Years ago I was the senior engineer for the company that ran half of the US E-911 system (50% chance your voip/cell 911 call would be routed by us). I'm afraid there was nothing very exotic about it... mostly just a bunch of racks of commodity computers (servers) doing the heavy-lifting. The video mentioned determining cellphone location from GPS and cell tower triangulation, but glossed over the next step of turning it into a state/city/street/address (reverse-geocoding). I was involved with upgrading that to be faster and more accurate. You can imagine the amount of testing required for any changes to that system...
People can't just show-up. Tourism is restricted: "a trip must be planned months in advance, and only after a visit request is approved by the Island Council."
America hates public transit SO MUCH that they made special buses just for kids. The rest of the world just lets kids ride the same trains, trams, city buses, or just walk to school.
Charlie: Easy, sport. Got myself out of Beirut once, I think I can get out of New Jersey. Mitch: Yeah, well don't be so sure. Others have tried and failed. The entire population, in fact.
I wouldn't think this would be an effective way to spread most germs. That happens more in high-traffic areas (e.g. door handles in offices), while something like this would be low-traffic, giving them time to die off. On surfaces, germ survival is: "typically, it's more like a few hours".
Video was okay, but... Star Trek explained this as "gravity plating" or metal infused with "gravitrons" so it's not like it's actively powered (except for a small number of episodes where they apparently did use that as a plot point, according to a quick search) that you could reroute to other systems. That actually makes sense because we don't know of any possible way to turn, e.g. electricity into gravitation, unlike e.g. magnetism.
Rerouting power doesn't really make sense, either. Onboard a modern-day submarine, if they lost their power plant, would they be able to e.g. hook up a nuclear warhead and generate the electricity they need??? Of course not.
While I've mentioned it here too often, recently, I have to call out The Expanse (2015-2022). The on/off nature of gravity on their ships, and the reduced gravity on smaller planets/asteroids, is a central plot point throughout the story. They don't even explain it, you just have to watch a while to figure out they have gravity while under propulsion, and float around (or use magnetic boots) when their ships are not accelerating.
Article just describes yet one more way SETI is a silly waste of money, but there are still several others...
As for Sci-Fi, it's selection bias: "The advent of TV and films, with extraterrestrials played by actors, toned down the fantasy. For budget reasons, humanlike aliens with just some specific non-human body features became the new standard."
19th century "authors used features from other animals, such as insects, crabs, and octopuses" ..."described sentient trees, tentacled seal-like creatures pushing against a harsh atmosphere, and life made of silicon and magnesium. Some other aliens are the octopean Martians from H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds (1898), the Selenites from Wells's The First Men in the Moon (1901), the birdlike Tweel from Stanley G. Weinbaum's A Martian Odyssey (1934) and even a sentient star in Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker (1937)." -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrials_in_fiction#19th_century
In 1887 Les Xipéhuz introduced "Les Xipéhuz", translated as "The Shapes". The bizarre, geometric creatures resembled "bluish, transparent cones" with their point facing upwards."In A Martian Odyssey (1934), the alien Tweel is like a plucked flamingo with its brain in its body" - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231019-the-weird-aliens-of-early-science-fiction
I would add The Blob (1958) as perhaps the most notable. And most recently, The Ring Builders (unseen) or The Dark Gods (shown) from The Expanse (2015-2022).
I much prefer apricots. Where's the apricot state? Looks like 90% are from California, 10% from Washington, so Cali it is. California will henceforth be known as the apricot state, and we'll all just forget about that gold, bears, and sunshine thing.
I had the same issue with my hands a few weeks ago... I looked like a zombie. Checked blood circulation, it seemed fine. Couldn't wash it off with soap & water at all. Then it occurred to me: I had recently gotten a new pair of black leather gloves. I was able to remove the blue color from my skin with Orange Goop.
Mitch: Yeah, well don't be so sure. Others have tried and failed. The entire population, in fact.
Rerouting power doesn't really make sense, either. Onboard a modern-day submarine, if they lost their power plant, would they be able to e.g. hook up a nuclear warhead and generate the electricity they need??? Of course not.
While I've mentioned it here too often, recently, I have to call out The Expanse (2015-2022). The on/off nature of gravity on their ships, and the reduced gravity on smaller planets/asteroids, is a central plot point throughout the story. They don't even explain it, you just have to watch a while to figure out they have gravity while under propulsion, and float around (or use magnetic boots) when their ships are not accelerating.
As for Sci-Fi, it's selection bias: "The advent of TV and films, with extraterrestrials played by actors, toned down the fantasy. For budget reasons, humanlike aliens with just some specific non-human body features became the new standard."
19th century "authors used features from other animals, such as insects, crabs, and octopuses" ..."described sentient trees, tentacled seal-like creatures pushing against a harsh atmosphere, and life made of silicon and magnesium. Some other aliens are the octopean Martians from H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds (1898), the Selenites from Wells's The First Men in the Moon (1901), the birdlike Tweel from Stanley G. Weinbaum's A Martian Odyssey (1934) and even a sentient star in Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker (1937)." -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrials_in_fiction#19th_century
In 1887 Les Xipéhuz introduced "Les Xipéhuz", translated as "The Shapes". The bizarre, geometric creatures resembled "bluish, transparent cones" with their point facing upwards."In A Martian Odyssey (1934), the alien Tweel is like a plucked flamingo with its brain in its body" - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231019-the-weird-aliens-of-early-science-fiction
I would add The Blob (1958) as perhaps the most notable. And most recently, The Ring Builders (unseen) or The Dark Gods (shown) from The Expanse (2015-2022).
Books:
https://bookdna.com/best-books/with-non-humanoid-aliens
https://www.torforgeblog.com/2024/04/08/our-favorite-non-humanoid-aliens/
"I am number 44"