Grey area though. Space stations can typically maneuver a little bit.

Yes it is true. Ok, mostly true. The heel may touch the ground lightly towards the end of the strike but it has no traction function. If you strike on the heel you slow down the entire stride plus use way more energy.

Any society. Unless you're an extreme case like North Korea, capital must be risked in order to grow. Thus you get investment.

If you use Windows and don't care about music or picture albums, you don't need iTunes. A Google account and a couple of apps are all that is needed:

Unless I'm misreading the speedo, the word "transonic" is used somewhat inaccurately. If I'm not mistaken, the vehicle went transonic quite a bit before this point. The visible shockwaves only go on for a range of about 100mph, which seems too short for the passage from the initial transonic range to supersonic.

I think they're using the word a bit inaccurately. They mean "supersonic". The vehicle should be transonic quite a way before the visible shockwaves form.

like when your jerk of a friend decides to drive by using the accelerator and the brakes as on/off switches rather than how their supposed to be used.

Gagarin was actually peacefully floating to the Earth a bit of a ways away, as he had been sitting on an ejection seat throughout his ride. When the capsule was over four miles above the ground his hatch blew open, and two seconds later he was thrown clear to parachute on his own. He came down in the middle of a…

Finally watched this today. Ok, so it wasn't the greatest movie ever made but it was friggin' gorgeous. The story was somewhat convoluted and there was as you say a distinct lack of background info, but it didn't really matter!

It's the Queen's Latin, dear boy!

A good chef will put the right amount of wasabi in the actual sushi piece. Not that this helps if you want a little more.

I must nitpick here and say that sashimi is not sushi since there is no rice.

Teppanyaki is Japanese, but very modern Japanese. It was introduced after WWII so it is understandable how purists would say it isn't Japanese.

I'm ok with the scallop but not crazy about it. I really enjoy octopus and squid though, as long as they are good. When octopus and squid are crap, it feels like chewing on an inner tube. Jiro has it right with the extra massage needed I think.

Awesome movie.

Sushi is essentially finger food so I don't see how eating it with your hands would be a faux-pas, even in a high end restaurant in the US.

Acela Express is defined as High Speed Rail by the Transportation Department in the US because of its top speed, which it achieves very seldom.

Checked average speeds for Acela Express. From Wikipedia:

I'll add that in my native Sweden, a country with quite a low population density, high speed rail is alive and successful. So successful, in fact, that it took the state railway company from losses to consistent profits. This despite the fact that the maximum speed of the SJ2000 is "only" 127mph.

Planes certainly will continue to have a bigger role in the US than Europe due to, as you say, longer distances and lower population density. However in areas with high population density and shorter distances, like SF-LA or Boston-NYC-Philly-WDC, it makes little sense not to invest in high speed rail. The demand is…