Ace of Spades HQ

April 18, 2014

Cool Beans: Earth-Sized Planet in the Habitable Zone Discovered Very Near our Own Solar System
— Ace

At just a mere 500 light years away, why, it's almost walking distance.

It's in the outer limits of the habitable zone, though. The cold part of the zone, like Mars. But it's more massive than Mars (more massive than Earth, in fact) so it could hold more of an atmosphere and thus be warmer.

Water could exist in liquid form, if it exists there at all.

Kepler-186f actually lies at the edge of the Kepler-186 star's habitable zone, meaning that liquid water on the planet's surface could freeze, according to study co-author Stephen Kane of San Francisco State University.
Because of its position in the outer part of the habitable zone, the planet's larger size could actually help keep its water liquid, Kane said in a statement. Since it is slightly bigger than Earth, Kepler-186f could have a thicker atmosphere, which would insulate the planet and potentially keep its water in liquid form, Kane added.

The planet orbits a red dwarf, much colder than our own sun, but the planet is much closer to it (and so is within the smaller star's smaller habitable zone).

This is kind of interesting. I know, vaguely, that a planet's atmospheric make-up depends on its mass. Mass determines not just how much gas a planet will hold in its atmosphere, but which gases, specifically. I believe it's easier to hold heavier gases, and harder to hold lighter ones (like hydrogen and helium).

Mars, being quite a bit less massive than earth, can't hold oxygen or nitrogen.

This planet, being just about earth's mass (1.1 earth-masses) could. But anyway, here's the interesting part: You can't go much more over earth's actual mass before a planet will begin trapping hydrogen and helium (rather than losing grip on these light atoms and letting them slip into space), and thus become not very earth-like at at all.

"What we've learned, just over the past few years, is that there is a definite transition which occurs around about 1.5 Earth radii," Quintana said in a statement. "What happens there is that for radii between 1.5 and 2 Earth radii, the planet becomes massive enough that it starts to accumulate a very thick hydrogen and helium atmosphere, so it starts to resemble the gas giants of our solar system rather than anything else that we see as terrestrial."

So "earth-like" is a very, very narrow range as far as mass -- say, I don't know, 0.8 earth masses to 1.5 earth masses -- and as far as distance from star.

Not a lot of wiggle room here.

thanks to @rdbrewer4.

Posted by: Ace at 09:22 AM | Comments (441)
Post contains 461 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Very cool! So maybe NASA could look into this when they're not doing Muslim outreach?

Posted by: Lizzy at April 18, 2014 09:23 AM (IdOTf)

2 Step 2 to finding an earthlike planet will be that it has a moon similar to ours as well.

Posted by: buzzion at April 18, 2014 09:24 AM (LI48c)

3 >>> Step 2 to finding an earthlike planet will be that it has a moon similar to ours as well. i think that's on the "Like to Have" not "Need to Have" list.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 09:24 AM (/FnUH)

4 I wonder if Recovery Summer has kicked in yet on Kepler number whatever.

Posted by: Vice President Rayban von Chompers at April 18, 2014 09:25 AM (GOoUs)

5 Ehhhh...I tend to believe it's either a big dead rock or a 'hell world' like Venus.

Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk at April 18, 2014 09:25 AM (uhAkr)

6 Still no plane though.

Posted by: CNN Breaking News at April 18, 2014 09:25 AM (Aif/5)

7 We are all future Keplerians.

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 09:25 AM (8c12T)

8 Any missing Malaysian jetliners there?

Posted by: locomotivebreath1901 at April 18, 2014 09:26 AM (K3RTK)

9 Shhhh, don't tell anyone where this planet is. Lets just keep it our little secret.

Posted by: John Galt at April 18, 2014 09:26 AM (GOoUs)

10 Oh Great, the EcoNuts will protest we're 'offshoring' our pollution and capitalistic notions upon this poor, defenseless planetoid. ...all the while the DemoRats are plotting how to tax the shit out of it...

Posted by: Ibin Pharteen at April 18, 2014 09:26 AM (zL/eJ)

11 Here's where I'd throw in a cool snarky Heinlein reference if I'd ever read Heinlein.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 09:27 AM (JtwS4)

12 3 >>> Step 2 to finding an earthlike planet will be that it has a moon similar to ours as well.

i think that's on the "Like to Have" not "Need to Have" list.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 01:24 PM (/FnUH)

I don't know. Pretty sure its the reason our axis is so stable.

Posted by: buzzion at April 18, 2014 09:27 AM (LI48c)

13 That's nothing, I found an extra 1.5 million Obamacare sign ups in a week.

Posted by: Emperor Baraka I at April 18, 2014 09:27 AM (Aif/5)

14 Hey Ace. The story is talking planet SIZE (radii) and you're talking mass. They're related but not the same thing.

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at April 18, 2014 09:27 AM (h53OH)

15 I remember that someone once told me that the very act of observing a planet changed its behavior forever, so I am against all planetary observation. Science.

Posted by: Bill McKibben at April 18, 2014 09:28 AM (GOoUs)

16 8 Any missing Malaysian jetliners there? Posted by: locomotivebreath1901 at April 18, 2014 01:26 PM (K3RTK) Ugh. I just thought of hundreds of dead bodies trapped in that ferry bumping around. You think the jet broke up? Or, are people bumping around? They claim that you can still see human remains on the ocean floor from the Titanic, but I find that hard to believe.

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 09:29 AM (8c12T)

17 The planet orbits a red dwarf, much colder than our own sun, but the planet is much closer to it (and so is within the smaller star's smaller habitable zone).

Shorter days and nights.

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 09:29 AM (GQ8sn)

18
Well the artists depiction shows some nice trees on Kepler dash numbers, so I say we go... or at least ask him about the weather.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 09:30 AM (BrAHD)

19 I remember that someone once told me that the very act of observing a planet changed its behavior forever Pointing a telescope at Jupiter made it finally stop masturbating.

Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk at April 18, 2014 09:30 AM (uhAkr)

20 15 I remember that someone once told me that the very act of observing a planet changed its behavior forever, so I am against all planetary observation. Science. Posted by: Bill McKibben at April 18, 2014 01:28 PM (GOoUs) What? The planet says, hey ma, Bill is looking at me! Make him stop!

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 09:30 AM (8c12T)

21 Our Sublime Padishah Emperor has charged me to take possession of this planet and end all dispute.

Posted by: Chris_Balsz at April 18, 2014 09:30 AM (5xmd7)

22 Our Sublime Padishah Emperor has charged me to take possession of this planet and end all dispute.

Posted by: Chris_Balsz at April 18, 2014 01:30 PM (5xmd7)

The Spice must flow!

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 09:31 AM (GQ8sn)

23 Time to bottle up some black goo and start terraforming that bad boy.....

Posted by: cthulhu at April 18, 2014 09:32 AM (T1005)

24 Calling a sun a "dwarf" is demeaning. I prefer "hydrogen supply-challenged".

Posted by: Janet Napolitano at April 18, 2014 09:32 AM (GOoUs)

25 I welcome any illegal alien immigrants from this new planet as an act of love.

Posted by: John McCain (D-Juarez) at April 18, 2014 09:32 AM (ksJYU)

26 " They claim that you can still see human remains on the ocean floor from the Titanic, but I find that hard to believe. Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 01:29 PM (8c12T) " No. Ballard said they were puzzled by seeing hundreds of pairs of boots, until he realized that tanned leather was the only thing left after 70 years.

Posted by: Chris_Balsz at April 18, 2014 09:32 AM (5xmd7)

27 I'd bet Barky has a higher approval rating there than here.

Posted by: mallfly at April 18, 2014 09:32 AM (bJm7W)

28 Also, it needs a better name than Kepler-186. I could see coming back from space and saying "I banged this hot Venusian chick", but "I had a soul-meld with a Kepler-186ian"? Not so much.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 09:33 AM (JtwS4)

29 23 Time to bottle up some black goo and start terraforming that bad boy..... also said by moochelle Obama on her honeymoon

Posted by: navycopjoe at April 18, 2014 09:33 AM (krmE0)

30 We can't call it a Class M planet, though, until we know its atmosphere.

Posted by: Bud Norton at April 18, 2014 09:33 AM (6cOMd)

31 Say a planet with intelligent life is a million-to-one shot. That means our galaxy alone would have thousands.

But...

What are the odds any two of them are around at the same time? We've only been around for 100,000 years or so, in a billions-years-old galaxy. We could disappear a million years from now and still be just an eyeblink. Who knows how many intelligent alien species have come and gone and how many are just in the amoeba stage now and will rise long after we're gone.

People talk about how the vast expanse of space isolates us from contact with alien species. They never talk about the vaster expanse of time.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 09:33 AM (celt+)

32 There is no point hoping to develop the technology to travel to other worlds, if we keep thinking that environments must be protected from human intervention and "contamination." I mean, what is the point of going to Mars if eco nuts are going to say that mining or colonies are endangering the local bacteria, if any? Let alone tera-forming an entire planet...

Posted by: Taco Shack at April 18, 2014 09:34 AM (C+qQ0)

33 Quick, better give the EPA more power so they can declare it off limits for humans to use.

Posted by: adolfo_velasquez at April 18, 2014 09:34 AM (FFIoe)

34 Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 01:33 PM (celt+) ***** Interesting point.

Posted by: Taco Shack at April 18, 2014 09:34 AM (C+qQ0)

35 Elizabeth Warren has a wonderful family recipe for Keplerian Space Casserole.

Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at April 18, 2014 09:35 AM (+lsX1)

36 *starts planning a Golgafrinchan-style colonization project that involves shipping every leftist in the world off to this new planet*

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 09:35 AM (4df7R)

37 Spoiler: It was obliterated by Kepler-SMOD 450 years ago.

Posted by: Andy at April 18, 2014 09:35 AM (2OaXr)

38 Kepler-186ian chicks are easy.

Posted by: --- at April 18, 2014 09:35 AM (ksJYU)

39 Ya know, this is cool stuff to hear but is it really important news? (not your story Ace but the media is always jumping on these "the latest planet" stories).

The freaking planet is 500 light years away. We are probably (as a race/planet) never going to get there to see. So who cares? Why is this being reported? Why is research being done on this? What benefit does it have? How does this expand our knowledge to aid or protect us in the universe?

Shouldn't they be like studying why the Sun had fewer sunspots for the last 17 years and did that affect our climate? And how much does the Sun affect the climate on Earth?

Aren't there more important things to do with telescopes than finding some maybe planet that maybe is earth like and maybe has life on it. Maybe.

It's a waste of time and money.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 18, 2014 09:35 AM (JS0vr)

40 What are the odds any two of them are around at the same time? We've only been around for 100,000 years or so, in a billions-years-old galaxy. We could disappear a million years from now and still be just an eyeblink. Who knows how many intelligent alien species have come and gone and how many are just in the amoeba stage now and will rise long after we're gone.

People talk about how the vast expanse of space isolates us from contact with alien species. They never talk about the vaster expanse of time.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 01:33 PM (celt+)

Reminds me of that short story, "The Last Question" that was linked on the sidebar not too long ago.

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 09:35 AM (GQ8sn)

41 28 Also, it needs a better name than Kepler-186. Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 01:33 PM (JtwS4) ***** How about "LV-426"?

Posted by: Taco Shack at April 18, 2014 09:36 AM (C+qQ0)

42 This is why we really need to get busy and design some sort of FTL drive.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 18, 2014 09:36 AM (I8YZX)

43 I don't know. Pretty sure its the reason our axis is so stable. Posted by: buzzion

--------------

That's what I thought. Stabilizes the climate or something?

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 09:36 AM (celt+)

44 How about "LV-426"?

It's a rock...

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 18, 2014 09:36 AM (I8YZX)

45 Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 01:24 PM (/FnUH)

There are many fundamental steps on the upward path to sentient life on Earth that required the moon to be there for them to have happened.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 18, 2014 09:37 AM (JS0vr)

46 "Pointing a telescope at Jupiter made it finally stop masturbating."

-------------------

Coward.

Posted by: Anthony Weiner at April 18, 2014 09:37 AM (celt+)

So who cares? Why is this being reported? Why is research being done on this? What benefit does it have? How does this expand our knowledge to aid or protect us in the universe?

I'll take "fundamental questions about the nature of existence" for $1,000, Alex.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 09:37 AM (JtwS4)

48 When you look at a very tiny box of atmosphere Â“TemperatureÂ” makes more sense as Â“average kinetic energyÂ”. ThereÂ’s a spread - some things slower (cooler), and some faster (hotter), and theyÂ’re all zooming around like pool table mid-break Â… on crack. The larger components can be in the higher kinetic energy range without actually moving all -that- fast, because theyÂ’re heavy. But when a lighter component ends up knocked into being Â‘higher than average kinetic energyÂ’, that translates to a much higher velocity. For the lightest components (hydrogen, helium), that velocity is -sometimes- high enough to surpass escape velocity. And at the edge of the atmosphere, the time-between-impacts with some other atom or molecule is longer Â… -> they escape. Also, at the top of the atmosphere, photon-molecule interactions means that sometimes common molecules (H2, O2, N2, etc.) are split into individual atoms. Much easier for an individual O atom to reach escape velocity than it is for O2 - which is twice as heavy. Mars is Â“too lightÂ” - escape velocity is too low compared to average temperature and thus H, He, O, O2 and others Â‘leakÂ’ out too easily. So, happier with a heavier planet.

Posted by: Al at April 18, 2014 09:37 AM (9ynpo)

49 TFG is planning a campaign stop there in July.

Posted by: RWC at April 18, 2014 09:38 AM (fWAjv)

50 People talk about how the vast expanse of space isolates us from contact with alien species. They never talk about the vaster expanse of time. Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 01:33 PM (celt+) But history does not just flow forward, but backwards and sideways!

Posted by: Barrak Obama after meeting Dr. Who at April 18, 2014 09:38 AM (84gbM)

51 Son of a bitch! The whole damn universe is just chock full of lucky coincidences.

Posted by: maddogg at April 18, 2014 09:38 AM (xWW96)

52 When we colonize Kepler 186, will Lieawatha start shrieking that we stole the land from her people?

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 09:38 AM (DrWcr)

53
>>>>>Aren't there more important things to do with telescopes than finding some maybe planet that maybe is earth like and maybe has life on it.<<<<<<<<<<

eh, people have different interests.

But I agree that we should be spending money on the things I was promised as a child - real Jetson type flying cars and x-ray glasses to see through Kate Uptons clothes.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 09:38 AM (BrAHD)

54 So we'll go there, and there's Bigfoot playing poker with Elvis, D.B. Cooper, and the tattered shreds of ace's self-esteem.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 18, 2014 09:39 AM (I8YZX)

55 44 How about "LV-426"?

It's a rock...

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 18, 2014 01:36 PM (I8YZX)

...no indigenous life.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 09:39 AM (DrWcr)

56 Stephen Hawking must be so pleased.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at April 18, 2014 09:39 AM (V70Uh)

57 Say a planet with intelligent life is a million-to-one shot. That means our galaxy alone would have thousands.

Before we go theorizing about how many planets may exist with intelligent life, we need to prove that there's at least ONE. And before you go saying, "The Earth!" I feel the need to remind you that we elected a thin-skinned toddler with zero experience to the most powerful political office in the world. TWICE.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 09:39 AM (4df7R)

58
also I am 1/64th Keplerian.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 09:39 AM (BrAHD)

59 It's a waste of time and money. Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 18, 2014 01:35 PM (JS0vr) Yes it is. You know what is also a waste of time and money? All the time I spend fapping to porn and internet videos. I'll never make it with Kate Upson in zero gravity. But I do it anyway. Same with this. Astronomy and alien planets are simply cool. They are one of the few things that can evoke a sense of total wonder and awe.

