The character is...called...He-Man. That's a couple of pronouns away from That-Guy. You have gone neckbeard on something that was taken far less seriously by the marketing people at Mattel who invented him.

This is the funniest thing I've read all day. +1

Thank you for your insight. I disagree with a couple of your points, but the specifics aren't really relevant to your conclusion, which I agree with. There will have to be some kind of negotiation with the northerners.

Get a powerful enough EMP and yeah, it could short a car permanently. However, such a weapon probably isn't portable, especially not portable enough to fit in a 10' missile. Fortunately, you don't need this weapon to pack that much power. If you overload the power grid for a whole city (you won't do too much permanent…

One doesn't need to set foot in Pakistan to understand the situation. One merely has to pay attention to those that have and take even an afternoon to study the history of the place. I would agree that the vast majority of Americans, INCLUDING those in power, do not even take that minimal step in educating themselves…

I also caught the conflict of using a placebo versus a half-assed placebo to test the placebo effect.

That was my larger point. "Right" when defined as "what the public wants" doesn't enter into the equation. That doesn't mean that those in charge are conspiring against the people. Islamabad and Washington probably think they're acting in everyone's collective best interest. 'Best interest' is not always the same as…

Not capital gains, capital budget. The actual money could come from retained earnings or, just as likely, a new debt issue. Capital gains is really more of a tax issue than a corporate accounting or finance strategy. Either way, they set a budget (say, $2 billion) and the minions beneath the c-suite use it to do the…

Well, it does sound like cats dying in a fire...not a song I'll admit, more of a sound. So I concede to you on technical grounds.

Actually, this technology means your provider can serve your area with fewer towers. That means they can spend their capital budget expanding coverage instead of beefing up built-out areas. You won't get a lower price (that would require separating the retail side from the network infrastructure, which isn't going to…

Depends on how strong the EMP is and how well shielded your stuff is. Your car? It'll start in the morning. Your desktop? The monitor might get blown out and the keyboard fried, but the tower will probably work fine, protected in its steel case. Your laptop and cellphone are less safe.

Here's a not-so-secret secret: the Pakistani government could stop the drones if they really wanted to. They have an air force, and since the US sold them said air force, it's not that bad of one either. The reality is that the Pakistani government just SAYS it wants the attacks to stop, but behind closed doors either…

This isn't that complex of a technology. The Russians could certainly build one of these, and I have confidence in the Chinese as well. The only reason why they don't is because 1) it's expensive, not just to develop, but on a per-missile basis. 2) It's less effective than explosives aimed at a power plant. 3) The…

That drone wasn't hacked. That was Iranian propaganda. The RQ-170 in question just got lost and fell out of the sky when it ran out of fuel, just like the dozens of other drones that have met the exact same fate.

Cars, even modern ones, aren't really vulnerable to EMPs. A few years back, various police forces were experimenting with using EMPs to disable cars to stop chases. The trials failed, as it was very hard to reliably stop the cars, since the electronics were housed in a giant steel shell that was practically always…