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520-day simulated mission to Mars underway in Russia
Last Thursday, a six person mission to Mars began in Russia -- except that the crew isn't going anywhere. The would-be astronauts (including Russian, French, Italian and Chinese members) have agreed to undergo a 520-day long simulation trip to Mars, which includes a 250-day flight to the planet, a 30-day exploration, and a 230-day return trip, all in the name of preparation and research. This is not the first time that Russia's undertaken long-term simulations -- last year six hopefuls participated in a 105-day long experiment -- hoping to gain insight into the long-term effects such isolation can be expected to produce. They won't be weightless, but many of the other conditions will be as realistic as possible -- including communications time delays, wonky internet, and one shower every ten days. Sounds a lot like blogging to us. We wish them luck -- check out the video below.
Lonely Planet giving away free iPhone guides in honor of Eyjafjallajökull messing with Europe
Did Eyjafjallajökull mess your week up? The answer is probably "no" if you're asking who Eyjafjallajökull is. For those of us who did have our week interrupted by that big exploding volcano in Iceland, Lonely Planet is offering thirteen of its City Guides for free in the App Store (and okay, they're free to all, no proof of volcano-interruption required). The aptly-named "Volcano Relief Sale" is being held in hopes of helping travelers stuck in unfamiliar places find "access to practical information as well as suggestions on what to do whilst stranded," according to Tom Hall, Lonely Planet Travel Editor. "That's why we're giving away iPhone city guides to major affected destinations." Those destinations include: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Istanbul, London, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, and Vienna. I've been to all but two of those destinations, and if you're stuck in any of them, you really should be thanking Eyjafjallajökull (and now, Lonely Planet). The thirteen City Guides are normally priced between $10 and $15, so this is quite a bargain. But act fast, the City Guides will only be available for free until April 22 -- hopefully a date which will also see many more planes back in the air. [via Macworld] [Image by NASA Goddard Photo and Video]
Politics and the flying penis
Garry Kasparov (former World Chess Champion, now writer and political activist) got himself buzzed by a flying penis during a political speech. Only it didn't happen in the virtual world of Second Life, where such an event has happened before. This one took place at Amber Plaza in the vicinity of Novoslobodskaya metro station in Moscow. The phallus was an artificial one, thankfully. Which all just goes to show that people are no more or less weird out in the physical world than they are in Second Life or any virtual world. Our prediction? You'll see more and more of this sort of thing. Flying penises are about people, not about places. You can click on the image for more visuals. NSFW and all that. [Thanks Carl Metropolitan]
Moscow's Lineage II meet up murder
The Moscow Times reports that according to Moscow police, a man attempting to break up a fight between two Lineage II players in the real world was killed when one of the men stomped him to death. Alexander Blyoskin, 22, died trying to stop members of two rival Lineage II clans from hurting each other during a meet up in a Moscow café Jan 12. The two men were allegedly posting negative statements about each other on Lineage forums and when meeting each other in person decided to take their differences outside.Statements differ about what happened outside. Some witnesses say Blyoskin hit his head on the ground after being punched and others say Alexander Ponamorenko stomped on his head after he fell on the ground. Ponamorenko has been formally charged with the beating death of Blyoskin and faces 15 years in prison.[Via Raph Koster's Website]
IBM's Moscow offices raided in embezzlement investigation
On Wednesday, a team of Russian investigators and a squad of masked, rifle-toting police raided IBM's Moscow offices. Big Blue is currently under investigation in the Russian Federation for allegedly having stolen money from the country's $57 billion pension fund. The Russian Interior Ministry accused IBM and two local software companies of committing conspiracy "to rig auctions and embezzle some of the 1 billion rubles ($38 million) of budget money allocated to the funds for new computers," reports Bloomberg. The spokeswoman of one of the other companies under investigation, R-Style Softlab, said that riot police were deployed at the company's offices for 10 hours yesterday, and "made copies of some documents, took the list of our contacts and copied some electronic mail." This reminds us an awful lot of that Siemens raid that took place last month -- is there some crazy European embezzlement epidemic going on that we should know about?[Via The Register]Read - BloombergRead - IDG News ServiceRead - The Associated Press
Samsung's Botticelli-inspired SGH-E500 fashionphone
You can pretty much tell a phone doesn't have great features when the manufacturer not only lavishes all its attention on the handset's design, but actually neglects to publicize the specs altogether. Therefore, all we can tell you about Samsung's upcoming E500 fashionphone is that it contains a camera of some unknown resolution in a leather-clad clamshell design, which is decorated with artwork said to be inspired by Botticelli's painting, The Birth of Venus. We also know that this model is headed straight for Russia, where capitalism has apparently brought them the same appreciation for tacky design so prevalent elsewhere in the world