Posted by: Taco Shack at April 18, 2014 09:39 AM (C+qQ0)

There are many fundamental steps on the upward path to sentient life on Earth that required the moon to be there for them to have happened.

Tides are cool. I'm a fisherman and they're important for that. Plus you get rough timing of the menstrual cycle and something to howl at when you're feeling howly.

How is the moon necessary for peptide bonding or whatever the first step in the chain was?

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 09:39 AM (JtwS4)

61 There are many fundamental steps on the upward path to sentient life on Earth that required the moon to be there for them to have happened. Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 18, 2014 01:37 PM (JS0vr) but the Moon is such a Harsh Mistress....

Posted by: Romeo13, gettin his Nerd on at April 18, 2014 09:39 AM (84gbM)

62 If Kepler-186f is shorthand for "world with naked green-skinned babes with writhing torsos," count me in.

Posted by: Fritz at April 18, 2014 09:40 AM (oJUxt)

63 I like big air and I can not lie You other fellas can't deny That when a globe spins round up there in space With a troposphere in place You use lungs, wanna talk and cough 'Cause you notice with air it's stuffed So, fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas! (Yeah!) Has your planet got atmosphere? (Hell yeah!) It's time to breathe it! (Breathe it!) Breathe it! (Breathe it!) Breathe that planet's air! Planet's got air!

Posted by: naturalfake AKA Sir Breathes-A-Lot at April 18, 2014 09:40 AM (0cMkb)

64 I only bang chicks from RU-486.

Posted by: Space Commander Clinton at April 18, 2014 09:40 AM (ksJYU)

65 Can we name it Vulcan? or Kronos?

Posted by: Soothsayer at April 18, 2014 09:40 AM (9lyhM)

66 Shouldn't they be like studying why the Sun had fewer sunspots for the last 17 years and did that affect our climate? And how much does the Sun affect the climate on Earth? By looking at a bunch of different stars you can determine more about your own.

Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk at April 18, 2014 09:40 AM (uhAkr)

67 We could warm it up with global warming activities such as farting.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at April 18, 2014 09:41 AM (AaZet)

68 Where be da green wimmin at?

Posted by: Captain Kirk at April 18, 2014 09:41 AM (I8YZX)

69 Are the surface temperatures hot enough to support a sustainable tortoise population?

Posted by: S. Muldoon, interplanetary turtle wrangler and erstwhile mime. at April 18, 2014 09:42 AM (MKpBT)

70 How about "LV-426"?

It's a rock...

-------------

Nah, we've got 60, 70 families there. Terraformers. It's what we call a "shake 'n' bake" colony.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 09:42 AM (celt+)

71 Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 01:37 PM (JtwS4)

This doesn't answer one damn question about that.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 18, 2014 09:42 AM (JS0vr)

72 How do they know? I mean really? We've never been there and we will never go there based on how far away it is. The rest is just mental masturbation. I would find it easier to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Posted by: Truck Monkey at April 18, 2014 09:42 AM (32Ze2)

73 "Mars, being quite a bit less massive than earth, can't hold oxygen or nitrogen."

Actually, that's not true-- lower Martian gravity isn't the (main) reason why it has very little atmosphere compared to Earth.

Mars had a much thicker atmosphere in the past, which may have allowed for liquid water, but that atmosphere eroded over time for unknown reasons, the leading hypothesis being that Mars' lack of a robust and consistent magnetic field allowed the solar wind to blow most of the atmosphere into space.

That said, the lower Martian gravity doesn't help prevent atmospheric erosion, i.e. it probably didn't take much for the originally thick atmosphere to "bleed out" in the face of the solar wind/interplanetary impacts/normal atmospheric erosion into space (which happens everywhere, including Earth).

Posted by: Dave at Garfield Ridge at April 18, 2014 09:42 AM (6T8Ay)

74 i think that's on the "Like to Have" not "Need to Have" list. Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 01:24 PM (/FnUH) Not getting hit by the meteors the moon catches is probably important.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 18, 2014 09:42 AM (GDulk)

75 Is it filled full of hawt chicks and scotch? If so, call Richard Branson to fire that bitch up. I'm outta here.

Posted by: Minnfidel at April 18, 2014 09:42 AM (/KiIU)

76 It's a waste of time and money. Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 18, 2014 01:35 PM (JS0vr) Andddd.. that's your opinion... Mine is that we need to get off this rock, to give the human race a better chance of survival. I'm sure you would have been on the shore, waving goodbye to Columbus, saying "they're doomed... right off the edge of the world"...

Posted by: Romeo13, gettin his Nerd on at April 18, 2014 09:43 AM (84gbM)

77 To infinity... and beyond!

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 18, 2014 09:43 AM (I8YZX)

78 " So "earth-like" is a very, very narrow range as far as mass -- say, I don't know, 0.8 earth masses to 1.5 earth masses -- and as far as distance from star. "Not a lot of wiggle room here." There have been a whole lot of other factors which have come to light indicating that getting a habitable planet is not so easy as Carl Sagan insinuated it was.

Posted by: D-Lamp at April 18, 2014 09:44 AM (bb5+k)

79 Interesting in an academic sort of way, but from a purely practical standpoint- not really. Humans will never set foot on or orbit the planet. If anyone lives there, they'll never set foot on Earth. Just communicating would take 1,000 years to pass a message round trip.

Posted by: Hollowpoint at April 18, 2014 09:44 AM (SY2Kh)

80 Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk at April 18, 2014 01:40 PM (uhAkr)

Unless they can observe up close, the majority of their "observations" are really guesses.

The old story about the donkey walking by a slot in a fence?

Just because you have a theory about something you're observing, doesn't make it a fact until you can observe up close with no barriers.

There's a big one in the way for actual oberservations; distance.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 18, 2014 09:44 AM (JS0vr)

81 Son of a bitch! The whole damn universe is just chock full of lucky coincidences. Posted by: maddogg

-----------------

Yeah, making something incomprehensibly huge will tend to lead to that.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 09:44 AM (celt+)

82 I would find it easier to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Posted by: Truck Monkey at April 18, 2014 01:42 PM (32Ze2) Wait? Whut

Posted by: RWC heartbroken lil tyke at April 18, 2014 09:44 AM (fWAjv)

83 Kepler 186f ain't the kind of place to raise your kids..... In fact it's cold as hell.... And there's no one there to raise them if you did

Posted by: Minnfidel at April 18, 2014 09:44 AM (/KiIU)

84 If Kepler-186f is shorthand for "world with naked green-skinned babes with writhing torsos," count me in.

Posted by: Fritz at April 18, 2014 01:40 PM (oJUxt)

Why is green the go-to colour for sci-fi? Why not blue, pink, red, or even puce???

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 09:44 AM (GQ8sn)

85 Good old Rand. Burnishing his credentials with an Alex Jones interview. Rand Paul: Nuclear Iran Not a Threat to U.S., Israel http://shar.es/Tj2L7 via @sharethis Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) denied that a nuclear Iran would pose a national security threat to the United States or Israel in a 2007 radio interview with talk show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Â“Even our own intelligence community consensus opinion now is that theyÂ’re not a threat. Like my dad [Rep. Ron Paul] says, [the Iranians] donÂ’t have an Air Force, they donÂ’t have a Navy,Â” said Paul, according to a recording of the interview. Â“You know, itÂ’s ridiculous to think theyÂ’re a threat to our national security.Â” Â“ItÂ’s not even that viable to say theyÂ’re a national threat to Israel,Â” Paul added. Â“Most people say Israel has 100 nuclear weapons, you know.Â” The future senator, who was working on his fatherÂ’s presidential campaign at the time, also came out against military action, saying Republicans Â“all want to invade Iran next.Â” Â“I tell people in speeches, I say, you know weÂ’re against the Iraq War, we have been from the beginning,Â” said Paul. Â“But you know weÂ’re also against the Iran warÂ—you know the one that hasnÂ’t started yet.Â”

Posted by: Costanza Defense at April 18, 2014 09:45 AM (ZPrif)

86 can we just ship off all the fucking commie libs on earth to this place? They can have their own "Peruvia"

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at April 18, 2014 09:45 AM (HVff2)

87 81 Son of a bitch! The whole damn universe is just chock full of lucky coincidences. Posted by: maddogg ----------------- Yeah, making something incomprehensibly huge will tend to lead to that. Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 01:44 PM (celt+) You're welcome...

Posted by: God at April 18, 2014 09:45 AM (84gbM)

88 The story is talking planet SIZE (radii) and you're talking mass. They're related but not the same thing. Posted by: Comrade Arthur at April 18, 2014 01:27 PM (h53OH) Picky, picky.....doughnuts?

Posted by: Rosie O'Planetoid at April 18, 2014 09:45 AM (tE3uo)

89 Mass determines not just how much gas a planet will hold ************ You wouldn't believe the gas I've got.

Posted by: Planet Alec Baldwin at April 18, 2014 09:45 AM (RJMhd)

90 it sounds like Hoth

Posted by: Soothsayer at April 18, 2014 09:45 AM (9lyhM)

Not getting hit by the meteors the moon catches is probably important.

Yeah, the moon zips around like Willie Mays making impossible over the shoulder meteor catches. Our atmosphere catches, bounces and burns meteors, until it doesn't. Like Tungunska or SMOD.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 09:45 AM (JtwS4)

92 even puce??? Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 01:44 PM (GQ8sn) guess that's better than puss

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at April 18, 2014 09:46 AM (HVff2)

93 Well, there you go. Let's start building those spaceships, people. Time's a wasting.

Posted by: Stephen Hawking at April 18, 2014 09:46 AM (V70Uh)

Mine is that we need to get off this rock, to give the human race a better chance of survival.

Keep in mind that the feds will be the ones selecting the people for that mission.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 09:46 AM (DrWcr)

95 This is why we really need to get busy and design some sort of FTL drive. I hate to break it to you, but...

Posted by: Zombie Albert Einstein at April 18, 2014 09:46 AM (SY2Kh)

96 So if the planet's mass is 1.5 that of Earth's, does that mean its surface gravity is 1.5 that of Earth's as well? So something 100 pounds on Earth weighs 150 on Kepler?

Posted by: Iblis at April 18, 2014 09:46 AM (zCnVx)

97 39 Ya know, this is cool stuff to hear but is it really important news? (not your story Ace but the media is always jumping on these "the latest planet" stories). The freaking planet is 500 light years away. We are probably (as a race/planet) never going to get there to see. So who cares? Why is this being reported? Why is research being done on this? What benefit does it have? How does this expand our knowledge to aid or protect us in the universe? Shouldn't they be like studying why the Sun had fewer sunspots for the last 17 years and did that affect our climate? And how much does the Sun affect the climate on Earth? Aren't there more important things to do with telescopes than finding some maybe planet that maybe is earth like and maybe has life on it. Maybe. It's a waste of time and money. Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That I will attempt to address your questions calmly and rationally. First of all: A lot of people care. I would wager that a majority of people care. Even if we can never reach this particular planet, the news that it (and many more like it) exist fills the hearts of humans around the world with hope and excitement. You can similarly argue against religion and all religious beliefs: Whom does it benefit? Ther'e no proof of heaven or God, etc. etc. And a common justification is: Religion makes people happy, religious belief fills people with hope and contentment. So: Planetary science is just as valid as the Catholic church on a purely metpahysical level. Second: you act as if looking for habitable ecosystems in space is "a waste of time" preventing us humans from doing more useful things. I disagree. The modern world is a world of specialization. I don't think forcing these scientists to grow beans in the fields or design a better perfume for the Kim Kardahsian line or even research sunspots is going to improve humanity much if at all. If these guys are inspired to look for planets, let them follow their dream. It's not up to use to dictate how people expend their intellectual energy. And lastly: Eventually, one way or the other, Earth will cease to be livable. It might be in a couple of billion years when the sun burns out, it might be when an asteroid smashed into us a thousand years from now and it might be when Al Qaeda seizes Pakistan's nukes and contaminates the planet tomorrow. One way or the other, we're going to have to start looking for new places to inhabit. Why not start as soon as we can? Even if we can't live on Kepler 186, the practice of finding it will help us to find nearer and nearer ecosystems, until one day we find the New Earth.

Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 09:46 AM (mizYg)

98 would find it easier to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Posted by: Truck Monkey at April 18, 2014 01:42 PM (32Ze2) You mean they don't exist?

Posted by: Velvet Ambition, the guy that will push that button at April 18, 2014 09:46 AM (R8hU8)

99 You're welcome... Posted by: God at April 18, 2014 01:45 PM (84gbM) You didn't build that.

Posted by: Emperor Telewoobie McSandtrap the 1st at April 18, 2014 09:47 AM (tE3uo)

100 i think that's on the "Like to Have" not "Need to Have" list.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 01:24 PM (/FnUH)

But since we still don't know for sure what created our OWN moon, how can we know all the benefits or drawbacks associated with it? We really don't know all that much about the moon and how it interacts with us here on Earth, though we certainly know more about it than other places in the solar system.

Fun fact: Moon rocks are actually the most valuable substance on the planet, because they're so damn rare.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 09:47 AM (4df7R)

101 Cool Beans: Earth-Sized Planet in the Habitable Zone Discovered Very Near our Own Solar System **** Cool! We should immediately begin sending signals about how we embrace diversity and respect all other cultures and welcome them to our home.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 09:47 AM (DmNpO)

102 Yeah, making something incomprehensibly huge will tend to lead to that.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 01:44 PM (celt+)

Really? Examples (outside of the size of the universe) A million monkeys typing on a million typewriters for a million years will produce literary masterpieces? I remain skeptical.

Posted by: maddogg at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (xWW96)

103 Keep in mind that the feds will be the ones selecting the people for that mission. Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 01:46 PM (DrWcr) Big part of why I hope it's impossible to invent an actual weather machine. Nothing good can come out of having that sort of power (and the government *will* insist they're the only ones responsible enough to have it).

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (GDulk)

104 I would find it easier to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
Posted by: Truck Monkey at April 18, 2014 01:42 PM (32Ze2)
But SCIENCE!!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (AaZet)

105 You know what this means?

Paul Krugman can finally have his alien invasion!!!!

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (GQ8sn)

106 Keep in mind that the feds will be the ones selecting the people for that mission. Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 01:46 PM (DrWcr) Nope.... that's when the Second Amendment comes into play... And the Feds will WANT to get rid of people like me... you know... the trouble makers... I truly believe that the Meek shall inherit the Earth... because the rest of us are going to leave...

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (84gbM)

107 Can we name it Vulcan?

or Kronos?

Hal

Posted by: rickb223 at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (d0Dmj)

108 Hopefully, some day, the Russians will build a space-rocket that can travel there.

Posted by: Soothsayer at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (9lyhM)

109 Why is green the go-to colour for sci-fi? Why not blue, pink, red, or even puce???

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 01:44 PM (GQ8sn)

I banged an Andorian chick once.

Posted by: Captain Kirk at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (DrWcr)

110 Can we name it Vulcan? or Kronos? Posted by: Soothsayer at April 18, 2014 01:40 PM (9lyhM) Gothos.

Posted by: Gen Trelaine, Ret. at April 18, 2014 09:48 AM (tE3uo)

111 "How do they know? I mean really? We've never been there and we will never go there based on how far away it is. The rest is just mental masturbation."

Posted by: Truck Monkey

--------------

A hundred thousand years of this sort of "mental masturbation" is why you didn't draw that comment in pictographs on a cave wall with vegetable paint.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 09:49 AM (celt+)

112 More from the Rand piece at Free Beacon, some nice double-speak: The head of Rand PaulÂ’s official PAC told the Free Beacon that Paul has never claimed Iran is not a threat to the U.S. and Israel. Â“It has always been Senator PaulÂ’s position that Iran poses a threat,Â” said Rand PAC head and PaulÂ’s former chief of staff Doug Stafford.

