Let us start by saying we expect different levels of expertise from different people. Like for instance, if we are talking to a layperson and they indicated they didn’t know the difference between a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment, we wouldn’t bat an eyelash at it. That is a level of ignorance that is just normal and justifiable for people who don’t deal with the law very much. We wouldn’t make fun of a such person for not knowing that or look down on them: We would simply explain the difference.
But if a person claims to be a lawyer or a judge and they don’t know the difference between a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment … we start to think they shouldn’t be involved in the law.
The same goes for this bit of cluelessness we are going to show you from William Nelson, current NASA Administrator. If Nelson was a regular person, not involved in how we run our space program, and he made this mistake … no big deal. It certainly wouldn’t be worth a piece in Twitchy.
But because he is a NASA Administrator … oy vey:
When asked at a hearing what the "Chinese are doing on the backside of the moon" ‐ NASA administrator Bill Nelson demonstrates his incompetence by bizarrely claiming that the far side of the moon is always dark (which it isn't) and that the US is not planing to go there. When… pic.twitter.com/AnNkyIp7iI
— StarBoySAR 🇭🇰 🇨🇳 🥭 (@StarboySAR) April 23, 2024
The cut off text reads:
When asked why the US isn’t going there and what would be the benefit of doing so, Nelson responded; We don’t know what is on the backside of the moon, it’s for the Chinese to discover
However, as for the United States, our decision is that it’s more profitable for us to go to the South Pole of the moon, because we think that’s where the water is. When asked why, do you think they (the Chinese) made that decision? Nelson said; I have no idea... [clown emoji]
For the record, according to NASA’s website—which actually posted this video—this was from testimony about their budget, on April 18, 2024. We would support a few extra dollars in the budget for education in remedial astronomy for Nelson.
Look, when it comes to astronomy, well … this author is a pretty good lawyer. Still, we also happen to know two facts about the moon that make it unique. First, is that the moon is just the right size and the right distance from the Earth that it looks like it is about the same size as the sun to a person standing on Earth, which means it almost perfectly blocks the sun during a solar eclipse.
The second is that the moon is spinning on its axis just so, so that as it revolves around the earth, we are always seeing the same side. That is what they are talking about when they say there is a back side or far side of the moon, because there is a side you will never see from the Earth. And sometimes that is called the ‘dark’ side of the moon, but in this context, it means dark as in ‘unknown’ not as in actually lacking light.
How do you know that the back side of the moon gets as much light as the front during a lunar day? Well, look at the front. The front side of the moon goes from fully visible to us (full moon) to completely dark (new moon) every 29.5 (Earth) days. That reflects how the sun is shining on the front, so you would expect that the back would always be the opposite—when the front is dark the back is light, when the front is one quarter lit, the back is one quarter dark, and so on.
We would forgive a regular person for not knowing any of this if they don’t work in any area where astronomical knowledge is needed. You know, like if you didn’t work as NASA Administrator.
And we also accept the premise that a good manager doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who knows as much as the people actually doing the hands-on work. But we think a competent manager has to know the basics, like in this case, the fact that the moon is actually rotating on its axis, just like the Earth, which means it has a day and night cycle just like Earth does—only longer.
Do we have to tell you he got roasted?
Bill Nelson, professional idiot in charge of NASA, thinks the far side of the moon is "dark" implying that's why we're not going there for that reason.
— FilmLadd (@FilmLadd) April 23, 2024
In case you're wondering why weren't not back on the moon yetpic.twitter.com/3SPbasqtfG
So it appears his sole qualification was his role as a “Payload Specialist” (i.e civilian passenger) on Space Shuttle Columbia. This is as absurd as it would be to appoint someone to be Secretary of Transportation by virtue of having been a passenger on an aircraft.
— Daniel Knauf 👹🌎 (@daniel_knauf) April 23, 2024
Oh, wait… pic.twitter.com/oQaG2Rhxns
We do enjoy tangential roasting.
I told you Trump built the moon. The reason the otherside of the moon is called dark is because theere is a huge Trump sign there. It is so big the sun shoots solar flares at it.
— James DeWeese (@JamesDeWeese18) April 23, 2024
Prove him wrong. We’ll wait. *laughs*
Meanwhile, back on the Dark Side of the Moon, we have a team of Chinese robots and rovers, and we have no idea what they're up to.
— Jeffrey Rader (@JeffreyRaderIII) April 23, 2024
Jokes aside, we feel pretty confident that the Chinese went to the far side of the moon precisely because it is very difficult to see what they are doing there. It makes it the ultimate ‘dark site’ (although not literally lacking light) and we feel confident that whatever they plan to do over there, it won’t be good. Who knows, maybe they are cooking up the next pandemic.
"We're also planning an expedition to the Sun, at night, because it's cooler then" - Bill Nelson, @NASA, probably https://t.co/nUqZIEF4eY
— Ordnance Jay Packard, Esq. (@OrdnancePackard) April 23, 2024
This calls for a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers musical interlude:
Damn.
— Undercover Brother, PhD, MD (@RealUCBfosho) April 23, 2024
Look how far NASA has fallen since the days when its mission was to conduct outreach to the Muslim world.
WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?!?! https://t.co/0I1VGZN1fF pic.twitter.com/mpclygjOPw
Holy Crud!
— E__Strobel (@WitCoHE_Bak) April 23, 2024
Hey @TheRealBuzz, can you take time out of your busy schedule to do some remedial education of the NASA Director? For the good of America? https://t.co/qrC2OdvsoU
Shoutout to the legacy of Pink Floyd!
— Alien Hotep (@AlienHotep) April 23, 2024
Does he also think we don't need no education though?@CallMeK1123 @AmandaMilius @anntensity https://t.co/RKWJjb6NwV
‘Teachers, leave them kinds alone’ is kind of prophetic these days.
