What an auspicious day.
In addition to everything else going on, today is the Big Guy's birthday. Well, yes, that big guy, too. But the big guy I'm talking about is Ray Bradbury. He turns 83 today.
So, please. Before you do anything else. Before you take advantage of all the wonderful options you have for celebrating Mars Day, before you read today's startling interview Dr. Robert Zubrin on the path forward to Mars, take a moment to send a birthday greeting to the genius behind the Martian Chronicles.
Thank you.
Posted by Phil at August 27, 2003 09:26 AM | TrackBacklooks like his actual birthday was last Friday, but what the heck, i'm sure he's just as willing as the rest of us to postpone it for a few days :}
Posted by: chris hall at August 27, 2003 02:45 PMWith all this talk about Mars being the closest its been in 60000 years and how "huge" it was in the sky, I just had to check what all the fuss was about - and I was SORELY DISAPPOINTED. Jeez. Its TINY. I mean c'mon - what are we talking here? I thought it was gonna be like the spaceship at the end of Close Encounters - hovering above us in the sky and making a faint humming noise. Nope. Its still miniscule and still millions of miles away. I mean - if it was say half a million miles away, now THAT would be something. But I hear that that would affect the earth due to its gravitational pull. Now how bad would that be really? I have a 14 pound puppy - is he gonna be floating around the living room? Will we all have permanent face lifts?
Posted by: Bob Marquez at August 27, 2003 04:11 PMMars X Cocktail
Vodka
Tabasco Sauce
Cointreau
Mix. Add ice.
Bob said: "...and I was SORELY DISAPPOINTED. Jeez. Its TINY. "
Aw c'mon. Besides Luna, it's the brightest object in the nighttime sky by a long shot! It's HUGE and it's RED and it's COMING RIGHT AT US! Well, actually now it's going away, having missed us, just barely.
Seriously, I had a dream the other night that it was larger than Luna. I need to figure out how close it would have to be to have the apparent size of Luna. Maybe I'll make it a homework problem.
Posted by: chris hall at August 28, 2003 05:43 AMGo for it, man. I'm gonna see if my dog can float.
Posted by: bob marquez at August 28, 2003 04:19 PM