Posted by: Costanza Defense at April 18, 2014 09:49 AM (ZPrif)

113 Let's go up there and give Fire Water and Blankets to the indigenous peoples!

Posted by: Truck Monkey at April 18, 2014 09:49 AM (32Ze2)

114 Earth is unique as far as we know almost intentionally so, no?

Posted by: bobbymike at April 18, 2014 09:49 AM (hY7Vw)

115 Regarding Rand Paul, First-term Senators (or Senators in general) need not apply.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at April 18, 2014 09:49 AM (V70Uh)

116 In the name of social justice, the first wave of colonists will be comprised entirely of homosexuals.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 09:50 AM (DrWcr)

117 I banged an Andorian chick once.

Posted by: Captain Kirk at April 18, 2014 01:48 PM (DrWcr)

I wouldn't mind some more of that Arcturian poontang.

Posted by: Cpl Frost at April 18, 2014 09:50 AM (GQ8sn)

118 Ace, There is an Intelligent Design documentary, The Priveleged Planet that talks about the MANY non-negotiable criteria that go into making the earth suitable for life. If you find this stuff interesting, you will find that very informative.

Posted by: Sambo at April 18, 2014 09:50 AM (hp3yM)

119 In the name of social justice, the first wave of colonists will be comprised entirely of homosexuals.

Do like we've always done. Penal Colony.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 18, 2014 09:50 AM (d0Dmj)

120 Can I get a deal on some property there? I am looking for an exit strategy. I would like to get off this liberal shit hole.

Posted by: Dan at April 18, 2014 09:50 AM (COpZ4)

121 We should immediately begin sending signals about how we embrace diversity and respect all other cultures and welcome them to our home. Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 01:47 PM Well if they have some money for my campaign, then I agree. Pass the bourbon. Thanks.

Posted by: J Boehner at April 18, 2014 09:51 AM (/KiIU)

122 The cool thing about earth's water is that (as the TV guy tells me) it all came from icy comets smashing into the early earth's surface, and melting here.

Where the ice-comets got the water in the first place I couldn't tell you.

Posted by: Phinn at April 18, 2014 09:51 AM (i5GO4)

123 63 I like big air and I can not lie You other fellas can't deny That when a globe spins round up there in space With a troposphere in place You use lungs, wanna talk and cough 'Cause you notice with air it's stuffed So, fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas! (Yeah!) Has your planet got atmosphere? (Hell yeah!) It's time to breathe it! (Breathe it!) Breathe it! (Breathe it!) Breathe that planet's air! Planet's got air! Posted by: naturalfake AKA Sir Breathes-A-Lot I quoted it so that everyone gets to read it again. Bravo!

Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 09:51 AM (mizYg)

124 I remain skeptical.

Posted by: maddogg

--------------

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at April 18, 2014 09:51 AM (celt+)

125 Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 01:46 PM (mizYg) Wow... hit that one outta the atmosphere.

Posted by: Planet Alec Baldwin at April 18, 2014 09:51 AM (RJMhd)

126 If it has a red sun, Superman could live there.

Posted by: Null at April 18, 2014 09:51 AM (xjpRj)

127 Where the ice-comets got the water in the first place I couldn't tell you.

Ozarka.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 18, 2014 09:51 AM (d0Dmj)

128 Where the ice-comets got the water in the first place I couldn't tell you. Posted by: Phinn at April 18, 2014 01:51 PM (i5GO4) ______________ The Easter Bunny!

Posted by: Truck Monkey at April 18, 2014 09:51 AM (32Ze2)

129 Mars could hold oxygen and nitrogen, but oxygen and nitrogen are generally found in chemical compounds such as CO2 or ammonia and are released into free atmospheric form N2 and O2 via organic or chemical processes called cycles. Without such, no atmosphere that we can use. Mars has slowly depleted its He, H, etc. because of low mass. But Earth also losses these on a continual basis. At least that is the way i learned it.

Posted by: pat at April 18, 2014 09:52 AM (KCg4m)

130 110 Can we name it Vulcan? or Kronos? Posted by: Soothsayer at April 18, 2014 01:40 PM (9lyhM) Gothos. Posted by: Gen Trelaine, Ret. at April 18, 2014 01:48 PM (tE3uo) Gor!

Posted by: Carl Talbot at April 18, 2014 09:52 AM (84gbM)

131 "Ther'e no proof of heaven or God, etc. etc."

Uh. There were witnesses to the Resurrection. Many of those witnesses went on to die for their faith.

People believe what their black hearts want them to believe.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at April 18, 2014 09:52 AM (V70Uh)

132 Oooh, this should be fun. Intra-coalition, blue on blue, fight. Weasel Zippers ‏@weaselzippers Muslim Cab Drivers At Cleveland Airport Refuse To Drive Cabs With Advertisement For Gay GamesÂ… http://shar.es/TjWJf

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 09:52 AM (ZPrif)

133 I'm surprised to see Venus even remotely close to the habitable zone. You wouldn't want to go to Venus.

Posted by: eleven at April 18, 2014 09:52 AM (8w6pW)

134 Oooh, this should be fun.
Intra-coalition, blue on blue, fight.

Weasel Zippers ‏@weaselzippers
Muslim Cab Drivers At Cleveland Airport Refuse To Drive Cabs With Advertisement For Gay GamesÂ… http://shar.es/TjWJf

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 01:52 PM (ZPrif)

Prediction:

muzzie cabbies - 1

Gheys - 0

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 09:52 AM (GQ8sn)

135 If all this stuff about the planet were real and important, Ronan Farrow would have mentioned it by now.

Posted by: jwest at April 18, 2014 09:53 AM (u2a4R)

136 The good thing is that Keplarians are natural conservatives.

Posted by: RWC at April 18, 2014 09:53 AM (fWAjv)

137 Pointing a telescope at Jupiter made it finally stop masturbating. - To boldly cum where no man has cum before!

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 09:53 AM (XUKZU)

138 I came up with a strategy for naming the planet. I put the top 10 suggestions each on a small piece of paper and threw them in a hat, and drew out the winner. The planet's new name is "Inspected by #7"

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 09:53 AM (MKpBT)

139 Let's go check it out. Just let me put on my red uniform...

Posted by: Lt. Expendable, NCC-1701-D [/i][/s][/b][/u] at April 18, 2014 09:53 AM (0HooB)

140 Cool Beans: Earth-Sized Planet in the Habitable Zone Discovered Very Near our Own Solar System But how does this help the GOPe?

Posted by: rickl at April 18, 2014 09:54 AM (zoehZ)

141 It's a trap!

Posted by: Dr Spank at April 18, 2014 09:54 AM (5UteM)

142 2nd law of Thermodynamics has been characterized as stating that things, left on their own, move from a more organized state to a lower energy or less organized state. But life in general does not seem to follow the rule. Seems to me like bacteria would have been the highest energy level obtainable by dumb luck and coincidence. Yet we have complex life all around us, by sheer dumb luck of course. Does evolution conflict the second law?

Posted by: maddogg at April 18, 2014 09:54 AM (xWW96)

143 Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 01:52 PM (ZPrif) The gheys will ignore it. Out of sight out of mind.

Posted by: RWC at April 18, 2014 09:54 AM (fWAjv)

144 Pointing a telescope at Jupiter made it finally stop masturbating.

-
To boldly cum where no man has cum before!

There's a Uranus joke in there, but I'm not going there.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 18, 2014 09:54 AM (d0Dmj)

145 122
Recent analysis of asteroids and meteors has changed that a bit. It now appears that a good deal of waters was bound in the initial coalescing material. In fact the Earth and other bodies have a great deal of water locked in the rocks.

Posted by: pat at April 18, 2014 09:54 AM (KCg4m)

146 Problem is--we don't have the "drive" any more--most likely it will be China. They're interested--we've ceded.

Posted by: tasker at April 18, 2014 09:54 AM (RJMhd)

147 Just because you have a theory about something you're observing, doesn't make it a fact until you can observe up close with no barriers. Which we can't do with the sun. All we can do is look at it. We can't run tests on it. There's no reason to not look at other stars. Your argument seems to be that we might not know what we are seeing, so there's no point in looking. But that's true of the very tiny things we interact with as well.

Posted by: Bevel Lemelisk at April 18, 2014 09:55 AM (uhAkr)

148 133 I'm surprised to see Venus even remotely close to the habitable zone. Posted by: eleven at April 18, 2014 01:52 PM (8w6pW) It used to be habitable, but the stupid Venusians fucked up their environment with all of their SUVs.

Posted by: rickl at April 18, 2014 09:55 AM (zoehZ)

149 Has anyone called dibsy? It's important to call dibs. I call dibs.

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 09:55 AM (8c12T)

150 Cool! We should immediately begin sending signals about how we embrace diversity and respect all other cultures and welcome them to our home. - And tell them we're disarming.

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 09:55 AM (XUKZU)

151 Yeah, the gays have already surrendered to the cabbies, it seems. No court battles for the cabbies: Two of the three companies operating at OhioÂ’s largest airport were informed by the drivers Â— one-third of the airportÂ’s total fleet Â— last week that they will no longer participate in the airportÂ’s dedicated taxicab program. The companies, Ace and Yellow Taxi Cab, were told by the drivers that their decision was based on religious reasons, airport spokeswoman Jacqueline Mayo told FoxNews.com. Ann Gynn, a spokeswoman for the Gay Games, said she believes the protest is an Â“isolatedÂ” case and not indicative of the beliefs held by most residents in Cleveland and Akron, where the Gay Games will be held on Aug. 9-16. Â“What weÂ’ve been seeing for the last couple of years is a lot of positive support and a welcome atmosphere within the community,Â” Gynn told FoxNews.com. Â“This was a decision by those individual cab drivers. It was a personal decision.Â”

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 09:55 AM (ZPrif)

152 Prediction: muzzie cabbies - 1 Gheys - 0 *** I predict a win for you on this one.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 09:56 AM (DmNpO)

153 How close is this to Uranus?

Posted by: Truck Monkey at April 18, 2014 09:56 AM (32Ze2)

154 One way or the other, we're going to have to start looking for new places to inhabit. Why not start as soon as we can? Even if we can't live on Kepler 186, the practice of finding it will help us to find nearer and nearer ecosystems, until one day we find the New Earth. I believe that when Earth becomes unlivable the human race will simply die out, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. Even if (and it's a very, very big 'if') we find a habitable planet a relatively short distance (100 light years) away, getting there alive and colonizing would prove difficult to the point of near impossibility. We'd have to be talking a ship that could support life for multiple generations. The energy requirements would be enormous, and something as simple as carrying enough water would be a challenge.

Posted by: Hollowpoint at April 18, 2014 09:56 AM (SY2Kh)

155 Do like we've always done. Penal Colony. Posted by: rickb223 at April 18, 2014 01:50 PM (d0Dmj) **** Umm, you spelled that wrong.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 09:56 AM (MKpBT)

156 Muslim Cab Drivers At Cleveland Airport Refuse To Drive Cabs With Advertisement For Gay GamesÂ… http://shar.es/TjWJf

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 01:52 PM (ZPrif)

Gay games? Is Butt Jousting an event?

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 09:56 AM (DrWcr)

157 Their water's frozen? So ~~global warming~~ climate change has already screwed over another planet! I'll bet they're pissed at us.

Posted by: Clutch Cargo at April 18, 2014 09:56 AM (pgQxn)

158 The freaking planet is 500 light years away. We are probably (as a race/planet) never going to get there to see. So who cares? Why is this being reported? Why is research being done on this? What benefit does it have? How does this expand our knowledge to aid or protect us in the universe?
=========
At the end of the day, we can't undertake interstellar travel if there are no "way stations" or reasons to go.
Think if Columbus had been right, and there were no "Americas." They would have been dead long before they reached India. And if there were no India, he never would have tried.

That's 1.

The second is, this gives us a reason to come up with a faster-than-light way to "travel."

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 18, 2014 09:56 AM (VjL9S)

159

MANY non-negotiable criteria that go into making the earth suitable for life.

Eh. There's life and there's life. We used to believe that photosynthesis was the essential first building block of food-chain life. Then we found deep sea vents where specialized bacteria metabolize sulpher and form the basis for life.

And fish that look like Dr. Seuss drew them.

We don't have to find an 80/20 N/O atmosphere and a planet revolving on a 27% axis to find life. There's a great book called "At Home in the Universe" that goes through how atoms like to bond with each other in patterns that lead to life. His subtext is "we, the expected". The laws of the universe as we understand them are designed to produce life.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 09:57 AM (JtwS4)

160 It used to be habitable, but the stupid Venusians fucked up their environment with all of their SUVs. Posted by: rickl at April 18, 2014 01:55 PM (zoehZ) F'n cloud people....

Posted by: Carson of Venus at April 18, 2014 09:57 AM (84gbM)

161 I believe that when Earth becomes unlivable the human race will simply die out, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. ********* Well that's pretty circular. I think you just scored on yourself.

Posted by: tasker at April 18, 2014 09:57 AM (RJMhd)

162 110 Can we name it Vulcan?

or Kronos?

Posted by: Soothsayer at April 18, 2014 01:40 PM (9lyhM)

Gothos.

Posted by: Gen Trelaine, Ret. at April 18, 2014 01:48 PM (tE3uo)

Gor!

Posted by: Carl Talbot at April 18, 2014 01:52 PM (84gbM)

Cue the scantily-clad slave girls in shackles...

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 09:57 AM (4df7R)

163 Mars had a much thicker atmosphere in the past, which may have allowed for liquid water, but that atmosphere eroded over time for unknown reasons, the leading hypothesis being that Mars' lack of a robust and consistent magnetic field allowed the solar wind to blow most of the atmosphere into space.

Posted by: Dave at Garfield Ridge at April 18, 2014 01:42 PM (6T8Ay)

It was CFCs, man!

Posted by: EcoTard at April 18, 2014 09:58 AM (vn9w4)

164 153 How close is this to Uranus? Not close enough sweetie!

Posted by: Bawny Fwank at April 18, 2014 09:58 AM (pgQxn)

165 "The planet orbits a red dwarf"

Life!

Lister, Rimmer, Kryten and the Cat.

Posted by: torquewrench at April 18, 2014 09:58 AM (noWW6)

166 And We Shall Call This Planet Barack! Lifegiver! Hope for our future!

Posted by: MSNBC at April 18, 2014 09:58 AM (IdOTf)

167 Recent analysis of asteroids and meteors has changed that a bit. It now appears that a good deal of waters was bound in the initial coalescing material. In fact the Earth and other bodies have a great deal of water locked in the rocks.

Does that include the surface water? Did it all geyser its way up to the surface?

I like the comet-water theory better. It makes me feel more exotic, like Elizabeth Warren.

Posted by: Phinn at April 18, 2014 09:58 AM (i5GO4)

168 We son't need to move faster than light. We need to fold space. Space is malleable, gravity deforms it. With enough energy we might be able to fold it and travel a short distance to cross the galaxy.

Posted by: maddogg at April 18, 2014 09:59 AM (xWW96)

169 7 We are all future Keplerians. Or maybe we're actually exiles?

Posted by: I R A Darth Aggie © at April 18, 2014 09:59 AM (1hM1d)

170 Mars had a much thicker atmosphere in the past,
which may have allowed for liquid water, but that atmosphere eroded over
time for unknown reasons,

Cow farts.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 18, 2014 09:59 AM (d0Dmj)

171 We have just folded space from Kepler 186. Many machines on Kepler 186.

Posted by: Third-Stage Guild Navigator at April 18, 2014 09:59 AM (DrWcr)

172 How about Rick? Nobody ever names planets Rick. Planet Rick.

Posted by: eleven at April 18, 2014 09:59 AM (8w6pW)

173 We son't need to move faster than light. We need to fold space. Space is malleable, gravity deforms it. With enough energy we might be able to fold it and travel a short distance to cross the galaxy.

