At which point Uber might (I stress the word "might"), just get the appropriate liability insurance as an umbrella covering their "contractors", pay the required operator fees, chip the spent money out of the drivers pockets, claim they were always going to do this if needed to but hadn't realized they were required to, and use the garnished name recognition to take a major stake in the updated business model.

Not sure if they just plan to grow and become a conglomerate middle man, or if they are pursuing a growth phase pre-speculative acquisition, but either way the people in charge there now have show they have no willingness to follow existing laws unless forced to, in their pursuit of the large market share.

Also so the crew taking care of them could see them and make sure that they arrive still living. But don't let common sense reign in a scenario involving a crew piloting a stolen alien starship in poor condition.

and Time Travel ... can't forget that part of the scenario.

I think Afghanistan has a relatively loose immigration policy (or at least the use to until recently).

Won't work. What happens at night?
We need Solar Panels on the Moon too!
Duh!

Really?

Building Management I work in wired the building for our local Cable Co. They wanted to provide free basic cable. We passed an insisted on free internet instead.

But then we're a private company, not a government bureaucracy.

Its not a matter of shutting down television, but revoking their franchise, and allowing competitors access. ... oh wait ... now that all the Cable Companies are merging there are no competitors anymore.

Another thing I do is send my taxes in a month early, in case I make a mistake, they will let me know instead of fining me. If you're getting a refund that doesn't matter though (because you won't be fined for being late if you're getting a refund, April 15th is not actually the deadline for a refund).

Actually it can make a difference, but you are correct, it doesn't affect how much money you're due (if you have a legitimate refund due you).

IANACPA, but my wife is (and prepares personal tax "during the season").

In some states (and the Fed), the pool of money available for refunds often gets depleted mid-way through the tax season. Submitting early gets your refund processed before the state/fed need to replenish these funds, which can sometimes get you your money faster.

No, but they might have spent $3.9B so they can say its CPU is not "Made in China" and have a Chinese company "procure" the designs and start making the next gen chips based on the tech, while also having to worry about grey market versions of Samsung and Apple devices that utilize the processor.

If they can control a key component of the device (and "made in america" certainly provides that), then they can minimize grey market goods impact on their branded devices by potentially relegating them to an inferior parts chain.

Oddly I finally am catching up on back episodes of Person of Interest.

Just saw "Prophets" which contained a few clips of failed AI attempts ... felt very apropos, so I tracked down a link on YouTube. For your viewing (and thinking) pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkCGDcnmXEs

From the article:

Google already has a separate lease for another portion of the former air base, where it wants to build a second campus. Page and Brin have also used the Moffett runways for their collection of private jets, under another lease arrangement that's been criticized by some watchdog groups who say NASA gave the executives a sweetheart deal.

Because they are essentially renting the space next door to their new campus, and hanger space?

and part of the settlement was that Apple Computer Corp agreed to stay out of the Music business ... until a bunch of years later when they renegotiated.