XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: dtravel@sonic.net   
      
   On 3/7/2014 4:04 AM, J. Clarke wrote:   
   > In article <531935c4$0$52799$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, dtravel@sonic.net   
   > says...   
   >>   
   >> On 3/6/2014 12:07 PM, Your Name wrote:   
   >>> In article J. Clarke wrote:   
   >>>> In article , proto@panix.com   
   >>>> says...   
   >>>>> In article <170120141648063157%YourName@YourISP.com>,   
   >>>>>    Your Name  wrote:   
   >>>>>> In article , John F. Eldredge   
   >>>>>>  wrote:   
   >>>>>>> On Thu, 16 Jan 2014 09:16:02 +1300, Your Name wrote:   
   >>>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>>> Amazon, and others, are working on having smaller items delivered by   
   >>>>>>>> autonomous flying drone (yet another reason flying cars are a silly   
   >>>>>>>> idea) ... so expect your next book order to be "delivered" to the   
   >>>>>>>> swimming pool in your neighbours back garden.  ;-)   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> One Facebook joke I have seen described the new Amazon drones as "skeet   
   >>>>>>> shooting with prizes".   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> I have no doubt some criminal scum have already thought of such things   
   >>>>>> to intercept deliveries.  :-(  Just one of many reason why it's a   
   >>>>>> rather ridiculous idea.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> It's not ridiculous in *all* situations, for example, it would be   
   >>>>> perfect for deliveries to cattle stations in the Australian Outback   
   >>>>> and perhaps some parts of the Arid Zone in the US.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> 5 seconds should be enough to show the lack of practicality in   
   >>>>> Manhattan.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> The trouble is that little electric helicopters don't have the range to   
   >>>> make deliveries to cattle stations in the Australian outback, but they   
   >>>> do have the range to make deliveries in Manhattan.   
   >>>   
   >>> Besides which, with the exception perhaps of emergency medical   
   >>> supplies, to deliver all the goods for one cattle station in the   
   >>> Australian outback would require thousands of drones.   
   >>>   
   >>> Even Amazon delivering small items to one big city like Manhattan would   
   >>> require many hundreds of the ugly things and by the time you add in   
   >>> every other delivery service doing the same thing, you would barely see   
   >>> the sky thanks to them clogging up the airspace.   
   >>>   
   >> How often does one see the sky in Manhattan _now_?   
   >   
   > Depends on where in Manhattan you are, street level in the financial   
   > district all you see is small strips of it between buildings.  On the   
   > observation deck of Empire State you see quite a lot of it.   
   >   
   But do people living in NYC actually go to the Empire State Building   
   observation deck or is that something only the tourists do?   
      
   --   
   The 'Enterprise' crew in the 2009 Star Trek are adrenaline addicted,   
   hyper-active teenagers with ADD whose Ritalin got replaced with   
   methamphetamine, displaying a level of discipline that a Somali pirate   
   wouldn't tolerate.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)