At least I think he wrote it, Google is failing me. His more serious contributions are swamping the results. The story was about a kid in a bad family raised by a "loving" robot and society's refusal to accept that. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Upton Sinclair. "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

Essentially, yes. National Geographic's piece had this quote:

"Basically, it was a Y2K problem, where some software didn't roll over the calendar date correctly," said A'Hearn. The spacecraft's fault-protection software (ironically enough) would have misread any date after August 11, 2013, he said, triggering an endless series of computer reboots aboard Deep Impact.

As far as I can tell the significance of that date is that it is approximately 2^32 tenths of a second into the millennium.

Considering the costs and difficulties of sending extra mass along, maybe use another module instead of a counterweight. The crew can EVA between them or there could even be a connecting tube. If you use a rigid connector instead of tethers it will be easier to spin up and down. You can use an electric motor to spin up and maintain speed and possibly recapture the energy with a dynamo when spinning down.

Classic PA comic. The only time a webcomic has caused me to change my behavior (AFAIK).

Backs and arms? Are you sure it was a stool?

His father was nominally Texan by virtue of using a Houston hotel as his official residence. W, however, spent most of his adult life in Texas.

The headline is referring to the article which says that, independent of other sources of rising sea levels, thermal expansion is already underway and won't reverse easily.

US emissions have fallen due to the recession and to the increased use of natural gas at the expense of coal. The former won't last, hopefully, but if the latter trend sticks it would be good.