Hundreds of drones plunge into Melbourne’s Yarra River(abc.net.au)
abc.net.au
Hundreds of drones plunge into Melbourne’s Yarra River
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-16/hundreds-of-drones-plunge-into-yarra-river/102607576
7 comments
Still probably safer than the alternative of fireworks.
... and I'm not having to hold my poor dog in my arms for hours while he shakes uncontrollably.
Reminds me of a time I was in a cafe when some kids shot off a bunch of firecrackers and an elderly woman sitting near me had a panic attack
After she calmed down I learned she'd lived through the bombing of Dresden :/
After she calmed down I learned she'd lived through the bombing of Dresden :/
There are sedative drops for such cases. Thankfully my dog likes to stare at fireworks so I don't have to use them.
There shouldn’t be a recurring man-made event that causes stress to companion animals.
There should be such an event, it helps dogs and people appreciate ups and downs in life. If you have entirely stress-free life, your stress floor-level becomes too high to handle day-to-day small irritations.
Counterpoint to your opinion - there should be no dogs barking all day 365 days a year and causing stress to people liking some silence.
Counterpoint to your opinion - there should be no dogs barking all day 365 days a year and causing stress to people liking some silence.
Or alternatively companion animals that can't handle regular innocent man-made events should be banned.
Yes, soldier up, doggie! This world is not for pussies. Ditto for babies. Stop crying and man up! This world is for warriors. Fight and die!
Like Catholicism, or Royalty, or Govt's?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes
I think we should put the fireworks on the drones for the ultimate safety combo.
Much safer than showing off your new old flying boat you don't have the air hours in just before an Australian fireworks | drone show . . .
Grumman G-73 Mallard (built 1948) stalls, falls out of sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p3CbKfMkE4
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-26/two-dead-in-australia...
Grumman G-73 Mallard (built 1948) stalls, falls out of sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p3CbKfMkE4
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-26/two-dead-in-australia...
I doubt that. Fireworks are dangerous when used by inexperienced people, drones suffer the same disadvantage.
In this case the drones had enough power to land, what if they had instant power failure? Then they would turn into bricks suspended in mid air. That can't happen with fireworks, they are simply too light when in the air.
I live in a place where every new years it turns into a warzone with people firing off massive amount of fireworks. Death rate is basically zero, some burns and injuries but in the teens. City has a population of ca. 4mil - that's safer than alcohol.
If everyone had a drone it would be chaos... Incomparably dangerous.
In this case the drones had enough power to land, what if they had instant power failure? Then they would turn into bricks suspended in mid air. That can't happen with fireworks, they are simply too light when in the air.
I live in a place where every new years it turns into a warzone with people firing off massive amount of fireworks. Death rate is basically zero, some burns and injuries but in the teens. City has a population of ca. 4mil - that's safer than alcohol.
If everyone had a drone it would be chaos... Incomparably dangerous.
I'll just leave this here...
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-05/fourth-o...
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-05/fourth-o...
Thats not even the best LA Times link. You should have gone for the one where a policewoman tried to safely dispose of fireworks and ended up destroying several houses in the process.
Do you mean this one of 2021-06-30?
> Many boxes of fireworks were stamped “Made in China.” The logo of a green space alien marked some boxes as coming from Area 51, a fireworks dealer in Nevada.
> [...] Officials had discovered what they called “improvised explosive devices” — or homemade fireworks believed to contain flash powder — mixed in with the commercial fireworks and piled in a trash bag.
> There were 44 devices about as wide and tall as a soda can, and 280 smaller devices about the size of a toilet paper roll. Each had a short fuse.
> All were moved to the shade — away from the commercial fireworks — and the containment vessel was called in. It was only about 80 degrees, but police used fans to keep the fireworks cool and prevent them from detonating.
> [...] The next thing Becerra saw, he said, was “the sun” — a burst of light as the containment vessel blew apart and the blast it was meant to control shot out in all directions, flipping cars and cracking foundations, smashing windows and injuring residents. Glass shards littered Silva’s face.
“From a fireworks tip to ‘catastrophic failure’ in 12 hours: How the LAPD blew up a neighborhood” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-06/how-lapd...
