The Office of Planetary Protection

UPDATE: UN to Appoint Ambassador to Outer Space, Green Power Ring Not Provided

by Susana Polo | 1:11 pm, September 27th

According to The Telegraph, Mazlan Othman, a Malaysian astrophysicist, will soon be appointed to a brand new international position: being the person who coordinates our response to first contact with alien life. The move has reportedly been prompted by the recent discoveries of hundreds of exoplanets orbiting other stars.

Currently she is the head of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, a job she was first appointed to by Kofi Annan in 1999, though her other accomplishments include becoming the first Malaysian astrophysicist in history, and helping put the first Malaysian man into space. According to

Professor Richard Crowther, an expert in space law at the UK space agency who leads delegations to the UN… “Othman is absolutely the nearest thing we have to a ‘take me to your leader’ person”.

There’s got to be a better title for that job. We trust the UN, which is quite capable of giving programs names with disproportionate coolness to their actual purpose (I’m looking at you, UN-SPIDER). Too bad Planetary Protection Officer is already taken.

Read on...

NASA Drafts Our Prime Directive

by Susana Polo | 3:33 pm, March 20th

NASA has an Office of Planetary Protection. It’s where the Officer of Planetary Protection works. And that may be the most awesome thing I’ve heard all week. Goodnight everybody!

…Just kidding. But there really is an Office of Planetary Protection at NASA, and its job is to keep us from irretrievably screwing up interaction between terrestrial life and extra-terrestrial life (or possible extra-terrestrial life).

Boing Boing has an article up about the ever-changing job of creating the protocol that we use to avoid horrible science fiction disasters.

Read on...

14 of the Best Geekiest Beers

Given beer's pervasive place in human history, it's not surprising that the geeky pastimes of drinkers would eventually rub off on the beers themselves. The result is a veritable cornucopia of nerdy beers, 14 of which are right here.

Tweetosystem

Eric Limer I'm trying to come up with a control scheme where I can use my xbox 360 controller for leisurely web surfing. It's....interesting.
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James Plafke For a show about a sport I don't really dig, Friday Night Lights is an alright show.
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Eric Limer Just spent a few hours playing Kyntt. Stunning, cute little game. Highly recommended.
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Max Wanna create work flows, wanna make it all work work work.
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James Plafke I am jealous Elmo got to make out with Kristin Chenoweth.
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Eric Limer I swear under my breath A LOT. This must make people near by me very uncomfortable. That being said, I have no intentions of stopping.
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Max Court is now in session at the Burp Castle.
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Eric Limer I don't look at my finances as often as I should which is the main reason why I don't often want to look at my finances.
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Max Desert PolyBus: The game where you drive to Reno and then die.
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Eric Limer If I wrote a webcomic, every strip would be titled "Get it? GET IT?!"
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Max Got chili oil on my hands and face. It hurts. A lot.
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Eric Limer Suddenly I remember what I hate about PC gaming. Mainly never having a computer that can actually do it.
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James Plafke The halftime show taught me that football-watching men drinking beer who love seeing muscular men beat each other up really like to vogue.
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Max Pestering your friends at 8am is how you show you care, right? #hopeso
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Eric Limer Twitter is like RiffTrax for EVERYTHING.
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James Plafke I know global warming is scary, but not having a winter was pretty cool. I didn't have to spend money on shoes for the snow.
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Eric Limer I hereby apologize to all persons --past, present and future-- who have the misfortune of hearing me "sing" dubstep songs.
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Max Even Facebook's Timeline thinks I could have done more with my life.
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Max I did that thing where Facebook turns your Timeline into a movie. Mine had pictures of ducks and foliage set to really dramatic music.
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Max "But I don't wanna go to the dog show!"
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