The Lighter Note

Is it a bird, or a plane?

The space race gave us the wonder of Teflon, now the war on terror is helping us know our own terrain.

Well, that's The Note’s loose interpretation of how competition and rivalry in one field spins off to advances in another.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, have made the headlines for their deadly ability to knock off terrorist leaders in remote corners. The Note has seen them applied to coastal surveillance and even tracking marine life for science, but even we were surprised to find local business, Land Surveys, had found a commercial application.

The company claims its Gatewing X100 UAVs are able to more cost-effectively survey and image much smaller areas, such as mine sites and land developments, than traditional methods and turnaround the results more quickly.

Surf’s up

From new technology in the air to old floaters in the sea ... The Note could not resist a mention for Surf 'n' Turf a fundraiser for SurfAid to be held at North Fremantle bowling club on February 16.

For musos there is a young indie line-up - Deep River Collective & The Morning Night. Jill Birt and Alsy MacDonald, formerly of The Triffids are also performing.

More importantly there is a surfing ‘hardware' swap meet and (The Note loves this) a vintage surfboard exhibition, including some (like these pictured) from one of WA's first shapers, Len Dibbens. The sport has moved on, hasn't it?

It is all for a good cause, of course. SurfAid aims is to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people living in isolated regions, which have a connection to surfing. The Note presumes that means coastal communities with waves.

Big win, small prize

Congrats to Andrew Ziem, general manager of The Esplanade Port Hedland, the iron ore capital's only 4.5-star hotel. He picks up an iPad mini as the winner of WA Business News’ recent subscriptions prize draw.

The Note might have to ask for a demo, we have not had the pleasure of sampling one of these little beauties yet.