Species that don't evolve similar traits across continents become different species. The species that do stay similar across wide areas walk, fly, crawl, swim, spew spores, attach seeds to fur, have seeds ingested and excreted, or release them to be carried by the wind. There's enough mobility to keep the gene pool…

SVU is a good show. So are the CSI's, Criminal Minds, etc. But jeez, a steady diet of this stuff? And then you can take a break with some of the reality shows, like 48 Hours Mystery. Do you really wonder why we have a paranoid society of people who are afraid to let their kids walk to school, when crime is actually at…

In Type 1, followed literally, you'd be occupying the same space as the molecules in the air and all kinds of nuclear nastiness would ensue. Or if you somehow do materialize, you'll be embedded in concrete because you won't even be able to move air molecules. You'll asphyxiate quickly because you won't be able to…

If you have a problem with calling New and Old World monkeys by a common label, it's up to YOU to devise acceptable labels. Hint: that's why there are scientific names.

I think this is a marvelous, non-violent way to stop terrorism. Plant the rumor that the CIA has a virus that can shrink male genitals and threaten to spray it on any area that harbors terrorists (chemtrails anyone?). You don't actually have to DO anything - their screwed up minds will do it all.

None of the articles I've seen on this draw a clear distinction between gem quality diamonds, which have a few real uses but are mostly for trinkets, and abrasive diamonds, which are essential for industry and are widely synthesized. If these are abrasive diamonds then De Beers couldn't care less. A carat is 1/5 gram,…

This is one reason I find the claims that Goethe (or genius of your choice) had an IQ of 200 (or insane number of your choice) are ridiculous. First, IQ is not a linear scale. A person with an IQ of 120 isn't 50 per cent smarter than someone with an IQ of 80, but far more intelligent. Second, stories of people with…

"where people from all walks of life would gather in the same space. "

Asimov's "Pebble in the Sky" has people required to take "the sixty," that is, forced euthanasia at, guess what? The age of 60. A Star Trek TNG episode featured this concept, also.

Fascinating. We have folk medicine, folk science, folk weather, etc. The only folk science that doesn't get any respect is folk sociology; crime and punishment, sex roles, child rearing, etc. But surely if people can have an intuitive understanding of medicine or weather, they can have an intuitive understanding of…

Mess with urticating hairs and you'll be in a world of urt.

You nailed it with "go where there's nobody to watch over us or tell us what to do." That's what the "whack-job conservatives" that robatlanta despises want. But what the conservatives don't realize is nobody means NOBODY. No private party can keep me off open land, prevent me from posting a video on YouTube, keep me…

Some scenes are hokey - many buildings are obviously built of blocks, but on the whole there's a lot of good work here. The choice of materials worked well - the collapse of the Empire State Building was especially realistic. Fitting for this to appear on 9/11. Collapsing skyscrapers don't topple like trees - they…

There are conspiracy buffs who say the OSS had a hand in killing Patton in a faked auto accident in late 1945. All I can say is, if they'd asked me, I'd have joined in a heartbeat. If Patton had gotten his war (a dead issue by then because he wanted WWII to segue into war with the Russians), the "greatest generation"…

Just look at the banal landscape of science fiction. It's loaded with the fantasies of adolescent males. Stories of frontier worlds or post-apocalyptic futures, all relapsed into neo-feudalism where men are men, and women are ready to swoon over macho science fiction authors. And you really wonder why this crap…

Shatner does suck. And he knows it. And he's not afraid to make fun of himself. And that's why he's such fun to watch. He hams it up with un-self-conscious glee. Live long and prosper, Captain.

I think it's obvious from the story and the comments that apart from achieving that last increment of realism, the next thing to do will be to figure out what to do. "Now that he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something." (Clarke, 2001)

Love how the plane came to a dead stop in midair and fell straight down. Do thunderstorms still happen? How do nerve impulses propagate in your body? Do magnets still work? Compasses? Does the earth have a magnetic field? If you take a coil of wire and move a magnet around in it, what happens? If you mix up some salt…

My English teacher went to the doctor because of cramps. She thought it was her colon but it was only her period.

What Steve Jin caught is a glory. It's an interference effect caused by light bouncing around cloud droplets via two different paths. It's always opposite the Sun and only forms in water droplet clouds (as opposed to ice crystal cirrus clouds). When the plane is far enough away the shadow is no longer visible but the…