Rofl I just about fell out of my chair just now

It is a period of civil war. Rebel pranksters, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the forces of Taking White House Petitions Too Seriously. Specifically: They have secured the 25,000 signatures necessary to get a formal response from the White House to their call for America to build a DEATH STAR.

"Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016," the petition reads.

"By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense."

Some estimates put the cost of doing so at around $852 quadrillion, roughly 13,000 times the gross domestic product of the entire Earth—even when factoring in the savings of not putting any guardrails around any of the facility's seemingly endless number of bridges, spans, shafts and pits. And history cautions against being too proud of the technological terror thus constructed, because the ability to destroy a planet, or even a whole system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

Crossing the 25,000-signature threshold—right before the Dec. 14 deadline—doesn't actually guarantee a response. The White House has made clear that it will pick and choose which petitions will get an answer. We may have to rely on the Bothans.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/build-death-star-petition-clears-threshold-obama-response-185314096--politics.html

Lets say we can somehow pull the $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$ from somewhere, there's the technology that we would need and also the resources. Its to my understanding that the main reactor is able to put out more energy than our own sun can (many many many times more) at any given moment, which would require lots of technological innovations, then the super laser that can destroy an entire planet - though why we need one when we're only limited to earth is beyond me - is a technological feat that we probably will not see in our life time. Then the ability to get all the people to build it would be a huge pain because of the whole thing of it being in space. Lets start smaller and build an Imperial Star Destroyer, cheaper and far more practical. Why do we need a technological terror that can destroy our own planet that we have yet to get off of? Are we going to blow a hole out against our enemies, which would probably cause many problems with everything on earth?

I want to bring up again just one thing again, that I want to stress alot, WHERE WILL WE GET THE RESOURCES???? It's the size of a class 4 moon for god's sake (or should i say: The Force's sake?)!!!

Lets say we can somehow pull the $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$ from somewhere, there's the technology that we would need and also the resources. Its to my understanding that the main reactor is able to put out more energy than our own sun can (many many many times more) at any given moment, which would require lots of technological innovations, then the super laser that can destroy an entire planet - though why we need one when we're only limited to earth is beyond me - is a technological feat that we probably will not see in our life time. Then the ability to get all the people to build it would be a huge pain because of the whole thing of it being in space. Lets start smaller and build an Imperial Star Destroyer, cheaper and far more practical. Why do we need a technological terror that can destroy our own planet that we have yet to get off of? Are we going to blow a hole out against our enemies, which would probably cause many problems with everything on earth?

 

I want to bring up again just one thing again, that I want to stress alot, WHERE WILL WE GET THE RESOURCES???? It's the size of a class 4 moon for god's sake (or should i say: The Force's sake?)!!!

i find your lack of faith disturbing

Lets say we can somehow pull the $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$ from somewhere, there's the technology that we would need and also the resources. Its to my understanding that the main reactor is able to put out more energy than our own sun can (many many many times more) at any given moment, which would require lots of technological innovations, then the super laser that can destroy an entire planet - though why we need one when we're only limited to earth is beyond me - is a technological feat that we probably will not see in our life time. Then the ability to get all the people to build it would be a huge pain because of the whole thing of it being in space. Lets start smaller and build an Imperial Star Destroyer, cheaper and far more practical. Why do we need a technological terror that can destroy our own planet that we have yet to get off of? Are we going to blow a hole out against our enemies, which would probably cause many problems with everything on earth?

 

I want to bring up again just one thing again, that I want to stress alot, WHERE WILL WE GET THE RESOURCES???? It's the size of a class 4 moon for god's sake (or should i say: The Force's sake?)!!!

Assuming we're using current resources found on earth, the core of the earth is Iron, mining the core of a planet would yield more then enough raw iron ore to process into steel, however mining the core of earth doesn't seem like a good long term plan.

We could instead, mine the plethora of mineral and ore rich asteroids in our solar system.

forbes published an article on this subject

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/02/21/how-much-would-it-cost-to-build-the-death-star-from-star-wars/

apparently the core of the earth would yield enough to build 2 billion death stars, but just one would cost 13,000 times the world’s GDP, which just means that you need to borrow the cash from every single nation on earth, and then just default on them in the most awesome way ever (with a giant laser)

In the other news, some Alderaanians are looking more and more nervous at the moment...

Just a practical advice to the builders: No open reactor/ventilation shafts that reach from the core to the surface. Atleast put some wire nets/meshes to block anything dropping in.