Good and Bad

We haven't seen one o' these in quite a while...

It was rainin' so hard there for a while that you couldn't see across the street.  We always need the rain; but I can most certainly do without THIS, right in the middle o' the first period o' the Wings game:

It's ALWAYS sumthin'.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Joe Ely...

All the poets they agreed
Spanish is a loving tongue but
She never spoke Spanish to me

Ah, well.  Let's leave that aside, mainly because she DID speak Spanish to me on occasion, most o' which I can't repeat here.  Digressions aside, I've been a big fan o' Mr. Ely for a long long time, dating back to here:

That's a ticket stub from the first time I saw Mr. Ely and it was in London, of all places.  That was also one of the BEST 16 bucks (or so, for me and The Second Mrs. Pennington) I EVER spent.  TSMP and I had first row balcony seats in The Venue and we really rocked out that night.  And so it was that I was hooked... 

The last time I saw Mr. Ely was in Austin in 1999, when he played three nights at one o' Sixth Street's honky-tonks and I was in attendance for all three shows.  Joe was the guy who introduced me to the Austin style o' New Country and I've never looked back.  These days I tend to get my Austin Music fix from Austin City Limits, but there are times when I long to be down on Sixth Street... just cruisin' and boozin'.  It don't get much better than that, Gentle Reader.

Broadening, LXIII

We'll be broadening our horizons a lot this week, seein' as how we picked up a Sammy Adams "Beers of Summer" variety pack while we were out shopping earlier today.  All o' the beers in this sampler are new to me, save the ubiquitous Boston Lager (why do they DO that?).  Longtime Gentle Readers may recall that I'm deeply and totally in love with Sammy's "Winter Classics," greatly anticipating the release o' that sampler and consuming mass quantities thereof, for as long as it lasts.  It remains to be seen if I'll like the Summer Sampler as much as the Winter version and I suspect I won't, given as how we're partial to the darker brews.

But, Hey... Summer's (almost) here and the time is right for dancin' in the wheat (with apologies to Martha).  We began today with the beer you see above... about which the Go-To guys have this to say:

Not too shabby. Reminds me of some of the first basic Belgian Pale Ales I had in my early beer geek days. No frills, but it's got some flavorful and quite drinkable. Wish it was a tad bit cleaner on the finish though.

Todd rated the beer as "average" and I agree.  There's nothing to write home about here but it is an honest and quite drinkable brew.  It's too bad I won't see any more of this brew, except in the samplers.  Such is life in The Beer Desert. 

Update, 1500 hrs:  We finished that Belgian Session whilst putting up this post and then cracked open one o' these:

Wowzers!  I REALLY like this beer! The blend of orange/coriander spiciness and the sage/rye combination really hits my sweet spot.  This is one of the most unusual and completely unexpected tastes in beer I've happened upon in a long, long time.  Yeah, it's THAT good.

An Ideer For Mom's Day

I'll drink to that.  Mom would have, too.

Pretty Fast

From the Usual USAF Source:

X-51A Sets Air-Breathing Hypersonic Record:  The fourth and final mission of an X-51A Waverider test vehicle last week set the record for the longest ever air-breathing hypersonic flight, announced Air Force Research Lab officials. The May 1 flight over the Pacific Ocean was "a full mission success," said Charlie Brink, the Air Force's X-51A program manager, in the service's May 3 release. The X-51 vehicle traveled more than 230 nautical miles in slightly more than six minutes off the coast of southern California, states the release. A B-52 starting from Edwards AFB, Calif., carried the X-51 aloft, releasing it at approximately 50,000 feet in altitude. The X-51's rocket booster accelerated the vehicle to Mach 4.8. The vehicle then separated from the booster, whereupon its supersonic combustion ramjet engine ignited and propelled the vehicle to Mach 5.1 at 60,000 feet, according to the release. After its fuel supply was expended, the vehicle glided until it splashed down in the water. "I believe all we have learned from the X-51A Waverider will serve as the bedrock for future hypersonics research and ultimately the practical application of hypersonic flight," said Brink. (Wright-Patterson report by Daryl Mayer) (See also Boeing release and X-51A Falls Short in Third Flight.)

