Bing Crosby on the phonograph, settle in by the fire, and watch how the magic happens:

IMAGES: E54130 vs F-Market #1060 by Troy Holden. All others, Telstar Logistics

We Are Serious. And Don't Call Us Shirley! RIP, "Airplane" Star Leslie Nielsen

Sad news from the Hollywood Bureau: The fog is gettng thicker. Actor Leslie Nielsen, the star of send-up comedies like "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun," has died.

Entertainment Weekly recalls...

The master of parody boasted a talent for delivering the most ridiculous lines in the straightest way possible, cloaking outright absurdity in straight-faced obliviousness. Ironically enough, the foundation of that earnest gravitas was built early in his career as a dramatic actor: After serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force and studying at New York City’s famed Actors Studio, the Saskatchewan-born Nielsen popped up on early ’50s TV. He received his first big film break playing sturdy Commander J.J. Adams in the 1956 sci-fi flick Forbidden Planet. Over the next few decades, he established himself as a reliable, handsome, rich-voiced character actor who graced myriad TV dramas (Peyton Place, Dr. Kildare) and movies (The Poseidon Adventure).

His career took a comical hard left turn when he was cast as Dr. Rumack in the 1980 big-screen parody film Airplane! (Let us honor his famous line, which stands as one of the best retorts in comedic cinema history: “Surely you can’t be serious!” “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”)

That last bit is presented here, as it oringinally appeared in "Airplane," as a tribute to the man himself. Thanks for the laughs:

 

A Lovely Archive of Lost Airline Logos

Over at Flickr, JW Jets has compiled a swell collection of obsolete airline logos. It's a nice reminder of simpler times, when air travel still retained some semblance of glamour, and before the days when airport security became a grope-fest.

Enjoy the slideshow.

Video: Scottish Street Trails Cyclist Defies Gravity, Orthopedic Peril

This video of Scottish cyclist Danny MacAskill comes to us via our old friend Jordan Kobert on the Twitter, who summarized it succinctly: "If difficult takes a day, and impossible takes a week, then this kid's been working for years."

Indeed, indeed...

Our Trip to the Auto Show Inadvertantly Yields a Collection of Artsy-Fartsy Photographs

Telstar Logistics took the micro-executive to the 2010 San Francisco International Auto Show last weekend. Once there, however, we realized we'd popped the wrong lens on the camera -- we brought a prime (ie. fixed) lens with a narrow perspective, which made it nearly impossible to get wide shots of the cars on display. Ooops.

Forced to turn lemons into lemonade, we persevered to capture the artsy-fartsy, detail-oriented images shown here. We advise you to stroke your chin and look ponderous while enjoying the short photoset that follows.

IMAGES: Telstar Logistics

What If It Snowed In San Francisco? A Frightening Foreshadowing from Seattle

As wintersports enthusiasts and high alpine motoring specialists, Telstar Logistics has always wondered what it would be like if San Francisco were hit by a major snowstorm. It has happened before -- mostly during the 1800s, but also as recently as 1976.

On the one hand, we'd love nothing more than to bust out a pair of rock skis and take a few untracked turns down the summit of Bernal Hill.

But on the other hand, thanks to the city's famous hills, it's a sure bet chaos would reign on the roads.  As proof, we submit this video from Seattle, which shows what happened when the unprepared city was hit by a snowstorm this week. Scary!

Surrounded by 7.5 Million People, Stranded Man Spends Five Days Marooned on Island in San Francisco Bay

Yesterday the US Coast Guard rescued a 54 year-old man who spent five days stranded on Roe Island, a small patch of dry land in San Francisco Bay, at the mouth of the Sacramento Delta, not far from the mothball fleet at Suisun Bay.

The island is uninhabited, but the lost gentleman was surrounded by a metropolitan area that's home to approximately 7.5 million people.

The Coast Guard says:

The Coast Guard successfully rescued the 54-year-old man after being notified by family members at 9:19 a.m. The family knew he was stranded on an island, but did not know which one.

The man started in his inflatable raft in the Sacramento River and drifted downriver until his raft began to sink.

The Coast Guard used information provided by the family who was in contact with the man to determine where he was located. The man reported through family members that he could see Naval vessels and could hear reveille every morning. Due to the information gathered Sector San Francisco believed the man was stranded on one of the islands north of the Concord Naval Weapons Station.

In this situation the Coast Guard also worked with the cell phone provider to trianglate an area in which to search. The cell phone company provided the Coast Guard with a GPS position and a list of the last phone calls made. The Coast Guard routinely solicits assistance from cell phone company providers who provide useful cell phone location information for missing boaters.

