What about pure numerical stuff? I'm wondering how say, a Java implementation of FFT would fair against the FFTW library (coded in C).

Of course you could make a native call to the FFTW library (MATLAB does this) through Java, but thats missing the point.

All purely defensive measures, which for a small country that hopes to repel potential invaders, while retaining their neutrality and not having rely on "allies" to bail them out, seem pretty reasonable.

OTOH, you have Venus, whose atmosphere 100x denser than that of Earth despite having almost zero magnetic field.

And 280 is far away from the population centers in the Valley. If you were planning on making feeder lines, I don't this system is designed to support cars entering and exiting the tubes frequently .

Unless you willing to go underground, there's no where to build it, and they already a rail line from SJ to SF - CalTrain. The bullet, which has ~5 stops between SJ and SF takes ~1 hour. Yes, they could improve on this, but its not worth it. SJ to SF is more of a regional system where you are going to have to stop frequently anyway, in order to get enough passengers

  I don't think there would be enough traffic to justify a SF to Sacramento only route.

Not everyone cares about sightseeing. Alot of people just want to get from A to B as quickly as possible and with as little hassle as possible. Look at how many take the red eye flying from the West Coast to the East Coast.

Venus already has a really effective 'shade' - the bond albedo (percentage of light from the sun it reflects) is 0.9 (90%). Compared to ~0.3 for Earth

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/venusfact.html

Venus is so hot at the surface mostly because the atmosphere is incredibly dense at the surface (93 times earth). In geneneral, as pressure increases in a planets troposphere, so does temperature. If you go deep enough into the gas giants (even Neptune), you will find very hot temperatures, at high pressures.

On Venus at 1 bar pressure, the temperature is actually not that far off of Earth http://www.datasync.com/~rsf1/vel/1918vpt.htm - (about 50 C = 122 F), hot, but not unmanageable if we could somehow put a floating colony there. You would have to seal the habitation anyway because the atmosphere is about 95% CO2.

No, its because of all the trucks, SUVs and otherwise inefficient cars on the road. I just bought a used 1996 Toyota Carolla with 230k miles on it. I checked my gas mileage (mixed city/freeway) at 26 MPG on my last fill up.

My friend who drives a 2008? BMW M3 told me gets 23 MPG.

And a " Romy sans-barrel AK kit: $200"
And a "Barrel blank: $30"
And at least couple hundred in welding tools, grinders, etc.

On Venus, there is actually very little difference in day/night temperature, at least near the surface - it always around 450 C (~860F, hot enough to melt lead). There is also little variation at the poles and equator. Very little incoming solar radiation reaches the surface. This is combination of very high albedo (0.9 bond) and greenhouse effect. Of course, this is not the case with the upper atmosphere where temps and pressures would be more Earth like. That would be among one obstacle for a 'city in the clouds' idea.

There is a trust fund in as meaningful sense as you can make it.

Got money sitting a bank? What happens if that bank goes under?

Hiding money/silver/gold in a vault/under a matress? What happens if someone steals it?

Health insurance doesn't cover the cost of hearing aids.

Health insurance doesn't cover a dime for hearing aids. Everyone pays out of pocket.

Happens all the time. Usually because "we neglected to do the same thing on Sample Set B that we did on Sample Set A, C, and D"

Yes, I work in a lab...

I'm with you. It would be a travesty if the studios give away the plot to The Hobbit