Russian firm reveals plans for a "space hotel"

The newest hotel plans in development are far out ... literally. Russian firm Orbital Technologies revealed plans for a space hotel at a conference in Moscow this week. The hotel has a predicted 2016 opening, the Daily Mail reports.

Initial data suggests that a five day stay will cost around £100,000, not counting transportation costs of £250,000+.

The "hotel" will be "far more comfortable" than the International Space Station, says Orbital CEO Sergei Kostenko, and will feature seven guests in four cabins. The hotel "pod" will occupy 706 cubic feet and feature massive windows 217 miles above earth and be accessible via Russian Soyuz rockets.

Beds will have a horizontal or vertical option as well as sealed showers.

"Our planned module inside will not remind you of the ISS," Kostenko said. "The hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space."

Kostenko aims to have his project finished before that of Virgin exec Richard Branson.

What do you think? Would you visit the space hotel?

Exploring the Double-Edged History of Montgomery, Alabama

In Montgomery, during the Freedom Rides, I heard Martin Luther King say that while Brown v. Board of Education had been the legal turning point in the movement, the Montgomery bus boycott and the sit-ins were the psychological turning point.

So writes Calvin Trillin in a recent New Yorker, reflecting on the civil rights struggle in the deep south, which he covered for Time magazine "from the fall of 1960 to the fall of 1961." He's writing, then, on a sort of fiftieth anniversary for the movement, which of course spanned nearly two decades, making any hard and fast anniversary difficult to declare.
Another anniversary looms large in Montgomery this year, that of the outbreak of the Civil War, 150 years ago this past April. The stage was set for a Confederate victory at Fort Sumter, South Carolina when the Montgomery Convention met, in February, in what was the Alabama capitol building's senate chamber, to organize the new secessionist government.
For both anniversaries, this summer was a fascinating time to drive through Montgomery.

Photo of the day: Marina Beach, Chennai, India

This shot of Marina Beach in Chennai in India evokes numerous desires within me--ones that can be easily reduced to a checklist:

1. Visit India.
2. Visit Marina Beach in Chennai.
3. Fly kites more often.
4. Go to beaches at night more often.
5. Take photos more often.

Funny how much want a simple photo can initiate...

Be that wanting as it may, I really love this photo. Taken by Keith Pennington, the photo offers up a nice representation of how popular Marina Beach is in Chennai.

Have you been to Marina Beach or any other beaches in India? Tell us where you went and why it was good or bad in the comments. And, as always, if you'd like to submit a photo for Photo of The Day, just upload it to the Gadling Flickr Pool.

Museums plan to sell collections to survive

Museums in The Netherlands have received some bad news--national funding for arts and culture will drop from 900 million euros to 700 million in 2013. Now museums and other institutions are scrambling to figure out how to survive.

The Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam has come up with a controversial plan. They're going to sell off their African and American collections in order to raise money.

While this has caused an understandable uproar, it makes sense in some ways. The Wereldmuseum's main collections are in Asian and Pacific art, such as the Korwar figurines from New Guinea pictured above courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. These will not be sold. Other museums in the country are known for African and American art, so the Dutch and the tourists won't be left without. It's also a major opportunity for museums that still have decent funding for new acquisitions, assuming there are any.

There are still plenty of downsides. The Wereldmuseum and any other institution that tries this tactic will lose some of the diversity of their collections. It makes it harder for them to participate in the exchanges of artwork that help create bonds between different museums and the creation of major exhibitions. The sale will probably also see some of artifacts leave the country or go into private hands, and out of sight of the general public.

For the Wereldmuseum in particular it means losing some of its unique character. The collection is partially made up of objects brought back by Dutch traders, who in past centuries were one of the major economic powers on the high seas and traded to all corners of the globe. At the moment the collection reflects that. To secure its future, the Wereldmuseum will have to discard some of its past.

It may even undermine its own name. Wereldmuseum translates to "World Museum".

