I’ve definitely mentioned it in a blog before but it has been really in my mind consider that technology has outpaced us. Civilly, we were never prepared here in the Great White North. Airsoft has been around since the 50’s and 60’s but no laws have been properly applied until of late. Crowd-source industries have surged through without much regulation and has tested classifications and definitions in law. Photography and drone flight have particular pricked the public interest of where it’s considering right and wrong.
I haven’t played airsoft in awhile but it doesn’t mean from time to time I receive news about the goings-on in the community at large. When the government decided to apply laws that are equal to paintball, it was slowly declining in interest. Due to the draconian enforcement on importation and carry laws. It doesn’t mean people still don’t care, in fact have these items classified as equipment of a sport but further to label them as replicas applies implicit ways to handle them in use and storage. Which I think is great since it would encourage not only honourable sporting practice but a good introduction to proper firearm handling for anyone who was interested to own their own gun.
Most recently crowd-sourcing has been a big issue in my city. The fact the roads and homes are being fully maximized to profit pulls away from the human component. My city has a big issue with homelessness, cost of living and a heavy reliance on external investment to build more housing. More I think about it, we put ourselves into a cyclic system that has destroyed the downtown core. Up to the end of the 20th century, the “downtown” was always the economic and financial hub of the city. People go in there to make money or spend it. Though recently with more people wanting to live and work close, condos have been rising all over the place. Not only that they want to travel conveniently and live cheaply. On top of that, the city does enjoy money that they want it from anywhere. Foreign investment into building these units to fill that demand without little or no feedback from the companies involved and responsible for these buildings. In the last 15 years, there have been sporadic reports that even these aging condo units are falling apart. Not only that but it raises taxes of the local area which forces business out and for them to stay in business, they have to increase prices to cover costs. Who buys these stuff? Off course the people who live close. Luckily the bubble is slowly bursting here because condos are about expensive as owning a house in certain places. However this doesn’t stop subleasing to others not named in their lease contracts. When you rent, you agree that you are the sole occupant of that space and if there isn’t a clause or proper enforcement, people are going to sublet their units for temporary renters which borrow the space for a few days. As a result sometimes, these people might not follow the rules and cause trouble. In the city this can invite some bad people to influence the neighbourhood. In my city, shootings, homicides and noise complaints have been the prime push for controlling these sub-leases. But it doesn’t change much because people want to make money to cover costs and if they have the money to buy property, then nothing will stop them to buy it. This goes specially towards foreign investors and non-residents.
Besides not letting strangers into your house, a lot of people never learned the lesson of entering a stranger’s car. Most apps now define their drivers as “private contractors” or “private operators” which can be a slippery slope since it offers the driver a lot of freedom of how they operate. Since they’re private means they’re not necessarily employed by the company so it absolves them from responsibilities of their drivers. So if a customer complains about a certain driver, the company can quite literally don’t have to do anything. As much as they will remove drivers off the app, it could be just as easy to do very little if the government doesn’t personally responsible. It’s kind of embarrassing too when I see taxi drivers operate their vehicles more responsibly than some of these drivers that are so heavily dependent on GPS to get them from point-to-point. This is why I refuse to get those apps, I know my cabbie can get there for cheap as well. Cabs don’t surge price so when you get in, you already agreed to a fixed fee. Meanwhile 5 kilomentres and 5 kilometres with the surge price can be a big difference. So keep your bottle water and candy, I rather hop into a cab with someone who knows the city on the back of his hand. Perhaps the only time a private car may be worth it is going intercity since anecdotal accounts from people close to me say it’s cheaper. Go figure.
A bit of a hobby and interest is drones and photography. Not going to lie, I have one sitting on my shelf in case I want to fly it and I might want to trade it for one with a camera on a gimbal. Also I own a couple cameras, because a good hobby is one that interests you and for it going 3 years strong; I think it’s officially love. Recently though, mirrorless systems are about to close the gap with cellphones since MILC’s (Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras) are just as powerful in resolution and the ability to capture light. Despite the price, in 5 years these camera bodies would be equally priced to a new phone. I’ve seen what a lot of full-frame MILC’s can do and it’s absolutely beautiful. I’m still holding out for DSLR but the advantage of an electronic shutter is immense especially capturing things faster than 1/10000 of a second. However back when laws were placed on cameras in regards to a person’s privacy, they were meant for bulky cameras like SLR which applies to most cameras. With smartphones and everyone owning a device with a camera, it’s quite impossible to stop someone from taking a photo. I’ve been caught more times than probably someone in the same space for taking a photo on their phone. It’s quite obvious what I’m done with a camera but I’m the one called out for it. This is not much for governments to enforce these laws but to the security firms that maintain buildings. Definitely property owners can consent to photographs but for the most time a lot of people take a quick photo of a building and move on. Why can’t I do the same, guys? Honestly if you place art installations or decorate to appeal to the eye, no doubt you will have looks and a couple photos. Drones are in their own ballpark but photography does get involved however. I love these things, it’s always nice to see things from a different perspective however as much as privacy is concerned, these lens are pretty garbage. Now only if I can mount my DSLR on a drone, that would be the dream. The big issue here is safety. I haven’t seen it myself since I know there is a FPV drone community that sometimes loves to race. But if it’s anything like airsoft, most of them are responsible folks – which I guess why I don’t see them a lot. Though some people love to push the limit, either by ignorance or sheer daring. Ignorance is forgivable though if someone is in danger, it can’t be overlooked. As a human being, you have the ability to have empathy (unless you’re psychopathic, that’s another discussion). If you can’t think about what you’re doing and what it results for others, then you’re not a human being. What goes up, must come down. It annoys me when the government has to dumb down to get people to live sensibly with others. Next thing you know, bike licenses are re-instituted (it happened in my city a long time ago), you have to carry registration for pets and then how much father until we have to have a certificate that allows us to leave our houses.
The biggest takeaway from this is just consider about others and the whole.
nawkcire 