That's because of the clouds. Nice and fluffy white. Seattle has lots of them.

Wait. That can't be right. White males ain't got no soul.

I don't get it. What is the problem again?

Not such a bad idea. We can call it the 'underclass'.

Rear facing seats make more sense in a crash situation (most crashes that are survivable happen in a nose-is-forward configuration). The entire seat supports the body in the rapid deceleration of a crash instead of just the seat belt. IIRC, some military transports are rigged that way. So you trade off a bit more discomfort on the very common scenario of the plane taking off with the possibility of better surviving a very rare crash situation.

Decisions, decisions.

They jump out quickly because the Army is pointing a bunch of 70 mm truck mounted guns at them. That always gets you to speed things up.

Welcome to Israel. Duck!

Except that the vast majority of plane accidents happen at takeoff and landing where you would need not only explosive bolts but a cluster of SuperDraco engines mounted around the fuselage to boost you out of harm's way. Now, I grant you, that would be one cool video, but I don't think you are going to convince the Boeing designers that the tradeoffs are worth it.

And engineering is always about the tradeoffs.

OTOH, a cabin full of Nitrous Oxide - now that's an idea.....

Fly one of the non US carriers like Emirates. First class is really first class.

Just use somebody else's Platinum Visa Card.

Let's take a quick walk out into the real world. That road for instance - not 'designed' to last hundreds of years - maybe ten. OK, you're going to be the next road guru and, for the fun of it, design and build the road of forever.

With what for resources? Who's going to pay for the R&D, the machines and the raw materials? Hmm. You run up against those annoying things called budgets. The city government isn't going to let you take the entire budget for ten years for your perfect road. Or perfect water treatment plant. Or perfect waste disposal system.

Reality is most annoying. It prevents us from doing the things we really would like to do. But it's real.

That journalists are the ones arguing about 'not having to work to live'?

I never see economists or machinists or retail workers espouse this philosophy. I mean really, just because a tiny fraction of the planet doesn't have to work (the 1-2 per centers including the wealthy retirees she touts), it does not follow that the people who make life possible for those economic elite are going to suddenly find what amounts to a pot of gold somewhere.

The Post Replicator fantasy economy is just that - a fantasy. Better to wish for a warp drive. At least it's useful.

I thought commie threads were on Sundays. This is Saturday.

Oh, right. Star Trek Saturday - we're on schedule.

Cool. Portable nuclear proliferation. Now that's progress.

Not THAT kind of turbine (although you could rig it that way - very Rube Goldberg). It uses hot exhaust gas (non radioactive so it isn't at all like Orion like TFA intimates) to directly push the aircraft (or rocket or what have you) in an equal and opposite direction.

Oops, test number and measure of statistical significance.

Drat Slashdot. Where is the damned edit button.