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Martian 'Happy Face' Crater

Astroturtle writes "The two pictures shown here are taken from the same daily global image mosaic (the only difference is that each was processed slightly differently). The pictures show Galle Crater, informally known as 'Happy Face,' as it appeared in early southern winter."

41 comments

  1. They're playin' us! by Randolpho · · Score: 4, Funny

    Those martians are playin' with us! First they do the face, and we look closer and it's just a dune. Now they're doin the happy face.

    I tell ya, they're laughin' at us, right now!!!!1!!

    <dons foil helmet>

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
    1. Re:They're playin' us! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Martians? It's those folks at NASA!
      First they pulled the moon-landing hoax, and now they're adding these touches to faked photographs in order to laugh at the general public's stupidity.

    2. Re:They're playin' us! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Grrrr! Forgot to include "HTML tags to text"

      That should end with "<forget the tinfoil hat, I'm donning tinfoil everything!>"

    3. Re:They're playin' us! by uncoveror · · Score: 1

      For more info about those nutty Martians, or Zhti Ti Kofft as they call themselves, check out these links at uncoveror.com http://www.uncoveror.com/zhtitikofft.htm http://www.uncoveror.com/mars2.htm http://www.uncoveror.com/martians.htm

      --
      The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
    4. Re:They're playin' us! by redheaded_stepchild · · Score: 1

      Are those mouse ears on that image? ACK! The Disney-fication of Mars has already begun! Run little green men, run!

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    5. Re:They're playin' us! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That there General Public sure is stupid, for sure.

    6. Re:They're playin' us! by Bob+McCown · · Score: 2, Funny
      For those of you with Lynx, the photograph looks like this:

      :)

      Only rotated 90 degrees.

      You're welcome.

  2. Little known fact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    At the last informal crater-naming convention, 'Happy Face' barely beat out the second-place name of 'Goatsex Man's Disgusting Rectum' crater.

  3. What they didn't disclose... by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 4, Funny

    What they didn't disclose is that the Happy Face was purposely built over 20,000 years ago by 13-year old Martian OMIMers (Olympus Mons Online Instant Messenger), and that about 50 miles southwest of the giant happy face are 2-kilometer high pyramids arranged in a pattern that spells "LOL , BRB!"

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
  4. Wal*Mars by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    The happy face logo is now seen on the Red Planet? What next? Falling prices on falling stars?

    "Wal-Mars. Always low gravity. Always."

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  5. Hey!! Is that CowboyNeal?!?!? by PateraSilk · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's him, I swear!

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    Danke tres mucho, tovarishch.
  6. Martians Identified! by Asprin · · Score: 3, Funny


    Let's see,

    Big, round head....
    Tiny little dot eyes....
    No nose to speak of....

    Holy crap! The Martians look like Charlie Brown!

    --
    "Lawyers are for sucks."
    - Doug McKenzie
  7. Strata by Bonker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A while back, Terry Pratchett wrote a book called 'Strata' in which the main plot premise was that Humans were terraforming the entire galaxy planet by planet, leaving 'history' inside those planets in the form of fake fossils and layers of rock. Occasionally, a 'prank' would slip through like the boot-prints in the sediment-strata or a digitial watch embedded in a seam of coal.

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  8. Microsoft on Mars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Big, round head Tiny little dot eyes
    No nose to speak of.... The Martians look like Charlie Brown!"


    Heck no. That's Steve Ballmer!

  9. For all we know by Tuxinatorium · · Score: 4, Funny

    For all we know, in an alien society, that kind of expression might mean, "I'm going to kill you all, motherfuckers!!!"

  10. Dr. Manhattan by the+darn · · Score: 1

    must have cleaned up the wreck his flying glass doohicky left near the face's right eye... Soory, I'm in the middle of re-reading The Watchmen...again...

    --
    Ceci n'est pas un post.
  11. As seen in Alan Moore's "Watchmen" by Doctor+Fishboy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The Happy Face motif is seen all throught the graphic novel/comic book "Watchmen" written by Alan Moore. One scene, set on Mars, has the reader's point of view pull back from a Martian crater to reveal a Happy Face.... all it needs is the splash of blood on one corner near the left eye...

    If you've not read "Watchmen", I'd highly recommend it, along with "From Hell". Both are excellent stories and the art in them is superb.

    Dr Fish

  12. Happy face by ThumbSuck · · Score: 1

    :-)

    These articles just make your day better.

