It might be kind of interesting to see what a seismometer shows. The Viking Landers were equipped with them, and didn't detect much at all, which led to the presumption that there's no seismic activity on Mars. With payload weight at such a premium I can understand why seismometers are a low priority any more, given that previous detectors didn't detect anything, but then we risk this trap of circular logic--we never will detect seismic activity if we're not looking for it. Kinda reminds me (as the flip side) of Mr. Spock's cliche line, "sensors are detecting energy of a form never before seen!". Uh huh. Right. A Universal Sensor must work on the same principles as a Universal Translator. But boy, wouldn't a Universal Sensor make our lives so much simpler? We'd never miss anything!

There's no discernable pattern to image releases. There are lots of gaps, days with no images from a particular camera, and I guess I have to assume that the instrument wasn't used that sol. If I let myself think any other way, well, That Way Lies Madness--before you know it I'll be wondering if "They" are hiding images of microfossils and all the other "good stuff". Occam's Razor helps me sleep at night.

I have to admit I was a little puzzled by what people call "macaroni". First time I heard the term I scurried off to the images looking for literal wormy-shaped structures. But we're actually talking about empty channels, right? I seem to recall in yesterday's press conference that they mentioned those as one of the pieces of evidence for water, veins of softer material dissolved away leaving a void. But hey, if I've got that wrong and you can point me to a picture of something that looks like macaroni, I'd sure love to see it!