David's Discoveries: A great bistro in Burgundy -- L'Auberge de Jack, Milly Lamartine

Fred Flintstone might recognize the giant ribsteak served at L'Auberge de Jack. This poster-hung, cozy country bistro in Milly Lamartine is one of my favorite locales in Burgundy. Draw up a wooden chair and eat and drink with the locals. It's unpretentious, affordable, and, à propos of locales, entirely local in its sourcing. It's fun, too: a joyful dining experience.

Fred Flintstone would feel right at home: scenic, stone-built Milly Lamartine perches on a hillside a few miles from a famous prehistoric site, the Roche de Solutré, known for its bones, stones and wines.

Owners Sylvie Bouschet and her chef-husband Jack are from Mâcon, 10 miles east of Milly Lamartine. They've never heard of the Flintstones or locavores, either. But eaters of local food worldwide might want to make L'Auberge de Jack the template for their movement: there's no mission statement accompanying the Charolais beef, raised by a family farmer near Charolles, 20 miles away, and served rare with thick-cut, housemade fries, some of the best you'll ever eat. Sylvie and Jack don't trade on common sense: for 30 years they've been buying wholesome, quality products from trustworthy people nearby.

But ask and you'll discover the plump pork sausages simmered in Beaujolais come from Monsieur Girard, the butcher in Pierreclos, another handsome village, down the road a piece. The Beaujolais comes from over the bluff, near Solutré, ten minutes south by corkscrew road. That's where the Burgundy and Beaujolais regions overlap. Excellent, underrated wines come from the eroded, limestone escarpments: Pouilly-Fuissé, Saint-Véran, Moulin à Vent and others.

A rural ride through Oxfordshire

Yesterday was my birthday, and now that I'm halfway to 84 I figured the best way to spend it was with other decaying leftovers from ages past. I mean medieval buildings, not my travel companions.

Oxfordshire offers plenty of hikes, historic buildings, and good restaurants. To celebrate my increasing decrepitude, some friends drove my wife and I from Oxford to the nearby village of Great Coxwell to see a rare survival from the Middle Ages--the Great Coxwell Barn. While there's no shortage of medieval churches and castles still standing in England, there aren't many well-preserved medieval barns. This one was owned by the Cistercian Beaulieu Abbey and was built around 1300 AD. It was part of a grange (farm) owned by the abbey and worked by lay brothers and servants. The barn stored the produce of the grange as well as the tithe of the parish farmers.

The exterior looks remarkably churchlike, while the interior is a vast open space with a slate roof supported by an impressive system of wooden posts, beams and rafters, all connected by pegs or slots and tabs. Metal was expensive back then, and not a single nail was used in the construction of this massive roof.

Classic Italian car race comes to California

Fans of classic cars and rally enthusiasts take note: "the most beautiful road race in the world" is coming to California. The Mille Miglia, the Italian car race that elevated driving to an art, will makes its American debut in California from October 25-29 in advance of the Santa Barbara Concours d'Elegance. In the spirit of the legendary Italian race, which followed scenic routes that circled from Brescia to Ferrara and Rome to Florence, Mille Miglia North America will begin and end in Santa Barbara, in between making a 1,000-mile loop along California's coastline. Cities and sites along the route include San Luis Obispo, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, San Francisco, and Napa.

All cars racing in the Mille Miglia North America will date from 1927 to 1957, the time period during which the original race was run. Cars expected to participate include vintage models of Aston Martins, Alfa Romeos, Fiats, a 1952 Jaguar XK120, a 1957 Thunderbird, and more. The public can get a glimpse of the classic cars at car shows in Santa Barbara before and after the race. And, of course, there will be spectator spots along the route when the race is underway. Stay tuned to the Mille Miglia website [www.millemiglianorthamerica.com] for more information on spectator locations as they become available.

Is the United States a booming travel market for North Korea?!

International relations may be strained, but that's not stopping the tourists. According to Yonhap News Agency, the number of North Koreans visiting the United States in the first half of 2011 surged more than 50 percent from the same period in 2010. The report cites data from the Department of Homeland Security, which puts the number of visitors in the first six months of the year at 139. In the first half of 2010, only 89 people visited the United States from North Korea.

