The Next Bus To Mars

I was watching a show about sending people to Mars, what it'd take to get a crew. The big issue is the length of time it'd take to get there and back, years. And of course on such a journey, all of them cooped up in a tiny spaceship, there'd be all kinds of chances to get sick of each other. Or, on the other hand, to be attracted to each other. So one of the issues addressed was sex between astronauts.

Then right after watching this show, I took the bus downtown. I started thinking, What if the crew was the people on the bus? Just a random bunch of people. We all seemed to be getting along OK, at least in the 20-30 minutes together, of course also with people getting off and on. There was no sex I saw, except a young man was speaking with a young woman ... and there's no telling where that could lead, say if they were alone in a motel instead of on a bus...

So among the first crew to Mars we have: A boy with a big backpack, so big he's wearing it and sitting sideways so the backpack has its own seat. Put him down for two tickets. A schoolgirl who's drawn a red peace symbol on her cheek. A big potbellied guy with a beard. A cleaning lady at one of the motels who's chomping her mouth up and down all the time but apparently not chewing anything. A little later there was a guy I've seen on the bus before, who knows a lot about Korean society from a couple of sales trips he's made there.

I minded my business, just sitting there thinking about (and making notes about) the others. I'm sure I'd qualify, at least, for the trip to Mars.

Ice on Mars

LOS ANGELES — Scientists believe NASA's Phoenix Mars lander exposed bits of ice while recently digging a trench in the soil of the Martian arctic, the mission's principal investigator said Thursday.

This would be good news -- I guess. What do I know? But you figure ice is basically petrified water, right? And water means there could be life, and clues as to the planet's past, or something.

Anyway, knowledge is a good thing, for those in the know. In one of the articles I saw it said they could be vast quantities of ice in there somewhere. And that would be greater. If it's like on earth, we might find preserved mammoths or inhabitants from long ago. Or more clues about the planet's history.