RANDOM WEDNESDAY: Neurobit - 10 Female Humaniod Robots 2026

via Neurobit 

Chesley Bonestell

Art Appreciation

Chesley Knight Bonestell Jr. was born on January 1, 1888, in San Francisco. He showed an early aptitude for drawing and engineering, interests encouraged by his family during a period when the American West was rapidly modernizing. 

Bonestell briefly studied architecture at Columbia University, where he developed strong technical drafting skills, though he left before completing a degree. His education blended formal instruction with self-directed study, shaping a visual language that balanced precision with imagination.

Bonestell's early career unfolded in architecture and industrial design. He worked as a draftsman for several firms, including a stint designing buildings in New York City and later in England. His time abroad exposed him to classical European architecture and monumental scale, influences that later appeared in his planetary landscapes. Though architecture provided steady work, it was also where Bonestell refined the spatial realism that would define his later art.

By the 1930s and 1940s, Bonestell shifted toward illustration, producing work for magazines such as Life and Collier's. His collaboration with science writers, notably Willy Ley, brought scientifically grounded visions of space exploration to the public. Bonestell also worked in motion pictures, contributing matte paintings and conceptual designs for films including Citizen Kane and Destination Moon. His public artwork and murals further demonstrated his ability to merge spectacle with technical accuracy.

Bonestell's legacy rests on how profoundly he shaped public perception of space before the Space Age. His paintings of Saturn seen from its moons and rugged lunar landscapes became iconic, influencing scientists, filmmakers, and NASA engineers alike. Often called the "father of modern space art," Bonestell bridged science and imagination, leaving a visual legacy that still defines how space is pictured today.

Saturn as seen from Titan, 1944

Space Station, Ferry Rocket, and Space Telescope 

1,075 Miles above Central America, 1952

The Conquest of Space, 1949

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.bonestellgallery.com/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chesley-Bonestell

https://www.printmag.com/design-culture/chesley-bonestell-imagining-the-future/

https://ia902306.us.archive.org/5/items/life-the-first-fifty-years-1936-1986-by-life-magazine-z-lib.org/Life%20the%20First%20Fifty%20Years%2C%201936-1986%20by%20Life%20Magazine%20%28z-lib.org%29.pdf

https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?35345

https://www.nasa.gov/history/space-station-20th-historical-origins-of-iss/

https://medium.com/swlh/chesley-bonestell-the-international-association-of-astronomical-artists-and-cosmic-art-in-e744de739dee

RANDOM WEDNESDAY: Modern Nukes: Unimaginable, City-ending Destruction

via Science Time 

Mark Rober - Egg Drop From Space

via Mark Rober 

Augmented reality

At what point does technology go too far? Isreali filmmaker Eren May-raz and Daniel Lazo's short film Sight raises that question.

The eight-minute film takes place in the near future, where contact lens-like implants projects data in the field of vision. The film features an engineer using a sophisticated form of virtual retinal display with an application that allows him to gain full access to private information, which he uses on a blind date.

Source: http://convictushome.blogspot.com/2012/07/sight.html;

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/07/29/sight-an-8-minute-augmented-reality-journey-that-makes-google-glass-look-tame/

Teaching children in a green environment... literally

Architectural firm, Chartier Dalix, will be transforming a former car-making factory building in Boulogne, France into a "green-roof" educational facility surrounded and covered with grass, flowers and trees.  

The urban redevelopment project will incorporate natural habitat on and around the 18-classroom school. 

Sources: http://www.greenpacks.org/2011/04/15/former-renault-factory-assumes-green-roofed-school-make-over/; http://veryveryfun.com/content/view/247/1/; http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1kMbFA/inhabitat.com/former-renault-factory-in-france-becomes-an-undulating-green-roofed-school/; http://www.chartier-dalix.com/index.php?/education/boulogne-2010/

Wright Model B

1912 Model "B" Wright

The birth of the airplane began with Orville and Wilbur's Flyer I in 1903.  Seven models later, the Wright brothers redesigned their airplane to create the Model B.  The new design incorporated rear elevators that allowed easier control.

Wingspan: 39 ft (11.9 m)

Length: 28 ft (8.5 m)

Height: 8 ft, 9 in (2.7 m)

Motor: 8-cylinder 75 horsepower
Speed: 45 mph

Sources: Wikipedia; http://www.456fis.org/THE_WRIGHT_BROTHERS_MODEL_-_B.htm; http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/

Visit my blog at http://photographywritingandmore.blogspot.com/

The SeaOrbiter

French architect and ocean enthusiast Jacques Rougerie has designed the world's first vertical ocean ship called the SeaOrbiter. 

The 167 foot tall vessel, which is solely powered by the winds and currents, will allow 18 crewmembers to spend up to six months in the ocean without returning to port.  This would allow oceanographers to study the ocean in a different way.  Further, Rougerie envisions astronauts using the SeaOrbiter for training.

The $43 million construction project is expected to begin in September and should set sail by 2012.

Source: PM Network April 2010

A TV outside your hotel room

Abu Dhabi is home to the Yas Hotel, the first new hotel to be built over a Formula 1 racetrack. The hotel, designed by New York's Asymptote Architecture, consists of two 12-stories of 449 guest rooms and oversees the racetrack and marina.

However, that is not the only thing that makes this hotel amazing. Over the hotel hangs the world's largest LED structure capable of playing low resolution video. Resembling a local fisherman's net, the gridshell structure consists of 5,389 pivoting diamond-shaped panes.

Source: 

PM Network, March 2010 

wikipedia.org

https://www.yourgolftravel.com/w-abu-dhabi-yas-island