“When men lose a sense of wonder, there will be disaster.”
—Laozi, 6th Century BC

Space and its vastness, its denizens of rock and ice and gas, its rings and spheres and smudges and wisps, have forever inhabited my mind, creating wonder, taunting, daring me to comprehend the impossible distances, sizes, existences of the universe.

I have not been awed by space much lately, meaning in the last decade or so. I have taken a moment or two here and there to marvel at the Hubble Ultra Deep Field snapshot, or look at the surface of Mars, but the luxury of time to spend imagining space has slipped away from me.

Thanks simultaneously to Sven and VSL, I have discovered The Big Picture, a part of The Boston Globe‘s website. Today, VSL sent a link to these pictures of the Sun. In the midst of a mind-numbing, boring work day, the pictures were a great surprise, and I pored over them for some time.

After subscribing to The Big Picture RSS feed, I saw another space-themed photo set, Enceladus Up Close.

This is a false color image of one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus, as captured by Cassini. (Click the pictures to see it in a larger size.)

When I was a kid and making up scenarios in my head about space, traveling there, and the adventures to be had, there were no pictures of this clarity. Well, okay, the moon was pretty well photographed, and we had some great shots from the Voyagers and Vikings, sure, but the most detail to be found of anything beyond this limited scope was in movies or paintings or our imaginations. The picture above? Reality! This is a real place. You can imagine actually setting foot onto that surface, exploring those ridges and craters.

In the last 8 years, people’s minds have gotten smaller, and their influence has stunted the imaginations of the world. To me, Enceladus as a creation of a God is such a let-down, a cop-out compared to the magnificent thought that this small world is a product of the universe itself. I think it’s time for me, and for everyone else, to turn out from themselves, shake off the selfishness of recent history, and wake up the boundless, infinite wonders of everything around us, from a micron off our own skins to billions of light years away.

The quote at the top of this post is something I wrote down from a bulletin board at Imagineering one lunch hour maybe 13 years ago, and have carried it in my wallet since. I never guessed it would resonate with me more now than it did then.

Ah, I love shooting! Specifically, I love how creative you have to be when you have no budget when you’re shooting.

Also, I have problems typing “would,” “could,” and “should.”

Read all about it at the LFTI blog!

I wrote the following on September 28 while waiting in the first class lounge for my flight from Sydney to Australia. I never posted it because the lounge WiFi I was so excited about was completely overwhelmed, and I kept getting kicked off. So my waxing wonderful about finally having free WiFi was premature. I forgot I had written it, but I think this is interesting, so I’m going to post it now, over a month later.

* * * * * *

My vacation is nearly over, and I am here in the Air New Zealand lounge waiting to get on my United plane back to L.A. Sadly, the flight is about 2 hours delayed. I imagine that was what the mysterious calls to my iPhone were in the middle of the night that I did not answer, and what certain unretrievable voicemails must be telling me.

Here are some items of (even less important) note so far.

The United people expressed grave concern that I, as a first class passenger, did not receive any calls about the flight being delayed. Explaining that the call was too early for me to bother answering was not worth going into, so I let them be concerned.

They definitely don’t care how heavy my bag is. The scale was flashing “30kg” and “OVER” and the woman gave it no mind.

International lounges still kick the asses of domestic lounges. I have so far enjoyed some cold antipasto nummies, vegetable frittata, chicken korma, cream of tomato soup, and chocolate black-out cake. there is power near most seats, unlike in the U.S. United lounge.

Internet in hotels is simply non-existent in Australia. I had no Internet access at all until we visited an Internet café two nights ago. The Travelodge we stayed at last night charged AU$11 per half-hour of in-room Internet. I did not partake. Many hotels had for-hire Internet stations in their lobbies, which were often busy. Aside from the Apple Store I visited in Sydney, this signal I’m using now is the only other free WiFi access I’ve had.

The Singapore Air A380 is always here. My guess is it never really travels anywhere. They simply tow it around the tarmac to show it off and get people like me all excited that they’re seeing one.

I hope you have been following my progress via Twitter. (http://twitter.com/lekowicz.) Twitter used very little bandwidth, so I could keep within my included 20MB overseas data limit. Thanks, AT&T, for making overseas plans so exorbitantly expensive that my iPhone was 90% crippled.

* * * * * *

Pack to the present. Out of curiosity, I priced my first class ticket for the exact same flights next year. Had I not used miles, I would have paid over $24,000. Well, actually, I would not have paid $24,000, but you get what I mean. Who can drop that kind of cash just for a flight somewhere? Crazy!

Ha ha ha ha! Ha HA ha ha ha! HA ha HA HA HA!

I don’t want to post the illustration at which I’m laughing because it’s copyrighted, but you can go see it here.

This is an intelligent, non-partisan, thoughtful, brief explanation of why conservatism has strayed, and why Obama can be seen as this election’s only attractive candidate.

D Magazine: “A Conservative for Obama”

Below is a link to a series of photos of Barack Obama, from October 2006 to the end of the Democratic convention in Denver. They were taken by Callie Shell, who traveled with him during his campaign.

Looking at the pictures and reading Callie’s words, you can believe, for once, that this politician is a real human being. The picture of Obama cleaning up after himself at the ice cream parlor, as well as the picture of his worn-out shoe soles that he had already had replaced once, make me very, very excited that tomorrow may bring someone to the White House that I can truly support and like.

