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Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Books are my comfort food!

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Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

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Bark louder, little dog.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

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Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / RIP Ingenuity! It Was A Good Run (Open Thread)

RIP Ingenuity! It Was A Good Run (Open Thread)

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Just a remarkable accomplishment.  Farewell Ingenuity…and we thank you (h/t Apollo 13)

I am working on combining our good news posts and some hopeful climate change information in a series of posts. I’m just trying to figure out how best to approach it. It is a LOT of good information and I am overwhelmed by it all and want to disseminate it in a way that you are not. Stay tuned…

This is an open thread

Reader Interactions

95Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    It is a LOT of good information and I am overwhelmed by it all

    That’s a good type of overwhelmed.

  2. 2.

    DCrefugee

    First, there is absolutely no truth in the vicious rumor that a part falling from a Boeing product took out Ingenuity.

     

    Second, it’s clear Martian air defenses were tired of our sh*t. Give them props for their patience and marksmanship.

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    For something that was intended as a technology demonstrator that would have been deemed successful if it flew a handful of times, yeah, job done well. 72 flights, over two hours of airtime, well and truly proving that yes you can fly a helicopter on Mars, oh and by the way actually contributing valuable science data to the main mission.

    Re: the air time, when the news hit yesterday I did a bit of math. Counting up all of the craft that we’ve sent to land on Mars and giving them about 6 or 7 minutes each in the “falling with style” flight phase, Ingenuity by itself has the majority of flight minutes for the entire Mars program.

  6. 6.

    trollhattan

    Actual cause of crash revealed: Ingenuity trying to drop mortar shell on a Russian probe.

    Must admit, that little critter done good.

  8. 8.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I posted the 15th and last entry in my project to read a book from each category in Goodreads’ Best Book of the Year contest. The category is humor and the book is Henry Winkler’s Being Henry…The Fonz and Beyond.

    Parts of the post will eventually turn up in a Medium Cool post, so you can skip it now if you want to. There’s a MC post this Sunday with books from Romance, Fantasy, and Romantasy. I swear it’s better than the categories suggest.

  9. 9.

    Martin

    It’s really tempting to be down in the US, but the government really is VERY, VERY good at building things when we set our mind to it. It’s a shame that it’s damn near impossible to get broad agreement to do these things because one party has decided that if they are in agreement, then an opportunity to extort something from the other party is being wasted.

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I always end up anthropomorphising those cute little gizmos, so I found myself tearing up when I learned of her demise. She had a magnificent run!

    Brava to Ingenuity, and bravi tutti to everyone who created her and cared for her.

  14. 14.

    Martin

    @dmsilev: If people haven’t watched Good Night Oppy on Netflix, it’s really good. I have a lot of former students that have worked on these programs, and it’s really apparent that working on these things and watching them succeed are absolute high points in their life.

  16. 16.

    Alison Rose

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah…as evidenced by some of the winners. I wish they would do a parallel thing where they get a pool of folks who agree to read *all* of the nominees in a particular category and then choose the one they think was the best, and see how often it’s the same as the one that won. I’d guess almost never.

  17. 17.

    Matt McIrvin

    @dmsilev: Ingenuity apparently inspired ICAO (the organization that issues four-letter “aerodrome” codes, as opposed to the three-letter IATA ones that just the big airports have) to give Mars its first airport code: JZRO, for Jezero Crater. The first letter in an ICAO code generally is assigned by region so presumably this means J is Mars.

  20. 20.

    Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: If it helps, the engineers that work on these put their whole careers into them and they are unbelievably dedicated to getting it right. One former student of mine was a lead engineer on one of the Curiosity landing systems – the part that did a radar scan of the surface to identify a flat place to land and then navigate to that. He’s described his work on that system on two different visits to see faculty and whatnot and each time he cried because he worked so hard in school and after to get that opportunity, and it’s success was so important to him – it validated the last 15 years of work.

    So it’s okay to anthropomorphize them because they carry so much of these people’s lives and careers in them, not unlike works of art to artists – except that for a lot of these engineers, they get maybe one of these in their whole career – it’s their life’s work. If it doesn’t work, they don’t get to make a 2nd painting or write a 2nd book. This is it.

  21. 21.

    JaySinWA

    David French discovers Cleek’s Law.

    NYTimes link, I can’t seem to gift it:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/opinion/trump-primary-election-2024.html
    Never-Trumpers Never Had a Chance

    I wasn’t just wrong; I was completely, embarrassingly wrong. The winds were shifting. I could sense it, but I didn’t fully understand it. Not until Trump made it all plain. The salient characteristic of the Republican Party wasn’t ideology or integrity, let alone both. Rather, it was animosity. And nobody models animosity better than Donald Trump.

