GOMEZ PATCHOULY

This past weekend, NASA launched the Mars Science Laboratory from Cape Canaveral, Fla. carrying the new Mars rover Curiosity.  Curiosity will be looking for signs of whether Mars ever harbored life, among other things, and will be the third robotic rover to be placed on our nearest planetary neighbor.  Rovers Opportunity and Spirit have been on Mars since 2004, though Spirit got stuck in a deep pit of sand and, sadly, ceased communication in 2010.  Opportunity remains mobile and transmits data to Earth regularly.  This little engine that could has outlasted its planned 3 month mission 30 times over, despite the harsh Martian winters and its frequent dust storms that obscure the Sun, the tiny rover’s only source of power.  Let’s hope that Curiosity can live up to so grand a benchmark of performance as set by Opportunity.

When Opportunity knocks, by all means, let the fellow in.

Yeah, my auto publish command didn’t go through correctly which is why you are just now seeing my Thanksgiving post.  Jeesh, I’ll always be making these kinds of blunders, it seems. Oh well, better late than never. Ta ta.

May your bounty be rich and plentiful.

Thanks.

Or is it just history to you.

A bit of colorful history.

Our Sun as it reaches solar maximum, taken earlier this week.  Kind of makes me hungry.  We can expect to see a great deal more activity on our home star in the months to come.

I could spend all day looking at these guys. In fact, I frequently do.

Here’s an article that was put out by the White House addressing all the concern people have been showing over the matter of whether or not our government has been in contact with extraterrestrials.  The fact that so many folks are making a noise over this issue is more remarkable than whether or not there are aliens flying about.  It seems it is no longer just for kooks and conspiracy nuts.  Personally, I believe.  There’s simply no reason not to.