Early tomorrow morning, NASA will be bombing the moon to generate a dust cloud for water analysis. I’m not sure who thought this was a great idea but regardless of how it began, for the first time in history we are about to unleash man-made destructive force on a body that is not our own.  Admittedly progress begins with steps like these, however painful they may be.  I want to get up early and witness it – yet part of me can’t bear to watch.
[..]

I don’t know if anybody’s noticed as it hasn’t seemed to hit the news cycle yet (CNN.com’s front page talks about Facebook making changes), but the Red River Valley (Fargo, Grand Forks) is in big trouble right now.  There is major flooding going on, and it’s 9°F out so the sandbags are freezing before they can be effectively stacked.  The river has surpassed a previous level set in 1897, and while Grand Forks is better prepared since their last major disaster, Fargo is not in good shape.

Here is the developing story, and here is a way to track where it’s at.