> Mell Hogg, the lead technician — aka Bomb Tech A — had been on the bomb squad for less than three years. Following standard bomb-squad practice, Hogg did not weigh the powder from the fireworks the team intended to detonate in the LAPD’s containment vessel and instead grossly underestimated its explosive power, according to the inspector general’s report. He is now with the department’s training division, according to a recent roster.
> Mark Richardson — Bomb Tech B — helped Hogg X-ray samples of the explosives, the inspector general’s records show. Richardson still works in the emergency services division, which houses the bomb squad, but it is unclear in what role.
> Brendan McCarty — Bomb Tech C — had 18 years of experience on the bomb squad and warned his fellow technicians and Levesque that the plan was not safe, the report said. McCarty has since retired from the force.
> Thomas Deluccia — Bomb Tech D — arrived on scene that afternoon and helped load the commercial fireworks discovered at a home on East 27th Street onto pallets to transport away from the scene, the records state. Deluccia has also remained in the emergency services division, although it is unclear what his role is.
> And, finally, there was 12-year bomb squad veteran Stefanie Alcocer, or Bomb Tech E. Alcocer was primarily responsible for constructing a countercharge, the report shows, the explosive used to detonate the fireworks inside the department’s “total containment vessel,” which failed in the blast. Alcocer was suspended for 10 days for her role in the incident, according to police officials. At some point after the blast, she was promoted to sergeant.
“LAPD refused to ID officers behind a huge fireworks explosion. Now we have their names” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-14/lapd-ref...
> Many boxes of fireworks were stamped “Made in China.” The logo of a green space alien marked some boxes as coming from Area 51, a fireworks dealer in Nevada.
> [...] Officials had discovered what they called “improvised explosive devices” — or homemade fireworks believed to contain flash powder — mixed in with the commercial fireworks and piled in a trash bag.
> There were 44 devices about as wide and tall as a soda can, and 280 smaller devices about the size of a toilet paper roll. Each had a short fuse.
> All were moved to the shade — away from the commercial fireworks — and the containment vessel was called in. It was only about 80 degrees, but police used fans to keep the fireworks cool and prevent them from detonating.
> [...] The next thing Becerra saw, he said, was “the sun” — a burst of light as the containment vessel blew apart and the blast it was meant to control shot out in all directions, flipping cars and cracking foundations, smashing windows and injuring residents. Glass shards littered Silva’s face.
“From a fireworks tip to ‘catastrophic failure’ in 12 hours: How the LAPD blew up a neighborhood” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-06/how-lapd...
> Mell Hogg, the lead technician — aka Bomb Tech A — had been on the bomb squad for less than three years. Following standard bomb-squad practice, Hogg did not weigh the powder from the fireworks the team intended to detonate in the LAPD’s containment vessel and instead grossly underestimated its explosive power, according to the inspector general’s report. He is now with the department’s training division, according to a recent roster.
> Mark Richardson — Bomb Tech B — helped Hogg X-ray samples of the explosives, the inspector general’s records show. Richardson still works in the emergency services division, which houses the bomb squad, but it is unclear in what role.
> Brendan McCarty — Bomb Tech C — had 18 years of experience on the bomb squad and warned his fellow technicians and Levesque that the plan was not safe, the report said. McCarty has since retired from the force.
> Thomas Deluccia — Bomb Tech D — arrived on scene that afternoon and helped load the commercial fireworks discovered at a home on East 27th Street onto pallets to transport away from the scene, the records state. Deluccia has also remained in the emergency services division, although it is unclear what his role is.
> And, finally, there was 12-year bomb squad veteran Stefanie Alcocer, or Bomb Tech E. Alcocer was primarily responsible for constructing a countercharge, the report shows, the explosive used to detonate the fireworks inside the department’s “total containment vessel,” which failed in the blast. Alcocer was suspended for 10 days for her role in the incident, according to police officials. At some point after the blast, she was promoted to sergeant.
“LAPD refused to ID officers behind a huge fireworks explosion. Now we have their names” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-14/lapd-ref...
Drones also produce a lot of pollution during their creation. Not just at their point of use, but when materials for them are mined, and then when they are manufactured.
