dragonofcompassion

coastal California

As drones evolve

When I add new pages here the web builder puts it next to my home word button. I might have wanted it somewhere else but that wasn't an easy thing to do. So, the order of all these web buttons is created by the web builder in the context it is set up in for my convenience.

"As Drones Evolve" is something I started working in 2013. In it, Silver from "2035"

meets another young inventor. They both have met or meet Saint Germain together at several points in their journeys as young inventors here in the U.S. Silver lives in New York City in a penthouse overlooking Central Park there and Bret lives in Beverly Hills

and his father flies an airliner full of passengers back and forth from Narito Aiport in Japan to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) and back.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

AS DRONES EVOLVE: FICTION?

As Drones Evolve

I was thinking about writing about a young man aged 12 years old who lived in Southern California in Beverly Hills whose father was an airline pilot who flew regularly between Los Angeles and Tokyo. So, I decided to try and write something about this young man's life and his natural interest in flying because of his father's profession and his new found interest in drones in toy form and how this interest evolved over the years.

Also, here is something that describes the "Parrot" that Bret and eventually his friend are working with and on:Transformative Technologies

Begin:

Bret was really happy with the 4 bladed Parrot remote control helicopter he had gotten for Christmas from his Dad. He and his Dad had already taken it outside their house and flew it up about 80 feet into the air above their house and took videos of their gardener working on planting some flowers in one of the many flowerbeds around their home. Also, when his Dad didn't notice Bret also took out the Drone and flew it up high when the neighbor girl swam naked in her pool next door. These videos made his times away from his Dad when his Dad was flying his route from LAX to Tokyo much easier to bear. Since he had been beaten up and threatened in his local public school he had talked his Dad into Home Schooling him on independent study. Surprisingly, his Dad had been agreeable to this as when his Dad had grown up a gang member had cut him in a dispute. So, his Dad took these sorts of threats very seriously. He wanted his son to stay alive and he wasn't sure yet whether he wanted him in private school yet because his father didn't know much about them firsthand. He didn't want his son to become so polite that he became unmanly to his father's way of thinking. However, Bret was oblivious to this kind of thinking because he didn't grow up in the world of his father's time.

Bret's mother had died in Childbirth. She was very alternative in her thinking and tried to have her baby alone with only a midwife present. So, when complications set in there was only time to save the baby and not the mother because the birth was attempted at home. And unfortunately, Bret's Dad was flying between Los Angeles and Tokyo when the birth occurred so there wasn't much he could do from thousands of miles away.

Since then Bret's Dad had had many girlfriends but always his one true love would always be Bret's mother, there had been many babysitters and live in housekeepers to watch Bret grow up so he would be safe and protected.

So, Bret's Dad went with:

1. Oak Meadow: Homeschooling Curriculum, Resources, and Support

to educate his son when public school started to be difficult for his son because of bullies. I think the main reason he did this was he thought, "What if I'm in Japan or in route between Los Angeles and there and something bad happens to my son?" So, he knew he could control who was taking care of his son pretty well. He knew, because they usually were living with Bret and he knew who the people were and how they would behave under most circumstances. And in a worst case result his sister in San Diego could drive up within 2 hours in a real emergency to take care of his son if something happened to his caregiver or his son.

So, his decision likely would have been different if he wasn't a single parent with a job that took him to Japan many times a week. But, being an airline pilot for an international Airline also had it's perks because vacations became really inexpensive anywhere in the world. And both Bret and his Dad now loved Snorkeling in Fiji or Hawaii when mostly all they had to pay for was the rooms and the food and the entertainment whenever Bret's dad could get more than 3 or 4 days off at a time.

So, they were a very international family in that the world was their oyster on vacations.

But, while Bret was in Beverly Hills his focus started to become playing with his Parrot electric rechargable drone and visiting with friends online from around the country. One of the best friends online he had made was with a boy named Silver from New York City:

note: to read more about Silver's life click on:

o 2035

Silver, it appeared was a natural inventor like Bret and they had found each other on a "Young Inventor's site" sponsored through "Facebook". It is:
https://www.facebook.com/younginventors.guild

Young Inventors Guild

After their initial meeting and realizing they had a lot in common they started skypeing with each other for after all they were just "boys being boys" with no parental supervision much for either of them. They got to talking about Bret's drone and since Silver was more of a Tech and not an outdoor person at all he became fascinated with the battery designs of Bret's Parrot Drone electric 4 bladed helicopter.

Silver said, "I think I can find or design a battery that would increase your flying time about 4 times."

Bret was pretty impressed with Silver's claim and said, "But, won't it increase the weight of the drone to where it might not take off?"

Silver thought and said, "As long as I can get access to certain types of controlled substances I can do it. But, it also might catch fire but it will smoke first!"

Bret: "Wow! That would be really cool to have smoke coming out of my Parrot!"

Silver: Yeah. But if you don't take it down to earth and get the battery out in time your Parrot will burn up!"

Bret:"Okay. So, smoking is okay only for a really short time!"

Silver: "Right! Also, could you send me a Skype feed of when you are testing my battery that I will design for you?"

Bret: "Sure. That would be really fun! We could talk about how it is doing. Also, I've got some really great footage of my 16 year old neighbor swimming nude in her pool too!"

Silver: "Doesn't she see the drone?"

Bret: "No. She's completely oblivious to anything but getting a suntan and doing her nails."

Both boys laughed at the difference between girls and boys.

Silver had been born in the year 2000 and Bret had been born in 2001 so they were really close in age. Neither of them had ever met someone so intelligent and interested in the same things until their meeting online. Silver tried not to tell Bret that he never left his Penthouse overlooking Central Park in New York and Bret tried to not tell Silver that his Dad was gone all the time to Japan and that he had never met his mother because she died giving birth to him.

