The inspirational words of Neil DeGrasse Tyson are enhanced with historic NASA footage, aimed at reigniting our passion and curiosity with space

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson shares the most astounding fact about the Universe to the soothing sounds of The Cinematic Orchestra.

July 14, 1861 Camp Clark, Washington

My very dear Sarah,

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days – perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. Our movements may be of a few days’ duration and full of pleasure – and it may be of some conflict and death to me. “Not my will, but thine, O God be done.” If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my Country, I am ready.

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing – perfectly willing – to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

Clint Eastwood shows in this commercial that he can still narrate and perform with the best of them.

As is their ways WordPress has released the latest version of the WordPress CMS and named it after a legendary musician saxophonist Sonny Stitt.

WordPress.org claims that “in this third major iteration we’ve added significant polish around the new user experience, navigation, uploading, and imports”

Below is a list of new features and updates lifted from the WordPress.org Website

For Users

Experienced users will appreciate the new drag-and-drop uploader, hover menus for the navigation, the new toolbar, improved co-editing support, and the new Tumblr importer. We’ve also been thinking a ton about what the WordPress experience is like for people completely new to the software. Version 3.3 has significant improvements there with pointer tips for new features included in each update, a friendly welcome message for first-time users, and revamped help tabs throughout the interface. Finally we’ve improved the dashboard experience on the iPad and other tablets with better touch support.

For Developers

There is a ton of candy for developers as well. I’d recommend starting your exploration with the new editor API, new jQuery version, better ways to hook into the help screens, more performance post-slug-only permalinks, and of course the entire list of improvements on the Codex and in Trac.

[box type="note"]As a matter of course, we do not upgrade our clients sites until point versions .1 or .2 are released as they usually follow quickly after a major release.[/box]

Without one of the greater discoveries of my growing age has been that of Leonard Cohen, not only as a singer songwriter but as a poet, writer and with a voice that any man would kill for and women still swoon over. A true gentleman and probably one of the greatest live performers in history. Watch this great interview with Leonard!

In this brilliant but short video we see the dangers of leaving the middle class behind. I was lucky enough to be raised by two brilliant, smart, loving parents and for much of that time my parents through the 1970′s and 1980′s raised 5 children on one income.

We as a family did not want for much, I didn’t know we were middle class and I didn’t care, we went on holidays, had great Christmas and Easter celebrations, barbecued and entertained extended family and friends.

Today, however is a completely different story, it is now impossible for a middle class family to raise their children on a single income and in most instances a family of 3 on a dual income. Why is that?

It is simple, wages have flatlined (when you consider inflation) for most of middle Australia, whilst the rich % just keep getting richer, their power and influence with our politicians continues to grow, they even have power over the mainstream media.

It is time the media grew up and we held our politicians accountable, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd and now Julia Gillard are all following the same trend, they point to low unemployment, low inflation as yardsticks and we follow suit.

It is time we had a new measurement tool for the success of governments and that is what I call the MIMI (Middle Inhabitants Measurement Indices and it takes into account the cost of living expenses in relation to income for the vast majority of a countries families with 2 or more children.

I am currently researching this on how to get the figures together, but I think this should be the yardstick for any government in a modern democracy and it will be interesting to see the figures from 1980 onwards.

The video shows us exactly what is going on in America and should ring alarm bells everywhere.