Some scientific theories state that without our moon our days would have been too short to evolve life. Overall it seems our lifes are deeply connected to our lunar companion …

*Thanks to Edosan for sending me this great image*

Here are some of NASA’s design sketches for the next moon landing - as commanded by George W. Bush. The whole mission, the proposed systems and attitude is so 1960’s.

Once again it’s a race - with the Chinese - to be the first to establish a base. All systems like the crew capsule, the lander and the final landing (with parachute) are just a remix of old technologies. It’s almost like some old man at NASA and in politics try to recreate the golden age of space exploration - and America’s greatness.

More? The Constellation Program @ NASA

Another great woodcut by Maestro Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Until the second world war Japans cities mostly consisted out of wooden buildings. So fire was a real threat to them - and firefighter even more important.

Too sad that American decided to totally devastated these old cities through incendiary bombings - which totally snuffed out most of Japan’s cities BEFORE they dropped the atomic bombs. Actually both cities were spared any air attacks to ’save’ them for the big experiments.

Anyway - this is a great painting. Bugger.

Here we see a famous japanese hero - Minamoto no Yoshitsune:

Because of Yoshitsune’s tragic life and early death, he is one of the greatest folk heroes of Japan, becoming the subject of and influencing many works of Japanese literature and Japanese drama, especially the Tale of the Heike and Gikeiki (the name of which means “The Chronicle of Yoshitsune”), while the details of his life became legendary. For example, legend has it that while at Kurama Temple as a youth, he was trained by tengu, legendary bird-men warriors, in swordsmanship. Most of the tales focus on his later days in exile, fleeing from Yoritomo with his loyal retainers, including the warrior-monk Saito Musashibo Benkei. It is said his few retainers held off a force many times greater than their own to allow Yoshitsune to commit seppuku.