I never said the blues are not real! I've expressed the limitations (and advantages) of the Pancam filters and the software used to process them and my own observations of rocks on this planet.

What are these hypotheses? Blue bacteria? That mars was visited by Sherwan Williams? That the boys from Queer Eye work at NASA and just don't like all that depressing red? That Picasso's Blue Period is inspired by extraterrestrial observations? That the Blue Nude is a Martian come down to entertain Mattise?

I know there is blue on Mars. Have you looked for anomalies in the other wavelengths? (Nothing wrong with anomalies, BTW, it's how you discover things.)

As an avid adherent to the practice of Multiple Working Hypotheses I also believe that "everything is possible and nothing is real." Hell, I still think that there is a small chance the great pyramid might be a giant water pump. Observation, thought experiment, imagination, hypothesis, evidence, thesis, argument, exchange of ideas, experiment...round and round it goes. Biology, geology, philosphy...Consilience! It's how it's done, it's what got us out of caves, for crying out loud. (so how come I keep crawling into mines?...hum...) I got a Bachelor of ARTS long before the Masters in SCIENCE. You need to believe something outlandish everyday. Then you have to revert to what is predictable, provable and set about predicting and proving. Where else do you think we will see blue? What is the connection with other blues? The theory of plate tectonics was laughed off the stage decades before there was the evidence to prove it. Throw out those ideas...what are you afraid of? Flames? I've seen geologists get into near fist fights over things like the color of a rock. (okay, I've been one of them) One of my favorite parts of field work is "Beer Thirty": the team is back at the truck, we've dipped into the cooler, the maps are spread out on the truck hood held down by the different rocks each has found that day. We drink, we discuss, we "arm wave", we have dinner, we discuss, we argue, we go back to the hotel or tent and look things up, plot them, think, think, think. And the next day we do it over again.

But if you want to gather evidence and wait until you have enough support for your theories, then go ahead. I've done it too. But eventually I brought them to the group and said "Here...what do you think, what have I not considered, does this float?" I don't mind falling off a limb I've crawled out on, at least I determine it's elastic limit. That's why I'm still holding to a sulfate possiblity for the outcrop, 'cause I can't get any chemical data other than alot of sulfur and no one has said why it cannot be sulfate. But I am not discarding the ejecta blanket, lithified dune, or welded tuff models, either.

But I kinda wish both you and NASA would just speak your minds, give us data to work with and let us all entertain the possibilities.

Okay....sorry...I get on these rants, see....gotta get a beer...