Space Tourism: Out of this World

The requirements: good health, ludicrous loads of money and shots of bravery.

Photo from NASA

The adventure that history may think as fictional or delusional is now taking off with us. Space tourism is welcoming wealthy adventurers to go somewhere where not many has been and seen. Like what Virgin Galactic said, “space is a virgin territory”.

After a brief tease of the thrilling tour, people jumped aboard.  From 520 listed customers, £64M ($103M) is already in deposits. The first batch of flight will happen next year.  Among the early birds to space were known personalities – Hollywood’s Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt; scientists James Lovelock and Stephen Hawking; and royal Princess Beatrice. See Virgin Galactic passenger list.

A spaceplane can accommodate eight people. Two are pilots and six are passengers. Perhaps, among the six passengers was a photographer to keep track of the adventure. Virgin Galactic is excited to bring in the first batch of space tourists photos. With this mission of resolute publicity and marketing, it won’t be for long until they earned back their £162M ($261M) investment for the fleet of spaceplanes. In fact, the space industry has the potential to reach $1.6B in the next decade.

This growing industry also has growing competition. Orbital Technologies, a Russian company, plans to construct a “Hotel in the Heavens”.  No gravity is the gimmick of the hotel. The price to get there was £500,000 ($806,000) and £100,000 ($161,000) to stay for five nights. Space Adventures in Virginia will bring you to the International Space Station for $50M. Other companies offering the adventure are emerging in California and Texas while a European conference was held in London in the talks of space tourism.

How will it go? Everything will seem like a flash. 90 seconds to ascend with a speed of 4,000km/h. After six to seven minutes of gliding to the space engineless and gravityless, they’ll start descending. Tourists will appreciate a view similar to this:

We don’t know where it’s going from here. I guess there will be more men – ridiculously wealthy men – to step on the moon in the near future.

Would you travel in space?

Sources:
Space tourism: to infinity and beyond?; The Guardian
Space Tourism Is Here! Wealthy Adventurers Wanted; The New York Times

How to Leverage Your Creativity

“Be quiet! I’m trying to think.”
by Jeff Whitaker of Giving Voice to Vision

Photo from Photoxpress

Those of us who spend a lot of time in the business of creativity know the feeling. You need to come up with something. But you’re just not ‘feeling it’. Good news. I may be able to help you spark a creative idea or two.

We’ve all been told at one time or another, “Be quiet! I’m trying to think.” Well, it could be that may not be the best admonishment to get the creative juices flowing. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that when you compare next to no noise (or silence) to moderate levels of ambient noise, turns out moderate noise wins out as a better environment in which to create.

Apparently it works this way. Moderate background noise (70 decibels) creates enough of a distraction to push people to think more creatively where as complete silent can have the opposite effect. The researchers say a relatively noisy environment like a cafe or coffee shop may actually trigger the brain to think abstractly and in turn generate creative ideas. (I’m sure the caffeine doesn’t hurt.)

The study also cautions that excessive noise like a jackhammer isn’t the answer either. Too much noise really does make it hard to think. Guess its true that as with many other aspects of life, moderation is the key, literally.

So, the next time your project calls for a jolt of creativity, excuse yourself and head to the nearest coffee house. Who knows what you’ll come up with.

What are some of your best ideas for sparking creativity and do you agree or disagree with the findings of this study?

I am the Pastor of Programming and Media at Shore Fellowship Church, one of the largest churches in Southern New Jersey and one of the fastest growing churches in the nation.

The Ibiza Depression

Ibiza, the ideal place to go to on holidays; yet research has shown many return depressed and disillusioned.

Photos from Philip Larson’s and Adam Russell’s flickr

People save money for years in order to enjoy the life on Ibiza for a few weeks. A vacation to live up to. But when you arrive there, everything is different than expected. You’re not the only one in the expensive hotel. Your expensive hotel is one of the cheapest in comparison to the others, and your clothes, on which a lot of money was spent, are nothing different from other people’s clothes. You’re normal.

You always were normal. But when you’re, for 3 weeks, trying not be, you still are. What did you save all that money for? To live the life, partying all week, to find out it doesn’t help. Ibiza should have been the distraction, but it became the eye-opener. But realizing all this, you think, well, if it’s all for nothing, why not release the brakes and go wild? Which is exactly what people do. Drugs and alcohol, and not a little.

The worst part might still be coming back. Back to all, found out, you really are but don’t want to be. Some even end up with addictions, because of all the party drugs and alcohol from Ibiza.

The advise experts give to people who have a vacation to Ibiza planned but unable to cancel it? Make an appointment with a psychologist before you go; he will be busy when you return.

Have you been depressed from a holiday?

PhotoLedger: Bubble

Reflex should be faster that the burst of a bubble. 

Bubble Photography. Photo from crookedbrains.net

You know bubbles. It is just air entrapped by some kind of liquid. We loved it when we were younger as we try to pop every single we see. A mere touch will explode it, so capturing the action in a photograph is a deal with timing.

Bubble photography amazes me. It takes a simple act of joy to the level of immense creativity. Tom Falconer’s flickr has a great set of bubbles in photos.

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These Should be in my House

I love the natural vigor of sunlight roaming around my pad; my modern house should be full of glass.

A wall in 3D Painting. Photo from weburbanist.com

You know the 3D paintings in the streets? It tricks you to see something that looks like real but are just 3D paintings. It amazed me, and I will drag it to my room. I’ll hire a professional painter to do a 3D art on one of my walls, just like the photo above but as a Harry Potter fan that I am, I’ll direct 3D Hogwarts castle on my wall (maybe a Gryffindor common room).

As usual, I love to confuse my guests so I’ll make a labyrinth in my crib. I don’t know how that’s going to happen but that’s why architects exist – they actualize our dream house. Around, there’s multi-purpose home theater room, arcade room, bar lounge, home gym and spectral tree house.

Backyard Tree. Photo from visualphotos.com

I’ll import another tree just for the fun of climbing it and looking rugged and daredevil. Thanks to the shade of my tree, there’s a spot for a perfect relaxing hammock life. I’ll also have an orange tree in my garden. And then I’ll arrange an outdoor firepit because in a bonfire is always a golden time to talk and share stories (and I have a hoard of horror stories).

Fox Pet. Photo from blogs.rep-am.com

I would have a pet fox watching my every movement, perhaps waiting for the moment of hunting me but his mixed annealing and adorable looks is my kind of company. You may have known in my post Your Pet Story Here that all of my pets in the past either died or escaped in days so I hope Mozilla is the one to stay for long.

Climbing Wall for Swimming Pool. Photo from mensights.com

I found this wicked climbing wall for swimming pool, the best accessory I could have for my pool that would attract plenty pool parties and good times. And at night, I’ll have dancing lights like an underwater aurora.

What features are in your dream house?

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