Ben Saunders

It's not often I get jump-up-and-down excited about radio, but Radio 4's Saturday Live this morning was astonishing (and you can listen to it again online).

— Filed under Aside

Ice on Mars

(Thanks Anton!)

— Filed under Miscellany

Easily Pleased

A guilt-fuelled (and rather rushed) late night post – a few things that make me happy:

• An active glacier has been found on Mars. "On the glacial ridges we can see white tips, which can only be freshly exposed ice." I don't need much ice to pitch my tent, no sirree.
• The Whale Hunt. I heard the wonderful Jonathan Harris talking about this at the PopTech! conference this year; it sounded cool then, but the actual website is a masterpiece. Harris calls it "a new interface for human storytelling" and I think he's on to something.
• The NASA Earth Observatory's Blue Marble photos of the earth – 1, 2 (thanks Anthony).
• "Antarctica – the Global Warning"; stunning photos from Sebastian Copeland (thanks Moki).
• Tailwind Sports (aka the now defunct Discovery Channel Cycling Team) are selling off their old bikes and kit on eBay. I'm a size 54 if anyone's wondering what to get me for Christmas.
• Speaking of Christmas (and this breaks two of the cardinal rules I'd set myself for this blog – never talking about religion or politics for fear of upsetting potential sponsors) I'm heartened to see that the new leader of the UK's Liberal Democrat party, Nick Clegg, has said that he doesn't believe in God.
• Back to the fun stuff – Sony's new extreme skiing film, Steep.
• Al Humphreys' new book, Thunder and Sunshine is on sale, and you should buy it. There's a lovely interview with Al on Brit Hammer's blog and Al's own blog is superb.
• A thought for the day, from Roz Savage (and found at Al's blog – I told you it was good): "Be mindful of the link between present action and desired future outcome. Ask yourself: if I repeat today's actions 365 times, will I be where I want to be in a year?"

I'm off to my mum's for the Christmas holidays soon, for dog walking, sitting by the fire, home cooking and some long training sessions in the Lincolnshire lanes. I'll write a proper blog post then – a wrap-up of all that's happened this year, and a taste of what's to come in 2008…

— Filed under Inspiration, Miscellany, Rumination

"Arctic summers ice-free by 2013" – Professor Wieslaw Maslowski presents one of the most dramatic forecasts yet for the disappearance of Arctic sea ice (BBC News).

— Filed under Aside