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Talking Unmanned Systems

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.”

— Chris Grosser.

Hello everybody. My name is Dan Brinlee and this is the first blog I’ve ever attempted. I am currently pursuing my Masters in Unmanned Services through Embry-Riddle. As a requirement to help introduce me to the connected world, my current unmanned services class is truly my first real connection to unmanned vehicles. Prior to this, I had only loaded one model of them into a Chinook Helicopter and delivered them in Iraq. My intent of creating this blog is to document some of the things I learn throughout this term and hopefully to learn from others through responses that open my eyes to other purposes and functions of unmanned systems.

Unmanned systems to me, prior to the first two weeks of this course, consisted entirely of piloted or automatic vehicles: e.g. remote-controlled planes, deep water submersibles, drones used in combat, my wife’s Tesla, etc. After just two weeks, I’ve been introduced to hundreds of other uses, purposes, and functions. Autonomous (entirely independent of humans) vehicles are clearly the future in almost every domain. This is an extremely exciting class for me and I’m looking forward to learning a lot more.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.