    Cleeks Law; https://ok-cleek.com/blogs/?page_id=18788

    Today’s conservatism is the opposite of what liberals want today, updated daily.

    7/17/2010

  24. 24.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Ingenuity had an onboard speaker that would blast “Ride of the Valkries” when traversing Mars

  27. 27.

    Alison Rose

    @Martin: At least in college rankings, the people doing the rankings are looking into the details about each school. You can vote for a GRCA without having read all the books or even the book you voted for. And I realize there would be no feasible way to change that, but it still means the awards are pointless.

  29. 29.

    MomSense

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Can’t wait to read all of your reviews.

     

    Have to brag on the daughter of one of my best friends.  She was nominated for a Poe award for her YA novel My Flawless Life.

  36. 36.

    Dangerman

    This may be a repeat of a cartoon linked here.

    Scientists (i.e. smart people) manage all things Mars. H/T JPL.

    Politicians  (i.e., stupid, compromised, occasionally barely coherent motherfuckers) manage earth’s problems. I’m feeling a solid EFG coming; fuck ‘em.

    i thinking we need a code for an EFG. Number 1 is taken. Ditto Number 2. Pondering, pondering.

  38. 38.

    Bill Arnold

    @JaySinWA:
    Here’s the full cleek’s law (comment on a DougJ post on this site):

    cleek JULY 17, 2010 AT 1:31 PM

    i can do it in one word: ~liberal

    or, for those of you who don’t grok the boolean: today’s conservatism is the opposite of what liberals want today: updated daily.

    or: cowardly authoritarians pretending to be individualists.

    or: the cynical leading the stupid.

    or: I Got Mine

    or: who said we weren’t tolerant? we tolerate racists just fine!

  39. 39.

    Yarrow

    @JaySinWA:

    I wasn’t just wrong; I was completely, embarrassingly wrong. The winds were shifting. I could sense it, but I didn’t fully understand it. Not until Trump made it all plain. The salient characteristic of the Republican Party wasn’t ideology or integrity, let alone both. Rather, it was animosity.

    I just want to bang my head against a wall when I see this sort of thing. I guess good for them for finally seeing reality but wtf dude, where have you been? It’s been clear to me since, oh, the Gingrich era at least, probably since Reagan, that Republicans didn’t give a shit about regular people. People like David French were useful idiots and fronts pushing bs like “compassionate conservatism” so the real work of hurting people could be done. TFG finally ripped down the green curtain so we could see the hatred running the Republican party.

    I guess if it’s been your life to defend this crap it hurts to see it for what it really is. And I’m glad, I guess, that they’re realizing it now. But jeez, how in the world did it take so long? And, more importantly, what are people like David French going to do to make sure they don’t get duped and sucked in by bad people again. Ultimately this is on them for not seeing reality.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    I saw an article on it yesterday and was like, wow, we humans…sometimes we do some pretty cool stuff!

    Gives me hope.  =)

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    My latest TikTok channels that I love and make me smile

    Postman Dan + Frannie the Dog

    Rylee Ranch : It’s videos of goats eating. The farmers bring different foods. The day they brought mushrooms and the goats didn’t eat anything and just looked up at the farmer…LMAO

     

    Blind Horse (Luna)  and her seeing eye donkey (Petey)

  50. 50.

    zhena gogolia

    I just read the most amazing obituary in the NYT, of David Mills, who developed the protocol for time-keeping on the internet. What a life.

  60. 60.

    TaMara

    @Martin: That does help…thinking of them as being the embodiment of the hopes, dreams, and accomplishments of all these folks justifies my emotional attachment.

  63. 63.

    Old School

    Compensatory:

    $7.3 Million for emotional harm

    $11 Million for reputation repair

    Punitive: $65 Million

  65. 65.

    Miss Bianca

    @TaMara: OMG…*that* was the damages.amount for the Carroll case?!

    Narrator voice: “There was a lot of ketchup on the wall that evening…”

  67. 67.

    sixthdoctor

    @Quinerly: To quote Homer Simpson, “Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.”

    (sees figure of $83.3 million)

    Oh yeah, that’s worth a shot of the banana peanut butter whiskey that called to me from the liquor store today…

  68. 68.

    Yarrow

    @Baud:  I’m happy to have all converts. We need everyone we can get on our side. No issue there.

    David French has a history of preaching to Dems about everything they’re doing wrong. Even his wife is in on the game – she was Bristol Palin’s ghostwriter for her book. Maybe I’ve missed his soul searching articles about how he got sucked into the R cult and believed what they said and worked for them, all while other people around him saw it for what it was. And WHY that happened and HOW he’s going to avoid it happening in future.

