Dunno about atomic batteries, but there was a point in time when the US government was tinkering around with the idea of an atomic-powered jet fighter. You use the atomic reaction to superheat the air in what would normally be the combustion chamber, which causes it to blow out the exhaust end of the jet engine with…

I was thinking more that it oozes get-the-job-done-right-the-first-time impracticality. Smart Cars are practical. Well, unless you live near Detroit, and then they're mobile suicide-booths.

Meh, the B:TASmobile looks like an upside-down limo.

1. She's wearing a string bikini. Not dental floss, but not exactly the sort of thing you'd see a lifeguard wearing either. You don't wear a swimsuit that revealing unless you _want_ to wear a swimsuit that revealing.

I was going to question your inclusion of Sammy Jackson in that list, but then I realized you're right. He'd fight them without the eyepatch so he could glare at them with the empty eyesocket.

I once read an article that explained the physics behind the hammer trick. I'm still not sure I buy it. Yes, if the hammer was launched fast enough, anyone who managed to get a solid grip would be pulled along for the ride. But that whole "equal and opposite reaction" thing tells me that if you were able to throw…

The real archer is wearing a single arm-guard, properly positioned, because he's a pro and he knows there's a chance of borking a shot and putting a nice red patch across half his forearm, but it probably never sees actual contact more than once each day. Renner is wearing _two_, one positioned in a place that would…

You say that now. But when you go watch this on opening night with the founding chapter of the Hawkeye Fan Club, and it turns out every single member is an Olympic-level archer in his or her own right...

Imagine how well The Matrix would have done if, instead of doing intensive training for a couple of months with a professional martial arts instructor, Laurence and Keanu had just showed up the day of the shoot and proceeded to go out there and slap-fight each other like a couple of nancy-boys. Imagine how pathetic…

No props to The Core? That and Double Jeopardy had be laughing as soon as I heard the basic premise, and I can't even bring myself to watch either movie.

The replicas also do not have the spec power sources of the fictional versions, and even though the builder threw out better stats for the Cheesemobile (more hp, better 1/4 mile, higher top speed), he still said he'd bet on the Burtonmobile. But mostly there's the fact that they had to switch lanes so we could see…

Point of fact: She only says she doesn't want to do it _once_, and immediately afterwards clarifies that by saying that it's cold. And then she betrays both lies when she's actually washing the car. She's grinning ear-to-ear. Clearly she knows she has a hot body and enjoys the idea that guys will be drooling over…

Wait, was this supposed to determine which actual Batmobile would win in a race, or which fan-built replica would win based on whatever random, non-spec design choices the guy made at the time of construction? Or which could win a clearly staged ending, in spite of the fact that it was losing the entire time?

I could totally build a LEGO version of that (I have built a 6-wide, minifig-scale version of the base design). But I won't. And the reason you'll never see me set foot in one of those? Well...

Maybe they were telling the version where Apollo swiped Odysseus' bow and simply couldn't draw it properly because he wasn't Odysseus.

You can't plan for an absolute maximum load on a dam like that, so you have no choice but to seriously over-engineer it to account for any possible conceivable maximum load that could maybe, potentially happen on a single instance in the far-flung future, and then make it even stronger. So, any weakness caused by a…

Meh. When I was in 8th grade, our Health class watched a recording of a live human birth. From over the doctor's shoulder.

Darryl uses a crossbow. Technique is less of an issue when all you have to do is point it and pull the trigger.

If at any point the string on your strung bow is _not_ taut, you've got the wrong string on that bow. I think what you're referring to is "full draw". This is what you get when you stretch your arms out as wide as you can, then fold one arm in half at the elbow, and then curl your far hand into a loose fist and your…

There's a reason that good archers were more valuable than swordsmen in medieval combat. You could teach any reasonably fit man to swing a sword well enough to kill in a week. You had to start training archers when they were kids.