In the news

I should really take it easy on the news-reporting industry. After all, I’ve been tangentially connected to it for most of my adult life, so I understand their struggle to make things interesting, right?

Well, yeah. But I also reserve the right to pick on the occasional “WTF?” that pops out of the woodwork too. Attend carefully.

This story comes to us from KSEE.com (KSEE is an NBC station in Fresno):

By Jove, that’s an interesting story about the disappearing/reappearing atmospheric bands. At least it is to a wanna-be planetary astronomer like myself. But… WTF? I “get” the cute thing they’re trying to do there – losing a “stripe” not affecting the planet’s “rank” – but hey there, Sgt. Jupiter, if you can’t turn the corner and get the joke there (and it took me a while to find the gag), it just seems like a monumentally stupid statement. The solar system, unlike this reporter’s iPod, doesn’t have a shuffle mode. Its orbit hasn’t changed. It’s still the fifth planet out from the sun. Surely we could’ve found a better joke:

Time to cover up that Great Red Spot and do something about your equatorial bulge and noxious gases, Jupiter!

Or… maybe we should’ve come clean on the whole thing:

In the meantime, from CNN.com:

Wait, I know the answer to this one. “Just show up,” right?

That’s all for tonight! You’ve been a great audience. (A few folks have mentioned how much they miss me blogging regularly. Trust me, by this weekend you’ll be back to “God, will he shut up?” 😆 )