I don't know how much Majorana weighed, but if he's around 170lb then it looks like about 3500 megatons.

I was wondering that. But, on the other hand, Pluto and Charon are synchronous - they're tidally locked, always facing each other. So barring any miniscule effects from libration, there wouldn't be any tidal heating on Pluto. All the energy for tidal heating came from the rotation of the two bodies prior to tidal…

The link 8x10 gave isn't a bad start.

"Wow. ..."

Depends on what coordinate system you happen to be thinking in. In Minkowski coordinates the flare happened 28,000 years ago and the light took 28,000 years to reach us. In light cone coordinates the flare happens when we see it. Same difference. The only thing we can all agree on is that there are two events in…

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing!

Mass is the problem.

Emmerich wouldn't be my first choice for the subject... he makes big-budget B-movies, and really I only like Stargate and Independence Day, which are guilty pleasures. ID is Earth Vs The Flying Saucers, and rather cheesy fun. But it's difficult to enjoy the spectacle of 2012 and similar, even as B-movies, when the…

The five second rule has been overruled by my Dog: if it hits the floor, it becomes his.

"...how, exactly, do they KNOW this event has reached peak brightness?"

That bothered me too. As presented Colter is a bodysnatcher, and it's all a bit creepy - he is not who Michelle Monaghan thinks he is.

In astronomical parlance, anything heavier than helium is a metal.

Agreed. The episode was beautifully shot, and a pleasure to watch.

Such things are handwaved by the cuckoo's incredibly powerful perception filter - it's capable of perfectly blending into its chosen environment. As far as anyone is concerned, George was born to that couple; everything from memories of George's mother being pregnant to George's birth certificate are provided by the…

Yeeeaaaargh.

I'm a big fan of BluRay, but it's worth pointing out that the previous DVD release of the Star Wars trilogy is a really excellent transfer. It's clean, sharp, richly colored, high contrast and very detailed. It's got a good 5.1 sound mix, and although there's not a lot going on in the surround channels it sounds…

I agree - I like the idea of River, but I detest every bit of River we've ever seen. She's simply obnoxious and insufferably smug - more so because we're obviously meant to think she's cool. Yet unfortunately she has all the irredeemable qualities of the worst Mary Sue.

The regeneration thing was interesting. At the back of my mind I've always assumed that the Doctor's regeneration were always a bit traumatic and uncontrollable because they were "battlefield regenerations," and if he deliberately changed like Romana then he'd have more control.

Clearly there was a different writer for this episode, and this revelation signals the beginning of your expansion pack past!