Anxious astronomers allowing a lot of alliteration.

'Pushing helmets really kills cycling and bike-sharing in particular because it promotes a sense of danger that just isn't justified — in fact, cycling has many health benefits,' says Piet de Jong.

Sadly, right after saying this, Piet de Jong got on his bicycle without a helmet and crashed. After hitting his head on the curb, he was rushed by ambulance to the hospital for emergency brain surgery.

I have mixed feelings about Wikileaks. On the one hand, I like when gov't wrong doing that has been covered up is revealed. But on the other, Assange has the view that countries should always say the same things in public as in private (He said so in 60 minutes inteview). I think this is just not a standard that any nation can live up to. Most decent people don't live that way and neither would I expect well run nations to do so. Even allies will make public statements while having more private views and back channel communications. I really don't see that as wrong. It is only if it is used to propagate hurtful lies or hide important truths that make it wrong.
As for his criminal accusations, I don't know what to think. I am skeptical of the accusations and the way they were made. But I am equally skeptical of the defense of him I have heard. I don't know what the truth is. I can only hope if he committed a crime, he gets a fair trial. And if he didn't, that all accusations and allegations would be dropped.
If the U.S. is involved in the massacre of civilians in Syria, I would want to know about it. And I would want those responsible to answer for it. However, I do think that scenario unlikely in the case of Syria, from what I have read.

If some are condemning their research as fraud, they bring it on themselves by including marketing expenses in their research budgets in order to justify higher prices for consumers in the countries (like the U.S.) where they can get away with it. News reports I have seen in the past few years indicate they are making record profits. That certainly isn't because they have come up with much better antibiotics. It is because they advertise heavily until people bug their doctors for a prescription. That said, there are certainly wonderful advances and I'm sure good and decent scientists working for all the right reasons in those firms. I just doubt sincerely that they are in control.

So, I choose the Dr. Manhattan avatar and the whole things starts all over again.

Citation needed...

Don't forget "Phishing License" - State sponsored phishing for gov't or corporate secrets.

Hot lesbian Dathomir witches... fucking genius!!

My understanding of this (non scientist view) is that they found stem cells grown in isolation of other cells tended to become tumors. But when placed in the presence of similar cells or with cells of the areas of the body where they needed to grow, they were more likely to behave as hoped and turned into the needed cells. Maybe some kind of cellular chemical signature guidance to the stem cell of what to do. But what a gamble, you have to put the stem cells right into the affected area where if things go wrong, it would be very hard to fix. This is why I thought they were working towards using stem cells to grow new teeth since they could implant them and then if necessary pull them out if things went wrong. Teeth are apparently similar in many ways to more sophisticated internal organs, so a lot would be learned by perfecting it. Plus, it would totally be marketable if you could grow people brand new perfect teeth.

"For the fundamental truth self-determination of the cosmos, for dark is the suede that mows like a harvest. "

I haven't seen anyone comment on the distraction of GPS systems. Of course, they also get you where you need to go quicker so reduce your time on the road looking for your destination. But still listening to the thing and trying to follow its instructions can be at least as distracting as having a conversation with a passenger or using a hands-free phone.
I mean there is no question people do all kinds of stupid things and I can hardly believe people using phones with one hand while they try to park their car or back it out of a tight spot. But I think to claim hands-free is more of a distraction than a conversation with a passenger is a stretch. At a minimum, it would depend on the circumstances. Someone having a simple conversation on the phone with both hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road could certainly be less distracting than a screaming argument with a passenger.

As an aside, my favorite distracted driving story is about a friend of a friend going to work and seeing the woman behind him doing her makeup in the rearview mirror in stop and go traffic. A few minutes later the guy stops the car in traffic and the lady rear ends him. He looks back and sees her pulling her lipstick out of one of her nostrils.

Tower Madness is a good Tower Defense game. Moxie 1 and 2 word game (although Moxie 1 is now on Facebook, too). Peggle is good, but I think I actually prefer it on the old click-wheel ipod. Star Wars Trench Run for the total Star Wars geek (raises hand). Some of the high end racing games are good too, but I kind of suck at them.

I've gotten a ton of games free from the Free App A Day site and FreeAppCalendar and others like it. I just check them once a day and see if they have anything good. Also got HarborMaster and SpyMouse (my kid likes that one) free from Starbucks. Not sure if they are worth full price, but I play them from time to time.

Tower Madness I got for free originally, but happily have bought in game extras since I have gotten way more than a dollar worth of fun out of the game.

I think you are on to something there. As a unit of measure, each 30 minutes of wasted time should be referred to as a "Kardashian". The same length of time as their show.

I don't know about buying it in a heartbeat. But I totally agree that this is a brilliant way to take a stupid copyright dispute that hurts both parties with legal bills and turns it into a great marketing opportunity for both companies. If I were on either side of this, I would hype it like crazy. Trash talking press conferences with nose to nose photo ops... the works. Is Don King still around? Gamers will eat this stuff up. Hard to say if it would translate directly into game sales, but they say any kind of publicity is good publicity. And gaming companies settling disputes with gaming contests just feels so right.

I'm not disagreeing with you. But why are we limiting ourselves to thinking just about cars? A cost effective electric generator for homes and businesses would be a game changer calling into question whether we even need an electrical grid. As I understand it, homes are often terribly energy inefficient and a big percentage of electrical power is lost in transport through the grid. Aren't there some big benefits there, too? Particularly if the generators needed weren't quite compact enough for current vehicular engine compartments. Either have one per home, or even just replace transfer stations with larger thorium generators and reduce the distance the power has to travel.