Exactly. Although I appreciate Helprin's beautiful prose, the plot is a mess. Plotlines start up, then are dropped. Conflict is abruptly resolved or jumped over by equs ex machina. Character motivations don't make sense. Who in the world just spontaneously has sex with a man because he's robbing your house? I'm…

I'm not a fan of the book, but I think it would have benefited by the cut of 300 pages. For me, it was the last 300.

Oh hi there, Prof. Tolkien!

Also pictured: exhibit on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man

Ghiradelli coca uses the Broma process, which does not use alkaline salts in the removal of the coca butter. It's actually a newer process than the Dutch process, which uses the alkaline agents.

Exactly what I was thinking. It's not the size of the molecules, but the density. Water is smaller (molecular mass of 18) but more dense (1 g/ml) than ethanol (mol mass of 46 and density of 0.79 g/ml). The lower volume of the solution may have to do with water molecules being polar, thus forming transient hydrogen…

How accurate of a model for PTSD is the type of rodent Pavlovian fear conditioning used by Joe LeDoux or Mike Davis? Is PTSD in soldiers and civilians essentially the same as fear (but at a different scale) or is it a seperate disorder?

I would say his other weakness is that he chooses not to kill or use weapons, even against his worst enemies. Since it's strongly hinted that he was a great warrior among the Time Lords, this is quite poetic.

Actually, you wouldn't have to do anything absolutely evil to put opposite pressure on people: "At the conclusion of the study, we'll pay out your $40 for agreeing to participate. However, for every question you get wrong in the study, you'll lose $5 of that payment." A monetary punishment, under controlled…

Absolutely. Although data on non-farm fertilizer use is sketchy, the number one seller of fertilizer in the U.S. is Wal-Mart. This means that at least a significant part of the fertilizer being put out is from residential consumers. Most people put too much fertilizer on their yards, with little or no understanding of…

Queen's Nuclear Speech:

Samuel L. Jackson: "French. I've deleted MF'ing French."

A good example of scientists in this situation:

My 109 pages is on the low end of neuroscientists. I guess brevity is the soul of wit.