March 1, 2004

Jay Manifold states that the latest rumor is that NASA will tomorrow (2 PM EST) announce the discovery liquid water on Mars, being squeezed out of mud by the rovers' tracks and freezing into ice clearly visible in the latest imagery. Update: No running water now, but NASA reports that in the past there was lots of running water at the site the Opportunity Mars Rover is at. 11:46:49 PM

Fun and Not Funny The New Zealand Herald "reports" that a "man-fish-thing" grabbed Peter Jackson's Best Director statue following the Academy Awards shouting,"My precious! My precious!". Pictures available once WETA FX completes the imaging. Less fun was the inclusion of Hitler's favorite filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl during the memorial tribute to recently deceased movie industry figures during the Awards ceremony. The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies was concerned about this inclusion. From its press release: Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, wrote in a letter to Frank R. Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: "Leni Riefenstahl was Hitler's hand-picked filmmaker, and she played a leading role in making propaganda for the most evil regime in human history. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should not have included her alongside legitimate artists who recently passed away, such as Gregory Peck and Elia Kazan, but rather should have explained that she was an example of how art can be perverted to promote fascism, racism, and genocide." Watching on TV I heard less applause and possibly some booing when her name was mentioned so maybe the people a the show realized the exceptional nature of including Riefenstahl in the list. On the other hand mentioning her name could have been a public service announcement that she was dead. An extra occasion to party as it were. 11:26:41 PM