Tatters

Written by an AI ten years ago? I didn’t think they were that advanced back then.

There has been quite a few poisonings of Putin’s critics here in the UK, with good evidence of Russian state involvement. Poison leaves a distinctive trace. Pushing someone out of a window appears to be more in favour now, as there is less forensic evidence, depending on how much force is required for the involuntary defenestration.

So, what does the linked article mean when it says “In the mid-1970s, NASA sent two Viking landers to the surface of Mars equipped with instruments that conducted the only life detection experiments ever conducted on another planet.”? How does that differ from what you describe in subsequent missions?

I know a lot of them have looked for evidence of past conditions amenable to life, such as water. Have any of them tried to detect current life?

I find it really baffling that of all the missions to Mars since Viking, none have had experiments to detect life. Did the negative Viking results really kill off all curiosity in the search for current life? It seems very short-sighted.

Please be careful with your wording. Calibre does not remove DRM. Calibre does support plugins, and as it is a totally open source application, these plugins include third party ones for which the Calibre developers have no responsibility. One of these third party plugins will remove most types of ebook DRM.

I have always been skeptical that there are huge quantities of this mysterious dark matter out there, some form of MOND seems to be more likely to me.

I would like to see a flying car try to take off without a runway.

That is quite a restrictive list.

I generally go for:

Is it by an author I like? Is it well written? (Judging by samples).

Then I start to read. Normally I will make it to the end, even if some way in I decide I don’t like it that much. Sometimes I will just give up, if it is too tedious, or too many characters/plots I can’t keep track of, or it turns out to be badly written after all.

All of that applies equally to aeroplanes and boats. I don’t see how a car is any more like a helicopter than e.g. a small aeroplane.

How is a helicopter remotely like a car? I agree though, that flying cars are a bad idea.

What is the “rule” at the end of the sentence for? The best interpretation I have is: “The ‘this better be one damn good game’ rule”, i.e. this better be a damn good game, given its hype and how much it cost.

Memorability per se does not interest me. I have read all the Culture novels and like them for the immersive experience and story telling, but I have since forgotten most of the plots and characters. So what? I can always read them again.