exasperation

I wonder if two opposing rings would be connected by some sort of circular maglev track where the mechanism would just preserve overall angular velocity but spin the two halves in opposite directions. The spin could be entirely powered by electric motors, and energy could be conserved if it needs to slow down or speed up. That might be a lot of mass, but it might not cost any fuel to get it spinning.

increased fuel consumption of spinning down and then spinning back up

wastes a tremendous amount of fuel to spin down/up again

I think a flywheel mechanical energy storage system could both serve as a way to store energy and as a way to manipulate the rotation while preserving rotational energy. To slow down the rotation, transfer the rotational energy to a flywheel, and then transfer it back when you need to go back to speed. That adds some mechanical complexity but it creates a more efficient way to control rotation. Plus with electric motors and solar panels, that should be possible to manage without using any propellant fuel.

And the "I guess" guy.

Maybe other intelligent life forms don’t make the same assumptions that we do that lead to the statement that there are two “apples,” and maybe mathematics isn’t universal.

That just shows that "Apple" isn't necessarily universal, and doesn't actually disprove the universality of the concept of "two."

There are a ton of different physical ways to represent the Fibonacci sequence, for example, and I would imagine the first contact looks for ways to find the mutually understood medium by both sides: raised symbols, pulses of radiation, pulses of vibrations, physical pebbles arranged in a line, physical pebbles manipulated over a timeline, etc.

Once we establish a common medium, we'd explore mutual understanding of prime numbers, approximations of pi/e/phi, and things like that.

You can swallow things while dangling upside down. The esophagus is strong enough to work against gravity.

But liquids are a little bit more difficult, because they tend to flow in unexpected places in the mouth/sinuses/nose before trying to swallow.

The children yearn for the Voight-Kampff test.

30 minutes each time

Jim, would you like a sex metaphor or a nature metaphor?

this would not work

You assume the goal is to actually try to date or fuck. It's not. The goal is to intimidate and degrade, to make someone else uncomfortable. So viewed through that lens, it works.

Does it make the bread taste like shit?

I would argue that toasting your bread to the point where there's significant acrylamide on it is making bread taste like shit to begin with.

Just don't burn your bread and you'll be fine.

Not to mention, the acrylamide is formed from the amino acids naturally present in the grains, which is what this whole article is about.

listen to really old music

Hey! Fuck you for pointing out this song didn't come out within the last decade!