I felt myself wanting to cry as I was reading this, which was posted as a guest-blog on Gizmodo earlier this week. The Mars Phoenix robotic spacecraft made what is believed to be its last transmission to Earth on Nov. 2nd, Sunday. The “winter” season of Mars has already started to block the sunlight from our little robo-buddy, and the cold weather will eventually encase this space-age explorer in ice; experts are assuming that we won’t be able to hear back from Phoenix until mid-2010, if we ever do hear from it.

Its mission lasted for five-months, and the data and images it has collected are just groundbreaking. I remember having this feeling of “closeness” when I first saw this picture sent back earlier this year, of a martian sunset. If you ask me, it’s one of the most moving photographs to date (source):

<img src="http://ms2.coastalbeat.com/coastal/content/img/photos/2008/11/14/martian-sunset_.jpg">

I remember thinking that it really wouldn’t be much longer until we, the human-race, finally take our first steps on that planet, even imagining myself looking out into the horizon.

In addition to that, Phoenix analyzed and observed a number of tests and groundbreaking events, such as the exciting discovery of “water ice” (seperate from “dry ice”) as it melted and refroze itself on the surface of Mars, practically proving the reality of water on Mars. It’s pretty incredible, and believe me: all the astro-geeks are creaming their pants over it.

But regardless, I felt like we’ve lost a hero, a space explorer that’s been further than any of us ever have. Goodnight Phoenix, and godspeed to robo-heaven.

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With the 2008 presidential election season now finally over, and all the accusations and campaign commercials all behind us, we can finally have a thorough reflection on who we can expect our next President to be, Barack Obama. I'm very excited and proud to share with you this point of view: Barack Obama, the President-elect, is a nerd.

I have no idea on how I could have missed this, but apparently there are a few red flags that shout awesome amounts of nerdiness that in some ways I can't even compare with! Granted, none of them include any ability to install Damn Small Linux on five-year old Celeron notebook (he does use a Mac, which doesn't surprise me), but I mean... just read further...

First, Obama has been noted to be a comic book fan, and collector. Specifically, he has a collection of both Spider Man and Conan the Barbarian, and has even- oh my god, look at this?!

<img src="http://ms2.coastalbeat.com/coastal/content/img/photos/2008/11/14/superman_.jpg">

It's the man himself, in front of the Superman statue erected in the legendary Metropolis, IL, posted on Obama's Senate website (the literal .gov).

Second, our first nerd-president is a fan of Star Trek, even to Michelle's embarrassment:

“'That's an interesting belt buckle,' he said to Michelle, mischievously. She feigned offense and said, 'I am interesting, next to you. Surprise, surprise, a blue suit, a white shirt and a tie.' Obama grinned and bent down until he was almost at eye level with her waist. He jabbed a playful finger toward her belt buckle, and let loose his inner nerd. 'The lithium crystals! Beam me up, Scotty!' Obama squeaked, laughing at his own lame joke as Michelle rolled her eyes.”
Source: Newsweek.com, The Long Siege

Oh, I sympathize with you future-First Lady, I really do.

And finally, it's just been revealed by the Washington Post that Obama will be producing and releasing weekly fireside chats via Youtube, much like the radio-wave days of FDR's presidency and the nation's economic depression. Whether or not these chats will just be political spin or serious conversation, I love that this direction in government is moving strong with accessibility. There are some great days ahead of us.