RESURRECTION! A Gala Benefit to Rebuild The Morbid Anatomy Library, Saturday, June 30th, 8:00 PM

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For those of you who might not have already heard, on Good Friday of this year, The Morbid Anatomy Library suffered a mighty and devastating deluge. On Saturday, Saturday, June 30th, Observatory and Morbid Anatomy will host an epic and underground-star-studded rebuilding gala, and we would love to see you there.

The fête will be hosted by Evan Michelson of The Science Channel's "Oddities" and cult writer and luminary Mark Dery, and will feature mini-lectures by such luminaries as Mike Zohn and Ryan Mathews of "Oddities;" Melissa Milgrom, author of Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy; New York Magazine's Mark Jacobson; Carl Schoonover, author of Portraits of the Mind, and many more. The silent auction to follow will include works by such amazing artists and makers as Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood, Rosamond Purcell, Robert Marbury, Sophie Blackall, Jessica Joslin, Paul Koudounaris, Sue Jeiven, Daisy Tainton, Sigrid Sarda, Saul Chernick, Nicholas Kahn, Laura Splan, Alex Kanevsky, Erika Larsen, Shannon Taggart, and Justine Cooper.

Full details follow, and invitation can be found here. Hope very very much to see you there!

RESURRECTION! A Gala Benefit to Rebuild The Morbid Anatomy Library
Date: Saturday, June 30
Time: 8:00
Admission: $25
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

On Good Friday, 2012, The Morbid Anatomy Librarysuffered a deluge; a fire in an upstairs gallery set off the sprinkler system, dousing the library below and destroying many books and artifacts.

On Saturday, June 30th, join Observatory and The Morbid Anatomy Library for a star-studded resurrection spectacular MCed by Evan Michelson of TV's "Oddities" and cult writer and luminary Mark Dery. Presenters will include Mike Zohn and Ryan Mathews of TV's "Oddities;" Melissa Milgrom, author of Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy; New York Magazine's Mark Jacobson; Carl Schoonover, author of Portraits of the Mind; Barbara Mathé of AMNH; Lisa O’Sullivan, director of the Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health at the New York Academy of Medicine; Lord Whimsy of The Affected Provincial's Almanac Volume 1 and Amy Herzog of Queens College. There will be screenings of The Midnight Archive, complimentary cocktails, performances by Jonny Clockworks, and droll  giveaways from the design firm Kikkerland. Attendees are encouraged to dress "Obscurely."

Following the festivities, be sure to stick around for a scintillating silent auction of Morbid Anatomy-themed taxidermy, artworks, specimens and artifacts, which will include pieces by fine artists Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood, Rosamond Purcell, Minnesota Rogue Taxidermist Robert Marbury, MTA Artist-in-Residence Sophie Blackall, creative taxidermist Jessica Joslin, Ryan Mathews of "Oddities," Empire of Death author/photographer Paul Koudounaris, anthropomorphic taxidermist Sue Jeiven, anthropomorphic insect shadowbox maker Daisy Tainton, waxworker Sigrid Sarda, and museum-exhibit designer Christopher Muller, as well as unforgettable works by photographers Erika Larsen, Shannon Taggart, Julia Solis, and Justine Cooper,  artists Saul Chernick, Nicholas Kahn, Laura Splan, Alex Kanevsky, Suzanne Anker, Friese Undine, Demetrios Vital, Cindy Stelmackowich, GF Newland, and Andrea Meadows, to name just a few.

If you can not join us at the benefit and are interested in aiding in rebuilding efforts, here are a few things you can do:

  • Make a monetary donation; to do so, simply click on the black "Donate Here" button on the top right hand side of this blog
  • Sponsor a book; Click hereto
    see a list of damaged books; books purchased here will automatically ship directly to The Library and populate our sadly empty shelves.
  • Help spread the word!
  • Donate new books or artifacts for the collection: Mailing Address: Joanna Ebenstein, c/o The Morbid Anatomy Library, 543 Union Street #1E, Brooklyn, NY 1121

Thanks so much! And hope to see you soon at a bigger, better Morbid Anatomy Library very very soon!

