Today we’re gonna keep it short and sweet.
First we’ll take a look at the world’s first animated tattoo and hope that it’s not some viral marketing scam, then we’ll bid so long to the Atlantis Space Shuttle which was launched into orbit for the last time about an hour ago. Enjoy!
What: World’s First Animated Tattoo.
Made by: Karl
What’s It Good For: Conversation starters
Available: This was a one time only event.
GG Certified: The title of the YouTube video posted by Karl the Tattoo Artist of Mysterie Tattoo in France is misleading, but we’ll bite the bait anyway. Yes, there is a tattoo, yes there is animation. Is the tattoo animated?Kinda but not really.
Did Karl evolve the tattoo? No. He did however create something advertisers to think about when he tattooed a QR code on the chest of a friend. After the tattoo, which required a steady hand for the code to work, was completed, Karl then scanned his buddy’s chest, bringing the skin art to life. See the results after the break!
[pagebreak]
Karl’s QR Code Tattoo
[pagebreak]
The Space Shuttle Atlantis took its last flight into orbit this morning at 11.30 a.m., leaving dust, rust and fuel tanks and the Space Race in its 30 year wake of American space exploration. The shuttle will touch base with the International Space Station in two days.
“The shuttle’s always going to be a reflection of what a great nation can do when it commits to be bold and follow through,” said astronaut Chris Ferguson, commander of the mission, from the cockpit of Atlantis just before pushing into space atop a billowing cloud of fumes. “We’re completing a chapter of a journey that will never end. Let’s light this fire one more time, and witness this great nation at its best.
Funding for NASA was cut by our gubment so, that’s that.
When the Space Shuttle program was launched 30 years ago, designers of the shuttle had imagined a future where space flight would be routine. Never happened, just like personal rockets and flying cars. What did happen, however, was the skyrocketing costs of launching the vehicles fewer than five times a year with a price tag of $1.5 billion for each launch. That’s like the price of two movie tickets and one pair of 3D glasses at an Imax.
Reports Wired:
“It’s a tough technical challenge to build a reusable spacecraft, and the president’s Office of Management … drew a line on how much money would be spent,” said Wayne Hale, a former NASA mission manager who now works as a human spaceflight director for Special Aerospace Services.
Early on, Hale said, the program never got the roughly $5 billion it needed to build a robust launch system that could handle 64 launches a year, so it was forced to make costly compromises. “If we really wanted to have something that would have flown as frequently, we would have spent more,” he said.
Read more here.
