Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

“woke” is the new caravan.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

This really is a full service blog.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

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58Comments

  2. 2.

    sharl

    Some excellent photos there. Thanks!

    In case Tommy shows up here… Don’t know if you got your question answered about what words/text are banned by WordPress, but here’s a default* “master list” – note that, for each entry, all characters** are included as part of the banned text (**dashes, underlines, etc.).

    *My impression is that FYWP blog owners can create their own keyword/text blacklists, so that default list may not be applicable for this here site.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    @BGinCHI: Ted Cruz undoubtedly would have preferred the Deep Impact comet mission. Because (a) it was a NASA mission and (b) it involved smashing into a comet at very high speed rather than this namby-pamby European soft-landing nonsense.

  5. 5.

    Tommy

    m@sharl: Got it. Go space. Came home from the hospital when we landed on the moon (when I was born). Watching the Challenger blow live on at school. Hard. My friends drew pictures and specs about space credit. Do it. I sat next to them as we did and and wondered why I was lacking for their vision. I did not think all those things. Happier days.

  7. 7.

    bemused

    Meanwhile, back here on earth, there is a lovely dive video done in an old Minnesota iron ore mine pit no longer in use.I never learned how to do links but you can find it at minnesotabrown.com titled Under the deep clear waters of Tioga Pit.

    The ex-mine pits fill up with water, pure ground water, after the mine companies stop pumping the water out. There are many of these pits on the Iron, Mesabi and Cuyuna ranges and some are now public swimming beaches and fishing spots, others quite secluded and hard to get to.

    It’s a beautiful video and the water is unbelievably clear.

  8. 8.

    Calouste

    Nice to see humanity doing one thing right this month.

    No Americans were involved with Philea, which I’m sure is a completely and utterly irrelevant bit of information.

  9. 9.

    Belafon

    @bemused: There’s an old missile silo in my home town, Abilene, TX, that has partially filled with water. They now offer diving tours to the bottom of the silo.

  10. 10.

    Belafon

    @Calouste: The only relevance to the topic is Republicans would have required the comet to be named after Reagan in order to approve the mission.

  15. 15.

    Matt McIrvin

    There are actually some American scientific instruments on the Rosetta probe, though not on the lander, I think.

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    @catclub: Most space probes carry instrumentation built by a plethora of agencies and universities from around the world. I haven’t looked at the list for Rosetta in particular, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some instruments either from NASA or from some US universities on board.

    Edit: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0603585

    We describe the design, performance and scientific objectives of the NASA-funded ALICE instrument aboard the ESA Rosetta asteroid flyby/comet rendezvous mission. ALICE is a lightweight, low-power, and low-cost imaging spectrograph optimized for cometary far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectroscopy.

    (Huh. Turns out I know one of the authors of that paper. Funny.)

  20. 20.

    jibeaux

    Directed to a different thread:
    Bruce Springsteen doesn’t have to be your cup of tea, but disparaging his performing ability makes about as much sense as saying that Coca-Cola isn’t that great at carbonated beverages.
    carry on with more important matters.

  21. 21.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Seanly: “Science, what is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING! Sing it again!”

    This revised lyric brought to you by the Sarah Palin Word Salad translation machine.

  25. 25.

    Cervantes

    @Calouste:

    No Americans were involved with Philea, which I’m sure is a completely and utterly irrelevant bit of information.

    @the Conster:

    It’s too sciencey for Americans. also too.

    Actually, there are at least four US-based experiments (and associated instrumentation) on the mission.

  28. 28.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    Getting a probe to a comet was a big enough achievement; landing a probe on a comet is mind-blowing. Escape velocity is something like 1 m/s; a flea could jump off the surface and head out for deep space.

    Philae had some problems on descent; the thruster meant to hold it in place while the harpoons fired is non-functional, as, apparently, are the harpoons. Initial readings indicate it may have bounced or shifted after landing; either way, it’s settled on the surface, but not secured. The force of gravity is such that its local weight is on the order of 10 grams. That may deep-six the planned drilling operations, and the first gas jet that opens near it may be enough to kick it back into deep space.

