The point of my original post was agreeing with the author that there are different cultural perspectives that one notices when returning to the U.S.

Yeah, I've since travelled a little through Asia, so I get this. In my case, I was in a very rural place, with no TV and only occasional fresh batteries for the radio, so there was almost zero advertising in my life. So it made the amount of advertising in the US painfully obvious upon return. I can't imagine how…

Grumpy, I understand that there is a logical reason for the bar, and the reason is very business-efficient and that is very, well, American. But you missed my (admittedly subtle) point, so I'll explain: Where I had been the previous years was a village where everyone shared food. In places where the food supply is not…

Yep, about 10 years ago I spent 2+ years out there. You will have the cultural dissonance for several months, slowly eroding away. But there will probably always remain a couple things that you just can't get ever back to being American again. Someone putting the bar down at the grocery check-out to separate their…

No, Plants are dumb. Consider: If you are seeing green when you look at a leaf, that means the plants are reflecting green light. Therefore not absorbing it. Therefore not using it.

This only applies if you have a Mac, guys.

This only applies if you have a Mac, guys.

Yeah, been there. The central black hole really drags down the whole area.

Tea candles or normal candles cut into segments, not as a lantern but to start a fire in soggy conditions. The candle isn't as impressive as other methods, but the little flame burns in the same exact location long enough and consistently enough to dry out the first of the wet twigs and start your fire.

Fair enough. I accept that if no one took risks, we'd be nowhere as a species. I have the right to take risks for myself, and fail, possibly even lethally. That is because I have consciously chosen to take a gamble on success. Groups can, collectively, decide to do the same thing. Where we disagree: the Earth as a…

Focus.

"I would be actively trying to save lives"

However strange their biology and culture, all alien civilizations must at least understand aggression and war. There can be no doubt that they have some limited resource - what they breathe, eat, live in - no planet is infinite. If they have a civilization, they will have progressed beyond the point of being a single…

"Because if they are Nazis they are going to be searching for you anyway, your safety is an illusion."

So I, you and your children are all hiding under the floor of this house. Outside, those odd sounds might be the friendly family helping to shelter us. Or that might just be the wind, Or, perhaps, it is the Nazi's who will kill us all if they find us.

No. As someone who very occasionally experiences synthesia, this is not really close. It is somebody producing what they think it would look like. In reality (at least mine), you get ill-defined non-geometrical shapes, rarely colors, that are too fleeting and random to lock onto visually, overlaying whatever scene…

My driveway was about 100 ft long. I don't wish shoveling all that on anyone, expect maybe UOENO (above), whose post speaks loudly in so many ways.

Yep to all.

You know, I live here. I enjoyed the day working in the yard. I just saw that sunset. I keep my boat at that marina. But the former Midwesterner in me, really, really wants to say F.U.

Jupiter's moon Io.

As someone who lives in LA, has a new rain capture system on my roof - like some neighbors, is shifting over to drought-tolerant landscaping - like many neighbors- and has reduced water consumption by > 20% in the last year - like all the neighbors (because the city is forcing it), your comment is un-informed and…