Learned a word today, weltanschauung which roughly means "world view" or "philosophy of life". Which to me speaks to this issue of "how to be a functional human being". We aren't these input-output productivity machines, despite on how much we may like to think we are. We are to some extent finicky, whimsical…

That's basically geology 101, "everything occurs on timescales in which none of us matters."

This is tickling vague memories from my childhood, I have to know more about Cyborg Duck Unicycle Man Thing.

Unfortunately, one of the scrapped ISS modules was a centrifuge lab for tests in variable artificial gravity. Although only for experimental use, this would have been the first generation of what would ultimately lead to artificial gravity ring stations.

I think "passion" includes so much more than just "what you like to do", but rather its about an internal drive to be "in flow" with that thing, to work past failure and mediocrity, and enjoy bringing value to others with that thing.

I want to believe, I just don't know how!

Our bodies are only sensitive to acceleration (and deceleration, which is technically just acceleration), so once you sustain a given speed, its all good (except for rounding corners as someone else pointed out, that can be problematic).

I guess it goes without saying, but this was pulled from the LM before jettisoning it in lunar orbit? Why save this particular piece of equipment form the LM?

I go camping in the desert several times a year (I live in Utah and like to play outdoors) and this year was my first Burning Man. Like anybody else, all I heard about was how difficult it was to cope with the conditions at times, and how much attention I needed to make to being sure I'd be ready. I took heed to all…

You shouldn't pursuit your passion with a sense of entitlement, you wont get far and it will make you more miserable in the process. Instead, pursuit it with openness, realizing that its going to take a lot of real work and time to get there and you'll probably have to do some less-than-favorable jobs in the mean…

That tape wouldn't be found on the floorboard of a 1987 Buick LeSabre (at least not until a poor, wanna-be filmmaker was driving it around in the late 90's), that's a DV Tape, introduced circa 1996 (I believe).

Essentially, yes, as long as atmospheric interactions don't burn you up/slow you down. It is interesting that escape velocity isn't too much more than orbital velocity (~70%).

Compromised passwords from website database leaks are the main concern. That, and huge rainbow table databases. So while your password to a website will be hashed (usually just md5 or sha1), a rainbow table of sufficient size makes it so your password can be discovered instantly. Websites with good security…

I just want to point out that the theoretical maximum speed is just about orbital velocity (a little more actually). Should we be able to actually achieve these types of speeds with a scramjet reliably, that would open the door to develop a true, single-stage-to-orbit space plane, capable of taking off and landing at…

As someone who is incredibly passionate about space exploration, I run into this argument a lot with people. I can never figure out their starting point, why their point of view is so radically different from mine, which is something I want to be able to understand so I can reconcile it. The confusing part is they…

Zero is also a concept, so are imaginary numbers, yet they all still play very important roles in mathematics.

You raise an excellent point, so far, we haven't even been able to create a self-sustaining community on Earth yet.

The assertions isn't that someone who commits a violent act must have a mental disorder, rather that someone displaying such incredible lack of empathy and anti-social behavior are clear markers for disorders such as psychopathy. The idea isn't to excuse someone's behavior on account of a mental disorder, rather to…

Engineer an elaborate multi-million dollar solution, or use Eye-Fi cards?

*Nerd nitpick* The photo shows the full Saturn V rocket stack apparently in orbit... that's just...wrong... :/