Zeropoint

Around here, they take the train:

Really? With their strong barbecue tradition, I would expect Texas to have plenty of ground hog.

I can understand the discomfort of having something changed after you grew up with it, but if we want the word "planet" to have any meaning beyond "the things on this list", it had to be done. Science marches on, and gaining new knowledge usually means that old ideas have to be let go.

Murrikan!

Swearing has a scientifically validated pain relief effect . . . or at least a pain tolerance boosting effect. Or so I hear.

I'm greatly amused by the fact that "Fluttershy" is the replacement. No piece of Shining Armor will get away with swearing now, even if they're just taking the Pinkie Pie.

I hope the dit-dit-dit-dit! noise whenever you walk isn't too annoying.

My take on it, based off of watching what they DO in the shows and movies, is that Starfleet is very much a military organization, BUT they have exploration and research as part of their job to a much greater extent than our current Earth navies do. By way of example, the US Navy--clearly and definitely a military organization--operates research vessels. It would make perfect sense for a research vessel operated by a military to have civilian science specialists on board. It would be kind of silly to try to combine defense and research roles into one ship, but that fits Roddenberry's vision of a more peaceful future. I won't pretend that I've answered the debate, or that anyone is obligated to accept my opinion. I'm just relating how I've settled the question in my own mind so I don't have to keep gnawing at it.

With the muscles that Sticks has there, I don't think she'd need any stones.

Perhaps occupying their territory and killing their citizens is not the best way to accomplish this?

Damn it, where are they? Given what we know about the origins of life and the ubiquity of planets in the galaxy, it seems vanishingly improbable that we'd be the only ones living here. Blah blah Fermi Paradox blah Great Filter? blah.

I wish I knew more about how to determine which locations in the US are likely nuclear targets. I currently live in a decent-sized but hardly large city whose only importance is that it's the state capital. How much do I need to worry about nuclear war affecting me directly? I don't know!

For some reason, it seems that most people's immediate reaction to imminent disaster is the impulse to get to a different place. I guess I can see that if the place you want to get to is "home" where you have more resources, or "out of the affected area" where you'll be safer. I'd just like to take this time to point out that disaster can strike at any time, no matter where you are, so it behooves you to be prepared for disaster at all times and all locations. Keep emergency supplies in your vehicle and at your workplace, if possible. Also think about adding useful items to your "everyday carry".

People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff

I don't know the word, but I do know the feeling. For what it's worth, you've got my sympathy, JmOz. Jedi Hugs, as they say.

It's common in discussions of FTL for people to trot out the saying "relativity, causality, FTL: pick any two." General Relativity tells us that FTL is equivalent to time travel, and time travel means that causes no longer precede effects and . . . well, the words "wibbly wobbly" seem appropriate here. Given that General Relativity has been experimentally verified to the point that only a kook could deny it, this leads many people to the conclusion that FTL can't possibly exist, because we certainly have causality, right? Except . . . First, as far as I can see it with my layman's lack of specialized knowledge, causality doesn't have to apply ALL the time for the world to make sense. Relativity tells us that Newtonian physics are wrong, for instance. However, people lived by Newtonian physics for a long time before Einstein, and the world didn't fall apart when the suddenly discovered that they'd been wrong about everything . . . and people still use Newtonian principles for a lot of practical applications. That's because, despite the fact that Newtonian physics is clearly not correct, under normal circumstances the errors are incredibly tiny, and the circumstances under which the errors would be significant are uncommon in day to day life. Why should causality be any different? Would we notice the difference between a world where causality applies all the time and one where it applies very nearly all the time? Second, (and once again with the caveat of my limited knowledge) it's my understanding that theoretical physicists have determined that time travel, at least on a limited scale, is definitely physically possible. If we live in a world where transmission of information into the past is possible, even if extremely difficult and unlikely, then we ALREADY live in a world where causality doesn't hold, and there's nothing to give up by "picking" relativity and FTL. Still, I don't expect to be able to visit Alpha Centauri in my lifetime. Sigh.

I'm very impressed that we can get a picture of another star as more than just a point of light!

In my critical thinking class, we were reminded that humans are bad at evaluating risk, and were introduced to the mnemonic "PAIN" for remembering what factors make humans regard things as high risk: Personal: the threat has a face; there's a person or at least a definite group of people to whom you can point and say, "There. Those are the bad guys causing our problem." Available: threats that are easy to imagine and seem connected to everyday life are evaluated as more dangerous Immoral: the threat is disgusting or repugnant in some way. This point of the mnemonic includes both literal moral disgust, and also aesthetic and biologically instinctive disgust. Now: the threat seems to be immediate or at least imminent. Thanks to the success of modern industrialized society and medicine at treating and preventing disease, disease is much less "available" to most Americans. I suspect that has a lot to do with these irrational trends like raw water and anti-vaxxers.

what the actual heck

"Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond. An interesting and informative read. The main idea is that Europeans developed a powerful society before anyone else did NOT because Europeans were in any way superior to anyone else, but because Europe is the only part of the Earth that meets the requirements for building a powerful society. If you've ever played a 4X or civilization builder game, you probably know all about crappy start locations.

Hey, I just wanted to join the group saying "we're here for you." I also suffer from depression; I don't recall all the medical terms, but I have both recurring depressive episodes and what they call "dysthymic disorder"; a constant low-grade depression. I know how much it both hurts and makes it hard to take care of yourself. Virtual hugs from me, too.

It's dumb but I kind of want one.

If it were still Power Puff Girls, Dexter's Lab, and Batman: The Animated Series, I'd still be watching it.

So we have. The conservatives have defied the law in order to harm minorities and disadvantaged people, and the liberals have defied the law to HELP minorities and disadvantaged people. Not exactly equivalent, in my eyes.

After betraying Single-Cell Jesus, Judas Eukaryote felt so guilty that he threw himself off a cliff and burst asunder. Then he felt twice as guilty.