StringJunky

Who says scientists are choir singers?

"Custom" is a marketing term that can mean anything the seller likes but usually implies it's exclusive or rare in some way

One megaton blast is equivalent to 4.18 x 1015 joules.

Saudi oil is very important to the global infrastructure, so it's going to be a very tortuous journey for everybody. I don't disagree with you, I'm just commenting on the potential scale of the problem; it's complex. It could very well get swept under the carpet.

Yes, they should, but I think countries will start from the least aggressive position until the evidence is too strong. I recently read an article in Reuters that the ultimate consequence might be the crown prince being removed from the line of accession. His accession is not automatic as it needs to be approved by a council of elder princes, who may feel it is not in the country's interest to have him as king, in the light of this emerging situation.

Exactly. One is just moving this puzzle to a more difficult starting place.

Gravity on a large body like Earth is not a trivial hurdle for life to escape, survive space and survive re-entry on another hospitable body, which would also likely be large. I'm not saying it's impossible but it's not a simpler solution than life starting on Earth. Executing Occam's Razor would tell us to start here, on Earth, for signs of the abiogenesis of life on Earth.

American business reminds of that official in 'Jaws', telling everybody it's ok to swim, just to keep the cash coming in.

Start with the simplest scenario. Coming in from outside there are added difficulties. This does not presuppose that Earth is unique in its ability to start life. If life can start here, it can start anywhere that has the necessary conditions. It is an unnecessary complication to factor in how the building blocks landed on Earth when you haven't first eliminated that they were created here. Does that make sense?

Have a read of this: https://byo.com/article/brew-a-great-non-alcoholic-beer/

This is true. A few years ago I probably would have got less than half right.

One's pumped full of water from using anabolic steroids and the other group are naturally massive to start with i.e have a high density of muscle fibres.

Right.

Good. I wasn't sure. I don't live as dangerously as you, I just do 5-10 miles/day on the road and cycle paths.

Yeah, as one gets older I think running and other high impact activities is too jarring for an aging skeleton. I think steady, low impact exercise, like swimming and cycling keeps your body tuned to repairing itself in a way that's manageable. I'm using 'impact' as relates to sudden physical shock/vibration.

Aye.

Until the evidence suggests life couldn't happen on Earth, I'm not interested in panspermia.

I think cycling is better. I cycle quickly to get my heart going and cycle slowly in high gear to stress my legs alternately

In the science forums, I agree but in the politics section, which is more opinion-based, I give more lattitude. In subjects like politics we use evidence to support our personal view or agenda but that evidence is usually not so unequivocal and can be interpreted with a bit of confirmation bias thrown in as well. Politics is more street-level and so we have a certain lack of formality; this should be taken into account.

Right.

From my perspective, I think you would be being over-sensitive to mistermack's post if you were to neg rep him. I think it's barbed with a light sprinkling of sarcasm but it is not what I would call vitriolic.

STP in my school days was 20C and 760mmHg. It turns out to be the NIST values and they call it NTP. https://www.1728.org/stpcalc.htm

You're so 'last week'. She's a survivor now.

The BB is regarded as the start of an epoch in the ongoing evolution of the universe, not the beginning of the universe itself. Time, as we know it, could have emerged with this epoch.

It's not our problem if your brain can't handle that.