  30. 30.

    Tone In DC

    @Grumpy Code Monkey:

    Getting a probe to a comet was a big enough achievement; landing a probe on a comet is mind-blowing.

    No doubt.
    The news consultant on a certain non-Fox show alluded to the speed of the comet… approximately 40,000 miles per hour. Somewhere, Stephen Hawking is grinning.

  32. 32.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Tommy: My scholarly career was launched with an article on the communication failures leading the Challenger disaster. I’ve always felt guilty that my reputation began with the death of seven people.

  34. 34.

    JPL

    @rea: Thanks! I was trying to relay to my son some of the updates, and now he can see for himself. xkcd was an invaluable blog today.

  35. 35.

    Tommy

    @Iowa Old Lady: For many years the guy in school next to me drew space ships. Not of fantasy. Real shit. Outside of 9/11 it is the one day I almost recall with total clarity. Military brat. We were all called in to see the first “teacher in space.” Maybe 300 of us. Then of course things went sideways. We didn’t know what to do. Our teachers didn’t. I guess it happened and I can’t say much more ….. my Kennedy (w/ 9/11) moment if that isn’t un-polite to say. Engraved in my life for all time.

  37. 37.

    JPL

    @Tommy: Since I was a Freshman in High School at the time of Kennedy’s death, I wanted to let you know that I didn’t find it impolite at all. It had to be a traumatic occurrence.

  38. 38.

    Amir Khalid

    @jibeaux:
    I agree. No artist gets to be universally popular, but the man’s been filling stadiums for three of his five decades as a live performer. He must be doing something right.

  39. 39.

    elmo

    @Tommy:

    Yes. I was a sophomore in college, and I lived in the “geek House,” so everyone was gathered in the basement to watch the launch together. Everyone, that is, except for a friend who was actually there for the launch, down in Florida.

    That was my “Kennedy moment,” too.

  41. 41.

    Tommy

    @JPL: My parents can tell one of two things. When Kennedy was killed. For me it was the Challenger. Maybe one other thing. When John Lennon was killed. I caan recall that day well. We came out of a gymnastics class for me and mom might have cried in the street. With others.

  42. 42.

    catclub

    @dmsilev: Yes, but why not an entry in the status box for
    just: Scientists

    US Scientists, without an entry for European Scientists, seems to make a distinction I don’t follow.

  43. 43.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I’m looking at the Lynch confirmation, action on immigration, and whatever we’ve agreed to with China on environment and wondering if the president is setting an agenda for Congress to keep them busy and making trouble in his sandbox rather than theirs.

    ETA: Also funding to fight Ebola and authorization for military force.

  48. 48.

    pat

    Wow. Launched 10 years ago and it lands on a chunk of rock less than a mile across 317 million miles away . What a shame if it can’t accomplish the drilling because the anchors didn’t work!

    But the photos are simply mind-blowing. HOW DO THEY DO THAT?

  51. 51.

    rea

    To those who pointed it out above, note that he’s come to his senses, and now the status box is just, “scientists”.

  53. 53.

    rea

    @Tommy: We brought a probe on a comet for really no reason outside of being curious.

    There is an excellent reason to probe comets, as any dinosaur could tell you. Hell, probing comets might be the most practical thing humans have yet done in space.

  54. 54.

    d58826

    @Tommy: I guess this must mean I’m getting really really old – I have my JFK moment, Challenger moment, 9/11 moment and Columbia moment I don’t really have a John Lennon moment since I wasn’t the Beatle fanatic that my sister was

  57. 57.

    dance around in your bones

    @Howard Beale IV: Oh, for fuck’s sake. I am so sorry.

    Yesterday was Veteran’s Day, which made me sad, and also the date of my husband’s death, which made me even sadder. I’ve been a puddle today.

  58. 58.

    samiam

    Muckymux having another one of his “Mission Accomplished”, “Sarah Palin is running for President” etc. moments.

    While he is doing his impression of George Bush landing on an aircraft carrier the actual mission has run into some potentially serious issues. Heck of a job muckymux!

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