Friday, October 11, 2019
Sounds familiar
Via ZH:
In 1950 Counterspy had at least one seriously science-minded writer. This episode has remote-controlled drones remarkably similar in size and function to the modern version. Dual copter fans, small cargo compartment carrying 5 pounds. They were used by drug smugglers to carry the goodies across the Rio Grande without detection by police.
= = = = = END PARTIAL REPRINT
Drones are 160** years old. This SPECIFIC use of drones is 70 years old as a concept, and probably close to that in practice. The Counterspy writers seemed to have good sources.
Are we really guarding against drones with a contract for only ONE MILLION dollars? In government circles that doesn't begin to cover the expense of writing the proposal. Meaningless noise.
Even outside of government, it would take more like 50 million to set up a line of sensors along the border.
The real solution to ANY smuggling problem is entirely outside the realm of sensing and shooting the smugglers. Every "war on X" is a new opportunity for the "law" "enforcers" to join the gang battles.
The real solution is to make smuggling unprofitable. Replace prohibition by taxation.
= = = = =
**Footnote: Drones are 160 years old, first made in 1859. From Merveilles de la Science, 1868, p573 of PDF.
A new report from Defense One shows the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is installing an invisible shield along President Trump's Mexico-US border wall that will deny access to drug smuggling drones. CBP recently signed a $1.2 million deal with Citadel Defense Company to install an automated, invisible defense shield at the border to detect and engage unwanted drones using proprietary machine learning algorithms.Hmm. Seems familiar somehow. = = = = = START PARTIAL REPRINT: 'David Harding Counterspy' was a long-running radio series produced by the even more long-running Phillips Lord outfit. Through most of its run, Counterspy was a simplistic cop show seemingly aimed at a young audience, well below the expertise and accuracy of similar shows.
In 1950 Counterspy had at least one seriously science-minded writer. This episode has remote-controlled drones remarkably similar in size and function to the modern version. Dual copter fans, small cargo compartment carrying 5 pounds. They were used by drug smugglers to carry the goodies across the Rio Grande without detection by police.
= = = = = END PARTIAL REPRINT
Drones are 160** years old. This SPECIFIC use of drones is 70 years old as a concept, and probably close to that in practice. The Counterspy writers seemed to have good sources.
Are we really guarding against drones with a contract for only ONE MILLION dollars? In government circles that doesn't begin to cover the expense of writing the proposal. Meaningless noise.
Even outside of government, it would take more like 50 million to set up a line of sensors along the border.
The real solution to ANY smuggling problem is entirely outside the realm of sensing and shooting the smugglers. Every "war on X" is a new opportunity for the "law" "enforcers" to join the gang battles.
The real solution is to make smuggling unprofitable. Replace prohibition by taxation.
= = = = =
**Footnote: Drones are 160 years old, first made in 1859. From Merveilles de la Science, 1868, p573 of PDF.
S'inspirant du jouet nommé spiralifère ou papillon, MM. de la Landelle et Ponton d'Amécourt avaient fait construire une série de modèles de petits hélicoptères (c'est le nom que leur a donné M. Babinet) ou mécanismes s'enlevant à 2 ou 3 mètres de hauteur, grâce à un mouvement d'horlogerie, qui fait tourner une hélice. Ces joujoux constituaient sur le spiralifère ou papillon des enfants, un certain progrès, puisqu'ils emportaient avec eux leur moteur, tandis que le premier doit être lancé par une ficelle, qu'on déroule rapidement.
Labels: Alternate universe
¶ 12:27 AM
