What did you use for the mass of the 50km sail?

You joke, but you've happened on a good point. By the time we have the technology to conjure life into existence anywhere in the galaxy, why bother with humans? Surely we'll be able to make bodies that are much more suited for the universe beyond Earth.

Cavil's lament from BSG comes to mind.

Considering even the most culturally illiterate westerners have heard of Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and probably Chun-Li, I have no idea where the notion that the Chinese can't pronounce 'L' came from.

Oh wait, yes I do.

Damn you, Jean Shepherd.

The summary (and the article, to an extent) is bad; this is a supercapacitor that also serves as a structural part, so all sorts of random things can be turned into (weak) batteries.

They're envisioning a world where buildings, cars, and all sorts of things could be turned into giant capacitors, and you could just pump energy in somewhere and then draw it out wherever you like using some kind of short-range wireless transfer.

The idea is a bit half-baked, but I support any science that makes our world more like Star Trek, even if it takes the form of mundane objects randomly exploding when there is a power surge.

Yeah, comparing this to "the Apple tax" on their similarly-specced MacBook Air:

i5-i7:
Apple $150
Microsoft $250

4GB-8GB RAM:
Apple $100
Microsoft $100*

128-256GB SSD:
Apple $200
Microsoft $200*

(*MS combines these into one upgrade)

256-512GB SSD:
Apple $300
Microsoft $400

It's pretty bad when Apple's upgrade prices look reasonable by comparison.

So the Firefox app will now support Chromecast, so Chromecast will no longer be limited to apps that support Chromecast. Got it.

I think he's saying all content needs to be either paywalled or made or sponsored by the wealthy and powerful.

In addition to the obvious flaw comparing a single instruction to an entire second of mental processing, humans deal with interrupted events all the time. Email conversations can take hours or days, and we used to converse by post over weeks or months. We somehow manage to deal with serial television shows and books and games with long gaps between episodes. It's really not that hard to context switch.

But this allows you to use a whole new device instead of the thing you already have!

They're claiming the rocket malfunctioned after entering a region of intense gay-waves emitted from western Europe.

I should probably stop watching Russian news.

On the other hand, you can burn mixed organics and extract useful energy. Granted it produces CO2, but it's not like we aren't going to burn lots of organic chemicals anyway.

* Hugging a server may block its vents, reducing airflow and operational life.
* When hugging a server, you may inadvertently disconnect important cables.
* Hugging a server may put your clothes—or you—in contact with dangerous high-speed fans.
* While hugging a server, you are likely interfering with the admins who are trying to get actual work done.
* Driving while hugging a server is a hazard and illegal in many states.

Now they'll finally have enough money to hire decent writers!

I just wish he'd stop asking me for starships.

40Gbps is coming.