The long term waste is a known quantity, and needs to be addressed. But it is nowhere nearly as pressing a concern as the global CO2 levels are.

We have to bring down the CO2 emissions dramatically, and fast. Doing this through renewable energies would be nice, but it is a pipe dream at best. At least for now. We have to go nuclear, and do so on an far more aggressive scale than we are using it now, if we are to survive long enough, to be able to harness the still elusive fusion and renewable energy bonanza, the greens and the lawmakers are still clinging to.

Isn't a fake impersonator, really the person being impersonated?

I agree, Parent definitely need the 5 score.

The EU are in the same boat, and right now they are fighting about allowing Greenland to mine their deposits. IIRC some idiot even suggested that since the Chinese are so good at mining the stuff, they should sell the mining rights to them...

Looking at the smaller European countries, their politicians and decisions makers are also having a severe hard-on for the F-35, despite the abundant criticism of it, and it's budget, as well as doubt over it's actual capabilities.
It is odd really. What is it that Lockheed have, that keep the greedy little bastards (Politicians) so focused on their design, while ignoring all the faults, and defects?

if you have a 300 ms latency?

All the key does is telling the cars computer that the one having it is allowed to start it. The computer seized up, and the key was probably pulled to no effect. I doubt anyone capable of getting into a car would be dumb enough to not try that.
As for gears. There is probably no mechanical connection between the gear shift and the gearbox. The driver tells the computer what he would like to do, this time the computer had a lobotomy.

Like this? http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2012/11/video-tesla-model-s-drive---the-electric-car-that-shatters-every-myth.html

Exactly.

I really, REALLY hate these cases, because you can't really oppose them without being labelled as a pervert, this is why lawmakers love to bundle their censorship laws with provisions like these.

Outlaw and block child porn. No one in their right mind can find fault in that.
Protect the children, implements blocks to do that.
Outlaw animal porn, it is after all filthy, right?
Outlaw porn altogether.
Outlaw writings about porn.
Outlaw religious satire
Outlaw religious criticism
Outlaw criticism
Outlaw free speech.

All of these have been seen before in various countries, It is a slope lawmakers won't admit, but it is invariably the end result.

if (person.getJobs().containsKey(Jobs.POLITICIAN)) {
        return false;
}

Which is why stars tend to blow up when they star fusing Iron. They can no longer sustain their mass.

I agree.

At present we dig up vast amounts of thorium as waste from regular mines, especially when digging up rare earths.

Uranium is in very short supply, and 99% of it in nature is useless for power generation, and when that 1% is used for power, we only extract about 0.5% of the power in it.
Thorium on the other hand is about 10 times more abundant then uranium, and 100% of it is usable for power, and nearly 100% of the thorium used will be converted.

True, and false.

The energy we burn now was collected from the sun, millions of years ago, over a vast amount of time.

Care to elaborate?

What is preventing solar power from exceeding 30% efficiency?

0.3% of sahara is still 28.2 billion m2
Add construction, infrastructure, maintenance and storage for about 2/3 of the energy produced, and cost becomes prohibitively expensive.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't do part of it, but it is infeasible to do it all. I'm not even sure there is enough copper left in the world to pull it off.

2% of Sahara's surface is still a MASSIVE area. And the production works best in the day time. Then there is that little problem of Sahara being a very unfriendly place for something like this. Constant wind and sand getting everywhere you don't want it, on the receptor surfaces and in the mechanics.

Sahara is about 9,400,000 km2, 2% of that is still 188,000 km2 or 188 billion m2