Energy
Monday, September 26th, 2022 12:30 pm EDT
New technologies always bring out skepticism in people, and among the particularly ignorant, it brings out paranoia, hatred, and violence. Few know this better than Tesla owners, especially those who’ve experienced vandalism (often by people stupid enough to not know they’re on camera).
I don’t understand why people think it’s ok to vandalize others property. What is even more disturbing are their giddy glance backs, as they admire their handiwork. #sentrymode @elonmusk @Tesla pic.twitter.com/XVRe2aHW6G
— Jenni⚡️Current (@JenniCurrent) September 30, 2019
Sadly, Teslas and EVs are far from the only clean technologies to inspire strong emotions among people with limited understanding. The most common form of clean electric aviation today are small drones, and they’re doing everything from helping real estate agents sell cars to saving lives in search and rescue operations. A Florida electric utility was using their drone to inspect powerlines and improve safety and reliability without hard work and risk to linemen, when some women below spotted the drone through a window.
One of the women was changing clothes after a trip to the beach, and claims the drone was “In front of my face. Two feet away. By my balcony,” she told WINK News. “I wanted to get a brick and throw it at it and break it and smash it and step on it! But you think of all of those awesome things after it’s all over.”
She took pictures of the drone (which you can see here), and they appear to not only be far from the window, but on the other side of power lines, with the camera pointed at the lines. At the time, local law enforcement told both the women and the media that there’s not much they could do, because tracking down a drone operator can be very difficult.
But, it apparently wasn’t very difficult, because the drone’s operator came forward with the rest of the story. In a follow-up, it was revealed that it was an electric company drone.
One of the women says she still doesn’t believe that it was the power company, and still thinks someone was spying on her. She also indicated that she intends to throw a brick at the drone if she sees it again.
Questions over whether the woman was worth spying on aside (hey, I know some viewers will ask about that, and I don’t know, nor do I wish to), it’s probably wise for most people to realize that they’re just not that interesting. Few of us are celebrities, and most of us wouldn’t look good enough naked to be worth spying on even for perverts. Plus, there’s the issue of the noise drones make, which could be described as a swarm of angry hornets with a PA system. Drones are LOUD, and make for very lousy spying or peeping tom tools.
So, if you see one, it’s probably wise to assume it’s not spying on you. It’s probably the neighbor’s kid, a photographer getting pictures of a house for sale, or something like the power company checking on the wires you use every day.
It’s also wise to not do anything to interfere with the flight of an aircraft, and that includes quadcopters of any size. Not only is it unsafe (and you’d be responsible for anybody who got injured or property damage when it crashes), but it’s a felony to bring down an aircraft. Unless you’re really good at not dropping the soap, that’s probably a game you don’t want to play, whether with bricks or a shotgun.
Featured image by DJI.
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