The presence of the cameras is a weight penalty that makes this far less maneuverable than the demos that show pattern flying. This unit needs open space away from poles or wires, though it can detect trees and walls. It will return to within ten feet of where it started under most conditions that put it at a risk of loss. Make no mistake, this is a powerful rig and those four copter blades put up a real blizzard.How about those eight guys who pulled the $50 million diamond heist? There is always something classy about European crimes. Pssst, Interpol, anything above $1 million is an inside job. Do I have to teach those people everything? I do wish there was a real ring of brilliant international thieves but in reality, the best gangs are packs of ruthless thugs. Will these guys get caught? The way the law works, they need only catch one of them.
Trivia. Even the worst trivia here has to at least be thought provoking. These items were picked from the Miami Herald, though in most cases the original articles had different intentions. Let’s see, Hialeah police cameras snapped 156,000 photos of license tags under the story they were preventing robberies. Were they now? Instead, the photos were used to snag 14,000 people driving with suspended licenses. Is this wrong? Yes, the cameras are being used for a different purpose than that for which they were originally permitted. This type of gradual encroachment is always dangerous to freedom. See Addendum for an expanded view.
Or how about US One, the President’s airplane? I’ve often said he should have to fly business class like the rest of us. The hourly operating costs of his private jet are $179,750.13. But what about security? That’s easy. If politicians were doing their jobs right, they wouldn’t need any. Another stat says 23,000 Americans die per year from prescription drug overdose, that is, more than die from narcotic overdose. And 260,000 women had their wombs removed last year. All this from one day in the Miami Herald.
I’m also going to follow up on the report of Magdalene Laundries, sweatshops being run by Irish Catholic nuns. I had no idea this was going on, or could go on, in a modern European society. Let me get some facts on it. From what I gather, the unfortunate women were thrown into a prison-like factory for being “promiscuous”, which could mean simple being too pretty. With the full endorsement of the Irish State (in its various forms) this continued for nearly a hundred years. There appears to be no instance of any of the women escaping and the laundries were only shut down because of washing machines sales making the work obsolete.
News about 3D printing. In a series of lawsuits uncannily similar to the original sewing machine patent wars, squabbling has begun over individual features of the latest generation of printers. For example, one company has a patent for the heated model chamber, needed to stop plastic from shrinking as it cools. This smacks of how the Wright brothers tried to use their original wing patent, one part of the working apparatus, to prevent others from building entirely new airplanes. Get ready for a long battle.
Speaking of intellectual property, I would point out that all background music in my videos is original by myself and produced right here in this Florida room. However, some of the tunes I play on the productions are my versions of popular music. I dislike other producers who use copied commercial sound tracks. The more so because their taste in music really sucks. Especially those military weapon videos with rock and roll music. Or the electronics videos that show only the finished product with no commentary, just indie myoozak.
ADDENDUM
Here is a flow of thoughts from the new book I’m reading. Our new paperback, “Numbered Account”, is starting to pick up. This is so far a plot of intrigue, not action. (Some may find this type of book quite boring.) The conflict is a myriad of suspicious characters and the antagonists are the American authorities trying to get the goods on suspected drug dealers. It is another “specialist” book that is best enjoyed if you already know something about how, in this case, banks operate. One item that keeps me reading this otherwise boring drama is that Swiss banking secrecy has been in the news recently.
You see, prior to October 2011, the US used its muscle to cause investigations into narcotics money laundering, which is a noble enough cause. However, once that was done, the real danger emerged. The authorities did not stop, but true to form, began using said laws for more widespread purposes that were not okay in the original form. They went after tax dodgers. This is the problem with every American law that allows any snooping whatsoever, no matter how outwardly right—the technology that was once confined to suspected criminals is now turned on the citizens at large. Violent drug dealers, then non-violent tax dodgers, and then, and then, and then, until it is your turn.
Nobody is saying it is wrong to chase criminals. But draw the line when they begin to snoop at large. It is a move toward Russian-style law enforcement, where they twist everybody’s arm until somebody confesses. Just watch a cop show on TV, how they no longer act on evidence or even heightened suspicion. They instead access databases where the information was originally given for other purposes.
For example, send out a squad car to question all the suspect’s relatives. Why not, that data is all on file. Check out anybody who used to work at the same place, same reason. Not because these people are guilty of anything, but because they are on file. The US Constitution expressly forbids this, and for good reason. It is cute how this change in TV cop behavior has changed in thirty years. The youngsters of today have been raised to accept this degree of legal corruption. They are fed the fiction that computer files are somehow different that personal papers and effects.
For the benefit of my foreign readership who may not be familiar with the legal principle involved here, I will quote the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Put another way, it is illegal for the police to question large numbers of people just to see if anything turns up. The authorities have long since known that if they go over records in the back room, the citizenry doesn’t get as anxious as they would under direct questioning. That is the entire reason we have a Dept. of Motor Vehicles. That outfit does not exist to keep bad drivers off the roadways, or have you noticed?