Mach 5.1... wow!  I posted the hi-res version of the photo above so you can see as much detail as possible.

And then there's this... pretty fast in a completely different way:

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Emily Allen (center) enters a hearing Wednesday. She is the first woman instructor charged in the sex-abuse scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
Photo: John Davenport / San Antonio Express-News

Female Instructor Convicted of Sexual Misconduct:  A military court last week sentenced SSgt. Emily Allen, a former military training instructor, to three months in jail for having sex with a recruit, reported the San Antonio Express-News. The judge also gave her 30 days of hard labor and reduced her in rank to airman first class on May 2, according to the newspaper's May 3 report. Allen is the first female instructor whom the Air Force has prosecuted thus far in the wake of the sex scandal involving former MTIs at basic military training at JBSA-Lackland, Tex. Allen pleaded guilty to having sex in 2011 with an airman in training at Keesler AFB, Miss., seeking to have a liaison with a second airman she met in basic training, and having unprofessional social relationships with a pair of female airmen, according to the newspaper. Prosecutors reportedly sought harsher punishment for Allen, asserting that she had no place being in the Air Force. (See also Seeking the Sexual-Assault Solution from Air Force Magazine's April issue.)

Equal opportunity, eh?  The highlighted bit is the sort o' thing that gives me nightmares about what might have been, mainly because I had what would euphemistically be called "unprofessional relationships" with more than a few female airmen... but never anyone who directly worked for me.  There are days when I'm pretty danged happy I'm retired.

I Might Wait For Mine

A Google Glass road test...



Heh.

Changing Demographics...

... here at El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington.  I'm just in from spending some Quality Time out on the verandah with two o' my neighbors, which inspired this post.  I'm the sole remaining original tenant o' these apartments and my neighbors over this past year and a half have run the gamut from academics (two each, one following the other, both professors at ENMU), to run o' the mill civilians (ahem), to ENMU students (interesting!), to military folks.  My latest neighbor is an Airperson recently assigned to Cannon Airplane Patch, his previous assignment bein' RAF Lakenheath.

So... it's come to pass that we are now a TOTAL military community, what with having two active-duty Air Force peeps (the afore-mentioned newly arrived Airperson [three doors down] and a recently-arrived USAF TSgt, two doors down), one Naval Reserve Squidly type (next door), and me... the chirp (which is to say a retarded retired USAF type).  Four units, all military... in one form or another.

I'm thinkin' the neighborhood has taken a turn for the better, at least where commonality in interests is concerned.  Me likee.

Saturday

Waaay-cool:



Didja click the "see how the movie was made" link?  That's pretty cool, too.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

It's been a long time since I've heard this...



Ace might could well be described as a one-hit wonder kinda band, but what a hit this was!  The time frame when "How Long" was released... we're talkin' 1975 here... was quite possibly the best year o' my life.  I was young, in love, and livin' in Tokyo while travelin' all around the Pacific Rim.  What's NOT to like about that?

That would be YrHmblScrb in Kyoto, c. 1975.  There's a back story to that photo, in two parts (here and here), but you long-time Gentle Readers have already been there and done that.

I Hope My Heart Holds Out

From ESPN:

Even as Detroit opened a three-goal lead, Boudreau and the Ducks kept pushing.

“They were always talking about, Get one and we can get two,” Boudreau said. “Get one and we can get two.”

By the time Bobby Ryan tied the game late in the third period, it felt like an inevitability. The push from the Ducks got stronger and stronger as the game went on as Detroit mistakenly tried to sit on a lead against one of the biggest offensive powerhouses in the playoffs.

“They just kept coming at us, coming at us. In the playoffs, you can’t really take your foot off the gas,” Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard said. “That includes all of us.”

But Detroit hung on in this one, and the 5-4 overtime win taught us something about each one of these teams. First there’s no lead safe against the relentless Ducks. And the young, skilled Red Wings still have enough veteran presence to regroup while learning on the fly in the playoffs.

It sets up the making of what could end up being an incredible series.

Yeah, this series could be memorable, indeed, and I hope it's not fodder for my eulogy.  I can do without the extreme mood swings and the palpitations, though, and I'm sure my neighbors could do with less screaming, rants, and blue language when shit starts to go downhill.  But, Hey... the kids are alright.

