It Appears That We Have Apparently Not Learned Our Lesson

Human hubris, so it is said, knows no bounds. Barely three weeks after our planet was treated to a cosmic "warning shot" courtesy of asteroid 2005 YU55, we are continuing in our quest to antagonize our solar systemal neighbors.

The Mars Science Laboratory, nicknamed "Curiosity" by NASA managers, launched this morning on its journey to the red planet. The boring, lifeless red rocks found by the Viking landers and the Pathfinder rover and the Spirit and Opportunity rovers were not sufficient to satisfy astronomers' Barsoomian curiosity about the boring lifeless planet, so we just had to send one more probe just to be sure.

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