If only the US Government had more balls and more incentive to launch a great big rocket into space, we might all be space cowboys by now.

If only NASA had the budget of 5% of the US Military, I could take my space guitar to a much larger International Space Station and sing the blues all with my other space buddies.

If only we all could see the amazing opportunities and forward thinking plans which a healthy space program can produce, I could retire on a farm on Mars.

You know what is missing from this so-called modern world? Ego, If only the US had the biggest Ego to orbit the center of the galaxy, we would all be better off. Just having the opportunity to say to the world, hey, I've got a plan for the world, let me build a space station orbiting around every single planet in this galaxy and we can all see the wonderful beauty that is our Solar System, we can all bring back to earth ideas for peace and ideas for bigger and better scientific projects, and oh yeah, We're the U.S of Effin' Aye, and we have a Saturn X. 5 Times the size of Saturn V and a beautiful sight to see as it takes off, this is our mark on society, this is our Image for the future free for all to look up to, and we love doing it too. Because we're the USA!

But no, instead, we've shut down it all and dug our heads in the sand, for fear of financial collapse.

This isn't the america I remember.

We are all cowards.

I recently played Tropico 4, It came off at first as an exciting game with a good theme which was a lot of fun.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

It is so incredibly micromanaged that basically all you are doing most of the time is working for a computer generated dreamworld for free, it requires hard work and you receive little or no payoff in the form of "fun" except for a few occasional gimmicks which quickly die off as being interesting or fun.

And that was in Sandbox mode.

Sometimes I wish for a simpler game, such as that found on the Amiga Computer.

Nobody calls me Chicken...

The hoverboard WOULD be possible if we had magnetic roads and pathways, or at least feasible, unfortunatley the hover-car is something a bit more difficult to acheive, but as we have seen with fan propelled flying cars, it too isn't very far off.

This is both an exciting time and a terrifying time to be alive.

If so, I've been thinking about buying a guitar and wanted to know whats your preferred Make and wood finish.

Hey, you seem eager to answer every question, I thought you might enjoy a break from the norm.

Lets just say that it would help boost my spirits when I'm running from the law, and I would get to know something about you on a personal level, that would then make me interested in reading your books more.

Oh my, Look at the time. Excetera. Excetera.

-Freax.

sharks with frikin' laser beams attatched to their heads.

http://www.solarstorms.org/SRefStorms.html

mmm, I like to err on the side of caution, especially when history paints a different story.

I always thought that the 1989 Quebec Solar Storm was a good example of what might occur: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/sun_darkness.html

http://www.ips.gov.au/Educational/1/3/12

So... It caused a cascading effect, just like the most recent New York blackout, scary stuff if it occured across even a marginal size of the USA.

Some Useful Links.... http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/sun_darkness.html http://www.ips.gov.au/Educational/1/3/12

Considering that one like the 1859 Solar Storm could wipe out 50% of all transformers in the USA, that would be a pretty large and costly pile of rotting transformers to keep on spare "just incase".

Putting the mobile device and an access point inside of a faraday cage I'm sure would've been a less cumbersome exercise, you could have integrated it into the booth design, just gotta drape a bunch of transparent metal net over the booth. Then you can ask anyone who walks in if they want their palm read or fortune told....

The Joker said it best, "This town needs an enema!" *Blows a party whistle* (Batman 1989)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Tpe-dbPQI

Imagine if we're all like the Joker in 20 years time? Wouldn't that be a kick in the nuts.

I suggest we make it a mandatory federal law that nobody can work beyond 12 noon every day, 9-12, so I can finally have that Western themed shoot-out with my boss that he's been nagging me about all week.

This is what is wrong with everyone! They work at their jobs doing the workload of 50x people from the 1930s-1940s-1950s and don't have any time for compassion in their descision making processes.

Say for example if someone is tied down at work, they can't feel compassion for something that their teenage daughter or son is going through, so they just say the standard robotic response, just like in that movie "Click".

Imagine if everyone were like this, oh wait, I don't have to, because thats what the modern world is, a bunch of uncompassionate robots.

No wonder positions of power have no compassion and are rife with corruption.

What if we had 3 months to think about the budget crisis instead of just a few days?

People everywhere need to slow down and smell the roses!, employers need to stop loading on the work onto one single person and spread it across multiple people, and pay them more for the job, the cost of products and services need to increase for this, and people will have the money to purchase those products because they are getting employment and more income.

INSTEAD the world is tightening their belts, laying off people and replacing them with robots, WHY? Why do we have to go down this road? Why can't we make descisions for ourselves and slow the hell up?

It doesn't matter if that new thing on the market comes today or tomorrow, it will get here eventually, within our lifetimes.

Then maybe we can have understanding for the true needs in our lives, like space exploration, instead of screwing each other over for a percentage of fake wealth and fake money here on earth.

I didn't see the benefits of 1080p in 2001

Why would I see the benefits today?

1920x1080p, or its 4:3 aspect ratio cousin, 1920x1440, wasn't anything spectacular in 2001 on a 21 inch CRT monitor, so why are we all buying into the craze of 1080p? Content.

As soon as we start to see content on 4320p available, we will buy it, 3D tv is a flash in the pan idea and really screws us all over in the end, but 7680x4320 will be a content-driven format, and whatever format we see that content on will be trivial..

I personally would love to see a return of 12" (12 inch) Laserdisc systems as a home enthusiasts technology, but this time with the modern technology that we have today of Blu-Ray and Holographic storage.

Not only would this completely obliterate Piracy rings for a short time (Until we invent stream-capturing devices) but it would also provide a stable and future-proof (for at least the next 20 years, or more) ground for the new higher resolution contents, then maybe we can see a convergence of areal-density on 12" Laserdisc catch up and beat the storage requirements of 7680x4320 content, and even beyond this for years to come.

But no one will do it, no one will build it, why? BECAUSE they all just want us to buy again, and again, and again, and again, and fleece us all out of money, again, and again.

I never got into DVD, I never got into Blu-Ray, why? Because I'm happy with Laserdisc, and I have quite possibly the largest content database in the world available to me, stretching back to the start of stamping out Laserdiscs, in 1979.

You know what has won the storage format wars? Laserdisc, because I don't have to sit there and watch anti-piracy advertisments, you guys do, I'm free to sell, trade, copy, or buy my Laserdiscs from anyone I want, and most of the great movies on Laserdisc were manufactured /the year after the movie was released in theaters/, which means that I have a copy of Blade Runner made in 1983!!, Its 30 years old and it plays PERFECTLY!, without any of the digital editing that Directors or DVD Producers have added to the movie, and I have Cigarette Burns on my copy of Blade Runner, indicating when to change reels.

All honesty, movies were meant to be delivered in their native aspect ratio, but computers reached perfection in detailing information to the user at the 4:3 aspect ratio, and we need to see a divergence in the LCD screen marketplace to cater for both the movie lover and the computer user, THAT would truly drive sales up for new panels.