Posted by: maddogg at April 18, 2014 01:59 PM (xWW96)

*rewatches "Event Horizon*

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 09:59 AM (GQ8sn)

174 "We'd have to be talking a ship that could support life for multiple generations. The energy requirements would be enormous, and something as simple as carrying enough water would be a challenge." Posted by: Hollowpoint at April 18, 2014 01:56 PM (SY2Kh) Or we make a ship that travels at 500 light years per hour. That way, we could be back for lunch.

Posted by: jwest at April 18, 2014 10:00 AM (u2a4R)

175 By the time you grunts get here we will have unwittingly ruined our Ozone.

Posted by: Kepler 186 Chick, Holding an Aerosol Can at April 18, 2014 10:00 AM (32Ze2)

176 No. Ballard said they were puzzled by seeing hundreds of pairs of boots, until he realized that tanned leather was the only thing left after 70 years. Posted by: Chris 18, 2014 01:32 PM (5xmd7) But that is clothing -- not flesh or bone.

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 10:00 AM (8c12T)

177 Cabbies aren't objecting to participating in a religious ceremony like the Christian baker. They are objecting to having an ad that supports the despicable sin (according to their religion) of homosexuality. These aren't gays getting married. These are gays playing volleyball and saying, hey, being gay is ok, come watch us play volleyball! No religious ceremonies. The cabbies are objecting not just to gay marriage, but to homosexuality in general. And cabs, like other means of transportation, have long been part of common carrier laws. The anti-discrimination laws that apply to common carriers are much more strict than a normal job. The legal case against them should be easy peasy.

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 10:00 AM (ZPrif)

178 Someone Call John Creighton. He knows all about worm holes and shortcuts across the universe.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 18, 2014 10:01 AM (IdOTf)

179
Nobody ever names planets Rick.

Planet Rick.

Posted by: eleven at April 18, 2014 01:59 PM (8w6pW)

Yeah, but then incompetent office lackeys would invariably misspell all the mail sent to the new planet as mail for "Planet Dick."

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:01 AM (4df7R)

180 >>>There have been a whole lot of other factors which have come to light indicating that getting a habitable planet is not so easy as Carl Sagan insinuated it was. I have a theory about this. I think Sagan got on the "Global Warming is Real You Guys!!!" partly because of his pre-existing optimistic bias about the relative *ease* with which Venus could be teraformed. If you are a Terraforming Optimist, you assume that it's relatively easy to kick a planet in one direction or the other with relatively trivial inputs. You add a tiny amount of graphite (or something) to Venus' atmosphere, it sucks up CO2, which in turn lowers the temperature, which in turn allows CO2 to be held by some rocks, which in turn lowers the temperature, which in turn allows CO2 to be held by more rocks, which lowers the temperature, which allows CO2 to dissolve into a liquid ocean, which lowers the temperature, until, based upon our trivial contribution to Venus, Venus becomes a sauna-like but still very livable earth. Once his theory on the ease of transforming Venus was disproven, he moved on to Plan B, which was Mars. I'm not sure here but I'm thinking he also lowballed the amount of effort it would take to kick Mars into a greenhouse gas crisis in the other direction. So, for Venus, he postulated that a small change would result in a catastrophically good greenhouse gas crisis (moving towards cooler temperatures), for Mars, another catastrophically good greenhouse gas crisis (but towards warmer temperatures). In both cases he assumed that it would just take a rather meager amount of human intervention to drastically change the planets' climes. Now, if he's thinking like that, he must think that also applies to *Earth* -- a trivial amount of human intervention must also send Earth's CO2 equilibrium into a tizzy, whether towards cold temperatures (NEW ICE AGE!!!) or hot ones (GLOBAL WARMING WILL KILL US ALL!!!). Anyway, he seems to have clung to this notion that very small disturbances in the CO2 cycle would have enormous vicious (or virtuous) cycle impacts and fundamentally remake a planet's hydrosphere.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 10:01 AM (/FnUH)

181 And cabs, like other means of transportation, have long been part of common carrier laws. The anti-discrimination laws that apply to common carriers are much more strict than a normal job.

The legal case against them should be easy peasy.

Until the first head gets sawed off.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 18, 2014 10:01 AM (d0Dmj)

182 Yeah, but then incompetent office lackeys would invariably misspell all the mail sent to the new planet as mail for "Planet Dick."

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:01 PM (4df7R)

"I need to get there, NOW!"

Posted by: Andi Sullivan at April 18, 2014 10:02 AM (GQ8sn)

183 But that is clothing -- not flesh or bone.

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 02:00 PM (8c12T)

Technically leather IS flesh.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:02 AM (4df7R)

184

Neat! We need to get on that colonization thing when we have a chance. Preferably outside of our galaxy.

Posted by: Lea at April 18, 2014 10:02 AM (lIU4e)

185 Wait why do those cab drivers get to say they won't carry a gay games ad as a "personal decision" but photographers and bakers can't make the same decision?

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at April 18, 2014 10:02 AM (RZ8pf)

186 Yeah, but then incompetent office lackeys would invariably misspell all the mail sent to the new planet as mail for "Planet Dick."

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:01 PM (4df7R)

Fire up the rockets, I'm ready to ride!

Posted by: Andrew Sullivan at April 18, 2014 10:02 AM (DrWcr)

187 If you are a Terraforming Optimist, ...

Shit, I'm not even a Live-to-See-2015 Optimist, at the rate we're going.

Posted by: Phinn at April 18, 2014 10:02 AM (i5GO4)

188 185 Wait why do those cab drivers get to say they won't carry a gay games ad as a "personal decision" but photographers and bakers can't make the same decision?

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at April 18, 2014 02:02 PM (RZ8pf)

Because Islam > ghey > unpeople from Jesusland

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:03 AM (DrWcr)

189 The freaking planet is 500 light years away. We are probably (as a race/planet) never going to get there to see. - Jut get Obama to issue an executive order that all automobiles sold in the US must go at least 500 million light years and hour and we'll be there by this weekend.

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 10:03 AM (XUKZU)

190 My granny was 1/64 Keplerian. Notice my high forehead and the long spindly green fingers.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:03 AM (MKpBT)

191 We'd have to be talking a ship that could support life for multiple generations. The energy requirements would be enormous, and something as simple as carrying enough water would be a challenge. Another thing Sci Fi leaves out is the engines would have to have 100 years of running life. Hell...more than that.

Posted by: eleven at April 18, 2014 10:03 AM (8w6pW)

192 Jut get Obama to issue an executive order that all automobiles sold in the US must go at least 500 million light years and hour and we'll be there by this weekend. Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 02:03 PM (XUKZU) _________________ Just make sure the tires are properly inflated.

Posted by: Kepler 186 Chick, Holding an Aerosol Can at April 18, 2014 10:04 AM (32Ze2)

193 After a trip of centuries in stasis, traveling at 99% of the speed of light, the Kepler-186f Expedition finally lands, conducts a complex and comprehensive series of experiments designed to find life.

Many months of painstaking and exhausting work later, the results are in: The planet can support carbon-based life-forms similar to those found on Earth, yet though Kepler-186f is nearly twice as old as Earth, the only trace of life is a single Methane (CH4) molecule. Methane of course is considered the simplest organic compound. A short discussion ensues:

Atheist Crew Member: "See, planets exist that can support life, thus definitively disproving the existence of a so-called 'god' as a necessary creator!"

Christian Crew Member: "See, though this planet has all of the necessary atmospheric components and is in the proper orbit and at the proper temperature, and has liquid water, nothing exits here that could be called organic except for a single, solitary molecule of Methane; thus definitively proving that God is necessary to create life!"

God chimes in: "Heh."

Posted by: Sharkman at April 18, 2014 10:04 AM (TM1p8)

194 We have just folded space from Kepler 186. Many machines on Kepler 186.

Posted by: Third-Stage Guild Navigator at April 18, 2014 01:59 PM (DrWcr)

Yes, but are they for sale?

Posted by: EcoTard at April 18, 2014 10:04 AM (vn9w4)

195 Wait why do those cab drivers get to say they won't carry a gay games ad as a "personal decision" but photographers and bakers can't make the same decision?

Because they tend to back it up with sharp steel and stuff that goes splodey.

Posted by: rickb223 at April 18, 2014 10:04 AM (d0Dmj)

196 Off, hippie sock!

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 10:05 AM (vn9w4)

197 Hate to admit it but I just learned that the greek word for milk is a form of galaxy thus the milky way.

Posted by: polynikes at April 18, 2014 10:05 AM (m2CN7)

198 We'd have to be talking a ship that could support life for multiple generations. The energy requirements would be enormous, and something as simple as carrying enough water would be a challenge.

"Ship out of water. Better drink my own piss."

-Bear Grylles, Interplanetary Adventurer

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:05 AM (4df7R)

199 95 This is why we really need to get busy and design some sort of FTL drive.

I hate to break it to you, but... Posted by: Zombie Albert Einstein at April 18, 2014 01:46
===========
In our day, it was undeniable scientific wisdom that man would never fly.

Posted by: Zombie Wright Brothers at April 18, 2014 10:05 AM (VjL9S)

200 I believe that when Earth becomes unlivable the human race will simply die out, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. Even if (and it's a very, very big 'if') we find a habitable planet a relatively short distance (100 light years) away, getting there alive and colonizing would prove difficult to the point of near impossibility. We'd have to be talking a ship that could support life for multiple generations. The energy requirements would be enormous, and something as simple as carrying enough water would be a challenge. Posted by: Hollowpoint Yes, we should give up and all die because something has enormous energy requirements and would be a "challenge." "Getting that contraption in the air would be quite a challenge, Orville. Think of the energy requirements! You might as well give up now." Think about where humanity was merely 200 years ago, prior to the industrial revolution. And then think about were it is now, in a mere 200 years of advancement. And the pace of advancement is accelerating, not slowing down. Now imagine where we might be in another 200 years. And then another 200 years after that. And then in 2000 years. Capabilities beyond our imagining are possible. I could easily envision us in 4000AD being able to build spaceships that can accelerate to .9 the speed of light; huge spaceships loaded with 500 years of food and fuel; and sending out hundreds of them t the nearest Kepler 186s around us, filled with volunteers willing to live and die and have kids that live and die and grandkids that live and die on the ship until eventually their great-great-great grandkids arrive at the planet. And yes, when tey get there, 99% of the time, the planet will be uninhabitable, and they'll all perish. But one, just one, might find a New Earth, and be able to colonize, and the human race continues. What does it hurt to try?

Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 10:05 AM (mizYg)

201 Meanwhile, waiting for a lane at the NRA HQ Range. This is a nice facility, as one might expect.

Posted by: blaster at April 18, 2014 10:05 AM (0/15I)

202 Technically leather IS flesh. Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:02 PM (4df7R) We were discussing human remains - not leather.

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 10:06 AM (8c12T)

203 speaking of terraforming... anyone else surprised there'll be a season 2 of Defiance?

Posted by: Soothsayer at April 18, 2014 10:06 AM (9lyhM)

204
I have a feeling the aoshq ship to kepler dash numbers would be a lot like SpaceBalls.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 10:06 AM (BrAHD)

205 I hope Kepler 186-f had dinosaurs at one point so that oil exists there. And none of this deep formations either. Just bubbling up through the ground, perhaps only needing a slight perforation like from a squirrel gun held by a man out hunting for food. Black Gold. Texas Tea.

Posted by: Count de Monet at April 18, 2014 10:06 AM (BAS5M)

206 Just in time for the holidays: Obama Sits Next To Former Planned Parenthood Director At White House Easter Prayer BreakfastÂ…

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 10:06 AM (XUKZU)

207 The thing about traveling at near light speed is that if it takes you 50 years to accelerate to 99% LS, it will also take you 50 years to slow down.

Posted by: maddogg at April 18, 2014 10:07 AM (xWW96)

208

I am reluctant to start a theological flame war on Good Friday, so I will simply ask a naÃ¯ve question and accept the responses:

Why is the belief in Life on Earth Only important to some Christians? What's wrong with God letting other kinds of critters cavort on other kinds of planets?

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 10:07 AM (JtwS4)

209 The thing about traveling at near light speed is that if it takes you 50 years to accelerate to 99% LS, it will also take you 50 years to slow down.

Posted by: maddogg at April 18, 2014 02:07 PM (xWW96)

Jumping to light speed ain't like dusting crops, boy!

Posted by: Han Solo at April 18, 2014 10:07 AM (GQ8sn)

210 Cue the scantily-clad slave girls in shackles... Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 01:57 PM (4df7R) They can be anything you want. We'll fix it up for ya. Give us a call!

Posted by: Talos IV at April 18, 2014 10:08 AM (tE3uo)

211 "Step 2 to finding an earthlike planet will be that it has a moon similar to ours as well."

To be truly earthlike, it would have to have hordes of moonbats similiar to ours that are intent on destroying their own civilization

Posted by: Adolf Hitler at April 18, 2014 10:08 AM (Vv4Go)

212 Call me crazy, but I don't think God's going to let us export our depravity to the rest of the galaxy before He returns to lay down the law.

Posted by: Kinley Ardal at April 18, 2014 10:08 AM (9LuAk)

213 hey!

if we levy a property tax on the planet, we can take care of the deficit AND fully fund Obamacare!!!!!!!!!!!!

talk about a win/win...

Posted by: redc1c4 at April 18, 2014 10:08 AM (q+fqH)

214
The energy requirements would be enormous, and something as
simple as carrying enough water would be a challenge.

pffft. We'll just ask the Federal Reserve to create it.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 10:08 AM (BrAHD)

215 Good Friday, a state holiday in NC. Costco, "we always close on holidays for our employees". Open. I guess Christian holiday's don't count. You would think a nice Jewish company would have a little more respect. They are closed on Easter.

Posted by: Nip Sip at April 18, 2014 10:08 AM (0FSuD)

216 Obama Sits Next To Former Planned Parenthood Director At White House Easter Prayer BreakfastÂ… When will you social cons shutup about social issues?!?!?

Posted by: Soothsayer at April 18, 2014 10:08 AM (9lyhM)

217 The thing about traveling at near light speed is
that if it takes you 50 years to accelerate to 99% LS, it will also take
you 50 years to slow down.

Posted by: maddogg at April 18, 2014 02:07 PM (xWW96)

Jumping to light speed ain't like dusting crops, boy!

Posted by: Han Solo at April 18, 2014 02:07 PM (GQ8sn)

"What the HELL was that?"

"Spaceball One."

"They've gone to plaid!."

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:09 AM (4df7R)

218 202 Technically leather IS flesh.
Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:02 PM (4df7R)

We were discussing human remains - not leather.

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 02:06 PM (8c12T)

Ahem.

Posted by: Books in the Harvard library bound in human skin at April 18, 2014 10:09 AM (DrWcr)

219 Where the ice-comets got the water in the first place I couldn't tell you.
=========
Very, very common in the universe. All elements and compounds are, when you think about it.

IIRC nebula are chock-full of water molecules. And, as with any galaxy, this area was a nebula at one time.

Posted by: Zombie Wright Brothers at April 18, 2014 10:09 AM (VjL9S)

220 Moons aren't optional. You need one to stabilize the climate. If we didn't have one, the weather extremes would be too volatile to support human life.

