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Wow, interesting.

http://theweek.com/article/index/266730/speedreads-scientists-shocked-to-discover-plankton-on-exterior-of-international-space-station

You could play with curved space and say that the Earth indeed is a flat plane, but wraps around into itself. That would involve a LOT of math wizardry though to get it to work, especially if this is a planet that you want to be able to blast off from.

It would be a fun little steampunk project, but I don't know if this has ever been done. Maybe in one of the Discworld books? First major problem (before you even start dealing with the solar system) is explaining gravity and what's happening on the underside of Earth. Does it just look like a weird mishmash of outcroppings like those fantasy pictures of floating mountains? Do the oceans spill over the side, and if so, how does the water get recycled? Does plate tectonics still happen, and if so, could a whole continent fall off the edge? Is the mantle exposed on the sides?

Warning, in case anyone has a weak stomach... this isn't exactly pleasant dinner convo. I was reading about the tapeworm lifecycle recently and found it to be highly unusual. It's a complex system that requires two different hosts to complete a cycle. I'll stick with pigs for the purposes of this since it's the most common one that humans have to deal with. So in quick summary: pigs eat the eggs eggs hatch in pigs and larvae grow larvae in pigs get eaten by humans larvae mature in humans adult worms lay eggs in humans humans pass eggs through feces rinse and repeat A further complication from this is that if a human were to eat an egg instead of a pig, things turn nasty. The larvae typically finds its way to the brain (which is NOT where it would mature in a pig) and causes a lot of problems and potentially death (for both the human and the worm). The same seems to be true for worms living in a closed system with pigs. I find this particularly strange because the cycle seems to suggest that these tapeworms would have had to evolve relatively fast. It relies on the relationship between humans and pork, and therefore would only have been able to thrive in the short time that humans have practiced animal farming. Is this a possible scenario in which a species made a quantum leap in evolution? Or are the articles I'm finding on the subject making the tapeworm's life cycle a lot fussier than it actually is?

Also... umm... game discussion is ^^^ that way. This here be the science labs.

I think just trying to get to the Mun for the first time would have more than enough hilarity in it for a Kerbal film.

The only reason I might not if given the chance is because my wife would probably kill me for doing something that risky (even though the ratio of space related deaths to successful flights is incredibly good).

I'm sure there's a way of making the data structure of levels so progressive that instead of loading an entire map at one time, it simply loads individual assets and their locations in the environment as the player approaches them. Similar to procedural maps (which can do this anyway). As for how easy it would be to make a game do that, I have no idea. Of course, if SSD's become the norm instead of the exception, and a TB of space on one comes down to one or two hundred dollars, loading will occur so quickly that you won't even know it's happening.

Alright, now this is going to drive me crazy. I remember a lot of talk about another anomalous structure. It might have even been on the moon, not mars. UFO folks were convinced this was a very tall skyscraper-ish object, and there was a piece laying on its side next to it, which suggested that it had broken off. Doesn't really matter to me if this was an artificial object or not, but I still want to know what came of it. If it was a natural object that actually looked like what the photos implied, it would still be an anomaly worth looking at. I can't find ANY references to it now though.

I prefer only keeping system essentials on C. If I need to reinstall, it takes minimal work to get things back up and running. It also keeps my data much safer since most virii don't go after anything that isn't on the system drive.

Anyone else feel like this is way too much engine and not enough wing? Might be a case of very forward thinking. At least, the future of America's roads is very much in question right now, and we don't have a top-notch rail system to fall back on.

