There are a million things that can go wrong...

As I was reading a certain article online (linked at the end), I came across a quote from a NASA engineer working on super-cool next gen mars rover. The quote was particularly interesting, and I thought of how other people might finish the quote. I have to admit that I'm only an engineer, and not one of these others, so feel free to tell me how wrong I am. (*laughs to self at the implicit suggestion that people are still reading this blog.)

Art major: "There are a million things that can go wrong; fortunately, I can decide that each one is an artistic statement, and it is no longer really 'wrong.' "

Business major: "There are a million things that can go wrong, so we shouldn't invest too much into this."

Music major: "There are a million things that can go wrong; so keep practicing."

Political science major: "There are a million things that can go wrong. Most of them already have."

Theatre major: "There are million things that can go wrong, but with a good ad lib the audience will forgive you. Just make sure the stage crew get it right for the next show."

Nursing/Premed: "There are a million things that can go wrong. If it is this, this or that, someone dies."

Finally, the real quote which inspired this post:
NASA Rover Engineer: "There are a million things that can go wrong, and our job is to identify all of them and make sure they don't happen."

And, the article:

"NASA previews its sexiest Mars Rover yet"

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_16096017

Other interesting facts about the Curiosity rover include that James Cameron, of TITANIC and AVATAR fame, is "in the loop" on this NASA project, since the rover sports 3D cameras. He might be using the 3D footage to make a documentary picture, similar to ones that have been made about the Astoundingly successful Spirit and Opportunity rovers.

(Of course, the James Cameron publicity doesn't hurt NASA's "cool factor" PR...)

You can follow the curiosity rover on twitter:@MarsCuriosity and spirit and opportunity: @MarsRovers

On Dreams

Dreaming... it's a crazy thing. In fact, just sleep is pretty crazy.

Exhibit A (from when xkcd was better than it is today):

http://xkcd.com/203/

Besides xkcd's great take on the absurdity of dreaming, it's a topic that has caused much wonder and interest pretty much since ... the beginning of man.

There's an interesting podcast from Radiolab that has a few sleep topics.

I know at times sleep has seemed to be an obstruction to me, when you're having fun or getting things done and don't really have any desire to sleep. One such time was when we were working on a deadline for compiling the massive Solar Splash Team Report, and all the Figures and Captions etc had to be reformatted. In the process of finishing that document, I stayed awake for some 40 hours. While working on it, I didn't really feel tired, just sitting there, getting water and some snacks, plugging away. However, once I stopped... boy was that a loopy feeling. Dazed, confused, wandering. It's a really unique experience.

I find that it's not too terribly difficult to stay up all night (for me) if the situation is right. In general, some sort of hypnotic source of visual stimulation helps a lot to pass the time. I remember a time in High School where I had recently fixed a garage sale lava lamp, and just sat up till sunrise watching the lava lamp. You have a really interesting perspective on things the next day... things that wouldn't normally seem so connected are linked in strange ways.

And this post wouldn't be complete without mentioning Lucid Dreaming, where you're conscious and in control of your dream, or without mentioning the scariest dream I ever had, which was a fever-inducing hyper-realistic dream which challenged my ability to define reality. Or my second most terrifying dream (which has recurred, always exactly the same), a terrible tale of helpless and lonely struggle. Maybe more on those sometime else...

Dreaming is a mysterious event that is a nearly universal human experience, transcending (to some extent) cultures. The experience of a dream is a strong counter-example to how people perceive reality, or, in the parlance of "Worldview Questions:"

What is real?

I know my answer, and it has been tested to its limits. Do you know yours?