Posted on June 15, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 8 Comments
In case you weren’t near a radio when it ran, it’s online here. It’s about four minutes long and I show up about halfway through. It’s a segment on the Phoenix Lander on Mars, reported by David Kestenbaum.
Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, editor – AMS
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I caught this on my way out on the town for the night. The minute you said “fossil” I was all like, “Yeah! You tell ’em, Scalzi! Show ’em how it’s done.” The idea of the lander sitting there, immobile and helpless, literally on the verge of humanity’s greatest discovery, was downright chill-inducing.
So, when’s the book coming out?
“Let me know if there’s life on Mars, so that I can get back to my toast”.
Mmm…toast. Is there anything on the toast? I for one favor peanut butter!
Good segment John, though you didn’t get enough air time. We need to get you on Fresh Air with Terry Gross!
I wonder if there is some way they could use the little probe arms to move it over a scosh? 350 kg, one robot arm. Tripod feet probably sunk in, so pushing wouldn’t work. Hmm, throwing stuff to jiggle it? I wonder where they have good specs on the arm available … .
Sorry, got distracted there for a minute.
I liked the whole angle on the piece and you really put a nice twist in the tail. And sounded not-crazy and not-stupid doing it, which is more than a lot of their random experts manage.
Blame me for that last one.
“Let me know if there’s life on Mars, so that I can get back to my toast”.
Quote of the Week ™
Heard your comments on NPR yesterday. Good sound bites, and a good point. For a contrary viewpoint, I recommend the following by Nick Bostrom, “Where Are They: Why I Hope the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Finds Nothing,” published by MIT’s Technology Review and available here.
“98 percent of science is really boring stuff.”
Awww! The knife, it burns us precious!
Although it does say a lot about me that the coolest moments of my Memorial day weekend were watching the Science Channel and not actually seeing the Phoenix land but experiencing it through the reactions of NASA and JPL.
I even got a little teary eyed. ;)
Too bad they didn’t include more of your interview! I’m sure it was hilarious…and quite insightfull. And I’m sure it had more toast morsels in it too. Ah well…*sigh*