To boldly go ... but not yet

Could ‘Star Trek’ technology help transport troops?:
"'We have to be looking well into the future, not just the needs of tomorrow or even next year,' says Col. Mike Heil, who directs the [propulsion research] laboratory [at Wright-Patterson AFB]. 'We're looking at perhaps 30 years.'"

In a report on MSNBC.com, NBC correspondent Tom Costello informs us that the US Air Force paid $25,000 for a report on the feasibility of transporting troops and materiel like they do on Star Trek. In a 78 page report, the optimistically named firm Warp Drive Metrics of Las Vegas concluded "We are still very far away from being able to entangle and teleport human beings and bulk inanimate objects."

Gee, I could have told them that for the price of a good cup of coffee and spared them the need to read and comment on and file the report. For $25,000, Bill Shatner could have flown out the Wright-Patterson and explained to the Air Force that it only works in Hollywood. He probably would have thrown in an autographed 8x10 photo in his Captain Kirk suit for Col. Heil.

This is a near-perfect waste of taxpayer money and a great reason why it's appropriate that "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."