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DNA give new insights into Michelle Obama’s roots

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REX, Ga. Joan Tribble held tightly to her cane as she ventured into the overgrown cemetery where her people were buried. There lay the pioneers who once populated north Georgias rugged frontier, where striving white men planted corn and cotton, fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves.

The settlers interred here were mostly forgotten over the decades as their progeny scattered across the South, embracing unassuming lives.

But one line of her family took another path, heading north on a tumultuous, winding journey that ultimately led to the White House.

The white men and women buried here are the forebears of Tribble, a retired bookkeeper who delights in her two grandchildren and her Sunday church mornings. They are also ancestors of Michelle Obama, the first lady.

The discovery of this unexpected family tie between the nations most prominent black woman and a white, silver-haired grandmother from the Atlanta suburbs underscores the entangled histories and racial intermingling that continue to bind countless American families more than 140 years after the Civil War.

The link was established through more than two years of research into Obamas roots, which included DNA tests of white and black relatives. Like many African-Americans, Obama was aware that she had white ancestry, but knew little more.

Now, for the first time, the white forebears who have remained hidden in the first ladys family tree can be identified. And her blood ties are not only to the dead. She has an entire constellation of white distant cousins who live in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas and beyond, who in turn are only now learning of their kinship to her.

Those relatives include professionals and blue-collar workers, a retired construction worker, an accountant, a dietitian and an insurance claims adjuster, among others, who never imagined they had black relatives. Most had no idea that their ancestors owned slaves.

Many of them, like Tribble, 69, are still grappling with their wrenching connection to the White House. You really dont like to face this kind of thing, said Tribble, whose ancestors owned the first ladys great-great-great-grandmother.

Some of Tribbles relatives have declined to discuss the matter beyond the closed doors of their homes, fearful that they might be vilified as racists or forced to publicly atone for their forebears.

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DNA give new insights into Michelle Obama’s roots

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Richmond DNA cases show not all reports prove innocence

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The Virginia Department of Forensic Science has released DNA test reports in 30 of the 38 cases that the Urban Institute says support exoneration. Five of those cases are from Richmond.

Two of the Richmond cases, Victor Burnette and Thomas Edward Haynesworth, led to exonerations that were supported by Michael N. Herring, the Richmond commonwealth's attorney who became a key advocate for Haynesworth.

But as far as Herring is concerned, in the three other cases, even if the DNA test results were available at the time of the trials, it would not have altered the outcomes.

Dennis Michael Titus, now 53, was convicted in Richmond of the April 10, 1978, murder and attempted rape of a 31-year-old sunbather stabbed to death on the roof of her West Franklin Street high-rise apartment building.

DNA testing in his case failed to identify his DNA in sperm taken from a physical evidence recovery kit from the victim, identified in news accounts as Mary Dill Simpson, but did find the DNA of an unknown male.

According to reports, police said they did not believe Simpson had been raped. Nevertheless, they obtained the evidence later subjected to DNA testing. Police said Titus, a janitor at the building, became a suspect when he indicated to police he knew she was dead before her body was found.

Police also said that after he was arrested, he admitted killing her when she refused to have sex with him. Titus was sentenced to life and is being held at the Powhatan Correctional Center. He declined to be interviewed last week.

Bernard Coleman, now 49, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Dec. 20, 1985, slaying of his roommate, Cedric Lee Mayo, 24, shot to death during a quarrel after both men had been drinking.

Mayo was shot once near the eye with a .22-caliber bullet. After the killing, Coleman and a friend took Mayo's body to a wooded area off North 39th Street, where a passer-by found it on Christmas Eve. Coleman fled to Washington and was arrested in February 1986.

The evidence tested in that case was described only as a white suit in the report that said Coleman's DNA was not found. Coleman was released from prison in 1991 and could not be reached for comment.

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Richmond DNA cases show not all reports prove innocence

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The biology of tumor-derived microvesicles

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ScienceDaily (June 21, 2012) A new paper by Crislyn D'Souza-Schorey, professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, discusses the biology of tumor-derived microvesicles and their clinical application as circulating biomarkers. Microvesicles are membrane-bound sacs released by tumor cells and can be detected in the body fluids of cancer patients.