    Regular people I give a pass to. People who are longtime rightwing pundits need to do better. Lead by example. Show how they got it wrong and how they’ll avoid falling for the same thing again.

  70. 70.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Yarrow:

    People like David French were useful idiots and fronts pushing bs like “compassionate conservatism” so the real work of hurting people could be done…

    Exactly.  Fuck David French and the Jesus-riding dinosaur he road in on.

    He’s simply the latest example of what Driftglass aptly coined years ago, “Republican Detachment Disorder”.  Asshats like him were (and will be again) GOP water carriers.

    The Orange Fart Cloud came along and they likened it to some sudden appearance one day like a mushroom cloud over the offices of the RNC.  Clowns like French had no problem passively letting the likes of Malkin, O’Reilly, Beck, Hannity and the rest work long and hard on weaponizing the stupid and when it’s blown up in his face, oh, boo fucking hoo.

    Simply more pearl-clutching, no real introspection, no thoughtful critique of 40 years of Reaganomics and Bible-banging authoritarianism, combined with hundreds of thousands of hours of unbridled lunacy on the radio, then Faux “News” produced a GOP electorate with a hankering for opioids stronger than the cheap whiskey Joe McCarthy was pitching back in the 50s.

  75. 75.

    Kristine

    @Martin: A few years ago, NOVA ran a series entitled The Planets during which a number of exploratory missions like Cassini were discussed and yes those folks get very emotional.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    Ohio Supreme Court just announced an incentive program for lawyers to practice in rural (Trump) counties.

    Theyll pay student loans – fir some unknown reason no one wants to set up shop in the fascist counties :)

  79. 79.

    sixthdoctor

    @Quinerly:

    Here it is.

    Not bad, not necessarily sure I’d buy it again. A friend got me into Skrewball peanut butter whiskey as a dessert drink and I think the flavor on that is better, but this is all right and does go down smooth while laughing at that diseased bloated crook’s judgement.

  80. 80.

    Quinerly

    @sixthdoctor:

    Looks interesting. Not sure it’s for me. Which is stronger in taste….the banana or peanut butter? Really sweet???

    I’m a Power’s or Middleton’s chick….and they are several Ryes I like. Not a lot of experience with the flavored whiskeys. Don’t drink Vodka. Love the craft, small batch  Gins.

  81. 81.

    sixthdoctor

    @Quinerly: It’s definitely much sweeter than the Screwball, but if I didn’t know the flavor I couldn’t guess it. I do taste the peanut butter but the “banana” just comes through in the sweetness.

    I’m a bourbon guy that usually sticks to Wild Turkey 101 or Bulleit, but I do have a sweet tooth and I really like peanut butter, so I prefer the Skrewball to this. Will still drink it, though.

    I have noticed that flavored whiskeys are more of a thing, I saw cookie dough flavored whiskey at the store today and am sure someone will buy it…

  86. 86.

    Martin

    @Alison Rose: At least in college rankings, the people doing the rankings are looking into the details about each school. You can vote for a GRCA without having read all the books or even the book you voted for. And I realize there would be no feasible way to change that, but it still means the awards are pointless.

    No they’re not. Like, that’s not remotely how rankings works. I did the US News Rankings for my institution for 3 decades.

    For one, it’s all self-reported and there’s no auditing function except when the NYT busts you – which only happens if someone at another university sees you’re cheating and calls them.

    For another, it’s wildly arbitrary what is being reported, and none if is is particularly relevant to what people think is being ranked. Mainly, not one part of the ranking is related to what students learn, or whether or not their degree is predictive of their success in their field. Now, maybe you think our ability to deny admission to students is reflective of the quality of education we offer, but holy shit do those two things not interact in any possible way. What’s more, improving your quality of education is pretty fucking hard, but denying students is really goddamn easy. In fact, the easiest way to climb the rankings is to deny the most qualified students. See Goodharts law.

    Actually, rankings are one of the more culpable things to why higher education costs are out of step with inflation. It’s not the biggest driver of it, but because ranking have no directly relationship to education it incentivizes investments everywhere else – marketing, exclusivity, hiring for fundraising over education, etc. When I started doing it, it was a checkbox item for the institution – nobody really cared because we were so poorly ranked. When I retired, it dictated almost every aspect of the institution, and I was sufficiently critical to the task of doing it that I could no longer find opportunities to overcome its influence – my ability to fight it from within was pretty much lost once my Covid effort ended. And that ultimately led me to retire. We had become a top 10 institution, and in a number of rankings a #1. But I was pretty much the only one left fighting to keep it from completely consuming the integrity of the institution, and that just wasn’t sustainable.

  89. 89.

    jnfr

    I love all the Mars Rovers, they give joy to my life. But this little helicopter was something special. Otsukare, Ingenuity!

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