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Curious NASA Pre-Announcement
CrtxReavr was one of a small avalanche of readers to let us know about a
press conference NASA scheduled for Thursday at 2pm to discuss an "astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life." I've heard rumors ranging from "proof of life on Titan" to "first contact," depending on how optimistic/crazy you are.
Methinks you might want to expand your range at the bottom a bit. I suspect it will be something along the lines of "We've discovered evidence that some precursor to life may have been present on this extraterrestrial body--or may not, depending heavily on your interpretation of some very ambiguous data."
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If there is life swimming in a big ocean under the ice of Europa, the question becomes: how does it taste?
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
they found that the astrobiology budget was cut
Welcome our astrobiological overlords.
"NASA believes it has found vital clues that alien life does indeed exist on Titan, "
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978743812
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
Last I heard, interpretation the Mars rock was "inconclusive."
Maybe they've figured something out.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
Or maybe they want to talk about a discovery confirming the suitability of possible targets for life or colonization? I'm guessing it's something along those lines ... or perhaps they have a target that they think they can deploy bacteria to that will provide a better atmosphere for possible habitation in the distant future?
Think about it though. Would NASA announce contact or, you know, the president? I'm guessing that the politicians would be all over this claiming credit if it was something that big.
My work here is dung.
Did they find the ancient gene?
They want you talking about aliens instead of TSA Gate Rape and Wikileaks. Simple as that.
I am totally jaded. When I see something like this I read it as "NASA calls press conference to remind government and people they are still here and need money, because what they do is really, really cool". Of course, I agree too, but I would be surprised if there was really any kind of life found. Prove me wrong NASA! I, for one, would welcome our new alien-insect overlords!
One of the NASA guys got laid!
Maybe Bugs Bunny found Marvin?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
They found Jita, but their probe got ganked trying to dock with the docking station. $300m in PLEX were lost
First contact probably went like this:
NASA: "hello, you extremophile procariot. Take us to your leader"
""
NASA: "hmm, he's being uncooperative. TASE him!"
""
NASA: BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
It is probably all marketing fluff. NASA is taking a page from Apple.
Probably Beatles music has been beamed in the direction of Alpha Centuri.
Life is like a web application. Sometime you need cookies just to get by.
Maybe we found another universe....
"I have reached the Gateway to another Universe. I feel awed and strangely humbled by the momentous solemnity of this occasion..."
"HEY OTHER UNIVERSE! BITE MY SHINY METAL ASS!"
http://www.google.com/search?q=grandstanding
Please help metamoderate.
NASA found, according to Wikileaks, large obsidian rectangular monoliths.
Spectroscopy showing a celestial body (or bodies) is in a state of chemical disequilibrium considered to be suggestive of life.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
They found Fwiffo on Pluto.
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
Somebody wikileak this thing!
One of the astrobiology guys just saved a bunch of money on his car insurance.
I've heard rumors about NASA searching for funding and keeping the interest of the audience.
Anyway, I think Hollywood has suspiciously prepared us well in the last decade for any kind of ALF finding.
What exciting breaking news! I'm not going to sleep or eat until I hear what this is all about on Thursday at 2pm. Thanks /. !
Wouldn't they have to find Prothean artifacts on Mars first? I'm hoping for a black monolith, myself.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
He's now updated his post with a tweet from someone at Nasa that the press conference is not about proof of life:
I'm sad to quell some of the @kottke-induced excitement about possible extraterrestrial life. I've seen the Science paper. It's not that
They have found it!
Please let it be a black monolith on the moon. We're only nine years late.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
Some of the key people are involved in the following programme
http://astrobiology.asu.edu/Astrobiology/Home/Home.html
This is could be interesting!
"We called you all here today so that we may announce that we can actually make budget next year AND do something with it! WOOOOOOO!"
(stunned gasps from audience)
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
given all the press and notoriety WikiLeaks is garnering of late - you have to imagine that there is more up their sleeves than boring old diplomatic dispatches to be handed out to the press!
Even if they are in talks with someone who has knowledge of conspiracies to cover up UFOs, Contact, etc... they would have the media in an immediate and unstoppable frenzy
I went to battle M.C. Escher, but drew a blank.
If you don't mind bad science but a decent story, check out Deception Point by Dan Brown.
tldr; NASA fakes ET for more funding.
from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
Some word out on the web, including NASA funded astrobiology teams (there are fourteen), seem to indicate the possibility of them finding something strange here on Mother Earth, probably something in or around Mono Lake according to some people and its arsenic based life forms. Since the major announcement last June by NASA concerning 'Titan and the Case of the Missing Hydrogen'. In fact one of the ladies on the panel this Thursday is in fact the researcher who is studying possible arsenic based life forms in Mono Lake. I'd say that she found something. One thing for certain, with the embargo we won't know for sure until Thursday. :)
I only deal with meta-chicken. Not a metaphor, but instead, meta-fried.
