NASA went Hollywood this weekend, finding the only way to draw interest to it's Mars Probe mission was to sensationalize it. "Seven Minutes of Terror," they called the Mars Probe descent into the atmosphere that more often than not ends up with a destroyed probe.Luckily, all went well, it went "absolutely perfect," and all terror was unfounded, apparently, or prepared for, as every Jason chase victim learns is the secret by then end of each movie. The whole "Seven Minutes of Terror," kind of hit a sour note with me. An unmanned craft, a bajillion miles away, on a research mission, doesn't really seem like something to get that wound up about, but who can blame them. They've kept two robot probes running around on the surface of the same planet now for years, and they've fallen so far below the public's attention that one is being shut down for lack of finance.
Meanwhile, Billions are going into Iraq, according to Cosmic Variance, who made a nifty chart to show it, $14.9B has been misplaced in Iraq, while NASA's budget is $5.5B. Along with the DOE - $4.1B, and the National Science Foundation($6.4), the sciences budget is barely what has been lost to corrupt Bush cronies overseas. The sciences are floundering and our troops have to buy their own kevlar.
I'm not exactly Anti-Iraq-war, but I am leaning that way and believe that the way it is being done is an insult to our troops and the people stateside that are ultimately supporting it. Naomi Klein's book opened my eyes about this, and seeing the agenda she portrayed being continually carried out is more than frustrating.
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