I'd imagine that a dozen miles away in space would be considered very very close range by spacefaring societies. Even with today's technology we can detect and launch effective countermeasures on incoming weapons from a fifty+ miles away (that's from a spec on the patriot anti-ballistic missile).

"War never changes..."

Ok, here.

This is a great idea. I recall tutoring younger kids (3rd and 4th graders, I believe) when I was in 6th or 7th grade, and it helped me develop skills that I don't know how I would have gained otherwise.

• Responsibility to help another's learning
• Patience to learn how to best teach
• Teaching improves your own skill with a subject, because you have to know it well enough to bridge the gap to someone who barely knows what you're talking about

"How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?"

Yes, strong correlation that your comment is being posted by an insensitive clod!

You really think once these become widely available it won't be the first thing a kidnapper does to remove the watch (correctly, not to trigger an alarm), then toss it into the back of a pickup truck going the opposite way?

Tech won't save you from the world. Measures and countermeasures it's an arms race that provides faux safety and warm fuzzies and lots of money to corporations that lie to you. Educating our kids to think for themselves, be street smart, problem solving, and tenacious is better, IMO.

Kind of like the oversight the government implemented on the bailout of the banks?

Mod parent up! +funny

Best joke I've seen today.

You should log in when you make comments like this. Like it or not, AC comments don't usually get many +mods and this comment was good.

They must be short of bolts of lightning in Japan.

Nope, not if the plot is so trite that a few story points actually do give away the whole plot, or the story is so boring that just a few teases don't properly whet the appetite.

It's certainly not an easy thing to do, but I thought that's what some of that hundreds of millions of dollars went toward. I have often left a theater wondering why the producers don't take 1 million out of the 100+ million FX budget and put it into hiring someone with actual talent in vague concepts like storyline, continuity, plot elements, creativity, etc.

You must have repressed your memories of Titanic, written and directed by your friend, James Cameron, ya?

I searched all the comments for this and not one person correctly pointed out that "The shaft is ray shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes."

Slashdot, you disappoint me.