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Here are the real specs.

Textbook case of disproving a minor point. Whether it's the speed of sound in the air around the tube, or the speed of sound from a table doesn't really change the argument.

It may seem to be a minor point, but you were the one to bring it up! The top speed of around 760 mph is quite obviously chosen so that it remains subsonic (or did you think it wouldn't pull 765?).

My point is that this thing's going significantly faster then anything we let your grandma ride in today,

And my point is that it is very close to typical jet speeds - which my grandma, were she alive today, would be quite comfortable with. It isn't speed you feel, it is acceleration. Its only practical speed limit is the speed of sound, which also limits your airliner speed. And speaking of acceleration . . .

that it's also supposed to make turns in the same radius as a car,

No, not even close. The route mostly follows the I-5, but deviates to keep the turning radii large enough to limit inertial acceleration forces to 0.5g - which is described as the most that a person can comfortably sustain for short periods.

all three dimensions (20-100 ft elevation means that you're going up and down relative to the roadbed, which itself goes up and down), etc.

The pylons are sized so as to keep the tube as level as possible. It is the road (and ground) that go up and down, not so much the tube.

It's designed to have a lateral g-force of 0.5 Gs, which is comparable to roller-coasters.

That is simply off by an order of magnitude. Here are some of the high force coasters; here's some milder Disney rides. Airliners tend to be a bit lower than 0.5 but not by much - and can readily exceed that number if need be.

Unicorn blood is well know to stop a person from dying, no matter how sick or injured. Pretty convient that N. Korea just so happens to invent a miracle drug just three years after finding a unicorn.

A General Products hull is "an artificially-generated giant molecule, with the inter-atomic bonds artificially strengthened", causing the hull to resist "any kind of impact, and heat in the hundreds of thousands of degrees" (from Flatlander). In Fleet of Worlds, the characters learn that the bonds of the giant molecule are "artificially strengthened" by a small power plant in the hull. By aiming a very powerful laser at it (since GP hulls are transparent to visible light), one can destroy the power plant, and destroy the hull. Gravity attracts the hull and its contents normally, but not even close approach to the event horizon of a black hole can damage the hull. However, tidal stress will kill anything outside the ship's center of mass (from Neutron Star), and the hull probably could not survive entering a black hole's singularity. Furthermore, a General Products hull can be destroyed by antimatter. Hyperdrive affects General Products hulls, since it is used by the ships to travel. From the text of stories involving stasis boxes, it is implied that the "hyperwave" pulses used for probing for them are not reflected by General Products hulls, though whether these are absorbed or penetrate is unclear.

Niven used a similar material scrith for the structural material of the Ringworld.

Scrith is milky-gray translucent in color, and is a nearly frictionless material. The fairly thin layer of scrith that forms the floor of the Ringworld blocks the passage of 40% of the Neutrinos that encounter it, equivalent to almost an Earth-lightyear of lead. It also absorbs nearly 100% of all other radiation and subatomic particles and rapidly dissipates heat. The tensile strength of scrith is theorized to be similar to the Strong nuclear force, with the Ringworld foundation only measuring about 30m (100 ft) thick. It is transparent to magnetic fields.

Due to its enormous strength, scrith is impervious to most weapons. A body (such as a comet or asteroid) striking with enough kinetic energy may be able to deform the Ringworld floor enough to puncture it. The Ringworld engineers used a device, called the Cziltang Brone in the City Builder language, to pass from the vacuum of the rim spaceports through the scrith to the habitable surfaces of the Ringworld.

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Cat...

That would work fine if you implanted cortex bombs in all the uh . . . unpleasant people before releasing them.

Give them a few weeks rations, a gun, some ammo, and orders to kill/destroy as much as they could within certain geographical limits. Anyone leaving "the zone" would get their heads popped off by satellite. Of course you'd tell them something different (without letting them know you had rigged a bomb inside them), but yeah there you go.

You could also pop the bombs if they, you know, didn't actually follow orders and just tried to blend in with the locals.

It would be ugly, but from a purely pragmatic point-of-view, it would be an effective tactic for anyone with the ability to deliver these unpleasant people deep into enemy territory.

It's a sad story but in the 80s he got caught up in Pon Farr... lost most of it to hookers and blow.

"A hacker with his computer can steal more than a hundred men with guns."

