
Flying machines of Chinese farmers - happy-go-lucky
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170312-the-amazing-flying-machines-of-chinese-farmers
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mike_h
No mention of how they share what they learn with each other. I know the main
bottleneck here is material / financial, but I get the impression there's also
an information bottleneck. Getting them networked might dim the romance a
little, but it also might mitigate the tragedy.

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m-i-l
The article mentions at least one of them can't read or write. Would be an
interesting challenge to build a knowledge sharing platform in that case.

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shalmanese
Wechat built its initial traction by having voice memos as a first class
interface element in its app. There are entire communities of illiterate
Chinese communicating using purely voice memos/stickers.

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PakG1
Yes, but are voice memos indexable and searchable? Maybe they can be, but
don't know what enterprising startup would find it profitable to create the
machine learning algorithms necessary to do this successfully. As a well-
funded nonprofit, maybe. Because of illiteracy, your metadata would also need
to be a significant amount of audio, at least for the illiterate humans.

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joshuaheard
Alexa, search for airplane propeller.

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PakG1
Touche.....

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Shivetya
Guess it goes to show when given more and more freedom and property rights
inspiration takes off. going to assume it is only semi legal to fly such
things in China or perhaps the rules have not caught up with the hobbyist?

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LyndsySimon
The article mentions it being illegal, but it's interesting to note that many
of the aircraft pictured would be legal in the US without certification as
"ultralights." The cutoff is 254 pounds.

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JoeAltmaier
Any pictures? The story is about a photographer after all. And the machines
have got to be amazing steampunk-inspired marvels. I'd really have preferred a
pictorial essay.

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officelineback
There are pictures embedded in the article.

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JoeAltmaier
Oh! The first time, there were none. Now I revisit and see them. Strange.

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Yizahi
This reminds me about "Astronaut Farmer" movie.

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dash2
Another nail in the coffin of the thesis that Chinese people can never
innovate.

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restalis
I remember my first impression after getting acquainted with silkworm history
being that Chinese people actually discover things but aren't that much into
sharing!

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phkahler
Does EAA have much presence in China? These guys should be members.

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joshwa
There is basically no general aviation in China-- the airspace is controlled
via the military and the regulations are extreme (flight plans require 2 days
notice!). However as of last year they are loosening these restrictions and
plan to establish a larger GA industry:

[http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-
aviation/2016...](http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-
aviation/2016-05-25/china-embraces-general-aviation)

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tragomaskhalos
> 'aeronauts', literally meaning 'being born into air'.

<pedant>Incorrect. The suffix -naut is from Greek naute^s, meaning sailor. Of
course it may be that the Chinese phrase used does mean "being born into air",
but then the article should say that</pedant>

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Cpoll
Maybe they were thinking "aeronat" :)

(Nat- being a Latin prefix for "born", see "natal")