The World Health Organization estimates that cancer will cause approximately 9 million deaths in 2015. The rising prevalence of the disease is a major factor that drives the growth of the oncology biomarkers market. Biomarkers can be defined as any biological, chemical or physical parameter that can be utilized as an indicator of physiological or disease status. Thus, biomarkers are useful in cancer screening and detection and drug design and also in boosting the effectiveness of cancer care by allowing physicians to tailor therapies for individual patients -- an approach known as personalized medicine.

The new paper discusses the potential of microvesicles to present a combination of disease- and tissue-specific markers that would constitute a unique and identifiable biosignature for individual cancers.

"As such, it would make their sampling over time a preferred method to monitor changes to the tumor in response to treatment, especially for tissues such as the ovary or pancreas, where repeated biopsies of these organs is impractical," D'Souza-Schorey said.

Profiling of microvesicles could form the basis of personalized, targeted cancer therapies, especially as more reliable and rapid profiling technologies become available.

"For example, certain markers like HER2/neu, in addition to being elevated in breast cancer, is also increased in a relatively smaller subset of other cancers such as ovarian cancer," D'Souza-Schorey said. "This latter group of patients would benefit from existing treatment strategies that target the HER2 receptor."

The approach could be advantageous over currently used approaches of profiling whole tissue or un-fractionated body fluid particularly if circulating microvesicles indeed concentrate molecular changes that occur in the tumor, as it would increase the sensitivity of detecting critical markers of cancer progression.

"One complicating factor, though, is the presence of shed vesicles from other non-tumor cell types also in direct contact with these body fluids," D'Souza-Schorey said. "Thus, equally significant is the development of strategies to selectively capture tumor-specific markers that separate from other shed vesicle populations."

In collaboration with local oncologists, the D'Souza-Schorey laboratory is investigating the potential of microvesicles as a cancer diagnostic platform, a project under the umbrella of Notre Dame's Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics Initiative. The lab's research on the biology of microvesicles and their roles in tumor progression is supported by the National Cancer Institute and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

"Despite considerable strides, effort and investment in cancer biomarker research in the past decade, there are still more desirable outcomes, most especially enhanced sensitivity to enable early detection," D'Souza-Schorey said. "An effective biomarker platform that will overcome these challenges would be paradigm-shifting in cancer care."

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The biology of tumor-derived microvesicles

Grb2 holds powerful molecular signaling pathway in check

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ScienceDaily (June 22, 2012) Once considered merely a passive link between proteins that matter, Grb2 -- pronounced "grab2" -- actually lives up to its nickname with its controlling grip on an important cell signaling pathway, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in the June 22 issue of Cell.

"Grb2 is a switch that controls normal signaling through the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR)," said the paper's senior author, John Ladbury, Ph.D., professor in MD Anderson's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

"Perhaps the best way to think about it is that Grb2 controls cell homeostasis (stable state) before a growth factor binds to FGFR, activating this molecular pathway," Ladbury said.

In addition to discovering a fundamental aspect of FGFR signaling, the researchers' discovery points to a potential explanation of why genomic alterations found in breast, bladder and gastric cancers and melanoma might promote cancer formation and growth, Ladbury noted.

FGFR has a docking station to receive growth factors on the cell surface, and another internal region that passes the growth factor signal on to proteins inside the cell by attaching phosphate groups to them.

FGFR employs phosphorylation to regulate a number of important processes, including the cell cycle, cell proliferation and migration. When some of these pathways become overactive, they can contribute to cancer growth and survival.

Like "a car idling in neutral" ready to go

Grb2's full name reflects its location: growth factor receptor-bound protein 2. In the great rush of molecular signaling pathway mapping in the 1990s, Ladbury noted that Grb2 was labeled an "adaptor protein," one that has no activity of its own apart from connecting to other proteins.

