Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Science and Religion

While the religious whackaloons have been stuffing themselves full of chicken sandwiches to show their support of Chick-fil-A's homophobic agenda, science has been busy.

In probably the longest-term space research project ever, the data is accumulating that Voyager 1 is about to enter interstellar space. This is a big deal, as we do not know what is out there, but we may be on the verge of finding out. In case you've forgotten, Voyager 1 was launched 25 years ago. Her and her sister probe, Voyager 2, were designed for flybys of Jupiter and Saturn, a three year trip for Voyager 1 and four years for Voyager 2.

Voyager 2 ended up in position for flybys of Uranus and Neptune. NASA had not designed her for that, thinking it to be too costly, but Voyager 2 accomplished those flybys and sent back the only close-up data of those two planets that we have.

Both probes are still sending back data from the far reaches of the Solar System.

And this week, NASA successfully landed a one-ton nuclear-powered mobile science lab on Mars. Whether or not Curiosity eventually gets stuck, like the Spirit rover, remains to be seen. But since it is powered by a plutonium nugget, Curiosity may be sending back data until into the second half of this century. (Spirit was solar-powered. It's 90-Martian day mission lasted for over three Martian years. Her twin, Opportunity, is still working and is approaching the fifth Martian anniversary of her landing.)

But hey, if you think that you're going to change the world by stuffing yourselves with fried chicken sandwiches, have at it. Science will still march on without you.

4 comments:

Lockwood said...

Spirit and Opportunity landed in January of 2004; the latter is still working, 8 1/2+ years later. It's engineered lifespan was expected to be 90 days.

Comrade Misfit said...

I was referring to Mars years, not Earth years.

Mule Breath said...

EBM, I've been reading you since shortly after I started this blogging nonsense. This is very likely your most poignant and topically on the nail head post yet. It truly illustrates the dichotomy that exists between myth and reality.

Lochwood... I miss your blog. Twitter just isn't so much my cup of tea.

Eck! said...

No matter how you slice it, its amazing even when you fully understand how its done.

Eck!