Imagine all that happened, and then I wasn't there to receive it. Because: life.

And it still doesn't address everything from bad weather to drone malfuntion...

For dispatching a single rush package sure, it could be faster. But what does it do when it arrives? drop it on my front step where anyone can get it, or does it ring my bell, and politely hover at my door? Will it ensure i sign for it (typically rush packages are traceable)...

What if I'm in an office building? Does it drop it on the busy front steps, or does buzz in and drop it off at reception?... What if im a tenant in a skyrise the 30th floor?...does it take the elevator to the 35th floor?

Just doesn't make a lot of sense.

And for traditional daily bulk delivery; you are delivering along a street / superboxes etc... and the 1 ton truck probably carries half a ton of mail on its route, if not more.. how many drones will that take?

What is the drone range relative to a truck? What does the drone do on rainy days or windy days? How does it cope with snow? sleet? hail?

What happens when it malfunctions and has to land? (or crash)? Is my high priority rush delivery now sitting in someone's back yard or on their roof or in their swimming pool? Or up a tree? (that's what happens when you fly as the crow flies right? It may not be be next to a major road.) While a human postman is dispatched to find it..?

I may be missing something, but i just don't see where this makes sense in general. Maybe extremely cherry picked niches... but that's it.

That last scene was horrible on many levels. Here you have Padme - a strong female character - who suddenly decides that she's going to die if she can't have her man. And does. Completely disregarding that she has two babies on the way that need her. Nope. Her man's gone to the Dark Side so it's time for her to die. Every time I think of that scene, I want to rip Jar-Jar's tongue from his mouth and use it to whip Lucas. (Bonus: Without his tongue, perhaps Jar-Jar won't be able to speak.)

I'm really hoping Disney will put out a series of Star Wars movies that tie together the way the Marvel movies do - that is, they stand on their own (for the most part) but also weave together into a vast universe that builds upon itself. If they do it right, we could enter a golden age for Star Wars fans. Maybe it will finally scrub THE FILMS THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED from our memories.

Why should he return? Let's even assume for the moment and for shits and giggles that the government would be honest for a change with its promises and even grant him full amnesty. Would you wanna come to a country where the media and even some of its officials spent the better part of the last decade telling every redneck that it would be a blessing for 'murrica if you were killed, preferably painfully? Where you can't even really rely on police and other legal forces to defend you if you were attacked by said rednecks?

That whole deal smells a bit like the GDR offering its fugitives to come back with no jail time waiting for them. A few were stupid enough to go. No, they were not jailed. But their life was made miserable as can be, from no job opportunities being offered to people not wanting to associate with them, fearing the same. And if you say that it cannot happen in the US, think McCarthy and his Commie list.

Or think of companies wanting government contracts, knowing that you're persona non grata.

You just need to use a time machine to work three times during the same day. WORST. TARDIS. TRIP. EVER!

Suppose the winds change direction, those in charge offer Snowden a deal, and he accepts it. The problem here is that the winds could change again and Snowden could find himself in the US and suddenly a wanted man again. There's also the possibility that he is officially pardoned of any wrongdoing, but unofficially his life is made a living hell - if not simply ended.

I even wonder what the status of any deal would be over the course of an administration change. Let's say Obama and AG Lynch do a 180 and decide to grant Snowden a deal: Return to the US, sit in on some Oval office and congressional meetings regarding everything that took place, and no charges will be filed. For the sake of argument, let's say Snowden accepts the deal and returns to the US. Now, the 2016 elections take place and new President takes office. How bound would this new President (and his AG) be by the previous President and AG's deal? Could the new President and AG decide "deal's off" and haul Snowden in under a charge of treason? Or would they have to trump up some charge to do this? (Not a big deal for them, I'm sure. It would likely rank as "minor annoyance" versus just saying "the deal is null and void.")

Touche :)

Yeah, this triggered a WTF flag in my head, too. Most of the web servers I've worked with do just the opposite of this: If a web file is non-executable, anyone can download a copy of it. But if it's made executable, attempting to download it causes the server to run it and send you its output. So executable files are the ones that can't be downloaded by anyone.

I wonder how they have their servers configured. Maybe they've figured a way to reverse the meaning of the "x" bits, so that only non-executable files are run, while executables are sent as-is to the client. Ya think?

(Actually, I do have some directories with a .htaccess file that declare nothing there to be executable. I sometimes used that to provide an easy way for clients to download the source code rather than execute it and get its output, as happens in the main directories. But somehow, I don't think this is what that idiot was talking about. I suspect he's clueless about web servers and their capabilities, and was just making stuff up that he thought might mean something to someone. ;-)

...researchers are exchanging information with those subject to the gag being kept out of the loop because, well, if you can't bring anything to the table...

Or, in short, if you outlaw information, only outlaws have information.

All true 6 months before release.
3 weeks before release it should be a lot closer to finalized.

They should be fixing bugs and writing documentation for what's going to be in the final release by now, not still deciding what features it should have.

I was commenting specifically on having it operated by teenagers. Do try to keep up.

Driver inexperience + pressure of a random stranger + parts of town they don't know == bad idea.

It has nothing to do with knowing the location of the destination address or the best route there. It has everything to do with not knowing the roads. Not being an expert at merging, not being expert at parallel parking, not being expert at sizing up complex, unfamiliar intersections.

Saying, "no problem they have a GPS" is like saying we should let teenagers fly passenger jets because they have autopilots.

Nice rhetoric. Studies show cab drivers are less crash prone than regular drivers per hour behind the wheel. Teenagers (new drivers) are significantly more crash prone than the average.

Two 'vetted individuals' that have never met before are still strangers.

And yet, it's still better than pretty much any reality show on TV. Not saying much, I know, but I'd rather watch Battlebots (poorly put together or not) than Survivor: Yet Another Location.