Reason number 2 for the group is finally here! Socializing. The thing that makes the world go round aside from money and power. (Its a very sad truth)
This is the thread where we talk about our favorite artists and other random crap. such as curiosity landing on Mars. Go NASA! And screw Obama for canceling the space program! I live in America, so we go by the American constitution, freedom of speech everypony! Blabber your hearts away my odd friends!

There is only one thing I hate, and that is Papayas!

Woah. I thought this place was dead.

Curiosity Rover's exciting stuff. I read updates about the landing on gizmodo. Also, relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZAvdHqym_I

On the subject of science: http://news.discovery.com/tech/brain-dish-flies-plane-041022.html. A friend who is really paranoid about the world ending linked that to me. That article is from 2004, I dunno what they've accomplished in the meantime but I mean, damn. Creepy but impressive.

Obama did cancel the Constellation project which, while unfortunate, looked to be extremely inefficient in terms of money. What NASA is doing now with moving the low-orbit stuff to the commercial sector (SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada Corp.) and concentrating their money on the Orion project (with capabilities for inter-planetary travel) seems to be the best way for them to spend their resources. I do wish that more money would be invested in NASA, since it does cost far less than most of the other stuff America spends its money on, like defense. The Curiosity rover cost each American a grand total of $7. That's it. It cost $2.5B to put a car-sized vehicle ON ANOTHER PLANET. To put that into perspective, the London Olympics are estimated to cost around $14.5B, and the defense budget for the US runs over $680B annually.

The amount of work that went into Curiosity is astounding as well. It took 7 years to develop and build, 8.5 months of flying time, and finally, 7 minutes of precision maneuvering that was done completely automatically. Landing a 1 ton chunk of precision instruments safely on the ground involved a heat shield, parachute, rockets, and a sky crane. There was good reason for the tension to be high in the control room - if any single part of that sequence went wrong, the rover would have crashed, and they couldn't do a thing about it. The fact that it worked perfectly, and that they were able to get photos from a device on the side of Mars that was facing away from Earth as soon as it touched down is nothing short of incredible.

Curiosity is scheduled for a 2 year mission. On past form, it will be going well into 2020, maybe even 2030. The Opportunity rover was originally scheduled for a 90 day mission, and it is still working 8 years later. The Voyager spacecraft are still communicating with Earth 35 years after they were launched. NASA is good at what it does - I hope that Obama sees this and will finally raise their budget (it's been pretty much stagnant since the mid-90s, and no big increases since the late 60s).

I really care about this stuff, can't you tell?

The amount of money that the USA spends on defense is utterly ridiculous.

Any other Bacon lovers here?

389406 Indeed, bacon is good.

389489
I could eat Bacon for days.

389538 Who wouldn't eat bacon for days?

389406

Aye, bacon is good.
I loved that bacon sundae they had at 'Denny's'
I miss it.

389406 BACON!

389545
Hopefully nobody.

389406 And in 5 words, an hour of my time spent researching, writing, and editing a well thought-out comment is gone. Thanks, internet . And bacon is amazing.

So, how about those [local sports team]? Go [mascot]s!

390285 Ha. Sports. I never used to care about sports. Then I turned 18. I pity all those people in America who have to wait for their 21st to drink legally.

390308 Yeah, I don't really care either. The only sports I care about are my team when I'm playing in the pep band. I couldn't give a rat's right buttcheek for hockey, but if I'm in the band, I'll be screaming with the best of the fans (plus, if they do well, I get to go on all-expenses-paid trips to exciting places for the playoffs!).

389406

De-rail successful!

TAKE THAT POLITICS!!!!!11

Reds baseball fan here!

Here's a subject that will stir the pot, the best ponies whats your favs?
btw mine's Twilight Sparkle and my favorite back round pony is Lyra.

392333 Twiraito Sparkaru is best pone. No exceptions. Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, would Twilight be sad if I did that? And if she would, I do NOT do that thing.

392354 you asian man? I quarter japanese

392865 Hehe, no. I just saw this thread on some website a while ago about Japanese bronies and found it hilarious.

"Twiraito Sparkaru, Reinbow Dasshu, Pinku Pie, Larity, Appu Jakkilu, and Fruttah Shry in My Rittle Ponee: Mahou No Tomodachi."

392998sed me the link!

394198 I think it was this thread here.

dood. I just got half of the stickers I ordered a while ago. The other half should be here next week. But anyway! I ordered:
Pink e pi
=
Eldritch Abomination
Because Pinkie Pie Is An Eldritch Abomination, obviously.

I also got all of the Mane 6 done in this style by that artist, a BRONY sticker and an OBEY sticker. Plus a few other things unrelated to mlp. HAL 9000, No Face, Dovahdroid and the LapFox Trax logo.

Here's random video for you all

[youtube=at_f98qOGY0]

455229 It really is. Having been lucky enough to have experienced all continents, I can say the only thing it left me wanting for was more. So, you guys who only go to the Carribean or warmer states for a vacation, expand your horizons. The expense is worth it ten times over simply for the experience and glory.

LET'S GO HUMANITY, LET'S GO!!!! *woot woot*

I found this on one of my adventures surfing the internet

[youtube=Awf45u6zrP0]