Simple example: sugar plus sulfuric acid gives you nice hunk of elemental carbon. Did you think making molecules was a one way street and eventually all the pure elements would be used up? Those spendthrift chemists.

By the way, the oxygen we breathe is molecular oxygen, O_2, not O. An oxygen atom on its own is very reactive and likes making molecules.

a laser that is mounted on a truck (which probably costs less than a 747, but who knows) and that can shoot down small aircraft,

The goal for the 747-mounted laser is to shoot down missiles on the way up (when they are over bad guys) versus on the way down (like the Patriot missile). That's why it's on a plane, not a truck.

One of the open firmware shortcomings is "WPA and WPA2 are not working." That is a pretty big shortcoming.

The chemical properties of the elements are almost entirely based on how full the electron shells are, and I think a circular diagram represents that better.

Concentric circles don't show that any better than rows do. What rows do better is clearly indicate that the shells get filled in a certain order (left to right). Looking at the circle table, which has more electrons, Li or Ne? F or Ne? Is that intuitive or better?

the table can be improved by arranging it in circular form. He says this gives a sense of the relative size of atoms--the closer to the centre, the smaller they are--something that is missing from the current form of the table. ... And by placing hydrogen and helium near the centre, Abubakr says this solves the problem of whether to put hydrogen with the halogens or alkali metals and of whther to put helium in the 2nd group or with the inert gases.

The atom size thing is no more present in the circular table than in the normal table. If distance from the center correlates with size, then Li and Ne are the same size according to the circular table. Lithium is about twice as big.

As for the H/He placement, helium is a noble gas, there is no question about that.

The circle table also mucks up the order of filling. Why are neon and lithium next to each other?

There already are four laws of thermodynamics.

Do you think you could talk a little about killer app?

The troubling thing is that the ones who got the vaccine and were infected were just as sick as those who got a placebo. The vaccination should have slowed the progress of the disease in the cases were it didn't prevent it. Or so one would think/hope.

Your facts will not stand in the way of my wishful thinking.

So will all the books be $2 plus shipping?

Like Nethack?

Last 2 times I have flown afternoon flights on Continental from Newark to Charleston, SC...

Now there's your problem. As for it being "on-time", does it mean on-time arrival? Philly/New York flight times are padded by 60-90 minutes. So if you plane takes off less than an hour late, it will probably land "on-time."

according to the article, about $1/carat.