xkcd makes me sad

Today's xkcd



"On January 26th, 2274 Mars days into the mission, NASA declared Spirit a 'stationary research station', expected to stay operational for several more months until the dust buildup on its solar panels forces a final shutdown."
Opportunity has still not checked in after the planet wide dust storm that started over 100 days ago. NASA is still trying to contact the rover. In the meantime, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was able to take a picture of it during a recent flyover. (Gizmodo)



Opportunity has operated 5554 sols since landing, having exceeded its operating plan by 14 years, 147 days (in Earth time). As of January 23, 2018, the rover had traveled 45.09 kilometers (28.02 miles) which is the furthest distance any vehicle has traveled on the surface of another planetary body. (Wikipedia)
 
January 1960 was also the first descent to the bottom of the Challenger Deep. The 60’s sounds like quite a decade for achievements.

—Patrick
 
Today's xkcd



"On January 26th, 2274 Mars days into the mission, NASA declared Spirit a 'stationary research station', expected to stay operational for several more months until the dust buildup on its solar panels forces a final shutdown."
Late Tuesday night, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent their final data uplink to the Opportunity rover on Mars. Over this connection, via the Deep Space Network, the American jazz singer Billie Holiday crooned "I'll Be Seeing You,"....

The scientists waited to hear some response from their long-silent rover, which had been engulfed in a global dust storm last June, likely coating its solar panels in a fatal layer of dust. Since then, the team of scientists and engineers have sent more than 835 commands, hoping the rover will wake up from its long slumber—that perhaps winds on Mars might have blown off some of the dust that covered the panels. (Ars Technica)

 
My parents would win this hands down. Like a spice rack they had that was more decorative than utilitarian. My mom took it down a few years back and there were still jars on it that had the original 1970 spices.
 
I remember cleaning out my cupboards last year and finding things from our first apartment, which I remember because there is no Wegmans in Colorado. So at least 12+ years, but probably still not winning.
 

Dave

Staff member
When I was in the Marines I worked in the storeroom of a chow hall. There was a can of dehydrated vinegar that was on the shelf and never left. The date on the can was 1964. This was 1985. I was 19.

Score: 110.5.

Nothing I ever find in my house will beat that.
 
When I was in the Marines I worked in the storeroom of a chow hall. There was a can of dehydrated vinegar that was on the shelf and never left. The date on the can was 1964. This was 1985. I was 19.

Score: 110.5.

Nothing I ever find in my house will beat that.
That's why it explicitly states self-bought. I've seen military rations from WWI (no, that's not a typo, just one) still stocked as "usable".
 


My choice: Burnt (2015) starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, and Daniel Bruhl. It's got 28% on Rotten Tomatoes.
 

Dave

Staff member
A Million Ways to Die in the West. Love that movie but damn did I ever take a beating when I talked about how much I liked it when it first came out.
 
It's at 55% and the consensus 10 years later is that it was fantastic, but it's criminal that Stepbrothers is only 55%.

In a related note, Will Ferrell is my key to this. Semi-Pro is 28%. Way too low.
 


My choice: Burnt (2015) starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, and Daniel Bruhl. It's got 28% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ha! I could do this all day long. My girlfriend and I joke that our “sweet spot” on Rotten Tomatoes is around the 50% range, because for some reason we always seem to like polarizing movies.

I could go with multiple options, but I just picked one. I thought Cooties (2015) starring Elijah Wood was hilarious. It’s a comedy-horror about a zombie outbreak at an elementary school that only affects the kids, so the teachers have to band together to fight them off.

By the way, I also loved Burnt.
 
Armageddon.

Yeah, it's a preposterous concept, but Liv Tyler was fine and the action was pretty gripping.
 
2012 - 39% RT, came out in 2009
Behind Enemy Lines - 37% RT, came out in 2001
What Lies Beneath - 46% RT, came out in 2000
Terminator Salvation - 33% RT, came out in 2009
Speed Racer - 40% RT, came out in 2008
 
Last edited:

figmentPez

Staff member
Okay, found one: Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) 38% Totatometer

EDIT: Rim of the World (2019), not only a 25% from critics, but a 22% from audiences as well.
 
Last edited:
Equilibrium (2002) - 40% on RT, but audience score is 81%, so not a genuinely unpopular opinion.
Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019) - pretty much the same divide in scores
Guardians (2017) (aka Russian Avengers, aka the one with the were-bear with the gatling gun) - 30% RT, no audience score... I liked it but as a cheesy goof movie, it had great potential but it didn't really pay off and they would occasionally just stop the movie so some character or other could have an emotional soliloquy that felt like a cutscene from a side-quest in an above average videogame. Near the end of the movie, there's an obstacle between them and the villain's special power source that seems tailor made with what we were told about a particular character's powers, and they even start going for it, then they all go, "No, that won't work, we'll have to do something way more needlessly complicated."
 
Top