From the "Branching Out Into Space" department...

This just in from C|NET's News.com, Nasa plans to make a moon base (which we already know).  What you may not have known is they've set a timeline of making it into a permanent city by 2024. "Crews of four astronauts are expected to work on the base, a week at a time, beginning around 2020. "  The future certainly is now.  I'm reminded of The Time Machine, when Guy Pearce goes into the future and witnesses some moon-based demolitions gone awry.  The moon breaks up and is pulled into Earth's gravity, which, as I'm sure you've surmised, ain't no good for nobody.  An eerie sense of Deja Vu, what with us going to the moon.  Steven Hawking, renowned scientist and doomsayer, must be pleased.  After all, the chance is not currently zero, that a giant asteroid named Apophis could hit us.  I'm not losing any sleep over it -- yet, but I am comforted that the technology does exist to address it and that our technology continues to exponentially improve.  There's going to be an awful lot of rice on the second half of the chessboard. 

So get your applications in for Google Copernicus.  If you're a coffee drinker you'll be pleased to know that there will be ample lunar lattés from Starbucks.