Mapping ran way ahead of figuring out each protein's function in a signaling pathway, Ladbury said, and scientists are still catching up in that area.

"When you think about it, why would a cell bother to produce a protein that plays only a passive role linking one protein to another?" Ladbury said. He and his colleagues found that's simply not the case with Grb2.

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Grb2 holds powerful molecular signaling pathway in check

8 diet and exercise mistakes that age you

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Eating too much sugar certainly isnt wise for your waistline, but did you know that overindulging in dessert can add years to your face? And even if you do strenuous cardio workouts each week, youll be missing out on potential anti-aging body benefits if your schedule doesnt include yoga, weight training and rest.

Find out if youre making one of these eight common diet and exercise mistakes, and get smart prevention strategies that can keep you slim and youthful for years to come.

1. You Overdo Dessert

The breakdown of sugars, called glycation, damages the collagen that keeps skin smooth and firm. To prevent this natural process from careening out of control, Dr. Naila Malik, a dermatologist in Southlake, Texas, sticks to low-glycemic carbs like whole grains. Theyre naturally low in sugar, and the body processes them slowly to limit the loss of collagen. If you want to sweeten up your tea or oatmeal without making your skin look older, try all-natural stevia. Its an easily digested herbal sweetener that doesnt trigger glycation, according to board-certified dermatologist Dr. Nicholas Perricone, an adjunct professor of medicine at Michigan State Universitys College of Human Medicine.

2. You Spin Away Stress

Taking your work angst out on the bike or treadmill might make you feel better for a little while, but incorporating yoga into your fitness routine regularly may help you look younger and prevent breakouts while whittling away stress. Sounds like a winning workout to us! Yoga moves like childs pose, downward-facing dog and sun salutations improve circulation the boost of oxygen is what gives skin that lovely yoga glow, says Dr. Hema Sundaram, a Washington, D.C., dermatologist. New research finds regular yoga practice may reduce the inflammation and stress that speed skin aging. If you need another reason to om away your stress: High levels of tension can spike hormone production that leads to breakouts or aggravates conditions like psoriasis. Controlling stress keeps your skin calm, says Dr. Annie Chiu, a dermatologist in Los Angeles.

3. You Always Choose Coffee Over Tea

Research suggests that green and black tea contain protective compounds like EGCG and theaflavins that help prevent skin cancers and the breakdown of collagen, the cause of wrinkles.

4. You Pretend to Be Allergic to Dumbbells

Following a regular strength-training routine that creates better, more supportive muscle tone will help you firm sagging skin from the neck down. I am religious about strength-training, and I always tell patients to do it more as they get older, says Dr. Patricia Farris, a dermatologist in Metairie, La. Its like adding volume to the face with fillers, except on your body, says Farris.

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8 diet and exercise mistakes that age you

Grey's anatomy: Victory for faith

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The grey: Erewhon (2) ridden by Rod Quinn (maroon, white star on cap). Picture: Damian Shaw. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

PUNTERS may have sacked him but Darley trainer Peter Snowden never lost faith in problematic galloper, Erewhon, who was back in the winner's stall at Warwick Farm yesterday after an absence stretching back to his Group 1 Spring Champion triumph in 2010.

The son of Commands opened up at $3.50 in the ring but couldn't find a friend and wound out to $5 by the time the field jumped.

Erewhon settled behind leader O'Crikey ($21) and the well-fancied San Zaim ($4) before peeling three wide around to mount his challenge. Jockey Josh Parr drove Erewhon to the lead at the 200m from which point the grey had to repel challengers to his inside and out before holding on for a hard-fought win.

"It's very satisfying because it's been a long time between drinks," Snowden said. "The horse has so many problems with his feet; he's had four quarter-cracks in the past 18 months which has given us hell but we've finally got them right now, so it's been a good job by all the staff.

"Erewhon is a Group 1 winner and Group 1 winners are hard to get, so you want to hang on to them as best you can. But it's just been one thing after another with him, to get him back to his best."