UPDATE: 23 November, 2010, 3:43 pm (Pacific)

The San Francisco Chronicle provides additional detail about the stranded man, which suggests he might be more than just a little bit "off" -- if you know what we mean. Setting sail with a mannequin of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes perfect sense, but packing only two burritos? He must be insane!

Hopper, nicknamed Goat Man for his ability to scale mountainsides, said he started out Wednesday morning on the Sacramento River, where he loaded a $300 inflatable raft with camping supplies, two burritos, a bag of vitamins, a Bible and a mannequin of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"This trip was a campaign," Hopper explained. "I wanted to bring more attention to social diseases."

Hopper hoped to make it to the Golden Gate Bridge but disaster struck when his raft sprang a leak in Suisun Bay, east of the Benicia Bridge. He said he managed to guide the sinking vessel to shore, then figured he'd make camp on the island until he fixed the raft.

IMAGES: US Coast Guard

Construction Report: A Sneak Peek Inside SFO's New Airport Terminal

Late last week, Telstar Logistics was invited to explore the new Terminal 2 at San Francisco International AIrport, a structure that will soon serve as the local base for Virgin America and American Airlines.

Construction of Terminal 2 is proceeding apace, and the building is expected to open in April 2011. From what we saw, it should be a very nice place to take to the skies. Designed by the Gensler architectural firm, the new Terminal 2 has registered to achieve LEED Gold certification for its high energy efficiency and low environmental imact.

In no small part, that sterling green rating comes from the fact that Terminal 2 recycles a pre-existing building that is actually the oldest terminal at SFO.

First opened in 1954, the Central Terminal (as Terminal 2 was called then) was a giant leap forward in SFO's evolution as a modern airport, as it replaced a quaint but inadequate terminal from the 1930s. Here's how the Central Terminal looked when it was new:

During the 1980s and 1990s, Terminal 2 served as the departure and arrival point for SFO's international flights. But with the opening of the airport's new International Terminal in 2000, Terminal 2 was shuttered for almost a decade. Now it is set to reopen, and we got a preview of what's to come. 

Tweeting Astronaut Sends Earthlings Images from Orbit

NASA astronaut Douglas H. Wheelock is the commander of the International Space Station that's orbiting high above our planet's surface.

It's an elite and unusual gig, but like countless other workingfolk with a good view who just happen to bring a camera to work each day, Wheelock has been taking pictures on the job.

Even better, he's been sending his photos back to Earth via Twitter, where they are a joy to behold. If you're not already following @Astro_Wheels, really, you should.

Better hurry, though... he's coming home soon, perhaps even a few days from now. But if you miss him, just be sure to check out his photo archive.

IMAGES: Douglas H. Wheelock. From top: Soyuz 23 docked to ISS, Aurora Borealis over Europe, Greek Isles, Nighttime over the Nile, San Francisco as seen from ISS.

For Sale on Ebay: A Japan Airlines Jacket That Maybe Possibly Perhaps Was Worn by The Beatles in 1966

This is a rare instance where Beatlemania crosses paths with the secret world of the airline collectibles subculture.

On eBay right now, a seller is offering a JAL happi jacket that was supposedly worn by the Beatles en route to Tokyo for their 1966 Japan tour. The inside of the jacket may have been signed by Ringo Starr.

The seller's item description says:

I Obtained this item many years ago from a photographer In The Hamptons. He was terminally Ill and gave it to me because he knew I loved the Beatles.

The story he told me was that in 1966 he was a photographer assigned to photograph the Beatles, and was on the Plane to Japan for the 1966 Concert.

He said the jacket came from the Beatles directly to him, and in his closet it sat.

It wasn't until a few years ago I noticed the Ringo Signatures, as they were INSIDE in 2 places, and I never noticed them when he originally gave them to me.

It had been presented to me neatly in a box.

I do not know if the signatures are real - You decide, or I am sure some ebay Beatles Expert Will tell me.

And the price? The bidding starts at $15,000. Caveat emptor.

World War II Shipwreck Still Packs a Nuclear-Sized Bang

This story is not new, per se; it involves an American Liberty Ship that sank in shallow water off the coast of England during World War II while carrying 7,000 tons of explosives.

But it's a story that remains extremely current, because that ship, the SS Richard Montgomery, still rests in the very spot where it sank, with 1,400 tons of explosives still in its cargo holds. The ship remains under very close supervision, because to this day the British are deathly afraid that the wreck might explode. And rightly so; if the Montgomery were to go boom, it would unleash a blast with the force of a small nuclear weapon, throwing water 10,000 feet into the air and damaging buildings up to 2 miles away.

