John Michell, who has died aged 76, was an old Etonian who became the standard bearer for the romantic hippy mysticism with his 1969 book The View Over Atlantis, This posited the then original theory of a prehistorical global civilisation linked by leylines, and became extraordinarily popular and influential. [more inside]
posted by criticalbill on May 12, 2009 - 6 comments

In Tennyson´s epic poem Idylls of the King, Lyonesse is the place where the final, epoch-shattering battle between Mordred and King Arthur takes place. In the older Arthurian romances, Lyonesse is the birthplace of Sir Tristan, and it is supposed to have bordered Cornwall in the southwest of England. No historical evidence of Lyonnesse has been found, and the academic consensus seems to be that the French author of the Prose Tristan got his British geography catastrophically wrong, and that he really meant Lothian in Scotland. There are, however, those who believe that Lyonesse was a real realm which once reached from the Scilly Islands to Land´s End. The people of Penzance and southwestern Cornwall certainly seem fond of stories about sunken lands, church bells in the deep, and drowned forests. According to family legend, the ancestor of the local Trevelyan family was a sole survivor who rode across the causeway to Cornwall as Lyonesse crumbled into the sea behind him.
posted by the_unutterable on Sep 27, 2008 - 14 comments

Light Reflection: a brilliant fan of cryogenics venting from a relief valve on STS-122 Atlantis' ET (external tank) post-separation. Also see this handheld video of the ET, with money shots at 2:15 and 3:55. [more inside]
posted by brownpau on Feb 21, 2008 - 13 comments

The Space Shuttle Atlantis and The International Space Station ...crossing the Sun.
posted by vacapinta on Sep 20, 2006 - 35 comments

Has Atlantis been found? It's a good question. (Previous MeFi threads here, and here). Digging around at Atlantis Rising also provides some thoughts as to where it might be. (beware the worst of the tinfoil hat brigade, though) Or perhaps the whole thing bores you, and you'd rather build your own Atlantis or just take a cruise.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy on Nov 25, 2004 - 11 comments

Atlantis has been found, and it's... Ireland? So says Swedish geographer Ulf Erlingsson, who thinks the sinking of the island in Plato's story may have referred to the inundation of Dogger Bank, which connected Britain and Denmark. Sorry Spain. [Via MonkeyFilter.]
posted by homunculus on Aug 7, 2004 - 13 comments

The BBC claims that Atlantis has been found.
"We have in the photos concentric rings just as Plato described"
posted by moonbird on Jun 7, 2004 - 34 comments

Did UFO's originate in Ancient India? According to Indian legend, the kingdom of Rama existed at the same time as the lost kingdom of Atlantis. Both kingdoms developed airships that could fly not only between countries, but also into outerspace. The Indian ships, called Vimanas, are described in many ancient manuscripts, and perhaps most spectacularly in the Mahabarata, in which some believe there is a description of an ancient nuclear war. Is it possible that such technology could have been lost in antiquity, or kept in the posession of some "secret society"? Fascinating stuff...
posted by greengrl on Jul 3, 2003 - 28 comments

Liftoff with the Space Shuttle. NASA attached a small RocketCam to the side of the External Tank on the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis earlier this month. You can also download the full video.
posted by Mwongozi on Oct 23, 2002 - 3 comments

Space Shuttle Atlantis is about to be launched from Cape Canaveral. Watch it live. Blast off at 3:45pm EDT 07/10/02.
posted by JonnyX on Oct 7, 2002 - 16 comments

It's the plot, stupid. USA Today runs their usual insightful commentary about the upcoming release of Lilo and Stitch. It obsesses over the absence of CGI graphics pointing to Atlantis as evidence for the failure of traditional animation to draw box office. Funny me, I thought that Atlantis bombed because of a plot better left in 50s serial format, a cast of sterotypes rather than characters, and no sense of humor beyind dirty French jokes repeated over and over again. And is huge success of Pixar due to their pioneering animation, or their brilliant comic talent? What causes FX myopia anyway? Granted I can understand why fanboys obsess over the wrong things in a movie. Do the studios set it up by trying to hype each new summer release as the next big technical development (while the artistic development gets trumped by Waking Life and Insomnia?)
posted by KirkJobSluder on Jun 18, 2002 - 7 comments

Disney's Atlantis ripped from the anime movie Nadia. Talk about role reversal (you see, a lot of anime creators style comes from trying to emulate Disney style in the early days of the genre) this site presents some interesting evidence that Disney's summer blockbuster is a complete copy of an earlier film released in 1990 in Japan.
posted by Brilliantcrank on Jun 23, 2001 - 9 comments

Disney steals a plot from anime once again, and here is the proof.
posted by Spanktacular on Jun 15, 2001 - 16 comments

It's raining cats and dogs this summer! GEEZ! Pearl Harbor, Shrek, and The Mummy Returns are already in the theaters. This weekend we get Swordfish, Evolution, and even Atlantis: The Lost Empire in limited release. What's next? Oh nuthin. Just stuff Angelina Jolie's been kicking around, Eddie Murphy's little pet project, something Jay & Silent Bob tossed off in the shower, Stephen Spielberg's thoughtful adult film coupled with his token bloodfest for the kiddies... Final Fantasy, Planet of the Apes, Kiss of the Dragon, a painfully predictable looking sequel to American Pie, a predictable but funny-lookin' sequel to Rush Hour, and a predictable sequel to Scary Movie, and the ever present SO MUCH MORE! I skipped half the movies coming out but those are the highlights. Is this gonna be the best summer blockbuster festival ever thrust upon the world's populous, or are we true fans of cinema about to once again take it up the ass? Whatcha think?
posted by ZachsMind on Jun 6, 2001 - 102 comments

Anybody else forget about Atlantis being in Northern Europe? What with the Mike Mignola-designed Disney Atlantis movie coming out this summer, seems like a good time to examine one of the more elusive crackpot theories...and since this fellow beat me to it, why not just point him out? He's also got a good page on Colin Wilson, who has plenty of fascinating stuff to say on that island that suffered a day and a night of misfortune.
posted by Ezrael on May 27, 2001 - 12 comments

Space U-Haul Atlantis on its way. Atlantis is climbing orbit to reach Alpha carrying with it the Destiny module for Space Station Freedom. The module only has 2 inches of clearance from the shuttle itself and will take one hell of a can opener to get it out.
posted by Brilliantcrank on Feb 8, 2001 - 9 comments