Greek fire is often thought to include calcium oxide a.k.a. quicklime. This is caustic and has been used as chemical weapon by itself. That is why I originally said it was arguably a chemical weapon though the primary effectiveness is clearly as an incendiary. Primarily I included as a reference because it is more more widely recognized as being used in warfare. The pure chemical weapons go back a long time -- far predating greek fire.

Greek fire is arguably a chemical weapon and well known.

National Geographic has a nice article about the long history of chemical (and biological) weapons,

The real difference in the modern era, it has become an economical form of warfare as well as more effective (higher rate of casualties) than older chemical attacks.

Considering that so many are focused on CO2 as a pollutant, they won't care about the pollution scrubbers at the centralized plants because we don't capture the carbon. Ans yes, lots of greens don't appear to understand this connection.

It is not just the Feds cash flood, it is the zero-rate interest. People chasing returns are practically forced into the stock market to try and get returns.

Pfft, they should just call the CIA/NSA to get one of their "backup copies".

I don't know, if you have a comet or asteroid impact big enough to eject material into space you have to consider that the ejecta is going to be heated by a large amount. Much of the "ejecta" is in the form of vaporized rock, much of the solid ejecta will be fractured. The fireball associated with an impact of this size is also going to be large (10's or 100's of km in diameter), so you get additional heating beyond the heating of atmospheric compression while the ejecta is departing.

Seems like organics would be unlikely to survive the trip most of the time.

The slower eject will not be generally be heated as much, but you won't find those on the moon.

And if that Chinese family serves you Peking Duck what would you then conclude?

Buckyballs were targeted by the government -- Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), so people tend to assume they were unusually risky. According to the CPSC, 22 kids have been injured, no fatalities.

Bicycles, skateboards, and trampolines -- all much higher risk. Yet, no-one is proposing banning them, because we are used to the risks.

A few grams of radioactives, as providing with the toy, essentially no risk of significant unless you consume them.or use them as an eye patch.

Lawn darts -- lots of fun, only a few deaths, but lots of non-fatal injuries.

Mini Hammocks had 12 fatalities and quite a few non-fatal.

Austin Magic Pistol -- shoot a flame up to 70 feet (calcium carbide and water).

But the true winner has to be the trampoline. Deaths sure, but the thousands of serious injuries per year (visits to the E/R) is without parallel

This study does not study what you probably assumed that it study.

The study you expect is. How is the likelihood of a crash altered by using MJ. This study actually studies those involved in crashes and looks at THC, alcohol and other drugs. How many people taking MJ simply avoid driving completely? If 1 out of 2 avoid driving in this condition, this study under reports the accident risk by a factor of 2.

It does refer to several studies that measure impairment based on MJ usage and comments that the impairment in clearly seen in a number of ways.

Also, some THC is not the best measure of the effect of THC. Maybe moderate use has a relaxing effect that actually improves driving by reducing risk taking behavior even if it simultaneous impairs reaction time and judgment while more THC allows the negative effects to outweigh the positive.You would never know in this study.

Given that MJ usage is so widespread, an honest and comprehensive study would be a lot more useful than studies like this one. since MJ is legal now in some places, why not have a real study with various ages, levels of THC, etc. and spend some time in driving simulators. By and large I know people will take recreational drugs and it does not affect me. But I would like to keep them off the roads if this means they are driving while impaired.

Well, if the see a unicorn, perhaps they are in India -- home of Rhinoceros Unicornis unlike the bicorns native to Africa.

The study that is the basis for the article mentioned THC detected in about 7% of evening crashes and 9% of weekend crashes. Sounds like a lot of MJ smoking and driving to me.

There is another historically successful method of abolishing slavery. The government compensates slaves owners for their slaves at the same time it abolishes slavery. That is how they did it in Britain, Washington D.C. and basically the rest of the world. Had this been done at the time of the civil war, it would have cost considerably less than the cost of the war.

When writing the US Constitution, there was another option -- abolish it in the future. People are much more likely to agree to something they consider undesirable as long as it is delayed for the next generation.

By 1860, the mindset of the South was such that neither of the previous solutions would work as it was also strong cultural racism and privilege, not just slavery that was involved.

The lunchbox sats are not as capable as a recon sat desired by the NSA, etc. You may perhaps argue that 100 pound sats are all that the NSA needs, but they clearly want a lot more -- IIRC the NSA was getting push back against proposed billion dollar satellites.

  I think it is very good assumption that the NSA already knows about the benefits of miniaturization and high-end sensors used in the small sats your referred to . But if a 4 kg or 40 kg sat could satisfy their desires, they would be using them (and likely are using them too). The real spy-eye in the sky will be big for the foreseeable future.

Probably not great for cheap spy satellites.

Cost is still $10,000 per pound to LEO. Some existing commercial launch systems already match that price. The 100 pound payload limit is a real problem though as effective recon sats will be considerably heavier in order to have big enough lenses for high res images as well as the transmitter, solar panels, etc. The best recon sats are expected to be roughly equivalent to the Hubble telescope. Note that the Hubble cannot take good images of the earth because it cannot track the ground.

From the article on KH-11 recon sat

The maximum diameter of the spacecraft is 10 feet or 120 inches with an estimated length something over 43 feet. The long telescope barrel is on the order of 8.94-9.3 feet in diameter. Titan-23D could place 24,600 lbs in polar orbit while Titan-34D could place 27,600 lbs into polar orbit. The KH-11 SSB mass application is about 3,289 lbs dry while its fueled mass is about 10,568 lbs. The whole spacecraft dry mass is about 13,289 kilograms and the fueled mass is estimated between 24,500-25,800-27,500 lbs at orbital insertion depending on which booster is used. The KH-11 KENNON spacecraft was replaced in the early 1990’s by the KH- Advanced Crystal spacecraft.

The real advantages to this design is the small launch cost and the short prep. time needed for a launch (24 hours).