Maybed if they loaded it up with DRM, put restrictive policies in place to block certain apps and prevented open source publication of published apps, they would have been more successful.

Then again, maybe not.

Can you name one - just one - top-down organization which inspires creativity and innovation? I'd even give you points for naming one which does not stifle said characteristics.

If only my van got that kind of mileage.

I think that's inaccurate (especially the claim that the DoD and its expert propagandists somehow milked the creation of the internet for military gain). But it's worth noting that something like the internet would have evolved anyway. It's a natural progression in networking, bordering on the obvious. I think that's a more solid argument.

In this case, you have to "measure" the particle in a particular way to retrieve the energy, and that way depends on what happened to the particle on the other side while the energy is being "pumped in" (so you cannot know in advance).

So you take a trillions and trillions and trillions of particles, and start measuring them randomly at once... Eventually you get lucky, and one of them gives you a return on energy. Poof, instant information transfer, but without having the data that you "needed" to do it. No waiting in line!

The problem is that air is far less dense at those altitudes. There's roughly a third the air at sea level. For example, suppose you're trying to keep the engine below 80C. An air flow at sea level and 20C that barely does it, would be equivalent to a third the airflow at -100C.

You say that people "can't" do the right thing. I disagree. I use the word "won't". Very different meanings.

The efficiency of an Lycoming IO-540K1A5 peaks at 32%, and the Thielert Centurion diesel peaks at 40%. An electric motor peaks at around 80%, but controller etc has an efficinecy of at most 95%, and batteries can not be drained more than 74%, so the total is 64% usable energy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density#Energy_density_in_energy_storage_and_in_fuel/ lists Li-Ion with 0.5MJ/kg, and Gasoline at 46.4MJ/kg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density#Energy_density_in_energy_storage_and_in_fuel
That is pretty accurately 1%, and you are somewhat right in that when adjusted for system efficiency, the ratio is 2.1%

Still order of magnitude away for useful.

Jurassic Park needn't be taken literally for it to be a good parable about why we should be concerned that toying with life and death can have unforeseen consequences.

If I make a noise of N volume, you make a noise of N-M volume, and bob makes a noise of N-3M volume, bob is 3 times quieter than you. Quiet is relative. Quieter is a measure of the difference between differences.

The Italians are creating weapons of mass destruction. Send in the troops.

Download the code a.s.a.p. before it goes back in the vault!

...I'd buy THAT for a dollar!

Actually, if this thing ever becomes an actual product, I'll buy one.

I can always get the laser in the aftermarket.

It's not their fault! No one wrote what they should be limited to on a post-it note! The stupid framers of the constitution used lame non-sticky parchment or some crap like that. Their fault for making it not self-adhesive and concise.

Another acceptable alternative would have been to make the constitution some type of transforming robot which would beat us up when we got complacent about our rights and proper limits for law enforcement.