A bad bra is a dozen times worse than no bra. A good bra over no bra... depends on the person. I always wear one in public. If I'm wearing something thinner or more delicate at home, I wear one for support. I don't like the 'exposed' or unsupported feeling. But if I've got a t-shirt on, a shirt with material that is a little thicker/tighter, I prefer to be without. For science, I wear a C cup.

When it comes to public office, what we need to guard against is not the religious, or atheists, or whatever other philosophy someone might follow. What we need to guard against are people who are utterly unwilling and incapable of living in a pluralistic society. People who are dogmatic whether from fear, lacking all empathy, lacking the ability to imagine themselves in someone else's shoes, and/or an aggrandized persecution complex and self-righteousness. Putting this type of person in a position of power is incompatible with a peaceful, pluralistic, free, and democratic society.

Because I'd love to. Let me pay the licence fee and have access to BBC iPlayer, legally, and that would cover most of what I want to see.

It wouldn't help for other channels, but what does Channel 4 really have? Jimmy Carr? Meh. Though I would like ITV for shows that only make their way to PBS years later...

Fire all the lawyers everywhere and hire some more techs and make it happen.

So if it's share anecdotes about one's pets day, I'm so down with that. Anyone else currently have a cat that knows what buttons to push (figuratively speaking) to get you to do what it likes? I've got a cat that is merciless about manipulating our household. If we don't get up to feed her in the morning, she'll complain for a bit, and if we ignore her she starts knocking things off of dressers or tables until one of has to respond. (Usually when she starts nudging the glassware or lamps.) If you lock her out of the bedroom, she'll tear the household plants out by their roots and leave them like horse heads in the kitchen.

Dogs, meanwhile, seem to crave their owner's approval. They'll scratch and whine, but I've never met one that seemed vindictive.

Ductwork, wiring, and so forth would still be a problem, but on nighttime transatlantic flights when they dim the interior lighting, I would think a transparent ceiling and a sky full of stars would be lovely, especially if you're feeling claustrophobic. Afraid of heights, though, so I don't think I could handle transparent walls or floors.

Apologies for the delay in replying. It's a matter of misapplied terminology, of which I was ignorant until I went and looked it up. So, thank you. :) I can tell you that the sisters in my parish belong to the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Joseph, so they are technically "sisters" adhering to that order's charter (which stresses social service), not "nuns". Reading the article, it seems like there is a similar confusion of the terms. The article mentions a participant from the Congregation of St. Joseph, and from the CSJ's website it doesn't seem like they're a cloistered order, either, so the article and headline calling them "nuns" is similarly incorrect. Some of the participants may very well be nuns, but clearly not all of them. You are right: *nuns* would have very little access to the outside world. The study participants/donors aren't (all) nuns.

I do a lot of work with my local parish's rectory and convent (not a believer myself, but a 20-something "computer person" willing to lend a hand), and the nuns' daily activities involve organizing soup kitchens, visiting nursing homes, arranging excursions for people who live in group homes for the mentally disabled (taking them bowling, out for ice cream, whatever), tutoring, all in secular settings. I suppose they project the image of Catholicism (they wear a 'modernized' habit and veil), but the institutions for which they volunteer are not, by and large, part of any religious organization. There are cloistered orders, but those are rare. When I was a wee lass, the nuns could sing along to the Backstreet Boys. No one is safe from the reaches of pop culture, apparently. ;)

Yes, it's a specifically American phenomenon, because they're all stupid. I've never heard a Brit call their vacuum a Hoover, or refer to 'hoovering' or an announcement on the Tannoy. Not that I'm assuming you're British. Just providing examples. And maybe your arrogance is well-deserved in that you're more vigilant than most and always say 'vacuum flask' instead of 'thermos'.

On the other hand, I've been playing a few of my favorite titles from the PS and PS2 era and all of the loading makes me crazy. Silent Hill is load screens up and down every hallway. Ico: moving through every door, window, and hole entails a loading screen. FFXII: a product very late in the PS2 dev cycle, and walking through the first city is a chore. Persona games entail plenty of loading. Mass Effect and its infamous elevators might be partly down to clumsy design, but it's also a limit of storage space and processing power. We've got open world sandbox games like Crackdown or GTA, but picture something with the polish and intensity of Mass Effect running on the next platform with an 'open-galaxy' world. I agree that I don't care how high def individual textures are, but the opportunity for increased breadth and granularity is very enticing.

As always, we have to consider whether people whose bodies naturally guide them to nine hours or more of sleep per night have an underlying physiology that makes them more likely to develop Parkinson's. For example's sake, when my schedule is uninterrupted and I can sleep for as long or short as I want, that is, go to sleep when tired and wake up naturally, I average about eight and a half to nine hours. Alarm clocks and the modern world keep me sleeping about seven hours a night. Am I mitigating the potentially harmful effects of sleeping so much by keeping my body on an unnatural rhythm, or are the underlying risk factors still present? Biology is not my forte. The stuff about night shift work and hormones is interesting. Higher levels of melatonin and oestradiol = increased risk. The article doesn't mention, however, if night shift workers take night shifts because they're naturally "night owls" (meaning they would have some biological factors regulating their risk of developing the disease) or if their schedule is out of their hands (that is, we can impose external schedules on sleep biology to manage risk factors). There are all sorts of risk factors that can be managed with proper diet/exercise/etc, I guess it's not too much of a stretch to assume that sleep management would have similar benefits.

I haven't seen the movie yet so I can't speak to this incarnation's characterization but in "The Naked Time" Sulu runs around with a fencing foil, if I recall correctly. It's probably a reference to that, not Picard, though it was probably also an excuse for a cheesy sword fight.