What Caught My Eye Today

Space - Here is a rare two-fer on the U.S. space program. First up Mars.

NASA reported that the Phoenix Mars Lander final fell silent. The solar-powered rover touched down in May for a scheduled 3-month mission and held on for an extra 2 months before its solar panels succumbed to a dust storm. The rover accomplished nearly all of its objectives, including confirmation of a layer of water ice under the planet's surface. Rumor has it that the indigenous Martian population plans to form an Olympic Committee in order to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. They figure that global warming will have progressed to the point where it will no longer be possible to conduct the games on the planet Earth.

And now onto the International Space Station.

Astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Endeavour arrived at the International Space Station to deliver a portable room packed with new home additions for the orbiting laboratory. Using the space station's robotic arm, astronauts will pluck the Italian-built cargo module, Leonardo from Endeavour's payload bay and attach it to an Earth-facing port on the orbiting lab's Harmony connecting node so its vital contents of space bedroom, bathroom and kitchen hardware can be moved in later this week. While the 12-ton Leonardo module is filled with more than 14,000 pounds (6,350 kg) of cargo, the focus of Endeavour's crew is on delivering new gear so the station can jump to larger, six-person crews next year. The outpost needs to double its current three-astronaut population to handle the orbital maintenance and scientific research required for the growing laboratory. Chief among the new life support gear to be delivered are a spare $19 million bathroom, second kitchen, two new bedrooms, an exercise machine that offers more than 29 different workouts and a $250 million recycling system that filters urine, sweat and other wastewater through a seven-step process to turn it back into drinkable water. A repurposed space cooler will serve as a space station fridge to give expedition astronauts constant access to cool drinks for the first time in eight years aboard the orbiting lab. Converting urine to water? I'm skeptical. Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt that the process works. My problem is that my brain will still know that I'm drinking a glass of piss water...literally. In all seriousness, This is a positive development and with the space shuttle program scheduled to end in 2010, NASA needs everything to go right from here on out.

Somalia - For the most part, I like to poke fun at the news of the world because that's what I do. Call it a defense mechanism for dealing with the doom and gloom that seems to always dominate the headlines. However, there are occasions when the news is so heinous, that you cannot find anything amusing about it. This is one of those stories. Islamic fundamentalists in Somalia brutally executed a 13-year-old girl who was convicted of adultery for being raped by three men. No, no. You read that correctly. The girl was reportedly dragged screaming into a soccer stadium in front of a crowd of 1,000 people, buried up to her neck, and stoned for more than 10 minutes by 50 executioners. Militia members fired on a few people who tried to intervene, killing an 8 year-old boy. The rapists were not arrested. Not for a second do I believe this sort of atrocity is sanctioned by Islam. That being said, this is why religion has no place in government or judicial process. By its very nature, religion is subject to interpretation and provoke rather emotional behavior from practitioners. I find in impossible to conceive how this act of cruelty by these fundamentalists could be justified in any way, shape or form regardless of the religion that they practice.

Peru - Peru is offering President-elect Barack Obama a Peruvian hairless puppy, the only dog breed native to South America. Viringos, date back 3,000 years and were bred by Incan kings. They are hypoallergenic, a trait the Obamas are looking for in a dog, since one of their daughters is allergic to dog dander. The four-month old male is nicknamed "Ears" but will be renamed "Machu Picchu" after the ancient Incan citadel if it is sent to the United States. I like "Ears" better. It certain reflects this dog's most prominent feature, after the hairless bit (click here).

Underwear - A Cleveland woman is suing Victoria's Secret, charging that its bra gave her and hundreds of other women an itchy blistering rash. So I guess that means the secret is out, huh? The plaintiff says the bras caused a rash that was "red-hot to the touch, burning and itching." Her lawyer says 200 other women also got a rash, and has filed for class-action status. Now there is a court case that should be fascinating to watch. Victoria's Secret conceded that there had been "a small number" of complaints. Translation: "Oh crap, we're busted."