Manic Monday: Chocolate Hills, Io, and NASA's budget

Although I am not suffering under the "snowpocalypse" on the East Coast, I woke up to Monday absolutely buried under a massive pile of things to do for both home and work, and it looks like it's going to take me a few days to dig out. So, with apologies, I'm going to make today's post a linky one.

Firstly, today's guest on Planetary Radio is my boss Lou Friedman, giving his perspective on the Administration's plans for NASA's future.

Over the weekend, Jason Perry posted a helpful roundup of the basics on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.

And Stuart Atkinson has nicely illustrated some of the cool images coming out of Opportunity's exploration of the crater Concepcion, including some blocks of rock named "Chocolate Hills" that look as though they were hewn into neat brick shapes by an alien hand. Looked at more closely, they have neato blueberries on stalks -- it looks like the rock is sprouting snails' eyes! Bring 3D glasses if you have them. Sadly, I can never keep them on my desk -- a small person keeps stealing them.