  13. Damn, fast food restaraunts are everywhere! by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Funny

    When did Jack in the Box expand to Mars?

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  14. * S C I E N T O L O G Y * by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In big green letters.

  15. D'ho!!! by Embedded+Geek · · Score: 1

    Well, I just blew a mod point - had meant to MOD it "underrated" but clicked wrong. Fortunately, this reply will delete the mod. Apologies...

    --

    "Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."

  16. Anatomy of failure: What Killed FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    The End of FreeBSD

    [ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]

    When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.

    Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.

    FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.

    It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.

    So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.

    Discussion

    I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.

    From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.

    There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.

    Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.

    Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?

    Shouts

    To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.

    To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It'

  17. Old News... by dnahelix · · Score: 2, Informative

    This has been known about for quite some time! Astronomy Picture of the Day from more than 3 years ago featured this crater. Slashdot Science has been quite sucky lately!

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    1. Re:Old News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lately?

  18. Re:Old News... Old Crater by EvilBastard · · Score: 2, Informative

    'Happy Face' crater of Mars
    NASA/JPL/MSSS RELEASE
    Posted: May 17, 2003

    It's a new picture of an old crater. The old one was offset at an angle, this one is finally "Face On" so to speak.

  19. Sad thing is... by Zakabog · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...some people will believe that aliens made this face a long time ago and some other stupid stuff. If aliens wanted to make something that looked like us, so we can see it and say "Wow aliens really do exist" they'd make somthing way more complex than a huge crater with two hills for eyes and a long hill for a mouth. They'd make something like Mount Rushmore, but on a much grander scale. Not a few natural things that form together to make a shape a 3 year old would draw. Or they'd leave giant complex geometric shapes. If they found a huge triangle, split down the middle to make two triangles, where one is split down the middle to make two more triangles, where one is split... till it forms a hundred small triangles or so, I'd deffinitely believe that aliens left some soft of symbols for us to find proving that they'd exist. Or maybe if there were crop circles on mars (dust circles?) I'd deffinitely believe. But until huge (complex, and not something that would occur naturally) alien symbols are left behind, on some planet other than our own, I'll keep believing that aliens exist but don't want to bother contacting us (or don't have the technology.)

    1. Re:Sad thing is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe. Or maybe it's designed to peak human curiosity and inspire us to go and have a look in person - just to be sure.

    2. Re:Sad thing is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but I doubt we'll find any crop (or dust) circles on Mars any time soon. There just aren't enough nearby pubs.

    3. Re:Sad thing is... by CmdrGravy · · Score: 0

      i'm sure if they had built a giant chessboard complete with figures 100ft high our interest might be slightly more piqued and we definatley go and have a look !

  20. for non-gui users: by Sarin · · Score: 2, Funny

    the happy face in the pictures look like this:

    : )

    (rotated 90 degrees clockwise)

  21. clear evidence by VanillaCoke420 · · Score: 1

    These images are clear evidence that Mars is inhabited by crazy good for nothing ravers with a soft spot for ecstacy. Very interesting. I think it's a good idea to further explore this planet.

  22. Larger image anyone? by thomis · · Score: 1

    I have to thank the Martians for providing a perfect new wallpaper for my desktop... anyone able to point me to a bigger version of this?

    --
    ceci n'est pas un 'sig'
    1. Re:Larger image anyone? by Midajo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Here is the largest one I could Google. Somewhat flawed, unfortunately.

  23. The one that NASA aint wancha ta see by Tablizer · · Score: 1
  24. Itsa H-1B by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since it is smiling, it must not be an American techie.

  25. They must be watching us... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    ...and revising their pranks based on pop culture, because the 'universally recognized' smiley face wasn't actually invented until 1963.

    --
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    1. Re:They must be watching us... by fstanchina · · Score: 1

      Yes... on Earth. Maybe "they" were using smileys when the dinosaurs still ruled.

  26. You can't fool me by daves · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's a crop circle!

    --
    People who disagree with you are not automatically evil, greedy, or stupid.
  27. that big a smiley :o by vijaya_chandra · · Score: 1

    how large'd the desktop be if that's just a smiley 8-|
    (damn us; even gods have started chatting)

    ~ ~
    printf("%s",getSigOfTheDay());

  28. That's not the first face... by blakespot · · Score: 1
    Maybe this is not a SMILEY face, but it was first! And on the cover of Time magazine in the mid 80's.


    blakespot

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  29. It's a sad face by Dahlgil · · Score: 1

    Everyone knows Martians have their eyes in their chin.