Former Senator. Current Patronage Appointment.
— Jedi Ghost Wisconsin Irish James (@blackdoglurking) April 23, 2024
Govt (all levels) employ the most dim people as administrators https://t.co/UypgL7OAME
Politics (including racial politics) should never override qualification.
Maybe this is just poorly expressed - but boy howdy is it poorly expressed. https://t.co/5JHvkElW5U
— Ken Smith (@smithkl42) April 23, 2024
We don’t see how it might be only poorly expressed. Of course, we would accept that he is senile—Google says he is about two months older than our president, after all, and Biden’s more of a potato than Brian Stelter—but that excuse would still mean he is not qualified for this job.
And the same goes for Biden.
MFW you get your astronomical education from a Pink Floyd album name. https://t.co/jKSzMSD8Wk
— Sensurround (@ShamashAran) April 23, 2024
But did he try to sync it up to The Wizard of Oz?
Episode 1 Series 3 of #SpaceForce
— GreedSpam (@GreedSpam) April 23, 2024
just dropped.
On NASA aiming for the Lunar "South Pole because that's where all the water is, there is no dark side of the Moon... as a matter of fact it is all dark." https://t.co/G6uSBppwf8 pic.twitter.com/48JousozbW
We always thought that dumping on the concept of a Space Force was misplaced. We might wish that space stayed demilitarized, but do we really think the Chinese won’t seek to militarize space? We need the capacity to project force into space, because you can bet our enemies will do it, or else we face the possibility of a space-based Pearl Harbor.
The mockery even went international:
NASA's øverste chef tror at Månens bagside altid ligger i mørke!? 🤣😂😅 USA har virkelig noget at skulle hente i forhold til Kina! #dkpol https://t.co/VT6hoPn7AZ
— John Dühring (@duhringjohn) April 23, 2024
We are going to quote a few people speaking in different languages, so understand that all of this is via Google Translate which can be wrong. So, he allegedly said in Danish:
NASA’s chief executive believes that the back side of the Moon is always in darkness!? [emojis] The USA really has something to gain compared to China!
公聴会でNASAのビル・ネルソン長官が「中国人は月の裏側で何をしているのか」と問われ、「月の裏側は常に暗い（実際はそうではない）」と奇妙な主張をし、米国はそこに行く予定はないとして無能さを露呈した
— 清水泰雅 (@steco_shimizu) April 23, 2024
デジタル大臣が、Xでブロックしてもポストが見れると自信満々に答える日本も似たようなもの https://t.co/Bbydiz1gI4
From Japanese:
At a hearing, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson was asked, ‘What are the Chinese doing on the far side of the moon?’ and made the bizarre claim that ‘the far side of the moon is always dark (it’s not),’ revealing his incompetence by saying that the U.S. has no plans to go there.
It’s similar in Japan, where the Digital Minister confidently answers that you can still see posts even if you block them with X.
😂😂😂 Dit kan toch echt niet..
— Roeland Ruijsch (@RoelandRuijsch) April 23, 2024
Nu hoef je helemaal niks "wetenschappelijks" meer van NASA aan te nemen als de vertegenwoordiger ervan niet eens weet dat de Maan ook roteert..
Hoe kan deze man op die plek zitten en ook nog verantwoording erover af leggen? https://t.co/rQwVDwhc2E
From Dutch:
This really isn’t possible..
Now you don’t have to accept anything ‘scientific’ from NASA if its representative doesn’t even know that the Moon also rotates...
How can this man sit in that place and still be accountable for it?
This is a good point. How often do you see people belonging to the ‘party of science’ prove to be clueless on scientific topics. We see this often on abortion, where abortion advocates claim that human fetuses aren’t human or that they aren’t alive (both statements are untrue, scientifically). The same people who can’t figure out that there is dark side of the moon in terms of illumination are telling us climate change is definitely real.
The truth was also illustrated in gif form:
Hmm.... 🤔🫠 https://t.co/DgjxGcsisb pic.twitter.com/FNr18FssLO
— ⟓ Winther ⟔ | السلام لا يمكن أن يحقق إلا بالعدل. (@transceiverfreq) April 23, 2024
Wow, Bill Nelson is actually a few weeks OLDER than Joe Biden 👀 https://t.co/drcbLcTxha
— Aravind Mohanoor aravind_mc on Gettr (@aravindmc) April 23, 2024
This is so typically American!
— Rahul SA 🇿🇦 (@Rahul_AJ_1990) April 23, 2024
We'll claim to know everything. And when the time comes for us to admit that "we don't know," we'll simply lie about it....
Go USA! 🤢 https://t.co/RPJczKnzbm
Hey, don’t put that on all of us.
Bill may have sat in the wrong hearing.🫢🫢🫢 pic.twitter.com/gHynh1Mvut
— Адолф@КИТАИ (@Kitai_2023) April 23, 2024
‘There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it’s all dark.’
—Pink Floyd, Eclipse.
How does he know the far side of the moon is "always dark" if he has not seen it and is not planning on going there? FWIW the aliens might have a base and throwing the Mother of All Parties over there? 🤷♂️
— Shyan (@tayshyan) April 23, 2024
*laughs* It checks out.
It's true then, NASA is just a studio backlot in Hollywood!
— rethaiard (@rethaiard) April 23, 2024
This author’s late friend John Hoge, who worked for NASA, used to say something like this about the moon landing: ‘Of course, it is fake. That’s why the footage is in black and white: So that you wouldn’t see it was actually shot on Mars.’
Then he would grin and start laughing at his own joke. This whole piece made us think of him and miss him.
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