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The end of drones and desktop computing

What is going on in the world today?

I have two hobbies that are also vocations but now both are under threat.

Regular readers will know that I'm an avid RC model and drone flyer. If you've been paying attention you'll also know that these hobbies have been increasingly marginalised in recent times by rampant over-regulation, driven by a mix of paranoia and commercial imperatives.

This once family-friendly hobby that boomed after WW2 and again more recently when advancing technology made it possible to create multirotor drones has now been well and truly crushed by excessive regulation and, in the USA, by massive restrictions on the availability and price of craft and their components.

Much of the best drone and RC equipment in the USA is now on "the covered list" which prohibits its importation. Prior to about 2010, the USA was pretty much self-sufficient in respect to hobby parts for RC models. There were many proud US-based companies that specalised in the models and the bits that avid hobbyists relied on to build or fix their own planes.

Now there is virtually no US-made product for this market, or at least none which fits the description of "affordable".

More...

Forums are Down

Damn, why is it so hard to keep any reliable forum capability going these days?

I'll be working to get the forums up again but it seems that it might not be a simple task. The hosting company has obviously changed something but now it's up to me to try and get PHPBB working with their new configuration :-/

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