Does this discovery have a relationship (however distant or inefficient) to Nuclear Lightbulb or Nuclear Photonic propulsion? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_lightbulb

The very best distance paper airplane I have ever encountered was shown to me by a fellow church-going Virginian when I was about 5 years old.
You fold the paper into a very narrow dart looking shape, a wingspan of maybe an inch or so at most, a length of almost the entire sheet. Throwing this paper airplane, you can get incredible distances.
I've never seen anyone else use that design, not that I've looked especially hard.

Fantasy:
The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
Temeraire series by Naomi Novik.
Anita Blake books up to Obsidian Butterfly, depending on your personal "Squick" factor.
Dark Jewels series by Anne Bishop.
Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman.
Taltos series by Steven Brust.
Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce.
Pit Dragon trilogy by Jane Yolen.
The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick.
Light and Shadows series by Janny Wurts.
The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny.
Vampire$ by John Steakley.
Young Wizards series by Diane Duane.
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin.
I am Legend by Richard Matheson.

Science Fiction:
A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge.
Downbelow Station and Cyteen, especially, of the Company Wars series by C.J. Cherryh.
Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh.
Xenogenesis Series by Octavia E. Butler.
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein.
Old Man's War series by John Scalzi.
The Gap Into Conflict series by Stephen Donaldson.
War Against the Chtorr series by David Gerrold.
Draka! series by S.M. Stirling.
Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, The Big U, The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.
The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold.
World War Z by Max Brooks.
Culture Series by Iain M. Banks.
Uplift series by David Brin.
Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. This became a movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120004/
Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith.
Crystal Singer series by Anne McCaffrey.
Accelerando, The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross.
Vang series by Christopher Rowley.

IANAL. Your record isn't necessarily automatically sealed. You may need to contact an attorney to have it done.

Is there any sort of eye protection for laser weapons like this that can be made inexpensively, for use by protesters and the like?

Something less unwieldy than welding glass, perhaps tuned to the laser's spectrum?

Was his plan for the Human Colonization and Exploitation of Space https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_High_Frontier:_Human_Colonies_in_Space a realistic one, given the new things we've learned in various fields of research over the last 50 years?

Has anyone come up with a better long term plan for either Colonization or Exploitation?

I still haven't seen any overwhelming evidence that global warming is real. Just a lot of hot air from talking heads and religious pseudo-science "true-believers".

Any actual proof that isn't bought-and-paid-for or biased by one side of the debate or the other?

"The jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy."
-John Jay, 1st Chief Justice U.S. Supreme Court 1789

A small Pamphlet called "Citizens Rule Book, A Palladium of Liberty, Bill of Rights, Jury Handbook" Has the rights and responsibilities of a juror all laid out. I suggest everyone find a copy.

The U.S.A. and several other first world nations (to my knowledge) have policies in place preventing crops from being grown at maximum production rates/acreage.

I'm under the impression that first world nations (U.S.A., Britain, Japan, etc) have a near flat population growth curve. It is the up-and-coming third world nations that encourage massive overpopulation (China, Africa, India, etc).

If these nations cannot produce enough food to feed their own populations, let them starve and their societies collapse. Problem solved. Darwinism at it's finest, and it keeps the first world nations in a social/cultural position of preeminence.

As an alternative, repeal the policies keeping first world farms from producing the wanted crops and selling them to anyone who wants to buy. However, that would require Politicians to admit there was something they or their predecessors screwed up. Good Luck!

As a side note, China doesn't need too much help reaching a Malthusian solution. Check the male to female ratio in China. http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/03/14/sex-selection-china-india.html
People this irresponsible frighten me.

"Peer-to-Peer Software enables Piracy in the same manner that Automobiles enable Smuggling."