Yeah, especially considering that "X should be drug out into the street and shot" - which is very similar to "taken out back and shot - was a common phrase of fricking garfield, a cartoon character of some popularity.
It's an expression, and by no means a threat into itself.

Congress can tax and spend for the general welfare.

Congress can do anything for the "general welfare" — if that's how we interpret the two words.

NSA eavesdropping, banning or establishing religions, and confiscating guns are neither taxing nor spending

Huh? It is not done for free — it certainly is taxing and spending!

If you've noticed, Congress often tries to establish policy by giving out money with strings attached

Yes, I have noticed — and I hate it, because it means, like I said, that they can do anything and the only limit is the political will (as in UK, for example), but not the Constitution.

which in many of these cases Congress can't do.

Well, you meant to say "should not be able to do", because they clearly can — and have — done it in this round-about way.

Can Congress vote to put a person to death — for the "general welfare" (better known among the openly Socialist as The Greater Good[TM])? They sure can — according to your interpretation — by spending money on the execution.

But let's get back to the topic of coerced "benevolence".

Your interpretation of the clause is wrong if only for the above reason — that it removes any Constitutional limit on government's power.

But that's not the only reason. Your earlier statement, that laws must be interpreted as software, is not quite correct. While I agree, that laws aren't unlike programs, humans — being semantic rather than merely syntactic devices — aren't like computers. While the machines can not (yet?) know the programmer's desires beyond what he actually writes, we can — and do — consider the legislative intent.

While such intent is not always known, in this case it is perfectly clear. Not only did James Madison (known as Father of the Constitution, BTW) state it, we also know, that not one of the other Constitution-framers still alive at the time (1794), rose up to remind him about the "general welfare" clause. The refugees from Haiti did not receive tax-paid help from America..

"Kill me now, please kill me now."

I hope Ren understands just who it is he is experimenting on.

Mmm ... Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator. (drool)

Red Dwarf reference: http://reddwarf.wikia.com/wiki...

I don’t know how it works in China, but in my country that’s the job of freemasonry.

The Freemasons are not "elite". Anyone can join, even Homer Simpson.

How about a theory that connects classical physics, electrodynamics, special relativity and gravity, and explains everything from the stability of atoms and molecules to the accelerated expansion of the universe? http://blacklightpower.wikia.c...

Meanwhile, the mainstream ignores Randall Mills' Grand Unified Theory of Classical Physics, which not only explains the stability of atoms and molecules, but predicted the mass of the Top Quark, the accelerated expansion of the universe, and the nature of Dark Matter. http://blacklightpower.wikia.c...

I'm not saying they can't do a good game, it's just that they're not quite there yet.

I vote with my wallet and commend them for their lack of DRM in the past. Not to mention they take care of their customers.

For cross platform I'd add Bioware and Blizzard to that. Not Bethesda, they do good games, but they seriously need more solid QA. It's sad to think that their least buggy console game on the PS3 was Oblivion

Simply criminal. A vanilla experience robbed of Bethesda's strength: mods. Bioware was once a powerhouse, Mass Effect 3? Blizzard releases are strong.

As much as that feature is appealing to some do you think that they should dedicate dev time to duplicate functionality already in other applications or the OS?

Games do this all the time, take widgets for example. Typically the engines feature media playback functionality or a sound library is licensed, and judging by the glut of media players out there, they're not exactly taxing to write. The Xbox has games that do exactly this.

Yeah, I saw it on Futurama
http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki...

During development, this pistol was called the Walther PPK after its real-world counterpart. The name was presumably changed for legal reasons.

See: http://goldeneye.wikia.com/wik...

and: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Walt...

The one case where 'special charm' started to blur into 'is how much I'm enjoying this a bad sign?' is when Sit and Dream is on the radio and you are ensconced in a concealed, elevated, location with your COS silencer rifle; and you suddenly realize that you are timing your headshots by waiting for either "Sleep, go to sleep" or "just lay down your weary head"(especially for decapitations).

It does add a certain ambiance; and it's not as though Cottonwood Cove isn't full of assholes who have it coming; but 'using soothing lullaby style song as background for covert sniper attack' seems like one of those things that might make me a bad person...

http://ghostbusters.wikia.com/... It's ghosts! Got to be.

I think it's how Subway likes to do their product placement, because Community did this too, including naming an actual character Subway in the show.. http://community-sitcom.wikia....