What went wrong? Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency summarizes:

In August 1944 the ship was loaded with a cargo of some 7000 tons of munitions and  joined convoy HX-301 bound for the UK and then on to Cherbourg. On arrival in the Thames Estuary, the vessel was directed to anchor in the Great Nore anchorage off Sheerness. The ship was to await the formation of  convoy to continue the journey across the Channel. However, on the 20 August 1944, she dragged her anchor in the shallow water and grounded on a sandbank running east from the Isle of Grain approximately 250m north of the Medway Approach Channel.

The vessel grounded amidships on the crest of the sandbank and intensive efforts began to unload her in order to lighten the vessel so that she could be refloated and also to save the cargo of munitions that were vital for the Allies post-D-Day advancement. Unfortunately, by the next day, a crack appeared in the hull and the forward end began to flood. The salvage effort continued until the 25 September, by which time approximately half the cargo had been successfully removed. The salvage effort had to be abandoned when the vessel finally flooded completely.

The wreck of the SS RICHARD MONTGOMERY remains on the sandbank where she sank. The wreck lies across the tide close to the Medway Approach Channel and her masts are clearly visible above the water at all states of the tide. There are still approximately 1,400 tons of explosives contained within the forward holds.

Today the Montgomery sits at the center of a prohibited zone, ringed by warning buoys, and under constant surveillance.

There's no plan to dispose of the wreck, or its cargo, apart from keeping fingers crossed. This video provides a good tour of the wreck site, and a graphic demonstration of what may happen if things go awry:

IMAGES: Ian Boyle,

Hot Wheels: Chris Burden Transforms Kiddie Cars Into Kinetic Art

Los Angeles artist Chris Burden creates intricate kinetic art pieces that are basically Rube Goldberg raceways for Hot Wheels cars. Built with Erector Sets, Legos, and Lincoln Logs, his installations are fun to watch, but they also have serious artistic cred -- Burden is represented by the snooty Gagosian Gallery, and several museums are collecting his work.

Today the New York Times tells us about his latest project:

The California artist Chris Burden may be in his 60s, but he is still playing with toys. The thing is, the older he gets the more outrageously complicated the toys become.

Two years ago he created a 65-foot Erector Set skyscraper that stood in Rockefeller Center, and in 2004 he made “Metropolis I,” composed of 80 Hot Wheels toy cars zooming around two single-lane highways along with monorail trains chugging on tracks of their own. The piece was snapped up by the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan.

“I was happy with ‘Metropolis I,’ but it kind of disappeared once it went to western Japan,” Mr. Burden said in a telephone interview from his studio in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles County. So in 2006 he and a team of eight studio assistants, including an engineer, began “Metropolis II,” a far more ambitious version. It includes 1,200 custom-designed cars and 18 lanes; 13 toy trains and tracks; and, dotting the landscape, buildings made of wood block, tiles, Legos and Lincoln Logs. The crew is still at work on the installation.

In Los Angeles, by his calculation, “every hour 100,000 cars circulate through the city,” Mr. Burden said. “It has an audio quality to it. When you have 1,200 cars circulating it mimics a real freeway. It’s quite intense.”

When Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art saw it in Mr. Burden’s studio at the outset of the project, he knew the museum had to have it. “I reserved it the day I saw it,” said Mr. Govan, who has been making regular studio visits to chart its progress. “It’s a portrait of L.A.”

The TImes has a wonderful video of Burden's work. It's a must-see.

Images: Screen grabs from the New York Times

Photo Shows First-Ever Flight of F-35Bs in Formation

Last week, a pair of F-35B Joint Strike Fighters flew in formation for the very first time. The F-35B is the STOVL version of the aircraft, which means it can take-off and land vertically (much like the famous Harrier jump-jet) using a system of ducts and pivoting nozzles that redirect the engines' thrust downward.

Reports Aviation Week:

It's hard to believe, but this is a picture of the first formation flight by two F-35Bs -- taken on Nov. 10, 29 months after the first flight of the STOVL variant. Aircraft BF-1 and BF-3 were photographed near the NAS Patuxent River test center on a flight to evaluate the close-proximity handling qualities of the F-35B.

But what about that vertical take-off and landing sequence? That's even more fantastic to watch, particularly for anyone who has a soft spot for The Transformers:

IMAGE: Lockheed-Martin