Both boys were fine around these issues because they had lots of fun stuff to talk about without bringing themselves down. So, the next thing Silver thought of to modify the drone was the engines. He went online to try to understand more about the software running the engines. Since Silver was really rich he checked online and found that he could run the same software through much more powerful engines. So, he ordered more powerful engines and bought his own Parrot and ran it around inside the house and scared the houskeeper with it. However, there really wasn't anything she could do about it, because wanted to keep her job.

Silver sent a feed of his Parrot flying around his house to Bret. Bret's comment was: "Why don't you fly it outside?" Silver said, "I don't live in an out of doors environment and I'm worred about flying it off the roof terrace. Bret said, "Do you have a wind meter to tell you how fast the wind is blowing?" Silver thought about it and said, "No. But I could order one. Would that help in flying the Parrot better?" Bret said, "The other thing you can do is to go up on your roof terrace and wet a finger. And then turn your finger into the wind. Usually, if it isn't blowing your hair a little you can fly the Parrot without it blowing off the roof in the wind." Silver said, "Usually, there is always a little wind off the ocean up on the roof. It is really seldom when there is no wind at all." Bret said, "Then you need a windmeter and the gusts have to be under about 5 mph so you parrot isn't blown away from the building."

So, Bret and Silver played with their now both modified Parrots(Silver had sent new advanced batteries he had designed as well as more powerful engines for the Parrot. However, they found that the software didn't work the same and it had trouble hovering because of all the weight changes to the original device.

Silver said, "We need to modify the Parrot so it has a different weight so we can still use the software configurations. "Bret said, "What should we do?" Silver said, "Well, maybe if we start by taking off the foam blade protectors if we are careful not to get in the way of the blades that might be good. It would reduce wind friction outside. It is only inside where you need them anyway to protect, eyes, fingers and furniture and pets from the blades."

Bret said, "Yes. I think you're right. But if we do that we have to stay back further from our Parrots so the wind doesn't blow them into us if there are gusts." Silver said, "Yes. You're right, Bret." So, they both became proficient at carrying their laptop computers and Parrots and extra batteries whenever they flew their drones on the roof in New York and outside of Bret's Large Beverly Hills house in California.

They both kept modifying their drones until one day Bret and Silver had a whole other idea. They were talking and watching both their drones through Skype when Silver said, "What if I bought a gasoline engine and built a hybrid drone that had rechargable batteries that I could recharge as it flies and fly it all the way to your house?"

Bret said, "Is that even possible?"

Silver said, "Well. If it's small enough it would or could evade the radar so no police or government military body would think to harm it. Also, if it were a hybrid most of the time it would only make a whirring sound sort of like birds flapping their wings or something."

Bret said, "But, how could it make it all the way to Beverly Hills the first time?" By this time Silver was 14 and Bret was 13. It wasn't that this was what they did every day. It was about once a week they got together on skype to fly their Parrots and to continue to modify them for fun and learning.

Silver said, "Remember, my family is very rich and has been since around 1850. So we are really old Eastern money. My Great Grandfather was a friend of Theodore Roosevelt. My Grandfather knew both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy and Nixon. And my father knew Reagan and Bush Senior and Clinton while he was growing up."

"So Bret, I have access even now at age 14 to around 100,000 dollars to do research on any given day I want." Bret Whistled when he realized just how rich and famous a family he was talking to. Bret said, "As long as you aren't blowing smoke up my nose I agree we can finance this thing with your money." Silver laughed and started to design his cross country small drone.

Bret said, "How will we design it to make travel all the way across the country without anyone shooting it down. What if some kid shoots it down with a .22 or something?"

Silver thought about this and said, "It is much less likely to be shot down if we route it through big cities with a lot of noise and through national parks and national forests. Most people with guns tend to be in the country around farms where they have to shoot a lot of varmints and rats and things that eat or harm their crops and stuff like that. So, maybe avoiding farmland and instead routing through larger cities and maybe making it look like an eagle gliding or something like that might get people to avoid shooting at it?"

Bret said, "But boys our age or younger might shoot at hawks or eagles!" Silver said, "Yes. But if people think it is a bird and not a drone they will be less likely to notice it or mess with it. Also, when people are around it should run on batteries so no one hears the little gasoline engine that generates power for the batteries."

Silver and Bret were both exceptional inventors in their own rights and so the drone slowly took shape as Silver ordered parts and modified them to fit what he was trying to invent and modify. The last thing was a camera that took very little electricity but that could transmit video and pictures through a cell phone signal when in cell phone ranges across the nation.

Bret said one day, "I think we need this thing to run where we can get cell phone signals. So that should be one of the parameters of the route our drone takes." Silver agreed and set out to write a program to define the best route considering weather, safety for the drone from people and also clouds of insects or large flocks of birds etc.

Silver and Bret also agreed one day that summer or fall would be a better time to try this than in the spring when birds often attacked hawks and eagles who were eating their baby birds from nests.

Silver and Bret finally agreed on a Bald Eagle as the visual design for their drone. Since this was a symbol of the U.S. and a patriotic symbol it would be least likely to be shot down by hunters or even boys in the U.S. Making it appear to glide like an eagle with a propeller moving it forward like a Predator drone also was in their design parameters as well.

Bret and Silver also had ideas about marketing something like this if it actually worked.

Silver bought wind tunnel software and put in the coordinates of the eagle shape and weight and design to see how it would handle in various kinds of wind and icing and rain situations.

