Thursday, February 21, 2008

What The Heck???


There I was. Eating lunch at the park. It was a sack lunch, the usual, a sandwich, chips and some other little snacks. There was yet another protest going on across the square. I wasn't even really paying attention to what they were protesting. There was some yelling, chanting some political thing. There were a few cops around. The mounted cops looked bored; their horses chewing there cud and the cops chatting. No one seemed really all that interested.

I took a second bite out of my chicken sandwich and noticed a some kind've bug flying around the tree beside the bench I was sitting on. I noticed that it was a dragonfly. I took special note, because dragonflies are my favorite. They come in such beautiful colors, they fly like nothing else and they seem very intelligent. They're cool! But this one looked funny for some reason. It didn't fly like any dragonfly I had ever seen. It seemed to fly real smooth and even. The dragonflies that I had always seen jerked this way and that way, like they were looking for prey or looking for a fight with another dragonfly. This one would fly a few feet and hover in one spot for what seemed like a long time. I couldn't figure out what it was doing.

The guy sitting at the other end of the bench saw me watching the dragonfly. I could tell that he was curious as to what I found so interesting about this bug. Suddenly it flew pretty close to him and he reached out and took a swat at it! I was shocked that he was able to actually hit it. There's no way you can even ever get close to a dragonfly, unless he's sick or something. They're just too smart. This one hit the ground and buzzed a few seconds and went dead as a doornail!There it lay between us on the ground. We looked at each other and then at the dragonfly in surprise. We almost knocked heads as we went down to the ground to get a closer look.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. this wasn't at all a dragonfly. It was't even a bug. It was mechanical! You could see the man made wings and body and the electronics. Yes it was tiny, but it was a machine! As we inspected it, I could see on the underside that it hadsomething that was surely a lens. It was so small it was almost indefinable. But it was there. We both shot our heads up quickly, looking for the owner of this cool little flying machine! Surely there's some geeky guy standing around holding one of those hand controls with the toggle switches. But there was no one. It then became very creepy. What the heck was going on here? Who was controlling this thing. I was afraid to bring it home. I did some research on the Internet and was shocked at all of the things I saw. These kind of clandestine devices have been around for years. They are used to fool and spy on folks. I would have never have noticed it if it hadn't been for my interest in dragonflies. And I would have never had a second thought if that other guy hadn't knocked it down!

I still wonder... who was controlling it. And what were they looking at? Was it the protesters across the square, was it the guy sitting on the bench with me. Or maybe it was me???

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi. I used to read all the TMG articles through 8-7-05 when you ended it and just encountered your blog the very day you posted about the spy drone. A synchronicity? I've never corresponded before, but couldn't resist when I saw this tidbit. I created a new account just so I could post on this, something I have never done to date. I generally prefer to remain a lurker and not necessarily an interactor.

Just a thought in case you have not already considered this: that little spy drone probably has some sort of tracking device in it. If it still has a power source, "they" can probably find out where it is. If it is powered via wireless transmissions, it could still be energized and you might not even know it. It possibly could still be picking up your conversations and transmitting images even though it flies no longer. Have you opened it up to see if it has an onboard power source? If you don't want to come home and find your place ransacked one day, it might be a good idea to put it in some insulating material that blocks RF, assuming of course that it operates on those frequencies. You probably have thought about all this already, because this is definitely an item "they" would want back.

We have heard about and even seen operating dragonflies and similarly configured "insect" spy drones, but you are the first person that I am aware of who actually got his hands on an operating unit, even if it might be "dead" for now. Being that you are the founder of TMG, I would say this is more than a coincidence. Thanks for all your TMG work and well done on your capture!

Anonymous said...

See - here it is - surveillance:
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/#/88/