April Fools APOD: Missing the Joke?

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is titled, "April Fools Day More
Intense On Mars." I spent more time than I care to admit to looking
at the picture for a knee-slappin' joke, but I can't find any. Is
there some extremely subtle aspect of this picture that's funny, or is
the joke on us for looking for something funny?

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040401.html

Tom

Tom Polakis asked:

I spent more time than I care to admit to looking
at the picture for a knee-slappin' joke, but I can't find any. Is
there some extremely subtle aspect of this picture that's funny, or is
the joke on us for looking for something funny?


A link at from the "Explanation" box (at the bottom of the photo) is
"intense on Mars." A link off of that page is "April Fools." Following
that link will take you to the following "newstory" g :


snip

Spam is out of this world
By Adam Turner
April 1, 2004

A torrent of interplanetary spam has been found responsible for crippling
the onboard computer of NASA's Spirit rover in January.

Spirit lay crippled on the Martian surface for two weeks after a glitch in
its onboard spam filtering saw countless offers of pornography and cheap
drugs choke its flash memory, according to NASA spokeswoman Shirley Knott.

"It would appear Russian spammers obtained Spirit's email address from a
leaked internal NASA mailing list," says Knott.

"The rover's limited onboard artificial intelligence was foolish enough to
apply for an shonky online marketing diploma. Soon after offers of cheap
WD40 and antenna enlargements began clogging the link between Mars and
NASA's Deep Space Network. Eventually, Spirit's file management software
choked and sent a distress message to the central processor which kept
rebooting."

Technicians solved the problem by upgrading the artificial intelligence on
both Spirit and its twin Opportunity.

"The rovers now have enough sense not to respond to spam or open unknown
email attachments, which makes them smarter than your average person," says
Knott.



The news comes too late for the British Mars probe Beagle 2, which is
believed to have fallen prey to a Martian strain of the Nigerian money
laundering scam.

Controllers have been unable to remotely reset the probe and expect it to
keep bombarding the earth with spam for eternity, introducing itself as the
brother of former Martian president Joseph Estrada and appealing for help to
transfer money back to earth.

unsnip


This must be what you are looking for.


---
Martin
http://home.earthlink.net/~martinhowell

Tom Polakis asked:

I spent more time than I care to admit to looking
at the picture for a knee-slappin' joke, but I can't find any. Is
there some extremely subtle aspect of this picture that's funny, or is
the joke on us for looking for something funny?


A link at from the "Explanation" box (at the bottom of the photo) is
"intense on Mars." A link off of that page is "April Fools." Following
that link will take you to the following "newstory" g :


snip

Spam is out of this world
By Adam Turner
April 1, 2004

A torrent of interplanetary spam has been found responsible for crippling
the onboard computer of NASA's Spirit rover in January.

Spirit lay crippled on the Martian surface for two weeks after a glitch in
its onboard spam filtering saw countless offers of pornography and cheap
drugs choke its flash memory, according to NASA spokeswoman Shirley Knott.

"It would appear Russian spammers obtained Spirit's email address from a
leaked internal NASA mailing list," says Knott.

"The rover's limited onboard artificial intelligence was foolish enough to
apply for an shonky online marketing diploma. Soon after offers of cheap
WD40 and antenna enlargements began clogging the link between Mars and
NASA's Deep Space Network. Eventually, Spirit's file management software
choked and sent a distress message to the central processor which kept
rebooting."

Technicians solved the problem by upgrading the artificial intelligence on
both Spirit and its twin Opportunity.

"The rovers now have enough sense not to respond to spam or open unknown
email attachments, which makes them smarter than your average person," says
Knott.



The news comes too late for the British Mars probe Beagle 2, which is
believed to have fallen prey to a Martian strain of the Nigerian money
laundering scam.

Controllers have been unable to remotely reset the probe and expect it to
keep bombarding the earth with spam for eternity, introducing itself as the
brother of former Martian president Joseph Estrada and appealing for help to
transfer money back to earth.

unsnip


This must be what you are looking for.


---
Martin
http://home.earthlink.net/~martinhowell

"Tom Polakis" wrote in message
m...
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is titled, "April Fools Day More
Intense On Mars." I spent more time than I care to admit to looking
at the picture for a knee-slappin' joke, but I can't find any. Is
there some extremely subtle aspect of this picture that's funny, or is
the joke on us for looking for something funny?

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040401.html

Tom

I think the joke is just in the explanation, not the image itself.

"Tom Polakis" wrote in message
m...
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is titled, "April Fools Day More
Intense On Mars." I spent more time than I care to admit to looking
at the picture for a knee-slappin' joke, but I can't find any. Is
there some extremely subtle aspect of this picture that's funny, or is
the joke on us for looking for something funny?

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040401.html

Tom

I think the joke is just in the explanation, not the image itself.

Google's may be easier to parse:

http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html


-Junior

Google's may be easier to parse:

http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html


-Junior

I have asked you repeatedly not to discuss Martian geology unless I'm
around to provide you with the appropriate cues.

John Steinberg:
...and extra points to
those who spotted Bea Arthur's brassiere near the center of the image.

That is Dick Cheney's jock strap.

And perhaps most notably, in the lower left corner, approximately
twenty pixels up from the bottom and ten pixels in from the left, is a
Krispy Kreme donut. (Oh, the humanity!)

You're obviously much more at home with medical science. I see a Nobel
Prize for Exomedicine for you for discovering what killed off the
Martians.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

I have asked you repeatedly not to discuss Martian geology unless I'm
around to provide you with the appropriate cues.

John Steinberg:
...and extra points to
those who spotted Bea Arthur's brassiere near the center of the image.

That is Dick Cheney's jock strap.

And perhaps most notably, in the lower left corner, approximately
twenty pixels up from the bottom and ten pixels in from the left, is a
Krispy Kreme donut. (Oh, the humanity!)

You're obviously much more at home with medical science. I see a Nobel
Prize for Exomedicine for you for discovering what killed off the
Martians.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

I just applied!!

I'll let you know if I get selected, thanks for the heads up.

Francis Marion