@Icon57: True. I keep forgetting that we need the astronauts and the CSA is training them and looking after the suits and all the important human elements.

@alexjmscott: Frozen wasteland isn't rare, but we want it to work here, too, in drifts of snow, deep ruts of ice, frozen highways...hey if this rover experiment can work for the everyday vehicles, then we know it will conquer outer space! :)

@Adam Whitehead: I skkipped YSABEL because I like to be mired in the feel of the past and skip the modern. Sounds like I made a good choice. And now I am super excited to get to Under Heaven if it's going to thrill me as much as Arbonne and Lions. Those are books that did make me do everything I could to find time to…

@RandomFrequentFlierDent: But would they work well in the giant drifts of snow each winter?

Talk to an old enough Canadian and you'll get the story of the Avro Arrow, the super fast fighter plane of the Fifties that was supposed to be a major leap in tech, and up until the 90s people were saying how it was still more advanced...

I'll give my love for Mr. Kay since I think he deserves a lot of it. He's a great writer. He can really hook you, and it's fun to try and see where the real life inspiration has come from in his writing the fantastical version of certain events.

@crashedpc /sarcasm: They can show up at my door, and so long as they pay me well enough ,I'll be happy to go work on it for them. I'll even give up my cell phone and let them watch me while I use the Internet to make sure I behave. :) But I'll want a steady supply of Alberta beef, sashimi grade sushi, and Snickers…

@corpore-metal: We suck as a species! What good are we when it comes to space if we can't even see what's in our own backyard? ;) heehee

@deacon001: So I shouldn't bet on finding out in my lifetime, got it. ;)

@Aerothermal Heat: Kewl, thanks for that tidbit! :)

@crashedpc /sarcasm: Which at least means I can take comfort that my whacky, uneducated theory of a laser engine on a particle beam rifle could work. :) And it also makes a nifty targeting system, too, all built in!

@corpore-metal: What if we send it, well from our perspective, up, as well as out? Top down view of the system rather than having to look through everything else along the oribtal plane? Right now we have to see everything through a near 2D perspective, but let's get some altitude in our attitude :) That's my quick…

Jupiter sized or bigger, roving around the Oort territories, flinging comets around, and we can't find it? Still sounds like a more exciting prospect than arsenic bacteria in a Californian Lake or whatever that was yesterday. :)

Well if she could be a good looking geek girl inventor, there's no reason I can't do the same! Now to get to work on that particle projector...and have it ready before the Moon Nazis get here so I can teach them what's what!

@crashedpc /sarcasm: Part of the Complex? So where's my portable particle beam accelerator rifle? Come on, I'm sure it can be done :) Unless you're not allowed to say just yet.

@crashedpc /sarcasm: Are you kidding? if anything we should show more engineers these things! Build! Innovate! Invent! I hear there's money to be made off of the Military Industrial Complex, and the fanboys and fangirls of the world. ;)

@LittleDragon: But no sounds, no blasting, no pew pew pew, as I've been informed, so not worth it.

@crashedpc /sarcasm: see my other post reply to Salthegeek or heck just google it, you'll find enough to make your own that can fire off .45 rounds and a few 12 gauge shots. :)

@salthegeek: A quick search revealed this page

@salthegeek: I'm sure you could get an Airsoft Thompson, and Airsoft SPAS, and the conversion kit parts for the Rifle, all for about the same price, and plink plink plink all day long. ;)