Love Those Nerds

NASA

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took this shot, capturing its own shadow, while hovering over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during the first instance of powered, controlled flight on another planet. It used its navigation camera, which autonomously tracks the ground during flight.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages this technology demonstration project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA’s Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development.

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

They flew an RC helicopter on Mars -

on fucking Mars, man

Love A Nerd

Nerds rule.

Of course, I have no idea if this is really a thing, but I don't care. It's too cool.

Today's Today

Pi Priced Pi Day Pie

Today's Today

Happy Pi Day, nerds.

Holiday Safety Tip

Nothing spoils the Christmas mood like some thieving asshole.

And while I'd rather watch these dripping dicks get blown up, that wouldn't exactly be in keeping with the spirit of the season - or the law, for that matter. 

It's just good to know there are people out there who know how to do stuff, and do it in a way that makes the point while staying inside the boundaries (something we've been sorely missing of late).

May the fake lord bless you and keep you, Super Nerds.

Super Nerds

Scientists have (again) landed a spacecraft on the proverbial dime.

Starting from a planet which is traveling 67,000 miles per hour and rotating at 1500 feet per second, shooting at a planet which is traveling thru space at 54,000 miles per hour and rotating at 800 feet per second - and is 40 million miles away.

40,000,000 miles. 
Right on the button.

I think I'll go ahead and trust scientists on this Climate Change stuff.

hat tip = @ScottLinnen

President Capone

While we don't get to see 45*'s tax records right now, we can learn part of what we need to know by looking at the tiny sliver of information they do allow us to see.

It ain't sexy - it won't excite anybody outside a relatively small circle of Numbers Nerds - but this is how these things get done.

WaPo, David Herzig and Bridget Crawford


It’s possible the president filed the right paperwork. But without a full release of his tax returns, the available evidence suggests he hasn’t. According to New York City property records, Trump paid $13,000 in state and local transfer taxes for these two sales. That is the correct amount for a sale between strangers. But if he paid state and local transfer taxes, that means he didn’t treat the transfers as gifts. And on the real estate forms filed in New York, Trump didn’t check any of the boxes indicating that these were sales between relatives or sales of less than the entire property. It would seem, then, that he treated the transactions as if they were sales for fair market value to a stranger.

-snip-

Since Trump did not cast the transactions as gifts for state and local tax purposes, it is almost certain that he did not do so for federal gift tax purposes, either. In our combined 40 years of experience as tax lawyers, we are unaware of a situation in which a taxpayer would report a transaction as a fair market value between strangers on the state level (and thus incur real estate taxes) but treat it as a gift at the federal level (and thus incur an additional tax). It’s fair to infer that Trump didn’t follow the rules.

And just in case you're looking for work in a field that's almost perfect for keeping you busy for decades to come as we try to unravel the shit blanket that's been thrown over our heads, it's worth considering a career in Forensic Accounting (yes - that's a thing). And if we're going to have any real chance to fix a tax system that's totally FUBAR, we'll be in dire need of some very good Numbers Nerds.

How Things Change

In 1969, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins took this picture of Apollo 11's Lunar Landing Module, with (obviously) the Earth in the background.

Dramatic and interesting and Nerd-Cool-As-Fuck, because at that moment, Collins is the only human being - living or dead - who isn't in that picture.

What's the word for the exact opposite of "selfie"?

A Lousy 10 Million

Figure out two things: 

1) how to get the nerds the support they need

2) how to stay the fuck outa their way

The Mic Drop

Nobody's doing it better right now than Larry Wilmore.

Still hoping Trevor Noah will at least start to catch up soon.  Also hoping the suits give him the space and the help he needs to do that.

Happy Day, Nerds

It's Back To The Future Day!

But alas, no flying cars.

Rockin' The Amplitude

Today's Wow

I'm something of a Sapio-Sexual, so I think any Fem-i-Nerd is kinda hot anyway, but holy crap.  If STEM courses are populated with women like this one, I suddenly have reason for hope.