Sort-of memes that are cracking you up at the moment

While Wikipedia assumes that's a Wagnerian reference ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannhauser_Gate ), I vaguely recall stumbling across a reference to a Tannhauser gate as part of a proposed experiment to look for faster-than-light transmission of information, which might make the c-beams just beams of light - c is the traditional symbol for the speed of light in physics.

While that sounds highly intellectual moth, I suspect you may be referring to the folklore behind the successful Activision game "Heavy Gear".

In particular this line, "In A.D. 4318, Professor Markus Tannhauser wrote his masterpiece, "Principia Universalis." His Unified Theory explained time-space discontinuities and their potential as gateways to the stars."

As explained in the glossary here: http://www.dp9.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=94

Unless of course you are part of Markus Tannhauser's team utilising one of those gates to come back in time and let us know about it....?