Slashdot Mirror
Hobbyists Selling Tesla Coil Kits To Fund Drone Flight Over North Korea
An anonymous reader writes Imagine for a moment having at your fingertips the ability to send a small robotic messenger — a minion if you will — virtually anywhere in the world and back. Sure, you've seen those fun little drone toys at the mall and perhaps you have had a friend that likes to tinker around with model airplanes, but what you are about to see unfold here is genuinely an unprecedented work of good 'ol fashioned American ingenuity. Apparently a group of hackers has started a kickstarter to build and fly a small drone over North Korea and back and is selling mini tesla coils to do this. "All of the money from this project will be used to extend the distance our drone can fly, so the more backers we have, the farther it will be able to go," they say.
Nothing helps ease tension in a hotbed area run by a bunch of crazies with cannons aimed at Seoul like tiny drones. Good on ya, you bunch of smarties!
Interesting that "Starting a War" does not appear in that section.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Why not leave anything that could start a major diplomatic incident (at best) to the hands of amateurs!
what could possibly go wrong...
bickerdyke
Why not somewhere more appropriate or interesting like europe? India? Africa? Why of all places would you send this drone somewhere it would be detected, tracked and destroyed in all likelyhood upon arrival?
Granted "drone" and "north korea" make a senasational headline for a project but outside of being a punching bag for failed american international policy North Korea doesnt seem to bring any intrinsic value to this project outside of the fact that between seth rogan, sony pictures, and our international sanctions America seems to have a morbid fascination with the place.
Good people go to bed earlier.
11 backers
666 dollars
All backers at the $55 or more threshold
All the shitty projects this dipshit started before: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/654955049/created
Sounds legit
Seriously, how does rubbish like this make it to the front page? At least with other Kickstarter things that have made it here, there was some legitimacy and momentum already behind the project. However, this is pure shit.
Well his father and his grandfather are largely to blame for that. For all we know he may be trying to fix the system. ;-)
I'm no fan of these idiots but the only reason China keeps propping them up is so they have a bargaining chip with the West.
And a fairly large buffer between South Korea and them...
Actually, I think China props them up to avoid the flood of refugees that would flow north if a war did start up again. They are embarrassed with NK and are stuck with the two bit tin pot dictator they helped get into power and stuck with having to defend NK, at least some, to keep their buffer with the south. But as in all things like this, the reasons are complex and hard to accurately explain in a few sentences.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Beyond the obvious problems with the concept (the cost of goods sold for the coils themselves, the extreme improbability of a kerosene-powered drone built by college students being able to make intercontinental flights, the fact that there's no way in hell the FAA or the State Department would permit such a flight, etc.), there's several big red flags on this that scream "scam:"
This KS is an excellent example of a KS from which you want to stay far, far away. Most of the time, the KS community is pretty wise to these sorts of things, but I suppose the combination of "North Korea," "tesla coils," and submissions to Slashdot will lure people in. Don't be a sucker.
The Freelance Wizard