Dinosaurs, the ones related to lizards

Uhh...wut? Just because they looked like overgrown lizards in Jurassic Park, doesn't mean they're related to lizards.

Here's Jur ass has had it Park's raptor:

http://jurassicpark.wikia.com/...

Here's what a raptor probably looked like IRL:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Now what modern animal does the likely IRL version of a raptor resemble? If you guessed lizard, then I'm sorry.

Umm... we are all related to lizards and their ancestors. ALL life on the earth is related to all other life on the earth.
                  Yep, even the plants. Its a DNA / Evolution type thing.

                    REad up on it.

                  Just Sayin.

Dinosaurs, the ones related to lizards

Uhh...wut? Just because they looked like overgrown lizards in Jurassic Park, doesn't mean they're related to lizards.

Here's Jur ass has had it Park's raptor:

http://jurassicpark.wikia.com/...

Here's what a raptor probably looked like IRL:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Now what modern animal does the likely IRL version of a raptor resemble? If you guessed lizard, then I'm sorry.

Patches & security hardening...apk

I KNEW YOU'D TRY THAT CRAP... looking for "edge cases"!

(... & how did that get in IN THE FIRST PLACE? You didn't mention that a USER HAS TO GET IT FIRST, stupid... things in my security guide using "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth" cuts off those avenues!)

So.. now you're saying you can block botnets if you use hosts + windows firewall + patches + security hardening + don't run executables + don't plug in USB drives? Hosts FTW! U R rock solid security!

The Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon.

sounds like an Uncyclopedia thing.

Here's a sample:

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/...

It's actually pretty fuckin' funny. Honest.

And right next behind the power of the TARDIS is the wormhole weapon.

http://marvel.wikia.com/Magnet...

You do realize that not all Steam games have DRM, right? Everybody complains about Steam and their DRM policy but very few know what's that policy. In essence, DRM is up to the game publisher. They offer a facility in case you want to add DRM to your game, but in the end the developers/publishers are the people who make the call.

Impluse drives use plasma as a reaction mass. They are more akin to a nuclear rocket.

An EM drive doesn't need a reaction mass which is more like hover conversion.

Well I might be a little hopeful there. It's 2015 I want my flying car dammit!

It wouldn't matter what criminal charges I was facing, I would be boldly laughing in the face of this moron who feels the need to go all "sci-fi" while at work, as if the Star Trek embellishments somehow helped here.

Are you suggesting that a court which listened to Prenda's John Steele and Paul Hansmeier, operating under the name 'Lightspeed Media Corporation', argue that Court ordered sanctions don't apply to them because they don't feel like paying, is still somehow dignified and above making references to something as banal as Skiffy? That a defendant who is considered an embarrassment to the entire legal profession cannot ever be subjected to ridicule?

More to the point, did you know that Prendateer John Steel already tried calling a district judge a moron and laughing in his face in his own courtroom, with predictable results.

If anybody has offended the dignity of the courts and running up the bill for the State of California before running off without paying, it was John Steele, Paul Hansmeier and Mark Lutz.

Perhaps after you have spent six years in law school, nine years in the Marine Corps, served as a county sheriff for eleven years and then put in twenty-five years as a practising lawyer before being appointed to sit in county and state courts, you too will be able to write legal decisions any way you like. Until then, there's always complaining on the Internet.

Profits above all else.

From the Better Off Ted episode Racial Sensitivity :

Veronica: "Money before people," that's the company motto. Engraved on the lobby floor. It just looks more heroic in Latin.

You're right that Galadriel is not a first-born. However, the entire race of elves is also referred to as First-Born in the Tolkien universe, as they awakened in the world before mortal men did. The LOTR movies do feature a first-born elf, just for a fraction of a second—right at the beginning, when three elves hold up the rings of power, and right at the end when Gandalf and Frodo set to sea. This elf is Círdan the shipwright, of the Grey Havens. http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/C%C...

In Freeciv, all human players move concurrently, during the same turn. It was always this way; trying to make this work was the reason for creating it.

AI players were added later. Human and AI players do take turns: AI players never do anything during a turn, they only act at the start and end of a turn. They are a lot easier to implement that way. But the difference has been confusing novice players ever since AI players existed.

