Yeah, I was goofing off this morning, trying to find a way into a rewrite, and needing to distract myself from overthinking it. So I redid my header (see above). It’s the same NASA image I had up before…only different. I did some Photoshopping and added color and such.
The framing tool for WordPress, though, forces some heavy crops, so here is the full image as reworked:
As cool as the original was, it was also kinda monochromatic. So I played around, did something more…Barsoom-ish. Anyway, having once known how to add color to an image and then forgot the method, I have now rediscovered it and will use it a bit more often.
It occurs to me, though, that in all seriousness, should we ever settle Mars and start using it, over time the surface will change. No, I’m not talking about the future of a terraformed world, where we intentionally put liquid water back on the surface and beef up the atmosphere. Such grandiose plans are the precinct of science fiction, although that may well happen, too. But I’m talking about the more likely scenario, the opportunistic, done-by-the-lowest bidder exploitation of resources, which will have “unintended” effects. The release of certain gases, minerals, and so forth, the addition of others, the detritus of industrial works, all will work to give us a show that may end up producing effects somewhat like this. We’ll get a front row seat, via telescopy, of environmental impact. It may even be beautiful in certain ways, but it will be obvious change.
Anyway, back to fiction, now.
