Local Scientist to Participate in Mars Desert Research Station

The Mars Society is pursuing the colonization of Mars by setting up research
stations in analogous locations here on Earth. Such locations have
conditions comparable to those on Mars, such as desert or cold. In
February, Ann Arbor scientist Julie Edwards packs off to Utah to participate
in this exciting program at the Mars Desert Research Station. In
preparation for her week-long field assignment in February, she has been the
Science Officer on Mission Support every night since November. For more
information, see http://www.marssociety.org/MDRS/ or contact Julie at jedwards@umich.edu .

While in Utah, Julie will be helping test out the analogous Pressurized Mars Rover developed by U of M students. She has already had lessons on driving it - her comment? "--fun!!"

I saw Janann!

Yessir, I witnessed the ever-elusive Janann, who joined me last night for a free screening of The Hours, thanks to the ladies Darlene and Lisa over at the AWC.

Afterwards we went over to Steak and Shake and got a little bit caught up on the happenings of the last five years.

We are in agreement, The Hours was really good. Nicole Kidman's performance was particularly impressive. Only very rarely do you see a glimpse of her... mostly you just see Virginia Wolfe. The makeup on her was really good, though I found it overdone on the aging of other characters at other times.

The script is fantastic. Don't watch the preview - previews these days show too much and spoil the experience. Just go see the movie.