Not even close - check out the cool antipodes map - the US is to the west of Australia and south of India. If you look closely, it seems that only a tiny speck of land in the south Pacific is antipodal to any part of the CONUS.
We already have compulsory education - it's only recently (that is, the last 20 years) that the backbone of that system has been ripped out by touchy-feely "we can't fail anyone - they're all special little snowflakes" and "we can't discipline your child - they're just asserting their independence" attitudes. I have no problem keeping students in school until they can pass some sort of minimum competency test or they're 21. I'm not sure what to do with them if they hit 21 and still can't pass the test - mandatory job training, I guess?
A friend of mine is of the attitude that anyone on government assistance of any sort shouldn't be allowed to vote - it's a conflict of interest.
The only guaranteed way to execute someone in a purely binary "either you're alive and in no pain or you're instantly dead" is to have them wear a C4-lined helmet. Even if only 1 of the many detonators goes off, all of the explosives will go. The shockwave is faster than nerve speed, so they couldn't feel pain.
My head just exploded. Excellent troll.
Because the PIV rating of LEDS will not withstand anything even close to full mains voltage. They are not constructed as rectifiers, even though they are technically diodes. This datasheet shows the max PIV for a high performance white LED to be a mere 5V! A typical 1N4007 rectifier diode is rated for 1000V PIV DC.
I've been in my new house for 6 years now, and I've replaced 4 incandescent bulbs, I think. These lights are used daily, and many of the ones still burning are turned on/off many times a day (bathroom lights).
I have an issue with LED and CFL that many don't - the electronics inside them (unless very well designed) make an absolute hash of radio bands from DC to about 30 MHz. As an amateur radio operator, I can't have that going on in my house (and preferably those houses around me).
I know the US Navy has performed experiments using lasers for submarine-to-surface comms - no idea on how well that went.
How much does a 300km spool of fiber optic cable weigh again?
I wonder if sound would provide a very low bandwidth channel? If you can get good coupling into the ice ot should transmit sound relatively well.
... SLF radio repeaters
Why try to brute force RF down at the DC level? Why not head to the other end of the spectrum and use lasers? If that water is relatively pure and there are few bubbles in the ice, I think lasers would win the size/weight to comm distance race.
BTW I love the idea of a modulated neutrino beam, except how much mass would it take to even modulate it enough to be detected?
No current power generation use. It's used for medical lung imaging today.
In a word, Helium3.
But "He Who Controls the Spice Controls the Universe!"
You left out "Heavens to Betsy, No!!!".
OTOH the Soviets had a serious love affair with RTGs
Nevermind the RTGs - I'm much more concerned with the nasty fission reactors they've put up there. The US put one up, too.
... they buried him in a photon torpedo-shaped casket, wearing a black robe.
"I've seen it. It's rubbish." -- Marvin the Paranoid Android