So, by this time Bret was getting a little jealous of Silver buying all the pieces and getting to assemble them all. One day they talked and Bret decided to ask his Dad if he could fly him to New York to help his friend assemble the pieces of the drone they had designed. When Bret's Dad realized what Silver and Bret were doing he was pretty amazed at all they had accomplished already and agreed to take his son to New York to assemble the pieces of their design. However, he told his son that he didn't think police and military would allow this Bald Eagle looking drone thing to thing to fly under the radar and never be questioned or touched or stopped in anyway all the way across the country. However, he also remembered all the guys in the past going up in lawn chairs on Helium balloons and riding the winds east and sometimes flying hundreds of miles with no punishment. So, maybe they could actually do this with no one getting upset. So, Bret's father thought to himself that the less he knew about all this the better. So, his idea was to let Bret fly to New York alone since he was 14 and this other inventor kid was 15. This way they might be business partners in manufacturing this thing in the future because after all, this Silver kid was rich enough to finance anything he wanted to manufacture.

So, Bret's Dad got him a free seat on his airline in a direct flight to New York. When Bret arrived at JFK Airport Silver's driver and a limosine were there to pick him up and to take him to Silver's penthouse next to Central Park.

However, now there might be some problems because Silver never leaves his Penthouse. So, how will the bo the boys deal with this?

When the driver carried Bret's baggage up to the penthouse the maid greeted Bret and seemed kind of surprised at another human being to see Silver other than his parents once in a while.

The maid took Bret up to the roof terrace where Silver was trying to make adjustments to the eagle design. Silver said to Bret, "What do you think, Bret?" Bret looked at the thing and thought it was really beautiful and was amazed that the two of them had designed something this good. Silver said, "I got a relative of mine to sculpture the Eagle wings and body and head. Then I took the design and put it into my largest 3d printer and made one out of plastic with good aerodynamic charecteristics. And last I created a hollowed out one with a belly hatch so we can put all the technology in it including a video camera that takes stills as well, all run through the rechargable battery you and I both designed and tested in our spare time so it never smokes or catches fire."

Bret said, "Will the gasoline engine overheat being enclosed like that?" Silver said, "I've designed it so it doesn't stay on long enough at a time for that to be a problem." Bret said, "What about when we want it to be quiet traveling through a city. What if the battery goes down too far?" Silver said, "I think as long as we fly between 1000 to 2000 feet in altitude it will look like a bird and that is what people will actually think it is even when the gasoline engine turns on to charge up the batteries every so often. Also, it can glide long distances at a time with no power used at all and when there are updrafts it is designed to stay in the same area as long as it is in an updraft." Bret said, "How much Wind can it stand?" Silver said, "I believe it can withstand about 40 to 50 mph winds and still keep going. Also, when the wind goes above 20 mph it is designed to come to about 100 to 500 feet in altitude to reduce the wind speeds." Bret was impressed, "So, you actually programmed it to do all this?" Silver said, "Oh Yes. My real forte is software design. So, I was able to get military grade Artificial intelligence that operates on a much smaller CPU. It basically will be completely autonomous in all it's actions once we launch it. However, it will ask us whether we agree with it's decisions through text over a cell phone text when available. If we don't respond it will execute it's commands on it's own. Some things like major directional changes it will do immediately. Other things it will text us choices if we respond within 10 to 15 minutes. But then if we don't respond it will make the decisions itself. Basically, by getting a smaller emergency only CPU program design it was light enough to put into the Eagle Drone. It will send us a photo during daylight every 5 to 10 minutes so we can see where it is at all times and I am geotagging all the photos so I can know where each photo is taken and thereby know exactly the location of the drone at that moment in time.

Bret's father then called to make sure he had arrived safely in New York and was happy to hear that Bret was on the roof terrace safely at Silver's place. More later.

(((note:I noticed someone was hacking my writing here. So, if you see weird writing and codes and stuf I'm not doing it.)

It took the 2 now young men about 2 days of working on and integrating technology and programming to get everything exactly the way they wanted it to be.

Then the moment had arrived. The wind was down low and it was August 2013 and it was early in the morning. They decided to put “Eagle Drone” through it’s paces and see how it operated. Each of the boys grabbed a wingtip and a side of the tail which they patterned after a Predator Tail.

Silver took out his Ipad controller and pushed a button on it and they both released the Eagle Drone to see what it could do. At first they were a little scared as it dropped a few stories getting wind under it’s wings before the AI cut in and they heard the whirring of the electric motor go on. It handled beautifully and soon was up with them again as they carefully caught it in midair there on the roof terrace. They were all smiles as their prototype was working. So far so good. Silver said, “Let’s test the camera Geotagging next for accuracy. So, this time it flew all the way across Central Park looking like a Bald Eagle gliding. But it was after all a pretty big Bald Eagle in the end. So, as Silver and Bret looked at the geotagging GPS coordinates on each picture. Silver Said to Bret, “The Geotagging is working so maybe we can send it further this time.So, they sent it out into the middle of the Hudson River still on electric. There was a ship there with smoke coming out of one of the stacks and the Eagle found an updraft over the smokestack and circled and began climbing in altitude. Silver turned to Bret and said, “Should we let it loose to try to make it to your home now?” Bret said, “Do we need to fill the little gas tank up?” Silver said, “It’s mostly going to glide whenever there are updrafts like the smokestack on the ship or anything else lifting the air so it can gain altitude like a glider. It only turns on the electric motor as a last resort at about 100 or 200 feet altitude. And then, it only turns on the gasoline motor when the battery is below ¼ charge. So, I think we should let it go do it’s thing.” Bret said, “Whatever you say Silver. Anyway you look at it this is really Amazing!” They both nodded.

