Throughout the week I search for interesting topics to write about and keep them alive in my web browser tabs for future reference. I’m not able to write much about some topics so I’m gathering a few together here to at least highlight and clear my browser.

Let’s begin with what I’m calling a one-of-a-kind love story.

NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has fallen in love with a rock. The relationship began in February when NASA’s mission team discovered a potato sized rock attached to the inside of one of the rover’s inner wheels. While it is not uncommon for debris to collect onto past planet rovers, the debris typically falls away within a few days to a few weeks.

Rovers can be pretty picky in matters of planet exploration and love.

This relationship has set a record of sorts by surpassing the four month plateau of a rover — rock relationship. Besides the test of time, this is a relationship showing promise in terms of a pair sticking to it despite challenges. Mars is a windy, dusty red planet and the rover and its rock have traveled 5.3 miles together across a variety of terrains. Like a Celine Dion song, their hearts, if they had any, have gone on. The pair are known to survive as many as four dust devils a day, a testament to their young love, much like hormonal teens.

NASA scientists suspect the end of this relationship is near as the rover’s next mission on Mars will require it to explore a crater and the planet’s gravity may bring a final fatal disruption to the relationship.

If those two are able to survive the crater exploration, there may still be hope for the rest of us here on Earth.

Man, does Iberia Parish have a thing for Tom Cruise!

As I have explained here before, The Daily Iberian advertising staff uses analytics from Google to track buying and lifestyle interests in Iberia Parish which can be an incredible asset for local businesses should they choose to take advantage of the information we have exclusively. This information gives The Daily Iberian incredible real-time information on how local consumers are planning to spend their money.

So what does this have to do with Tom Cruise?

Using our analytics, we knew local consumers had little interest in going to see any of the most recently released movies. Of the top five grossing films in Hollywood this year to appear here in New Iberia, only Top Gun Maverick and Doctor Strange broke out from the pack of other high grossing films such as Spiderman, Batman and Sonic the Hedgehog’s latest films.

While Doctor Strange conjured up some magical interest, it didn’t come close to riding into the Danger Zone of interest for Top Gun Maverick among Iberians (I hope someone got the references used there).

Monthly, we rank the interests of Iberia Parish consumers from 1 to 25. Movies did not once make the list for 2022 until May. On May 15th, a full 12 days before the release of Top Gun Maverick, Iberia Parish search inquiries for the movie took off like a fighter jet. The interest in Top Gun Maverick overall put local consumer’s interest in Movies up to 13th in our top 25 for May.

If Tom Cruise only knew how much Iberia Parish movie-goers loved him, it might have him jumping on a sofa!

Mars rovers, rocks and Tom Cruise, maybe we’re in the midst of a summer of love.

MICHAEL D. MESSERLY is the publisher of The Daily Iberian and Acadiana Lifestyle. He can be reached at mmesserly@daily-iberian.com