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British Astronomers Turn To Interstellar Spam

Posted by kdawson on from the mmm-chips dept.

Barrista En Flambe alerts us to a stunt that may reflect the desperate funding crisis in British astronomy: astronomers have agreed to beam a 30-second Doritos ad to a solar system 42 light years from Earth. The transmission is being directed at the solar system of 47 Ursae Majoris, a star similar to the Sun which has planets and may have a habitable zone.

2 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sssh by ed.mps · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you didn't read the summary, the problem here is *not* on what is being sent to our hypothetical overlords, but the fact that they need a sponsored multi light years Ad to make a fund raising.
    /rant

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  2. Strangely effective advertising by MBGMorden · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We're all laughing about how useless this is, but now Slashdot and probably half the tech news sites out there are talking about Doritos. I'd actually say this was a pretty intelligent move by their marketing department.

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    "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain