back to article Plutonian 'lava lamp' seas give dwarf planet a regular face lift

NASA has released the most detailed pictures we're likely to get from the New Horizons probe flying past Pluto, and they show the planet displaying habits most commonly associated with 60s décor. Earlier pictures from the probe show a smooth and shiny area on Pluto's surface dubbed Sputnik Planum, consisting of polygon cells …

  1. Mark 85

    Fox and clueless anchors, like that's a surprise when it comes to anything other than shouty politics... Actually it's just not Fox, it's pretty much all of them here in the States, locals and national. The ones who actually had a clue were all forced out when all the TV news went to "Happy Talk" a couple of decades ago.

    Those pictures and video were/are worth the wait, IMO. Very intriguing and eye-opening and the tech might have been "old" but it's still amazing.

    1. PleebSmasher
      Alien

      The "reporter" in question is also a "scientologist".

      We've found the only thing dumber than the Christians populating Fox News.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      To be honest, I am among the dumb and clueless. If she did not ask/comment/challenge, I would not have known.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        She's supposed to be a reporter, or at least, representing reporters

        If she thought to raise the question, it should have been asked of NASA first, then reported to viewers with the answer. It's called journalism.

  2. arctic_haze

    Clueless journalists and conspiracy theories

    I wonder if she is not one of the persons who believe Apollo 11 landed in a Hollywood studio. Her comment could be read as an allusion to possible data fabrication.

    Even as a fan of crackpot theories one needs some consistency. If Moon landings were fake, how can we believe in other space missions? The Earth is flat after all so the conception of an "orbit" is obviously false as well, isn't it?

    1. RIBrsiq
      Holmes

      Re: Clueless journalists and conspiracy theories

      >> Even as a fan of crackpot theories one needs some consistency.

      Ah, but you're failing to consider things from the conspiracy-theorists' PoV:

      Of course the world is a 6000-year-old flatland where π equals 3 and the stars are just pinholes in the heavenly orb orbiting Earth in the sea on which God's throne floats (warning: I may have mixed up a few mythologies)! That's patently obvious to anyone with enough intelligence. But one cannot expect normal people to understand all this; their poor brains cannot handle it, after all. So it's essential to point out the inconsistencies in the lies they believe whenever possible without getting bogged down in large arguments that cannot be resolved -- see "poor brains" earlier.

      So pretty correct, actually, now that I write it down. Except with a slight role-reversal.

      1. Jedit Silver badge

        "Of course the world is a 6000-year-old flatland where π equals 3"

        If you're referring to historical events: the state legislature of Indiana once ruled that pi was 4.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

          1. Jedit Silver badge
            Pint

            "No it didn't. That proposed law was laughed out of the house."

            Submit your correction to Stephen Pile for the next edition of The Book of Heroic Failures. Don't worry about causing offence - he'll take it as a compliment.

        2. RIBrsiq
          Happy

          Re: "Of course the world is a 6000-year-old flatland where π equals 3"

          >> If you're referring to historical events.

          No, I tend to stick with the highest authorities; scripture, in this case. Specifically, Chronicles 4:2:

          "He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim[...]. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it".

          See...? :-P

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "Of course the world is a 6000-year-old flatland where π equals 3"

            Your maths is a bit off even there. "rim to rim" is diameter, making r=5. Circumference Pi(r^2) is therefore just over 78 cubits.

            A 30 cubit circumference would be Pi = 1.2 or something.

            That last part is simply describing the size of device chosen to measure it (a 30 cubit long rope/line). Sadly no mention of what reading that device presented.

            In the recorders place would you rather measure something big at ~78 cubits around with a 1 meter (or yard) ruler, a 5m tape, or a 50m tape? (to cite a modern builders toolkit - excluding modern laser gadgets for the sake of example).

            1. MOH

              Re: "Of course the world is a 6000-year-old flatland where π equals 3"

              Huh?

              Circumference is 2 * Pi * r, the maths is fine.

              *Area* is Pi * (r ^ 2)

          2. Clive Harris
            Headmaster

            Re: Chronicles 4:2

            Bad translation.That's not what it actually says.

            A couple of years back I got in a discussion with a Jewish friend of mine about this. We finished up phoning a rabbi in Jerusalem (his brother) to get a definitive translation of that passage. What it actually says is "The distance across it was 10 cubits, and the measure around was 30 cubits x 111/106'", that's accurate to about 26ppm.

            Put simply, the original English translators didn't fully understand the fiendishly complicated Hebrew writing system, which uses the same symbols for letters and numbers, relying on context to work out the difference (hence our need for a rabbi to work it out). The translators saw a mathematical equation and thought it was a grammatical error, so they ignored it. Subsequent translators never corrected the error.

            It's interesting that someone worked out pi to about 5 decimal places, some 2000 years before decimal places were invented.

            Now, when can we have an "angel" icon for cases like this. In the meantime I'll use the angry schoolmaster instead.

  3. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    To be fair to Fox

    They do take in more than their fair share of the numpties and the clueless.

  4. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    Fox News

    Making Dunning-Kruger an art form since 1996.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: Fox News

      See icon.

      Also, with your permission, I guess I'll print that on a t-shirt.

  5. MT Field

    Simply tremendous - and easily worth every single last one of your precious tax dollars.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon