Just when you thought Mars couldn't get any stranger

[pokerfan]

:wow:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/01/11/another-dose-of-martian-awesome

[Fridays Child]

1. Eyelashes.

Mars has eyelashes!

[zbdent]

6. must be how they make up for needing women ...

[old mark]

7. Could also be very large asparagus......nt

[Orsino]

9. Mars needs mascara! n/t

[Fridays Child]

16. ...

:spray:

[Vinnie From Indy]

10. who is that cutie in your picture?

They do look like eyelashes.

[Fridays Child]

15. Why, Vinnie...

...that's me. :blush:

[Solly Mack]

2. Ooooooo

K&R

[midnight]

3. Finally a photo that doesn't look like a marble...

[ashling]

4. That reminds me, it is time for

my yearly refrigerator clear-out.

[aquart]

5. Oooh.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. I need to share my experience with a word this author uses

He says that carbon dioxide sublimates when it goes directly from solid to gas, but my physical chemistry professor made a point of correcting me in front of the class when I used that word, saying it sublimes. I'm thinking either word would suffice, and that he was being anal-retentive by correcting me. Any opinions?

Beautiful, intriguing photo, BTW.

[Orrex]

11. FWIW Dictionary.com gives this definition:

sub⋅li⋅mate
  /v. ˈsʌbləˌmeɪt; n., adj. ˈsʌbləmɪt, -ˌmeɪt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation Show IPA verb, -mat⋅ed, -mat⋅ing, noun, adjective

–verb (used with object)
1. Psychology. to divert the energy of (a sexual or other biological impulse) from its immediate goal to one of a more acceptable social, moral, or aesthetic nature or use.
2. Chemistry.
a. to sublime (a solid substance); extract by this process.
b. to refine or purify (a substance).

Of course, the technical definition in chemistry might further maintain the distinction, but it appears that "to sublimate" is synonymous with "to sublime." Perhaps your prof simply had chosen his preference and wanted to make sure that everyone complied with it?

[caraher]

12. Might be a case of language evolving redundancy

Perhaps it went something like this... there was the verb "to sublime" from which the noun "submlimation" was coined to refer to the process. Then over time the noun transformed into a new verb, "sublimate" - originally a "mistake" but one repeated so often that it is now a word in its own right.

[Cirque du So-What]

14. Yes, he definitely demanded compliance with his methodology

his terminology & his technique. Strutting little martinet upon recollection.

[Thor_MN]

17. IMO, a substance sublimes, but if I make it happen, I sublimate it.

So if I cause solid carbon dioxide to warm up, I sublimate it and I can watch it sublime.

[Orrex]

18. Curiously, if I transform my resentment of my brother into a creative artwork, I've sublimated, too!

What's weirder is that I don't even have a brother.

[byronius]

13. Holy Cow.

[krispos42]

19. There's no sense if scale at all

Even looking at the big versions of this, I can get absolutely no sense of scale at all.

And without scale, I can't wrap my mind around this at all! Ack, it's making my brain hurt!







Looks like the cover art for a 1960's sci-fi novel