Erewhon was crunched from $9 into $5.50 equal favourite when he made his long-awaited return to racing at Rosehill last month but was soundly beaten. "I was disappointed with his first-up run because I thought he was more forward than that but these older horses once they get out of form or don't race for quite a while, it takes them a lot longer to get them back," Snowden said.

"He's needed the two runs before this."

Erewhon's return to form came at the expense of a conga line of unlucky horses, beginning with the John O'Shea-trained Glintz ($10) who had his chances ruined by a chequered passage in the straight. A noted front runner, connections opted for a change of tactics after two poor runs. This time the son of Pins parked back in the field in an awkward position.

Glintz looked likely to threaten inside the final 100m but was held up at crucial stages, going down by a half-head at the wire.

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Grey's anatomy: Victory for faith

Anatomy of a scam

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By: Allen Breed | Associated Press Published: June 23, 2012 Updated: June 23, 2012 - 12:18 PM

With their elderly parents seated across the octagonal oak table, Donna and Jim Parker were back in the kitchen they knew so well - the hutch along one wall crammed with plates, bells and salt-and-pepper shakers picked up during family trips; at the table's corner, the spindly wooden high chair where a 7-year-old Jim had tearfully confessed to setting a neighbor's woods ablaze.

It was Christmastime, but this was no holiday gathering. Now, it was the parents who were in deep trouble, and this was an intervention.

For the past year, Charles and Miriam Parker, both 81, had been in the thrall of an international sweepstakes scam. The retired educators, with a half-dozen college degrees between them, had lost tens of thousands of dollars.

But money wasn't just leaving the Parker house. Strangely, large sums were now coming in, too.

Their four children were worried, but had been powerless to open their parents' eyes. Maybe, Donna thought, they'd listen to people with badges.

And so, joining them at the family table that late-December day in 2005 were Special Agent Joan Fleming of the FBI and David Evers, an investigator from the North Carolina attorney general's telemarketing fraud unit.

The home was littered with sweepstakes mailers and "claim" forms, the cupboards bare of just about everything but canned soup, bread and crackers. Charles Parker acknowledged that he'd lost a lot of money, but expressed confidence that he and his wife would eventually succeed if they just kept "investing."

Evers and Fleming showed the couple a video of other elderly scam victims, then played a taped interview of a former con man describing how he operated. Charles was alarmed by what he was seeing and hearing, but his wife seemed to be barely paying attention.

With the couple's permission, Evers installed a "mooch line" on the kitchen phone so they could capture incoming calls. The Parkers pledged their cooperation.

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Anatomy of a scam

Geusam Ginseng Market, Interview with Dr Choi about Health Benefits of Korean Ginseng – Video

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23-06-2012 07:32 - Round the World Travel Video Adventure I visit with Geusam Ginseng Market with Dr. Kwang - Tae Choi, former president of the Korean Society of Ginseng. Geusam is the main region of South Korea where Ginseng is grown. Dr Choi talks about some of the proven health benefits of Ginseng. Some of the benefits of Ginseng include anti - fatigue, antioxidant, improves immune system, improves memory, helps with blood circulation, rids the body of heavy metals, helps reduce the effects of radiation, helps normalise cancer cells, improves sperm count and regulates hormones. Dr Choi discusses the different types of Ginseng available, including Korean Ginseng and American Ginseng and why Korean Ginseng and the Korean peninsula produce the most medicinal Ginseng. Korean Ginseng can grow to six years of age whereas American Ginseng is harvested at four years of age. A big thank you to Shi Keum and Kwang-Tae Choi for helping me in putting together this story about Ginseng. AROUND THE WORLD TRAVEL VIDEO ADVENTURE website: Facebook: twitter: google+:

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Geusam Ginseng Market, Interview with Dr Choi about Health Benefits of Korean Ginseng - Video

What's happening in travel world

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Travel photographer Valerie Martin has a new sailing tour to Turkey. Picture: Supplied Source: National Features

Anantara Bali Uluwatu Beach and Resort in Indonesia. Picture: Supplied Source: National Features

A LOOK at what's coming up in the world of travel including a travel photography trip to Turkey, a new Bali resort and the Taste of Margaret River event with top chefs.

