"Moonline"

Here's how I want to take my first trip out into the galaxy. Moonline!

Such an outlandish concept, but perhaps not completely unqualifiable. Actually, its probably extremely unqualifiable, but I don't care. Imagination has always been Science's cooler little brother.

Space + Train = Space train. Lets do it.

The artist, by the name of Shigeru Komatsuzaki, rules. He's also responsible for some of the more memorable depictions of the Thunderbirds (see below).


I love this "model set box" style of art work, the stuff you'd find on awesome toys, posters, merchandise, etc - back in the 70's. Great stuff.

Steam Power!

Steam power... Its the best. Completely changed the world. Check it out:

The first-recorded steam engine, designed in ancient Greece by a dude named "Hero of Alexandria". That's cool. It was created almost two millennia before the industrial revolution. He used the original (pictured) as a "rocket" style propulsion engine, and another to open Temple doors. All through the power of STEAM.

Around 80% of the electricity used by the entire planet is currently produced by use of steam turbines. Bam. Anything Nuclear (Submarines, bro!), also - Steam power. Here's the classic popularized steam engine:


Extra Steam, please! Steam trains are awesome. Such classic, timeless transportation. Steam Locomotives were the device "getting it done" from the start of the 19th century, until the middle of the 20th Century. A good honest run, for a good honest piece of technology.

I'd love to take a trip on the "fanciest" antique train journey I could find - like the Rocky Mountain way or the Trans-Siberian railroad, as long as the train and carriages are really luxurious and old. There'd be an "engineer" on board, with the whole getup on, and shit like that. ....Fat Controller? I dunno.

So, to summarize - Steam power. Yep. Now here's a lovely picture, just because sometimes its important to just look at a nice picture:

Bear Grylls

I'm definitely not breaking any new ground here, but Bear Grylls is amazing - it actually doesn't matter at all if all the segments are strictly real or not, this show is fucking amazing. This is a segment from his show Man vs. Wild, look at how close he comes to being wiped out by this fucking train:



Basically, Bear Grylls is the most publicly-celebrated survival badass ever. He pretty much just drops into really remote/dangerous areas - does a bunch of really extreme survival demonstrations (eating bugs, wearing a dead camel, catching fish with his bare hands, etc) and finds a way out. My favourite one so far is the Irish bog-lands, or the Montanan Rockies. Really good stuff.

Anyways, just fantastic television work, real or not. Well done, Bear Grylls.

Catastrophic Failure

Hey, so I was just trying to run a System Restore on my little notebook. It failed, but it didn't just experience failure. It experienced what Windows 7 lovingly referred to as a "catastrophic failure". Now, I'm not going to start posting pictures with "epic fail" and whatever, because that's totally gay and annoying - but here's something I absolutely loved. When you type "failure" (nothing more, just to get a definition of the word) into Wikipedia search, here's the corresponding image:


UPSTAIRS TRAIN!?!? HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN!?

Midnight Express

Not the movie (which is totally banging as well), the Transformer! I was pretty reluctant to bring up Transformers, since everybody either hates them now, or already knew they were awesome. But I've never even heard of this fucken guy:


Giorgio Moroder - Theme from Midnight Express

[mp3]


Midnight Express. She's (yeah. she's a girl. mind = blown.) a bullet-train Autobot. She's fun loving, and she kicks total ass. Bullet trains rule. *Fist pump*

It was so obvious! There desperately needed to be a train-themed Transformer from day one. Maybe she's been around since day one, I don't know. Frankly I don't want to know. I discovered the idea of this locomotive-lass like... yesterday, and it has completely changed everything.

Midnight Express. Well done, you may well have single-handedly breathed new life into the Transformers universe as I know it.

Trans-Siberian Railway: potential "incredible adventure"

How amazing would it be to travel on the "transsiberian railway"? It would be incredible -- just looking out of your carriage window and seeing epic forests and picturesque landscapes. Apparently the trains themselves are really luxurious, hanging chandeliers and stuff. It wouldn't be a "high octane"-type adventure, it would be more of a "discovering yourself and the world" kinda adventure, which is just as good, if not better.