*scribble*

I'm really hesitant to point this out.

For those who are wondering where that number comes from, it's the gravitational binding energy of a sphere (in this case, the Earth).

I don't imagine you're missing anything.

Now that does look interesting.

You're exactly right, they have to be compared to each other. Here's a page on dimensionless coupling constants which lets one do just that.

I've had occasional migraines since I was about 14 (sometimes with crippling regularity, but almost entirely under control now, thankfully, due to a combination of medication and avoiding all the triggers). When I was about 19 I first experienced what I later learned was macropsia - I had no idea what it was at the…

*goes to check*

If you're going to cover it at all, why not review it as though it's a new film, only just released in 2012, of which nobody has any prior knowledge or preconceptions whatsoever? Imagine that security during production has been so watertight that not the slightest spoiler has leaked, that it's the first Star Wars…

That's as concise a summary as any I've seen. It's just one of those things that can trigger a flash of culture shock. When you're young it's easy enough to move between our two countries because of all the cultural similarities - and, of course, a shared language! - which makes differences more surprising when you…

Yeah, that's become a bit of more of a talking point with the comparatively recent availability of so many channels. I remember when "Channel 4" appeared in '82 (when there was only BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) and a fourth TV channel was a very big deal!

I lived in the US for a bit, but as a citizen of the UK, gun ownership is one of many things about the States that we find profoundly alien.

It's a combination of the black body spectrum and the way our eyes work - to see a star as green, we'd need a star which was only emitting green light.

Thanks for the link! Interesting stuff - and it will make perfect bedtime reading.

It's the only reasonable explanation.

I was contemplating some cult along the lines of Aum Shinrikyo, a generation or two hence. Cook up a nice virus in your basement, with a long, symptom-free infectious period. Something like the 'flu would do, with suitable genetic modification. You need it to spread by airborne droplets and be as infectious as…

I was thinking more entire countries. It's hard to imagine that even the most indiscriminate of spasm wars would deliberately throw nuclear weapons at the populations of Mali and Madagascar, or random islands like Galapagos. Even nuking cities like Quito or Sao Paolo seems a tad unlikely; soft targets like that are a…

That was quick! I guess 4E really isn't doing well.

People do seem surprisingly unconcerned about nuclear war these days, don't they? It's remarkable we've gone 70 years without their use, and it'll be even more remarkable if they're not used this century.

Here's the preprint paper.