Highlights from last night:

Bond... James Bond (And a Dig At The Usual Suspect)

From the Usual USAF Source...

F-22 Completes One-Thousandth Sortie
The Air Force's oldest flying F-22 Raptor, tail number 4007, completed its 1,000th sortie, announced Combined Test Force officials at Edwards AFB, Calif., where the airplane serves as a test asset. The airplane, dubbed the "James Bond jet" due to its 007 designation, reached the milestone on April 19, according to Edwards' late April release. The jet arrived at Edwards in October 2001 and has participated since then in ground and flight tests and has maintained a role in weapons testing and development, states the release. "These 1,000 missions were not reiterations of the same combat training mission," said Lt. Col. Daron Drown, F-22 CTF director. Instead, the "vast majority of these were very unique test missions," he said. The 1,000th sortie, for example, was one of the first flight tests of the Raptor's Increment 3.2A software upgrade that is meant to bolster the stealth fighter's "lethality and self-defense capability," said Lt. Col. Devin Devin Traynor, F-22 CTF director of operations. (Edwards report by Laura Mowry)

Well, OK.  The aircraft might carry Mr. Bond's service designator but I'm thinkin' it's really Q's jet.

―:☺:―

Totally OT, but I can't resist.

There's a cure for inane FB updates, yanno?  Mrs. Reagan famously had the right ideer. 

What a Well-Dressed Auto-Voiture Wears During the Playoffs

Clickee-Clickee

Game Two tonight.

LGRW!

O, Ma Nature... You Capricious Bitch, You

By that I mean this:

SNOW?  Yesterday it was 92 freakin' degrees and you're gonna give us snow tonight?  Get the hell right offa my lawn, Ma.  

Which also brings up another o' my many Pet Peeves.  It doesn't matter where I am... here, there, and everywhere... there's alway some wag who feels it necessary to dispense this pearl o' wisdom on me: "Don't like the weather?  Jes wait a minnit and it'll change."  As if I haven't heard THAT before.  Yeah, Sparky... you're UNIQUE, you prat.

GOML.  Now.

Today

Blog-Bud Ivan reminds us it's May Day.  I responded with...

Ah, May Day. It's just not as exciting as it used to be. (ed: click it)

Yes... the Good Ol' Days, when we knew what we were fighting and exactly who the enemy was.  These bastards left little doubt:

I kinda miss the sonsabitches.  Our commies today just ain't very good at it.

Yeah, What a GREAT Ideer This Is!

I'm bein' sarcastic, in case ya didn't notice, but the Heritage Foundation isn't:

The rule now, if you order from Amazon or any other website, is simple: Your items are taxed only if the retailer has a physical store or warehouse in the state where you live — a bricks-and-mortar presence, to use the industry lingo. If you live, say, in New York and you order from a retailer who is based entirely in California, you pay no sales tax.

That would change dramatically under the Marketplace Fairness Act. Every time you bought something online, you would be charged taxes you don’t have to pay now.

It’s worse if you are a merchant — and, let’s face it, with the rise of sites such as eBay, nearly all of us are at one time or another. It’s not just large retailers such as Amazon that would have to assess these taxes. Any retailer with more than $1 million in sales would have to collect sales taxes.

The relative simplicity of selling something online suddenly would get a lot more complicated. Sorting through the tax codes of 9,646 jurisdictions in the United States would be no easy task. At one per state, retailers would have to complete and file 46 state tax returns. Who wants to take a chance on making a tax-related mistake?

“How can we possibly know the tax rates in [those] jurisdictions?” said Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. “In one jurisdiction, cotton candy is food; in another, it’s entertainment or candy.” Anyone who has ever tried to fill out a simple tax form knows how ludicrously complex it can get.

RTWT.  Call your congresscritters.

Broadening Our Horizons LXII: In Which We Get Religion, Sorta

Today's beer... "brewed with care and prayer."

That would be a Monks' Ale, which is brewed here in NM... by The Benedictine monks of the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, in Abiquiu.  The friars have this to say about that:

Monks’Ale is an excellent session ale that is distinctively spicy with moderate fruity esters (particularly stone fruits).