Posted by: Fen at April 18, 2014 10:09 AM (cYpak)

221 204
I have a feeling the aoshq ship to kepler dash numbers would be a lot like SpaceBalls.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 02:06 PM (BrAHD)

Unfortunately, I think it'd be more like The Ice Pirates.

Posted by: Phinn at April 18, 2014 10:09 AM (i5GO4)

222 "No. Ballard said they were puzzled by seeing hundreds of pairs of boots, until he realized that tanned leather was the only thing left after 70 years. Posted by: Chris 18, 2014 01:32 PM (5xmd7) But that is clothing -- not flesh or bone. Right. There's no human remains visible from the Titanic. All the shoes point out is where they came to rest.

Posted by: Chris_Balsz at April 18, 2014 10:09 AM (5xmd7)

223 I'm afraid no one will be making any claims on Kepler 186. We already own all the land on it.

Posted by: Nevada Bureau of Land Managment at April 18, 2014 10:10 AM (GQ8sn)

224 206 Just in time for the holidays:

Obama Sits Next To Former Planned Parenthood Director At White House Easter Prayer BreakfastÂ…

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 02:06 PM (XUKZU)

Nothing says "He is Risen" better than celebrating wholesale infant slaughter!

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:10 AM (DrWcr)

225 damnit, I forgot my symbol Â§ I'm Soothsayer.

Posted by: Soothsayer § at April 18, 2014 10:10 AM (9lyhM)

226 "Why is the belief in Life on Earth Only important to some Christians? What's wrong with God letting other kinds of critters cavort on other kinds of planets?"

i wasn't aware this was a theological problem...

but then again, i gave up being Catholic for Lent one year, so i may not be the sin qua non of insight on the issue

Posted by: redc1c4 at April 18, 2014 10:10 AM (q+fqH)

227 In the stepwise ongoing journey of human progress wouldn't it make sense to invent a toilet that can flush a B.M. in less then three attempts before we conquer travel at or near the speed of light?

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:10 AM (MKpBT)

228 >>Obama Sits Next To Former Planned Parenthood Director At White House Easter Prayer BreakfastÂ… ,,,,and asked controversial Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson to deliver the closing prayer. He can't NOT stick his finger in Christians' eyes at every opportunity.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 18, 2014 10:10 AM (IdOTf)

229 206 Just in time for the holidays: Obama Sits Next To Former Planned Parenthood Director At White House Easter Prayer BreakfastÂ…
Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 02:06 PM (XUKZU)

Nothing says "He is Risen" better than celebrating wholesale infant slaughter!

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 02:10 PM (DrWcr)

It's in Obammy's blood to celebrate the wholesale slaughter of the innocent. It's Herod-itary.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:11 AM (4df7R)

230 I hear they have a Keystone pipeline in Kepler 186.

Posted by: Foghorn Leghorn at April 18, 2014 10:11 AM (R5UOB)

231 OBTW- I gave up picking my bellybutton for lint.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:11 AM (MKpBT)

232 So, are there already people on this Kreplach?

Posted by: Soothsayer § at April 18, 2014 10:11 AM (9lyhM)

233 IIRC nebula are chock-full of water molecules. And, as with any galaxy, this area was a nebula at one time. Posted by: Zombie Wright Brothers IIRC it is nebulae.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:12 AM (rDidD)

234 In the stepwise ongoing journey of human progress wouldn't it make sense to invent a toilet that can flush a B.M. in less then three attempts before we conquer travel at or near the speed of light?

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 02:10 PM (MKpBT)

Technically we HAD such a toilet. Then the ecotards "improved" it.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:12 AM (4df7R)

235 To be truly Earthlike, it would have to have hordes of moonbats similar to ours that are intent on destroying their own civilization

Posted by: Adolf Hitler at April 18, 2014 02:08 PM (Vv4Go)

Iron Sky Trailer: http://tinyurl.com/kfgunwq

Posted by: Sharkman at April 18, 2014 10:12 AM (TM1p8)

236 Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 02:01 PM (/FnUH) the amount of energy a Greenhouse gas keeps in the atmosphere is controlled by two factors... How much of that Greenhouse gas is there... and how much Energy is available for it to absorb in its specific Absorption band (what wavelengths it absorbs). ALL the energy available within CO2s absorption bands is already being absorbed, by existing CO2 and Water Vapor.... this is a Measurable stat... which has been measured. CO2 has reached the limit of effect on our atmosphere... the only way it affects us is if you add Energy in those wavelengths, which is controlled by the Sun, and Black body radiation of the Earth (which is primarily controlled by the makeup and temp of the planet itself). OTHER Greenhouse gases however, have not reached their peak of effect.... but CO2? not a driver of Global Warming.

Posted by: Carson of Venus at April 18, 2014 10:12 AM (84gbM)

237 Instapundit wants to call the planet "Earth Two"
Perhaps, we can call the star "Mini-Me" since it's a dwarf

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 18, 2014 10:12 AM (e8kgV)

238 I side with Zombie - I don't like the neighborhood, I move. I agree its a tad hard, but so was the ST communicator - pretty much everybody has one now. ST Hand scanner? On the horizon. Laser weapons? First ones now on a USN Ship. Fusion power? Soon, very soon... Science (discovery, seeking answers to problems, etc) is not $cience (gimme money to make problems) - we're an inquisitive breed of cat - we like looking for solutions, making things 'better' (not our normal claptrap), and REAL progress of the species, not what our esteemed betters impose. Its not 'if you don't like your neighborhood, move'. Can't do that now, but I think we will. Won't be tomorrow, next year, or in my lifetime, but I have hope my grandkids can visit alien worlds. Our hope is to spread to the Final Frountier, for growth, and survival - we're sitting targets on our present rock...

Posted by: Ibin Pharteen at April 18, 2014 10:12 AM (zL/eJ)

239 is this the thread where we discuss putin publishing a book about russia's unique culture and his personal struggles?

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:13 AM (rDidD)

240 IIRC nebula are chock-full of water molecules. And, as with any galaxy, this area was a nebula at one time.
Posted by: Zombie Wright Brothers

IIRC it is nebulae.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 02:12 PM (rDidD)

Not sure which is correct. The answer is nebulous at best.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:13 AM (4df7R)

241 Wait! Did you say this planet orbits a Red Dwarf????

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 10:13 AM (GQ8sn)

242 Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 01:57 PM (JtwS4) Fair enough. I can't remember all the criteria they list, but the premise is that the statistical unlikelyhood of findin a planet that meets them all (10 or 11 factors, each of which is necessary) is astronomically high. Not one a million, but more like one in trillions of trillions. I actually don't remember the number, but it is the statistical equivalent of un-possible. Then you add into that the fact that our planet happens to be uniquely (as far as we know) suited the observation of the universe around us and you are confronted with the possibility that a Creator designed the planet for life and then put it in a unique place to learn about the rest of the heavens. Even if you discount the ID premise, which I do not, there are still the factually arguable assertions that there is more than just the habitable zone and size of the planet to consider. It's good.

Posted by: Sambo at April 18, 2014 10:13 AM (hp3yM)

243 It's not as simple as a rock in the right place. We are the refined product of five billion years of evolution. *squirt*

Posted by: Anthony Weiner at April 18, 2014 10:13 AM (rNCEP)

244 Agreed Ibin.

Posted by: Max Power at April 18, 2014 10:13 AM (q177U)

245 I am thinking it's nap time. BBL

Posted by: Nip Sip at April 18, 2014 10:13 AM (0FSuD)

246 CO2 is just along for the ride.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:14 AM (rDidD)

247 500 light years,
They could be on the way now!

http://tinyurl.com/kr3m7zy

Posted by: DaveA[/i][/b][/s] at April 18, 2014 10:14 AM (DL2i+)

248 Just in time for the holidays: Obama Sits Next To Former Planned Parenthood Director At White House Easter Prayer BreakfastÂ…

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 02:06 PM (XUKZU)

Nothing says "He is Risen" better than celebrating wholesale infant slaughter!

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 02:10 PM (DrWcr)

And nothing tells you more about exactly who Obama is, and who he serves more than this.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 18, 2014 10:14 AM (TM1p8)

249 241 - Just as long as you keep Rimmer - I'm hanging with Cat!

Posted by: Ibin Pharteen at April 18, 2014 10:14 AM (zL/eJ)

250 In the stepwise ongoing journey of human progress wouldn't it make sense to invent a toilet that can flush a B.M. in less then three attempts before we conquer travel at or near the speed of light? In our history books, it reads that you made efficient toilets once, but allowed politicians and bureaucrats to make them inefficient. We were damned lucky to make it to the 23rd century, no thanks to you idiots in the 21st.

Posted by: Lt. Expendable, NCC-1701-D [/i][/s][/b][/u] at April 18, 2014 10:14 AM (0HooB)

251 Instapundit wants to call the planet "Earth Two"

FUCK NO. Then we'd have to deal with that idiot, whiny-ass kid Uly. All the Antonio Sabato, Jr. in the universe could not make that palatable.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:15 AM (4df7R)

252 When will you social cons shutup about social issues?!?!? - I don't know but not on good Friday.

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 10:15 AM (XUKZU)

253 If a alien visited Earth today, what do you think would happen? I'd say it would be dead within an hour.

Posted by: Soothsayer § at April 18, 2014 10:15 AM (9lyhM)

254 Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:07 PM (JtwS4) It's an "Only Begotten Son" issue. Unless rseidents of other planets remained sinless (which is unlikely, given free will, or would make them angels if they lacked free will) there has to be a means of redemption and there's only one of Him.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 18, 2014 10:16 AM (GDulk)

255 There must be planets which can be terraformed because it is my destiny to hook up with River Tam.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 10:16 AM (JtwS4)

256 Who is making AoShq a ham? And who is bringing the fresh potato salad?

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 10:16 AM (8c12T)

257 NASA TV coverage just started. SpaceX is going to try to launch their cargo resupply mission at 3:25 pm EDT. The weather is iffy, though.

Posted by: rickl at April 18, 2014 10:16 AM (zoehZ)

258 233 IIRC nebula are chock-full of water molecules. And, as with any galaxy, this area was a nebula at one time. Posted by: Zombie Wright Brothers ..and Tactical doesn't function and our shields would be useless.

Posted by: Khan at April 18, 2014 10:17 AM (tE3uo)

259 We need to fold space.
========
Yup.

Ever see that video "Imagining the 11th Dimension" or something like that?

Basically it starts with what we can observe and discusses how each "higher" dimension can be reached by "folding" the lower dimensions.

By folding time and space, you can not only travel in time and space but you can also travel between possibilities.

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 18, 2014 10:17 AM (VjL9S)

260 And save the hambones we can make red beans and rice later in the week.

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 10:17 AM (8c12T)

261 There must be planets which can be terraformed because it is my destiny to hook up with River Tam.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:16 PM (JtwS4)

Dibs on Jayne Cobb!

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:17 AM (4df7R)

262 What makes us so certain that the various gasses, etc, that sustain human life are the same gasses, etc, that sustain alien life?

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (DmNpO)

263 Didn't obama pull the same stunt before? It's no accident -- this is obama sticking his thumb our eye. Everything is carefully planned for effect, remember that.

Posted by: Soothsayer § at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (9lyhM)

264 Not sure which is correct. The answer is nebulous at best. Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy I nearly got fired for telling my boss at my first job outta hs that it was not "antennas" but "antennae" it was probably also not a good idea to go a around crossing it out and rewriting it in correctly everywhere I found it written.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (rDidD)

265 500 light years,
They could be on the way now!

Posted by: DaveA at April 18, 2014 02:14 PM (DL2i+)

Oh, we've been coming and going as we please.

Posted by: Prot, K-Paxian Produce Afficianado at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (vn9w4)

266
FUCK NO. Then we'd have to deal with that idiot, whiny-ass kid Uly. All the Antonio Sabato, Jr. in the universe could not make that palatable.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:15 PM (4df7R)

YES! I thought I was the only one who watched that show!

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (DrWcr)

267 If it's tidal locked, all bets are off.

Posted by: SAZMD at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (NkJ0Q)

268
Speaking of which, did anybody continue to watch the non-cosmos new Cosmos series? I bagged it after the first one and I read the second one was about Darwin or something.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (BrAHD)

269

NASA TV coverage just started. SpaceX is going to try to launch their cargo resupply mission at 3:25 pm EDT. The weather is iffy, though.

SpaceX? Phooey. Private enterprise can never profitably commit space travel.

Posted by: Huge Government Expenditures at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (JtwS4)

270 By folding time and space, you can not only travel in time and space but you can also travel between possibilities. Posted by: RoyalOil at April 18, 2014 02:17 PM (VjL9S) It's all here waiting for you. Give us a call!

Posted by: Talos IV at April 18, 2014 10:18 AM (tE3uo)

271 Didn't obama pull the same stunt before? It's no accident -- this is obama sticking his thumb our eye.

Everything is carefully planned for effect, remember that.

Posted by: Soothsayer Â§ at April 18, 2014 02:18 PM (9lyhM)

Discovering a potentially Earth-like planet?

OH! You meant the prayer breakfast. Wow, that was a weird moment....

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:19 AM (4df7R)

272 I remember a time, when 75% of what we say now was once considered snark. Good times.

Posted by: Is this something? at April 18, 2014 10:19 AM (qQk+U)

273 Well, that's an interesting name. --- Kansas City, Mo., authorities identify highway shootings suspect as Mohammed Pedro Whitaker - @KCStar

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 10:19 AM (ZPrif)

274 The moon is useful for a large variety of reasons. - It stabilizes rotation/axis, leading to relatively regular conditions planetside. - It creates tides, allowing for enough variation among the sea/land divide. - It absorbs plenty of impacts (the farside is more cratered than the near). However, we only have our own planet to study the conditions conducive to life, so we have nothing to compare it to to determine if these are necessary conditions. But they're certainly helpful.

Posted by: ChrisValentine at April 18, 2014 10:19 AM (42vqa)

275 What if the Gorn are already on Kepler 186f?

Posted by: Count de Monet at April 18, 2014 10:19 AM (BAS5M)

276 Speaking of which, did anybody continue to watch the non-cosmos new Cosmos series? I bagged it after the first one and I read the second one was about Darwin or something. *** I watched the first two then lost all interest. For folks who like to rave about science they sure play fast and loose with facts.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:19 AM (DmNpO)

277 In the stepwise ongoing journey of human progress wouldn't it make sense to invent a toilet that can flush a B.M. in less then three attempts before we conquer travel at or near the speed of light? Or chairs. People who make chairs apparently have never sat in a chair.

Posted by: eleven at April 18, 2014 10:20 AM (8w6pW)

278 Mach effect for FTL.

Posted by: Larsen E. Whipsnade at April 18, 2014 10:20 AM (rXcBX)

279

What if the Gorn are already on Kepler 186f

On it.

Posted by: Jim Kirk at April 18, 2014 10:20 AM (RwwCT)

280 >>Kansas City, Mo., authorities identify highway shootings suspect as Mohammed Pedro Whitaker - @KCStar Let me guess: authorities say this motivations are still unknown (and will mysteriously remain so).

Posted by: Lizzy at April 18, 2014 10:21 AM (IdOTf)

281 IIRC nebula are chock-full of water molecules. And, as with any galaxy, this area was a nebula at one time.

Posted by: Zombie Wright Brothers at April 18, 2014 02:09 PM (VjL9S)

I still like the earth's-water-comes-from-crashing-comets theory. The idea that our water was just here when the earth coalesced just seems so ... pedestrian.

Posted by: Phinn at April 18, 2014 10:21 AM (i5GO4)

282 What if the Gorn are already on Kepler 186f?

Posted by: Count de Monet at April 18, 2014 02:19 PM (BAS5M)

*polishes diamond shooting musket*

I got this.

