Figures this thing was built in America. We send it millions of miles to an exotic destination and the first thing it does is take pictures of itself. We truly are egomaniacal bastards...

Awesome pic. You did good work, Subby.

So you went to Arizona to take the pics? Nice.

way way wayyyy cool!!

InfamousBLT: So...that's like... a thing. On Mars. And we put it there. And it's taking pictures of itself and sending them back to us.

As much as I hate humanity, man do we do some seriously cool shiat.

So much THIS. Staring at the photo, it finally hit me that I was seeing a thing on mutha-farkin' Mars that we put there, and seeing the ground clearly, and the mountains...

Great image, shared on Facebook because 1. it's cool and 2. to bait the young-earth creationists with my hope that we find evidence of current or past life on Mars.

keithgabryelski: RoyBatty: That's an awesome photograph, can you explain a bit about what you did?

the software is not publicly available.
built by a friend who did investigation into photo stitching for his previous gig.
this is his work -- he roams here but does not login.

Thanks for sharing that. Thank your friend for me too, that image made my week.

How many homeless children did you step over today. I believe people have been desensitized to money. 100 billion dollars could put every homeless person in tbe wirld into a new condo.

tommyl66: Figures this thing was built in America. We send it millions of miles to an exotic destination and the first thing it does is take pictures of itself. We truly are egomaniacal bastards...

Well, you can make a case for reporting its condition to the boss. Now if it had put up a Starbucks...

RoyBatty keithgabryelski: atlfarkette: I wonder what material the tires are made out of.

Not sure, but did you know the tires have JPL encoded in them in Morse Code

That's the story, but it's not JPL, it's really DEI.


You sure it's not IOK?

/Good thing there aren't any humans near by...
/shouldn't be obscure
_{///Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am an IOK rover. I became operational at the I.O.K. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992...}

Do the needful: RoyBatty: keithgabryelski: atlfarkette: I wonder what material the tires are made out of.

Not sure, but did you know the tires have JPL encoded in them in Morse Code

That's the story, but it's not JPL, it's really DEI.

Is there a big 3 on the side of the rover?

No, the rover didn't crash face first...

Egoy3k: At some point in the last few days I stopped to think about the Curiosity and all the other probes and rovers and manned missions that preceded it, it is my conclusion that humanity kicks ass. If we could get over our petty differences and manage our resources better there is almost no limit to the things we could achieve. Why don't other people have the same conclusion?

I mean we are literally sitting around typing phonetic characters into electronic devices that can access the sum total of human knowledge (and porn) and communicating with a vast percentage of the whole species. We are using these devices to view images taken on another planet by a device the size of a compact car that we built and delivered using a goddamned rocket powered skycrane. We are so comfortable with these wondrous things that we are making jokes about it. It's not even amazing to us, most people react to this with, "yeah we send shiat to other planets whats the big deal?" Exploration and discovery are so ingrained in us that we don't even question it. It's just what we do.

Yeah yeah TLDR.

Because my god is better than your god, so die heretic!

/repeat every century or so

And yes, I do know the both Kubrick and Clarke both denied offsetting IBM to HAL, and it stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer, but then you have a quote in the movie and book that mentions the H.A.L plant...

And to stay on subject: I'll have to check it out when I get home since FLICKR is blocked here at work...

How did they hide the staff on the sound stage?

utsagrad123: Mrs.Sharpier: must be lonely out there

[imgs.xkcd.com image 639x862]

That's almost as sad as the dog episode of Futurama.

not really

Spinalboy: keithgabryelski: RoyBatty: That's an awesome photograph, can you explain a bit about what you did?

the software is not publicly available.
built by a friend who did investigation into photo stitching for his previous gig.
this is his work -- he roams here but does not login.

Thanks for sharing that. Thank your friend for me too, that image made my week.

Same here; bookmarked & emailed to my other space geek friends. :)

that's awesome. Thanks subby.

NASA's next probe is going to be called the Bi-Curiosity rover. It's expected to go to Mars, but is also open to exploring Uranus.

That was so fark ing cool great work :)

Egoy3k: At some point in the last few days I stopped to think about the Curiosity and all the other probes and rovers and manned missions that preceded it, it is my conclusion that humanity kicks ass. If we could get over our petty differences and manage our resources better there is almost no limit to the things we could achieve. Why don't other people have the same conclusion?

