The problem with calculations like this is Joe Average rarely thinks about Total Cost of Ownership when it comes to his car. Generally, he thinks about gas and parking, and that's it - So they'd cringe at a car sharing mode at 50 cents per minute (for example) because "Gas and Parking costs way less than that."

Oh, cry me a river. Drone operators no longer have an unlimited right to invade people's privacy and endanger their safety. Sorry dude, but the airspace is common property and it's sensible to regulate its use for the common good. Either that, or we can have drone wars, where people who don't want your drones in the skies fly their own to take them down.

Seems like people running mailing lists need to take a look at how spam filters work, rather than mail providers changing anything.

No, you're backwards. It's up to spam filter developers to understand how mailing lists work and not falsely flag legitimate traffic. If your filter breaks a mailing list, your filter is broken.

It is stealing, though. They retain the copyright. Saying it's not stealing is like saying taking an unlocked bicycle off the street isn't stealing.

Iran: Never invaded anyone

Because the only place they might consider invading would nuke them into slag.

never used weapons of mass destruction... ...never posed a serious threat to anyone

Because we've prevented them from getting WMDs or anything else that would allow them to pose a serious threat.

The entire point of everyone having a gun is so the GOVERNMENT is not safe - from the people.

Oh give it a fucking rest you American Gun Nut Anonymous Coward. The government has drones, warthogs and TANKS. You really think the Colt 45 you keep under your pillow and caress every night before falling asleep is going to make a difference?

Now go away and watch your VHS copy of Red Dawn again and leave the rest of us in peace.

Have you seen the Iraqi military in action lately?

Saudi Arabia has 200,000 active-duty military personnel, in a country led by old men who consider the middle ages to be a little too progressive for their liking.

Google Maps puts inappropriate weight towards making a route more complicated with short freeway hops

I wouldn't exclusively blame Google for this though.

I travel regularly to the USA on business, and I've used rental GPSes (Garmin / TomTom) as well as Apple and Google services on my phones. They all seem to do this equally - I'm always puzzled why I'm merging on and off in a 1/4 mile....

It's interesting how Joe Q. Public continues to think that their data and voice zips around the globe via satellites, when in reality the vast majority moves on our terrestrial networks.

Just last week I overheard someone commenting on how their text messages were going via satellite.

It is easy to look like victim and bully peoples [sic]

You just quote the parent in your reply and presto problem solved.

For me, one of the most interesting (yet seemingly ignored) cultural component is the droids.

In the Star Wars universe, Droids like Artoo and Threepio and, presumably, millions of others, are self-aware and intelligent. They appear to feel physical pain and have emotions like happiness, fear and sadness.

Yet as near as I can see in the canon, droids have no rights whatsoever. They can be bought and sold, ordered to their death, kidnapped by Jawas, melted, sent to the spice mine of Kessel or smashed into who knows what.

...and don't me started on restraining bolts.

I for one look forward to staring face to face at strangers

What in the picture of the config suggests you'll be staring face-to-face?

Try 18 hours Melbourne (aus) to London. Overnight.

Well, when you consider it used to take 3-4 weeks (by ship) this feels like an improvement to me.

This design violates current social norms for personal space. As such I dislike it.

Did you RTFA? In the picture, the people next to you are further away than they are today, and you're not looking directly at anyone.

How the hell did the motor manufacturer prevent the flight?

As you say, it's a prototype on loan for testing, and the contract terms explicitly say Siemens get to say what they can and can't do with it.

The Airbus thing is complete bull; they'd have zero interest in preventing a test flight like this, and plenty of professional interest in seeing it fly.