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 10:21 AM (GQ8sn)

283 255 There must be planets which can be terraformed because it is my destiny to hook up with River Tam.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:16 PM (JtwS4)

Never mind that she's stark raving bonkers. I'll take Kaylee or Inara any day.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:21 AM (DrWcr)

284 39 Ya know, this is cool stuff to hear but is it really important news? (not your story Ace but the media is always jumping on these "the latest planet" stories).

The freaking planet is 500 light years away. We are probably (as a race/planet) never going to get there to see. So who cares? Why is this being reported? Why is research being done on this? What benefit does it have? How does this expand our knowledge to aid or protect us in the universe?

Shouldn't they be like studying why the Sun had fewer sunspots for the last 17 years and did that affect our climate? And how much does the Sun affect the climate on Earth?

Aren't there more important things to do with telescopes than finding some maybe planet that maybe is earth like and maybe has life on it. Maybe.

It's a waste of time and money.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That (Waiting For SMODOT) at April 18, 2014 01:35 PM (JS0vr)

++++

Never is a very, very long time. If we do ever get there, it won't necessarily be directly from Earth. More likely, we will first colonize closer planets. Once that happens, further colonization can occur from the colonies. We could colonize like an infection, jumping from one host to the next.

No, it won't be happening anytime soon. Unless they hurry up and start making some serious progress on that whole dying of old age problem, it won't be colonized during our lifetimes. Unlikely even if we got to live 10 lifetimes. But, someday.

It get reported, because plenty of people are interested. They have done the research and have discovered through careful science that it get the clicks.

There are people studying the sunspots. Even though the warmists are pretty disinterested in that line of study.

Understanding the universe we live in has value. Lots of what gets reported is little better than speculation, but bit by bit, our understanding of the universe moves forward.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 18, 2014 10:21 AM (IN7k+)

285 By folding time and space, you can not only travel in time and space but you can also travel between possibilities.

So a little backfat is ok on a chick then?

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 10:21 AM (BrAHD)

286 since we'll never get there...not to sound crass, but, getting excited about somewhere we'll never, ever go is a bit beyond me at this point (looks at tax bill). Bigger fish to fry. And I even like astronomy!

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:21 AM (x3YFz)

287 I imagine it to be Science...for the typical Comedy Central demographic, ie, the young Dumb People.

Posted by: Soothsayer § at April 18, 2014 10:21 AM (9lyhM)

288
YES! I thought I was the only one who watched that show!
Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 02:18 PM (DrWcr)/i]

I watched a few episodes and then abandoned it, because OMG I fucking HATED Uly with a burning, seething passion. You know how lots of people hated Wesley on ST: TNG? Yeah, take that and multiply it by a fuckload and you've got the loathing I feel toward Uly.

I also couldn't stand Rebecca Gayheart's character's husband. I mean, you've got Rebecca Gayheart and Antonio Sabato, Jr., in the same 1990's show together, and you're NOT going to pull a Ross and Rachel-esque love story between them? WTF is wrong with you, idiot writers!

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:22 AM (4df7R)

289 Well, that's an interesting name.
---
Kansas City, Mo., authorities identify highway shootings suspect as Mohammed Pedro Whitaker - @KCStar

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 02:19 PM (ZPrif)

Stop picking on us Cherokees!

Posted by: Lizzie Warren at April 18, 2014 10:22 AM (vn9w4)

290 What if the Gorn are already on Kepler 186f?

Posted by: Count de Monet at April 18, 2014 02:19 PM (BAS5M)

We nuke them from orbit. It's the only to be sure.

Posted by: Larsen E. Whipsnade at April 18, 2014 10:22 AM (rXcBX)

291 Potholes--people, potholes! Have you seen the size of the potholes around here!?

Posted by: President Obama at April 18, 2014 10:22 AM (RJMhd)

292 275 What if the Gorn are already on Kepler 186f?

Posted by: Count de Monet at April 18, 2014 02:19 PM (BAS5M)

Then hopefully it's rich in mineral deposits. And conveniently cannon-shaped plant life.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:22 AM (DrWcr)

293 It's an "Only Begotten Son" issue. Unless rseidents of other planets remained sinless (which is unlikely, given free will, or would make them angels if they lacked free will) there has to be a means of redemption and there's only one of Him. Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 18, 2014 02:16 PM (GDulk) My Fathers House has many mansions... Trying to remember.... did Jesus ever say he was Gods ONLY Son? Remember... the Bible was written viewed through the prism of the times... its like the Bible story of Creation merges pretty well with the theory of how the Universe started... the sequence is pretty correct... but it was written in the terms of the time...

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 18, 2014 10:22 AM (84gbM)

294 The moon is useful for a large variety of reasons. - It stabilizes rotation/axis, leading to relatively regular conditions planetside. - It creates tides, allowing for enough variation among the sea/land divide. - It absorbs plenty of impacts (the farside is more cratered than the near). However, we only have our own planet to study the conditions conducive to life, so we have nothing to compare it to to determine if these are necessary conditions. But they're certainly helpful. Posted by: ChrisValentine it is also where I am planning to install mass drivers and launch pads for rods from yankeefifth so I can hurl them at the godless chicoms and sovs.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:22 AM (rDidD)

295 If you have designs on buying a Jeep, the price just went up. Tony Burke ‏@TonyBurke2010 2m UAW members win union recognition in Toledo auto parts site 8 hours after starting a walk-out. Well done! http://po.st/uZ1wro via @po_st

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:22 AM (DmNpO)

296 Anyway, he seems to have clung to this notion that very small disturbances in the CO2 cycle would have enormous vicious (or virtuous) cycle impacts and fundamentally remake a planet's hydrosphere.
====
The only reasonable, workable notion of terraforming Venus involved introducing exotic--perhaps bio-engineered--exothermic bacteria into the upper atmosphere.

And the only reason that would work is it is a massive project and you'd need heavy inputs from the geometric multiplication of bacteria that are happy, happy, happy eating nearly unlimited sulfur.

He has a fundamental--and willful--concept of the volume of gasses around Venus, Earth and Mars.

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 18, 2014 10:23 AM (VjL9S)

297 >>Kansas City, Mo., authorities identify highway shootings suspect as Mohammed Pedro Whitaker - @KCStar And he worked at Achmed's Kosher Sushi Emporium. He was so quiet...

Posted by: Lt. Expendable, NCC-1701-D [/i][/s][/b][/u] at April 18, 2014 10:23 AM (0HooB)

298 Never mind that she's stark raving bonkers. I'll take Kaylee or Inara any day.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 02:21 PM (DrWcr)

She's much better now that she's got the big bad secret of Miranda out of her head, though! That's what was really driving her nutso.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:23 AM (4df7R)

299 Appears to be a black muslim. I'm gonna bet some Farakkkhan influence. FOX 4 News ‏@fox4kc 8m Mohammed Pedro Whitaker, 27, has been charged with 18 felony counts in #KC's recent highway shootings. pic.twitter.com/eX7WZoVWan

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 10:23 AM (ZPrif)

300 At current rates can you imagine what the national debt will be by the time we reach Kepler-186? Someone ought to googol that question.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:23 AM (MKpBT)

301 Mohammed Pedro Whitaker - @KCStar Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 02:19 PM (ZPrif) What the....?

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:24 AM (x3YFz)

302 gorn? who cares? how bad cold I possibly be? as long as there is no obamacare what is the worst that could happen? hell, even gorncare is preferable.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:24 AM (rDidD)

303 275 What if the Gorn are already on Kepler 186f?

Posted by: Count de Monet at April 18, 2014 02:19 PM (BAS5M)

Serpentine.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:24 AM (4df7R)

304

I watched a few episodes and then abandoned it, because OMG I fucking HATED Uly with a burning, seething passion. You know how lots of people hated Wesley on ST: TNG? Yeah, take that and multiply it by a fuckload and you've got the loathing I feel toward Uly.

Yikes! Yeah, I guess he was pretty annoying.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:25 AM (DrWcr)

305

Well, that's an interesting name.

---

Kansas City, Mo., authorities identify highway shootings suspect as Mohammed Pedro Whitaker - @KCStar

It's not odd at all.

Posted by: Juan Epstein at April 18, 2014 10:25 AM (BAS5M)

306 Mohammed Pedro Whitaker *** My head. It is spinning.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:25 AM (DmNpO)

307 Right now on Kreplack, they're talking about us.

Posted by: Soothsayer § at April 18, 2014 10:25 AM (9lyhM)

308 As Brigham Young reportedly said, seeing the valley of the salt lake below, after coming down from the passes, "This is the place!" They had run afoul of the government, and needed a place of their own, free from persecution.

Posted by: the littl shyning man at April 18, 2014 10:25 AM (JB3tU)

309 Did he have an accomplice? Maybe Leroy Chang McPherson?

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:25 AM (x3YFz)

310 "Why is the belief in Life on Earth Only important to some Christians?
What's wrong with God letting other kinds of critters cavort on other
kinds of planets?"

Where? I keep hearing this, and I never see any examples. If there is a Christian church or denomination that teaches this, I've not heard of it.

And the Rev. Billy Bob's First Church of Snake Handlin' and Mud Rasslin' in CousinLove, Arkansas doesn't count.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 18, 2014 10:25 AM (I8YZX)

311 Pointing a telescope at Jupiter made it finally stop masturbating.

You sure it wasn't just worried about the Red Spot?

Posted by: DaveA[/i][/b][/s] at April 18, 2014 10:25 AM (DL2i+)

312 I'm conflicted.

Posted by: Mohammed Pedro Whitaker-Goldberg at April 18, 2014 10:26 AM (MKpBT)

313 She's much better now that she's got the big bad secret of Miranda out of her head, though! That's what was really driving her nutso.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:23 PM (4df7R)

This is true. Firefly series River Tam though, no way in the 'verse!

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:26 AM (DrWcr)

314 197 Hate to admit it but I just learned that the greek word for milk isaform of galaxy thus the milky way.
===============
Titan semen. From when he had his balls and penis ripped off in the battle with the gods of Olympus.

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 18, 2014 10:26 AM (VjL9S)

315 The Krylons are all, like, omg I can't President Cruz is soooo stupid!!

Posted by: Soothsayer § at April 18, 2014 10:26 AM (9lyhM)

316 It's nice to see crime is celebrating diversity.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:27 AM (x3YFz)

317 306 Mohammed Pedro Whitaker *** My head. It is spinning. Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 02:25 PM (DmNpO) The very definition of modern multiculturalism?

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 18, 2014 10:27 AM (84gbM)

318 Mohammed Pedro Whitaker

***

My head. It is spinning.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 02:25 PM (DmNpO)

Vote for Pedro!

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 10:27 AM (GQ8sn)

319 316 It's nice to see crime is celebrating diversity. Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 02:27 PM (x3YFz) Now.... if only he is teh Ghey...

Posted by: Romeo13 at April 18, 2014 10:27 AM (84gbM)

320 Mohammed Pedro WhieHater

Posted by: Is this something? at April 18, 2014 10:27 AM (qQk+U)

321 Yikes! Yeah, I guess he was pretty annoying.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 02:25 PM (DrWcr)

I don't know why I had such a visceral reaction to him, except that I very rarely like child characters on TV shows, especially TV dramas. I was 14 when E2 was on and even THEN I recognized that having a "sick kid" on the show was just an annoying emotional ploy, even if it was supposed to be the main character lady's whole motivation.

Kid characters get in the way. Thank God Carl finally grew up and grew a pair in TWD during season 3, otherwise I was ready to start pounding heads.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:27 AM (4df7R)

322 Mohammed Pedro Whitaker *** Canadian, eh?

Posted by: Mohammed Pedro Whitaker-Goldberg at April 18, 2014 10:28 AM (MKpBT)

323 Btw, isn't "cool beans" a uniquely Boston area expression? Do any of you poor benighted wretches who don't live in NE use it?

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 10:28 AM (JtwS4)

324 multi-culti sock off.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:29 AM (MKpBT)

325 Now.... if only he is teh Ghey... Posted by: Romeo13 at April 18, 2014 02:27 PM (84gbM) Uh... not per se, but...

Posted by: The Goat at April 18, 2014 10:29 AM (x3YFz)

326 Do any of you poor benighted wretches who don't live in NE use it? Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:28 PM (JtwS4) No!

Posted by: Velvet Ambition, the guy that will push that button at April 18, 2014 10:29 AM (R8hU8)

327 OK space cowboys and cowgirls, I'ma gonna go get ready for my matinee gig. Y'all have fun and try not to trash the place, 'k?

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit [/i][/s][/b][/u] at April 18, 2014 10:29 AM (0HooB)

328 hey BackwardsBoy ...you gonna play Illustrated Man .. Johnny Winter ??

Posted by: Is this something? at April 18, 2014 10:30 AM (qQk+U)

329 Btw, isn't "cool beans" a uniquely Boston area expression? Do any of you poor benighted wretches who don't live in NE use it?

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:28 PM (JtwS4)

'Cool beans' is a restaurant worker expression everywhere--at least in every restaurant I've ever worked at in Indiana. My Boston girlfriend thought it was Boston-only saying, too.

Posted by: troyriser at April 18, 2014 10:30 AM (2jF2B)

330 I don't know why I had such a visceral reaction to him, except that I very rarely like child characters on TV shows, especially TV dramas. Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:27 PM (4df7R) Danger..... Danger Will Robinson...

Posted by: The Robot at April 18, 2014 10:30 AM (84gbM)

331

This is true.Firefly series River Tam though, no way in the 'verse!

I always screw the crazy, it's how I roll. Also, they're all crazy. Some just hide it better.

::suspicious glare at Beth::

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 10:30 AM (JtwS4)

332 Btw, isn't "cool beans" a uniquely Boston area expression? Do any of you poor benighted wretches who don't live in NE use it? Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:28 PM (JtwS4) Flattery will get you nowhere.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:30 AM (x3YFz)

333 Now.... if only he is teh Ghey... Posted by: Romeo13 at April 18, 2014 02:27 PM (84gbM) Uh... not per se, but... Posted by: The Goat at April well, not yet anyway.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:31 AM (rDidD)

334 Mohammed Pedro Whitaker - @KCStar

If you ever go to the Benihana in San Diego, many of the chefs have names like Pedro Takayama or Haruto Rodriguez. We asked our guy about his mixed Spanish and Japanese name (he looked Japanese) and told us that his mother was Mexican and his father was Japanese. Dude had like, a totally Valley accent, too.

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 10:31 AM (vn9w4)

335 Btw, isn't "cool beans" a uniquely Boston area expression? Do any of you poor benighted wretches who don't live in NE use it? *** yes. We use it here in NEFL.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:31 AM (DmNpO)

336 the obama criminal org. has delayed it's decision on the Keystone Pipeline. If the RNC had any balls, they'd drop any mention of immigration reform and pound, pound I say, the dems on this

Posted by: Nevergiveup at April 18, 2014 10:31 AM (nzKvP)

337 312 I'm conflicted. Posted by: Mohammed Pedro Whitaker-Goldberg at April 18, 2014 02:26 PM (MKpBT) Me, too.

Posted by: Mohammed Pedro Whitaker-Goldberg Redfeather Hollenzern V at April 18, 2014 10:31 AM (tE3uo)

338 ... I'ma gonna go get ready for my matinee gig. Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at April 18, 2014 02:29 PM (0HooB) *** Wow BB, they let you gig manatees?

