Tag: Drones

Finally! Some good news for pizza lovers…in New Zealand

Commentary, In the News, This and That, Writing and Blogging

yes indeed….looking over the Washington Post offering this morning, there is actually some good news.   Alas, though…not for me here in Ohio, but if ya live in New Zealand—go for it!   And please let me know how it works!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/08/25/hungry-your-pizza-drone-will-be-there-in-30-minutes/?wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

 

Now, if anyone asks me, pizza delivery is a great innovation.   The pizza arrives in good time, with a two-litre of Pepsi, and for a twenty dollar bill including a lavish tip for the delivery person—presto!   Dinner!

New Zealanders can just call their local shop, and a drone (imagine that!) will shortly swoop out of the sky…scaring heck out of the dog…who might attack the drone, eat the pizza, and no one will ever know until they send another drone to check.      That scenario is pretty far-fetched, I’ll admit…most of the dogs I have ever known were too smart to attack an unknown thing.  (Maybe whine a bit from inside their dog house.)

Drones may be the latest thing in wonderful inventions, but as far as I’m concerned, and I admit I’m an old Luddite…hmmm, I wonder what those guys that smashed up the machines would have done it they had their pizza delivered by drone?  Yikes, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

Sending machines that look like a cross between a mosquito and a sci-fi-helicopter is bad enough…just one of the creations could wipe out an apartment building from across the world with explosives.   Or, on the other hand, they could help to end starvation by sending pizzas to destitute families in war torn areas.     Maybe after the killer-strike drone dust settles down, a pizza delivery drone could be sent to help the survivors.

It just boggles the mind!

How Stupid Can We Be? commentary on common sense

About Me, Commentary, This and That

uh…what a loaded question is that!

In the past half hour, tops, I began to wonder anew…how stupid could Stupid Be?   I turned on CNN fully expecting to get some clues to that question, and I was not disappointed.  (No dig at CNN…the competition is much worse.)

One– American fighter pilots have been told to ignore “aggressive” Russian pilots over in Syria.  Actually, I thought they had been instructed to avoid each other.   Just as an aside, has anyone else recently become of the opinion that Washington, the U.S. military…maybe even the Russians…and especially the news media led by internet news are almost giddy at the prospect of renewed Cold War hostilities?

I have seen Top Gun numerous times, it’s one of my favorites, and I saw those bad boys making obscene gestures to other fighter pilots…while flying upside down, no less!

Since the Iron Curtain lifted in 1990, an entire generation has missed out on the Cold War daily horror…may we say terror…heaped upon the American public.   I have written elsewhere about this era of watching anxiously for the world to explode.  https://mumbletymuse.com/2015/03/21/the-decade-194…my-life-part-3/      this post is written pertaining to my experiences as a child living in the shadow of Nuclear Bombs.

Two, the news is presenting shocking reports that hackers have invaded the files of the heads of the CIA and Homeland Security!   WHAT? is no one’s email or private secret records sacred? Furthermore, the alleged hacker has SPOKEN to CNN.  Good grief…  One would think that the secret service agencies could locate the hacker…maybe even recruit him to work for us.  Don’t they watch cable news?

And Three… DRONES.   CNN reported that there are now a MILLION drones in use by the private sector.  Flying around in air traffic lanes, scaring military pilots who are minding their own business…and they have managed to approach critical facilities like…almost…the White House!    And—there is no regulation or registration, or anything.   Just go in, pick out your drone, and send its on its merry way doing gosh-knows-what.  Law enforcement agencies like the police have been able to apprehend drones which have crashed or otherwise fallen into official hands–but they just have the DRONES, which remain anonymous.  If ya ask me, anything that resembles an electronic mosquito should be closely monitored by the Feds.

So that was it for the six o’clock news.   Rather amazing, I think.