Curiosity Rover Makes First Foursquare Check-In On Another Planet

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Curiosity Rover Makes First Foursquare Check-In On Another Planet

Posted by samzenpus on Friday October 5, 2012 @12:03AM from the martian-marketing dept.

cylonlover writes "NASA launched a strategic partnership with location-based social networking site foursquare in 2010 with the first-ever check-in from the International Space Station (ISS) by astronaut Doug Wheelock. Now the space agency has gone one better with the first check-in on another planet thanks to its Curiosity Mars rover. Since fellow foursquare users will have a hard time checking in on the Red Planet themselves, they'll instead be able to earn a Curiosity-themed badge for visiting locations relating to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The badge will be available later this year and is designed to spark the scientific curiosity of foursquare users by encouraging them to visit science centers, laboratories and museums."

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What next? by gelfling · 2012-10-05 00:07 · Score: 5, Funny

Curiosity is a judge on America's Got Talent?
1. Re:What next? by SJHillman · 2012-10-05 00:12 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  No, but it will be a judge on Martian Idol. The best part is the thin atmosphere prevents any of the contestants from "singing" very loudly in the few seconds before they pass out from lack of oxygen.
2. Re:What next? by InEnacWeTrust · 2012-10-05 00:52 · Score: 1
  
  Curiosity is a judge on America's Got Talent?
  And then right after that...
  Curiosity is a judge on a patent case trial.
3. Re:What next? by Idbar · 2012-10-05 01:08 · Score: 1
  
  At least, top extraterrestrial reviewer for Yelp.
4. Re:What next? by GameboyRMH · 2012-10-05 01:57 · Score: 1
  
  I was going to make a point along those lines - is this going to attract the attention of the potential-STEM crowd or just clue them in to the fact that the mainstream doesn't give two shits about science (and is enamored with silly but highly profitable frivolities instead) earlier than desired?
  This, on the other hand, I thought was immensely cool:
  http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/09/01/2135239/darpas-phoenix-program-to-bring-satellites-back-from-the-dead
  Getting to run your code on a robot in SPACE!? That's the stuff that makes geeks cream their pants. Sadly it's "defense" related in this case but it's still a great example of PR for future talent done right.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
5. Re:What next? by guttentag · 2012-10-05 03:07 · Score: 1
  
  Curiosity is a judge on America's Got Talent?
  No, curiosity will be a contestant on America's Got Talent and they'll have people text their opinion of who they think is more talented: Curiosity for landing on Mars or some girl who plays the theme to Gossip Girl on a marimba made of partially-filled Coke bottles. I bet the marketers win.
6. Re:What next? by Seumas · 2012-10-05 03:31 · Score: 2
  
  It's pretty fucking depressing that all of the biggest news items in the press about an SUV that we drop on another planet is . . . the social networking it does.
  Maybe it's time to just pack it in, consume whatever is left on this planet, and flash out of existence.
7. Re:What next? by spire3661 · 2012-10-05 04:35 · Score: 1
  
  Some of actually care about the science mission and want to choke the life out of the current NASA PR people.
  
  --
  Good-bye
8. Re:What next? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 07:24 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, I have similar expectations for a live Martian art performance ...
9. Re:What next? by Antipater · 2012-10-05 08:11 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  So what? Nobody cared about lunar geology or the LEM's stability problems, either. They cared about astronaut ice cream and a guy playing golf on the moon. If it weren't for stunts like this, nearly everyone would forget that we landed an SUV on Mars at all. When Curiosity tweets, or releases a Will.i.am single, or does something else that the public actually cares about, it reminds people how NASA can do awesome things.
  Like it or not, the way to get more space funding is to put popular fads in space.
  
  --
  Everything is better with chainsaws.
Curiosity runs ios 6 by badford · 2012-10-05 00:10 · Score: 5, Funny

so it was actually on mercury. Damn Apple maps!

