That guy might be a few cards shy of a full deck — he thinks that substitute sugar is really a government tracking system.

[…] including addition and subtraction, memory operations, compares, shifts, logic operations, and condition operations.

Whenever any boats or floats moving in opposite directions, approach a place in the Canal which is less than thirty feet wide on its surface, or which will not safely permit their passing, it shall be the duty of the master of the boat or float ascending the Canal, to stop at such distance from such narrow place as may be convenient for the descending boat or float to pass through such narrow place, and there wait until such passage is effected: Provided, however that a descending boat or float, that is not a licensed packet boat which is about thus to meet an ascending licensed packet boat, shall stop and give place for the said licensed packet boat, first to pass through the said narrow place;- and, provided, also, that descending rafts shall, in all such cases, stop and give place for boats and every other description of ascending floats first to pass through the same.

“[…] A couple of … after the last rescue ship had lif … into space and shifted into the … of supercee, the star exploded.” “Surely you know the answer to that one,” he said after a moment or two, “or have you forgotten all about a little thing called the decrement effect?” The Psychologist nodded. “Precisely. The decrement effect. The factor that makes supercee — supercee as we know it, that is — inoperable in intergalactic space.” He looked thoughtful. “I don’t think anyone’s yet evolved a satisfactory theory to account for the existence of the effect. The only thing that’s certain is that it’s tied up in some way with gravity fields — or, rather, with the absence of g-fields.” He shrugged. “What I can’t understand, Psy, is why in the name of Mira the Terrans couldn’t have been admitted to the Federation as soon as they developed supercee. […]”