July 29, 2004

           This must have been such a nothing day I didn't even write anything on the desk calendar. A Thursday, I believe. When payroll is successfully done, as it always is since I arrived, ahem, we go out to an extended lunch at the office. It seems to me I recall going to the place that serves soup in a big bowl of bread. But these were the days before digital cameras became affordable. I searched a bit and could not even find a photo to scan.
           Let's dip over to NASA and see what went on today. Ah, here's an item to ponder. The PR director for NASA said today that if a planet had an atmosphere, we'll fly over it. He is referring to Mars. However, with those "bales of thousand dollar bills" burned up by each Shuttle launch, an airplane on Mars is fiction.
           To emphasize the matter, here is a satellite photo of Mars, one of the best available in 2004. It shows the Martian surface near the southern edge of the "Grand Canyon". At this distance, the Martian equivalent of the state patrol could not even give the rover a speeding ticket.

           [Author's note: ten years later, even with the advent of drones, we are still driving around the ditches of Mars. No aircraft has even been announced that would fly over the Martian surface. One could say that is due to the accuracy of satellite photos. Or one could say NASA has made another massive blunder backing the International Space Station.]