Bret seemed kind of worried and said, “Do you think it will be okay at night?” Silver said, “As far as I know it will be fine. I think during the day the solar cells covering the upper wings and upper body will also keep the ailerons and flaps and rudders going without reducing it’s charge as long as there is sun out. So I think it will be mostly self sustaining as long as it can find updrafts it will stay in updrafts between 1000 feet in altitude up to 2000 feet in altitude whenever it can. So, hopefully the only times the gasoline engine goes on will be at night.”

Bret said, “What about if the headwind is too great and it moves the Eagle Backwards?”

Silver: “The programming will cause the bird to change altitude downwards until it stops blowing it backwards. Also, if it can’t find a better wind it will turn around or turn southwards or northwards on it’s or our instructions until it finds a more favorable wind. Bret was finally satisfied that it might make it to Beverly Hills. They both looked at the map and then looked at weather reports ahead of the drone for the first day.

In the end the boys had chosen the same route that a car would drive. This way if it crashed, Bret and his Dad would fly to the nearest city(or Bret and his Aunt if Dad wasn’t available in Japan or in route. And retrieve the Eagle from it’s GPS signals wherever it landed if possible. So, in the end being able to retrieve their prototype was the single most important thing to them so they could study exactly what might have gone wrong and modify it for the next cross country test flight

-->

Note: Since the last section was lost when the short story was hacked the other day, it will likely be written in a slightly different vein if you read the last one. But this time I’m writing it in another medium so I don’t lose my copy of what I’m writing this time. Since I never have had my stuff hacked before I realize when I write longer stuff I need a backup. When I write of my experience of it is spontaneous like an actual conversation. So, when I do this it is different every time. Also, since I’m a natural soul Traveler and have been one most of my life it is natural now for me to go to actual experiences people had in the past, present or future as well. The only problem with this is when you do this it might actually change time in the future, especially if one of the people who actually had this experience or would have this experience reads it. Because what happens instead is many people experience this instead of just one or two who are in the story. So, it does a lot of good in people’s lives and enriches many people’s lives instead of just one or two. This will likely also add to technological development in these areas too just in slightly different ways than it would have been before.

And for people who aren’t natural inventors of ideas and actual physical things, it will add to their understanding of the problems of quickly changing inventions. For example a legislator in Florida said regarding drones, “If there were drones during the Boston Tea Party, there wouldn’t be a democracy called the U.S. now.” Or something like that. So, this is something to think about too. Drones might be for countries a way to suppress bad things happening. But the other side of it is they might just be a suppression tool to suppress both good and bad things that could happen in society worldwide and if there is no outlet for people worldwide to grow, to change and to express themselves, then it is more likely that they would choose eventually to extinct all civilization including the earth itself at some point. So, this is something to think about too. This is just an insight from an intuitive that can sometimes see the future as well as the deep past and present.

Begin 2^nd part of “As Drones Evolve”.

Part 2

Even though it was August a freak snow storm was heading north as two storms collided both from the west and one from the South which reminded them a little of

“Hurricane Sandy” the previous fall. Bret asked Silver how they handled “Hurricane Sandy”. Silver looked a little distraught and had to be talked into talking about it. Finally, he said, “Well. I wasn’t aware that there was going to be a storm at all. I had been working on a software program that simulates human thought.

Bret said, “Really?” Silver said, “Yes. I had had an idea about one way to emulate my brain. So I was pursuing it. However, when the power went out I lost some of the primary research on it and it was really discouraging because it took me months to gather it all from various governmental and research sites like MIT and Cal Tech and other government research sites as well as my own ideas. So, I got really depressed like I do when something I’m trying to invent gets interfered with in some way.

Bret said, “Yeah. Like getting sick or something. And by the time you have recovered you have lost a lot of your momentum and enthusiasm for finding out what you were actually thinking about before.” Silver said, “Yeah. It’s almost like some things you only have a 10 second or 1 minute or one hour or 1 day or 1 week window or else you just can’t do it. I’m not sure why it is actually that way. For example, sometimes someone calls me on the phone and I’m in the middle of something and I get so distracted I completely lose what I was doing. It’s really hard to remain focused on something because it takes so much concentration and so many variables are involved.”

Bret said, “I’ve had that experience too. But I’ve noticed since we have been skypeing and sharing ideas this has been less of a problem because we both are typing down or writing by hand our ideas so it is easier to pick up where we left of than before when I was younger.”

Silver said, “Yes. Now that there is another person working on inventions with me it is much easier to move forwards even when there are interruptions because there are two people each writing down our thoughts and potential experiments and research. I agree.”

Bret: “So what happened when Hurricane Sandy hit?” Silver: “It actually was pretty scary. I looked down and some limbs blew down from trees in the park and basically there was no one there much during this time because it wasn’t safe. That is very unusual for Central Park. It is very seldom when no one is there. Then potted plants started blowing off the roof and down onto my veranda and one blew back and shattered one of my windows so I had to tie one of the curtains back because it was being sucked out the window in the winds. Then the power was still on at that point so I called and had a rental generator delivered because my Dad asked me to do that and I had them put it just inside the door to the roof so it could be put outside and turned on as soon as the storm passed if the power went off. Then I ordered large storage batteries to be delivered so I could charge them up with the 110 AC so If the power went off I would be okay alone here with the housekeeper and maid here in my penthouse.”

Bret: “Weren’t you scared?”

Silver: “I was actually interested in studying what it was going to do to life in the city and all the surrounding areas at that point. I wanted to see if people in this area of the country could survive it very well.”