So do thousands of other toys, tools, and gadgets. An EV requires about 1000x the batteries and other resources that go into a small drone.
This is a very weak argument against drones.
This is a very weak argument against drones.
Imagine a world where everyone flies EV's and there are no roads. Now that would save on infrastructure costs!
And even if that's true, safety isn't everything. We must reject safetyism. Fireworks are lindy [1], exciting and splendidly spectacular. Most drone shows I've seen are mediocre at best.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect
Your city looks very much like Berlin. It’s definitely not a good example of how fireworks are better than drone show. Spending new year holidays in Berlin is a nightmare, especially with pets or small children. Half of the city looks like a war zone on 1st of January.
NYE was probably one of my favourite times of the year when I lived in Berlin.
Our cat didn’t mind the fireworks, what did bother her was thunderstorms during the summer.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Our cat didn’t mind the fireworks, what did bother her was thunderstorms during the summer.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Majority of population in Germany is for prohibition of fireworks according to recent surveys, with German alt-right (AfD supporters) being an exception. Apparently those different folks disturbed more than enough people with it.
Your cat may be fine, but there's enough research showing negative impact of fireworks on urban ecosystem and pets to make your data point insignificant.
Your cat may be fine, but there's enough research showing negative impact of fireworks on urban ecosystem and pets to make your data point insignificant.
I remember being there for 2k NYE.
For a while there was only smoke visible, and people around we wandering if the Y2K bug was real, after all.
LOL dogs
Correct on all fronts! But I would hate to have drones falling out the sky in addition to fireworks.
BTW it has gotten better but still depends where you are in Berlin...
BTW it has gotten better but still depends where you are in Berlin...
Drones replacing fireworks make sense only in a swarm. I doubt that anyone would launch a drone with kids on midnight, so there's no danger of rain of drones on new year. And a drone show or even several shows in different parts of the city, that are operated by a licensed organization and with a safety clearance from city at worst case may create some trash, but it is very unlikely to actually harm anyone. Compare this to all the damage caused by fireworks this year (including a burned bus!) and a lot of trash on the streets even in places where it was explicitly forbidden.
I agree, I wouldn't mind if fireworks for the general public would be banned. But then I would also ban Xmas trees that get purchased a month before (a week before they get cut down) and month afterwards the very same trees are lying around on the pavement. Complete resource wastage and environmental catastrophe. For what? For a tradition that most people don't believe in but because children seem to need it, we continue on with it.
In isolation comparing drones to fireworks, I would go for fireworks. In the big scheme of things, ban them both - drones and fireworks on safety, environmental and resource basis. Alternatively everyone gets a AR goggles and can replay their personal favourite entertainment for new years!
In isolation comparing drones to fireworks, I would go for fireworks. In the big scheme of things, ban them both - drones and fireworks on safety, environmental and resource basis. Alternatively everyone gets a AR goggles and can replay their personal favourite entertainment for new years!
The worst injury is blindness or partial blindness (happens to about 10-20 people every new years celebration in Norway)… accidents can happen, but fireworks in the hands of drunk people is a bad combination.
Not as much fun though.
Surprising to see the crash (or controlled) landing described as auto-rotation.
Considering the size and momentum of drone props, this is not in any way whatsoever auto-rotations. It's just some rando trying to sound technical.
Considering they don't have collective or clutches as well he just sounds like a dumbass. (Or maybe I am and they called auto landing auto-rotation since I stopped building drones myself about 2 years ago).
In other countries there’s startlingly impressive drone show displays.
In Australia they fall out of the sky and drop into the Yarra.
It’s a sort of metaphor for Australia in so many ways.
In Australia they fall out of the sky and drop into the Yarra.
It’s a sort of metaphor for Australia in so many ways.
It’s hilarious and embarrassing. It would be nice to see some interest in diversifying the economy over here, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
I want to read the post mortem on this technical failure but I doubt 'The Australian Traffic Network' who controlled this drone shiw will release it.
It was a trial run for the Moomba Birdman Rally.
"hundreds and hundreds" is at least 200, did they really run shows every two days on average?