This is a fantastic list.

I'm going through DS9 again right now, and more than anything...it's cemented in my mind that much of Voyager was way, way better.

"Plasma bolts" are things that sound cool, but really aren't feasible as a weapon. By the time a ball of plasma gets to a target, it will have expanded so much that the net effect will be a slightly higher particle count in the Solar wind.

I just have to leave this fantastic tune here:

This stuff is such bulshytt, even on this guy's own terms. Early humans had technological tools and hierarchical societies. Different people got spears or digging sticks, contributing to stratification of society. And life expectancies were brief. It's ridiculous to suggest that early people were more "robust" than…

The SLS is, unfortunately, *exactly* the product of corrupt politicians. NASA was internally considering much more efficient, achievable, cost-effective approaches to building a true space exploration infrastructure - on-orbit fuel depots - when the members of congress with districts including Space Shuttle jobs…

I dislike this idea almost as much as I dislike the idea of an "Incredibles" sequel. "Galaxy Quest" is just too perfect a standalone movie: it's the best parody of Star Trek ever conceived, it's actually got a plot with heavy character development, it's surprising, funny, charming, and its 90 minutes demonstrate…

I've gotta come out against Sixty Symbols on this one.

Yeah, it may seem a mixed blessing of sorts. But since the closed-loop "bionic pancreas" involves three infusion sites and I - being a skinny guy - struggle with one, I'm happy to offload an insertion site to something noninvasive. Besides, diabetes treatment is a very data-heavy process anyway, and if Google notices…

Someone has to hold on to those romantic notions in the face of current political realities...

Is there a way for it to screencast from a PC to the TV?

Does he also list all the times he made predictions that came out wrong? If not, he's setting himself up for confirmation bias.

Once, and only once, did 3D add to the experience of a movie: "Gravity."

If one can't reproduce results, how does one know that the same effects happen in the real world? The reproducibility requirements of the scientific method are critical to maintaining the relevance of any findings. Otherwise, I can always plausibly suggest that an experiment or analysis doesn't hold up beyond…

The bases you suggest are equally arbitrary.

NASA needs ideas at every level of development, if it's going to conduct exploration at the pitiful funding levels assigned by Congress. That's the terrific thing about NIAC: it's a grant program that specifically asks for ideas that would not be ready for implementation until 10-15 years of development. It's all…

...said fictional aliens.

Those are excellent ideas! Reminds me of the stuff we discussed when I was in Mason Peck's lab. We need more researchers looking into that sort of concept, at least at the back-of-the-envelope level.

"In orbit propellant depot" is the search keyword you want. That's definitely the way I'd do it. It's also what NASA was looking into before Congress made it build the SLS to preserve jobs in certain districts.