Bret: “So, did they?”

Silver: “For the most part I was very proud of everyone. But I can also see without a breakwater being built it is going to be much much worse next time this happens possibly in a few months from now when Halloween comes again because Hurricane Irene came around this time in 2011. So there could be a worse storm this year in fall 2013.”

Bret said, “I hope not.”

So, they talked and hung out while the storm raged outside and snow fell in August which was very strange. This took a couple of days but at least the snow melted fairly fast. It allowed the boys to hang out and understand each other better. Bret thought that Silver was a little strange and asked if he was okay. Silver said, “I’m not allowed out that much because my Dad doesn’t want me kidnapped. He grew up a little like me too because of all the wealth. However, he went to college and met my Mom and then my Grandparents private jet crashed between the U.S. and Monaco and this sort of messed my Dad up and made him pretty eccentric. He’s a genius like me so this was kind of difficult for him to overcome.”

Bret said, “My Mom died when I was born, so I’ve had to deal with something awful like that too.”

Silver and Bret looked at each other and realized they had more in common than they both thought before. Silver said, “Do you want to become business partners?”

Bret said, “Sure. What did you have in mind?”

Silver: “Well. We are both inventors and I can finance whatever we want to create. For me it is about having more money to reinvest in my inventions than anything else. But it seems to me we make a pretty good team you and I because our knowledge together seems to span a complete way of looking at things. I can learn from you and you can learn from me. We could have a lot of fun inventing things and getting people to manufacture our ideas and sell them. I have a lot of connections of relatives in regard to patent lawyers and things like that too.

Bret looked at Silver because the whole idea of lawyers kind of scared him at age 14.

Bret said, “I don’t know anything about that so maybe you can be of help regarding legalities?”

Silver said, “Don’t worry. I’ve got everything covered.” And he did.

added 2-11-13

Bret said, "What did you do about the window that broke? Wasn't it cold?"
Silver: "Well. I had someone bring 4 by 8 foot sheets of plywood up and we covered it until the storm was over. Then we put plastic like you see in some greenhouses over that and were able to seal the cracks and keep blowing winds from coming into and out. This kept the heat in more so the Forced air heat could work more efficiently."

Bret said, "We don't get storms like that on the west coast. We get fires and earthquakes and high winds but they aren't like anything you were describing. Also, most people live inland a ways so whatever happens on the ocean less people are affected than here too, I think. But, in California we can get 16 inches in a couple of days of rain. So, either it is really dry someplace or then it might rain that much in a few days and then there are flash floods. "

Silver said, "I'd love to see California one day."
Bret, "You've never been to California. I thought you would have been all over the world because you are so rich?"
Silver, "My family is sort of dysfunctional at present. Money is likely the only thing that keeps us all together at present. My mother lives in Florida. My Dad live in Jackson Hole Wyoming and sometimes they even visit me."

Bret, "But that's really weird!"
Silver: "That's been my life. I'm left here most of the time with my nannies, housekeepers and toys (electronic and others).
Bret: "So, you physically have eveything but your family is having problems?"
Silver: "It's been like this from before I was born when my Grandad's plane crashed into the Atlantic with my Grandmother on board. My Dad wasn't really grown up yet. He was still in college and tripping out. You know what I mean? So, he got traumatized in a really deep way and never completely recovered, and still likely hasn't completely recovered even now. So, he learned to retreat with his friends to the family "Luxury Cabin" in Jackson Hole that they bought when they knew Theodore Roosevelt around the turn of the century. So, this place is my Dad's security blanket so to speak."
Bret: "Does your Dad have a job?"
Silver: "He was taught growing up to manage our estate by my grandfather in case something happened to my grandparents. So, he manages the trust estate."
Bret: "Does that take a lot of time?"
Silver: "That's getting to personal, Bret."
Bret: "Oh. I'm sorry. I guess my curiosity got the better of me."
Silver: "That happens to a lot of people. Being rich is not at all what most people believe it to be. It's mostly about being really organized and sure about what you are doing more than anything else. It's sort of like betting on investments and staying with the best ones and selling the others and buying better ones. That's what it is really like. And then you only spend the interest and dividends. You never spend your investment capital ever."
Bret:"Oh."

Part 3 "The Launch of the Eagle"

The next morning they got up early in order to let the Eagle have a full day of sunlight so it wouldn't have to turn on the gas engine hopefully until nightfall. The walked up to the roof terrace and both held the Eagle Drone. One held the right wing and tail and the other held the left wing and tail. And then they let it go. Their hearts sunk at first as it dropped two or three stories but then the engine turned on and it started gaining altitude. Up, up it flew into the new day. The boys felt their spirits rise as it lifted higher and higher. Their first test was to fly out into the middle of the Hudson River. So, since it didn't crash or need further adjustment, he plugged the subroutine in for flying towards the center of the Hudson River. And just like it was programmed to do it searched for updraft thermals with it's heat sensors. The Eagle found one over a smokestack of a large ship on the hudson River and it began taking pictures as it gained altitude. Then they had it fly back to them. Silver caught it this time because two people catching something like this might be dangerous because of the moving propeller. But he grabbed it by the chest fuselage and was safe.

Bret jumped up and down in excitement of their successful joint design of the Eagle. Silver said, "Use the Ipad. Shut off the propeller! That way the battery can recharge from the solar cells on the top of the wings and top of the fuselage." Bret nodded an shut the electric motor that powered the engine off. What a successful test!

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Silver said to Bret, “I think we should send it on it’s way.”

Bret: “Shouldn’t we fill up the gas tanks first?”

