Science

Ask Dr. Babooner – Comet vs. Lohan

22 Comments

We are ALL Dr. Babooner

Dear Dr. Babooner,

I try to keep up with current events but I am usually disappointed at the top stories on Google and the most recent trending items on Twitter.

Why?

Invariably these most popular stories have to do with movie stars, athletes, psycho killers and the most alarmingly dangerous  things in the world.

I admit some of this exasperation is a matter of selfish pride.

Because while the world is looking closely at what’s up with Lindsey Lohan, I’m involved in a years-long effort to land a probe on the face of a comet.  I played a small role in planning the project, and so did many, many others.  And yet I’m just not seeing very much news  coverage of what I think is the most important story out there.

Am I wrong to feel slighted?

Think for a minute about how you would go about this task if it were your assignment.

    1. Design a machine that can learn something meaningful about a completely foreign object.
    2. Launch that object into space.
    3. Catch up to a comet.
    4. Figure out where to land on a duck-shaped object going 83,000 miles per hour.
    5. Land, understanding that the surface you’re plopping down on is something you can only guess about ten years before you actually have to do it, and your guess has to be good enough to make it all possible.

      6. I think that’s pretty special, and it leads me to the conclusion that people are incredibly silly because they just don’t care about truly important stuff as much as they should.

      And yet I want their approval SO MUCH!

      Dr. Babooner, what is wrong with me?

      Sincerely perplexed,
      Rosetta Stan

      I told Rosetta Stan that he is suffering from a normal human tendency to feel slighted by a world that inexplicably overlooks one’s exceptional achievements. I commiserated with him, offering the opinion that his effort directed at learning about comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is indeed a major event in the history of human achievement and its outcomes will be remembered forever.

      Unfortunately, Lindsey Lohan and her many fans feel exactly the same way about her West End Debut.

      But that’s just one opinion. What do YOU think, Dr. Babooner?

22 thoughts on “Ask Dr. Babooner – Comet vs. Lohan”

  1. Good morning. Rosetta Stan, I would prefer hearing about what you are doing over hearing about Lohan. I am always amazed when I find out about projects for exploring space and other things like that which usually don’t come to my attention. Unfortunately the media seem to be determined to focus on feeding into what they think is the public’s desire to hear about movie stars and other highly attention getting stories.

    I think a lot of things will need to change before there can be a significant change in the kind of top stories that are feed to us by the media. We need a better educated public. Also, we need leadership that will stick it’s neck out and do what is needed to improve our country. We need a lot of things to reach a higher ground where stories about things like the work you are doing, RS, get more attention, Don’t hold your breath waiting for better coverage of your work, because I’m afraid that is not coming very soon. Let’s hope that some day work like yours will get more coverage.

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  2. Rise and Attract Attention Baboons!

    I believe it is quite PC to say regarding MS. Lohan: I just don’t care. However, I also don’t care much about space travel (or scifi lit) which is not PC at all. I don’t mean that I do not support the science behind it (as opposed to, say invading Iraq in 2003 which I did not support at all). I also am fine with scientists exploring space. I just don’t wanna hear about it much.

    I know, I know–I can feel the disapproval.

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  3. Morning all. My father would have plenty to say today. He was completely toasted when the networks quit covering the space launches and you could get him to froth at the mouth by talking about how much money was being paid to celebrities instead of going to science and education.

    Does anybody remember Connections by James Burke? The episode I remember best is one in which he walks the length of the rocket that sent the Apollo ships up and talking about how much it cost and that more money was spent on cosmetics every year than on a space launch. That was the day I quit wearing makeup. So I stand completely with Rosetta Stan – our priorities these days (& not just here in the US) are obscene.