You could have looked this up in the manual. My guess is that instead you played a few games on your own, against AI players, then got your big cold shower in the first game where a fellow human player approached you in battle. I'm not sure what you were expecting; you must have been aware that human players were moving concurrently, so why did you expect things to somehow be different in battle? But I think I was just as confused as you about the game mechanics after my first Freeciv games against other humans. It was a pretty rough experience. (And it still is. I never got good at it.)

So your experience isn't exactly unique. And you're not exactly unique in wanting human players to take turns, either. What is unique is your conclusion that Freeciv changed between the games you played against AI and the games you played against humans and dropped being turn-based. It did no such thing. As a matter of fact, it did exactly the opposite: in 2.2, and option was finally added that requires human players to take turns. You could have found that in the manual, too: phasemode.

In Freeciv, all human players move concurrently, during the same turn. It was always this way; trying to make this work was the reason for creating it.

AI players were added later. Human and AI players do take turns: AI players never do anything during a turn, they only act at the start and end of a turn. They are a lot easier to implement that way. But the difference has been confusing novice players ever since AI players existed.

You could have looked this up in the manual. My guess is that instead you played a few games on your own, against AI players, then got your big cold shower in the first game where a fellow human player approached you in battle. I'm not sure what you were expecting; you must have been aware that human players were moving concurrently, so why did you expect things to somehow be different in battle? But I think I was just as confused as you about the game mechanics after my first Freeciv games against other humans. It was a pretty rough experience. (And it still is. I never got good at it.)

So your experience isn't exactly unique. And you're not exactly unique in wanting human players to take turns, either. What is unique is your conclusion that Freeciv changed between the games you played against AI and the games you played against humans and dropped being turn-based. It did no such thing. As a matter of fact, it did exactly the opposite: in 2.2, and option was finally added that requires human players to take turns. You could have found that in the manual, too: phasemode.

Honestly though, if HP released web cameras which couldn't see black folks, I find this strangely unsurprising.

Apparently people who build these things assume everyone is the same shade of pasty white.

The show Better Off Ted addressed something like this in their episode Racial Sensitivity when Veridian Dynamics installs new security sensors in the building, which detect employees based on the light reflecting off their skin and they can't detect black people. Veronica assures Ted that the company cares about the issue:

Ted: The system doesn't see black people?
Veronica: I know. Weird, huh?
Ted: That's more than weird, Veronica. That's basically, well... racist.
Veronica: The company's position is that it's actually the opposite of racist, because it's not targeting black people. It's just ignoring them. They insist the worst people can call it is "indifferent."
Ted: Well, they know it has to be fixed, right? Please... at least say they know that.
Veronica: Of course they do, and they're working on it. In the meantime they'd like everyone to celebrate the fact that it sees Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Jews.

Though, as true for most corporations, only cares just so much...

Veronica: "Money before people," that's the company motto. Engraved on the lobby floor. It just looks more heroic in Latin.

Speaking of things turning ugly in FOSS space... Should sexist opensource developers have their projects censored or removed?

Recently an opensource game release story was removed due to the game developer's open sexism(0) and harrasment(1) of women in tech.

A story posted by the editor of the popular Phoronix linux news site about a release of an Open Source videogame was later manually removed(2). The reason cited was the game developer's unacceptable views on social issues such as gender equality (3).

The release story was titled "Xonotic-Forked ChaosEsqueAnthology Sees New Release - Phoronix" and can be accessed via the google cache(4).

With the recent inclusion of a code of conduct(5) for those wishing to contribute to the Linux Kernel some questions now need to be asked and answered about the inclusion of code from people who are known to engage in or promote socially unacceptable attitudes or harrasments of those whom the free-software movement would prefer to attract in their place:

* Are the social or political views of an author of free software relevant to that software's inherent quality? * Should the beliefs of an opensource developer weigh when when evaluating whether a piece of opensource software is worthy of any publicity or public notice? * Should men with unpopular or "forbidden" views be excised from the opensource movement and "not allowed" to contribute, in a manner similar to that which is done in employment? * Has the free/opensource software movement changed in these respects since its founding? If so is this a positive change? * Should there be gatekeepers to opensource that decide who may and who may not contribute. Should abusive developers be "blackballed" to maintain proper social order and controls?

and

* What are the consequences of not doing this

Citations: (0) Past related incident: http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1310 (1) http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/... (2) Removed story URL: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.p... (3) http://www.phoronix.com/forums... "Fortunately, the article has been removed now." "Thanks everybody for speaking up." (4) https://webcache.googleusercon... (5) Linux "Code of Conflict" http://whatwillweuse.com/fodde...

sheldon, amy told me to tell you to unblock her sexts.

