Tag: Outer space

With the Stanley Cup in the news again as Chicago won its third Stanley Cup in six years, Chicago’s Adler Planetarium made an infographic revealing that 429,305,338 Stanley Cups stacked on top of one another would reach the Moon. What…

Parked and waiting was the infamous Puppet Bike. Strips of the Carina Nebula in my hand, I was looking for poles and other items to wrap the Nebula around. What great felicity to run into one of Chicago’s most famous…

Every artist has their go-to methods when creativity runs dry. Tools like sketchpads. Working in locations like coffee shops. For me one of my methods is to make artwork to place on the front of Tribune Tower. 149 rocks from…

I am looking for a resident that lives on the planet Mercury. How do I search for this? Do I do a search on Twitter for “Mercury alien”? or perhaps “Mercury resident”? However on Twitter, you cannot search the location…

Learn how to count to ten in Ewokese, or Estonian. Which is which? One language is spoken by short furry creatures on the Forest Moon of Endor. The other language is spoken by Finnic people in the Baltic region of…

We all know the Moon is made of cheese. Even the Chinese know because they are going to the Moon to bring back its delicious cheese. The taste is so out of this world! Why wait for the Chinese to…

What can be cuter than 8-bit artwork of ewoks? Thankfully the ewok card came to me early in the iPhone Star Wars game, Tiny Death Star. The card proudly proclaims, “Furred natives of the forest moon of Endor, the Ewoks…

What if we took another planet’s surface and grafted it onto part of Earth’s? Mars would make quite an impact. It would be like dunking the Earth in some powered chocolate. We’d have a ton more iron. I’d imagine with…

A movie-filming helicopter floated above my head while walking home tonight. Memories of Transformers filming in Chicago rushed through my head. Having downtown Chicago taken over by Transformers made the summer of 2010 much fun. Hearing gunshots outside my window.…

Waking up to a hot humid summer morning. Walking to work in the dense humidity. The weatherman often reports the record high for the day. But what about the record highest low? I’d like to know what was Chicago’s hottest…

Have some fun and carry a sheet of gold stars in your wallet. They come in so handy to spontaneously award people for something good. At work: Someone suggest a good idea? Give him/her a gold star! At home: Someone…

Good ol’ Earthlink. Back in the late 1990’s Earthlink was one of the top internet service providers. Chances are you or someone you know used Earthlink to connect to the internet. Today most people use Comcast or AT&T. Blah. Such…

You know those really cool stained glass things you can make? You drop little plastic pellets into a wire frame and then throw them into the oven, and the plastic pellets melt. When the entire thing cools down, you take…

Don’t call it Willis Don’t call it Macy’s Don’t call it U.S. Cellular But why? Gapers Block sells a five-pack of “Don’t call it that” buttons. The tagline is “Buttons for true Chicagoans.” To complement this pack, I would like…

Would you like to know your intergalactic address of my desk at the Tribune Tower? I will tell you. Matt Maldre435 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 1400Chicago, IL 60611-7551USA, Earth, Solar SystemLocal Interstellar Cloud, Local BubbleOrion‚ Cygnus Arm, MILKY WAY GALAXY…

Mars Pathfinder has a $3 stamp. How cool would that be to peel that rover off Mars and then mail it to someone? It would be like you are controlling the destination of the Mars rover.

I’d like there to be a website that collects images of all the artwork being shown in Chicago art museums and galleries. Here’s the next best thing. A google image search for each of the gallery districts in Chicago. I…

An accidental release of alien characters in a captcha field show that aliens have already invaded our planet. They are among us and are getting ready to make themselves known and force their alien language upon us. This captcha form…

The fastest planet in our solar system is Mercury, flying around the sun at 107,082 mph. Can you imagine having the windows open while driving at 107,082 mph? Neptune is the Sunday driver of our solar system. 12,191mph. If you…

In a WBEZ interview about how techno music is like classical music, Mason Bates, composer-in-residence for both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony, gives an example of how people are afraid of the symphony. At minute 11:48…

If a company with the word “solar” in their name, would they have issues with the recent x-class solar flares? Or would they get inquiries about solar flares? Like, maybe the are behind it or something. If your company is…

Aboard NASA’s journey to Jupiter will be LEGO mini-statues of Jupiter, his wife Juno, and Galileo. Why? CNN reports, “LEGO is partnering with NASA to promote children’s interest in science, math, engineering and technology.” Are they going to offer these…

I like the nicknames they gave to the logos. The worm and the meatball. (from a New York Times article) The old school feel of the meatball is nice, but just speaking from a logo perspective, it’s a complete mess.…

I so want to memorize this song and then sing it when I’m at Walgreens, in the candy aisle… or anytime I see Reese’s candy! You can have a skittle, a mento or a sweet tart. It ain’t no riddle,…

A giant fireball explodes on Wacker Drive for the Transformers 3 movie, “Dark of the Moon.” Now that the trailer is out, we know that this is the location where Optimus Prime kicks some serious butt with his sword. This…

IDW G1 Card – Astrotrain by *Guidoarts Chicago didn’t get a space shuttle. But are we complaining? Nope. But it’s fun to hear the other cities complain. From CNN: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the Johnson Space Center in…

You have the chance to talk with an intergalactic space captain! Every day Brewster Rockit tweets hilarious stuff about his journeys and observations on life. One day he gave insight into how life is like a vending machine. Here’s a…

Japanese airport officials would not allow Steve Jobs to bring ninja stars onto his private airplane. In turn Steve Jobs vows to never return to Japan. According to iPhone App Review: “Jobs said it wouldn‚Äôt make sense for a person…

Ewoks have been known to live on the forest moon of Endor. But it was only until recently that Google Maps has discovered that Endor is actually a small town in South Africa. According to this satellite imagery, you can…

The commanding officer of the first Death Star has a laser pointer. He’s willing to trade it to you. What would you offer to the Death Star Commander? Now, let’s add another layer to this. Let’s say you are an…

Ever draw a blank for what to write on someone’s facebook wall for a birthday wish? Draw a blank no more! Why not wish your friend a happy birthday in ewokese!? It’s a real language with a dictionary on the…