The subtleties of learning

[parrot_knight]

I do so appreciate headlines which describe so accurately and sympathetically the detailed work which goes into advanced scientific research:

Nasa's Curiosity rover prepares to zap Martian rocks

Also posted at http://sir-guinglain.dreamwidth.org/533551.html.

Comments

[pennypaperbrain]

It's probably a Ponder-frustrating indictment of my humanities education that I find Curiosity cute.

[parrot_knight]

Surely Curiosity is designed to be cute, though? It is to be offered to any Martians as a pet, in case of major miscalculation about the proerties of the planet.

[widsidh]

even the name is cute...

[parrot_knight]

The top secret natives of Mars might be feline...

[thanatos_kalos]

*sporfle* If that's how Auntie describes it, I shudder to think what the barely-literate USA Today says...

(When I did geology I never got to zap rocks. *pout*)

[parrot_knight]

A friend on Facebook hailed humanity's declaration of war on all silicon-based lifeforms...

[thanatos_kalos]

I, for one, welcome our new silicon overlords...

(though they're zapping a basalt, so more iron & magnesium than silica...)

[parrot_knight]

They couldn't do any worse than their predecessors...

(well, actually they could, but the sentiment seemed to call for resigned glumness)

[daniel_saunders]

Do you think when Curiosity zapped it, the screens back at Houston went all wibbly-wobbly thanks to use of mirrolon?

[parrot_knight]

That, and/or there was a camera afterimage as the vision system was overloaded.

[daniel_saunders]

The other fun BBC news thing recently has been listening to newsreaders trying to say "Pussy Riot" in an appropriately BBC-type voice. I tried to imagine what Walter Greenslade would make of it all.

Of course, in my naivety, I think that Pussy Riot refers to naughty cats - has Marmite been arrested by the Russian government?

[parrot_knight]

Marmite's current bad habit involves catching shrews, which perhaps is the kind of activity the Russian government would want to promote..!

[colinbj]

The headline looks much more fun if read without the final word. I always knew there was something to be said for these portable thingies with tiny screens.

[parrot_knight]

The rocks are probably life-forms anyway...!