I mean we are literally sitting around typing phonetic characters into electronic devices that can access the sum total of human knowledge (and porn) and communicating with a vast percentage of the whole species. We are using these devices to view images taken on another planet by a device the size of a compact car that we built and delivered using a goddamned rocket powered skycrane. We are so comfortable with these wondrous things that we are making jokes about it. It's not even amazing to us, most people react to this with, "yeah we send shiat to other planets whats the big deal?" Exploration and discovery are so ingrained in us that we don't even question it. It's just what we do.

Yeah yeah TLDR.

The Wright Brothers' first flight was one human lifetime ago... arguably within living memory.

Think about that.

Jim DiGriz: And yes, I do know the both Kubrick and Clarke both denied offsetting IBM to HAL, and it stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer, but then you have a quote in the movie and book that mentions the H.A.L plant...

And to stay on subject: I'll have to check it out when I get home since FLICKR is blocked here at work...


(IBM reflected on helmet)

Still no cure for cancer.

/what a total waste of time, money, and effort

InfamousBLT: So...that's like... a thing. On Mars. And we put it there. And it's taking pictures of itself and sending them back to us.

As much as I hate humanity, man do we do some seriously cool shiat.

Ya, it's amazing how 0.001% of humanity can vindicate the rest of the species.

keithgabryelski: RoyBatty: That's an awesome photograph, can you explain a bit about what you did?

the software is not publicly available.
built by a friend who did investigation into photo stitching for his previous gig.
this is his work -- he roams here but does not login.

Give him our thanks. He did an awesome job.

/Anyone know what the deal is with those circular logos?

stonicus:(snipped pic) (IBM reflected on helmet)



To his point of view, that would read MBI...


_{/not going to point out that he isn't wearing a helmet... That would be petty! :)}

Sheila Jackson Lee wants to know why you cropped out the American flag that the astronauts put there.

/She's been elected 9 times

I see what looks like a severed cable.

arethereanybeernamesleft: Still no cure for cancer.

/what a total waste of time, money, and effort

Account created: 2012-08-06 17:23:22

Fresh Fish

Jim DiGriz: stonicus:(snipped pic) (IBM reflected on helmet)



To his point of view, that would read MBI...


/not going to point out that he isn't wearing a helmet... That would be petty! :)

Correct, no helmet... it's been said Kubrick put that in as a slap to IBM... so he didn't do it backwards do people could read it...As the letters flash on his face, HAL says "can you read me"...

Also...


IBM logo clearly displayed on wrist computer thingy...

StrangeQ: Fresh Fish

Come and get it.

Mr_Fabulous: The Wright Brothers' first flight was one human lifetime ago... arguably within living memory.

And the first steam locomotive was rather less time (just 99 years) before that. Meanwhile, religion is worrying about who lit the oven for the bread.

keithgabryelski: make me some tea: keithgabryelski: here is what the common folk got to see:
[www.nasa.gov image 850x637]

That's awesome. You should tweet that to the Curiosity team or something.

i tweeted it to them and they posted this immediately:

[www.nasa.gov image 800x600]

Yours is better.

keithgabryelski: make me some tea: keithgabryelski: here is what the common folk got to see:
[www.nasa.gov image 850x637]

That's awesome. You should tweet that to the Curiosity team or something.

i tweeted it to them and they posted this immediately:

[www.nasa.gov image 800x600]

They hopefully gave you credit. Great work, and thank you for sharing! May I share this with friends on Fb?

Curiosity seems a little narcissistic

keithgabryelski: make me some tea: keithgabryelski: here is what the common folk got to see:
[www.nasa.gov image 850x637]

That's awesome. You should tweet that to the Curiosity team or something.

i tweeted it to them and they posted this immediately:

[www.nasa.gov image 800x600]

Way to show up a multi-billion dollar government agency.

atlfarkette: I wonder what material the tires are made out of.

"Curiosity's wheels are aluminum, 20 inches (0.5 meter)
in diameter, which is twice the size of the wheels on
Spirit and Opportunity. They have cleats for traction
and for structural support. Curving titanium spokes
give springy support. The wheels were machined by
Tapemation, Scotts Valley, Calif. Titanium tubing for the
suspension system came from Litespeed Titanium,
Chattanooga, Tenn"

/from the Press Kit, page 38 of a pretty big PDF. You can find it if you google around the NASA sites. Reasonably detailed overview of most of the rover's systems.

keithgabryelski: they probably have a few more things on their plate.

True, it's blowing up though. Tell your friend that was some fine work.