Yeah, my first thought was "Whaaat?" but my *second* thought was "Marvel wanted to be a movie studio but couldn't make it work out" - this is probably more an indication of Marvel being in trouble than of Disney really looking forward to getting into the comic book market. And if not that, an indication that Marvel sees movies as its future and being unable to do them internally.

Although tween boys have always been a demographic hole for Disney, so maybe they're hoping to close it with this acquisition.

TSG

Bits and pieces of the moon come up for sale every once in a while. Sometimes legitimate, usually less so. A couple of links on the subject

http://www.geotimes.org/sept02/NN_moon.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0617/p14s02-stss.html

mention a Sotheby's auction of (very small) Russian rocks; the "Goodwill Rocks" which the United States gave to each country in the world which have sometimes ended up "for sale;" and a short length of adhesive tape with moondust stuck to it. I also recall reading of a bag used to carry some Apollo mission's moon rocks from some point A to point B - the bag was sold as surplus, and the owner realized that the black dirt inside it was legally acquired moon dust.

Taken together, there's some ability to determine the going price. A million dollars a gram (as the CS Monitor article suggests) seems a bit high to me, but it is in line with these other sales and attempted sales.

TSG

It will get worse for about the next 10-15 years. At which point this current crisis will peak -- with a peak like WWII or the Revolutionary War. At that point, it will turn out that what we'll need is a bunch of young adults who think they are the most important people in the world. And who will do what they need to do to get what they want.

It happened before, it'll happen again.

TSG

YES yes yes yes.

Place I worked at used island names. It's been years since I worked there, but if you asked me what Malta does, I can still tell you, and can quickly rebuild my memories to tell you what Rhodes and Sicily and Hawaii did as well.

They started using some more corporate-approved names just before I left, and I can't remember any of them, much less what they do or did.

RV