New
#1
Stop calling them "drones"
"Drone" crashes at White House
I wish the media would stop calling these things "drones". Call them what they are; RC quad-copters, RC planes, TOYS!...
For my entire life, the word drone meant something that worked (semi-)autonomously, blindly and with little or no guidance. You can have a vacuum, or you can have a drone (Roomba).
The word "drone" has been incorporated into the modern lexicon in such a way as to make you believe that these toys are evil things that drop bombs and cause all sorts of chaos. And, the term "unmanned aerial drones" is just redundant. Of course, they're unmanned. Otherwise they'd be....airplanes and helicopters!! Ever hear of a manned drone? And, truthfully, I always considered platforms like the Predator and the Reaper nothing more than the ultimate in RC flying!
I'm sorry. Maybe I'm just too sensitive, but I think this is just one more tactic to discourage the RC flight hobby. Already, we have more rules governing RC flight than there are for some more dangerous pursuits. Okay, maybe there are a few of those rules that NEED to be in place, but would you rather have your kid playing with his SkyHog racers, or would you have him "...menacing the skies with his barely-controlled drone." (an actual quote from the local newspaper some months back after some kid buzzed the county fair.)
How long before the media associates "drone" with RC cars? How long before The Google Driverless Car becomes another drone? (Probably the first time someone loads it with C4 and programs it to crash into the White House. Who needs 72 Virgins? I'll take 5 women who know what they're doing, please. Oh shit....here comes the Secret Service.)
Thoughts?