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Memo clip
Memory sticks that plug in to your computer’s USB port have almost completely taken over from disks when it comes to transporting data, but most of them are plasticky and charmless. The Memo Clip instead offers a stylish, solid-wood clothes peg case for the latest generation of smaller 'USB sticks’ that are barely the size of a postage stamp. And you can always use it to clip notes together.
Materials: Pear or cherry.
Price: €33 (woodloops.de).
A PROTOTYPE of NASA's Lunar Electric Rover will make the journey along Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue on the day of Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, the space agency says.
The pickup truck-sized vehicle, which is equipped with beds and a toilet, can accommodate two astronauts for a fortnight for extended lunar explorations.
To be able to cover the moon's rugged terrain, the electric-motored vehicle can also move in any direction - even sideways, like a crab.
Its versatility may not be as useful on January 21 (Australian time), but it will have a good view of the elite guests, dignitaries and Washington insiders that will line the inaugural parade route, as Mr Obama moves from the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol to his new residence at the White House.
Unless the Obama administration makes changes to current plans, US astronauts are set to return to the moon before 2020 under the Constellation program, with the aim of establishing permanent lunar bases.
The visit is widely considered to be the first step towards further exploring the solar system, including an eventual colonisation of Mars.
NASA also said it is also developing new technologies for the rover that can be applied to electric vehicles on Earth. (http://www.news.com.au/story)
WASHINGTON – More than 60 objects from President Abraham Lincoln's life are going on display at the National Museum of American History days before President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, which will echo themes from the 16th president.
The exhibit, "Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life," opens Friday and features the top hat Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated. Other items include his office suit and Mary Todd Lincoln's purple gown, signs from the 1860 presidential campaign and casts of Lincoln's face and hands. The gallery also includes pictures from Lincoln's inaugurations in 1861 and 1865.
"In some ways, it's an exhibit we've been working on for about 140 years," said curator Harry Rubenstein. Lincoln's top hat was the first of Lincoln's belongings to come to the Smithsonian Institution in 1867, though it was hidden away for 26 years.
"I think when you see all of these pieces, you will see a different Lincoln — a more intimate look, " Rubenstein said. "It also helps to make the mythic Lincoln come to life."
This is the first major Lincoln exhibit at the Smithsonian in about 50 years and the first to gather all the museum's objects together in a single exhibit, curators said. It was planned for the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth in February.
The exhibit will be on view for at least two years in a gallery near the "American Presidency" exhibit. Another temporary exhibit opening Friday features documents on loan from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Illinois.
A rare signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, on loan from Washington businessman David Rubenstein, also is on temporary display.
Washington's historical attractions have been drawing big crowds in recent months. More than 550,000 people have visited the American History museum since it reopened in November following a two-year renovation, museum director Brent Glass said.
Obama's inauguration theme, "A New Birth of Freedom," is a phrase from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
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