The yeast lends a note of clove and in combination with the malts, hints of plum and apricot. The malts provide a distinct honeyish quality up front and round full middle. The malts and yeast provide a clean, crisp, dry, finish to Monks’ Ale.

Me?  I like it quite a bit on first tasting.  I can see myself doin' two or mebbe three of these this afternoon.  It's taken me a while but I'm beginning to find some very high quality beers here in the Land of Entrapment Enchantment.  This is one of 'em.

Heh

My Buddy Ed In Florida sends this along...

It gets better towards the end

Character

Where do the characters go when I use my backspace or delete them on my PC?

ANSWER: The characters go to different places, depending on whom you ask:

The Buddhist explanation: If a character has lived rightly, and its karma is good, then after it has been deleted it will be reincarnated as a different, higher character. Those funny characters above the numbers on your keyboard will become numbers, numbers will become letters, and lower-case letters will become upper-case.

The 20th-century bitter cynical nihilist explanation: Who cares? It doesn't really matter if they're on the page, deleted, undeleted, underlined, etc. It's all the same.

The Mac user's explanation: All the characters written on a PC and then deleted go to straight to PC hell. If you're using a PC, you can probably see the deleted characters, because you're in PC hell also.

Stephen King's explanation: Every time you hit the (Del) key you unleash a tiny monster inside the cursor, who tears the poor, unsuspecting characters to shreds, drinks their blood, then eats them, bones and all. Hah, hah, hah!

The Christian Church's approach to characters: The nice characters go to Heaven, where they are bathed in the light of happiness. The naughty characters are punished for their sins. Naughty characters are those involved in the creation of naughty words, such as "breast," "sex," and contraception."

Dave Barry's explanation: The deleted characters are shipped to Battle Creek, Michigan, where they're made into Pop-Tart filling; this explains why Pop-Tarts are so flammable, while cheap imitations are not flammable. I'm not making this up.

IBM's explanation: The characters are not real. They exist only on the screen when they are needed, as concepts, so to delete them is merely to de-conceptualize them. Get a life.

PETA's (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) explanation: You've been DELETING them??? Can't you hear them SCREAMING??? Why don't you go CLUB some BABY SEALS while wearing a MINK, you pig!!!!

Heh.  I like the Buddhist explanation, a lot.  But I would, wouldn't I?  I hope I come back as that hooker with the heart o' gold when I'm deleted.  I figger I have a good shot; my karma's been pretty good so far.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack, In Which We Recycle a Post While Updating Same

The recycling...

Friday, April 29, 2011

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

My favorite Canadian chirp...  Well, check that.  My favorite chirp, regardless of nationality.

Old man sleeping on his bags
Women with that teased up kind of hair
Kids with the jitters in their legs
And those wide wide open stares
And the kids got cokes & chocolate bars
There's a thin man smoking a fat cigar
Jealous lovin'll make you crazy
If you can't find your goodness
Cause you've lost your heart

Hey!  That's ME Joni's on about!

Who'd a thunk it?  (Just for grins 'n' giggles... google "and me the chirp."  Why am I not Numero Uno?)

And the update...two years on, to the very day:

Our fat cigar is a Romeo y Julieta Reserve and our soundtrack is as noted.  One more thing: we broke out one of the old Red Wings memorabilia items, just for Old Times' Sake and as a harbinger o' things to come.

So now it's back outside to continue as we've begun.  Did I mention it's a GLORIOUS day here on THPoNM?  Well, it is... 88 degrees with gentle winds out o' the southwest.  Yes, it most certainly IS.

Spring Fauna

There's this in the southwest corner o' my carport...

It's pretty cool to sit out on the verandah during feeding time.  Those lil chicks make a real peeping racket... or as much racket as peeping can be... when Mom flies in with a snack.  Mom did a pretty good job o' decorating the digs, dontcha think?  The flowers are a nice touch.  Dad helps out too, but he was nowhere to be seen today.  Mebbe later, when he gets home from work... or the birdie strip bar.

One other thing, and I'm tempting fate by mentioning it, they have yet to shit on my car.  It's thankful, we are.

Grab Bag

Randomness...

