The Mars rovers. Actually that would be a decent name for a band.
I had this thought about the Mars rover "Spirit".
Obviously this robot is a male robot. I mean look at it. It worked it's ass off to "land" it's probe, then when it got to where it wanted, it stopped communicating at all until it was yelled and bitched at by mission control.
We'll know "Opportunity" is a female robot if it constantly complains about the landing spot being too cold and too far away and it keeps communicating information long after it is no longer being asked for. Or listened to.
And of course you can neatly fit the conspiracy theory du jour into this. You see, Bush announced going to Mars and launched these rovers for one reason and one reason only. That's right! To see if there is oil on Mars for Halliburton! That rover went silent because THAT was when they secretly looked for oil up there! That's the whole point of the trip! Do they think we're stupid! I mean really!
Man, I really should have bought some Halliburton stock when Bush got in...
So why is a Mars mission not getting the starry-eyed lust from the huddled masses that JFK's Moon promise did? Probably because we as a people are lot fatter and lazier and used to wallowing at the public teats than that generation. Go to Mars? Well if they do that then how are they going be able to afford to pay for my drugs, my insurance, my sex change, my psycho-therapy, my groceries, my housing, my law-suit for the lung cancer I got smoking road tar! There is no competitive drive in the American people and besides we can't go it alone! oh no! Until Trinidad and Tobago is with us on this mission I don't think we have the necessary international support. Yeah today JFK would have gathered the same collective yawn with his speech.
Life on Mars? I dunno, does it really matter? I think what matters is that sooner or later we humans are going to have to spread out some and well where the hell else are we gonna go?
But color me proud to witness the wonders of technology from NASA to have those stunning pictures shooting back 100 million miles to us. Oh yeah, that's right I forgot. It's just a back lot out in the Nevada desert. Damned Halliburton! Does their treachery know no ends?
Oh and my friends in the U.K. sorry about your lost beagle, I've been putting signs up on telephone poles and surely it'll turn up somewhere.
But I'll wait until there's a Starbucks on every corner before I bother going there.