"Immoral" ?

Ignoring the concept that good and evil, and right and wrong are not germane to the discussion, but why have you decided that it is "immoral" ?

If I may simplify something for you, the heavy elements that form our bodies and the Earth did not come from within this solar system. We are no more tied to the Earth than anywhere else. The elements that were created in a supernova explosion and deposited within our solar system came from 'outside' our system. We are stardust, as much as we are Earth's children.

Parents had trouble with geese years ago. They started letting the dog out to clear the beach head of geese. He'd charge down the lawn and put the binders on just before he got to the shore, but the geese would have moved into the water. Now years (3 or 4) after the dog has passed on, the geese are all over one neighbours lawn, get into the water, swim around their lawn and come up the beach onto the neighbour on the other side. It seems that avoidance of our place is embedded deeply now.

I do miss the "apricot flash".

E-mail has never been secure or private? Which court decided that? Oh wait, it was never decided. Someone in the telecom industry recognized that if e-mail was to be treated as snail mail (private and secure) they would have to develop technologies to make e-mail secure. When letters were first introduced, they were private but not secure. Only couriers were deemed secure, and only if they were your couriers. Then, with the advent of state (or crown) post offices, the demands to keep private communication away from the prying eyes of the state (or crown) set the agenda to make it that way. The only reason why we had folks legislate e-mail NOT to be secure and private is become the state (or crown) decided that it would be in its best interest to have electronic communication declared "different" than snail mail. Governments hate court oversight. They hate having to prove the need to get a warrant. What if they could just get the people to accept that private e-mails aren't private. Bingo ! We'll just tell them that this is what we all want. Sorry. I do have an expectation of privacy with my private e-mail correspondence. It works with surface mail. This utter claptrap about "no one should expect privacy or security when data is passed to 3rd party" is bullshit. You need a warrant to tap my land line. You need a warrant to intercept my mail. Both cases involve data handed to 3rd party. Hospital records move between doctors hospitals and me. They are private. You may argue that e-mail is not secure. You may not argue that not secure means not private. the text I write on the back of a postcard is not secure, but it is still private.

Tie your horse to a post (you can carry one) then it won't wander away. Geez, just like a real horse. I agree on horse armour, but I don't worry too much about it. I'm much more concerned about the inability to craft saddles. I agree with the horse/boat issue - I don't see a way around that until they code the ability to use larger boats. Mind you, the ability to travel endlessly without suffering hunger is a huge boon to those of us who play on hardcore mode. Whining about the inability to craft a specialty armour that only aids your horse (a renewable resourse) against attacks that are completely avoidable is rather petty.

Care to name another game that lets that many pilots engage in single battle ?

Except for those of us who do own the mineral rights below our land :)

Also, vegetation growing on the land is considered an improvement, and hence belongs to the landowner. Formal grazing is a land use, subject to zoning.

You are correct on water, but then only a complete idiot would try to claim water running through his land.

Science Fiction is always rooted in what it means to be human. Usually by exposing something that is not human, and trying to make sense of it. Its about making you think.

Star Wars does not do that. It is fantasy happening in space. Abrams will do a great job with that franchise. To be honest, I hope the next Star Trek series is a long time coming (if its too soon, we'll get the Abrams treatment - which would suck), so we can go back to the best of Trek : true science fiction with multiple plots going on in a single episode.

Wasn't there an episode of ST:TOS that involved two earth-like planets in the same system ?

If memory serves, it was famous for featuring Kirk in a Gestapo uniform.

You are absolutely correct - energy density, not power density.

Power density is key. Yes, a reduction in charge time is great, but spending 10 mins charging for each hour of driving would NOT be desirable.

Unless I get at least 30:1 run time vs charge time for an electric vehicle with a 3 hour minimum run time, I'm not sold. As for the phone battery, 1 minute for 24 hours that's a 1400:1 ratio (run time vs charge time) If I could get that for a car, we'd drop gasoline in a heartbeat.

Unless there is a massive increase in power density within a battery, it ain't a super battery, nor is it a breakthrough.

previous laptop was ASUS w90 , with two HD4870M's in crossfire.

Current laptop is Alienware M18, with single HD7970M

Yes, both are big machines, but intended to be mobile desktops, not something you sit on your lap.