Free Associating On The Surface Of Mars

jdaily writes "Apparently, while NASA scientists are busy analyzing the more than 10 gigabits of data returned by the rovers thus far, earnest space enthusiasts are dissecting the images and reporting discoveries of fossils, letters of the alphabet, and a white bunny. The 'Net really needs a kook hall of fame."

Comments

"A Kook Hall of Fame"

[Anonymous Coward]

The 'Net really needs a kook hall of fame.

I thought that's what Slashdot was for.

-b

PS. Joke, not a troll. Get it?

The ancients did it

[dylan_baxter]

The letters, the fossils, everything was left by the ancients long ago before the Goa'uld came and destroyed the StarGate.

Re:The ancients did it

[noselasd]

That's what the ancient want you to believe. Look a bit further, you'll see ruins, probably of the Lost City.

Disclaimer Needed

[cybermage]

I know the story called these people kooks, but:

On one Web site, an outraged writer accused NASA of intentionally running over the bunny with the rover.

If you haven't read the article, do not do so while consuming a beverage. I think someone owes me a keyboard.

Beagle is there!

[cloudless.net]

... down the rabbit hole!

Diet Rite and Powdered Cocoa

[Graymalkin]

The aspect of these stories I find most interesting is the sheer number of people that have Photoshop and are using it to alter these photographs. Few if any of these folks strike me as the graphic design type. It is strange then that they would shell out $649 for an app they seemingly only use to retouch NASA photographs.

<knowing chuckle />

That's it?

[afabbro]

Wait...10 gigabites is about 1 gigabyte. I use up more disk space after a weekend with my digital camera. 1 gigabyte? That's it?

Re:Look and Ye shall find

[homerjs42]

And an ungodly number of people believe in intelligent design.

Shouldn't that be godly?

mod parents funny

[Anonymous Coward]

Parent and grandparent provide classic examples of the very free association we're talking about here. Given a photo taken with a microscope, they assume it's on a much bigger scale (their own scale), and decide that a microscopic concretion is tire tracks! The image provides a pretty big clue with the word 'grindz'. This small rock surface was ground down with the RAT tool. The alleged fossil is curiously wrapped around the entrance to a lens-shaped concavity. I think this may be a case of a particular mineral inclusion being dissolved by the water, with perhaps some sort of chemical reaction between these dissolved components and the surrounding rock to create the 'fossil'.

No intelligent life down here

[Nynaeve]

"Secretly, deep down, we all hope there's life beyond our own home planet."
After reading the article, I'm left wondering if there's intelligent life on our own planet.

You killed the bunny wabbit!

[Tablizer]

NASA scientists believe the "bunny" was probably a piece of the landing air bag or some other bit of human-generated trash, Christensen said. On one Web site, an outraged writer accused NASA of intentionally running over the bunny with the rover.

First road-kill on another planet. Another first for Opportunity!

I guess my mind is messin' with me also. I did see something that looked just like a miniture pair of eyeglasses in one photo. Maybe they belonged to the bunny, like the nearsighted Captain Kangoroo bunny.