Very awesome

Indeed!

There's an even more amazing shot of the descent, still to be released. I got a glimpse of it today, and it's really freakin' cool.

So, how about this Phoenix thing? Seems we're working pretty damn well. Neat.

Go team Phoenix! Bunch o' rock stars!

Ain't it sweet when shit goes right! Shiny teamwork there.

brenda, oh my oh my. This is shocking.

On other news, I found out yesterday that two of my high school teachers (husband and wife) became cult leaders. And apparently they started doing so while they still were, eh, well, my teachers.

I was always in favor of "live and let live" approach towards faith, but this is making me feel uncomfortable, because I liked one of them very much - she was a great teacher. More so, I studied in a small boarding school, so trust was a big deal.

Laga - thanks for the link! This is the shade I wanted, but the top is problematic for me - straps like that do no good to my shoulders nor cleavage.

Turning children's paintings into pictures: link

We're totally the aliens, UFOing the Martian landscape. It's more than weird.

Lor--what did you do on the Phoenix?

Yay geekdom for the win! Mars rocks!

Shir, that IS creepy! You like to think of charismatic teachers using their charisma for...good teaching. Not creepy cultishness. And certainly not possibly recruiting their students into cults. Especially if the students are at a small boarding school where they might be especially susceptible to both cults and charisma.

And apparently they started doing so while they still were, eh, well, my teachers.

Maybe they indoctrinated you and you don't even know it!

Do you own a curvy bladed knife?

So I'm reading the Guardian Unlimited and they have an interesting Q&A section and this particular exchange caught my notice:

Professor Joseph Stiglitz, US economist and former senior vice-president of the World Bank asks Naomi Klein, author

Q In The Shock Doctrine, you talk about how free-market fundamentalists use economic crises to impose policies they would not normally be able to put into place. What do you see happening as a result of the current problems in the US? Could this be an exception to your rule? If not, what nefarious policies will result from the current shock to the system we are now facing?

A The Bear Sterns bailout is a pretty classic example of using an economic shock to pass on a significant economic risk to the public while the assets go straight to JP Morgan. We have seen this same pattern - protecting private profits while nationalising debts - many times during other crises. Then there are the bailouts for developers and homebuilders, especially striking in contrast with the laissez-faire attitude towards the more than 2 million Americans who face foreclosure. Meanwhile, Congress's economic stimulus package contained an estimated $50bn in tax cuts and bonuses for business, roughly one-third of the total.

The two things that caught my attention were (a) the rhetorical device characterizing "free market fundamentalists" and (b) the very elegant summation "protecting private profits while nationalising debts."

Of course, bailouts are (b) but that's a handy way to ring it up, and (a) is interesting for the rhetorical inversion.