Aug
6
2012

URLs du Jour

2012-08-06

  • MSL /MRO Probably the coolest, most amazing picture of anything you'll see for awhile. Details (and a bigger version) here.

    It's a wonderful time to be alive. Congrats to JPL and NASA for their amazing feat.

  • On a related note, I will duplicate this Slashdot story in full:

    "NASA's livestream coverage of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars was practically as flawless as the landing itself. But NASA couldn't prepare for everything. An hour or so after Curiosity's 1.31 a.m. EST landing in Gale Crater,the space agency's main YouTube channel had posted a 13-minute excerpt of the stream. Ten minutes later, the video was gone, replaced with the message: 'This video contains content from Scripps Local News, who has blocked it on copyright grounds. Sorry about that.' That is to say, a NASA-made video posted on NASA's official YouTube channel, documenting the landing of a $2.5 billion Mars rover mission paid for with public taxpayer money, was blocked by YouTube because of a copyright claim by a private news service."

    Really? Well, only for a few hours apparently. But still. Additional information is here.

  • Gale Crater, by the way, is not named for Dorothy Gale. It's named after Walter Frederick Gale, an Australian (amateur) astronomer and (professional) banker. The crater has a central peak officially named Aeolis Mons, which pokes up above the crater's southern rim. How did that happen? Maybe we'll find out.

  • And you can always find a NASA apparatchik to make a tin-eared comment about a wondrous event.

    NASA spokesman Guy Webster said the rover, named Curiosity, is currently supporting about 700 people, but has supported 7,000 jobs at various times over the last eight years. The Curiosity project and its $2.5 billion budget has generated jobs not just at NASA but at companies ranging from Lockheed Martin to a bicycle manufacturer in Chattanooga, Tenn.

    Non rocket scientists like you and I (and Greg Pollowitz) can do that math: $357K per job "supported".

    It's not about the jobs. As Rand Simberg tirelessly points out: Space isn't (or shouldn't be) a jobs program.

  • Matt Labash discourses on the Chick-fil-A controversy:

    My natural inclination is to encourage the boycott. Not because of my political views, but because I figure it will help me get through the drive-thru faster. Though it’s a tough call. For the controversy centers around three things I hold sacred: marriage, all God’s children (both straight and gay), and Chick-fil-A’s rapturous spicy-chicken sandwich. Not necessarily in that order. Because when you make that last a combo platter, with waffle fries and coleslaw, it’s no longer a contest.

    The nearest Chick-fil-A to us is all the way down in Nashua. Sigh.


Last Modified 2017-12-02 7:44 AM EDT