Theory: The universe may have had a beginning at some point
Postulate: If it began at a single point, it would be expanding
Test: View distant objects and calculate their trajectory
Result: Distant objects are moving away from us
Conclusion: The universe is expanding.
Creationist Conclusion: God made it that way

Postulate: If the universe is expanding, there must have been a point at which it was very small
Test: Run simulations on expanding universe with existing theory of particle physics
Result: Simulation strongly agrees with existing observations of background radiation
Creationist Conclusion: God made it that way

Conclusion: The universe appears to have come from a single point
Postulate: This means it must have a set age
Test: Measure speed of expansion, age of stars, distribution of matter to determine absolute age.
Result: Many measurements seem to agree on a time period for the age of the universe
Conclusion: The universe has an age we can calculate (approx 14.6 billion years)
Creationist Conclusion: God made it that way

Theory: The earth is the center of the Solar System
Postulate: Everything rotates around the earth
Test: Calculate orbital trajectories to determine a consistent pattern of orbit
Result: Postulate does not match calculations or observations
Conclusion: The Earth is probably NOT the center of the solar system
Creationist Conclusion: Someone mistranslated the bible when it said that.

Theory: Dino fossils are old
Postulate: Measuring the age of things can be done with radiometric dating.
Test: Measure the amount of Argon-40 in rocks found very near fossils and calculate relative decay of Potassium-40 over the 1.2 billion year half-life.
Result: The amount of Argon-40 (which can only appear in-situ within rocks due to radioactive decay of Argon-40) consistently reveals an age of 35-2 billion years. Rocks found near fossils are frequently (more than 95% of the time) dated consistently with the particular rock layer they are found in and contain consistent specimens.
Conclusion: Fossils were laid down in a consistent way at dates consistent with them having various ages between 35 and 2 billion years
Young Earth Creationist Conclusion: God made it that way

Theory: Jesus was the son of God
Test: .....
Result: ?!
Scientific Conclusion: !?
Christian Conclusion: Jesus is the son of God

Theory: God created the earth in 7 days
Postulate: My God is and Awesome God!!!
Test: ... only 7?
Result: It was good.
Creationist Conclusion: God did it!!!!!
Scientific Conclusion: what?

Theory: The nature of the beginning of the universe is unknowable
Test: ?
Scientific Conclusion: We don't know, for sure
Creationist Conclusion: I have all the answers, it's in this old book.

Cars today are much better than they were in 1990 when they developed this system.

3-star ratings weren't uncommon back then.

http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/5-Star+Safety+Ratings/1990-2010+Vehicles/Vehicle-Detail?vehicleId=3098

There are still some cars that get 4-stars, but this particular model (RAV4) got several 4-star ratings, prompting newspaper articles about "failing" safety tests. People clearly expect perfect security and safety all the time at all costs. (See: Patriot Act)

http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/5-Star+Safety+Ratings/2011-Newer+Vehicles/Vehicle-Detail?vehicleId=8143

Lots of cars ship with air suspension. Audi, Cadillac, BMW, Mercedes and others have shipped this.

I suspect the NTSB tests them in "worst case" configuration.

Considering the Tesla has similar air suspension to the Audi design, it's probably a solved problem that you're frothing about for no reason.

LOL.

+1 hillarious

The firewalling in the Model S is superb. The odds of a fire killing someone are extremely low because the batteries are surrounded by heat shields that will give someone 10-15 minutes to escape before they are actually burned.

I suspect that no fire deaths will ever occur in a Tesla (except, perhaps someone who is already unconscious from striking at tree at 100mph, or similar).

The CoG on the Tesla is already so low that the NTSB had to resort to "extreme measures" (using a ramp for one wheel) to even convince the car to roll during safety testing.

There are not too many non-racecars (Porche, Ferrari, etc) that have to have this measure taken.

There is very little risk of rolling a Model S.

That would be "HIGH END" luxury cars (Over $80k), FYI.

15%?

The Tesla Model S is the single highest selling luxury sedan in the US, beating out the Mersedez Benz S-Class.

It's fair to say that electric cars will be destroyed by fire at a slightly higher rate than brand new gasoline cars, but they are subject to destruction by other means less often.

The fires are contained and, as stated, were sufficiently contained to avoid burning the paper in the glove compartment, and the cabin suffered exactly zero damage, due to the well designed firewalls.

All I have to say is MEH.

That's not how statistics works....

Sorry, what does home heating have to do with cigarette smoking?

Analogy....

I claim eating cyanide is bad for you.

You counter by saying that cyanide is in the wood people use to make backyard decks and the they have dinner there...

Ha!!!

Still confused.

To be fair, TWO of those three people are on record saying they would buy again and don't think the fire was a big deal, given the type of impact.

People are really bad at understanding statistics.

The masses will believe that electric cars are dangerously subject to spontaneous burning as a result of this press coverage, despite the extraordinarily solid safety record of the Tesla cars.

This is (to me) substantially similar to those people who frequently call violent crime a "growing problem" and probably comes from the same lazy, sensationalist reporters.

While the thrust of the military power of the British empire is truly not what it was, he is accurate in saying that "the sun never sets". :-)

Nobody really refers to it as an "empire" anymore, but in addition to Britain and Northern Ireland, the U.K. still controls territories including "Gibraltar, Bermuda, numerous Caribbean islands, Ascension, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia." Some have argued that the sun finally set over the empire after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. But some argue this view ignores two tiny but crucial territories which bridge the gab: the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific and the British Indian Ocean Territory -- also known as the Chagos Islands, where Britain and the United States maintain a joint military facility at Diego Garcia. The question is "on midwinter's day in the southern hemisphere, does the sun set over Pitcairn before it rises over Diego Garcia?"

Here's what Peter Hammond's calculations found:
---
[The] results allow for the refraction of the sun's rays when it is close to the horizon. They indicate that, on 21st June, the sun rises over Diego Garcia at 01:22 hrs GMT, more than half an hour before it sets over Pitcairn at 01:59 hrs GMT.
Thanks to Diego Garcia (uninhabited except temporarily by various U.K. and U.S. military personnel) and to Pitcairn (population now about 50), the British Empire appears safe from sunsets for the time being.
---

They're doing *something* onto your children, but I don't think it's called praying....

It was explained in later books of the series that near-relativistic speeds make it impossible to receive communications due to the frequency-shift due to speed.

There's about a page of description of it in Speaker For the Dead and another several pages in Xenocide.

In Xenocide, it is stated that Ender's AI, Jane, can send transmissions to a ship at relativistic speed, but only by using the sustained and combined power of much of humanity's computers at once.