Link Salad, Spinning Wheel and Scotty Edition

So, via author and Certified Rocket Scientist (tm) Geoff Landis, I give you the story of how spinning wheels led to Scotty on Star Trek. It's a short read, and a reminder that technology isn't just one or two gee-whiz gadgets, but a whole series of seemingly-unrelated pieces of infrastructure.

For those of you who live in gated communities, here's a tidbit - they don't actually prevent crime. After all, delivery and service people have to get in, and the mere presence of a gate says "here there be wealth."

From the always-interesting jaylake, how fecal transplants can cure disease. Yes, Virginia, a "fecal transplant" is putting somebody else's shit in your colon. Literally.

To nobody's surprise, Britain and France are signing a defense treaty, primarily to share assets like aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons depots. On the one hand, it's a shame that the two nations are loosing the ability to operate independently, on the other hand, a United States of Europe would be a major military power.

Of interest to science fiction types, a visual representation of the solar systems gravity wells.

Here's a list of 10 US cities running low on drinking water. Perennials San Francisco and Los Angeles are joined by Atlanta, Orlando and most of the Sunbelt.