It's been quite a busy week with work, which I almost always prefer to having little to do. Things are largely fun, yet challenging, and the next few months will hopefully continue in the same vein.
I did manage to catch the Shuttle launch earlier in the week, though. It never fails to impress me, despite there having been so many over the past 20 years or so. However, with the media attention (and that of Nasa) in the four days since the launch having focused on potential damage to the Shuttle, it seems as if this mission is turning into an investigation into whether the Shuttle is fit for re-entry as opposed to one focusing on other scientific endeavours. Some of the video footage available on the NASA website is pretty impressive.
Meanwhile back on earth, astronomers have discovered our solar system's tenth planet, imaginatively named 2003 UB313. Given the technology available to us nowadays, it seems bizarre that something so large could have evaded our detection for so long, particularly given that Pluto was discovered back in 1930. I know it's quite a long way away, but hey.
Google has got in on the space act, by providing a lunar equivalent to Google Maps. Zoom sufficiently far in, and you'll see that the moon is indeed made of cheese, which leads me on to the seemingly eccentric Canadian cheese-maker Luc Boivin. He believes that by aging his cheese at the bottom of a murky lake, the pressure and coolness will provide optimal conditions for a perfect cheese. I'd love a taste!
