Mars pulls out the hat trick…

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Martian Core DumpI gotta admit, at least it’s more interesting than if the thing had just gone completely silent.  Apparently Spirit decided to uplink 73 megabits of data at 128 kbits per second yesterday morning, including “power subsystem engineering data” and “several frames of fill data”.  Since Opportunity (due to land tomorrow) is identical to Spirit, perhaps if they can figure out what the problem is, they can send fresh code to Opportunity before it slips on the same banana peal. That is, of course, assuming that it lands and starts talking succesfully at all… NASA warns that even in the best of circumstances, it may be a significant amount of time—perhaps two weeks—before they will be “restoring functionality” to Spirit. Two...


Spirit is willing, but the code is weak…Good news, of a sort anyway—Spirit isn’t entirely dead after all (insert Monty Python clip here). Apparently it gets part way through its boot sequence, and then reboots… Engineers are talking to it in what seems to amount to “safe mode”, at the blazing speed of 120 bits per second attempting to figure out a way to get it back in operation… Meanwhile, Mars Express is sending back some amazing pictures.  No word yet on whether they can see a prompt on Spirit reading “Press Any Key To Continue” -----...


Over One Million Dis-ServedApparently AOL customers are “leaving in droves”:http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/0306/04/technology-183596.htm—over 1 million defections since late last year.  Of course, at a run rate of 2 million a year, they still have 13 years left in them, but still… Apparently it’s hard to peddle a slow, largely proprietary service for twice the price of other dialup and 2/3 the price of broadband these days. Things are tough all over, eh? (via “techdirt”:http://www.techdirt.com/) -----...


Veronica Mars SurpriseOver on TeeVee, Nathan Alderman waxes philosophic on the end of Veronica Mars season one. What is surprising is just how dark the show can get. Veronica’s high school is a vicious and unforgiving place where the line between social mortification and actual physical harm is all too thin. Any show can be “daring” by showing teens drinking or using drugs; Mars doesn’t flinch at physical abuse, rape or the specter of incest. The season finale’s nightmarish climax — a terrified Veronica trapped inside a burning refrigerator, her dad Keith setting himself on fire to rescue her — packed as much punch as any of 24’s best moments. (It also nabbed Keith Mars the Most Badass Dad on TV Award,...


Murder, Mayhem & Conspiracy - O.J. and Nicole, 10 years after…It’s been a long time since I’ve lost any sleep over the O.J. trial (nor is tonight an exception—I’m up late brining a turkey) but a post over to Peking Duck on the topic from back in June has taken on a life of it’s own the comments section, with a lot of interaction from journalists and others directly involved in the trial. This conversation apparently led Joseph Bosco (a journalist who maintains that if O.J. was guilty he was far from the only one) to post some of his own material on the subject, covering some stuff that has not seen the light of day before. I’ll admit that back in the day I was as horridly fascinated as...