I was awakened by the phone at sumthin' like oh-dark-thirty this morning, or about 0915 hrs, same-same for me.  My Buddy Lee In Oregon called with some news about a friend who's battling cancer (prognosis: good) and with a small request.  Lee has a couple o' friends currently on a cross-continent mo'sickle trip and would it be OK if they dropped in to do a lil laundry and recharge... seein' as how I'm "on the way?"  Why certainly, sez I.  I'm always up for a lil bit o' bench racing and other forms of swapping lies, so come on down.  I may not ride any longer but I have 40 years worth o' mo'sickle stories to share.  So I may have company tomorrow.

Oh.  Yes, I WAS civil with Lee, even considerin' I'd been awakened from a dead sleep and hadn't even THOUGHT about coffee yet.  I'm such a good guy.  Sometimes.

―:☺:―

We're in that sweet spot o' the year, that brief period o' time in Spring and Fall when I need neither heat nor air conditioning... just open up the windows (dust permitting) and let it all hang out.  My electric bill drops by about 50% during this time and we DO like the savings that's in it.  Then again, I think my electric bills are pretty reasonable for an all-electric house: I've never paid more than $101.00 in any given month and that was in the dead o' winter.  

We may have to fire up the AC for a bit today or tomorrow, however, coz it's gonna be warmish these next two days:

Great verandah weather, though.

―:☺:―

A miscellaneous bitch:  My apartment has those gotdamned eco-friendly low-volume-flush toilets.  So my question is... what fucking good are they if you have to flush the damned things TWICE?  I suppose saving water is a good thing (and its an especially good thing in water-challenged areas like The High Plains o' New Mexico) and I also realize I only flush once for Number One.  But it really galls me to HAVE to flush twice, otherwise.

I'll add that to my list of First World Problems.

―:☺:―

Speaking of First World Problems... an alternate term is "Posh Problem."  That's what the Brits say and I learned this by watching oh-dark-thirty Bloomberg News on my teevee, wherein they air the very early bid'niz news (we're talking from 0100 to 0300 hrs or thereabouts) from their London studio.  Mebbe I'll start using that term or would that be an affectation?

I think I just answered my own question.

―:☺:―

It begins tomorrow night!  Yays for me, but YOUR mileage may vary, Gentle Reader. 



Yeah, let's meet some characters.

It's 22, Bitchez*!

From NHL.com...

The Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild completed the playoff field on Saturday by winning their regular-season finales on the road. The Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars 3-0, while the Wild defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1.

That left the Red Wings in seventh place with 56 points and the Wild in eighth with 55. Both teams needed the victories because the Columbus Blue Jackets won their final game by rallying past the Nashville Predators 3-1. The Blue Jackets and Wild both finished with 55 points, but Minnesota finished eighth and Columbus ninth because the Wild had more non-shootout wins.

It sucks to be a Columbus fan today and I say that with all the respect I can muster.  The BJs had the second best record in the league during the month of April and could have really done some damage in the playoffs; I'd have been jes a lil bit worried if I were Chicago and had to face them in the first round.  Minnesota, OTOH, finished the season on a downward spiral.

As for our Wings?  We can beat Anaheim, easily.  We took two from them... on THEIR home ice... in back-to-back fashion in March and we're a lot healthier now than we were then.  Yes, this can be done.  Wings in six or less.

LGRW!

* "Bitchez" is a term of endearment among The 19.

Broadening Our Horizons LXI

It almost feels like summer outdoors (73 degrees; bright, brilliant NM sun; and NO wind!) and it felt that way when we made our bi-monthly beer and commissary run out to Cannon Airplane Patch earlier today.  So, there we were...  perusing the beer selection at the Class VI store and we see New Belgium released its summer seasonal offering.  Well, yes.  Hell, yes!  Grab a sixer, go to the check-out, and then RTB to unload and such.

So we're enjoying one of these, as we speak.  Like this:

Here's how NB bills the beer:

A delightful summer ale for easy sipping and a classic Belgian yard game for easy enjoyment, Rolle Bolle is how we roll. Brewed with monk fruit and soursop, this beer pours a brilliant blonde, with a fluffy, white head. Earthy and tropical tones carry the aroma and the taste follows accordingly. Rolle Bolle’s hint of tartness is backed with the citrus bite of Cascade and Centennial hops. Oats add some creaminess to the mouthfeel, and it finishes dry and clean. Time to get in the yard, crack a bottle and start rolling. 

