The Big Think

via bbcnews: The Mars rover Sprit was lucky enough to catch a shot of a strange glowing object that burned up in the Martian atmosphere yesterday. From an analysis of the trajectory, scientists think it may be the remains of the Viking 2 spacecraft. This is extraordinary as it took the conjunction of several circumstances to bring about this unique chance. First, we had to have a lander on Mars capable of video/still images. Second, the lander had to be in the exact right spot on Mars (within a few hundred miles) to see the reentry. Third, the cameras had to be pointed up, and in the right direction (50% of the time Spirit is in a nighttime “standby mode” and most of the rest of the time the cameras are looking at the ground). And finally, the Viking 2 booster had to choose just the right moment to reenter. Keep in mind that the Viking spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since September of 1976!
So a 28 year-old spacecraft just happens to pick the right time to reenter the Martian atmosphere and be picked up by cameras sent from Earth that just happen to be pointed in the right direction at the right time. If I read about it in a science fiction novel I would dismiss the author as using an event that’s too implausible for belief.

via NYPost: With all the negative talk about Iraq lately, it’s nice to see some good news.

…a recently intercepted letter from Abu Masab al-Zarqawi - a major terrorist mastermind in Iraq - to his al Qaeda associates in Afghanistan suggests that he is getting discouraged: The geography is unfriendly and Iraqis are too, the writer laments. Every time they mount an attack to drive Iraqis apart, they come together instead.

“Democracy is coming, and that will mean suffocation” for the terrorists”
Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, terrorist mastermind