Bill Nye's Marsdial

Some Clown writes "MSNBC via the Seattle Post Intelligencer is reporting that Bill Nye the Science Guy, as part of the Earthdial Project has got what's being billed as a 'Marsdial' put onto the Mars Rover. Interestingly, it is now the official backup for orienting the Mars Rover in case of primary camera failure. Maybe an old fashioned sundial is just what the doctor ordered after the many math and other blunders of late. This whole Earthdial Project seems pretty interesting as well. They're trying to set up a worldwide network of sundials tracked via webcam. The goal is to track the sun's movements as viewed from many points on earth, as well as from Mars. Definitely interesting... at least if the 'Marsdial' doesn't disintegrate upon landing." There's a little more technical description of the Marsdial in our earlier story.

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Alternative use

[gringer]

I have noticed that the Beagle 2 may have a problem with its clock:

Another possibility is that Beagle's clock might have been reset during its descent to the Martian surface, and so it is trying to call home when nobody is listening.

Now this potential problem has a solution! The rovers just need to use the Marsdial to calibrate their clocks on landing.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

[Tempelherr]

I always really thought this guy was really amazing. From what I've seen, he actually has the somewhat rare ability to make science interesting for kids to learn and experiment with. I may be a bit biased though, as growing up here in WA, we often watched his videos in class when it dealt with the particular scientific subject that we studying at the time.

One time, he even came to the elementary school I went to and gave a presentation on precipitation and weather patterns. It was actually one of the most entertaining presentations I ever saw at school. I havn't heard anything about what he has been up to in years, but I'm glad to see that he is still actively contributing to the world, and perhaps continuing to interest kids with his wierd experiments.

Re:Bill Nye the Science Guy

[paxcirca]

Bill Nye is, supposedly, putting together a new television entitled "The Eyes of Nye". Unlike the children's program, "The Eyes of Nye" will be aimed towards adults and will deal with controversial science topics. Also, Nye is serving as a professor at Cornell University, the university where he graduated from.
I'm glad to see him come back. I remember that he was a strong voice against the Kansas Board of Education's evolution nonsense. Although I was in college when the decision was passed, and my old high school wasn't even particularly governed by the KBOE since it was a private school, the ruckus that it created was quite loud. It was good to see a prominent science figure speaking out. Now that I'm an adult, I'm happy to see him speak to my current age group. Hopefully they can put out a good pilot, and hopefully someone will pick it up.