--
-badford
1. Re:Curiosity runs ios 6 by Tablizer · 2012-10-05 03:08 · Score: 1
  
  Google Maps claimed there was a Starbucks near the rover.
  Hell, maybe there is
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
2. Re:Curiosity runs ios 6 by dragon-file · 2012-10-05 05:20 · Score: 1
  
  Google Maps claimed there was a Starbucks near the rover.
  Hell, maybe there is
  It's highly likely. You cant walk a block without running into at least one Starbucks here on earth.
  
  --
  Whenever a player quits EVE to go play WoW, the Average IQ of both games increase.
Anything to generate interest in math and science by slacka · 2012-10-05 00:13 · Score: 5, Insightful

I'm fine with this as long as any revenue generated from this is going towards science or advancing NASA's missions.
Most interesting part... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:15 · Score: 1

...Is that curiosity could get a GPS fix from that far away. Unless it is locating by cell tower or wifi. Though the presence of GPS, wifi, or cell towers would be a much more interesting find then the water it was sent up there to look for.
1. Re:Most interesting part... by ZeroSumHappiness · 2012-10-05 00:19 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  From what I recall vaguely, Mars has some sort of GPS system set up. Searching it they use GPS towers that give GPS to a small area.
2. Re:Most interesting part... by spacefight · 2012-10-05 00:25 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Last modified Mon, 1 Nov, 2010 at 14:42 Nowhere it says on that article, that it is deployed... http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120817.html
3. Re:Most interesting part... by GameboyRMH · 2012-10-05 02:00 · Score: 1
  
  Geeky dreaming time is over, realism ENGAGE!
  I'm guessing NASA just asked Foursquare to manually fudge the data in, I'd be shocked if Foursquare supported locations on other planets at all.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
4. Re:Most interesting part... by Whizziwig · 2012-10-05 02:32 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  there's now a planet enum internally (only mars + earth for now ... hopefully we go do something interesting on the moon again soon), and an alternate latlng field that we're storing the planet-specific coordinates in. The web rendering code knows to look for the astralLatLng if planet != earth. So that all our current clients and api consumers don't explode , we're pushing out the earth latlng of mission control via the public api.
Quick question by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:17 · Score: 0

Is Curiosity rover male or female?
1. Re:Quick question by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:19 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Gender unspecific - that's why it's so damn curious
2. Re:Quick question by Chuq · 2012-10-05 00:21 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Mars Rover Bicuriosity will be visiting Uranus next year.
  
  --
  - Chuq
3. Re:Quick question by Chrisq · 2012-10-05 00:27 · Score: 0
  
  Gender unspecific - that's why it's so damn curious
  Lucky it isn't on Uranus, then !
4. Re:Quick question by RivenAleem · 2012-10-05 00:30 · Score: 1
  
  Definitely Female. I sent it down to the shops for me and look where it ended up.
5. Re:Quick question by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:31 · Score: 0
  
  Gender unspecific - that's why it's so damn curious
  Lucky it isn't on Uranus, then !
  Curiosity rover drills into your Uranus.
6. Re:Quick question by dkleinsc · 2012-10-05 00:37 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  No it won't: Astronomers changed the name to Urrectum to end that stupid joke once and for all.
  
  --
  I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
7. Re:Quick question by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:40 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Well it has a drill and 17 cameras connected to the internet to document it's drilling. So I would says its male.
8. Re:Quick question by Megane · 2012-10-05 01:05 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Urectum? U nearly killed um!
  
  --
  #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
9. Re:Quick question by plover · 2012-10-05 03:01 · Score: 1
  
  Is Curiosity rover male or female?
  "It's complicated."
  
  --
  John
10. Re:Quick question by guttentag · 2012-10-05 03:08 · Score: 1
  
  Mars Rover Bicuriosity will be visiting Uranus next year.
  I just hope it doesn't check in there.
Mayor of Mars? by ZeroSumHappiness · 2012-10-05 00:20 · Score: 2

Or would it be more like God-Emperor by the time anyone else sets foot there?
1. Re:Mayor of Mars? by dkleinsc · 2012-10-05 00:38 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Nah, it's against its programming to impersonate a deity.
  
