The web is buzzing about the real reason NASA delayed the Shuttle launch.
Obviously, the spider thought the name printed on the side of the Shuttle was "Arachnis".
But what do you expect from — wait for a it — a webcam?
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
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December 12th, 2007 at 11:05 am
A *webcam*? Really Phil, that was beneath even you
. But yeah saw the video early this morning on digg. Pretty good.
December 12th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Spider? You mean that huge many-legged ghost-orb captured by the camera?
December 12th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Quick! Mate the shuttle with the giant shadow spider entity!
The we’ll have a whole slew of spooky alien arachnid biomechanical spacecraft. None shall stand before us! All our enemies shall fall! THIS! IS! NASA!
December 12th, 2007 at 11:50 am
It’s a
GHOST!
December 12th, 2007 at 11:58 am
I wonder if it’s related to the giant mutant fly hanging around Mount St. Helens?
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/library/images-20040928b.php
December 12th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Weird
December 12th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
That music was composed just for the spider too.
If we send rovers to Mars why can’t they, (multilegged Martians who live in underground secret cities,) send their Spider Rovers to our world?
BTW – that spider’s name is Zorgon.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I knew it! We’re being invaded by gigantic spiders and NASA is trying to cover it up!
December 12th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
All your base are belong to us.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
And when they go in, there’s no coming out. She’s always hungry, she always needs to feed. She must eat, all She gets is filthy Orcses.
And they doesn’t taste very nice, does they, Precious?
No . . . not very nice at all, my love. She hungers for sweeter meats . . .
“Hobbit meat.” And when She throws away the bones and the empty clothes, then we will find it . . .
And take it for Me!
December 12th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Looks like a spider got stuck on a camera.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Spider hungry!
http://community.livejournal.com/lolscience/17246.html
December 12th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
[...] Wil je echt weten waarom de Atlantis niet gelanceerd is? Eén van de vele webcams die op de spaceshuttle gericht was legde de oorzaak vast. Há, nou weet ik direct waarom het webcam heet. Bron: Bad Astronomy Blog. [...]
December 12th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Olbermann had a hilarious bit about this:
“And I for one welcome our new spider overlords… I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be relied on to round up humans to toil in their underground tunnel webs.”
December 12th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
First proposed by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes, the first phase of the long-anticipated Anansi Project was conducted today at Cape Canaveral….
December 12th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Roger Corman dot com?
Somebody’s been watching too many episodes of MST3K.
J/P=?
December 13th, 2007 at 3:32 am
See him climbing up the shuttle
Black and hairy very HUGE
BORIS THE SPIDER!!!
BORIS THE SPIDER!!!
December 13th, 2007 at 5:34 am
Well to Jove with it – they should have lifted off anyway!
Space exploratuion like Mountaineering and Motorracing is inherently risky. If I’d been sitting inthecabin I’d have said :
“Look its a back up fuel sensor that well doesn’t do really anything even when its working. Lets go! In the words of the late Alan Shepherd, Amercia’s first (albeit sub-orbital) astronaut – Lets light this candle!”
Or even
“Its an alien monster mutant spider thats’ attacking us! Well we can’t do much that’s good if we’re on the ground. Aah .. to Neptune with it. Lets go! In the words of the late Alan Shepherd, Amercia’s first (albeit sub-orbital) astronaut – Lets light this candle!”
Or even to tell youweaht I really think of tehdecision to scrub thelaunch til Jan. 08 :
“What you want to abort over what? C’mon, no way! We’ll take the chance. Lets go! In the words of the late Alan Shepherd, Amercia’s first (albeit sub-orbital) astronaut – Lets light this candle!”
Which is probably why I’m not a spaceshuttle pilot but .. hey …
———-
The Ramans always did things by threes.
- Arthur C. Clarke ‘Space Odyssey 2001.’
December 13th, 2007 at 5:39 am
D’oh. Spelling errors galore.
Sorry folks Amercia is of course America & if you’ve guessed I used cut & paste you guessed right ..
Sigh
Please Phil Plait, Mr Bad Astronomer sir, please allow us to edit these posts please…!
———————
(OK you could argue I should check first, I do, I really swear half these errors are added by my malicious, malign, mortifying computer within the 1/4 second after I click submit befroe the post appears here .. )
December 13th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Looks like a job for Gojira.
December 13th, 2007 at 11:38 am
what a cute little salticid! did you know there’s members of the jumping spider family that can actually “speak” to ants? They’re one of the creepiest vampire-like animals…they’ll walk with the ants, seeming to be one of the herd, looking and smelling and feeling like an ant, until BAM! they grab an ant, rush off, piece its exoskeleton with their fangs, inject digestive juices and other fun stuff, and suck out their vital fluids. Then, whistling innocently, back with the ant line. or perhaps to a nearby coffin for a catnap.
Nature is messed up!
December 13th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Garth: No, nature is *cool*.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I think I read a few years ago in Nat Geo that one Australian jumping spider had, and I paraphrase, the most sophisticated hunting behavior of any predator on earth. I imagine that would include us. Or maybe it said carnivore instead of predator, which wouldn’t include hoomans. Or pigs. I love jumping spiders. They are the only spider that can move their head to look you square in the eyes. There’s a mind in there. rb
December 13th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
I have on my blog a rare archival photograph of a real Webcam shot showing a giant spider, Arachnus brobdinagus, climbing down the CN Tower in Toronto.
December 13th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Remided me of the novel by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes, The Descent of Anansi. Anansi is the name of a space shuttle which was named after the West African trickster god, who takes the form of a spider.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:35 am
Perfect fodder for “AFV”, if you ask me.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I, for one, welcome our new spider overlords.