Interestingly, this comes even as official contacts between the two governments fell off, not to mention a "general cooling off in bilateral relations."

Of course, the visits weren't strictly recreational. A delegation of scientists came over from North Korea in February, with an economic delegation following in March. In June, 17 martial arts folks visited three states on the east coast.

New North Korea tour company needs approval from the feds

A new company is trying to get into the North Korea tourism game. Korea Pyongyang Trading USA, based in New York, is looking to diversify out of its current business – importing Pyongyang Soju from North Korea. Founder Steve Park has his eye on Mount Kumgang, the site of a resort that involved a joint venture between South Korean companies and the North Korean government. It went sour when a South Korean tourist was shot there in 2008.

It seems like an interesting business opportunity, given how interesting the hard-to-reach company is too many travelers. And, since it's so hard to do business with the regime, competition is unlikely to be stiff. The regulatory red tape, on the other hand, is a different story.

South Korea is saying that Korea Pyongyang Trading USA will need to get permission from the U.S. government in order to get the operation off the ground. The Dong-A Ilbo reports:

National Geographic releases Trail Maps app

Last week, National Geographic added yet another offering to their growing list of mobile apps available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The newest app, entitled Trail Maps, offers a host of options for navigating both urban and wilderness environments, while also remaining useful even when you wander outside of cell service coverage.

The app uses both topographical maps from the U.S. Geological Survey and high resolution satellite imagery provided by Microsoft Bing. The software comes pre-loaded with maps of Yellowstone National Park, and surrounding areas, but you can also download highly detailed maps of just about any other place in the lower 48 States, and add them to your library. The files are quite large – about 100 MB each – but having them installed on the device allows you to use the maps even while you have no data connection.

The amount of detail on the maps is highly impressive to say the least. The app allows you to quickly, and easily, zoom in and out using typical iOS gestures, such as pinching and double tapping. When zoomed out, you get a nice overview of the region the map covers, but as you slowly zoom in, more and more details emerge, right down to topographical lines for indicating slope and elevation. You'll also find the locations of hundreds of landmarks, including campsites, rest areas, and even mountain peaks, or – in the case of Yellowstone – individual geysers. If the map you add to your device is for a city, you'll find even more points of interest.

Of course, detailed maps aren't the only thing that National Geographic brought to the table. The app also allows for live route tracking using your device's built in GPS chip. It also provides detailed reports of your treks, both urban and wilderness, charting speed, altitude change, direction, distance and so on. There are also built in tools that allow you to measure distances on the maps, place waypoints, and even navigate by compass. In short, everything you need to find your way around just about any place in the U.S.

Thirty abandoned churches from around the world

Independent of any religious creed, chances are most people have toured through a church or two in their travels. Many cities are designed around a central place of worship, while the buildings themselves often have historical significance (not to mention some of the most amazing architecture out there).

But what happens when people pack up and leave a town or a congregation grows and must move on to bigger and better things? This gallery of abandoned churches showcases churches that no longer serve their intended purpose. Most are of church exteriors, while others shows the state of things inside. The buildings are of various sizes, styles, denominations, and states of decay. Some are hollow shells of their former selves, while others have backdrops so miraculous its no wonder people worshiped there. They may be abandoned, but even as they crumble they are still awe-inspiring.

London considering "floating hotels" to accommodate visitors to 2012 Olympics

Although London is expecting close to 5.5 million visitors for the 2012 Olympics, the city only has around 120,000 hotel rooms. Given these numbers, Olympics organizers are considering setting up floating hotels - "flotels" or "floatels" - on the River Thames for the duration of the three-week event.

