OT: Mars! Mars! Mars!

But crazyjoe will not be allowed on mars right away! We can't have somebody clogging the toilets when it costs so much to purify the water!

^^^ It'll be called...

Hey, man, if you have Dejah Thoris dancing, I am so there!

No big surprise as we've long suspected this was the case. If they find vodka I'll be more impressed.

Mmmmm...Dejah Thoris. She was always naked. covers.cbrd.info

Just remember "Women are from Venus, men are from Mars".

4got: Is your title referring to the Mars trilogy Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars?

I dunno- after seeing the Doctor Who episode "The Waters of Mars" (David Tenant) I'd be VERY cautious about the local water. Import some craft beer to the red planet.....

On the other hand if the Strip clubs were anything like the club in Total Recall with the cute slutty mutants, then get your ass to mars!

Are they filled with trout?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

OK, they believe there is water. So Mars has all the building blocks for life. So now the question is, is life at the beginning on Mars, or has it run the course of dinosaurs?

"4got: Is your title referring to the Mars trilogy Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars?"

Not consciously, but I'd now like to reread! I don't like most sci-fi but the hyperrealism of those books interests me.

Geophysicists have already determined that plate tectonics does not exist on either Mars or Venus. And not to get too "sciencey" this early in the morning, plate tectonics (for many reasons) is essential for life.

So I think the chance of life on Mars - either long ago or far in the future - is pretty remote.

Plate tectonics is essential to life?

"Mmmmm...Dejah Thoris. She was always naked. covers.cbrd.info "

The metallic pasties are brilliant! Off to Barsoom! ;)

"Plate tectonics is essential to life?"

Not to get too science-y either, but I'm not convinced anyone knows exactly what's essential for life! I'm skeptical that Mars has life but I'm open-minded to the possibility!

I am, however, convinced it isn't inhabited by sexy princesses wearing nipple shields, much as it would be brilliant for them to exist!

If Mars had life, it was all wiped out long ago when it lost its magnetic field and the solar wind wiped out its atmosphere. But I think it's at least 50-50 there was life there once, even if it arrived from Earth via meteors. After all, there's rocks from Mars that we've discovered on Earth.

4Got: I read the trilogy twice actually; like you I find most SciFi a little lame for adults, but that series was haunting. The cut Mars religion and the influence of radical Islam on Mars really was ahead of its time.

That's "cult" not "cut". I hate no edit feature. Your title reminded me when they were chanting "Mars" as an acknowledgement that they were no longer citizens of Earth...like when you grow up a Mets fan, with the 1969 World Series, move to Chicago and finally realize you're rooting for the Cubs. But...I digress...

"Plate tectonics is essential to life?"

Yes - it may not seem obvious, but it is. (I was a geology major in college. Although I do not work in the field, I still do a lot a reading on the subject.) Rockstar is correct about the solar winds and the magnetic field. Plate tectonics is responsible for the convection of molten magma in the earth's core which produces the earth's magnetic field which deflects solar winds and cosmic radiation. But there's more also. Subduction zones and oceanic ridges recycle carbon and other mineral nutrients. The movement of the continental plates is partly responsible for bio-diversity which helps against extinctions. I could go on, but I promised not to get too science-y. LOL.

Of course, I suppose one could argue that other life forms would not have to be carbon-based and radiation would not affect the genetic DNA....

On Earth plate tectonics may have a major impact on viability of life as we know it, but I would think on other planets there may be other processes that don't make plate tectonics critical for life. Life itself always "seems to find a way" as Goldblum's character in Jurassik Park says.

If the DNA of life on Earth actually arrived on comets or astroids as is becoming more accepted, then carbon based life may be the "coin of the realm" so to speak in at least our neighborhood. Who knows what it may be like in Andromeda though.

Mars has got lube. It's habitable.

I thought plate tectonics was the result of magma convection, not the cause of it. I seem to remember some online article talking about (IIRC the term) bio-erosion -- the decomposition of everything from microbes on up that basically helps lubricate the plates, allowing them to move more often and more freely.