How far up? 1lg (linguine = 14cm = 0.02784 perches, 0.462 Japanese shyaku or 0.0007568 Ancient Greek stadium ptolemys), or a fraction of a double-decker bus (= 65.85lg)?

Casey, the first earthling having volunteered to go to Mars:

... and you could cooly reply to any questions: "It's a Jeep thing - you wouldn't understand".

Doesn't work in Australia - they don't have (single) pennies, and always round to the nearest 5 cents. Sometimes you win, sometimes they win.

It's fun! Particularly when you start jumping up and down in that place, and watch how quick the other folks run out of it!

Right, and none of these buildings have glass alcoves that allow you to step out into the void...

yes, and the people building it speak a lot more different languages. Oh wait - this won't end well...

@ Casey Chan

Very likely! My rule of thumb is if something ab-so-lu-tely beautiful in nature, such as a sunset with surreal colors, and you take a picture of it, it inevitably turns out kitschy. If something looks so absolutely beautiful in a picture, someone must have played around with filters heavily, to a degree that one can…

Not so sure - we don't have so many 'trust fund babies' in Europe; also, these brats are usually too spoiled to do the backpacking thing.

Anyone out there who can explain why a "normal flash does not work in the vacuum of space"? Too much (heat-related) pressure inside the flash vs. no pressure outside?

+1

Blended uisghe - blasphemy!

Now let's deconstruct that a bit before getting carried away too much: up-lifting, hymn-like muzak - check. Patriotic appeals - check. Buzzwords such as 'educational front' that nobody would argue against - check. Tacitly assuming and suggestively presenting that every astronaut got his idea in 8th grade because of…

Leaf? In Texas?? Gasp! And they haven't chased you with pitchforks yet?

Why would they wear the skimpiest bikinis??

Phhht - I have my own pony express rider.

Fact is that neither Borders nor B&N are 'bookstores' - they are book sellers. A bookstore is something where people who work there actually know something about literature, can give you guidance, help you develop your knowledge, know the hidden jewels, and can tell you how to get that out-of-print book you were…

guess you meant "...without the support"?

Depends: I never bought into that new-fangled book thing where you had to turn pages. Stupid 15th century invention! I stuck to my good old parchment scrolls - so it feels perfectly natural on the computer.