Plenty of Nothing

Tiangong

Now that the Chinese have flown their Shenzhou spacecraft with crews of one, two and three astronauts, the next thing, as revealed on state TV last Chinese New Year, will be to hoist this space station module named Tiangong into orbit and have the next three Shenzhou missions dock with it.  The Shenzhou spacecraft is built with an orbital module that can be left to fly in orbit independently, or maybe even serve as an add-on to Tiangong.  If the orbital modules have been designed to join together in series Tiangong could become a mini alternative to the International Space Station.  In less than a decade the Chinese will have progressed from Mercury to Mir.

PSAC and Red Pine

Evangeline Brandt "That's the Spirit"

Kiyochika Kobayashi

These four goofs are from the album One Hundred Faces by ukiyo-e printmaker Kiyochika Kobayashi (1847-1915).  He's considered a minor figure in comparison to Hiroshige, but his use of new technologies and inclusion of modern themes make him an interesting subject in the development of ... manga?

When British Television Classics Collide!

BBC

Krak Des Travailleurs

 

Horseback Calligraphy

BibliOdyssey has a beautiful if weird set of illustrations from a 1928 album on Miyako festivals.

On Metcalfe Street

When Satellites Collide

Iridium.
Two communication satellites have collided.  They are Kosmos 2251, a Russian Strela military satellite launched in 1993, probably out of service for the past fifteen years, and Iridium 33, one of the many commercial satellites launched by Motorola around 1997 as part of the Iridium satellite phone network.  The two wrecks have produced a pair of debris clouds which will constitute navigational hazards in orbit for decades to come.  Considering that each satellite was part of a network (there are 65 Iridium orbiters and hundreds of Russian spy satellites) , and that dozens more orbiters go up each year, this is certainly only the first of many smash-ups to come.

On Gilmour Street