Silver:”Yes. You’re right. However, I’m looking at the battery power and it is ranging between 99 and 100%. So I think we should send it on it’s way. We don’t know when your Dad is going to ask you to fly home to California.”

Bret: “In some ways he treats me like a man because he knows I’ll be grown up soon.”

Silver: “I wish I was treated like this by my Dad. I seldom see him. I think he’s afraid of me and he won’t tell me why.”

Bret: “I’m sorry to hear that Silver.”

Silver: “It sure is nice to have a friend to talk to about it.”

Bret: “Thanks Silver. It’s just nice for me to meet someone who is smart like me and who is interested in some of the same things.”

Silver smiled.

The time had finally come for the launch. They had gotten up early with the dawn so they would have this opportunity if all went well. The first launched the Eagle at first light and it was now 8 am eastern time. They each held a wing and then Silver said, “Let me get the motor running good before we let go this time so it won’t lose so much altitude at first.”

Bret said, “Okay.”

So Silver bent over and picked up his Ipad controller. Bret said, “Did you turn on the Cell phone connection again?”

Silver said, “I think so let me text it from the Ipad to make sure it is receiving me.” Soon he said, “It’s okay it checks out.”

Bret watched the engine turn on and had to hold it back from the push of the engine until Silver set down the Ipad

They headed the Eagle towards the Cumberland Pass. The less altitude they would have to gain the faster they could get to California and the least fuel they would burn. The Eagle was designed not to have the gas engine go on at all during the day as long as the sun was out. The boys had planned to have sunlight the whole way. And if there were clouds to try to get above the clouds to take full advantage of the sunlight keeping the electric motor driving the propeller when it wasn’t gliding or gaining altitude in updrafts and thermals from heat rising from the earth or over small hills or mountains along the way. Though a tail wind might reduce lift it also might allow the Eagle to fly faster.

Silver had calculated that they likely could average about 50 miles per hour across the nation to California because of the size of the eagle and the wingspan and drag and lift coefficients. It’s top speed should be about 100 miles per hour in forward movement. It might achieve in emergencies faster flight than this but it would be less stable than 100 mph or under. Because above that speed the wing should be withdrawn mostly so above 100 mph the drag from that much speed put a lot of strain on the wings. Since the Eagle Couldn’t withdraw it’s wings like a real eagle in a dive 100 mph or close to it would be considered to be the top Stable speed the Eagle could attain. Silver had been very careful of his Wind tunnel software in creating the finished design. He had even put a piece of aluminum across between the wings to strengthen the wings at high speed so they couldn’t fall off or break off at that speed. Since Aluminum is strong but also light it has always been a metal of choice for airplanes below the sound barrier or above if reinforced in certain specific engineering ways.

But, for the boys 100 mph was the top easily maneuverable speed they expected except in real emergencies in storms or if the Eagle got shot at by boys or men thinking it was a real eagle or hawk. From the underneath it looked like a real eagle. Only from above did it look like something else. From above it looked like the shape of a real eagle with solar cells built into the entire upper wing structure and the entire top fuselage area. This was covered over by a thin layer of plastic almost like decoupage that allowed sunlight through but kept the aerodynamic shape of the wings in place for lift.

-->

Bret Said, “What gave you the idea of covering the upper wing and fuselage with solar Cells?”

SOLAR IMPULSE - AROUND THE WORLD IN A SOLAR AIRPLANE

www.solarimpulse.com/

Solar Impulse has demonstrated that a solar-powered airplane can fly day and night without fuel. The next challenge is to fly around the world. Our aim is to ...

An airplane - Press' Corner of Solar Impulse - Energy Charter - Solar aviation

End quote from Google.

Silver: “I saw a video online about the Solar Impulse and then asked the people doing that what kinds of solar cells and batteries I should use to build the Eagle? Then I had to find a little gasoline engine that might be compatible that I could add a tiny generator to generate enough to quickly fill up the battery they recommended in a couple of minutes run time.”

Bret: “But how could you make a little starter light enough for the bird to still fly?” Silver: “Actually, that was easier than you might think.”

Bret: “I just can’t believe the two of us could actually design something this good!”

“How much did this thing cost?”

Silver: “I think if I just consider parts it was under 20 to 50,000 dollars. But I think we might be able to market something like this (if we made 1000 units at least) for around 1 to 2 thousand dollars.”

Bret: “Do you think people would buy something like this?”

Silver smiled and then laughed and said, “If you had the money and were our age and could get your Dad or Mom to buy something like this, wouldn’t you at least try?”

Bret: “Of course. Would we sell it assembled or as a kit?”

Silver: “We could do both. We could charge 500 to 1000 less if it wasn’t assembled or something like that. But, I would have to see how much people would charge to actually assemble it before I came to a firm price about that. Let’s see how much publicity we get if anyone recognizes this isn’t really an Eagle gliding across the U.S. first, Okay?”

Bret: “So you think if people discover it that that could be good publicity?”

Silver: “I don’t know what will happen but you never know. It could be the beginning of our business inventing things together and hiring people to manufacture and assemble them for us. You and I might even become famous like the Swiss guys with the Solar Impulse.”

Bret: “Could you show me videos of the Solar Impulse plane flying online?”

Silver: “Sure. But we have to monitor the Eagle for any potential dangers too.”

Bret: “Of course.”