Organizers are considering inviting up to three cruise ships to dock about three miles from the Olympic Park in Stratford in order to cope with the high demand for hotel rooms. London also plans to lease docking berths to yacht owners for £150,000. Of course, this is a fantastic way for the city to make money during the games, but does not solve the problem for average spectators who wish to find a room at a reasonable rate. The Daily Mail estimates that visitors to London during the Olympics can expect a tenfold increase in the regular accommodations rates. No word yet on rates for a floating hotel room, but you can probably expect your bank account to be stripped of a substantial amount of gold, silver, and bronze.

The Flood's Been Over: Exploring the New New Orleans

Driving to the best breakfast spot in New Orleans, a somewhat dingy beignet shop in suburban Metairie called Morning Call, where cops and bounty hunters converse at the corner table, I turned on the local radio. The set picked up AM 690, and a program called Inside New Orleans. The host, Eric Asher, started talking about Tales of the Cocktail, an annual drinking convention for bartenders and liquor brands that's quickly becoming one of the city's banner festivals.
He loves the event, he tells his guest "Mr. Cocktail," because it brings people to the city to see it's not still underwater. Turns out, there are still people, six years after Katrina and the levee failure, who think New Orleans is flooded. On the contrary! The city is building, with an ever-expanding museum, local entrepreneurs starting businesses and, yes, an absolutely unparalleled drinking scene.

SkyMall Monday: Magic Derriere Enhancing Panty vs. Clothing Shields

We all have our own body issues. For some, they wish they were thinner. For others, acne causes constant embarrassment. However, two issues stand out as the most traumatizing: small butts and excessive sweating. Flat-butted women have long suffered from Droopy Pants Complex, an affliction that has flummoxed scientists for minutes. Women who sweat are forced to hide their armpits under sweaters, jackets, shrugs and housecoats. This strategy only leads to more sweating through a process called "Layered Armpit Dampness." Thankfully, the experts here at SkyMall Monday labs have been researching two products dedicated to curing these awful afflictions. With the help of those selfless philanthropists at SkyMall, perhaps we can finally put to rest these two nightmares. But, which product is the most useful, the Magic Derriere Enhancing Panty or Clothing Shields? Read on to find out.

London is burning: A dispatch from inside the riots, looting and arson

Improbably, London is burning.

I returned from a long celebratory weekend in Antwerp on Monday afternoon. It was a grand weekend, full of very good meals, great conversation, and retail discoveries. While away, I'd read about rioting in Tottenham on Saturday night in response to the shooting death of a man named Mark Duggan at the hands of a policeman on August 4. I'd sensed from some news reports and Twitter than things had escalated, though to be completely frank I hadn't paid much attention.

Transferring from the Eurostar to the Tube at St. Pancras this afternoon, I encountered a sign that things were off-kilter in the form of an announcement that there were no trains to Brixton. Hmmm. Then, transferring from the Tube to a bus at Old Street, it became clear that the city had temporarily morphed into a different place. The air was charged. Pedestrians crossed streets carelessly. Sirens were ongoing. I overheard snippets of conversation about Tube closures and bus detours. Three police vans screeched past our bus towards Hackney. My phone started to pulse.

I received eight text messages in a row from my partner. There was rioting on Mare Street, just ten minutes from our flat, and he asked if I would quickly do some grocery shopping before the shops in the area boarded up. He biked home from work early.

The Turkish proprietors at the grocery store downstairs seemed shell-shocked. They'd pulled their metal gate part-way down so that they'd be able to shut quickly if needs demanded. Three helicopters hovered overhead. Two middle-aged women came into the store. "Peckham," one said, looking fatigued. "It's really bad in Peckham." My sister and I snapped up groceries and sat inside, keeping one eye on the street. Sirens waxed and waned. The news channels proved to be a chaotic and depressing distraction, so we turned the television off and refreshed various news sites online at an obsessive pitch.

So to Twitter, where the breadth of the rioting--mostly, it appeared, looting, with liberal lashings of arson and violent clashes with police--became evident. The looting is widespread. Buildings and cars have been set on fire. The stories of carjackings and bicyclejackings came fast and furious. Thankfully, in the midst of this frenzy, nobody has been killed.