Okay, I think I’m a fairly reasonable cat when it comes to scientific inquiry, but this experiment just makes me sad beyond words. According to NASA:

< illustration: NASA.

“The Mission Objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) include confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon’s South Pole. The identification of water is very important to the future of human activities on the Moon. LCROSS will excavate the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon’s polar craters with two heavy impactors in 2009 to test the theory that ancient ice lies buried there. The impact will eject material from the crater’s surface to create a plume that specialized instruments will be able to analyze for the presence of water (ice and vapor), hydrocarbons and hydrated materials.”

“Excavate”? Are they joking?

If you have a 10-inch telescope or larger you’ll actually be able to see the impact from Earth. The resulting damage from the impact of these spacecrafts (actually missiles) striking the surface at over 5,000 m.p.h. is expected to be spread over an area several miles wide. Is this a respectful way to go about learning things? Does this remind anybody of settlers’ attitude toward and exploitation of “frontier lands”?

Disgusting. The moon-bombing is set to happen on Oct 9.

To read more agency-speak, click here.

Better yet, watch this awesome video. (thanks Hugo & Jordan!)

pinky

[ That's moon abuse. Scientists should follow some kind of ethical guidelines when they are designing experiments, like "Would you be okay doing this experiment to your own mommy?" If not, then probably you shouldn't be doing it! Posted by Kim. ]

I was going to write a post about President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize but what’s the point - the Juice Media guys already did it.

Bunny

Oh Dear! magazine is a cool online magazine for all you D.I.Y. girls out there. And guess what - The Pinky Show is on page 78 in this month’s issue. What does it say? I don’t know but Pinky is translating it as part of her attempt to learn Spanish.

I hope we get huge in Mexico. Oh Dear! magazine is at:

[ www.ohdearzine.com ]

Bunny

From our e-mail:

Hi Pinky & Bunny, I notice you guys haven’t been very actively lately. I was wondering How are you planning on celebrating Columbus Day today? What is your take on all these people who say he was a murderer? Do you agree? Josh

My reply to Josh:

“Not very active lately”? Don’t piss me off.

And regarding Columbus Day, we’re going to celebrate the same way most everybody else celebrates Columbus Day here in America. First we’re going to watch baseball on TV, then we’ll toast Columbus with a few beers, then finally we’ll drive our automobile to a shopping mall so we can spend money on THINGS. We celebrate all our genocidal favorites (Alexander, Hitler, Henry Kissinger, Pol Pot, etc.) on their respective special days like this. Why, you do it different?

Bunny.

Incidentally, Venezuelans should lay off the history books.

[ photo from Reuters ]

Posted by Bunny.

So I guess Jordan from yesterday’s Bunny Mailbag was offended by my resonse and took it upon himself to write back. Here’s an excerpt:

…I knew you guys would say that you hate Columbus becaues that’s the typical response from socialist fucktards like you. I see you’ll be in Canada soon so why not just stay there. YOu think they’re a utopian paradise? WHAT A JOKE. THEY have the SAME SHIT going on over there and OVERALL it’s WORSE. So enjoy your time kissing Canadian ASS and I hope you get detained at the border trying to re-enter the US! Jordan

Hilarious. I’ll just make a few points:

1. I don’t hate Columbus because I’m a socialist. (When did I say I was a socialist?) I just have a problem with greedy, slave-trading, genocidal maniacs. Plus, he was a poor administrator. Do I need more reasons?

2. Whether we live in Canada or the U.S., we’ll still keep up with our critique of U.S. hegemony, thank you very much. Why? Simply because the U.S. remains #1 in messing up the planet in oh-so-many ways. Don’t take it so personal, geez. As soon as the U.S. steps back from these bad habits, we’ll turn our attention to other topics, such as cross-stitching, which is really a great hobby (everyone should try it).

3. And finally, here’s a mini-checklist just I threw together to help answer that profound question advanced by our fan Jordan: “Should We Kiss Canada’s Ass: Yes or No?”

Have single-payer health care? Yes.
Have massive drop-dead stupid-scary oil sand project? Yes.
Have homeless people? Lots.
Settler state structure? Yes, just like U.S.
Signed UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? No, just like U.S.
Signed Convention on Cluster Munitions Treaty? Yes, unlike U.S.
Military spending as % of GDP? 111th in world (U.S. 1st, of course)
Invaded Iraq with U.S.? No.
In Afghanistan? Yes.
Have nuclear weapons? No.
Thinks they own the North Pole? Yes.
Hockey or Baseball? Hockey.
Responsible for making Top Gun & Pretty Woman? No.
Who has nicer flag, U.S. or Canada? Canada.
Tastier ice cream: U.S. or Canada? We’ll find out when we get there.

So there it is. We’ll discuss and decide on the ass kissing thing later.

Posted by Bunny.

P.S. When I get to Canada I will be looking for one of these (below). A friend told me they are large enough to ride and I have never tried that.

[ Kim: Isn't Julia Roberts Canadian? Wouldn't that make Canada at least partly responsible for Pretty Woman? ]

[ Bunny: No, she's not Canadian. Which is another plus for Canada, I suppose. ]

[ note from Pinky: We do an exhibition in Canada and suddenly this person is verbally attacking Canada? What's wrong with this guy??? I've noticed over the years that many U.S. Americans quickly get defensive or belligerent if someone says something critical about the U.S., or god forbid even just says something nice about another country. Has anyone else noticed this or is this just my imagination? Are people from most other countries like this too or is this something that's "very American"? ]

Okay, if you’re a regular reader of our blog, by now you may have noticed that we have a perverse fascination with cutting-edge technologies of war and death. (Like this, or this…) A small part of the attraction I’m sure is just the “wow, that’s amazing”-factor involved. The remainder is more like, “wow, that’s totally insane.”

I suppose a reasonable question would be: Do we really need more craziness in the world?

Unfortunately, even if you think the answer is ‘no’, when it comes to the proliferation of weapons technologies, even the most futuristic inventions eventually become more widely available. Which means there may come a day where every nerd with a god-complex will have access to his very own swarm of MAVs.

Enjoy your paranoid nightmares.

Bunny

By Bunny, PSR.

WINNIPEG, CANADA - The first fund-raising event for the upcoming exhibition by The Pinky Show at the University of Winnipeg’s Gallery 1C03 was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters today, resulting in the sale of 18, possibly more, t-shirts.

Reports confirm it was, apparently, somewhat like an unholy shark feeding-frenzy. No serious injuries were reported.

The event, staged by the University of Winnipeg’s Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies (IWGS), was highly successful. Kim Hunter, suspected leader of left-wing fringe group Women, said, “We’ve sold 18 t-shirts”.

“18 shirts is a lot of shirts. I don’t think we’ve even sold 18 shirts from our website in the past 3 months,” commented Pinky, democratically elected leader of the fabulous Pinky Show project. “I’m not sure, I have to check.”

Semi-related: Pinky, Bunny, and Emily folded up a sizable stack of new Pinky Show mini-zines, which are set to debut at a roundtable discussion on the subject of academic freedom, November 17 at the University of Winnipeg. For more information, you gotta find out yourself because that’s all I know.

Report on bake sale based on “facts” heard third-hand by Bunny (IWGS Kim > Pinky > Bunny). Bake sale photos courtesy of IWGS Kim, mini-zine photo by Pinky.

[ Note from Pinky: Bunny & I send our appreciation and thanks to everybody who helped make this happen - Kim, Lissie, Tyler, Roewan, and Milena! xoxo pinky ]