The Winds

As the Eagle Flew westward Silver mentioned to Bret that the winds were becoming a problem. Bret said, "Well. Isn't there a way to find a more favorable wind online? You know how weather charts often have little arrows when weathermen display them? Couldn't we access some charts online for the area the Eagle is flying through?" Silver looked at Bret and was grateful for his California ways of innovativeness. His out of the box kinds of thinking made things work in a pinch. Silver nodded to Bret grateful to have a way forwards for the Eagle. Soon, he had found the charts for the Lattitude and Longitude co-ordinates listed on the geotags of his photos sent through the cellphone and camera unit in the chest of the Eagle. He changed the direction and altitude of the Eagle and soon they actually had a 20 mph tailwind across Ohio. This increased the speed of the Eagle's progress from an average of 50 mph up to 70mph across the ground because of the tailwind even though the Eagle was still actually only going 50 mph through the air in relation to the wind. But a 20 mph increase in ground speed really was going to reduce the amount of fuel used. Because of this tailwind it took only about 3.2 hours for the Eagle to fly from East to West all the way Across Ohio.

Silver was trying to follow main hiways for the most part because there was less likely to be guns being shot around main hiways at the Eagle and it was nice to have a hiway nearby in case the boys or someone they hired had to retrieve their Eagle prototype.

Silver started calculating the fuel they might need to get actually get to Beverly Hills and was starting to think they might not be able to make it all the way there despite not burning any most daylight hours because of the sun and solar arrays replacing the battery power ongoing during the daylight.

Silver mentioned this to Bret who thought about it and said, "Why don't I go out there and travel along with the Eagle in case it has to land or crash so I'm there to pick it up so no one takes it or steals it from us?

Silver said, "I can't go because I'm not allowed to by my Dad, Bret. But, I think I can get my Dad's private jet to fly you anywhere if he's not using it right now. His pilot is usually on standby for this sort of thing. Let me go call and see." Soon, Silver was talking with his Dad's jet pilot for his private jet, "Hey Bob, is Dad flying anywhere the next week or so?" Bob:" No. I think he is taking friends on a horse packing trip up into the Tetons right now. It's August and prime vacation time for him in the Tetons." Silver said, "Well. I'd like to have you fly my friend Bret around following our Eagle Drone we are flying across the U.S., okay?" Bob:"Well. Let me text your Dad to see if I can get permission from him to do it. Also, how old is your friend?" Silver: "He's 14 from California. We built this Eagle Drone together." Bob: "That's Great, Silver. But I need permission from his parents to do this too in addition to your father's permission." Silver: "Okay. I'll get the phone number of his Dad or Aunt or whoever is available to do this, okay?" Bob: "Fine. I'll try and get your Dad by cell phone or text if I can." Silver: "Good."

Silver: "I need you to call your Dad to see if it is okay for you to fly in my Dad's private jet with Bob his pilot." So, Bret called his Dad who luckily wasn't flying to Japan right then. It was okay with his Dad. Soon Silver heard back from Bob who said he had received permission through a text from Rex, Silver's Dad that it was okay too.

Bret said, "Why can't you come too?"
Silver looked at Bret and said, "I never leave this penthouse, Bret."
Bret said, "Why".
Silver: "I don't really know why I never have so far. And now I'm a little scared to go anywhere because of it."
Bret felt sad for his friend. But he wasn't going to end the friendship over this either. They had come too far designing and building their Eagle and had become too good of friends to let something like this end their friendship. Bret said, "Well. I'll go and rescue the Eagle if we need to for the both of us."
Silver sort of felt like crying but was glad Bret hadn't rejected him for being so eccentric like some people did.

The limousine driver came and knocked at the penthouse door and took Bret to the airport where Bob, Silver's Dad's private jet pilot awaited him. Bret was pretty amazed at how nice this jet was with a small kitchen, fold down beds, a bathroom with a shower, and even a small hot tub that could be filled while at an airport camping there in the jet. It was like a hotel room with a small kitchen. Amazing!

As Bret landed in Saint Louis to track the Eagle he was amazed at this new life he was leading. He was only 14 and was in his new best friend's private jet flying around the country!

It was now about 19 hours after the Eagle first took off from Silver's Penthouse overlooking Central Park and the Eagle had traveled 956 miles already and was averaging around 50 mph the whole way.

He got a call from his Aunt. She didn't like him traveling all over the country alone. Bob, the pilot got on the phone and told Bret's Aunt that he could pick her up in San Diego if she wanted to accompany them. He knew a lot about liability and thought this could reduce it some since she wasn't sure about all this. She told him the story of her sister dying in child birth while giving birth to Bret and realized this had really traumatized her and thought picking her up might help the situation.

Bret said, "I don't want to be treated like a baby, Bob." Bob said, "Bret. I have to think about the actual liability of taking you around the country at age 14. Your aunt is now in charge of you because your Dad presently is en route to Japan. I think we should go get her and then I don't have to worry about losing my job." Bret looked at Bob and said, "I don't want you to lose your job, Bob. I agree then. We better go and get my aunt.

following added October 5th and after:

Now with Bret's Aunt in tow they met the Eagle near Tucson. They had realized that the elevations around Flagstaff would just be too much for the Eagle to maintain and waste just too much power and gas and drain that batteries from the solar power. So, the flew to Tucson where people started to notice the Eagle when Bret caught it out of the air in a city park there.

They had decided to land it in Reed Park there because it had a lot of greenery around it to land and make the Catch easier. Bret refilled the little gas tank and soon launched it again by coordinating with Silver.

