Local
The YouTube channel is rebranded, as of the 18th. I live in the middle of nowhere and make films here. I plan on painting aerials this year.
I am working on a painting, vaguely piratical. The availability of affordable canvas has dwindled significantly since the holidays. Windows of opportunity have closed. It is too cold to fly. I could risk it, but I watch my GoPro freeze and die after 20 minutes outside and decide not to risk it.
Also, it is against the law to cosmetically enhance the appearance of a cow’s udder in this state. Don’t even think about it!
News
Drone Stuff
DJI cancelled geofencing. Sub-contractors and miscreant drone pilots, you are on your own. I see no remedy in place at a municipal level in my location, but larger towns and cities are beginning to create a code of conduct for local pilots. It barely hit the news cycle.
EDIT: I found a Pennsylvania law from 2018 that spells out crimes and offenses. The basic problem is privacy and safety, with low-hanging fruit expected in fines and typical human behavior. Some people make garbage decisions. Smuggling stuff is basically a ticket to prison, which is a bad decision that some people will nonetheless make. There is wiggle room for intent, and responders for local, state, or federal operators are given healthy exceptions to do their work. Incidence response and aerial mapping are typical jobs, and industrial drones tend to be bigger than hobbycraft. Some have parachutes.
Any drones .55 lbs and up need a registered user. That’s just foot-lbs of common sense dropping on Newton’s head.
That incident where a DJI drone collided with the firefighting helicopter in LA is pretty much telling me how things are going. DJI sets up LAANC in 2016, coordinates model releases to thwart competition, farms an app community that prices out sub-contractors, subsidizes the market so no one can compete. Shady people do work under the table – who tracks this stuff, amirite? News sources no longer pay photographers. I checked. So, in the name of greed, what am I to do?
What are my local affordable options? Drawing stuff on paper. Reposts. RTO mandates don’t apply to poor people like me. Sorry, sagging real estate values in downtown markets, I am zero help. Groceries ate the gas tank.
Science
Blue Ghost lunar lander and the Ghost Riders in the Sky mission. Landing on titanium oxide and sandblasted regolith March 3, 2025. I imagine Burl Ives on a spacewalk playing a banjo. I can’t help it. New Glenn, it finally made orb, like sweet molasses. Starship blew up, but Mechazilla caught the booster in the Chopsticks again.
Art
No new finished work. Perhaps next week.
Falcon P & O 
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