Saturday, May 24, 2008

Nerd Weekend: Mission to Mars, GPS Art, and Nerd Music

The University of Arizona has participated in almost every American planetary mission for a half-century and has received more NASA grants for space exploration than any other university in the nation.

The current mission to Mars is the Phoenix Mars Mission (super website, do check it out). The Phoenix lander is set to touch down on the Red Planet this Sunday at 4:38 pm Tucson time. After the landing NASA will turn over mission control to the University. This is a big deal. Huge deal.

In anticipation of the landing, Mars Mania has swept the city. I'm heading to an event tonight in Ventana Canyon to celebrate with other nerds. Tomorrow the University has several events planned to mark the milestone, including watching the landing with the scientists running the program. Very cool.

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The Biggest Drawing in the World has been created by a guy in Sweden, a GPS in a briefcase, and several dozen DHL employees. Such a fantastic idea, creative and technical, with an impressive end result. The Making the Drawing video is great.

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Lastly, this week I learned of a new collection of music for nerds. Old Nerdy Bastard is a collection of remix compilations, some great, some odd, some referencing Dumbledore. I particularly recommend track 17: Nerd Lust, which will exhort you to "shake your inhaler, baby!"

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