While we are waiting for NASA to get the bugs worked out of the hyper-ion drive, here is some free planetarium software you can use to chart the galaxy. It's lots of fun. From Celestia.
posted by Tom Novak, who's fired it up and gone space truckin' past the third nebula to the left and straight on past tomorrow.
Mars is very close to Earth these days, as this NASA picture and story tells us. What does this mean? Well, it means that after years of toil, tribulation (not to mention tribbleation and triffidation) and great expense our Burroughs' Portal is fueled and ready to be activated. At last!
"yeah, uh-huh, see, this is the plan - the next time the shuttle goes up we sneak over the fence the night before, real late at night like, and we glue a great big Rebels of Mars logo on this booster thingee and next day - BINGO! After that, well, we won't be able to sell t-shirts, coffee cups and lunch boxes fast enough ... I tell ya, it can't miss."
posted by Tom Novak who says, geez if they put fins on that thing it would almost look like the Mars Booster!
I forgot this warship from The War of the Worlds. Now this is my idea of a vehicle. Maybe it only gets 1000 gallons to the mile, but traffic jams? Forget it! Oh, yeah, I'd trade my Chevy Cavalier for this baby in a nanosecond.
posted by Bob Wallace , who is on loan from being a Fighting Man of Mars..
Okay, I got fooled, too. Here's what I and everyone else thought was a home computer, circa 1954.
Drats, it's a hoax.
Turns out it's a doctored photo from an exhibit in a museum. Of all things, it's the control room of an old submarine. Okay, it's funny. It even fooled me, although I did wonder about the steering wheel. I figured it was a 1950's version of a joystick for video games.
Posted by Bob "Gates" Wallace, WHO HAS FOUND SNOPES.COM A GREAT PLACE
Read his obit from Universe Today
Of Saturn, taken March 22, 2004.
posted by ROBO, editor at running rings around things
So THIS is the b-i-g exciting news announced today about Mars?
"There was once, maybe, kinda, 'prolly, water on mars and we are gonna go waaaay out on a limb and say so.... sorta, we guess. Uhmmm, can we get that funding now?"
Thanks for that newsflash. Geee, is there anybody out there who didn't know this already????
Hey, Nerds at NASA - I just looked out the window and IT'S RAINING! Look, WATER! Can I have a gubmint grant now or something for 400 million large and a golf cart powered by an atari computer?
The Willard Whyte Industries' Mars Cart
Oh well, it's a good excuse to point out that once upon a time, MARS WAS FUN! That was back in the cool, old 1930's when we had rocket ships and death rays and planets to conquer and menacing BEMS (bug-eyed-monsters) to battle for the dominion of the Known Galaxy... Whooo hoooooo!
Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov from around 1938 battling for dominion
Nowadays these sci-fi writers bleed green allover because we are "hurting" space by traveling through it... sheesh. You know, the russian commies never made it to the moon, what makes you pinkos think you can get to Mars????
Nevermind.. but it also is a good excuse to point out that we used to have cool, old, 1950's, sci-fi movies alla'time being made on the cheap about Mars, like The Angry Red Planet ( filmed in CINEMAGIC! )
close up of the vicious spider-bat-rat from The Angry Red Planet
Take our advice and shut off the NASA channel and watch The Angry Red Planet instead. We have to give the nod to the cheesy movie over the cheesy fedgov agency ... at least the movie broke even at the box office, eventually, for American International Pictures.
posted by Tortuga Tommy, editor at being The Angry Red Neck
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