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Free Associating On The Surface Of Mars

Posted by timothy on from the stream-of-less-consciousness dept.

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."

9 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Hall of fame by noselasd · · Score: 4, Informative

    Seems there already is a crank hall of fame. Thisone didn't reach that site yet though.

    1. Re:Hall of fame by sporktoast · · Score: 4, Informative

      Back in the day, Donna Kossy was always the first person to turn to for this sort of thing. She's still around, if you are looking for this sort of stuff in dead tree format.

      If you look around, you can find a couple of good sites around that carry the torch.

      --
      In a related story, the IRS has recently ruled that the cost of Windows upgrades can NOT be deducted as a gambling loss.
  2. Look and Ye shall find by leoaugust · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It sounds funny when you first hear it, but it is scary how serious this is to some people. In many ways this mentality also captures the state of the evolution versus "intelligent design" debate. And an ungodly number of people believe in intelligent design.
    George Filer is not deterred. In a boulder photographed by Spirit on its 44th Martian day, he said, there's a distinct white E and a G, though the E may be closed off at the top, like a P. The letters appear to be 3 to 4 inches tall, Filer said.

    In his living room, he enlarged the picture on his wide-screen television. He still had to point out the E and the G. They looked like they might have been chiseled or spray-painted or they might have been created by streaks of light that happened to look like letters.

    "I could see easily how NASA would miss them," he said. "What we do is blow them up, so to speak, on the computer, using Photoshop and the like. If you believe there's something out there, you look for evidence."

    If you believe these's something out there, you will find someone to tell you there is something out there. And that someone will also want to tell you what that something out there is telling you to do ...

    .

    --
    To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies ...
  3. "A Kook Hall of Fame" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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?

  4. Post pictures by smoondog · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would love to see a list of all the anomalous photographs from the missions. I'm sure all the tin foil hat types are moving on this, but not necessarily in a constructive way. I saw the so called fossil rock (interesting, but not compelling enough to be likely over chance), and the bunny (a piece of the craft) and a couple of others, but it would be funny to get them organized into one place with the raw images (not photoshop altered) so we could play with statistics, so to speak.

    -Sean

  5. Disclaimer Needed by cybermage · · Score: 4, Funny
    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.
    --
    Some people have a way with words, and some people, um, thingy.
  6. Life on the Moon? by starfarer42 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    When I was a kid I had a large mural on my bedroom wall that showed the classic photo of the Earth viewed from the surface of the Moon.

    I used to see all sorts of things in the rocky landscape. A lot of the things I saw looked liked gremlins to me, which featured prominently in my nightmares. Now that I look back on it, putting the mural on the wall was maybe not a good idea.

    At least I had the sense to realize that it was just my imagination. I never once thought there was anything actually living on the Moon.

  7. Actually, the fossil picture is pretty interesting by mosel-saar-ruwer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check it out:
    http://www.enterprisemission.com/images/Spirit/Fos sil.jpg
    Granted, it's probably just a tire track, or something, but, last I checked, they hadn't outlawed armchair quarterbacking...

  8. Diet Rite and Powdered Cocoa by Graymalkin · · Score: 4, Funny

    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 />

    --
    I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.