Once, there was a murder of crows who were harassing some horses in the paddock near my barn. I yelled at them, told them that corral-ation wasn't caws-ation, but apparently they thought I was simply winging it.
Also:
Linux is forking good
And Windows is forking not.
I'm speaking of course
Of a call in the source
Just one of them has got
If you need your code
To go down both roads
When choice becomes a Y
Then Linux is better
The one to get her
Forking day and night
Fork, fork, fork, fork
Fork, fork, fork, fork
Forkety-fork
Fork-fork-fork.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Looking at the old moon landing photos, they've noticed plant life growing on the moon. You'll notice it just under the sigh that lights up and says "Quiet, set in use".
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
"proof of life on Titan" to "first contact,"
How about the fanatically optimistic view: "First contact by civilization on Titan."
âoeAny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Here we go... Mars Rock all over again... NASA must want more grant money
(very publicly/loudly) "Proof of extraterrestrial life!"
(very privately/quietly and AFTER grant money comes through) "Whoops, sorry, it was actually a normal crystal formation"
No, there is no "-1 I'LL NEVER ADMIT BEING WRONG!!!" mod.
My bet is that they're just going to tell us that the news Earth's Water Didn't Come From Outer Space will "impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life" in some minor way.
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
I realize I just read a completely sensationalist summary on slashdot, but I must say reading 'proof of life on titan' to 'first contact' sent that feeling through my body of true excitement and anticipation in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. You know, that spine tingling feeling (not in a bad way).
I'm sure it will be a complete let down now, but finding life somewhere outside of our planet would really be one of those Earth shaking events I think, even if its just fossils from things long dead.
Its nothing dangerous or NASA wouldn't be telling us about it, and its certainly not first contact as the governments wouldn't let them tell us about it, but ... OMFG I don't think I want to wait till Thursday
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
I'd personally like to see more research into the large, mysterious and likely uninhabitable world of Uranus.
"Opportunity had only enough engineering to last 90 days, yet it miraculously has lasted over twenty times that amount!! Happy Hanukkah! Oh yeah, and it found life. Gimel!" --NASA
"P.S. Send gelt."
NASA is going to announce the availability of ultra-expensive moon-buggies.
The recent discovery of oxygen and CO2 on Rhea, makes it very likely that NASA will announce that there is evidence of life there. The evidence is announced; the interpretation is something they want to be careful with.
The aliens wouldn't happened to be named either G'Gugvuntt or Vl'hurgs, would they?
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
.... instead the NASA managed a "first post" on slashdot story. Sources are cited that chances for that are slightly lower than finding intelligent life on Mars or GOP convention.
The extra terrestrials have been among us for years. They have also been on Facebook for just as long.
NASA finally is coming around to making a public announcement about it. They want everyone to just be friends...
- jrk
Run!!!
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
a stargate and figured out how to make it work. But now the aliens know we exist...
I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords. It will either be a case of 'in Soviet Russia' or 'Yoda' speak - I'm not quite sure yet. Or, firmly putting my sparkly tin-foil hat on, perhaps they (TPTB) will reveal that the moon =really is= a Death Star! Where's my lightsaber! :-)
Or rather The Swarm by Frank Schaetzing, about non-fake non-ET.
What else could it be?
Dude, where's my packet?
I know some Civil Servants at JSC. It's "big talk" around there. As in, they are making a huge amount of hype about it, but evidently, it's nothing new.
And no, they wouldn't tell me what part of NASA is pushing this or what "it" was other than a desperate attempt to get NASA some attention.
I have a sneaking suspicion that this newly scheduled announcement is in some way related to the latest WikiLeaks release. Is NASA trying to get ahead of some potential situation with this announcement?
Not only alien life, they have a trove of hundreds of thousands of documents from the alien government! Describing advanced graft and corruption abilities that are centuries beyond our own!
If you look at the list of participants, it may provide a clue:
Participants are:
- Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.
- Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
- James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe
If you follow up the connection of James Elser to NASA, it turns out to be a project called "Follow the Elements"
http://astrobiology.asu.edu/Astrobiology/Home/Home.html
So I'm guessing that they've found certain exo-planets in the Goldilocks zone that have the right balance of precursor elements/molecules for life.
One of the individuals in the scheduled press announcement has a website and based on her work my bet is that they may have found some indications that there is life on earth that uses arsenic instead of phosphorus.
Do you know why the road less traveled by is littered with the bones of the unwary?
