It’s absolutely for weight; every gram of mass they can save is mass they spend on something more valuable, like instrumentation. The mass budget is incredibly tight. That said, NASA was pretty shocked by how quickly Curiosity’s wheels took damage; they’d designed the wheels based on how previous rovers had performed,…

The crucible deteriorates with repeated uses. Depending on the quality of the product required, you may not be able to tolerate any degradation at all.

Overconfidence is likely a big part of it, but also keenness to prove that he was right and everyone else was wrong. And, of course, there’d be no better way to demonstrate to investors that he really did know what he was doing than to get in the thing himself. Sometimes making the huckster get into their contraption…

That thing is hideous. It screams “I am a poser”. It has an exterior that cosplays ‘roided up military tough-guy and an interior that screams “don’t you dare come in here with all that mud, you savage”. I mean, at least the Cybertruck pretty much is what it is is. It’s unique, and for all the mockery it’s earned, it…

Well, technically speaking, you can. You’re just not supposed to. ;-)

At a checkup, a nurse once started by asking my baby brother how he was feeling. He responded by vomiting all over him. None of us had any clue he was sick up until that moment, but it was an astonishingly simple yet eloquent answer to the question. ;-)

If you ever really got sick, you’d wish otherwise. Trust me.

Oh god. I wishI could work through a migraine.  But I’ve learned the hard way that this is not a good idea.  Maybe your migraines are mild, or your jobs isn’t mentally taxing, but I make too many mistakes if I work through a migraine -- plus, I recover a lot faster if I just go take a nap like my brain is pleading me…

Makes me think of the Park Tavern accident in St Louis Park not too long ago. I haven’t heard what the cause of the accident was (alcohol, medical event, etc.), but two people were killed, four were injured, and the restaurant’s patio was heavily damaged. The six hit were all in the outdoor patio. I believe one of…

Looking again at the video, yeah, she deserved that ticket. I mean, even if you don’t understand how the carwash is supposed to work, you should at least understand how the laws of physics work. If there is an object in front of you, don’t keep driving right into it! Not even at idle pace!

I wish a copy had ticketed my grandma. She never got into an accident that was her fault (she got t-boned once by a guy failing to yield, who turned out to be well known to the hospital for showing up with “neck pain” after accidents — he was a repeat insurance scammer), but she was stopped by police *repeatedly* for…

I’ve been rear-ended twice. Second time, I know for a fact the lady who bashed in the tailgate of my Rav4 so hard it needed to be replaced did not get a ticket. (She was following too closely, obviously.) First time, I’m not sure if a ticket was given, but I hope so. It didn’t happen while I was watching, but since…

The fact that it’s in a peninsula right between some major shipping arteries probably has something to do with it as well.

When I’m driving, I tolerate my autistic daughter picking the songs, and my husband. Nobody else. :-)

Maybe it’s because (so far) nothing I’ve ever done since has hurt quite so much as that hot coffee down my arm did?

I like coffee and tea, but I don’t like scalding my mouth, so I always put some ice in it to bring it down to a more reasonable temperature.  Not cold or even lukewarm, but just like 120 F instead of why-can’t-I-feel-the-roof-of-my-mouth-anymore.

“Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.” He later said, “Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”

I don’t think you’re intentionally conflating NASA with the nuclear bomb tests, but for what it’s worth, NASA was not involved with those. The nuclear bomb testing was performed by the military. Probably the most visible evidence is if you look at Enewatok Atoll on Google Maps — you can see a number of very round…

Odds are good it won’t be, but even if it is, they’ll have fixed it by then. Or just take lots of Sudafed beforehand to make sure you’ve got really good and open airways ahead of time! :-D

I am nerd. :-p