Kaleidoscope

Almost as interesting as space are the people whose job it is to get us there. Mary Roach's new book, the fascinating and funny Packing for Mars (W.W. Norton, Aug. 2), stars a lively international collection of clever astrophysicists, dubious astro-shrinks, supposedly celibate astronauts and at least one masturbating astro-chimp. (Actually, it takes a few pages, but she does eventually clear poor ol' Enos' name.) Roach speaks at the Free Library Tuesday (Aug. 3, freelibrary.org).

Shane McCauley

Here are the things Diplo (pictured) claims we'll see at the Mad Decent Block Party this Saturday at the Mad Decent Mausoleum (July 31, maddecentblockparty.com): dunk tanks, Kid Sister, ball pits, Toadally Krossed Out, wild animals, Popo, water balloons, Maluca, bungee jumping and Major Lazer.

Blink and you'll miss it: The Florida Modern-Day Slavery Museum (ciw-online.org/museum) — a traveling cargo truck made to look just like the one involved in the Sunshine State's 2008 agricultural slave operation — dropped down in the heart of Philadelphia's historic district yesterday, and it'll be gone tomorrow. Head to Independence Mall to visit the portable exhibit, which sheds light on migrant workers' substandard labor conditions in the modern day. If you take for granted that slavery's long gone, this should be a real eye-opener.

Summer's nice, but turning into a pool of sweat while trying to appreciate it, not so much. Let's go enjoy nature by seeing the exhibit "Let's Go Enjoy Nature!" indoors: The works in this Seraphin Gallery collection (through Aug. 3, seraphin.squarespace.com), especially Timothy Callaghan's acrylic-and-oil paintings depicting infelicitous city scenes (pictured), are as unabashedly contradictory and tongue-in-cheek as the exhibit's title.