Friday, March 19, 2004

Richard Hoagland is a moron

There. It had to be said, and I've said it. I feel so much better now. These people hyping up faces and giant glass worms on Mars have been bamboozling the gullible public for far too long. I should know. Back when I was a kid, I was a sucker for the whole von Daniken Chariots of the Gods schtick. I saw the "documentary" and read the book back in the day. My folks, who were absolutely not what anyone would consider critical thinkers, just nodded and said "Yeah, that makes sense!" Well, sorry, but Occam's razor applies to extraterrestrials just as much as it does to more earthly matters. Which is why I'm giddy that Philip Plait of Bad Astronomy is finally taking on Hoagland head-on: Scientist attacks alien claims on Mars.

Of course, one good link leads to another, and Space.com has lots and lots of them. The one that's really spiffy, is the composite image of comet Wild-2's surface. Maybe it looks a little like an Empire Strikes Back asteroid sporting a halo, maybe it doesn't. But one thing's for sure--it doesn't look like any comet we've seen up close before. Crazy Comet: 'Wild' surface seen up close

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