The more silence the better, means people are thinking instead of talking.
Although silences are often comfortable from my experience, can't say I've ever had many recent awkward ones. Unless of course it's around someone I dislike.
On the bus today there was some girl randomly talking to me asking about my Tool shirt, then it went quiet, she seemed to feel uncomfortable although there was no reason to. Then it was all uphill from there really.
Guess silences are all different, always fascinating.
-AC