Happy Nerds

The Phoenix Lander made it to the surface of mars just a few minutes ago. PJ and I tuned into the television broadcast just as the lander was in the middle of the nerve wracking 7 minute sequence of hurtling through the martian atmosphere and slowing down enough to land safely. Despite the fact we’re removed several light minutes from the actual show, it was exciting to watch the events unfold from the JPL mission control room. Good on them. I watched a room full of happy nerds put a sophisticated robotic platform in the martian arctic.

This reminded me of a conversation I recently had with Dr. Gonzo and the Burger Dude. We were speaking back to our awareness of current events during our youth. I remember the Apollo landings and the FLQ Crisis when I was a yardape. I had just turned 8 a few months before Neil Armstrong uttered that crackly but well known sentence. Important events in world and Canadian history respectively. I was amazed that people had gone from the Earth to the moon, and I was annoyed that news coverage of the crisis in Quebec was preempting the usual dreck that I preferred to watch. There’s no accounting for taste, and in my defence, I was 9. I don’t think I was particulary smart at that tender age.

The similarity and the difference between today’s martian landing and the nearly 40 year old moon landing is striking. I suspect most people who had a television in 1969 watched the fuzzy astounding images from the Sea of Tranquility. The first images have just arrived back from the Phoenix Lander. We’ve had to wait for a relay from a satellite in orbit around Mars. I’ve been following the programming and news from a few web sites as well as avidly watching the Discovery channel coverage. It’s astounding the amount of coverage, and at the same time, how indifferent most folks likely are today compared to the mass excitement I recall from 1969. I bet Stephen Harper’s European trip gets more coverage than Phoenix in tomorrow’s newspaper.

The achievements of the JPL and NASA are indelibly stamped in the history books. Today just adds another chapter in that record. It was a treat to watch the nerds in the control room hugging and shaking hands as Phoenix landed 171.5 million miles away. It makes me think fondly of my early wakeup calls, and it makes me look forward to future planetary exploration. I feel a kinship with the happy nerds.

On The Street With The Little Fugger

I was doing some regular canine maintenance with Grendel the other night. We stopped at Sassinak’s for a visit, and afterwards we proceeded southbound on Church St. As we were rambling through the Village we came upon a very small chihuahua standing beside his human. This tiny creature must have been 3 or 4 pounds at most. He was half the size of Barney. The teacup overflows.

I was immediately struck by the look of expectation in this tiny dog’s eyes. He looked at Grendel and Grendel looked back at him for a second. Then, the wee dog started quivering and bouncing around a little bit as if to entice Grendel to play with him. Unfortunately for the tiny canine, his human took one look at Grendel and quickly picked up the dimunitive creature.

Without saying anything Grendel and I carried on. The whole incident couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds. I felt kinda sad for the poor wee dog, because it was obvious that he had an overprotective human who coddled him and kept him from the company of other dogs. The little bugger had great expectations of meeting another canine only to have those expectations dashed. He probably would have had a few seconds of being nose to nose with his own kind instead of being carried aloft like some sort of Paris Hilton fashion accessory. So much for letting nature take its course.

Grendel likely forgot about the encounter within a few steps, but it has been bothering me for a few days. I could be overreacting but to me, this is as much an example of cruelty as the vicious bastards who beat their animals or worse. This poor dog probably doesn’t have any contact with other dogs. Grendel and Barney have friends and aren’t afraid to meet other dogs in the street. That’s just the way it should be no matter what species you are.