It headed up Interstate 10 towards Phoenix so it would have a maximum availability of cell signals. Since Silver used text messages to communicate with the Eagle to make sure the weather and everything else would work for it. The Eagle would send numbers of the wind speed in relation to whether it was experiencing a tail wind or side winds or headwinds. They only ones Silver worried about that much were headwinds because it was theoretically possible for the Eagle to be flying under power in a headwind and be either stationary or going backwards. So, knowing the forward movement in relation to the ground was paramount if they wanted to ever make it to Beverly Hills, California. The boys talked on their cell phones now and were wondering whether the head winds common around Palm Springs up to almost San Bernadino along Interstate 10 were going to be a problem? Silver said, "Well, I think by changing altitudes we can minimize the headwinds if they are blowing when we go through. I'm worried a little about cross winds that might blow it into either San Gorgonio Mountain or San Jacinto Mountain though." Bret said, "Yes. I've flown over that area with my father in our private plane a Beechcraft V tail." Silver laughed and said, "They call that plane the doctor killers!" Bret said, "I know but remember my Dad's an Airline Pilot and used to fly fighter planes in the military." Silver said, "You're right, Bret. I was just kidding with you. I'm sorry."

Bret said, "Well. We're almost there Silver. I think we are going to make it all the way to Beverly Hills. But, I'm starting to get interviewed by the media. They think we are two golden boys or something to be able to do something constructive like this at our ages."

Silver said,"We are Golden boys, Bret. Who else could afford to actually pull off something like this!"
Bret said, "I guess you are right. If we start a business building these things we have a natural audience and maybe customers."
Silver: "I think you're right. But, I'm good with technology and you are good with people."
Bret said, "Then I'll be Stever Jobs to your Wozniak."
Silver said, "Just remember I'm bankrolling this thing and you'll be okay."
Bret understood this more than Silver ever needed to say. It was good to know a 15 year old friend would would bankroll both your amazing ideas. This was really amazing being flown around with his Aunt in Silver's family's private jet by his private pilot. But he could have done without his Aunt sort of raining on his parade. But, this was the real world and not a fantasy world that two 15 year old boys lived in.

Silver found that if he flew the Eagle very close to the ground and used the slip stream of the Semi trucks as a sort of drafting mechanism that he could use this reverse wind to move the Eagle ever closer to San Bernadino. Then at San Bernadino he found the winds changed directions and blew the Eagle towards the ocean. So, he let the Eagle be blown towards the ocean and decided to fly it along the Beach up towards Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. Besides, this route was safer because all he had to do was to watch out for the kite surfers in Long beach harbor so he wouldn't get the Eagle caught in one of the guy wires to their surfing kites that pulled them along the ocean on something that looked a lot like a Snowboard built for the ocean.

After Long Beach Harbor they headed the Eagle up 405 towards Beverly Hills and somewhere between Culver City and West L.A. they turned right to the East and north a little towards Beverly Hills and Bret's home where he already arrived just in time to actually catch the Eagle on his front lawn. However, by then many people who had been following this from at least Tucson when more and more people had started to get wind of what these boys (young men) had done. So, many news stations and many hangers onto this story were there too, which brought the Beverly Hills police and crowd control. What Bret and Silver found interesting was that no one stopped them or told them they were doing anything wrong sort of like men who traveling by many helium weather balloons on a lawn chair across country were usually tolerated too. It was such an unusual anomaly no one really got upset with them, instead they just were really happy these young men had succeeded at such an outlandish endeavor in the first place. So, people were generally very happy for them. They were just glad to see 15 year old boys doing something this constructive with their time. And all realized they were a new class of inventors from an early age.

Silver was interviewed via Skype in his Penthouse overlooking Central Park in New York and Bret was interviewed on his front lawn actually holding the Eagle drone which by now had a lot of bug and bee hits on the leading surface of it's wings and beak and head area from the long travels. Also, there was a little exhaust effluvia that had marked one side of the Eagle from the exhaust from the gas generator. But, they had a whole lot of good pictures taken along the way using the smarphone camera they used as a remote controller for the Eagle. Also, the upper wings solar cells all looked really great and had worked very effectively to generate electricity whenever the sun was out and especially when the sun was above the wings anywhere during the day.

Note: I decided to add: Silver and Bret: Best Friends to this so it would be less confusing for both me and for you in the future if you want to read both segments. Also, this time I'm taking both segments:so far, and putting them in Word so no one hacks them this time at my web site.

Silver and Bret: Best Friends

I was looking for "As Drones Evolve" which is something I was very pleased with before it got hacked. I was able to salvage a lot of it and then I tried to write it like I had originally wrote it but found I wasn't in the right flow of writing for that later. So, when you write something try to keep a copy of what you are writing (if it is long enough and you have spent enough time on it for you to care) in Word or somewhere else besides the web at a blog site so this doesn't happen to you. Over the years I guess I got a little lazy while writing and a little less paranoid about what I was doing and so when someone hacked my site I wasn't prepared for that. One of the ways to avoid having your site hacked is not to have the password to your site stored in your computer for a hacker to find it there or out in a cloud. Even though you might have to type in your password full or partial it is worth it to prevent your site getting hacked and potentially losing hours or days or even years of work. However, it is also comforting to know that "What goes around comes around". In other words those who hack will also be hacked in a karmic sense of this. I think one of the most important things for everyone to realize is that whatever they do good or bad will come back upon them on every level of their lives eventually. Understanding this, one can be a kind and thoughtful person in all aspects of their lives and be healthy in all ways physically, mentally and spiritually ongoing.

None of us are perfect but in time we can learn to become more perfect than we once were.

Here is a word button for as Drones Evolve:AS DRONES EVOLVE: FICTION?
:AS DRONES EVOLVE: FICTION?
Also, another related blog I quoted from other sources mostly:

intuitive fred888: Flying Eagle drone prototypes

The following site at dragonofcompassion.com