He's Dead, Jim
Yesterday, I applied Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream for the first time this season, in response to a rather sudden chapping & cracking of the skin across my knuckles. I propose to establish a regular schedule of Norwegian Formula moisturizing, to transform what has always been a potent curative into a potent preventative. My skin didn't dry out like this until my mid-twenties, surely a sign of aging. I've lost the flower of youth, but that doesn't mean I've lost of love of winter & the bitter, accompanying cold.

Science!
There's good news & there's bad news regarding the launching of robotic probes to the Red Planet. The good news first. After many delays, the massive Curiosity rover has been launched along with the rest of the Mars Science Laboratory mission: Red Planet-link. Hooray! Here's a closer look at the M.S.L.: Mission to Mars-link. Curiosity is a beast, massively larger than the gallant duo of Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit (R.I.P.) & Opportunity, which began their explorations of Mars in '04, & which were themselves massively larger than N.A.S.A.'s original Mars rover, the wee Sojourner that landed with the Mars Pathfinder mission way back in '97.

The bad news is that the latest Russian Mars probe remains stuck in Earth orbit & chances that it will be able to complete its planned voyage to the Martian moon of Phobos are slim: Ghosts of Mars-link. N.A.S.A. has suffered a goodly number of Mars mission failures, but the Russians' record is truly deplorable. The silver lining to those dark clouds is that the almost-certain failure does not mean that our manned spaceflight "partners" (we are beholden to the Russians to ferry our astronauts to & from the International Space Station, thanks to President Obama's abandonment of American manned spaceflight) are not yet ready to give up on their plans for more robotic probes to plumb the mysteries of the Solar System: Aelita: Queen of Mars-link.

The key to spaceflight, both manned & robotic? Persistence, the refusal to be deterred by repeated failure. The Red Planet is a prize precisely because the voyage across the heavens is so perilous. Go forth, faithful robot minions, & make your human masters proud! We shall follow you in due time.

The Queue
Call for the Dead read like le Carré, but clearly preliminary le Carré. The book is brief, the plot straightforward & the characters few in number compared to his later works. I've decided to skip le Carré's second novel, A Murder of Quality, & move on to this third—& first bestseller—The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

A Princess of Mars might jump the queue if necessary to be read before the release of the motion picture John Carter (which really should be titled John Carter of Mars).

Recently
John Marks, Fangland
Allen Dulles, The Craft of Intelligence
John le Carré, Call for the Dead

Currently
(waiting for the library to get its act together)

Presently
Christopher Moore, Bloodsucking Fiends
John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
David Ignatius, Body of Lies
Len Deighton, City of Gold
Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Cars, "Just What I Needed" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)