Geoff's Musings

What is a planet made of and why?

Surface liquids on planets.

Presume you successfully develop the model - how would you interact with and understand it?

If you thought biochemistry was complicated, just imagine how open-ended this problem could be!

A huge topic that has me flummoxed.

Here we can discuss the conceptual problems with non-carbon-based life.

Life on earth, the outer limits of terrestrial life's survivability, the tremendous diversity and variation of earth-based carbon life.

The stuff the universe is made of. Where does it come from, what do we need to know about it? Elements, compounds, clouds of interstellar ga...

Huge programming challenges created here by exponential increases in items to track.

How are moons made? Accretion, capture, collision.

There's a hell of a lot to talk about here.

Stellar classifications of main sequence stars (OBAFGKM) Brown dwarves (13+ Jupiter masses, XLT) Black holes, neutron stars, and other ste...

Types of systems, the numbers and types of things incorporated into a system.  (Single stars, binary stars, trinary stars, etc.)

Here we should talk about the size of galaxies and the problems created by their sheer scale, the conceptual problem that dark matter seeks ...

This post will discuss the various forms of "science fiction magic" - Faster than Light travel, transuranic elements, exotic matte...

Here is where we should discuss the limits of current knowledge and the various assumptions we will make about unknown factors.

Here we should discuss probabilities in the context of very large numbers and Drake's Equation. Inevitability of the Unlikely It'...

A quick explanation of who I am and what I'm trying to do.

This post will serve as a central splash page and Table of Contents for this project.  Hyperlinks to subsequent posts will be added here.

I'd like to revive this blog as a forum for notes on a hobby project I've been working on in my spare time (which has been in short ...

I haven't abandoned the nominal project of this blog. But I've been sidetracked. Lately, I've been reading Dante's Inferno ....

With that out of the way , let's finally turn to the chapter on Bracton. The King Above and Below the Law I found Bracton's thoughts...

I'd like to open with some prefatory remarks, continuing our other discussion thread: First : I have no formal education in Latin. Any k...

August and I had a good chunk of our chat wiped out of the Fray - which was a shame. I've had trouble getting back my rhythm ever since....

August: (some responses) Otto We're not going to get anywhere with this. If you think the image was used as a teaching tool, fine. I thi...

I haven't read Maitland. I haven't even begun to find him. I've found authors in the law library who seem to echo the points for...

To quote: [(?)we]'ve got a lot on the table here. I'll try to keep in more or less coherent chunks Have you read Maitland yet? If no...

First, let's talk about the structural organization of this work. We began with Plowden's Reports - in short, a case summary explain...

"Our laws, said Lord Bacon, are mixed as our language: and as our language is so much the richer, the laws are the more complete."...

Ch. II: "A being independent of any other, has no rule to pursue, but such as he prescribes to himself; but a state of dependence will ...

My response to august: You bring up a lot of points I'd like to address (or richochet off of)... and in addition, I've been plowing...

Here's august's follow-on entries to our discussion of The King's Two Bodies . They're interspersed with the demands of jury...