You do not have to go to 36000 km height to have a space experience. The international Space Station orbits at 300 km height and provides us with fantastic pictures. The authors mention the 36000 km height because geostationary satellites are at that height. And, apparently, something big like the terminal staion must be at that height to hold the elevator cable in place.

Is there a mix-up with Elbonia? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert#Elbonia

Much of the beauty of music is in the way it is played. The piano player in the TED video was so kind to take the music seriously and make the best of it, i.e. suggesting structure by subtly varying the duration of notes relative to how they are written in the score. The piece would be much uglier when converted into a midi file and played automatically on an electric piano.

Sounds (...) like a good candidate for next year's IgNobel prize

Is this where the monoliths come from? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolith_(Space_Odyssey)

With the advances in face recognition changing your name will not do. And there are lots of other clues to link your new id to your old one, like the position in your social network. It would only work if you quit the internet entirely after getting your new id.

Technically, there is not a good reason why people should drive around with a visible license plate. Within 10 years or so, cars will drive a round with a GPS and some module to transmit their location and identification for whichever purposes the government thinks it is needed (usage fees, maintaining traffic laws, etc.). Others will not be able to read location and identification signals.

A constant rate of change results in exponential growth, so what is an exponential rate of change?