This seems most likely:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/47114/proof-life-mars-come-year.html
And you thought getting to Mars would be difficult. Getting to Titan and back with humans is one of those ideas that is crazy hard, but not implausible. Of course we don't know HOW we could do it, but it seems to be more of an engineering problem (among other issues). Trying to go to Titan would be WAY cooler (no pun intended) than trying to to to Mars.
The least sensational explanation is usually the correct one.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
10:1 says its some statement strung together by a bunch of assumptions, conjectures, and hypothesis without any real proof of any biological entity actually being anywhere but here on Earth.
Hope is the currency of fools
They're just going to talk about the illegal nationals squatting the Shuttle Launch Pad.
'Due to budget cutback, all further work on this and similar projects will cease immediately.'
For Sale Cheap!
Used radio telescopes around the world.
Also available; used space shuttles in various states of disrepair.
That is all.
I wonder if this will be big enough news to distract people from the scandals arising from the Wikileaks thing.
Also, look for Octo-Moms to lead police on high-speed chases in Black SUVs over the coming days. Down a well.
-FL
What a great time to head over to Hulu and watch the master at work.
PLUTO IS A PLANET AGAIN!
Now FIX ZERG
Earth.
I know, I can't believe it either.
Evidence of Cheetos-based lifeforms found in Mom's basement?
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Maybe this is an announcement concerning the recent meta-studies of Viking landers' data from 1976 that showed off-gassing of Martian soil (non-sterilized samples only), following a 26 hour period (i.e. Martian circadian cycle).
The off-gasing of Martian soil was detected daily for something like 9 *weeks*!
Too busy to find all links in /. archive, but maybe others can recall the story here before...
Fry: [smelling Saturn via the smelloscope] Pine needles. Oh, man, this is great... hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus.
Leela: I don't get it.
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Urrectum. Here, let me locate it for you.
Online Starcraft RPG? At
Dietary fiber is like asynchronous IO-- Non-blocking!
Hi everyone, Follow the recent discussions over IRC chat about what you think it's going to be
connect at:
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#NASA
---
Quite worrying in a way!!!
Announcing contact with an alien civilization? There are already protocols established for how that would happen, and there might be an outside chance this is the case, but I would think your are correct that this wouldn't be a bunch of NASA scientists trying to build up their little department but rather something coming straight from the White House, as it would have some strong political implications.
This is a possibility: There might have been a discovery of an Earth-like planet around another star system that is in the "goldilocks zone" with a mass close to that of the Earth (which I put as 0.9x to 1.5x the mass of the Earth) with detection of substantial quantities of oxygen and water vapor in the atmosphere, and perhaps a "glint" of liquid water on its surface. That would be an interesting discovery certainly worth a major announcement, and something that is on the threshold of some of the technology NASA has been putting into space, assuming of course that the planet orbits the star at the right angle to be detected in this manner (for its orbit relative to the tangential direction of observation from the Earth/Solar System in general).
Speculation is fun here, and I don't know what it could be.
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2010/11/mediablogger-ex.html
God damn, Taco, you are one monumental bonehead. How can you possibly as naive as you are? Do you find yourself absolutely fascinated by childrens toys in the lobbies of doctors offices? THEY ARE SO SHINY! Aren't they?! AND COLORFUL! WOW!
The news release says the conference is "to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life". From that you get "OMG THERE IS REALZ ET?!" What kind of deficiency in critical thinking accounts for that? Is there a clinical explanation?
an "astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life."...............
Maybe they found there is NO life at planets where possible signs of life where seen.
Despite breathless pronouncements above, "an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life" is equally consistent with the diversion, effective immediately, of 100% of U.S. astrobiology funding to pharmaceutical research.
They found green meadow like surface, anomalous IR output and strangely increased gravitation in Charon, the Pluto's satellite.
I have nothing to lose but my bindings.
"Well, we found God, and he seemed pretty pissed that we woke him up - he mumbled something about expecting a wrath in roughly 2 years."
That's the technical term for a stream of tweets, right?
Stop the speculation and read the webpage of Felisa Simon-Wolfe, her research is about Arsenic and its use in biochemistry, she and Steven Benner have had articles suggesting that arsenic could replace phosphate in living organisms and MOST LIKELY it has to do with that. What this means is that life in the universe can use other elements instead of phosphate to make things such as DNA. www.ironlisa.com
You know what I like best about that satellite? The creamy white filling.
I bet it's something along with this:
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100520/full/news.2010.253.html
or this:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827815.800-50-ideas-to-change-science-artificial-life.html
If it is. Then we can soon replace our plastic office plants with "living" plastic plants. Just add methane.
They're probably just calling out Sarah Palin for being the Romulan we all already know her to be.
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