D R O N E S

Drone aircraft are in the news practically every day. But what is a drone? How is a drone different from a radio controlled airplane? Who flies drones, and why? In this article.

 

 In technical terms, a drone aircraft is an unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly referred to as a UAV. That means it's an aircraft, of any size or type, that flies by itself, without an onboard pilot or passengers. Think of it as a robot plane, controlled either autonomously or via remote control.

Despite all the recent drone buzz, UAVs are nothing new. In fact, today's drones resemble nothing more and nothing less than the radio-controlled airplanes and helicopters that have been available in hobby stores since when you were a kid. Whether we're talking R/C planes, R/C helicopters, or the newer R/quad copters, you can call them all drones and not be incorrect. (Witness the number of hobbyist companies now calling their R/C aircraft drones. It's a hot term.)

That said, I don't think too many people are going to look at one of those small R/C copters designed for indoor use and call it a drone, nor the typical R/C prop plane. In most people's eyes, a drone is something larger, probably more of a copter or quadcopter than a plane, and probably loaded with some sort of digital camera to take photos and videos while aloft.

That is especially true when we talk about commercial and military drones. These units are typically larger than the drones you can find in your local hobby store, and often purpose-built. As you can imagine, a drone used by the military to launch missiles at an enemy target is far removed from a simple quadcopter designed for fun flying.

 

In addition, commercial and military drones have much longer ranges than do hobbyist aircraft. They can not only fly further on a single charge or tank of gas, but they can also be controlled from a much greater distance. Whereas most R/C craft can fly only as far as the land-based pilot's visual range, commercial/military drones can be flown from thousands of miles away, using a combination of satellite and autonomous control technologies. This lets a home base remotely control drones across

F E M I N I S M

                                                                

                                                                  F E M I N I S M

The word ‘feminism’ can be a scary and confusing word to some. Many people believe that feminism means hating men or wanting women to rule over everything– this could not be further from the truth! Feminism simply means believing that men and women are equal, neither is better than the other and neither should be treated with more respect than the other – everyone should be equal on all levels, simple as that.

 Feminism allows equal opportunities for both sexes. Gender roles (a set of conforming rules that say how a person should behave based on their gender) can be harmful to both men and women. The popular belief is that women and girls are meant to take care of the home while boys and men are meant to go out and provide for the family. Can you imagine not being allowed to go to school just because you’re a girl? Or being forced to stay at home and look after the house just because you’re a woman? This is the reality that many girls around the world face, even in South Africa. They are restricted simply based on their gender. It is also unfair to place pressure on boys to fulfil certain roles that are based on their gender. Feminism is about allowing both boys and girls the freedom to do what they want and making sure that people are not held back by gender roles and expectations whether it be at home, at school, in the workplace or in parliament.

  Being a feminist doesn’t mean you have to change who you are. You can still enjoy your femininity while being a feminist. Feminism has nothing to do with how you dress or how much make-up you wear. It has everything to do with striving for the same rights men have. Feminism also has nothing to do with your gender/sex. You can be a man and be a feminist too. Feminism shouldn’t degrade or ignore men. It’s not feminism if one gender is not noticed. As long as you believe that both men and women should be given equal opportunities, then you believe in feminism.

 We can’t call ourselves feminists yet deny boys the right to show their emotions. Whatever we teach young girls, we should teach young boys the same things. Girls and boys should be given the same responsibilities and learn to meet equal challenges so that they both know that they are capable of achieving anything they want. We need to stop saying there are ‘male’ and ‘female’ jobs. We’ve seen how capable men can take care of children (mannies – men who are nannies), just as much as we’ve realised how awesome women can be as CEOs of a company. Whatever opportunities there are available for men, there should be equal opportunities for women.