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:31 AM (MKpBT)

339 If I had known "cool beans" was used by massholes let alone considered to be invented by them I would have mad a point to have never used it, ever.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (rDidD)

340 This would be convenient because we already have a flag there.

Posted by: Mega at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (hHFOx)

341
I always screw the crazy, it's how I roll. Also, they're all crazy. Some just hide it better.

::suspicious glare at Beth::

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:30 PM (JtwS4)

I don't know what you could possibly be implying, sir. *indignant sniff!*

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (4df7R)

342 They had run afoul of the government, and needed a place of their own, free from persecution. Posted by: the littl shyning man at April 18, 2014 02:25 PM (JB3tU) They only did two things, fish and fuck. The salt lake took care of the fishing.

Posted by: Velvet Ambition, the guy that will push that button at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (R8hU8)

343 339 If I had known "cool beans" was used by massholes let alone considered to be invented by them I would have mad a point to have never used it, ever.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 02:32 PM (rDidD)

Wicked pissah!

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (DrWcr)

344 But if we put another flag there, it could tip over.

Posted by: Mega at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (hHFOx)

345 In our day, it was undeniable scientific wisdom that man would never fly. Posted by: Zombie Wright Brothers at April 18, 2014 02:05 PM (VjL9S) No, it wasn't.

Posted by: Hollowpoint at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (SY2Kh)

346 Gosh, what an incredible, happy accident that earth is so perfectly positioned to support human, animal, and plant life. That all work in perfect synchronization with each other. Weird, huh?
What a wacky, zany accident of chance. Wow! I'm flummoxed by that.
I mean, what are the odds? Worse than Powerball?
Thank Crazy Randomness! why, if weren't for the non-miracle of chance, I wouldn't be here typing these words.
Yup. Totally proof that there is no God. Yup.
Silly little God-clingers. All I can say is, "Duh!"

Posted by: rick at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (snYrg)

347

Mohammed Pedro Whitaker

He's a banjo playing habenero eating islamo fascist terrorist.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 10:32 AM (BrAHD)

348 If the RNC had any balls, they'd drop any mention of immigration reform and pound, pound I say, the dems on this Posted by: Nevergiveup at April 18, 2014 02:31 PM (nzKvP) Ha. Best joke I heard all week.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:33 AM (x3YFz)

349 341
I always screw the crazy, it's how I roll. Also, they're all crazy. Some just hide it better.

::suspicious glare at Beth::

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:30 PM (JtwS4)

I don't know what you could possibly be implying, sir. *indignant sniff!*

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:32 PM (4df7R)

Hey now, we all know Beth is a delicate flower of innocent virtue.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:33 AM (DrWcr)

350 You know what planets are shaped like? A zero.

Thanks Muslims!!

Posted by: NASA at April 18, 2014 10:33 AM (5UteM)

351 Wasn't "Cool Beans" the movie about the Mexican Bobsled Team?

Posted by: Lincolntf at April 18, 2014 10:33 AM (ZshNr)

352 "he's good people" I invented that expression.

Posted by: Soothsayer § at April 18, 2014 10:33 AM (9lyhM)

353 Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 02:31 PM (vn9w4) A favorite restraunt growing up in Colorado was "Pepe O'Toole" And the owners had a sister restaurant that was similarly named. I asked my dad about it and he said that Irish guys with Spanish/Mexican wives had been quite common in the area at one point.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 18, 2014 10:33 AM (GDulk)

354 He's a banjo playing habenero eating islamo fascist terrorist. Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 18, 2014 02:32 PM (BrAHD) There's a Johnny Cash song in there somewhere.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:34 AM (x3YFz)

355 If a alien visited Earth today, what do you think would happen? I'd say it would be dead within an hour. - Depends on his position on gay marriage and abortion.

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 10:34 AM (XUKZU)

356 And the Rev. Billy Bob's First Church of Snake Handlin' and Mud Rasslin' in CousinLove, Arkansas doesn't count.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 18, 2014 02:25 PM (I8YZX)

http://youtu.be/yiy0-GpwEaA

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 10:34 AM (vn9w4)

357 Btw, isn't "cool beans" a uniquely Boston area expression? Do any of you poor benighted wretches who don't live in NE use it?

I have never used it myself, though I know other people who do. I'm pretty sure it's national, though it might be stronger in certain regions.

I just never understood it. I mean, "cool beans?" Who wants cool beans? Why is that a good thing? When I eat beans I want them to be hot, or at least WARM.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:34 AM (4df7R)

358 I read this book a while back. Think it was called "Where Is Everyone". Pretty interesting so many things have to be in place for life (as we know it) to happen. The moon is very important. That it is so close to earth is very rare for a satalite. But the closeness is very important for life. Also Jupiter is our guardian angel because its hugeness hoovers up most of the earth crushing satalites.

Posted by: baltimorethug at April 18, 2014 10:34 AM (2sT0J)

359 Muzzie Mexi Whitey

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 10:34 AM (ZPrif)

360 Obama extends review period for Keystone XL Pipeline.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:35 AM (DmNpO)

361

its hugeness hoovers up most of the earth crushing satalites.

You're welcome.

Posted by: Sandra Fluke at April 18, 2014 10:35 AM (DrWcr)

362 Hey now, we all know Beth is a delicate flower of innocent virtue.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 02:33 PM (DrWcr)

You're damn right she is!

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:35 AM (4df7R)

363 Speaking of which, did anybody continue to watch the non-cosmos new Cosmos series? I bagged it after the first one and I read the second one was about Darwin or something
========
yeah, after "let's spend half the show talking about a guy nobody ever heard of just so we can bash religion" in the first one, I dropped it.

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 18, 2014 10:35 AM (VjL9S)

364 Or Willie Nelson. Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be banjo playing habanero eating islamo fascist terrorists.

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 10:35 AM (XUKZU)

365 do you think there is anyone in the liberal fortress of doom that is responsible for monitoring everything who is always sitting with fingers crossed when another terrorist attack is announced saying "please not a muslim, please not a muslim?" I would love to see the tape where they eventually launch into a meltdown with "oh fuck me,, is it ever going to be a tea partier?"

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:36 AM (rDidD)

366 Heard cool beans occasionally all my life. Never lived in Boston. Usually it's said slightly ironically since it has an out of data old-fashioned ring to it.

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 10:36 AM (ZPrif)

367 is mohammed pedro whitaker a white islamohispanic?

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:37 AM (rDidD)

368 I don't know about "Cool Beans", but when I was a kid we used to say, "Cool Taters!". Now that I'm grown up, not so much. I'ver pretty much regressed to fart jokes and bad puns.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:37 AM (MKpBT)

369 Vote for Pedro!

Posted by: EC at April 18, 2014 02:27 PM (GQ8sn)

I caught you a delicious bass.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:37 AM (DrWcr)

370 The State Department will Â“extend the government comment period on the Keystone XL pipeline, likely postponing a final decision on the controversial project until after the Nov. 4 midterm elections,Â” Reuters reported on Friday afternoon. The organization credited the information to a 1:30 call with Congressional staff.

Posted by: Separate but Stupid at April 18, 2014 10:37 AM (ZPrif)

371 Speaking of which, did anybody continue to watch the non-cosmos new Cosmos series? I bagged it after the first one and I read the second one was about Darwin or something ======== yeah, after "let's spend half the show talking about a guy nobody ever heard of just so we can bash religion" in the first one, I dropped it. Posted by: RoyalOil at April 18, 2014 02:35 PM (VjL9S) Watched 15 minutes of the first one, rolled eyes and watched Justified reruns.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:38 AM (x3YFz)

372 is mohammed pedro whitaker a white islamohispanic?

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 02:37 PM (rDidD)

Let's just say, "If I had a son..." applies in this situation.

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 10:39 AM (vn9w4)

373 Are there liberals there? I'm moving if no......

Posted by: © Sponge at April 18, 2014 10:40 AM (xmcEQ)

374 Obama extends review period for Keystone XL Pipeline.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 02:35 PM (DmNpO)

I'm guessing he's waiting until after the midterms to say 'no'. I simply cannot imagine President Obama, a global warming true believer himself, giving a thumbs-up to any fossil fuel-based initiative no matter how clean it is or how beneficial to the country it would be. Besides, the radical environmentalist segment of the Democratic Party's base would never forgive him, and we all know how much he loves to be loved by his base.

Posted by: troyriser at April 18, 2014 10:40 AM (2jF2B)

375 If an alien visited Earth today, what do you think would happen? I'd say it would be dead, wrapped in bacon, dipped in beer batter and deep fried at 375 degrees and served with two side dishes within an hour. Fixt.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:40 AM (MKpBT)

376 Watched 15 minutes of the first one, rolled eyes and watched Justified reruns. *** If you only watched 15 minutes of it then you missed the ~~best~~ worst parts of it.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:40 AM (DmNpO)

377 Let's just say, "If I had a son..." applies in this situation. Posted by: Country Singer at April so he is like the dc sniper that used a ride around in the trunk with a teenage boy?

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:40 AM (rDidD)

378 O/T I see that Nancy Pelosi helped wash feet yesterday, in the Episcopal Church.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at April 18, 2014 10:41 AM (V70Uh)

379 Pic of the suspect: http://tinyurl.com/krkrufn

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 10:41 AM (vn9w4)

380 I vote to name it Tuchanka.

Posted by: Buzzion at April 18, 2014 10:41 AM (YjFQ1)

381 upthread, someone asked what would happen if an alien landed on Earth. Trick question. If you're smart enough to travel light years around the galaxy, you're damn sure smart enough to avoid this shithole.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:41 AM (x3YFz)

382 254 Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 02:07 PM (JtwS4)

It's an "Only Begotten Son" issue. Unless rseidents of other planets remained sinless (which is unlikely, given free will, or would make them angels if they lacked free will) there has to be a means of redemption and there's only one of Him.
============
Isn't it universal redemption, though?

Seriously, though. If there is but one God then there only needs be one redemption, no? Why should it be limited to one planet per? What's the difference--if you're God, everywhere at once and all that--between being in Japan and being on Kepler 186f?

Posted by: RoyalOil at April 18, 2014 10:41 AM (VjL9S)

383 A couple of weeks ago, there was a thread re the Koch brothers PAC spending vs. everyone else. Can someone clue me as to the method of searching all AoSHQ threads?

Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 18, 2014 10:42 AM (aDwsi)

384 well, I have to say mohammed pedro whitaker is better than puff something or some made up name.

Posted by: yankeefifth at April 18, 2014 10:42 AM (rDidD)

385 mohammed pedro whitaker? Local story.

Posted by: CNN\NBC\ABC\CBS\PBS\NYT\WashPost at April 18, 2014 10:42 AM (IdOTf)

386 379 Pic of the suspect: http://tinyurl.com/krkrufn

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 02:41 PM (vn9w4)

That's RAAAAACIST!

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:42 AM (DrWcr)

387 315 - "The Krylons are all, like, omg I can't President Cruz is soooo stupid!!" Heh - "CDR Smooot, I just completed the scan of the 3rd planet of the primary" "And?" "Forget contacting them - they're dumber than a box of asteroids...."

Posted by: Ibin Pharteen at April 18, 2014 10:42 AM (zL/eJ)

388 [i]
I'd say it would be dead, wrapped in bacon, dipped in beer batter and deep fried at 375 degrees and served with two side dishes within an hour.

That's if the alien landed in the United States. If it landed in Japan it'd be jellied and/or used in porn.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/i][/b] at April 18, 2014 10:42 AM (4df7R)

389 O/T I see that Nancy Pelosi helped wash feet yesterday, in the Episcopal Church. *** Wanna bet she required that all the feet be pedicured first?

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:42 AM (DmNpO)

390 388
I'd say it would be dead, wrapped in bacon, dipped in beer batter and deep fried at 375 degrees and served with two side dishes within an hour.

That's if the alien landed in the United States. If it landed in Japan it'd be jellied and/or used in porn.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at April 18, 2014 02:42 PM (4df7R)

Sliced into bite-sized pieces and eaten raw.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 10:43 AM (DrWcr)

391 There's some notion that the solar nebula is compositionally zoned and if the solar nebula was created by a nova like our own sun it probably consists of the same elements and possibly in the same proportions... so iron cores and water. Why not? But at that distance is the iron core large enough to convect? Moons are nice, but you need a magnetic field. Also, I think we more or less agree these days that CO2 atmospheres are standard and an Oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere only happens because of biological processes.

Posted by: Synova at April 18, 2014 10:43 AM (+BBGw)

392 new post up

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 10:43 AM (DmNpO)

393 O/T I see that Nancy Pelosi helped wash feet yesterday, in the Episcopal Church. Posted by: Grampa ------------------------------- Because populated with ghey voters..., but that is just a guess, I mean the 'voters' part.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 18, 2014 10:43 AM (aDwsi)

394

If an alien visited Earth today, what do you think would happen?

I'd say it would be dead, wrapped in bacon, dipped in beer batter and deep fried at 375 degrees and served with two side dishes within an hour.

Fixt.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 02:40 PM (MKpBT)

Tastes like chicken.

Posted by: Count de Monet at April 18, 2014 10:43 AM (BAS5M)

395 Extend the Keystone Pipeline decision Extend all obamacare deadlines A profile in courage NOT!

Posted by: Nevergiveup at April 18, 2014 10:44 AM (nzKvP)

396 That's RAAAAACIST!

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 02:42 PM (DrWcr)

Pretty sure that by liberal rules, I'm immune from that charge, since I've got that whole half-brown thing going on. Or, as I like to tell libs, "Hey, I'm just as white as the President is!"

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 10:44 AM (vn9w4)

397 I can see the crew of Alien-1 now: "Sir, coming up on Earth." "Running scan." "Holy Yark!" "Ensign, I just blew 3.98993 oz of coffee out my Ugbilt. Bastard." "Set course for next planet."

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:44 AM (x3YFz)

398

That's if the alien landed in the United States. If it landed in Japan it'd be jellied and/or used in porn.

You rang?

Posted by: Hentai Squid at April 18, 2014 10:45 AM (JtwS4)

399 Wanna bet she required that all the feet be pedicured first?

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 18, 2014 02:42 PM (DmNpO)

Pre-washed by an unpaid intern.

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 10:45 AM (vn9w4)

400 O/T I see that Nancy Pelosi helped wash feet yesterday, in the Episcopal Church. - I'd say her hands were dirtier than their feet.

Posted by: Walrus Rex at April 18, 2014 10:45 AM (XUKZU)

401 61 "There are many fundamental steps on the upward path to sentient life on Earth that required the moon to be there for them to have happened." Correct, Bitter Clinger. Properly speaking, we do not live merely on earth; we live within the "Earth-Moon system." If a planet is to be truly earth-like, it must have an orbiting satellite like our moon. That's not to say that there's no life on this new planet. It's only to say that this planet is unlike the earth in one fundamental respect. If there is life on this planet, we cannot simply assume that it resembles life on earth. This will be cold comfort to those haunted by the fear that we are alone in the universe.

Posted by: Meriadoc at April 18, 2014 10:45 AM (jl269)

402

Never mind that she's stark raving bonkers. I'll take Kaylee or Inara any day.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 18, 2014 02:21 PM (DrWcr)

I'll take both and a side of whipped cream.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at April 18, 2014 10:46 AM (tIvOy)

403 mohammed pedro whitaker?

Local story.

Posted by: CNN\NBC\ABC\CBS\PBS\NYT\WashPost at April 18, 2014 02:42 PM (IdOTf)

Kinda screws up that whole "violent right-winger" stat line, doesn't it?

Posted by: Country Singer at April 18, 2014 10:46 AM (vn9w4)

404 "Ensign, I just blew 3.98993 oz of coffee out my Ugbilt. Bastard." *** Nice!

