I actually worked at Sega when the Dreamcast was released, and it was quite ahead of its time which, admittedly, given the console development timeframe, is not the coup that it might be, but none the less, a market edge. Sega, IMHO, has miscalculated many such opportunities to get a "leg up" in various market areas. They were also pioneers, or at least robust competitors, in online game matchmaking, a la Steam, etc. They also failed to invest in, nurture and capitalize on that market angle. It's unfortunate, because earlier on they had so much brand cache and they seem to have frittered that away.

The key question here, being largely and glaringly overlooked, is; will the strength of a magnetic field strong enough to suspend a Laser-Shark, induce enough current in it's laser targeting system to cause an accidental activation, thus drastically increasing the risk involved in this experimental vein. i.e., is the target experimental area laser-shielded? Are experimenters wearing the proper eye-shielding for the specific frequency of shark lasers? These are the thing we really need to know...

The astronomers will be substantially more surprised when they discover this object was artificially moved into this orbit by a "Type II" civilization, in order to glean massive amounts of energy from the intense gravitational torsion and other high energy effects caused by such an orbital arragnement, i.e. it's a generator...

Yeah...definitely Shark Week...

No psychologically sound "person" would do that. But, technically speaking, the character in question wasn't a "person", but an alien creature, like, from another star system and evolutionary background and stuff. So, maybe, -no not maybe- absolutely without the cultural benefit of our psychological memes, etc. I think this sort of critical perspective would make it pretty hard to enjoy any sort of science-fiction, perhaps life in general...You may want to stick to Shark Week, or historically accurate biography. Something more "potentially reasonable"...

I mean, the idea that the shills who write up this claptrap, actually believe that the public at large have feeble enough minds to accept amazingly fallacious tripe like this, is a symptom of the radical level of their delusion. that's the kind of logic that you use on 6 year olds to get them to eat their vegetables. Just stating wild, base level, counter-intuitions and hoping nobody calls your bluff. That is what the scientific method in the service of industry has become; that is hugely and properly shameful. And, not to mention the fact, that the issue that they choose to focus this chicanery around is the fundamental quality of the base of your life, your food supply. Literally lying to the root...frakking unconscionable! Here's another breaking headline!!! It's not the cessation of breathing that kills you, it's the want of air... I mean for crying out loud...

Oh, also, don't forget to dig up as much Audio/Video goodies around the internet from our old friend Richard Feynman, some people look on him as dated, but there is no such thing as dated from a miraculous mind like that. He's all over YouTube and other spots. Feynman, incidentally a very funny man as well, will really knock science leaning kids' socks off...imho...

I have to second Michio Kaku for the stimulation of young minds, he's an astoundingly great communicator, quite funny and he "bottom-lines" things so well. Also, though, I think you should look into a few scientists who play the wider field, so to speak, of what is possible on the edges of mainstream science. I am speaking, in this case, about Russell Targ, also maybe Hal Putoff. These guys, although pretty rigorously qualified, tend to take a fairly broad view of reality and all of the wonderful things that the great "formalists" may be overlooking in some areas. Try not to inculcate youngsters too strongly in the status quo, I'm not advocating pseudo-science...necessarily ;); but allow them to sense that not only is science fascinating, but that there may yet be great mysteries out there still waiting for them. Put an enormous juicy carrot on the end of the stick that is your hope for your children's science future...

I understand your reason for pointing out language barriers, but I think it is not an insurmountable problem by any means, especially for an individual who alludes to having the resources to relocate arbitrarily. There are many immigrants, to the United States, for instance (my nation of residence), who emigrate without much more knowledge of the English language than, say, a common phrasebook. If the idea of expatriating on the account of politics doesn't, in itself, seem "radical", why should a language barrier be so eerily foreboding. Let's not underestimate the significance of a life adventure here; as befits a "liberty-minded" individual with a little drive...

...to the edge. Try to pull a stunt like that and you are dead to me; dead! There are plenty of good books to read and I am, impolitely, going to mention the commercial-free, dvd-quality availability of virtually anything via Usenet, to which the subscription fee for a decent server would be vastly preferable. Hulu.com, count your blessings and quit while you are ahead. To a man standing on the edge of a cliff, wise advice is to take two steps backward... 'nuff said...

Doesn't the power required to operate a "super-powerful" laser, somewhat mitigate the power "savings" you might resultingly implement on the lightbulb?

Is the middle of a drastic recession the proper time to go on a wrist-slapping mission through one of the only avenues that is propping up what little consumer spending we currently have going for us? That's not governance, that's vampirism!

...virtualize. I wasn't even thinking that until I read jonbryce's comment, but I think he is correct. Build yourself a nice rock solid, inexpensive, cool running multi-core system, say ASUS MoBo, and AMD Phenom CPU. Slap a nice, rock solid Debian or Ubuntu no-frills install on there, and virtualize the database and it's software front-end. Though I would bring him into the XP era with the virtual machine. Put in a nice DVD-ROM drive, so that he can backup to disc. Any current series mobo will have usb out the wazoo for further backup options which will be backward compatible with the upcoming USB 3.0 Standard, which should cover forthcoming peripheral devices for backup going forward. Noting that this machine won't have to run the software of the future, but is actually task specific to running the software of the past. I would not stockpile hardware, just keep the data rigorously backed up and play the hardware market going forward. Good luck with that, sounds fun actually. Cheers...