O-kay....

[conuly]

Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn’t be who we are today. […] Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder. Sure, there are many risks and dangers, but despite that, we still continue to wonder and dream and create and hope. We have discovered so much about the world, but still so little. We will never know everything there is to know, but with our burning curiosity, we have learned so much.

That's a pretty inspiring essay, right? Sure, it reads like something written by a sixth-grader - but hey, it was written by a sixth-grader, so that's all right.

That's why the new Mars rover has a new name, Curiosity. Read this link too. Annnnnnd this one.

Now, before you read the comments (and you know the rule about reading the comments!), go post your own comment about this. What do you think of the name "Curiosity", and the contest?

Great! Now, most of the comments are okay. They're polite, anyway. Some of them, though....

Apparently (read this, it's a good rant on the subject) she's been accused of picking a "cutesy" name (because she's a giiiiiiiirl, and has coooooooties), and of only being chosen because she's a girl and Asian and OMG SO PC!!!!!!111. (Picking the best essay is PC now?) We're "lucky" she didn't pick "My Little Pony" or "Hannah Montana" - because those names would definitely have won the contest, uh-huh. (Actually, that'd be pretty funny if they did, but that's beside the point.)

As I said, Curiosity may not be as good a name as Very Large Array or Yogi Rock, but it's certainly satisfactory for anything roving the surface of another planet.

Comments

[bessemerprocess]

I think that Curiosity is an excellent name and that for a sixth grader, her arguments for it are well thought out and compelling. What more can anyone ask for (except, apparently that she be a boy? kicks commenters)?

[conuly]

That she never find out the nasty stuff some people are saying about her just because of an accident of her birth.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Maybe this is because I'm a ~*~girl~*~, but I really don't see how Curiousity is a fluffy name. I don't think it's any more cutesy than Tranquility or Serenity, which NASA has used or considered for other projects.

[conuly]

Curiosity is a fluffy name because it was picked by a girl. Isn't it obvious?

[tenou-k.livejournal.com]

I don't know what a less feminine name would be...

"War Penis?"

"Destruction Prostate?"

[conuly]

Well, War Penis would at least fit on Mars, dedicated to the god of, uh, war.

But no, apparently it is supposed to have been named something like Mars Lab 1 or something equally boring and unevocative. (And here I always thought Very Large Array started out as some form of in-joke.)

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Or great explorers down through history? I thought of Cheng Ho, but.. uh... probably not.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered why they didn't have children name all the spacecraft and rovers.

Curiosity is perfect.