Well, we ain't gonna roll... as in Rolle Bolle, the game.  But we shall roll with this beer, which is everything NB sez it is and then some.  I'll be adding another sixer or three into our fridge o' many charms before summer's even here.  As I've said before: I've hardly ever met a New Belgium beer I didn't like.

Our cigar today is a Partagas Spanish Rosado, a favorite here at El Casa Inmóvil De Pennington.

And what are we listenin' to?  Well... this, for starters: 



Sorry... but I just couldn't help myself.  Rolle Bolle just sounds TOO much like Wooly Bully.  Rock on.

Saturday

Oh, to be 12 again and find this sorta krep interesting/exciting...



Yes, it's yet another lame week at the Usual Source, unless a vid o' baboons invading and wrecking a house is yer ideer o' fun.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack, In Which We Recycle a Meme

So here's the meme... about clouds, past and present:

Clouds, as seen in the late and oh-so-lamented Green Hornet's paint and in The Tart's paint.  We prolly could have done better by The Tart, had we moved her out from under the carport and in to full sun... but we're lazy, yanno?

So.  The music?  Predictable:

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all.

[...]

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all 

Yeah, I've looked at clouds from both sides now.  Other things, too, but it's the clouds that bring us the greatest joy.

AGAIN?

That would be my latest shipment o' cigars.  I suppose the good news is I can "expect" my package tomorrow (the scare quotes imply sarcasm), but ya know whut?  This shit is gettin' OLD.

Heh

From The Duffel Blog...

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Officials from the Minnesota Department of Motor Vehicles have confirmed approval of a new policy making it mandatory for all active-duty and military veterans to register their status with the agency. The move will require all veterans to have a special “Vet” designation on their drivers’ licenses and state identification cards.

[...]

“We’ve seen what these savages are capable of all over CNN and MSNBC,” says DMV director, Greg Olson. “Out of all the millions of men and women who have deployed to combat zones this past decade, there are literally a dozen, perhaps even two,  who have come home and committed atrocious acts. That’s way too big a chance. We can’t risk having these people hidden in our community and will be making sure they’re easily identifiable to law enforcement personnel and citizens in general.”

The new strategy will most likely result in changed police escalation-of-force procedure when dealing with veterans during routine traffic stops.

According to Olson, law enforcement officers will be given more opportunity to defend themselves against a perceived threat.

“Phase One will consist of the officer identifying an individual’s vet status on his or her driver’s license,” he says. “Once the officer realizes what he or she is dealing with, Phase Two will kick in and they will immediately unsheathe their pistol and drawdown on the potential psychopath. Then, at Phase Three, the officer will be given free reign to search the individual’s vehicle for weapons and dead bodies. If, and only if, the officer doesn’t find anything, then he will subsequently release the veteran and thank them for their service.”

RTWT.  The WSJ, among others*, have praised the Duffel Blog's satire as cutting edge, and it most certainly IS.

Good stuff, Maynard.

* "others" includes a number of general officers, not the least o' which is retired Marine Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Our favorite jazz guitarist...



I like Wes' version of this tune MUCH better than that ol' chestnut by The Mamas and the Papas, which is well and truly overplayed.  And then there's this, as long as we're on about "California Dreamin'"...



Both tunes are from our way, wayback... as in the mid-to-late '60s.  With apologies to Mr. Dickens: it was the best o' times, it was the worst o' times, with no further elaboration forthcoming.

That said... let's skip forward to a better place in Former Happy Days, i.e., 1976.  I was in Tokyo at the time and listened to this tune from George Benson quite a bit, George bein' another guy who ranks quite high in my panthenon o' jazz guitarists:



Yeah, it's a jazzy sorta day here on THPoNM and memories abound.

Bottom Story of the Day

Ah, we love slow news days, coz then we get stuff like this:

Mars Rover Accidentally Draws A Penis In Outer Space

Nasa's $800 million machines are looking for signs of life on the red planet.

Instead, they've done this. 

That's from BuzzFeed UK.  Really.