Look at the wikipedia article for "Common Descent"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_descent

Here are the things I think about when I am tempted to assume there just has to be other life in the universe:

What happens when the person in front of you suddenly reclines their seat?

Back in the 90s someone I knew who knew people who worked on Hubble characterized Hubble as more or less a knock-off of a NRO spy satellite.

I dunno, I think I am a little more concerned about the police getting people's locations etc, without a warrant, from the cell phone companies, as detailed in the NY Times on March 31. Honestly, why would the authorities bother to use a drone to track you when they can just have the cell company zip over a detailed…

The orthodox want to preserve their culture. Banning the internet from the home seems entirely appropriate for that goal. The world doesn't have to be a uniform mass of modern consumers. It's okay for different subcultures to exist.

I stand corrected. From reading another article it appears they believe platinum can be found

Not to be Debbie Downer, but all this is could possibly do is make iron a bit cheaper. Which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but is not the answer to mankind's biggest issues

Funniest comment in a long time; I was drinking when I read it and almost spit water all over my computer.

Watch out, you may be the subject of a Gawker media expose for keeping such a list!

Exactly. It's okay if people use a sophisticated computer database to get dates, but you are a freak if you use a simple spreadsheet to keep track of those dates.

Should read "-at 1,604 feet deep, the deepest in the continental U.S.-" No cave on earth is anywhere near 130 miles deep. Lechuguilla has 130 miles of mapped passage (which is not even close to the 390 miles of Mammoth Cave).

Exactly right. In common law (English law based on tradition not legislation) theft has always been defined as taking of property with the intent to deprive the owner of the property. Because copying digital information does not deprive the owner of the digital information, it cannot be theft using the traditional…

I did some research, and according to someone on a construction forum a Komatsu 300 (which is substantially larger than the Komastu shown in the video) will burn between 5-8 gallons an hour. At today's diesel prices works out to around 8 hours * 8 gal/hour * $4/gal = $256/day.

Welcome to third world, where coming up with hacks to get stuff done with limited resources is part of everyday life. I imagine some guy has a business doing excavation work for people who live along the river, and the cheapest way to get to job sites is to buy an old barge and paddle there. Buying a dedicated boat…

I would be nervous to have one of these patrolling in an area with a lot of recreational boating. Picture the opening scene of Robocop with a bunch of drunk people on their motorboat.

Take one of these, add a retrorocket and a parachute, and you have a system for skydiving from the ISS. Awesome.

Why do tablets need to ever replace PCs? I like having a laptop to get stuff done with, and a tablet to read/watch stuff on.

Why not crowdsource the data analysis? I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of cranky retired conservatives who would love to spend all day peering at Kestrel images and reporting Mexicans trying to cross the desert to come cut their lawns.