Gareth's Weblog

Life in England

I've only been awake an hour today, but I heard two things on the news that amused me.

Firstly "Anne's dog 'kills Queen's corgi'" is one of the biggest news stories this morning in England. By one of the biggest I mean it's number 3 in the headlines.

Secondly, there is the story that Mars lander heading for surface British Beagle 2 will precede two U.S. rovers Now the issue that amused me isn't the British Glee about winning, that is just silly, it's more about the names of the crafts. The British craft is called "Beagle 2", named (if I am not mistaken) after a Dog. The American crafts are called Spirit and Opportunity. That to me says a lot.

Update:
I stand correctly, as James Freiwirth says in the comments, Beagle II was in fact named after Darwin's ship. I should have checked my facts (I'm sure I heard the dog story on the Radio) before posting.

Side note, I wonder if Spirit and Opportunity actually work...

Posted by Gareth at December 24, 2003 07:40 AM | TrackBack