  --
  I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
2. Re:Mayor of Mars? by Dogtanian · 2012-10-05 00:40 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  Mayor of Mars? Or would it be more like God-Emperor by the time anyone else sets foot there?
  I believe that the technically correct title for *any* Foursquare user is "Narcissistic, self-obsessed hipster scum". (^_^)
  
  --
  "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
3. Re:Mayor of Mars? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 01:08 · Score: 0
  
  Still better than a judgmental Slashdot poster.
4. Re:Mayor of Mars? by R3d+M3rcury · 2012-10-05 06:38 · Score: 1
  
  ...or they like free queso.
5. Re:Mayor of Mars? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 09:08 · Score: 0
  
  I think the Mechanicum would insist on calling him the Omnissiah...
What is foursquare by Chrisq · 2012-10-05 00:25 · Score: 1

What is foursquare? I just looked and it looks like some cut-down facebook thingy
1. Re:What is foursquare by Dogtanian · 2012-10-05 00:33 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  What is foursquare? I just looked and it looks like some cut-down facebook thingy
  It's basically the most self-indulgent, navel-gazing, self-important-attention-whoring, up-their-own-arse and downright pointless aspects of social media distilled to a level of 100% pure worthlessness.
  
  This is quite obviously another would-be public-attention-grabbing stunt along the lines of the Will.I.Am transmission a few weeks back, and it's open for debate which of the two are worse.
  
  --
  "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
2. Re:What is foursquare by GameboyRMH · 2012-10-05 02:06 · Score: 1
  
  I could see the value of sharing your location with friends, I'd just never use Foursquare to do it for numerous privacy-related reasons.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
3. Re:What is foursquare by Dogtanian · 2012-10-05 03:09 · Score: 1
  
  My "multiple and repetitive posts" constituting a grand total of *two*, i.e. the minimum required for you to be technically correct, but not enough to avoid your response coming across as whiny exaggeration anyway. :-)
  
  --
  "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
4. Re:What is foursquare by Have+Blue · 2012-10-05 04:17 · Score: 2
  
  It's a service which helps you post your location/patronage on social media, basically. Rather than typing in "I'm at the Starbucks at 14th and 2nd Avenue" you use a GPS-driven search to find it.
  
  It also gives you points for doing this and ranks your activity against your friends, which is why some people get really into it.
5. Re:What is foursquare by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 04:50 · Score: 0
  
  "It's basically the most self-indulgent, navel-gazing, self-important-attention-whoring, up-their-own-arse and downright pointless aspects of social media distilled to a level of 100% pure worthlessness."
  So, it *is* like a cut-down facebook thingy?
6. Re:What is foursquare by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 07:34 · Score: 0
  
  Have Blue already explained what Foursquare is, but it should be noted that since Foursquare became popular, Facebook added its own (not as popular, as far as I can tell) clone of Foursquare's capabilities (i.e. the ability to do location check-ins but not the whole badges system), which might explain why you are having trouble seeing what Foursquare does that Facebook doesn't.
How sad by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · 2012-10-05 00:27 · Score: 4, Informative

NASA should be doing pure science, and that should be reason enough to excite Joe Public. I mean hell, I can't get over the fact that I can see detailed images of Mars from the comfort of my own living room. If someone had told me that when I was a kid, I would never have believed it. Yet, there we are - humanity is there through its machines. It should blow people's minds!
Instead of that, NASA is regularly forced to do shitty high-profile, useless and pathetic "interstellar internet" stunts with shitty dotcoms to attract attention, and presumably funding. That's how sad, uneducated and blaze people have become.