If this is such a pressing issue, they need to start turning some of the Disney stars into developers (whoops, sorry, I mean "coders," that's the trending buzz word).

All these people should have their own prime time shows about the exciting life of a software developer. The basics of CLIs and text editors on multiple operating systems. How to use version control. How to write unit tests and pass continuous integration. How to help QA your own dog food. How to diplomatically interface with folks in other departments. How to write documentation. How to triage trouble tickets. How to train your own replacement.

Oh, wait! None of that's sexy. Kids wouldn't tune in to shows like that because it isn't what most of them want to do, any more than most kids wanted to do in decades past. The ones who really are interested in development will pursue this path on their own, as many of us did. We don't and won't have any lack of competent workers, because some percentage of us will always be nerds who love this stuff. We do have a surplus of companies who want to save every last penny by farming jobs out to H-1Bs, and we do have a corresponding surplus of unemployed competent Americans.

We're at a point where entry-level tech support jobs are routinely requiring a bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent, junior analyst jobs are requiring an MBA or foreign equivalent, etc. Companies are quick to complain that there are no qualified local workers, because they can't find an American with a four-year degree who knows Linux + Solaris + J2EE + Servlets + IIS + SAP + Oracle + 10 years with Sharepoint, and is willing to work 70 hours a week for $35,000 per year. Meanwhile they have a guy from Bangalore whose resume claims he does precisely all of that, and maybe they won't check out all of his qualifications if he's willing to share a room at Extended Stay America with 5 of his peers for a year or two, wink wink nod nod.

The market is already saturated, and will be for some years to come. Where's the federal push to create more tradesmen (plumbers, electricians, mechanics, carpenters)? To create more lawyers, or accountants, or any other career path? I'm growing weary of this idea that every child in America must be a developer^Wcoder. It serves no purpose but to suppress salaries across the board and even further encourage the H-1B loophole.

this is not the civilisation clone you're thinking of... this one here is purely played online using a HTML5 capable browser...

Actually, it is. They just made a new version of it using HTML 5, but it is the same game.

Speaking of things turning ugly in FOSS space...
Should sexist opensource developers have their projects censored or removed?

Recently an opensource game release story was removed due to the game developer's open sexism(0) and harrasment(1) of women in tech.

A story posted by the editor of the popular Phoronix linux news site about a release of an Open Source videogame was later manually removed(2). The reason cited was the game developer's unacceptable views on social issues such as gender equality (3).

The release story was titled "Xonotic-Forked ChaosEsqueAnthology Sees New Release - Phoronix" and can be accessed via the google cache(4).

With the recent inclusion of a code of conduct(5) for those wishing to contribute to the Linux Kernel some questions now need to be asked and answered about the inclusion of code from people who are known to engage in or promote socially unacceptable attitudes or harrasments of those whom the free-software movement would prefer to attract in their place:

* Are the social or political views of an author of free software relevant to that software's inherent quality?
* Should the beliefs of an opensource developer weigh when when evaluating whether a piece of opensource software is worthy of any publicity or public notice?
* Should men with unpopular or "forbidden" views be excised from the opensource movement and "not allowed" to contribute, in a manner similar to that which is done in employment?
* Has the free/opensource software movement changed in these respects since its founding? If so is this a positive change?
* Should there be gatekeepers to opensource that decide who may and who may not contribute. Should abusive developers be "blackballed" to maintain proper social order and controls?

and

* What are the consequences of not doing this

Citations:
(0) Past related incident: http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1310
(1) http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/...
(2) Removed story URL: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.p...
(3) http://www.phoronix.com/forums...
"Fortunately, the article has been removed now."
"Thanks everybody for speaking up."
(4) https://webcache.googleusercon...
(5) Linux "Code of Conflict"
http://whatwillweuse.com/fodde...

Speaking of things turning ugly in FOSS space...

Should sexist opensource developers have their projects censored or removed?

Recently an opensource game release story was removed due to the game developer's open sexism(0) and harrasment(1) of women in tech.