Callie Shell’s Obama Photos

(Keep clicking on Show More Images to see them all.)

Since LFTI takes up so much of my time, I decided to post a more informative write-up about some of what we go through during pre-production. We put a lot of care and therefore a lot of work into the show. Go read all about it at the LFTI blog!

There is so much to write about, yet here I am again writing about fluff. And this time almost literally.

I am loving this blog discovered through Very Short List. It’s…

Cake Wrecks.

Watch as Jen deconstructs poorly-realized “professional” cake creations! Did it look like this in the catalog…

…but end up looking like this in real life?

Then this is the blog for you!

And I thought good presentation designers were hard to find. I can’t imagine trying to staff the bazillion bakeries in America with talented, capable cake decorators. Impossible!

I enjoy this bit at Daring Fireball regarding the iPhone 3G.

“Let’s just say it up front: the iPhone is the greatest piece of consumer electronics that has ever been made.”

I really do not know if I can disagree with that, even playing devil’s advocate. I can find no angle to take. My iPhone is the most useful device I’ve ever had, and it’s brilliantly fun to use.

Want a good read, and confirmation of why Obama must be elected President over McCain? Then head on over to The New Yorker, whose endorsement of Obama is stated with intelligence and eloquence. These are the arguments that have to be made to those who think America’s okay after the last eight years, and that McCain will be an effective, healing leader.

I was certainly enthusiastic about seeing more of those Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld ads. Yet once again, Microsoft crushes my mirth and destroys any hope of fun I was ready to have. Seinfeld is gone, and now we have this:

The Angel/Devil Get a Mac ad, while still being one of my favorites, is once again relevant in this regard: “Fun. We tried that once. It was nothing but pain and frustration.”

Daring Fireball, sans suprise, has fantastic insight into the Get a Mac ads and how these new I’m a PC ads merely reinforce the message of Apple’s own advertising. DF’s post also examines the high concept of having people portray computers (which I had talked about when the Angel/Devil ad first aired).

I can’t believe the Get a Mac ads have been running for over two years now. I wager the I’m a PC ads won’t last 6 months.

I am now officially on my vacation! I’m sitting in the International First lounge in Terminal 7. Here are some items of (not very important) note so far.

Apparently, when you fly first class, they don’t really give a crap if your suitcase is over the weight limit. Nor do they ask you to take it to the X-ray machine yourself.

On Wednesday, the TSA was wearing their usual Love-Boat-White shirts. Today, they all have on brand-new, brilliant blue shirts. I wonder how much that cost us all? I guess the price of freedom knows no budget.

My huge-ass chariot awaits! The 747 is already at gate 77. International flights seem to be the only ones where the planes aren’t flipped in 6 minutes.

LAX is freakishly empty. It’s unsettling.

The lounge lady was incredibly friendly. She loved my passport photo. She has to be paid to say so, because it’s not what I’d call supremely flattering.

I am currently enjoying cheese and crackers, a nut assortment, some tasty olives, mini quiches, sautéed mushrooms, spinach and feta cheese filo dough triangles, and free Wi-Fi. I will then proceed to enjoy a fine selection of sweets. I will not be enjoying the array of complimentary boozes, but I’m sure others are.

Sarah Palin is a power-hungry fanatic. Too bad she’s sitting only 10 feet from me. She smells like fresh-cut ragweed.

The in-lounge DJ will start spinning in 10 minutes. I understand the exotic dancers take the stage at 9:30. They even provided me with a stack of singles with which to tip.

And that is all for now. Aussie Lek signing off.

I am on my way to Australia later tonight. I’m flying first class. Yes, I used miles. To be honest, this has been one of the most exciting things about the trip… that I get to fly first class overseas! In the top of a 747! The 747 to me is the greatest passenger jet in the universe. It’s so iconic. Any other jet, you look at it and go, “It’s a jet.” A 747, you go, “It’s a 747!”

So I will be flying in the lap of luxury. I get to use the First Class International lounge before I board (I’m getting to the airport early so I can milk the hell out of that privilege); I’ll get a 47-course meal on the plane; my seat will lie flat for comfy comfy rest. Luxury, I tell you!

Here are two guys who are probably used to this kind of thing:

Click here for the high res version.

Now, you know I’m a fan of Apple and a huge UN-fan of Microsoft. Some of the Get a Mac ads are really great (for example). But I have to give props to Microsoft for this one. Well, not to Microsoft, but their ad agency. I was watching this on my iPhone, ironically, at the car wash this morning, and laughing out loud (LOL to you youngsters who can’t speak real English). There is a lot to like about this “ad.”

I’m not sure how effective these ads will be in making Microsoft appear less crappy a company with less crappy products, but at least it looks like we’re in for some really funny attempts at doing so.

So me, the lap of luxury. These two, slumming it. My, how our world has changed!

Thank you thank you thank you, Jon Stewart.

It is to be expected that conservatives would reverse the spin once Palin was chosen, but it still does not make it palatable. It makes me seethe, really.

Here are some very funny faux McCain bits, courtesy of 23/6. Enj— I mean, have fun!

First, McCain’s Voice Mail to Palin Leaked to Press.

Then, Advice for the Big Speech.

Why have I never seen this before? Why have I never done this before? Why has my life been so empty until seeing this?