But existing plans to photograph extrasolar planets in this way involve orbiting arrays of reflecting telescopes all pointing in exactly the same direction.

ECONOMIST: The search for alien life

Last month, however, we slipped back, losing more jobs than we gained, though the overall trend of job loss is still pointing in the right direction.

WHITEHOUSE: New Investments in Jobs and Clean Energy

Certainly, there is a moral compass at work, and it's pointing the minister in a different direction than the leader of the Church of England.

BBC: God, poverty and the government

But this evidence of a tightening labour market is outweighed by data pointing in the opposite direction.

ECONOMIST: The economy

So what accounts for the disconnect between the stickiness of Massachusetts employer based insurance and all the national chatter pointing in the opposite direction?

FORBES: Does Massachusetts Predict Employer Behavior Under Obamacare? Probably Not: Part 1

Cosmologists investigating the structure of the universe do not really mind which direction a telescope is pointing, since the universe is isotropic and homogeneous which is a fancy way of saying that it looks the same in all directions.

ECONOMIST: Mirror, mirror

So we've been hearing good news out of the housing market for months now, but this was a week where everything was pointing in the same direction, everything was better than expected, and it just made us realize, OK, now we can say it: The housing market's recovering.

NPR: Housing Market Recovers Though Economy Lags Behind