It seems like you all are forgetting all the trouble NASA went to protect Apollo astronauts against catastrophic pad failures.

These structures were built into the pad to try to allow astronauts to escape the Saturn V in the event of a not-so-catastrophic-but-close-to-it pad failure.

And the infamous slide wire (which, IMHO, should not have been disassembled, it should have been referbered and opened up to the public for a fee....)

NASA was VERY worried about pre launch Rapid Unscheduled Dissassembies. That none ever happened is testimony to procedure, training and engineering.

Actually the Interstate did enforce even more segregation and (surprise) affected poorer communities more than richer ones. That wasn't the plan, that was an unintended consequence of doing an enormous project.

The major force behind the Interstate was Russia (or some other generic boogyman). This was a system that allowed the Army to move lots and lots of stuff to the West Coast when it was invaded. Or fell into the Pacific. Or godzilla.

Where did you get the 'rail prices'? From the backers of this entertaining notion?

Every land owner in the country is planning on giving away nice clear parcels for this endeavor? Or are we going to bore holes underground (always an easy thing to do on continental distance scales)? Rip up the rails? The Interstate?

All it needs is a dedicated bit of space the size of a highway spanning large amounts of area. At least with aircraft you don't need to build a new road every time you change destinations - just a runway. Even Elon has had to make up some new Tom Swift like concept to push this further (at least they're tubes). Sure, it won't need much energy. Just gobs and gobs of cheap, easy to obtain real estate.

Right.

Fortunately, the world is rather Darwinian. Experiment on yourself - if you do manage to create something useful / helpful, great. Otherwise you're likely dead, certainly ill.

Given how many humans are running around trying to do things, it is hardly surprising that wack noodle narcissists will get some media exposure, claim their 15 minutes of fame and then .... explode. Perhaps there will be some sort of middle ground that will use the new techniques and their own knowledge to advance things. Perhaps not.

I do fail to see why people think that just because you're doing something in your garage, you have a leg up on the tens of thousands of grad students and post docs who are working in better equipped labs with more intellectual support. If this stuff were that easy, there would be happy molecular biology departments throughout the world.

It's not easy at all, CRISPR or not.

Well, you've got some competition. Just how many SF novels out there use gene enhancement as a major or minor plot device? Gazillions, I think. With results all over the map (although most would be considered dystopian).

The problem is that reality will be much less sensible than even the most twisted B-movie straight-to-SY FY channel production.

We're doomed.

Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?

Only since the late 1800's.

Umm. Has Slashdot deprecated the Return key? Are we going back to EDBIC or something?

I *wish* my current laptop had two drive bays. My partially retired 2011 17" MacBook Pro has a 512 GB SSD and a 1 TB spinner inside. Much easier to deal with large video projects than the Thunderbolt hard drive attached to my newer 15 incher. Be nice if Apple actually understood that some projects have to be longer than 30 seconds and displayed on screens larger than an iPad. ..... Sadly wanders off to look at his collection of Firewire stuff......

(My NAS has 32TB of space and it's half full. Video is a bitch.)

They ARE design patents. Yes, they look similar. The question is going to be 'how similar'. Personally, I think they look like 'future trucks' from 1960's comic books.

These are Design Patents (think Coke Bottle). While perfectly valid legal entities, I think the term 'patent' is a bit of misnomer. More of a trademark kind of thing.

Still, something to get lawyers all hot and bothered about.

Slow news week?

Really. Lake Geneva - in the middle of Switzerland. Which has been industrialized since industry was industry. Take a quick look at the area with your GIS of choice - it's hardly 'pristine'.

TL;DR - we have some issues with pollution.....

You empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!