Tag Archive for 'NASA'

April Fools’ Day

Published by Cody on April 1, 2008 in Humor and Random. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to make an awesome April Fools’ version of my blog, and every year I forget about it until the last minute. I remember one year, I was planning on putting sponsors all over my website. That was a long time ago, and in retrospect, it’s a lame idea. A lot of April Fools’ ideas are pretty lame, but I guess it mainly depends on how you view April 1st. For instance, I find it mildly funny that xkcd points you to Questionable Content, while Questionable Content links to Dinosaur Comics, and Dinosaur Comics links back to xkcd. I also find it funny that the Telegraph reported on flying penguins, and Google and Virgin teamed up to establish a colony on Mars (complete with a questionnaire).

Even better is YouTube RickRolling everyone who clicked on a featured video on the front page (on a related note, GameFAQs has a RickRoll poll on the front page), or College Humor getting bought by some MySpace diva. (Unfortunately, they took that down before I was able to get a screenshot and Google’s cached version is just a few hours off.)

As with every April Fools’ Day, there’s going to be funny stuff, not-so-funny stuff, and stuff that’s just weird. And then there’s stuff like Dextre the Magnificent. Actually, that did make me laugh. In a nerdy sort of way. You know, with the snort and requisite pushing up of the glasses.

YALBCT

Published by Cody on January 30, 2008 in Rant. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

YALBCT: Yet Another Lame-Brained Conspiracy Theory

Not content to leave any stone unturned in their quest to find hidden meaning in just about everything, conspiracy theorists have decided that Mars is, in fact, not red. NASA doctored the photographs, and this is proven by re-doctoring said photographs. Indeed.

Clearly, this is a simple by-product of government mistrust. The government controls our brains with microwave signals, NASA is an arm of this government, therefore NASA must be hiding aliens and telling us that Mars is a different color than it really is. It all makes sense, if you take some acid and read too much science fiction. 129,000 people agree!

Perhaps I’m just ignoring the facts. Or perhaps I’m looking at things with an unbiased eye. I harbor no love for the government. I mistrust the current administration in particular. But does this mean I think Bush is a lizard alien from another galaxy? Do I believe that we never landed on the moon, or that we did land on the moon but we actually discovered underground cities? Do I feel the need to author an outdated-looking, semi-flashy conspiracy theory website with very little useful content? No, of course not. I simply don’t have that kind of mentality. I may not like the government, but I’m not about to wear a tin foil hat and tell random people that the government can read my mind with spy satellites. I’m rational like that.

Occam’s Razor, people. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. Seriously, what would be the motive behind faking Mars’ redness? Is NASA trying to suppress free thought by telling everyone Mars is 30% redder than it really is? Come on. If you look on NASA’s website (or the UFOlogie link above), you can see pictures of Mars that look very red as well as some that don’t look that red at all. Wouldn’t a government agency be able to doctor all of its photographs? Secondly, could it not be possible that the redder pictures had dust on the camera lens, while the not-so-red pictures came from dust-free cameras? I can think of a bunch of non-conspiracy reasons for all of this.

Besides, if you look at the allegedly corrected pictures, Mars still looks red. Which throws this entire conspiracy theory out the window. And if that’s not enough…look at Mars through a telescope. It looks red, doesn’t it? DONE.

Now I bet I’m going to get angry comments just like the ones on the Alex Jones article. Awesome.

When space hexagons attack

Published by Cody on April 3, 2007 in Random. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

What’s the one thing you least expect to find at the north pole of a gas giant? Well, I don’t know about you, but a giant rotating hexagonal cloud probably tops my list. Just recently, NASA’s Cassini probe took pictures of the formation, which is over Saturn’s northern pole, using an infrared camera, since the pole is currently too dark for visual images. More info on it at NASA’s website.

The most interesting aspect of this cloud, as you can see from pictures on the mission page linked above, is the fact that it’s a hexagon. Clouds don’t generally form into shapes like that, even at the poles. For instance, around Saturn’s southern pole, clouds form into swirls and other generally round shapes. So you can imagine how confused the experts have been looking at the pictures sent back by Cassini. However, it’s apparently possible to make such shapes by spinning things at certain speeds.

However, the excitement doesn’t stop with the cloud. No, instead of accepting that this is a freak natural event, some people have decided that NASA does know why the hexagon is there, and that they’re covering it up (for whatever strange reason). Not only that, but the hexagon is populated by aliens, who are using its powers to influence evil on Earth (what else are six-sided shapes good for?). I’m serious. People actually think this. If I could find more links, I’d put them up, but I think all the conspiracy sites have blocked me for being too rational. It’s a conspiracy!

Anyways, scientists are hoping to get actual visual images of the hexagon in a couple years, once Saturn’s north pole begins moving back into the sunlight. It’s definitely something taking a better look at.

World Wind

Published by Cody on March 19, 2005 in Random. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I found the coolest thing on the Internet yesterday. It’s called World Wind. It’s a NASA program that combines USGS satellite photos of various sorts into a composite image that you can move around in 3D and zoom in fairly close. It’s the best thing ever to happen to my free time! If you want to check it out, visit the World Wind website. It’s a slightly large download (~174 MB) and an even larger install (500-1000 MB), but it’s really worth it.

 

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