Maybe it’s a generational thing. Maybe all of us who were kids during the Mercury and Gemini Programs still feel a bit of a thrill at the notion of a major discovery in space. Yeah, yeah, NASA is a mismanaged, politicized money-sink,nerd haven and instrument of the military industrial thingie. Yep. Money on space research would better be spent eliminating malaria and promoting literacy. I know, I know.
But…a major discovery! Space!
Maybe it’s because a news cycle dominated by Fords and Chow, Harper and Putin, and missing airliners is beginning to feel too weary, stale, flat and unprofitable to follow. Maybe winter’s been too long and we need some good news. Whatever the case, they got me. What a great teaser. I’ll be listening.
More to the point - what major discovery? Can anyone resist speculating? Could it be…
a) Having just been informed of its demotion from “Planet” to “Minor Planet”, Pluto has left its orbit and is heading toward Earth. And boy, is it PISSED.
b) Kim Jong Un has declared that North Korea, as one of the world’s last communist countries, is laying claim to Jupiter, following a briefing from his science advisers informing him that the planet features a Great Spot for Reds.
c) Disturbing images just received from the Voyager probe seem to show the interior wall of a huge sphere that extends in all directions, painted with stars, and bearing a small plaque reading “ROTFLMAO. Told You So. Aristotle.”
Other possibilities before mundane (well, maybe not “mundane”) reality disappoints us all on Monday?
