Most desired Sci-Fi Invention

[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)

[Sa'ar Chasm]

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.

We already have that. It's called IUPAC (the Internation Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry).

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)

Actually, the front page of my thesis said "Master of Science". I had to check it against somebody else's thesis to make sure.

[Nate the Great]

Uh, that's not universal yet, or else we'd have km/hr on our speed limit signs. Plus I hear the Alpha Centurians are miffed at our presumption.

[Chancellor Valium]

We use the same abbreviations for science degrees over here.

Oh, and as I understand it, metric is used universally by scientists.