Pictures of Earth, Pictures of Mars

This is a stock photo. It is Earth in a drop of liquid.

If you zoomed in, and then zoomed in some more, and then kept zooming and zooming and zooming and zooming and zooming... you might see something like this:

or this: 

or this:

or this.

This is Mars. It's a photo from NASA.

If you zoomed in, and then zoomed in some more, and kept zooming and zooming and zooming and zooming and zooming... you might see this (which would make any geologist very excited):

or this:

or this:

or this.

Just think: in the next 50 years, we'll be there. Some how, some way, we'll be there. 

The future isn't that far off.

Fish... or Alien?

Last week I went to the Boston Aquarium. It was amazing. Giant fish. Lobsters. Jellyfish. Sting rays. Turtles. Frogs. PENGUINS. Dragon fish. Sharks. Luckily, they were all safely contained, so I didn't get eaten. I did, however, get to touch a sting ray.

While I was there, I couldn't help but think about aliens. "Why?" you ask. 

Well, if you've ever been to an aquarium, you shouldn't have to ask why.

For starters, look at this fish: 

It's an Angler Fish.

Now look at this fish:

It's a Mexican Walking Fish. I found the name by Googling "creepy pink fish".

Now what do you get if you add together the Angler and the Mexican Walking Fish? This:

In real life it's a giant Isopod. In unreal life...

You wake up one morning and check the news. It won't work. You have no electricity. Your phone didn't charge and neither did your computer. So you do the next best thing: go find a living person. As you step outside, you notice that the sky is a strange pink, and it is darkening slowly into a blood red. Your neighbor sees you and begins to gesture frantically. You run over. He is watching a news report on the remaining battery life of his computer.

A giant cocoon, larger than any space ship or animal on earth, is plummeting through the sky. It lands gently in the Mojave desert where it is greeted by a team of UN special forces. The ship opens slowly and out crawl giant bugs, the size of elephants, with glowing white eyes and thick, pink crustacean shells...

All of a sudden, a swarm of tiny, thick-shelled bugs land outside your apartment. Apparently, they can fly. Flying fish. Oh good. Just what you always wanted.

Awesome Advertisements from the 20th Century

I was browsing through the Creative Commons on Flikr, and I came across a wonderful set of old advertisements. I picked out a few of my favourites. You can see the rest of the images here. These are either from between 1910 and 1920, the 1940s, or the 1970s.

I wish fruit cost 5 cents. Or 1 cent.

This... is a life preserver. Also known as "Water Wings".

What? A circus is coming to town? On April 23? Where do you see that?

Ah hah! I found them! Healthier cigarettes!

This sign is powered by my car battery.

Pharmacle, like a Popsicle, but better.

(It actually says Pharmacie.)

It's not raining rain, you know. It's raining Kilowatts.

Conserve energy!

 No more South Beach Diet: time to try a fruit diet!

"Study your Health!!! The leading doctors and scientists of the world advocate a fruit diet. We specialise in fruit luncheons and suppers, daintily served during the day and after theatre... Our tea rooms are the cosiest in the city!

Messenger Bros!

Located right across the street from the theatre where the trams stop!"

 This is THE WRONG SIDE.

PICK THEM UP.

SALVAGE DUMP.

THE OTHER SIDE.

Kidneys: the new currency.