8.06.2013

Droned


So. Working.

Went to Barnes and Noble because this Month's Foreign Policy Mag was supposed to have a article tangential to my topic. It didn't. But, adjacent to FP was a publication I never noticed before, DRONES.

Yes, really. Slick mag, heavy stock, 130 pages, two ads, inside front and back coveRs...car ad, Motortrend ad. And stuff to use as outlines for novels. To wit:

Predator vs. Farmer ( six cows wander onto a NDakota ranch, farmer declines to return the cows, Dept. Homeland security offered local police use of predator drone for raid on farmer and family.)

Artist creates anti-drone hoodie, evades thermal imagery drones, shows hoodie and coordinating scarf at London's Stealth Wear exhibition. The Droodie ( I made that up) is made with silver to reflect heat. No price listed.

T-Hawk drones flown into heart of FUkushima to determine "what went wrong". Does it matter now?

UUVs search and destroy mines secretly attached to maritime vessels...commercial, military, even cruise ships are targets of mines placed by deranged frogs near the Straight of Hormuz.

Taranis, a super drone, with 4 hellfire missiles and two laser guided bombs is the first supersonic UAV, controlled via satellite. Named for Celtic god of thunder. Oh.

If Taranis is the behemoth of drones, DARPA claims the Lilliputian AeroVironment Hummingbird, weighs less than two AA batteries. On board video cam. Sits on window sills. Listening. Watching. Transmitting.

USA now trains more drone pilots than real pilots. Kids who are dexterous at video games. Yeah, 'cause, after all, it's just a game.

12 comments:

Doom said...

The droodie has been out since, I think, late last fall or early spring... I think. I did see a price. Blanked it, too far out of my wallet reach if not more than a few $k, though I am thinking $500-1500. Still... I think there are far cheaper methods that could be home spun. Anything that absorbs and or quickly dissipates heat, not an easy trick really. Hmm, the dive suits they use to warm the body could be used to cool, or cool the surface, tricky to regulate maybe and probably more expensive.

But any fix will only work in very limited situations, and assume the drone is only capable of that method of night vision, along without motion detention. And that whoever is monitoring doesn't pick up the outline. It isn't even camo, from what I recall. Just talk to a shooter who has used a scope with infrared, ultraviolet, and standard. It's quite difficult to escape those and his eye... and, yeah, he flicks through them... if he's smart/on the ball.

My guess is, if you want to be invisible? You learn to hack the system and loop the video feed, if that is possible, or disable the drone. Depends on if they have onboard video in memory. They are open air transmission, so they can be hacked. Some cities, maybe states, are considering selling hunting licenses for the things. That works better.

Aunty Belle said...

Doom, wow, youse in the know on this.

Uncle thinks the fella what. Invents a drone alert will be the next gabillionaire.


Now, NSA knows what we's been discussin'

Doom said...

I've had want of staying off the scope, in more ways then one. Some... hobbies... don't fade even when life seems to have. *grins*

darkfoam said...

Yup aunty.. You probably have an ab assigned drone hovering over you now ..

Aunty Belle said...

Foamy, I'se certain that I do!

Heh...

Akshully, the thought is, WHAR DO IT STOP?

When babies is implanted wif brain scan chips at birth? '.
'Cause iffin' drones can watch your every move. Hear every word, what's left? Soon enough then goons will decide they have need of know in' every thought.

Aunty Belle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
R.Powers said...

There's no rewind on the clock or unrubbing of the genie bottle when it comes to tech, Aunty.
Drones have hundreds of valid uses, beyond the valid use of vaporizing terrorists without risking an American pilot.
They are being used in agriculture, forestry,wildlife conservation, forest fire fighting recon, and search and rescue just to name a few areas.

Yes, law enforcement uses them, but we've had police choppers with FLEER infrared cameras catching crooks and finding lost children for decades... and any game warden can walk my property anytime he wants without my permission, so a drone is just one more of many eyes out there.

I'm a drone (and DARPA) fan obviously and I know we have different views on threats from our very own government, but it's a fact that their are cameras everywhere... from game cams in the woods to city street cams ... we are all actors on this video stage.

(Not saying drones could never be abused, but a "drone" is not always an intrusive device.)

By the way,you can buy a quadcopter video drone from Brookstone for a few hundred bucks and spy over your neighbors fences iffin ya want to.

:)

R.Powers said...

Ack! Third paragraph: I used the wrong "There".

There, Their, They're not the same.

Aunty Belle said...

There, there, FC, they're good reasons for drones, wildlife studies, saving American soldiers lives, yes, absolutely. But we'uns all know when their lust for power git unbound , the power weilding goons lose their grip on reality, see themselves as gods. Should we just meekly submit to that?

No, tech cain't be re-spooled. But it can also be used to protect, not jes' intrude. I hope.

Doan wanna be be no serf on the global plantation.

SophieMae said...

*sigh* Reckon Huxley and Orwell ever imagined the depths to which we're plummeting?

I popped over to share another despicable little plank in 'their' dominational platform.

GMO for Africa

On a cheerier note... I thinks of Uncle ever' time I see our little turkey flock cross the yard. 5 hens an' 5 growin' poults. Always brings a smile. 8-]

Aunty Belle said...

Sophie!!

Hey you....I'se off to check on GMO Africa. Always a shocked at how much they git done afore we knows the score.

As fer Hux and Or, shure they knowed...they jes' couldn't put it int he books cause it would spook us to paralysis. Hate to say how many folks is so fearful of how it is now that they give up.

Them turkey's would make Uncle envy green. BUt, we has had a very handsome hawk come to visit.

fishy said...

Wonder who was the oh-so-clever marketing wizard who thought to place Drones adjacent to Foreign Policy? Smart, very smart.

Did you see the tv interview with Google CEO emeritus Eric Schmidt? In the interview he said the tragic mistake in the digital revolution was a lack of forethought on how rapidly it would evolve so individual privacy is now defunct and cannot be reinstated. Now apply this same digital reality to nations and their armies.

His book on how the digital age will reshape the future of people, nations and business is a must if you are to understand the current issues. On the other hand, if you are like me, it will render you terrified and depressed.

Maybe, if I could dispatch a drone, I would feel better?