THE CRACK ZEPHYR PHOTO SURVEILLANCE AND ANALYSIS TEAM has been examining raw images from the Mars Curiosity Rover. We have discovered an image on the far side of Gale Crater that possibly suggests the first ever intrusion of off road vehicular traffic. Please look at this image:

In the distance, to the right of the center of this image, please note  a light squiggly line at the base of the mountains.

Here is a magnified image of that squiggly line. The photograph suggests the presence of a winding 4WD road as it descends into Gale Crater.  Who might have left this track? Since we are unaware of ANY roads on Mars, it is technically difficult to claim that this track is “off road.”

Then again, the two previous Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity have both created tracks on the Martian surface. The Opportunity has traveled as far as 15 kms since it landed several years ago on another part of the Red Planet..

BUT do those tracks qualify as roads? Or does there need to be some evidence that the road was actually constructed? And if wilderness is ever established on Mars, would these “roads” disqualify that specific area for wilderness designation or would they be dismissed as roads altogether?

And again, is there any evidence that over-enthusiastic jeepers have already found their way to Mars in hopes of being able to wreak havoc on a desert environment without being harassed by environmentalists?

We seek the Truth.  And we know…The Truth is out there…

Giving to children is a joy but does everyone else need a gift too? This Christmas try adopting a brave new approach.

AN EXCERPT:   Is it time to ban Christmas presents? Across the country people are growling at the enforced obligation to waste money on tat they can’t afford, for people who won’t use it. Festive gift-giving has lost its point, risks doing more harm than good, mis-teaches our children about values and kills the joy of anticipation of what should be a joyous time.

TO READ THE ARTICLE CLICK ON THE IMAGE

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/9689707/Martin-Lewis-Its-time-to-ban-Christmas-presents.html

Tough Times? You Wouldn’t Know at Party for Private Equity Titan

AN EXCERPT:    These are not halcyon days for the private equity industry. Returns are down. Fund-raising is trying. A tax increase looms….Such challenges, however, did not deter one of the industry’s titans, David Bonderman, from holding a 70th birthday party for himself and about 700 of his closest friends at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas Saturday night….Paul McCartney was the surprise musical guest, playing for more than two hours. A newly minted septuagenarian himself, Mr. McCartney, the former Beatle, headlined a concert that also featured the comedian Robin Williams and the rocker John Fogerty. Mr. McCartney played several Beatles hits, including “Revolution” and, in a song befitting a 70th birthday, “The Long and Winding Road.”

Click the image to read the article

AN EXCERPT:   A proposed wind turbine installation that would have covered more than 63,000 acres of the California desert on the eastern edge of Joshua Tree National Park has been canceled by the Bureau of Land Management, ReWire has learned. The project, which would have spanned the Cadiz and Palen valleys in the eastern desert, was canceled during its initial meteorological testing phase due to non-compliance with BLM reporting requirements.

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http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/wind/proposed-wind-project-east-of-joshua-tree-np-canceled.html

AN EXCERPT:   The hipster haunts every city street and university town. Manifesting a nostalgia for times he never lived himself, this contemporary urban harlequin appropriates outmoded fashions (the mustache, the tiny shorts), mechanisms (fixed-gear bicycles, portable record players) and hobbies (home brewing, playing trombone). He harvests awkwardness and self-consciousness. Before he makes any choice, he has proceeded through several stages of self-scrutiny. The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies relentlessly, foraging for what has yet to be found by the mainstream. He is a walking citation; his clothes refer to much more than themselves. He tries to negotiate the age-old problem of individuality, not with concepts, but with material things….Throughout history, irony has served useful purposes, like providing a rhetorical outlet for unspoken societal tensions. But our contemporary ironic mode is somehow deeper; it has leaked from the realm of rhetoric into life itself. This ironic ethos can lead to a vacuity and vapidity of the individual and collective psyche.

click on the top image to read article in full

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Christy Wampole is an assistant professor of French at Princeton University. Her research focuses primarily on 20th- and 21st-century French and Italian literature and thought.

A UFO over Denver is causing quite a stir as no one can seem to identify the flying object that launches every day near the city center around noon. It’s too fast for the naked eye to see, but caught on camera—by an amateur cameraman and the news station cameraman—you can definitely see something is there.

It’s a strange occurrence, especially since it appears almost everyday in the same spot at the same time. Would a real UFO actually do that?

CLICK THE TOP IMAGE TO VIEW VIDEO

http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981760782

SPACE

(ABOVE)  Upper end of  Spanish Valley.

(BELOW)  The golf course was still 9 holes. Solano Vallejo wasn’t even on the drawing boards yet.

In 2002, multi-billionaire/private equity guru DAVID BONDERMAN celebrated his 60th birthday with a private  BASH in Las Vegas that featured JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP & THE ROLLING STONES.  The night cost about $7 MILLION (more or less).

Here are a couple links: 

http://www.iorr.org/tour02/lv1.htm

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/fortune/1108/gallery.billionaire_birthday_parties.fortune/3.html

As  Mr Bonderman approaches #70 (on November 27)  the Financial Times reports that, “Mr Bonderman is now planning a 70th birthday party in Las Vegas, following one 10 years ago in which the Rolling Stones entertained his guests.”

Will he be able to Out-Bonderman himself? Or will he keep it ‘simple’ this time. The private equity wizard also sits on the boards of several major environmental organizations including The Wilderness Society and the Grand Canyon Trust and leans Democratic. In other words, while he may end up celebrating in just as extravagantly and opulently and wastefully a fashion as he did a decade ago, we can take comfort in knowing that he’ll keep donating to ‘green causes,’ and that those recipients will keep turning blind eyes and accepting his generosity…JS

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Other Zephyr links to Mr. Bonderman:

THE GREENING OF WILDERNE$$

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/oldzephyr/aug-sept2008/greening.html

THE GREEN CIRCLE THAT EATS ITS OWN

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2012/08/01/the-green-circle-that-eats-its-own-by-jim-stiles/

LOOKING FOR HEROES IN A COAL-FIRED WORLD

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/blog/2012/05/06/looking-for-green-heroes-in-a-coal-fired-world-jim-stiles/