A story posted by the editor of the popular Phoronix linux news site about a release of an Open Source videogame was later manually removed(2). The reason cited was the game developer's unacceptable views on social issues such as gender equality (3).

The release story was titled "Xonotic-Forked ChaosEsqueAnthology Sees New Release - Phoronix" and can be accessed via the google cache(4).

With the recent inclusion of a code of conduct(5) for those wishing to contribute to the Linux Kernel some questions now need to be asked and answered about the inclusion of code from people who are known to engage in or promote socially unacceptable attitudes or harrasments of those whom the free-software movement would prefer to attract in their place:

* Are the social or political views of an author of free software relevant to that software's inherent quality?
* Should the beliefs of an opensource developer weigh when when evaluating whether a piece of opensource software is worthy of any publicity or public notice?
* Should men with unpopular or "forbidden" views be excised from the opensource movement and "not allowed" to contribute, in a manner similar to that which is done in employment?
* Has the free/opensource software movement changed in these respects since its founding? If so is this a positive change?
* Should there be gatekeepers to opensource that decide who may and who may not contribute. Should abusive developers be "blackballed" to maintain proper social order and controls?

and

* What are the consequences of not doing this

Citations:
(0) Past related incident: http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1310
(1) http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/...
(2) Removed story URL: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.p...
(3) http://www.phoronix.com/forums...
"Fortunately, the article has been removed now."
"Thanks everybody for speaking up."
(4) https://webcache.googleusercon...
(5) Linux "Code of Conflict"

Should sexist opensource developers have their projects censored or removed?

Recently an opensource game release story was removed due to the game developer's open sexism(0) and harrasment(1) of women in tech.

A story posted by the editor of the popular Phoronix linux news site about a release of an Open Source videogame was later manually removed(2). The reason cited was the game developer's unacceptable views on social issues such as gender equality (3).

The release story was titled "Xonotic-Forked ChaosEsqueAnthology Sees New Release - Phoronix" and can be accessed via the google cache(4).

With the recent inclusion of a code of conduct(5) for those wishing to contribute to the Linux Kernel some questions now need to be asked and answered about the inclusion of code from people who are known to engage in or promote socially unacceptable attitudes or harrasments of those whom the free-software movement would prefer to attract in their place:

* Are the social or political views of an author of free software relevant to that software's inherent quality?
* Should the beliefs of an opensource developer weigh when when evaluating whether a piece of opensource software is worthy of any publicity or public notice?
* Should men with unpopular or "forbidden" views be excised from the opensource movement and "not allowed" to contribute, in a manner similar to that which is done in employment?
* Has the free/opensource software movement changed in these respects since its founding? If so is this a positive change?
* Should there be gatekeepers to opensource that decide who may and who may not contribute. Should abusive developers be "blackballed" to maintain proper social order and controls?

and

* What are the consequences of not doing this

Citations:
(0) Past related incident: http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1310
(1) http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/...
(2) Removed story URL: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.p...
(3) http://www.phoronix.com/forums...
"Fortunately, the article has been removed now."
"Thanks everybody for speaking up."
(4) https://webcache.googleusercon...
(5) Linux "Code of Conflict"

My greed point was to address parental involvement. There are many parents too busy to engage with their children because they are at a subsistence level and they can't survive without multiple jobs. (basic needs/level playing field).
There are also many parents who neglect their children because they are greedy and they have plenty, but want more (fictionalized example).

Tomacco!

I think the character from MGS V: TPP is supposed to be Dr. Pettrovich Madnar

Given the fact that Snake now gets a bionic arm and Dr. Pettrovich's work was in cybernetics? Yeah.

I thought cosmic rays trigger lightning.

Nope, cosmic rays created The Fantastic Four and many more: http://marvel.wikia.com/Catego...

Also a toon named Cosmic Ray: http://www.comicvine.com/cosmi...

Didn't seem to find any DC toons who's superpowers came from cosmic rays. I didn't look very hard though.

Considering that this happened far, far away, and therefore long, long ago; I think we all know who was responsible. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki...

What would it take to build something that you can point in a direction and go, come back, repeat?

A small, portable power source that would be several orders of magnitude more powerful than what we have today, for one.

Get working on that Mr. Fusion and I think we'll have something more to your liking.

If he's going to foot the bill to get enough electricity and clean water to provide for over 200 families into the area, why should California's 6th district object?