1 Resort to a clifftop for fine Bali sunsets

ANANTARA is opening a new resort at Uluwatu in Bali next month.

Perched high on a limestone cliff on the Indonesian island's southwestern tip, each of the 77 suites will have unobstructed views of the ocean and the famous Balinese sunset.

The hotel group also recently opened its first city hotel in Abu Dhabi, Eastern Mangroves Hotel & Spa.

The new property is part of an integrated hotel, marina, retail and residential destination, with 222 guest rooms and suites, three restaurants and bars and a rooftop lounge.

See anantara.com

2 Taste of Margaret River

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What's happening in travel world

Review: 'The Huston Smith Reader' surveys a remarkable life

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The Huston Smith Reader

Edited with an introduction by Jeffery PaineUniversity of California Press: 280 pp., $29.95

A restless curiosity about the sacred dimensions of life drove Huston Smith to seek enlightenment in a Zen monastery in Japan, join a secret Muslim fraternity, make pilgrimages to Himalayan holy sites and investigate the religious import of mind-altering plants.

These experiences also propelled Smith through six decades of scholarly analysis that has made him one of the world's most important writers and thinkers on religions of the world.

Today a new aspect of life absorbs the grand old man of comparative religion. Now living in a room in an assisted-living facility, the 93-year-old Smith has found himself making new friends in a community of senior citizens "in wheelchairs or depressed or withAlzheimer's." There too he ponders this question: What happens when we die?

His 15th book, "The Huston Smith Reader," is a great summing up of Smith's work over the last half-century, from passionate lectures and essays on why religion matters to deeply personal reflections on entering his ninth decade of life.

Taken together, these works offer a portrait of the author who, to describe the world's enduring faiths as accurately as possible, immersed himself in them, participating in their rituals and practices to get, as he put it, "an insider's view."

What is missing is only Huston's classic, "The World's Religions," an introductory college textbook that has sold more than 3 million copies. With few exceptions, the selections are eloquent and filled with anecdotes, character sketches and tales of wonder involving Masai warriors who rescued him from lions, a Japanese spiritual leader who confided the true meaning of Zen Buddhism, and Smith's own parents, evangelical Christians from whom he inherited an abiding trust in God.

In the 1950s, professor S.H. Nasr in Iran provided Smith with an insight that became an inspiring beacon over his long academic career: "Don't search for a single essence that pervades the world's religions. Recognize them as multiple expressions of the Absolute, which is indescribable."

It has been a remarkable life.

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Review: 'The Huston Smith Reader' surveys a remarkable life

His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda Initiates 354 Disciples into Nirahaara Samyama – To Consciously Generate Energy …

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Life Bliss Foundation stated that it may become the world’s largest number of people voluntarily being without food intake for longest period without any war situation.Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 23, 2012 Madurai Aadheenam, Friday 22nd June 2012: His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda initiated 354 disciples into niraahaara samyama (hunger free samyama), during the worldwide daily satsang ...

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His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda Initiates 354 Disciples into Nirahaara Samyama – To Consciously Generate Energy ...

Lichen can survive in space: Space station research sheds light on origin of life; potential for better sunscreens

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ScienceDaily (June 23, 2012) You can freeze it, thaw it, vacuum dry it and expose it to radiation, but still life survives. ESA's research on the International Space Station is giving credibility to theories that life came from outer space -- as well as helping to create better sunscreens.

In 2008 scientists sent the suitcase-sized Expose-E experiment package to the Space Station filled with organic compounds and living organisms to test their reaction to outer space.

When astronauts venture on a spacewalk, hours are spent preparing protective suits to survive the hostile conditions. No effort was made to protect the bacteria, seeds, lichen and algae attached to the outside of the Space Station, however.

"We are exploring the limits of life," explains ESA's Ren Demets.

Our atmosphere does a wonderful job of protecting life on Earth by absorbing harmful UV rays and keeping temperatures relatively stable.

In contrast, the space samples endured the full power of the Sun's rays. The samples were insulated somewhat by the Space Station but still had to cope with temperatures changing from -12C to +40C over 200 times as they orbited Earth.

