It's Media Bollocks Day!
9 Oct 2009 21:41![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
patentdragonSometimes, you just can't be bothered watching the news. I go through phases of not caring, but sometimes there are stories you just get sick of hearing about - today, it's Barack Obama's "shock" Nobel Peace Prize. Hey, he's done a whole bunch more for world peace in less than a year than Dubya did in two terms - that's got to be worth something.
The same can be said for NASA's latest attempt to move forward on exploration, and one might say exploitation of the Moon. Crashing a probe into the surface to "prospect" for water ice doesn't light up the sky, and the media brand the whole mission a failure. Shortly thereafter, they're talking about NASA "bombing the moon", and not long after that, the usual "nothing better to do" netheads are decrying NASA for threatening to bring about Armageddon (yes, just like the movie). Oh please.
Yes, I'm frustrated too. I want cool star-ships and shit like that, but unlike Star Trek, these things actually 1) cost money, and 2) take DECADES to develop. We need to master the Moon as a first step, to Mars and beyond - please let's not set things even further back by convincing the Powers That Be that we are too stupid to take a genuine interest in the future. Apollo, and all that came before it, gave us so much - micro-computers, for example, without which there'd be no laptops, no mobiles, NO FREAKING INTERNET. If humanity's curiosity is good for anything, it's encouraging innovation - the wheel, the sextant, mechanical clocks - need I go on...?
There'll be plenty of bangs, flashes and big shiny things for everyone - just don't push it back another generation, please? I would very much like to share something truly wonderful with my nephew.
Meanwhile... Oh, and to make matters worse, there's going to be a "G20" meeting in town next month. Cue an invasion of "eco-warrior" hippies and anti-globalisation hypocrites, all looking for an excuse to start a fight with the Police, and score some news screen-time and a big wad of compensation because they broke a fingernail, boo hoo. Get ready for sightings of that rarest of creatures, the police officer on foot-patrol - and I better not get stopped by them for going about my rightful business. If I do, some random hippunk is getting shouted at...
At least I got something approaching the "quiet day" I wrote about last time. If I'd knowing Ultima Online was going to be a pain today, though, I could've done some writing instead.
The same can be said for NASA's latest attempt to move forward on exploration, and one might say exploitation of the Moon. Crashing a probe into the surface to "prospect" for water ice doesn't light up the sky, and the media brand the whole mission a failure. Shortly thereafter, they're talking about NASA "bombing the moon", and not long after that, the usual "nothing better to do" netheads are decrying NASA for threatening to bring about Armageddon (yes, just like the movie). Oh please.
Yes, I'm frustrated too. I want cool star-ships and shit like that, but unlike Star Trek, these things actually 1) cost money, and 2) take DECADES to develop. We need to master the Moon as a first step, to Mars and beyond - please let's not set things even further back by convincing the Powers That Be that we are too stupid to take a genuine interest in the future. Apollo, and all that came before it, gave us so much - micro-computers, for example, without which there'd be no laptops, no mobiles, NO FREAKING INTERNET. If humanity's curiosity is good for anything, it's encouraging innovation - the wheel, the sextant, mechanical clocks - need I go on...?
There'll be plenty of bangs, flashes and big shiny things for everyone - just don't push it back another generation, please? I would very much like to share something truly wonderful with my nephew.
Meanwhile... Oh, and to make matters worse, there's going to be a "G20" meeting in town next month. Cue an invasion of "eco-warrior" hippies and anti-globalisation hypocrites, all looking for an excuse to start a fight with the Police, and score some news screen-time and a big wad of compensation because they broke a fingernail, boo hoo. Get ready for sightings of that rarest of creatures, the police officer on foot-patrol - and I better not get stopped by them for going about my rightful business. If I do, some random hippunk is getting shouted at...
At least I got something approaching the "quiet day" I wrote about last time. If I'd knowing Ultima Online was going to be a pain today, though, I could've done some writing instead.
