Yet....

fuel needed for the landing is inefficient compared to a splashdown parachute recovery

The barge/ocean is just a temporary measure. The vision is twenty rockets launching a day and returning to the launch site to prep for the next launch.

There were about 120 rocket launches last year. SpaceX's mission statement is to reduce the cost of launches by 100x, and utilization rates go up as costs fall, so it's not just 100x more launches - twenty a day is probably very conservative if they hit their price targets.

Queue the folks who can't imagine what anybody would do with more than 640 launches a year.

But it appeared they could come down slowly. Pretty close to hover.

Yeah, I think that's the inevitable end-game - there is plenty of time to make small adjustments right up until the point of contact with the solid parts of the planet. AIUI, they're so close to empty on the fuel tank after the burnback that they're trying to get it down on the pad ASAP. They can only attempt these landings for now on launches that don't require as much fuel as others - supposedly the next iteration can hold more fuel.

Also, Stanislaw Lem featured a kind of smart dust in his 1980s novel.

The fifty shades are of grey, not gray.

Electromagnetic force created chemical bonds and the illusion of substance in normal matter. Even though normal matter is 99.9999% "empty", EM chemical bonds keeps solids and liquids from interpenetrating each other. Since dark matter doesnt seem to have EM chemical bonds, it just difuses through the general emptiness of normal matter. It just may make us feel a little heavier than were really are from just normal matter.

To get likely first use age. Another example. oldest clothing evidence is about 30K years. But lice genetics points to clothing lice evolved about 70K years ago.

Disney documentatary about orphaned boy chimp adopted by a male adult (unusual). They used stones to crack open nuts. It is not an easy skill to learn. They did not reshape the stones. This suggests stone tools used many million years earlier than than this.

I would be kind of surprised if it was generally noticable

Amazon reviews are quite positive.

If you're just looking at resumes it's easy to say "oh, yes, let's give this woman a chance" when you know you'd never actually give her the job. Follow it up with some bullshit excuse about 'culture fit' or personality that can't really be quantified or held against you.

His credentials include co-founder of Earth Day and early computer bulletin boards.

http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Ea...

He proposes urban living, nuclear power, and GMO, to chargin of faux-liberals.

Various googled websites calculate fossil fuel usage for every citizen int he developed world is equivalent to the labor of between 100 to 200 slaves in the old days. (not including their upkeep) Granted a lot of this is wasted in our luxurious "suburban plantation" lifestyle. But could a standard of living be kept in fossil fuel free society?

Assange is just a SWATing early adopter.

Disinfo is the oldest game in the book. Assange is stuck in a hole in London due to the oldest. :sigh:

It could be a good opportunity to repair relations with an ally.

Yep - let's hope he's a smart enough opportunist to leverage the situation. Remember, the USG thought the Bolivia scenario was plausible enough to take extreme illegal action. So that confirms a willingness.

By the way, has Bolivia asked for (and gotten) an apology from any of those countries?

According to reports, yes.

Assurances they'll never do such a thing again? Hardly. Violate the treaty and send the Ambassador to apologize.