Comment Some good news (Score 1) 530
Will be easier on the cleanup people when the robots commit suicide by jumping off the building. At least until the cleaners are replaced by robots too.
Why do they need windows in the first place? I mean subs don't have any and they do just fine without them. There's arguably less things to hit flying than there are in a sub as well. OK there is the small matter of subs cruising at 32 MPH ( ~31 knots) and a plane cruising at 750 MPH (0.75 Mach) but really a pilot should be able to compensate for that...right?
Sure, in the open sea subs use instruments. Even the periscopes these days are simply cameras. But in harbors or waterways subs move on the surface with conning tower manned. And all they have to deal with are a few larger ships and a couple more smaller harbor craft. Now, take a plane's equivalent: ramp areas or taxiways. They have to deal with houndreds of ground service equipment, aircraft service equipment, cars, and trucks. Not to mention thousands of people. As someone who has worked on a ramp around wide-body aricraft, I'm not going anywhere near a plane where I cannot see the pilot.
I'm still waiting for the Teeth of the Tiger shopping-mall attacks. We saw what happened in Kenya recently. Just imagine that in several malls across the US.
After 9/11 we actually got pretty good at keeping terrorists from getting to the United States, so I don't think attacks like these are a particularly likely occurrence. First you've got to get enough committed people here to carry out the attacks, which means you have to find people that aren't already on the radar of American intelligence, then get them through the Visa process. Once they're here you've got to obtain all the weaponry you'll need, because you're sure as hell not bringing it here in your checked baggage, so now you've got to deal with the American criminal element (not exactly the most trustworthy lot) to get your hands on a cache of firearms and explosives, all while remaining off the radar of law enforcement. It's really not as easy as it sounds when you open those technothrillers....
Remember how they got over in the book: our southern border is very porous. And once inside the country guns are very easy to get, and even semi-automatic rifles purchased legally can be dangerous in the wrong hands. All you need is one convert or supporter here to buy the guns at a gun show, gun stores, or even privately over the internet.
I bet you if he wrote about child pornography or terrorism it would be a different story.
Tom Clancy penned a novel in 1994 that ended with a 767 being flown into the United States Capitol. Seven years before 9/11. Nobody put him in jail, before or after.
I'm still waiting for the Teeth of the Tiger shopping-mall attacks. We saw what happened in Kenya recently. Just imagine that in several malls across the US.
Similar attitudes? I dunno, Tesla seems to be building luxury EVs and google want's to turn your car into a self driving spam box since you can focus your attention on ads during your commute time.
That's probably going to be fine for mass marketed cheap crap, but probably not if you are trying to sell 80k+ luxury cars.
The Ford Model T cost $850 in 1909. The average hourly wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour. That is a luxury price for a car. 5 years later as demand rose and production capacity expanded the price cut in half. The successor to the Model T was the Model A which, almost 20 years later, cost $500. Building luxury cars gets you a brand name, it brings in capital, and it lets you develop and expand production capacity. As your costs go down you can lower prices and expand into more economically priced models.
A fastball to the head can kill you. That's where the standard should be.
So you want the FAA to take over the MLB?
Even Abstergo Entertainment's offices in Assassin's Creed 4 were directly modeled after Ubisoft Montreal's.
They have cells in the basement?
with a lovely willing girl
Or at least lovely.
Come on. Even if you are desperate you should at least be trying to get 2 out of 3.
What better abbreviation of "self-portrait" would you suggest to fit in an 80-character story headline or 50-character comment subject?
Well, the words "picture" or "photo" or, in this case, "video" sufficed just fine for decades before some idiots started to use the word "selfie".
"What man has done, man can aspire to do." -- Jerry Pournelle, about space flight