The samples returned to Earth in 2009 and the results have now been published in a special issue of the journal Astrobiology.

Lichen have proven to be tough cookies -- back on Earth, some species continue to grow normally.

Ren explains, "These organisms go into a dormant state waiting for better conditions to arrive."

The lichen have attracted interest from cosmetic companies. They can survive the full power of the Sun for 18 months, so knowing more could lead to new ingredients for sunscreen.

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Lichen can survive in space: Space station research sheds light on origin of life; potential for better sunscreens

Buy a sweet space suit for $10,000

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A Kickstarter project will help you dress like you belong in space, even if you can't afford an actual ticket to suborbit.

This is an earlier generation of the space suit. The Kickstarter campaign aims to fund improvements.

The commercialization of space travel is well on its way. That means you can't just pop over to NASA and borrow a space suit for your private space flight, which leaves room for some upstarts to get in on the space-clothing action.

Can't afford the whole suit? Just get a helmet. (Click to enlarge.)

Final Frontier Design is working on a lightweight, relatively inexpensive space suit and is looking for $20,000 on Kickstarter to boost the project. The company has already built two generations of suits but is looking to improve the design with a retractable helmet, better gloves, a carbon fiber waist ring, and higher operating pressure.

These suits aren't meant for floating around outside your spacecraft; they're for indoor space use. Final Frontier likens it to safety backup in case of loss of cabin pressure when you're hanging out above the planet.

A ticket on Virgin Galactic's commercial spaceship will set you back $200,000. For just $10,000, you can get a Final Frontier space suit customized for your size. Put it on and pretend you're in space, or save it for when you finally do catch a suborbital ride.

If $10,000 for an outfit you might not get a chance to put through its paces is too much, lower pledge levels include $750 for Anti-G pants for zero gravity or $3,500 for a space suit helmet and tour of the Final Frontier studio.

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Buy a sweet space suit for $10,000

Scott Atchison Receives All-Star Support in the Clubhouse, With First Base Coach Alex Ochoa As Primary Witness

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BOSTON -- At 36, Scott Atchison is piecing together a career year.

Through 38 1/3 innings this season, Atchison has turned heads with his performance, striking out 29 batters while surrendering just five runs en route to posting a miniscule 1.17 ERA.

Unlike most in the majors, Red Sox first base coach Alex Ochoa anticipated Atchison's success. After facing Atchison in Japan, Ochoa -- who played for the Hiroshina Toyo Carp -- only mustered up one career hit against the pitcher.

"His approach is what he's using here -- he's using the fastball off his cutter and pounding the outside of the plate with the cutter and in on lefties and just keeping it down," Ochoa said. "That's what he did in Japan. I faced him a lot when I was in Japan and I know exactly how he pitches."

Almost a little too well. Ironically, Ochoa's lone hit against the reliever took place during their first sequence against one another. As a member of the Hanshin Tigers, Atchison fired a fastball inside to Ochoa, who crushed a home run in that at-bat.

To this day, Ochoa reminds Atchison of the mammoth blast in the Red Sox clubhouse and offers up the exact details of the at-bat.

"He was throwing his cutter, he got ahead of the count and tried to throw a fastball in on me," Ochoa said. "I put a good swing on it and got a home run off it. I mess with him all the time about it. But I guess if you hit one home run in 10 at-bats and can't get another hit, I don't know if I have the bragging rights."

So how did Atchison adjust? He started perfecting a pitch -- the cutter -- that would result in his success in 2012.

"After that I ended up throwing a lot of cutters and sliders to him," Atchison said, laughing. "He was really good at spraying the ball over the field, so you had to mix back and forth with your pitches. You couldn't stay in one place on him. But it's friendly fun."

Ochoa cited the improvement of Atchison's cutter for his success. The late-breaking movement has stifled opposing batters this season, reminding the Red Sox first-base coach of his own challenges against the reliever.

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Scott Atchison Receives All-Star Support in the Clubhouse, With First Base Coach Alex Ochoa As Primary Witness