Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Quantifying the impact of the Linus Tech Tips “Gamer Jet”
Recently the tech YouTuber Linus Sebastian (Linus Tech Tips) bought a private jet and naturally this has unleashed a torrent of hot takes from fans and haters alike. The arguments mostly boil down to whether or not the emissions and subsequent impact on the environment are unreasonable or justifiable. Of course, the arguments are pretty…
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Why the FAA’s ICE Drone Ban is Legally Indefensible
A close reading of the statutes behind the NOTAM that grounded journalists over Minneapolis. In January 2026, the FAA expanded a national security NOTAM to cover DHS and CBP mobile assets, effectively creating a no-fly zone around ICE vehicles operating in Minneapolis and elsewhere. Drone operators faced the threat of civil and criminal penalties for…
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Building a Tweetdeck-style interface for LiveATC feeds
If you’re an aviation nerd, you know how powerful ADS-B and flight tracking sites can be. However, ADS-B does have its limitations. In some situations, we have to turn to other methods to track, identify and characterize operations of non ADS-B out targets. ACARS is one potential path for gaining information we can’t get from…
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Project SkyWatch (AKA Wescam at home)
Professional aviation surveillance relies on a specific piece of hardware: the EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infra-Red) gimbal. These are the gyro-stabilized turrets you see on the nose of police helicopters or military drones, capable of keeping a rock-solid lock on a target regardless of how the aircraft maneuvers. I wanted to replicate this capability to help track aircraft…
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Building an affordable local news multiviewer with the HDHomeRun Flex 4K
One of my favorite parts of an Emergency Operations Center is the wall of screens up front that provide all sorts of situational awareness information. Typically at least one screen is dedicated to monitoring local or national news. Typically these displays are managed by expensive and complex AV setups, installed by professional vendors. For my…
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Flight tracking 101: How to track airplanes from first principles
The world of flight tracking is in the spotlight after Elon Musk had a meltdown about automated flight tracker accounts, specifically one run by college student Jack Sweeney that tracked Elon’s private jets. Elon and Twitter blocked hundreds of automated and human accounts (including mine!) that had recently tweeted about flight tracking. While these permanent…
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How to use video (strategically) for case studies
Case studies are often viewed as siloed deliverables, one-off projects that result in one or two high value deliverables. While in some cases, that may be acceptable, the reality is a single production opportunity can do so much more. In fact, video case studies can form the foundation of an entire content marketing strategy, providing…
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Wave Link – First Time Setup for macOS
Howdy, some quick context up top: this is a setup guide for the Elgato Wave Link software. Unfortunately, right now Elgato is missing a lot of Mac-specific documentation and it’s caused some frustration for me so I wrote this up based on their existing Windows articles. I hope it helps other Mac users using Elgato’s…
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How to use video (strategically) for event marketing
Video can help amplify your event beyond the four walls of the venue. From capturing the content of the event to capturing the feeling of the event, video is an invaluable part of a modern event marketing strategy.
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PDF Archive – Instrument Planning from the August 19, 1937 Issue of Flight
A friend was doing some research into instrument flying and needed to locate a key text on the subject. This article from a 1937 issue on Flight is heavily cited in academic texts, but as of several years ago is not available online because the parent organization’s archive went dark during a site upgrade in…
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