--
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
1. Re:How sad by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:33 · Score: 1
  
  It is inevitable that the latest in technology and science becomes commonplace. As for this stunt, I doubt it's taking NASA much effort to do it and if it can create good PR and education people, it's a good thing. It might be "sad", but these are the alternatives to approaches that won't work.
2. Re:How sad by somersault · 2012-10-05 00:35 · Score: 1
  
  It's kinda cool, but definitely not any more mindblowing than getting video of a man on the moon.. especially since our computing and telecommunications prowess is (or at least, should be) a lot more advanced these days.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
3. Re:How sad by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:52 · Score: 0
  
  Instead of that, NASA is regularly forced to do shitty high-profile, useless and pathetic "interstellar internet" stunts with shitty dotcoms to attract attention, and presumably funding. That's how sad, uneducated and blaze people have become.
  At least this particular quest for attention isn't ending up with the deaths of seven astronauts...
4. Re:How sad by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:53 · Score: 1
  
  It is inevitable that the latest in technology and science becomes commonplace.
  The problem is that the technology isn't anywhere near commonplace. I will discontinue my "WOW" response to NASA missions when I can afford to launch a probe to explore an asteroid or planet, and take a trip to the moon for the weekend.
5. Re:How sad by wbr1 · 2012-10-05 01:05 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  That's how sad, uneducated and blaze people have become.
  We are so on fire (blaze) we are not unimpressed or bored (blase).
  If you want to complain about the uneducated masses, at least use the correct words lest you be considered uneducated yourself.
  
  --
  Silence is a state of mime.
6. Re:How sad by Anne_Nonymous · 2012-10-05 01:17 · Score: 1
  
  Look, rocket fuel ain't cheap. Next mission the McRover will be covered in ads NASCAR-style.
7. Re:How sad by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 01:27 · Score: 0
  
  Probably.
8. Re:How sad by Metabolife · 2012-10-05 01:47 · Score: 1
  
  If you don't hear about something happening, how are you going to be interested in it? This drives home the point that mars is a real location and it makes people feel more connected as it now relates to their daily lives. I think it's arrogant to call people uneducated for not showing an initial interest in the topics that YOU show interest in. Different motivators for different people.
9. Re:How sad by SonnyDog09 · 2012-10-05 01:51 · Score: 2
  
  ... and the folks in mission control will be required to drink a Coca Cola during when they are interviewed. They will also be required to say things like "The Penzoil, Gatoraid, Whizzo-Butter Rover had a good day today."
  
  --
  Your "fair share" is NOT in my wallet.
10. Re:How sad by stranger_to_himself · 2012-10-05 01:56 · Score: 1
  
  NASA should be doing pure science, and that should be reason enough to excite Joe Public. I mean hell, I can't get over the fact that I can see detailed images of Mars from the comfort of my own living room. If someone had told me that when I was a kid, I would never have believed it. Yet, there we are - humanity is there through its machines. It should blow people's minds!
  I dunno.. when I was a kid there was images from Viking and they don't look that different to me.
  The science is way more advanced sure but in terms of public wow factor there's not a whole lot more to get excited about.
11. Re:How sad by DerekLyons · 2012-10-05 02:29 · Score: 2
  
  I mean hell, I can't get over the fact that I can see detailed images of Mars from the comfort of my own living room. If someone had told me that when I was a kid, I would never have believed it.
  Just out of curiosity (if you'll pardon the pun), just how much older than sixty (being charitable) are you? Because such things have clearly been coming since the first blurry images from Viking popped up on the boob tube in the comfort of my parent's living room back in the seventies when *I* was a kid.
12. Re:How sad by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 03:09 · Score: 0
  
  blasé
  I will obtain my coat and head for the door.
13. Re:How sad by Concerned+Onlooker · 2012-10-05 03:14 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe. But you'll know it's time to tune out permanently if they start talking about how the rover "has electrolytes."
  