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  4. the news about the comet is very cool it is just marketed incorrectly.
    COMET 67P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO is perfectly acceptable name for the comet communuty but for the twitter community a name like victorias secret torso would get a look that is desired.
    robot landing on victorias secret torso would be an image too hot to pass up. then have a picture of it landing
    https://www.victoriassecret.com/bras/body-by-victoria
    pick your torso

    i think the average brain can handle two thoughts at a time. this week its adrian peterson and ebola then when lunch comes we are down to lunch and one or the other the other goes away until after lunch.
    when the brain opens up for an additional contender it needs to be an excitiing presentation.
    should the probe land near the belly button or the upper torso? ples echeck and give us your opinion.

    it has always amazed me that parents allow this to continue. why is ther no math enthusiasts club , an engineering team, the philosophers quorom ( ok i know why there is no philosophers quorum) instead the football team and baseball team, the basketball team and the wrestling ski and gymnastics all make the local paper but if the physics department develops a world saving antiote it gets page 7 in sall print in back
    i think landing right below the left breast would get this probe the coverage it is desiring

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    1. May YOUR brain can handle two things at once. I’m sleep deprived today and feeling like I can hardly even handle ONE thing at a time!

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      1. i tried redoing my schedule to get more morning time when i am sharpest and wound up in sleep deprivation instead too. i slept in an extra hour today after getting 2 -3 hours in the last 4 nights and wondering why my body wasnt functioning correctly.

        i always handel two things + at once but the quality goes down when im a zombie

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  5. Fueled

    Fueled
    by a million
    man-made
    wings of fire-
    the rocket tore a tunnel
    through the sky-
    and everybody cheered.
    Fueled
    only by a thought from God-
    the seedling
    urged its way
    through thicknesses of black-
    and as it pierced
    the heavy ceiling of the soil-
    and lauched itself
    up into outer space –
    no
    one
    even
    clapped.

    –Marcie Hans

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  6. I agree that the naming of these special entities needs help, something catchier, though perhaps not as catchy as “victoria’s secret torso”. You have to be able to at least pronounce it and remember it to tell other.

    Dale, I’m glad you’re here to keep the wonders of the universe in front of us. I wish I could say I am never tempted by the Lindsay Lohans. The adds that appear at top left of the Trail (and on Facebook, etc.) – I can usually resist, but once in a while, I get caught, and then I get disgusted that I’ve wasted all that time…

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  7. i think it is interesting and too bad but a given that lindsey lohan , paris hilton, george clooney, mel gibson, will get the click and a follow on. its too bad thats the way it is but.. this year joe dowling bain behlke and the new theater at the ordway should all be making lots of news but we get adrian peterson and the guy getting tasered. its the way we are.

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  11. Here’s what’s currently cycling through msn.com’s News Headlines window :
    Us Military planes arrive at epicenter of Ebola
    Stocks Erase Year’s best rally
    What’s their IQ? See scores of famous folks (picturing Nicole Kidman et al.)
    Paddle boarding with Baby Dolphins
    18 Photos that will make you want to see Paris
    Vick: I wasn’t prepared for Chargers game
    Celebrity hairstyles we love (picturing Halle Berry)
    SNL Star Jan Hooks dead at 57
    12 Foods you’ve ben eating wrong
    Best vehicles for tailgaiting

    Man, I just can’t think of anything more pressing than these.

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  12. There is an underloved Jimmy Stewart movie called “Magic Town.” Stewart is an opinion polster (this is 1947 mind you, just ahead of the 1948 presidential election) who finds a town which perfectly represents nation-wide opinion (this magic town in 1947 consisted, if I recall right, of all WASP’s). He plants seeds and listens to what they say. Then the people catch on and start shaping opinion,
    So I say we rewrite it, as a man who finds a blog that is a magic town. We will call it Magic Blog. All the same things could happen. This is a good idea, don you not think. BUT Trail Baboon, would not be that blog. Or the polster could watch us and decide the popular opinion os exaclty the opposite of us.

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  13. The mall/hotel facility I find myself at this conference is good evidence for the lack of substance in thought and priorities you all have written about today. To judge by appearances, it would seem that the most important things for us to worry about are our fashions and our amusements. It is encouraging that the store clerks and hotel employees are quite interested in the several hundred play therapists who have descended on the place, and they want to know about what we do and seem to feel that what we do is valuable.

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