Consider this for a moment: The literally hundreds of thousands (probably more like millions) of people across the world who would give their eye teeth for the opportunity to not only be able to vote, but to be able to vote and not be afraid of being shot or blown up or have their families threatened by whatever…

I wonder how much of this is truly Google wanting to make things easier as the main goal, or just as a happy by-product (from their point of view) of some kind of universal ID that would allow them to REALLY target ad results?

There's a fun sci-fi story written by Travis S. Taylor of "Rocket City Rednecks" fame, called "Warp Speed," that is set in the relatively near future. Used the Alcubierre warp theory to good effect.

Something's seriously wrong where even the possibility of viewing a frankly stupid video clip is enough to cause a reaction like this.

Larry Niven has great space battles with Bussard ramjets, all "limited" to some fractional percentage of light speed, and he still manages to make them nail-biters.

Perhaps for interplanetary distances, the amount of energy/resources would be such a tiny fraction of that required for interstellar travel, that it would still be feasible and cost-effective. The only concerns I would have (ha!) would be how far away from a planetary gravitational field would the vessel have to be in…

This is fantastic news. Even if the basic research they do doesn't get the results they're hoping for, who knows where it may lead? That's the wonderful thing about research - serendipity can bring unexpected ideas and avenues to pursue.

You're welcome :)

Love the artwork - fantastic job! :)

I sure wouldn't want to arm wrestle with her. I'd like to keep some small shreds of my pride :)

That's horrible. :(

I've been wanting a full-blown movie of this storyline, especially by the CG company that did the trailers. It would be fantastic, and I'd definitely pay good money to see it in the theaters.

Thank you for posting this, Casey.

No, you're not.

That was cool.

Rocket sleds played a key role in finding out how high-speed ejection seats could be manufactured to safely extract pilots from jets. They also helped us understand the effects of high acceleration and deceleration on the human body, critical during the early days of the Space Race.

Great article and photos, Jesus. Thank you.

Ok, insanely (relatively) jealous, now :) It looks like it's ridiculously fun! I think there's one here in PA, but it's a couple hundred miles from here. I'm putting it down on my "Must Do" list.

Really hoping that India and Pakistan manage to settle their differences (relatively) amicably, without either side resorting to nuclear attacks.

There's the vertical windtunnel you can "skydive" in. Looks like almost too much fun to be legal! I'd love to try it some time :)