Most desired Sci-Fi Invention

[Chancellor Valium]

'Anything that happens, happens'.

Written by an atheist looking for rational explanations to the universe.

Consider in terms of rationality.

[Nate the Great]

"No matter where you go, there you are."

Written for Buckaroo Bonzai, looking for a phrase that the builders of the Excelsior can rip off.

Consider in terms of blatant cliche emulation.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

All right...this is much easier with props.

Consider a glass of water. Nothing in it, no ice cubes or rye or sand or anything. It has no hue. It's colourless. You can see right through it - everything on the otherside of the glass is visible, albeit distorted. It's clear.

Now consider a glass of chocolate milk. It's got a colour: brown. You can't see what's behind the glass. It's not clear, it's opaque.

There'll be a quiz on this later. Just be glad we no longer use the term "water-white".

[Gatac]

Your explanation is clear, but lacks local color.

Gatac

[Nate the Great]

If you can add sand to drinking water, then I'm not going to the right parties.

I think we've got the "seethroughability" range pinned down to transparent and opaque, but I'm not sure that transparent=clear.

What color is "water-white" supposed to be? I've seen "clear" water, white cloudy water, red water, and so on.

As long as we're off-topic, how many people prefer a certain amount of "hardness" in their drinking water? I was raised in a house that used well water. We needed a water softener for the washing machine and so on, but the stuff coming out of the taps was all natural. The Mississippi River was literally across the street. I was raised on "rust water" and like it, within reason. To this day I find that nothing can quench my thirst like ice-cold, rock-hard water.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I think we've got the "seethroughability" range pinned down to transparent and opaque, but I'm not sure that transparent=clear.

I've got an M.Sc. in Chemistry that says it does. Plain water is clear and colourless. Kool-Aid is clear and coloured.

What color is "water-white" supposed to be?

Colourless. There's a reason it's not used anymore.

[Nate the Great]

I think we're getting to the point where the "most desired scifi invention" is a universal translator/dictionary/Encyclopedia Galactica/etc. that contains a unified set of terms.

You say "Master's of Science" as M.Sc.? Never saw that one before. Around here, it's either M.S. for master of science or M.(abbreviation of the major)
When I finally go back to grad school, I'll be going for M.C.E.

[Nate the Great]

I think we're getting to the point where the "most desired scifi invention" is a universal translator/dictionary/Encyclopedia Galactica/etc. that contains a unified set of terms.

You say "Master's of Science" as M.Sc.? Never saw that one before. Around here, it's either M.S. for master of science or M.(abbreviation of the major)