When they say habitable, are they referring to habitable by humans? I about embarrassed myself commenting that we'd be crushed by it's gravity, before correcting myself that gravity is a function of density and not just mass. Presumably Earth and GJ832c are similar in that respect?

And then they jumped into the volcano, so the residents of Waponi Woo could continue enjoying their orange sodas.

I'm voluntarily going to a seminar shortly on how state funding for highway and bridges is declining in my state and how an amendment will help with that. It will be at least an hour long and I'll listen to the whole thing despite having no interest, because it would be rude to the speaker to use my phone while he's…

You're a male what? Are you a human, llama, cat, condor, or some other species from the animal kingdom? Maybe Ferengi? A female adult human is most properly referred to as a woman.

Someone who lives where it's dark, answer this. Does the milky way really look like that to the naked eye or does it require photography to be able to see the colors and structures in it. I think the only times I've seen it, it was difficult to distinguish from just a hazy cloud, but it's been awhile.

It's not any more secure, but it's easier to remember. As they said, they still had an 86% success rate after not using the system for a year. If I had a unique 5 digit PIN that I didn't use for a year, I doubt I'd remember it.

When Roberts said, "Your technological model is based solely on circumventing legal prohibitions that you don't want to comply with," that sounds exactly like what any business ought to be doing. You think through any legal hurdles in your way and devise a way around them. I do that every day when figuring out how…

There are different degrees of sight disabilities. It's kind of like why building's with drinking fountains have two at different heights. One is low for people in wheelchairs, and one is high for people who can't bend down to get to the low one.

One is an eyesore that's disrespectful of someone else's property, and the other is an eyesore that prevents electrocution and explosions, that washes away after a couple of rains.

Rules have changed on those over time. Back in the beginning of the ADA, for new sidewalks you could just form grooves into them. Then the bumps became mandatory and we'd use a stamp to form them into the wet concrete. Finally the color requirement came in and the mats became the preferred way to do them, although…

I've seen people still using the old "lawn jockey" as lawn ornaments in the south.

Is station keeping at 20' really necessary. Couldn't they keep at a safer distance and use one of those thruster backpacks to haul over a cable they can clip onto and hand-over-hand their way between the two ships. And was it common practice to not have enough spacesuits for everyone on board?

Sounds like a scene from one of my favorite movies, Grand Canyon.

I've always heard of widgets, but never seen one made before.

How does one jump upward on a skateboard and have the skateboard follow them? Are they hooking a toe underneath that happens so quickly I'm not noticing it?

Jupiter has to have a pretty big tidal pull on Europa. My gut says the bottom of the ice there is going to be all chunky and rugged from getting crushed and refrozen, rather than smooth like lake ice that forms new each year.

Thanks. This Kindle Fire has left such a bad taste in my mouth, I'm leery of any android tablet as a result. I know from occasionally using my gf's iPad how smooth it's browser runs, but hate to spend that kind of money.

Thanks. This Kindle Fire has left such a bad taste in my mouth, I'm leery of any android tablet as a result. I know…

Are these significantly better than the first gen Kindle Fire? I have one of those and want to pull my hair out every time I want to browse the web, it's such a frustrating experience.

Are these significantly better than the first gen Kindle Fire? I have one of those and want to pull my hair out…

I've wondered what happens to maps and satellites and GPS and such when the inevitable North/South flip happens. Presumably when it happens, it will last for awhile, so will we change the names of North and South America, reprint maps, tell boy scouts that moss grows on the south side of trees, etc? Or will we…

The fact that there are people studying all this just amazes me. And I mean that in a good way. One of the things about the recent COSMOS series I found most interesting, wasn't some particular bit of information, but rather how someone figured something out. For instance, that there was a nearby supernova a million…