True, the Church has backed off on discoveries before. Origin of the Species is a lot more recent than Galileo. So yes, maybe it just takes them a long time to warm up to a concept. Evolution may simply be a much more direct conflict though. It's anyone's guess as to what exactly is being described in the first few pages of Genisis. Dividing the 'firmament' of the Heavens and soforth. I'm actually not certain there's any point in the Bible that specifically suggests a geocentric system beyond, "If the universe was made for us, why WOULDN'T we be at the center?" But, the Scopes trial was very heated and sensational. Very much ahead of its time from the perspective of how these kinds of events are treated by the media today. Many insults were thrown around and therefore put on public record, and it ended in defeat for religion. So perhaps it's not simply the fact that evolution became acceptable, but the embarrassing way in which it happened. I don't think the big battle has even hit yet though. That's going to be the Big Bang. It's possible for a John Doe with unbiased common sense to visualize how evolution could happen. But to understand the Big Bang takes a lot of math wizardry. And the closer you get to 0.0 seconds, the more common sense breaks down and slips into wibbly wobbly timey wimey...ness. I feel that we are probably going to reach a point where "fuzzy logic" is going to have to be applied to certain fringe concepts. What happens if there are actual truths that can't be tested and repeated? The scientific method simply wasn't designed to handle such a possibility. Most turn to the double-slit experiment when discussing this, but I know how much the media has distorted that to look like something it isn't. The inability to predict the location of an electron at a given time would be a far better example of this. None of that points to any truth in theology, but I think there's at least a point to be made. "If it can't be tested or at least equated, it cannot exist," is probably very nearsighted. I don't need to argue that further though. If I'm wrong, oh well. If I'm right, it will become far more apparent as science 'digs' deeper into reality.

Are you kidding? Look at the shape of it. Clearly a Martian Sand Shark.

Heh, if you really think about it though, this same logic gets applied to the other party in evolution debates as well. I think the answer to that falls under social science, and it's a lot more complicated than something as simple as religion vs. science. I've given a lot of thought to how or why society has gotten so polarized in this regard. To me anyhow, it doesn't really seem to be an issue of gods vs science. But consider the statement in the previous quoted example: "If you're wrong about this, you're wrong about everything." When someone religious uses that mentality against science, there's an obvious reason for it. Because if science is even somewhat right, then it means something in the Bible is wrong. And then that same logic applies to the Bible. If the Bible is wrong about this, then the Bible is wrong about everything. There is where the problem lies with people who fight so vehemently over these issues. There's no in-between. It's either 0% or 100% One side or the other HAS to lose absolutely.

As usual for any major meteor event, lots of cloud cover here for the past couple nights. Not that it matters much in this case with the moon being so bright.

... and 2 years later we won't be able to play it anymore because they'll remove it from the download server.

Still hasn't been done right though. I'm probably waiting forever on an adaptation of WotW that takes place in London, in the late 1800's. Neither of the big films featured the chemical weapon, which IMO is much scarier than the heat ray. Even the Thunderchild hasn't been done, and that's the best action scene in the whole story.

Well it's not like they've got much else to do up there. Russia probably didn't even provide any windows so they could enjoy the view

"Oh, SO HOT!" "I know, baby." "No no seriously. Isn't it getting hot in here?" *looks outside* "Oh.... frack..."

Tex, copyright wouldn't protect you from bigwigs cashing in on your idea anyway. It's notoriously easy to chance a story to the point that it would be legally "new." Or if you're Disney, you don't really need to change a thing. If you're in the mood for a little vomit-inducing reality, look up the "Finding Nemo" lawsuit. Remember that courts do NOT in anyway favor the innocent. They favor whoever has the money necessary to wage the battle. In a David vs. Goliath scenario, Goliath can keep a trial going for ten times the length it realistically should, through postponements and appeals. Meanwhile, David is STILL having to shell out tons of money to lawyers, even when nothing is actually getting done. It just turns into a siege until the little guy can no longer afford it. Goliath often wins without ever having to prove anything.

Waiting for the next fiasco when that starts up again. Pretty soon now, I think. The really scary one is when Disney started trying to legally trademark the name "Snow White." Not a logo. Just the words. Effectively allowing them to claim ownership of a public domain title (which they sort of do anyway, since everyone thinks Disney created most of the classic fairy tales)

It's freakishly easy to "out-smart" people, especially when it comes to problem solving. I've been downright amazed whenever things like this happen. Another science situation, tough not rocket-related. We'd just recovered from a long power outage, and I had a bunch of dry ice in the freezer left over, so I decided to fill the bath tub with hot water and turn the place into a cloud. About the time the 'fog' reached the living room, one of the folks started getting nervous about getting suffocated by a CO2 overdose. Two things about this: #1. There were cats in the apartment. #2. This person was a freaking chemistry major. So I asked, "Is carbon dioxide lighter or heavier than air?" "Heavier." "Then where is it collecting?" "On the floor." "What organism is a tenth your size, sitting on the floor, and showing absolutely no signs of distress or disorientation?"