It's smart enough to know its limits. It tells time and leaves the other stuff to other gadgets.

But this isn't a case of a commercial exception. Commercial aircraft operators are subject to far more stringent regulations than private/recreational*. And that's fine, particularly for passenger carriers. For the public on the ground, I want the regulations to treat commercial and private safety equally. I'm not going to be happier if some billionaire drops his personal 737 on my house than if it was Southwest Airlines. On the other hand, once a drone operator 'goes comercial', I would expect them to carry liability insurance and have deep pockets to protect. As a result, I'd be more comfortable with a business operated drone than a hobby flyer over my house.

This is just like Uber and Lyft vs New York City. The entrenched cab interests have one way of doing things and they are using their regulatory agency to block new technology. The same appears to be happening for flight serice companies. Piloted aircraft for hire are having the FAA protect their turf.

*The general aviation manufacturing business almost went under in this country until legislation was passed to limit their liability. That runs counter to the idea that there is an atmosphere of business exception in this country.

Our energy supply is still at the mercy of those damned Arabs!

Maybe. But then perhaps its time for Congress to rewrite the mandate and take the commercial/hobby distinction out.

Leave them with the safety and certification roles. But the operation of drones needs to be consistent across all uses. Something isn't more or less safe if money changes hands. We (the USA) are going to be left behind as other jurisdictions allow commercial drone use, subject to rules compliance. Commercial use brings money into the industry, which pays for R&D and the refinement of safety rules. US manufacturers don't have the ability to participate in this, leaving the business to foreign concerns. That is definitely NOT the FAA's charter.

Because historically, the response to unfettered competition in New York City involved bodies floating in the East River. Either the city 'manages' the market using regulation or Vinnie and Guido do it with steel pipes.

Sleep in?

I don't understand. This just means you swing by and do the update after they close the bar and throw you out.

That's SOP around here.

Stolen from a Tesla service center. As such, they had possession and responsibility for the car. Probably no warrant needed. A simple call from the service department to Tesla's IT department would suffice.

And then perhaps the Chinese will return the iPhone trademark to the stove company.

A reflector like one of those disco balls. When illuminated by a laser, it breaks up the beam and illuminates a number of spots on surrounding objects. Passive defense. No sensors/electronics required.

I had a CFL lamp fail about a year ago that I'd had for around 15 years. That was one of the ones where the bulb could be replaced independantly of the ballast base. It had gone through a couple of bulbs, but the electronic ballast finally quit. IIRC, it was a US made lamp, quite expensive. Since then, the (imported) integrated bulb/ballast units seem to have lives about the same as incandescent lamps.

About a year ago, I bought a batch of LED PAR floodlights. Around a dozen. One failed recently which I'm hoping was some sort of infant mortality. If not, LED lamps are not yet at an economic break even point yet.

In Morse code: 'Come in Rangoon.'

Submunitions

I think you've got the wrong success criteria there. It's if you can't tell she's a she or not.

Only if I can get there and withdraw my savings first.

All of you haters underestimate the extent to which our economy depends on the unimpeded flow of capital and assets facilitated by these legal loopholes. Plug them and 1929 and 2008 will look like good times by comparison.

What I object to is the two tiered system that results from this. Any one of us plebes tries to move more than $10K across a border without doing the paperwork and its off to the rebar Hilton. A company moves assets worth billions from a high to low tax rate regime and nobody notices. Its not that I think the latter is evil. I just want the ability to participate as well. Equal protection under the law and all that.

Now, replace the term 'Bitcoin' in that sentence with 'unregistered securities'. Then ask Wall Street's dark markets, the banking and investment community what their opinion is on that and they will 1) shit themselves, and 2) run to Congress for an exemption to monetary reporting regulations.