_I_ can't believe that you can't believe that an anti-social behavior on the intarwebs won't go away...

STOP READING MY MIND!!

*adjusts tinfoil*

Hrmph.

P0N!3s!!!

That was actually the divine presence telling you to go outside and play instead of mouldering away on the computer.

It was either that comment or the ever-trusty: "Sun? What is this 'sun' that you speak of?"

This is totally off topic, but I'm amused by the irony inherent in your signature. It is of the form:

(mangled idiom), (linguisitic joke)

Please try:

For all intents and purposes, ...

Unless, of course, you're asserting that only people that work really hard that use 'whom' are targeted.

... Some if it is also subjective. We all think different. ...

Actually, some of us think differently. Thanks a lot, Apple.

He's actually just a *really* obsessive Katamari player.

So the GP suggested a layer of aluminum for just that purpose. Is the heat carrying capacity of aluminum insufficient? What if you had active cooling sucking heat out of the aluminum at the chip's edge?

So what if the launch loop didn't have the turnarounds at each end? What if the two stations were near one of the poles instead of at the equator? You locate at a latitude just far enough away from the pole to make the circumference of a circular loop equal to 4000km. Then, instead of tossing the cable up in a straight line and have to turn it around at the other end, you toss it in the air, and the earth's rotation carries it around to the other station "halfway around the world", where it's launched up again.

Maybe it wouldn't curve just because the earth is turning underneath it? Maybe it would go in a straight line equal to a great circle headed away from the pole?

Seems like there's a middle ground where the designer could provide for a dual path experience. Create levels and challenges that can't be solved using the god-like tools developed in the previous installment. Newbies to the 2nd installment could play through and gain the tools they need along the way. Imports could play through and still be entertained by the challenges and gain new tools.

I think it's limiting to assume that any uber-powerful skill can be applied to solve any kind of problem.