... for taking the time to do this. Great stuff and I appreciate it.

Phil,

In January of '09, The BBC ran a story on research done by scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Using the VLBA they found what they felt was very good evidence that our galaxy is about the same size as Andromeda (150k ly). However, very few of their fellow astronomers, including you, are touting this new size. Why? Was the study flawed?

Next up: Comparison of penis length and brand of toothpaste. Don't ya love 'science'?

"like the old telephone time service." Ah, UL3-1212. Haven't thought about that in a long...um...time. For the 'new-time' perhaps we could use: U812 or Fi1U12.

From the little I've seen of these TV ghost hunters, they could also use a manly pair and several changes of adult diapers.

Glad I'm not alone. I even added a little brown noise to give the illusion it is coming from light years away.

I'll hold out for a cyborg babe.

From the blurb at the top, it sounds as though the researchers could have misinterpreted their results. I can't imagine an old fuck (love ya Georgie) like me getting an ego boost from seeing young folk fail, except for the mentally challenged or those in the beginning stages of dementia. I don't have much time left and it does my heart good to see younger men and women succeeding in every human endeavor around the world which, of course, includes my children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

How do they measure that? As an amateur astronomer, I understand relative magnitude but...wow. I'm guessing they use some other method? Also, would this star be considered a super-massive blue giant or...?

"I'm an educated black man..."

You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.

"How far can a 80 mph car go?"

About 580,000 rods per hogshead, depending.

A writer in prison? I think it's more likely he'll be a 'wide receiver'.

Oh god! Is that you, Dr Lippmann? I haven't heard those two words in 45 years. I think it was integrated algebra and trig class.

On the laptop I use most often, which belonged to my late wife, half the disk is Vista with all her files which I haven't the heart to remove. She allowed me to install the open source software we all know and love and after she passed away I kept the OS updated, installed MSE and backed up all her files. But I think the most important thing I did to protect this little piece of her life was to install Ubuntu on the other half of the disk where full access to the Vista side is just a click away without having to boot it.

I went round and round with Kaiser Permanente for years with all visits ending with something like, "Oh, look at the kitty. Have a nice day." When I retired and moved out of state, my insurance was changed to Blue Cross with about the same hearing aid coverage; mostly little to none. With Blue Cross' annual deductible, various co-payments, etc. going up every year, I made the decision to make the VA my primary care provider. I did have to pay the VA but it was a lot less than I was giving Blue Cross. To the point, I received my hearing aids in less than a month. If you are a vet and can't hear, go to the VA.