Phoenix lander may have uncovered ice on Mars! From Foxnews…

TUCSON, Ariz. — Sharp new images received Saturday from the Phoenix lander largely convinced scientists that the spacecraft’s thrusters had uncovered a large patch of ice just below the Martian surface, team members said.

That bodes well for the mission’s main goal of digging for ice that can be tested for evidence of organic compounds that are the chemical building blocks of life.

More here…

I just finished watching Oliver Hirschbiegel’s outstanding film ‘Downfall‘ which is based on last 12 days of Adolf Hitler’s life in the bunker where he killed himself, narrated through the eyes of Traudl Junge, his secretary. The film portrays the human side of the ‘Third Reich’ (which created much controversy), and the events surrounding the death of some of the key supporters of Hitler.

However, apart from the outstanding narrative, the film had some superb techniques that helped recreate the drama and intensity of a war-torn nation with minimal depiction of battle sequences.

Claustrophobic setting: through complete lack of natural light, extreme use of ‘white’ light, contrast and shadows, it creates a feeling of suffocating claustrophobia in the viewer’s mind. The long shots go only as far as a section of a bunker would allow, and the camera shake that follows shells dropping overground (almost like an earthquake), create an atmosphere of captivity, where every single and rare outdoor shot almost comes as a relief. Seen through the POV of the characters, the bunker is safe, and the outside dangerous (due to constant shells dropping from an invisible aggressor). Yet, the moment a character steps outside the bunker door, it gives a fleeting sense of relief from the oppressive interiors, but one that can only last a few seconds due to the constant danger of sudden death from a bullet or a shell.
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The Three Gorges is a scenic area on the Yangtze river, between cities Chongqing and Yichang. The historic river came into wider attention due to controversy surrounding the dam that has been built on it.

After escaping the bandits in the bus in Huaihai, and soaking in the outstanding old-town riverside scenery of Fenghuang, we managed to find ourselves in a train heading for Chongqing, hoping to catch a part of the cruise.

We arrived at 3 in the morning, and realized that it was the beginning of a nightmare. To cut a long painful story short, we basically ended up being massively harrassed by touts, spent nearly 3 hours roaming around with our backpacks just trying to figure out a place to sleep. In a land where you don’t speak the language, cannot read road signs, and everyone around you has a vested interest in you and is lying about nearly everything, and you don’t have a map…. how do you navigate? There is one and only one way…

Anyhow, we did manage to find a place (although lot more expensive than we needed), and eventually managed to get ourselves on a boat through the Yangtze. Will post a video soon.

Three Gorges dwarfs you. You stand and watch the giant mist covered cliffs, awestruck, and wonder how bandits and pirates must have ruled the land surrounding it. You weave stories in your head about the deserted towns and temples you pass.

The dam itself is an engineering marvel of our times. It was built ahead of schedule in 2006, a remarkable feat considering the sheer scale of the project. For it to be completed, millions of inhabitants living on Yangtzes shores had to be relocated. The dam is poised to provide for 1/10th of energy needs of the country.

Yet, many fear that a slight damage to the dam, and millions of lives would be washed away. It is China, the land of superlatives, and nothing is subtle in its scope.