I always think of Plasteel whenever I hear about this.

I can think of better things to do with one hand.

They're running the same flight software, but the parameters are different. (A parameter might say, for example, how far to drive between autonomous visual odometry updates, or how big the bounding boxes around the arm should be when computing ChemCam laser safety.) There are thousands of these parameters, and they're not routinely kept up to date on the non-prime side (which has historically been the B side).

And while the computers are identical, the non-cross-strapped equipment isn't. For example, the B-side rear HAZCAMs are exposed to more radiation, because of the DAN instrument, than the A-side rear HAZCAMs, and are therefore expected to degrade faster. Switching back to the A side is, generally, switching back to slightly better equipment.

Well, technically, I did the other arm work for the sol (the MAHLI and APXS placements) so that Joe and Diana could focus on the DRT.

Nothing to add, really, just bragging. :-) Thanks for the continued interest in MSL, Slashdot!

Yes, but don't worry: that massive amount of info they're collecting on you as part of HSPD-12[*] is perfectly safe.

[*] Where NASA said we all had to submit to unrestricted background investigations -- where they could gather any data they wanted on you, from any source, whether it be your doctor, your lawyer, your priest, your ISP, or whatever -- and then a secret, unappealable tribunal would decide if we could keep our jobs. I and others sued them over this, and lost. But don't worry, we can all see that NASA keeps careful track of sensitive information.

Isn't this like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas?

Yeah, I know what you mean. There's this guy who burgled my house 20 years ago. And 19 years ago. And 18 years ago, and so on. Even when the cops caught him, he was never punished -- just set free to burgle my house again. But he didn't burgle my house last year, so I'm not mad.

I wonder why people around here hate Microsoft?

Both ends of this are wrong, at least in the short to medium term: our data's not that accessible, and most things you call the help desk for are not Googlable (if that's a word). Things like JPL's internal policies and procedures, for example -- we have an internal, Google-based search engine, but it's not able to find everything by a long shot.

Also, as it happens, our help desk is very good -- even if it is run by Lockheed Martin -- and it would actually be a shame to see it go away. This might change someday, but right now, humans are irreplaceable.

I went straight to the Market to download the browser for my Android. Fired it up... now I'm stuck at "Request sent. Waiting for response..."

I suspect that every other T-Mobile Android user on Slashdot is doing the same, and the poor guy's SMS gateway is now a smoldering heap of slag.

Interestingly, the Market reported that the download count was "10+". Obviously, there's some latency there...

It's also explicitly noted in the app's Options:

Confirm HTTPS Requests (checked by default)

Prompt for confirmation before sending HTTPS requests (recommended as HTTPS requests sent through Smozzy are not secure)

So I guess you want to forget about any good parties you went to?

I've always heard that the best parties ARE the ones you can't quite remember clearly...

I think for my first Android software project I'm going to come up with a text message like program that uses your data plan. I could make a killing on something like that if it took off. Although I'll probably get my ass sued off by patent trolls so I may not bother.

Right after you build your time machine to go back in time 4 years before the 100+ other people already made apps that do just that for Android / iOS.

Yeah, but he'll still have a niche, in the 45 minutes between when his app hits the Market and when the process server brings the patent lawsuit papers.