NASA "Mohawk Guy" To Host Radio Show

An anonymous reader writes "NASA's 'Mohawk Guy' Bobak Ferdowsi, a flight director for the Mars Science Laboratory mission that lowered the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface in early August, will host a two-hour online broadcast on Internet radio station Third Rock Radio at 4 p.m. EDT, Thursday, August 30. The show, entitled 'Getting Curious with the Mohawk Guy,' will feature Ferdowsi discussing his experience with the landing of Curiosity, NASA’s evolving image, and renewed interest in science and exploration."

Comments

What a wonderful face for JPL

[wb8wsf]

I wish Boback the best of luck on this show, and lots more in the future.

Imagine, if people start thinking of science folks as neat...

Re:What a wonderful face for JPL

[Anonymous Coward]

>> the embracing of pop-culture causes me to take the United States of America less seriously, and causes me to question my support of the country

Yes, clearly a man with a mohawk is what makes America look bad. Not our war on drugs, wars on brown desert dwelling people, repression of gays, electing of disgraceful politicians like Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum [spreadingsantorum.com], or the fact that just weeks ago the civil rights debate in this nation hinged on buying a fucking chicken sandwich?

What. The. Fuck.

Re:What a wonderful face for JPL

[Daniel Dvorkin]

If I were an astronaut I would want guys in the control room to have the clean-cut NASA-circa-1969 look. I would not trust my life to the guys that were in the control room during the Curiosity landing. I'm sure they are good at their jobs but they just don't look very professional to me.

I have a picture of my father when he was a NASA engineer for Apollo. Ponytail, beard, work shirt and jeans, which was pretty typical for those in his age group (the older engineers did tend toward the crew-cut-and-starched-shirt look). Yeah, the guys in the control room where the TV cameras could see them looked clean-cut and "professional," but a lot of the ones who actually built the machines and made them go didn't bother with that crap, because they knew--as any sensible person should--that real professionalism isn't something you can put on like a costume. This is as true now as it was then.

Re:What a wonderful face for JPL

[DNS-and-BIND]

You know, the whole 'ponytail and beard' thing has become a code of its own these days. Add big black nerd glasses with no lenses for that extra authenticity.

Re:What a wonderful face for JPL

[overlordofmu]

You do realize that suits and ties are dress-up costumes. They are in no way functional or necessary. Just like judge's robes are costumes.

Business and law both rely on a great deal of theatrics to present the image of legitimacy. And these theatrics are enough for people like grandma and you that would prefer to make snap judgments based on illogical assumptions in place of actually thinking.

Your apathy and love of tradition is holding the world back. Please begin to question the basic tenants of Western civilization so we can fix it before it is too late.

Re:Yes

[afgam28]

Ridiculous isn't it? A bunch of people land a fucking robot on Mars, and everyone's attention is on one of the guys' haircut.

How should NASA reach out to adults in tech?

[trout007]

I am curious to hear what /.ers would like to see from NASA in terms of outreach. It seems most of the work goes towards kids. I'm not against that but many technical people would like to know more about what NASA is doing at a more technical level.

What types of things should NASA be doing? For instance release CAD models of rovers so people can build one in ther 3D printer or release the code for the software flight systems.