"S/2004 N 1" doesn't exactly dance off the tongue. However, that marvel of design the Hubble Space Telescope spotted this traveller in orbit around Neptune. Over two and a half billion miles away.
Now, that's a long spot. Plus, S/2004N1 is only twelve miles across. Or, to put it another way, spotting it is the equivalent of spotting a football five hundred thousand miles away.
You young whippersnappers are probably too young to recall, but back when the HST got launched, it had severe technical troubles that comedians the world over fell over themselves to scorn. Where are the jokes now?
The Gene Roddenbery allusion is a quote of his I've always liked: "Did aliens build the pyramids? No! Human beings did, because they're clever and they work hard." Likewise S/2004N1 didn't leap up and shout hello!, it was tracked down via human ingenuity and ability.
We may not be very space-mobile ourselves, yet our constructs and instrumenalities* do the job for us.
Neptune. Like a one-eyed anti-Smiley.
Atomic Food
What is it about hot spiced food that we Hom Sap like so much? I ask this whilst scoffing "Hot Chilli Peanuts and Black Beans", having had a salad at lunch that featured fiery Peppadew peppers, and looking at a tin of Kschololat that had chilli-chocolate coated almonds in several Christmasses ago. I bought chilli-and-ginger chocolate from the stall at the Oldham Beer Festival, and darling daughter and I both like to slather our sandwiches with Sweet Chilli Sauce, apart from the times when I douse them with Chilli and Tomato Sauce, or perk them up with wasabi.
If you stop to think about it, liking hot spicy food is anti-evolutionary. Our caveman ancestors - no, that won't work here - our hunter-gatherer ancestors would surely have spat things like chilli peppers across the room on first tasting - "Ack! O! My tongue is alight! My mouth has been imbued with molten rocks! I cannot see as my eyes are awash! Also disgusting stuff is cascading from my nose!"
Somewhere along the line the genes must have got mixed up. Instead of the wholly-credible scene above we get - "Oooh. Aaaah. YES! I like this burning sensation upon the most tender parts of my pie-hole <cue pervy snigger>"
Thus we descend to Saturday night, or more accurately the small hours of Sunday morning, when young men rendered silly by drink order the hottest vindaloo takeaways possible and try to eat them (evidence of which is usually found by Monday morning workers walking those very same pavements).
The villain of the piece. Oh so quiet and deceptive. DO NOT BE FOOLED!
* I just had to include this word because it's from "Forbidden Planet" and conjures up images of Robbie the Robot. Who does not resemble "Curiosity" - but that's another story
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