Comments on: Dork Tower gets curious

By: bassmanpete

bassmanpete — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 12:10:05 +0000

Left on Saturday for 5 days birdwatching in Outback Australia. No reception on the car radio so didn’t hear any news broadcasts. Arrived in Winton, Queensland at about mid-day Tuesday and went into a newsagent to buy a newspaper. The lady behind the counter said “You do realise that that’s yesterday’s paper?” I hadn’t realised that and put the paper back on the shelf. The current day’s paper wouldn’t arrive until about 2pm. I asked her if she knew if Curiosity had landed successfully on Mars. No, she hadn’t listened to the news since the Olympics began.

Went into a local pub for lunch. Asked the barmaid same question as before, same response. A man sitting at the other end of the bar heard what I’d asked and gave me the news I’d wanted to hear – Curiosity had landed successfully. I ate my lunch as a very happy chappie!

My birdwatching friend was not impressed; a complete waste of money in his opinion. I could have got into a heated argument but we were travelling in his vehicle and still about 1,000kms from home so I kept quiet.

Back home now, back on line and catching up with all the news. Fantastic!

By: Dragonchild

Dragonchild — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:46:23 +0000

Actually, the number of people watching the Curiosity EDL on-line were comparable to the number watching the Olympics. TV showed what it wanted only because they have a de facto monopoly on content. They’re hemorrhaging numbers not only because of availability of on-line content, but their own stubborn insistence that they know what their audiences want. Most people I know who watch stuff on-line don’t even watch network TV anymore, let alone cable.

TV news is a dying beast, and you give them more credit than it’s worth by overstating their relevance. America’s reception to Curiosity was far warmer than TV let on, probably because the yutzes running network and cable news are just as stupid as their viewers. That can’t be helped and I’d be the first to say America’s in decline, but we’re not THAT far gone yet.

By: Bob_In_Wales

Bob_In_Wales — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:25:53 +0000

Cor, for an American blog I feel at home on this one. John was a year ahead of me at University and he still drops in on good friends of mine who still live in London when he is in the UK. Plus Uni was just down the road from Stratford where the Olympic Park is – I remember it when it was disused industrial land back in th 80s. Then I worked in Greenwich and often lunched in the park where the equestrian venue is and checked my watch against the ball on the Royal Observatory roof when it dropped at 1pm.

I’m not surprised he’s produced a cartoon like this. He’s a really nice guy.

As for Chick-Fil-A and how much the US spends on space – that’s up to you yanks. I’m just name dropping.

/end pointless post

By: kennypo65

kennypo65 — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:02:47 +0000

“If it bleeds, it leads”. This is the mantra of the mainstream “news”. It wouldn’t be this way if it weren’t for the fact that the corporate entities that own the networks think that the news should make money. It’s all about ratings. In the past, it was understood that reporting the facts will actually lose money. It was about reporting the news, which isn’t always exciting. This is why we have “infotainment” instead of information.

Please, no more discussion about Chik-fil-a, Not here. I submit that the majority of us come here for science, not sensationalism.

By: TechyDad

TechyDad — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:49:36 +0000

In an ideal world, the number of panels would be reversed. We’d have three panels detailing amazing human accomplishments (and calling for increased funding for STEM endeavors) and one panel would quickly and off-handedly mention some small that happened. Not because the news wouldn’t report that stuff, but because – in an ideal world – there just wouldn’t be enough anger/hate/violence to fill the majority of the news.

By: Eidolon

Eidolon — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:13:53 +0000

I think the last frame in this comic is very telling and accurately reflects the attitude of a fair segment of the public. Knowledge is held to be of no value unless there is a monetary reward. I see this reflected when the issue of funding our state universities comes up.

As for CFA, Radwaste was a troll I should not have fed. Sorry about that.

As for coverage, …”Lander? What lander?”

By: VinceRN

VinceRN — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:55:12 +0000

This whole Chik-Fil-A thing is a brilliant, if twisted, viral marketing campaign and they are making a ton of money from it and laughing all the way to the bank. Every person that rails against them drives another person of opposite views to their counter. I doubt they care one way or the other about that actual issue, other than as a way to drive sales.

I really hate seeing the whole thing continued even here.

As to the media coverage of one of the most amazing engineering feats of all time, from what I say it was rather worse than the comic makes it out to have been. The BBC treated it better than the American news, even with the Olympics in their front yard. One more reason I don’t have cable at home.

By: Don

Don — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:18:35 +0000

Speaking of the coverage last night, NASA TV needs to stop with the interviews of the muckity mucks right when the command team is reporting telemetry data. One of the team members was reporting a number, seemed excited about it, and they cut away for a boring interview before he could explain the significance. I think NASA needs a second channel just for the geeky stuff.

By: Grand Lunar

Grand Lunar — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 03:12:54 +0000

It’s very much spot-on, Phil.

The morning paper was a prime example, although there was much about the Olympics. Guess that’s better than more hate.

But not as cool as Curiosity (sorry Olympic fans, but that’s my opinion)!
I can hardly wait to see the full views. And what might it’s instruments uncover?

@Radwaste,
While you may believe the discussion of CFA needs to involve more folks than one CEO, I do not believe it needs to be involved in this particular blog entry.

By: Radwaste

Radwaste — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 02:24:15 +0000

Wow. A Chick-Fil-A sandwich promotes African anti-gay activism!

One more time: the expressed opinion of a person must not be suppressed because they own a big company – and that is being called for by gay activists, some of whom are agitating for government backing. Now, if you have an example of the company’s refusal to serve someone, OK, but until that happens, you’re just mad that a rich man has a different opinion from yours – and hiding a lack of your own principles, perhaps, by trying to restrict 1st Amendment arguments to government action. It’s PERFECTLY OK for the Politically Correct to shout down dissent – but if you’re not them, shut up. Right?

I think the ROI is positive for the State recognizing gay marriage. I also think that the outrage and vitriol directed at this man is not only petty, but vindictive, even though it remains an opinion without action.

Are you going to force CFA to be open on Sunday, next, because they must conform?

Of course. HOW DARE THEY exercise their freedom of religion by being closed Sunday so that their people can attend a church?!

Let us not ignore the support CFA got. They were packed with people on 8/1, and crowds were there on 8/2 and 8/3 near my work. This discussion needs to involve a few more folks than one CEO.