A Tale of Two Dry Lakes

Researchers at the University of Colorado are excited because they've found conclusive evidence of an ancient lake on Mars. Unfortunately, the water is gone. I guess that means no fishing.

"This is the first unambiguous evidence of shorelines on the surface of Mars," said Di Achille. "The identification of the shorelines and accompanying geological evidence allows us to calculate the size and volume of the lake, which appears to have formed about 3.4 billion years ago."

Pardon me for saying so, but isn't this really, really old news?

Much closer to the good folks in Boulder is another nearly dry ancient lake fortuitously called Optima -- where there still might be some fishing, on occasion. Certainly you can find pheasant.

Optima Lake is located in the verdant Oklahoma panhandle and has never achieved more than 5 percent of its anticipated aqueous capacity since its construction in the mid-'60s. It just wasn't "optimal," I guess.

Sen. Tom Coburn lists Optima Lake as No. 7 on his Top Ten wastes of Stimulus project monies, as the federal government is devoting $1 million for new guard-rails to keep motorists from driving off into Optima's treacherous, albeit non-existent, waters. Details HERE.

Isn't it beautiful? Except for those unsightly and dangerous old guard rails?

A note for non-Oklahomans: The rest of the state is very beautiful with lots of real lakes. And fishing.