Posted by: S. Muldoon at April 18, 2014 10:46 AM (MKpBT)

405 Posted by: Meriadoc at April 18, 2014 02:45 PM (jl269) No one's ever come up with a reasonable scenario that marries up the Earth-Moon system (a.k.a. where'd the moon come from?) No one can answer it so it gets filed behind "gravity" in the "wtf" section of science.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:48 AM (x3YFz)

406 I want this: Is THIS America's newest top-secret spy plane? Clearest picture yet of mystery aircraft spotted flying over Kansas just weeks after being seen in Texas http://goo.gl/Rco9LG

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 10:50 AM (8c12T)

407 >>> It's only to say that this planet is unlike the earth in one fundamental respect. If there is life on this planet, we cannot simply assume that it resembles life on earth. This will be cold comfort to those haunted by the fear that we are alone in the universe. oh for God's sake literally

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 10:50 AM (/FnUH)

408 what the eff? I realize God is important to many of you but you sound like the anti-science cranks the left says you are when not a single scientific subject can be permitted to pass without suggesting "Thus proving God exists" or "Thus dispelling the fantasies of the atheists." It does begin to resembled the left's parody of the religious, where in science is just viewed as a subset of theology & proofs of Biblical literalness.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 10:52 AM (/FnUH)

409 it's so defensive. A God that is constantly threatened by the smallest bit of discovery is fragile indeed.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 10:53 AM (/FnUH)

410 It's only to say that this planet is unlike the earth in one fundamental respect. If there is life on this planet, we cannot simply assume that it resembles life on earth. This will be cold comfort to those haunted by the fear that we are alone in the universe. oh for God's sake literally Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 02:50 PM (/FnUH) So... you're saying He *didn't* make trillions and trillions of galaxies, each with trillions of stars, just for me? And I thought it was my birthday!

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:53 AM (x3YFz)

411 The Church debated this question for centuries and centuries. First, the basic division was: If you accept God and believe in Jesus, you go to Heaven. If you don't, you go to Hell. Simple enough. But then there was the question: What about all those babies that die just after birth or in early infancy, and who never have an opportunity to hear about God and Jesus? What happens to them? Solution: Limbo. A sort of neutral eternity where you don't have to suffer like in Hell, but you still can't get to Heaven because you have no acceptance of God or Jesus. But then there was the next question: What about all those people who existed prior to Jesus' time on Earth? They simply couldn't have beleived in him, because he wasn't here yet. What about them? To answer this, Dante came up with a special pre-"first circle" of Hell, for "Virtuous Pagans" who were good in their hearts but still have not accepted Jesus through no fault of their own. You're still in Hell, technically, but the nicest and cushiest part of Hell where it's not really that bad at all. And then the next question (germane to this thread): What about people on the other side of the world that we're just learning the existence of? They obviously don't know about Jesus, because they live in some isolated tribe on a different continent, and so have not accepted Jesus as their personal savior -- but they don't have the excuse of being babies or being born before Christ's time on Earth. They're alive now, and they're adults. The answer was: They are indeed going to hell. But it is our duty to explore the world and send out missionaries everywhere and bring the message of Jesus to all the strange uncivilized people all over the world, to at least gve them the option and opportunity to accept Jesus into their hearts. Implicit in this answer was the notion that it's partly our fault that these poor souls are going to Hell, because we didn't expend sufficient effort to bring the news of Jesus to them. Based on that same principle, shouldn't it be a Christian duty to constantly explore the universe for signs of life, so that we can Save Their Souls and bring the message of Jesus to all living things? Wouldn't we be partly at fault if we know that there could be "isolated tribes" not merely on Earth but in other solar systems, just waiting to be saved, and yet we did nothing to help them, thus condemning them to hell forever?

Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 10:55 AM (mizYg)

412 When the Keplerians come here, it will be an act of love.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at April 18, 2014 10:55 AM (659DL)

413 Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 02:55 PM (mizYg) ...and why I don't go to church any more.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 10:56 AM (x3YFz)

414 eh maybe I misread. I know Sharkman offered an explicit argument along the lines I objected to above, and maybe I'm not reading comments incorrectly, with that template (erroneously) stuck in my mind.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 10:57 AM (/FnUH)

415

Woah. I came here thinking IÂ’d find a debate on whether we should be spending huge sums on manned space flights to distant planets, and whether that is even financially possible anymore given the sharp rise in social program spending since the Apollo eraÂ…

Maybe that was earlier in the threadÂ…

Posted by: CJ at April 18, 2014 10:58 AM (jbdp1)

416 412 When the Keplerians come here, it will be an act of love. Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at April 18, 2014 02:55 PM (659DL) Some do claim that anal probings are an act of love...

Posted by: Chief Pug at April 18, 2014 10:58 AM (8c12T)

417 Uranus, Uranus, Uranus! Why do we always talk about Uranus?!

Posted by: Jupiter at April 18, 2014 10:59 AM (ukNFU)

418 Woah. I came here thinking IÂ’d find a debate on whether we should be spending huge sums on manned space flights to distant planets, and whether that is even financially possible anymore given the sharp rise in social program spending since the Apollo eraÂ… Maybe that was earlier in the threadÂ… Posted by: CJ at April 18, 2014 02:58 PM (jbdp1) Well, nuclear propelled spacecraft aren't able to be launched, so nuke propulsion is off the table. Without it, we go no place fast. at 500 light years away? At near light speed, that trip would take 12 or so generations (probably more) for the crew, provided they survived, which the probably wouldn't. You're better off finding that star in the sky and jumping up toward it, because that's more or less as close as we'll get.

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 11:05 AM (x3YFz)

419 Based on that same principle, shouldn't it be a Christian duty to constantly explore the universe for signs of life,

Go with the Zeroth Commandment, "Go forth and name all things".
Then we can get the Jews in on it,
I might not be able to pronounce it but it will have a name.

Posted by: DaveA[/i][/b][/s] at April 18, 2014 11:08 AM (DL2i+)

420 That planet is going to blow up any day and send Kal-El in a rocket to Kansas...

Posted by: Naqamel at April 18, 2014 11:14 AM (LCQGq)

421 "409 it's so defensive. A God that is constantly threatened by the smallest bit of discovery is fragile indeed." In all honesty, I'm not sure what provoked your outburst. I did indeed allow for the fact the life may exist on the newly discovered planet. I don't feel "threatened" by that possibility. I hold--with C.S. Lewis and the Vatican, BTW--that God exists and that life on other planets MAY also exist. I don't see the two as mutually exclusive. It doesn't have to be an either/or. With all due respect, I don't think I'm being tetchy about this.

Posted by: Meriadoc at April 18, 2014 11:15 AM (jl269)

422

Go with the Zeroth Commandment, "Go forth and name all things".

Reminded me of a classic New Yorker story, "She Unnames Them".

http://bit.ly/1qVHeGE

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 18, 2014 11:20 AM (JtwS4)

423 Based on that same principle, shouldn't it be a Christian duty to constantly explore the universe for signs of life, so that we can Save Their Souls and bring the message of Jesus to all living things?

First, if there are indeed intelligent beings on other worlds, do they need saving? Maybe Adam's fall only affected us here on earth. Maybe we'll discover a race of beings, living freely with God, unhindered by sin.

And when we show up, they'd probably puke.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 18, 2014 11:24 AM (I8YZX)

424 Go with the Zeroth Commandment, "Go forth and name all things". Going with that, the first species I discover will be named "Steve."

Posted by: tangonine at April 18, 2014 11:25 AM (x3YFz)

425
At just a mere 500 light years away, why, it's almost walking distance.

Your gonna need a whole bunch of shoes.

Posted by: YIKES at April 18, 2014 11:26 AM (mETGQ)

426 Well, nuclear propelled spacecraft aren't able to be launched, so nuke propulsion is off the table. Without it, we go no place fast. Posted by: tangonine What do you mean by "nuclear propelled spacecraft aren't able to be launched"? In what way can they not be launched? Do you mean, "considering the protests by environmentalists worried about a crash, it is politically inexpedient to launch a spacecraft with nuclear materials on board these days"? Or do you mean, "It is physically impossible to launch a spacecraft with nuclear propulsion?" Wasn't the Pioneer explorer powered by nuclear power? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_10#Power_and_communications Doesn't NASA have a research program for powering spacecraft with nukes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_space#Project_Prometheus Don't the political winds blow to and fro, such that bleats from the ignorant enviro-lobby won't always dictate national policy? We can launch a spacecraft with traditional rocketry, but carrying a nuclear power plant as payload, and once it's out of Earth's gravitational pull, turn on the nuke power for slow acceleration toward high speeds necessary for interstellar travel. Maybe not with current technology, but certainly within a century or two. Pioneer 10 made it out of the solar system powered by just a handful of plutonium, and that was back in the '70s.

Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 12:00 PM (mizYg)

427 >>>Wasn't the Pioneer explorer powered by nuclear power? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_10#Power_and_communications ... not nuclear fusion, which is what they mean. NASA often uses something called "RFD" or something, which is a "battery" made of unstable radioactive particles that give off heat as they decay. i mean it's "nuclear" but not how people understand the term.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 12:03 PM (/FnUH)

428 >>>In all honesty, I'm not sure what provoked your outburst. I did indeed allow for the fact the life may exist on the newly discovered planet. I don't feel "threatened" by that possibility. I hold--with C.S. Lewis and the Vatican, BTW--that God exists and that life on other planets MAY also exist. I don't see the two as mutually exclusive. It doesn't have to be an either/or. With all due respect, I don't think I'm being tetchy about this. ... yeah sorry I goofed in interpretation. Apologies.

Posted by: ace at April 18, 2014 12:04 PM (/FnUH)

429 maddogg at April 18, 2014 01:54 PM (xWW96) No. Entropy decreases as complex life evolves in that one area, but in the universe as a whole, entropy increases in creating life.

Posted by: Taco Shack at April 18, 2014 12:16 PM (C+qQ0)

430 I was interested until "red dwarf." Red dwarf systems are very unlikely to be habitable. The planet is probably tidally locked, and even if it isn't the rotation is probably too slow. So, mildly interesting. When we can detect an atmospheric composition, that will be something.

Posted by: talldave2 at April 18, 2014 12:16 PM (lNW+B)

431 "We can launch a spacecraft with traditional rocketry, but carrying a nuclear power plant as payload," Doubt Greens will let it happen. Probably stuck until we get the robotic space factories online. I'm ballparking 2050 on that one.

Posted by: talldave2 at April 18, 2014 12:19 PM (lNW+B)

432 not nuclear fusion, which is what they mean. NASA often uses something called "RFD" or something, which is a "battery" made of unstable radioactive particles that give off heat as they decay. i mean it's "nuclear" but not how people understand the term. Posted by: ace I think you mean "fission," which is how current nuke plants work, not "fusion," which is still in the fantasy stage with the kinks being worked out. But yes, you're right, the '70s probes used a lesser form of nuke power, not actual fission power. HOWEVER, if we can build nuclear-power subs and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, there is absolutely no technical barrier to building no nuclear-power spacecraft. We could do it TODAY, with existing technology, if there was the political will and popular demand to do so. It wouldn't even strain the economy: If we can build massive Gerald R. Ford-class nuke carriers, and the national economy absorbs the expense fairly easily, we obviously could build a much smaller but conceptually similar spacecraft, also with nuke plants aboard giving the ability of lots of power in a small space. Based on how we built the International Space Station (using '80s technology), we easily could design the whole thing down here on the surface, down to the last detail, and then build it modularly, then take it apart and using traditional rocketry ('50s technology) fly it piece by pice up to space, where we carefully put it back together over a period of months or years. Eventually we'd have an "nuclear-powered outer space submarine" orbiting the Earth, which then could be nudge out of orbit into interplanetary space, and then we turn on the nuke plant, with enough plutonium or uranium or whatever to last 100 years, and fire that sucker up and slowly accelerate the craft continuously for years until it is going very very very very fast. We could reach Proxima Centauri (only 4 light-years away) in our lifetimes, possibly. If we get that ship going up to Warp .25 using constant acceleration, that's only 16 years of travel, plus maybe 4 years for the acceleration. 20 years from now: Hello neighbor! That's interstellar travel. Possible now, with existing technology. Nukes on spaceships: It is technically possible. Politically -- that's a different story. But politics change.

Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 12:23 PM (mizYg)

433 I could easily envision us in 4000AD being able to build spaceships that can accelerate to .9 the speed of light; Probably more like 2100. Heck .1 would be enough, and that's 1970s technology if you can use nukes. There's a guy Woodward who claims to have a reactionless drive based on transient mass fluctuations in capacitors, and another guy March who claims to have actually measured the effect. Replication is still wanting, but it's a straw to cling to.

Posted by: talldave2 at April 18, 2014 12:26 PM (lNW+B)

434 I think you mean "fission," which is how current nuke plants work, not "fusion," which is still in the fantasy stage with the kinks being worked out. Yes and no, fusion is actually 1950s technology (IEC machines like Hirsch-Farnsworth, Elmore-Tuck-Watson produce measureable fusion) and a fusion drive has been possible for a long time (see Orion, for instance). Getting commercially useful net power is quite another story, of course.

Posted by: talldave2 at April 18, 2014 12:30 PM (lNW+B)

435 Sounds like Cybermen to me.

Posted by: Kensington (@NYKensington) at April 18, 2014 12:34 PM (uaEZS)

436 Of course, in space no one cares if you blow stuff up. I suppose you could internally power your ship with a giant flyweel you periodically spin up with H-Bombs. Probably more reliable than fusion confinement systems anyway, a lot easier to take all your neutron flux at once.

Posted by: talldave2 at April 18, 2014 12:42 PM (lNW+B)

437 428 Ace:
"yeah sorry I goofed in interpretation. Apologies."

Decent of you to clarify. No harm done.

BTW--if I've still got your ear--thanks for the blog. I read often, post rarely, and am usually to found with Willow on the tail end of dying threads. Whatever. Your blog provides some consolation in these dark times, and that's no small thing. I don't judge people by labels anymore, but by whether they are, according to the angels of Bethlehem, "homines bonae voluntatis (men of good will). You strike me as one of the those, whatever our theological differences (and I suspect they are substantial--yeah, I believe in all the angel stuff).

Also, it is something of an honor to be addressed by the owner of the place, even if under a misapprehension. Again, thanks for the blog!

Posted by: Meriadoc at April 18, 2014 01:13 PM (YHmZa)

438 Centuries in stasis at 99% the speed of luck? Then the sucky part - you make orbit only to find shopping malls everywhere. "While you were sleeping, we found a way to fold space and get here before you."

Posted by: Fen at April 18, 2014 01:42 PM (cYpak)

439 "Nukes on spaceships: It is technically possible. Politically -- that's a different story. But politics change. Posted by: zombie at April 18, 2014 04:23 PM (mizYg) " 1. Build the ship. 2. Launch it with a crew of repeat felons. 3. Announce when it gets there that it is just a front for a giant asteroid launcher aimed at Russia. 4. Ship arrives and starts insulting and threatening Russia. 5. We sell Russia a second engine for research purposes. They'll soon have a independent Russian colony on Proxima spring up independently and declare its independence, then petition to join Russia.

Posted by: Chris_Balsz at April 18, 2014 02:18 PM (5xmd7)

440 2. Launch it with a crew of repeat felons. Posted by: Chris_Balsz at April 18, 2014 06:18 PM (5xmd7) That's the part where everyone gets squirrely. The whole exploding nuke thing over an ocean tends to make heads of state get a little nervous, even Russians.

Posted by: tangonine at April 21, 2014 05:45 PM (x3YFz)

441 you make orbit only to find shopping malls everywhere. Posted by: Fen at April 18, 2014 05:42 PM (cYpak) yeah. Or an alien race that thinks you're food sent from the heavens.

Posted by: tangonine at April 21, 2014 05:47 PM (x3YFz)

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