This morning I woke up dreaming that I was visiting Texas when NASA asked me to help them with some talkback issues. Apparently my headphones had the longest extension cable so off I went, up the control tower. Imagine my surprise when I stepped out on the observation deck and discovered the whole structure was made of cardboard.

Yesterday there was actually rather a lot of cardboard in real life. In our garage, in fact. It seems that ne’er a week goes by that we don’t purchase at least a dozen things all of which come in huge boxes. I’ve tried squashing it down into small squares and forcing it into the bin for the recycling truck but, rather like Pokemon, there’s always more than you ever needed, wanted or cared about.

While I’m sitting here waiting for my tea to brew and pondering the packaging inadequacies of the world, I’ve been skimming through my emails. The Car has been accepted in another film festival, this time in Dubrovnik. This is very exciting. It’s the first foreign language festival I’ve had a film in and it was one of my hopes for The Car to make it a strong visual narrative, accessable to people around the world.

I’ve also been reading Mil’s mailing list, an email off-shoot of his Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About page. Thanks to Mil, I’ve discovered this morning that archived articles in The Times online edition are only free if you live in the UK. Everyone else has to pay. Of course, there’s no way I’m paying for The Times when there’s so much free information on the web.

In a fit of mild pique, I went straight over to the BBC website to read the news there for free. Naturally I was expecting more doom, gloom and general incredulousness at whatever was happening in the world, not to mention full in-depth analysis of the perils of packaging and corrugated control structures. And, of course, I was not disappointed. But that’s everyday stuff. There was other news–or Other News–and it was Good.

Firstly, Monsanto (formerly known as the big evil chemical company) has switched hats from black to white and is now playing the part of the good guys. How’s that? I hear you ask. They’ve decided to cease production of the world’s first genetically modified wheat because of consumer resistance. Isn’t that just the best? Yes, ordinary people on the street can make a difference to major decisions in the world. You–yes, you!–can change the world.

And secondly, some not so ordinary people far above the street are poised to change not just the world but space travel too. Organizers of the X-prize are saying that the challenge to put a private craft into space twice in two weeks will be won this year. That’s not “could be won”, it’s “will be won”. This is an awesome story and one I hope will also change the world for the better. Extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. Truly inspiring.

Okay. Enough of the extraordinary. It’s time for tea and then there’s a big stack of editing to do. We start the day inspired.