  --
  http://www.rootstrikers.org/
14. Re:How sad by Solandri · 2012-10-05 05:15 · Score: 1
  
  NASA is regularly forced to do shitty high-profile, useless and pathetic "interstellar internet" stunts
  Actually, it's pretty important. The rovers don't communicate directly with Earth. They transmit to satellites orbiting Mars, which relay it to ground stations here on Earth, which relay it to JPL. So adding another hop to the Internet isn't that big an investment of resources, and is probably good practice for when this will become more commonplace (do you really want to coordinate the broadcast schedules of dozens of rovers on Mars, or do you want it to work like auto-routing Internet packets?). It's come a long way since Apollo, when the moon landing was broadcast live to the world by sticking a video camera in front of a monitor at a ground station in Australia.
15. Re:How sad by Tony+Isaac · 2012-10-05 05:29 · Score: 1
  
  Why exactly should NASA be doing "pure science"?
  Sure, that is a big part of NASA's mission. But if we don't find ways to entice young people to pursue science, where will that leave us? What's the harm in creating a little publicity? It seems to me that a stunt like this can go a long way towards advancing science, in the long run.
16. Re:How sad by Eponymous+Coward · 2012-10-05 06:47 · Score: 1
  
  NASA should be doing pure science, and that should be reason enough to excite Joe Public.
  This just in: not everybody likes the same stuff you do.
  
  NASA is regularly forced to do shitty high-profile, useless and pathetic "interstellar internet" stunts with shitty dotcoms to attract attention
  So negative! Did you ever think the people at JPL/NASA did this because it's fun? There are lots of us who absolutely have our minds blown by the success of Curiosity AND think stuff like this is neat too.
17. Re:How sad by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 07:44 · Score: 0
  
  NASA is regularly forced to do shitty high-profile, useless and pathetic "interstellar internet" stunts with shitty dotcoms to attract attention, and presumably funding.
  Don't know about anybody else, but I don't presume that a foursquare checkin was done to attract funding. I imagine it was done because it's cool. And if NASA=cool rather than NASA=stodgy, that can only be good for the future of space exploration. IMO, this is like broadcasting the Apollo landing on TV. Every* kid who saw that wanted to be an astronaut. So now everybody who has a foursquare account may see this and may want to be an astronaut. This is neither useless nor pathetic; it's good PR, which was probably easy to do anyway.
  * /. pedants: I'm aware that "every" is false. Beside the point.
18. Re:How sad by N!k0N · 2012-10-05 08:17 · Score: 1
  
  It has what plants want?
19. Re:How sad by Enigma2175 · 2012-10-05 08:57 · Score: 1
  
  It has what plants want?
  Nope, it has what plants crave
  
  --
  Enigma
20. Re:How sad by Jedi+Alec · 2012-10-05 19:34 · Score: 1
  
  If that means it manages to actually start plant life on Mars, I'm all for it.
  Terraform away!
  
  --
  
  People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Slash ad much? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:40 · Score: 0

Hang on, the news story is that you can earn a badge if you are an user of some site? Damn, Slashdot must really need those advertisement money.
Copypasta? by Gothmolly · 2012-10-05 00:41 · Score: 1

This "submission" is simply a lift from the actual article.
If I wanted an RSS feed aggregator, I'd use a feed aggregator. Has Slashdot completely checked out at this point?

--
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
1. Re:Copypasta? by wonkey_monkey · 2012-10-05 01:28 · Score: 1
  
  wonkey_monkey likes this =d
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Bad idea by Sparticus789 · 2012-10-05 01:01 · Score: 1

I do not want a machine to be the mayor of anything, even a lifeless rock in space!

--
sudo make me a sandwich
1. Re:Bad idea by GameboyRMH · 2012-10-05 02:10 · Score: 1
  
  I, for one, would welcome our robotic space overlords.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
GPS doesn't exist on Mars by scorp1us · 2012-10-05 01:13 · Score: 1

So how can we verify this post?
Also, GPS doesn't identify the body the planets are orbiting. So it might very well claim its landed on Jupiter.

--
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
Female by Morgaine · 2012-10-05 01:21 · Score: 3

Is Curiosity rover male or female?
On report panels and interviews, the scientists and engineers on the Curiosity team refer to the rover as "she" and "her" .
Using the female gender seems to be traditional for ships, so perhaps that extends to spaceships, and by association, to space probes.

