Just picture it

The only image ever taken of a transit of a space shuttle (Atlantis) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in front of the Sun.

Taken during the last repair mission of Hubble, obtained from Florida at 100 km south of the Kennedy Space Center on May 13th 2009 12:17 local time, several minutes before grapple of Hubble by Atlantis.

Transit duration: 0.8s. Transit bandwidth on Earth: 5.6 km. Altitude: 600 km. Speed: 7 km/s (25000 km/h). Length of Atlantis : 35m, length of Hubble : 13m.
Transit forecast (place, time...) calculated by www.calsky.com.

Takahashi TOA-130 refractor (diameter 130mm, final focal 2200mm), Baader solar prism and Canon 5D mark II. Exposure of 1/8000s at 100 ISO, extracted from a series of 16 images (4 images/s) started 2s before the predicted time.

A butterfly in the hand, is worth two ...?

Sometimes ... the extraordinary simplicity of life is lost on us, as the busyness of business steals our time.

One of sports' most memorable moments, Ali floors George Foreman during 1974's Rumble in the Jungle.

This was a defining moment for me as a youngster. Even though I never got to see the fight live, it's legend transcended the limitations of my media exposure, and left an indelible mark on my life.

Years later, as an adult watching When we were Kings, I remain fascinated by the self-belief of the man.

Photo: Blank/Time & Life Pictures
Oct 30, 1974

En route to Clarens. At the petrol station. This made me smile.

There seems to be an abundance of stupidity doing the rounds these days.

I'd quite fancy working with these surrounds. What about you?

Lusitania

There is always the blood that sips into the soil, defiling it, crying out to God. We too must remember that we stopped to watch them die because it was easier that way. But those who later returned to bury fathers, mothers and children come here to remember that in Africa we are largely on our own. We too who were complicit in our silence must now help them to remember, lest we forget ...

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a franchise-based Twenty20 competition organised by the BCCI, and backed by the ICC. It features the world's best cricketers playing - their affiliation decided by open auction - for eight city-based franchises, owned by a host of businessmen and celebrity consortiums. The first season was from April-June 2008; the second season is being played as we speak (from April 18 and May 24 2009) in South Africa.

This game was at the Wanderers, in Johannesburg and featured the Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Bollywood sets out to conquer the world. Its already conquered the cricketing one.

Where ever you are in your life,

There should always be time for a joke and a laugh ...