How can you claim to have any knowledge of the degree to which Iran is enriching its uranium? Citation please! What we've heard from international inspectors seems to indicate that they are playing above board, just as it seemed in the run-up to the Iraq war... Pardon me if some of us get a sense of "deja-vu" in this situation.

Ok, sure. But given the prevailing wind patterns, wiping out Israel with nukes would not have favorable "fallout" for Iran. Therefore, why would they do it? I still don't see it.

It's the same MAD conundrum that kept the USA and USSR from wiping each other out a few decades ago. We survived that threat ok, and the USSR was a much worse threat than puny Iran ever was or will be.

Ditto!

You're right. A nuclear "terrorist" attack is not impossible in the next 10 years, esp. the "dirty bomb" variety. But I don't think even the the "loonies" in Iran would launch a first strike. What possible benefit could be gained? At what cost? The entire proposition is ludicrous. Please explain.

No, I didn't forget about it, I never heard of it before. That is sad. Citation....??

Ahmedinijad is out of power and the tales of Iran's nuclear program (from what I can see) appear to be mostly overblown propaganda. I'll grant that this is a "legitimate" issue among "experts" in diplomacy, but I'm not buying it. YMMV...

Whatever you think of their politics, I'm sorry to see them leave the club, even if it's only temporarily. Spaceflight is one of the few remaining areas of "friendly rivalry" where everybody still cheers for the other teams' success, even as we hope to best them. Nobody ever watches a launch and thinks "I hope it explodes! I hope it explodes!" No... you always think "Go, baby, go!"

It will be interesting to see how "bad" this landing was... Was it a total, catastrophic loss, or did it just break a leg on landing and fall over onto the barge platform? The engines are the most expensive part of the "stack", and there are nine of them on the F9 booster stage. If they can salvage six or seven of these Merlin engines from this booster, even that will be a major victory.

Given the rate of innovation and development we've seen from SpaceX in the last few years, I suspect we'll see them nail the landing within the next couple of launches.

I can hardly wait! ;-)

The announcer said they might try again as early as Friday, just before SpaceX live stream was terminated.

It's kinda cool that we can witness this process in real time, as populations in Singapore, India, etc. gradually adopt more English vocabulary, norms, and syntax. Singapore is a great example of this phenomenon... say a Cantonese-speaking guy marries a Malay-speaking girl. Neither one of them speaks "native" English; they both have an accent. But they also can't speak each others' native tongue. Their only shared language is "broken" English... and that's what their kids grow up with as their native language.

Living in Taiwan all these years, I find myself confronted with a host of different accents and dialects that I would never have encountered back home in Iowa. I've heard all manner of "English" from Kiwis, Ozzies, Scousers, Paddies, etc... not to mention folks from other language families altogether.

Even as the old divisions fade away, you can see the new divisions emerge...

To quote Mr. Spock... Fascinating!

A spot of paint on your balloon would locally restrict expansion as it inflates, as galaxies seem to do in our expanding universe. My understanding of current hypotheses is that dark matter plays the role of "paint" in this analogy. However, there's an intriguing alternative explanation, which only becomes apparent when you think of space as a fluid.

Ironically, I stumbled upon this notion after musing on the strong interaction. (And I confess I was a bit high at the time.) Something that repels at a distance but attracts in proximity... that reminds me of bubbles interacting in the surface tension of fluids. So I googled "space as a fluid" and found that there's a whole branch of inquiry in this direction. It doesn't get as much attention as String Theory, but it's not dismissed out of hand either. (Correct me if I'm wrong... IANA physicist.)

Anyway, I'm curious to hear others' thoughts on this.

My desktop PC has multiple screens (one of which is 42") and a full-size "ergonomic" keyboard. No laptop can come close to this experience.

To be fair, I do in fact "own" a laptop (iBook G3), but I haven't actually used it in 6 or 7 years. I don't have anything against them, I just haven't had much need for one in recent years. Last time I traveled, I found my phone was enough to stay connected, and if I ever needed a "real" computer, it was not hard to find. Frankly I don't see much use for that form-factor in my lifestyle for the foreseeable future.

I understand that some people still need a laptop to get their job done. I'm not one of those people. And given the choice, I'd much rather use a desktop.

I don't own a laptop!