--
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
1. Re:Female by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 02:52 · Score: 1
  
  She is brilliant for sure. And I was definitely "in love" with her when she blasted through the atmosphere and made that killer landing. But now that she spends so much time on studying rocks I feel we have drifted (or roved ;-) ) . I love her but I am in not "in love" with her now.
2. Re:Female by fallen1 · 2012-10-05 03:26 · Score: 2
  
  Would not calling a space probe "her" then bring all new meaning to the victims who have been anally probed? Would that not mean that "she" was hermaphroditic??
  
  --
  Dream as if you'll live forever.
  Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
  ~Anonymous~
I'm skeptical... by meisteg · 2012-10-05 01:25 · Score: 1

I find it hard to believe that Curiosity actually did the check-in from Mars. It's more likely a NASA PR person did it, just like they do for their Twitter posts "from Mars" (see @MarsPhoenix for example).
1. Re:I'm skeptical... by safetyinnumbers · 2012-10-05 03:48 · Score: 1
  
  I follow Curiosity on FaceBook (don't judge me) and it's silly that it's written from it's point-of-view, but seeing it announce that it would soon be Mayor of Mars actually made me laugh. Funnier than when it announced "I did a science!"
  
  It's entertainingly done, and I get a feed of it's pictures without having to remember to check for them. Most missions are 'fire and forget" to much of the population, but this is staying in the news a lot more.
  
  I just hope they don't hire Randall Munroe to write them.
Curiousity for a while by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 01:32 · Score: 0

The rover will be mayor of Mars for decades!
Curiosity is the mayor of Mars? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 01:40 · Score: 0

Why am I reminded of Stranger in a Strange Land?
Slashdot logo by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 01:41 · Score: 0

Am I the only one who thinks the animates Slashdot logo looks like an opening and closing anus? I mean it seems like /. has decided to just drop all pretenses of being a tech website and is just going for the goatse crowd.
Captcha: "classy"
1. Re:Slashdot logo by GameboyRMH · 2012-10-05 02:12 · Score: 1
  
  It's a camera aperture, clearly. But maybe we can find out which day goatse launched and put some hands around the "O" as a user-submitted logo for the anniversary.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
2. Re:Slashdot logo by Antipater · 2012-10-05 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  Your anus is a spiral? You should get that looked at. If not by a doctor, then by a porn producer.
  
  --
  Everything is better with chainsaws.
Facebook by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 02:08 · Score: 0

Curiosity has a built-in facebook!!!
Check In from Mars by TheSpoom · 2012-10-05 02:56 · Score: 1

I will give $10 via PayPal to the first person who can convince the Foursquare API to accept that they're checking in from Mars.

--
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
1. Re:Check In from Mars by AlXtreme · 2012-10-05 05:22 · Score: 1
  
  In that case it's time to pay up!
  
  --
  This sig is intentionally left blank
2. Re:Check In from Mars by TheSpoom · 2012-10-05 07:29 · Score: 1
  
  In the context of this article, it should be obvious that I meant Mars, the planet, not Mars, the town. If not, well, you're dumb. :^P
  
  --
  It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
  - E. Debs
Rocketman beat them to the punch by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 03:24 · Score: 0

I couldn't help but think of this scene when I saw the headline:
http://youtu.be/gz1jcvjPUog
You'll never collect. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 03:38 · Score: 0

You'll never collect. Anyone smart enough to do it wouldn't be stupid enough to waste time on 4sq.
Re:Anything to generate interest in math and scien by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 03:43 · Score: 1

But that's slippery -- publicity generates NASA's budget.
Re:Anything to generate interest in math and scien by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 04:54 · Score: 1

The money is more likely to be used to teach teachers to use Microsoft products.
Florida's Challenger/Columbia license plates
Marco - Pollo by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 06:35 · Score: 0

So this will be how people find their family/friends in space a hundred years from now. I always wondered how people in sci-fi movies knew how to find someone else when they could be light years away on some planet. They checked in and their family could check their location in 4 square. Interesting.
Dammit! by sootman · 2012-10-05 07:02 · Score: 1

Mars used to be cool, now it's gonna go downhill once all the idiots start going.

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