Apparently you didn't eat enough dust.

Aha. Usually the galleries don't cut off the pics in such a weird way.

Why do all the photos have this weird looking-slightly-up-in-the-air viewpoint? Are the floors ugly?

To me it's interesting that we think of say, Russia, as a relatively straight east-west country, when in reality it's a big huge crescent.

Under the ice.

I like how the fish seem to enjoy the warm waters around Micronesia/Polynesia.

Correct. I should have read down before posting the same thing.

The smoky taste of peated whisky does NOT come from the water flowing through peat. It is because peat is used to fuel the drying kiln. The peat is cut out of the bog, dried, and then used to fire the kiln that dries the malt. Peat makes more smoke than wood (and it smells different), hence the flavor.

Only three years are required. That being said, very few distilleries release bottles younger than 6 or 8 years.

"Nachos with sour cream, beef, and cheese? Overload. Corn tortillas with black beans and sauteed vegetables? Simple."

Wadsworth's constant. [knowyourmeme.com]

Why is Storm so short?

Next Mercury transit is May 2016. And if you really feel like giving technology a challenge, you should try to live until 2084, and also hope to be on Mars at the time, because on 11/10/2084 there will be a Transit of Earth visible from Mars.

Just about anything made out of aluminum has a thin oxide coating on it; bare aluminum doesn't last long in the open air before it oxidizes. Anodizing just thickens the layer.

From now on, I am going to pronounce "clothespin" as a three-syllable word.

That's what I was going for originally; in the lab, you could use some variation on the Japanese vortex pot instead of that thing.

Do they have heating plates that spin a stir bar and heat simultaneously? There must be situations where you need both.

Um, the Weber and the Big Green Egg don't "take" any specific kind of charcoal. You could feasibly fill them with anything that burns—lump charcoal, briquets, dollar romance novels, whatever's on hand.

Pretty sure anybody's blood would be unfit for transfusion after defrosting. I know, it was just an aside, but still.

My experience is that thick liquids are exactly the type of dish that needs to be stirred often, whereas thin stuff needs it less.