Aircraft stability and control is a fascinating field.

Their maneuverability is owed to the fact that they’re somewhat unstable to begin with. It’s been literal decades since I had the class, but a good way to think of the difference between a fighter jet and a commercial jet (maneuverability wise) is that a commercial jet’s stability is like rolling a small ball in a large bowl. You’ve got a lot of leeway on what you can do before the ball won’t eventually end back up in the center of the bowl. A fighter jet is the opposite… it’s like trying to balance that small ball on top of a basketball. If you place it perfectly, it will stay in place. A touch off center, it will begin to drift further off center faster and faster until it falls off completely.

That’s why it takes so much training and physical fitness to fly fighter jets. It’s almost like they’re actively trying to kill you. And that’s not just the modern computer controlled jets like the F-35 and F-22. The older jets were like that too, but I have to imagine less so. An F-18 can’t pull a 9g turn… the F-22 can, and I also understand it can fly itself while the pilot is unconscious for a few moments after that 9g turn…

We order it with no slivered onions and substitute the diced onions they use on their cheeseburgers.

Na… that’s a convenient coincidence. Funding an effective FEMA would make the Biden administration look good. This is the same bullshit that they pulled when they killed the border deal.

Agreed, and I’m in that group (sorta)… but it doesn’t take that much travel to realize we’re all much more alike than we’re different.

This is why it’s important to travel.

Yup… never read up on how to actually do it, but I know it’s a thing.

There is a licensure process through the FCC. The Technician license is the most basic one and the first one to get. You can look at the ARRL link I put below to find a class in your area or you can buy some prep materials from them and find an exam in your area.

The technician exam is really nothing more than basic radio operation and the laws and regulations you need to abide by if you’re going to transmit. Once licensed, you’ll be able to transmit within a certain frequency band. This is my level of licensure.

General is the next step. There you start to actually get into radio transmission theory and actually get to the point where you need to walk into the exam with a calculator.

Amateur Extra is the highest level of licensure available. That opens up the rest of the available frequencies for amateur use.

I’d venture to say the vast majority of the storm chasers and folks involved in the relief efforts are licensed in the General class. They offer critical communications capabilities where power has been lost and cell tower generators have run out of gas. But there’s still plenty you can do with a technician license. You can dial up repeaters and make phone calls to friends (nothing commercial… like, don’t even order a pizza), contact the ISS, and other things.

Not sure where a CB lands in terms of the laws and regulations, but I think it lies in a very narrow frequency band and is somewhat unregulated, but I could be talking out of my ass on that bit. I do know you don’t want to operate with a frequency range you’re not authorized for, or fuck around in a range you are authorized for incorrectly. Someone who knows more than you and has a glowing neck beard Gandalf would be envious of will come knock on your door and tell you to stop. And if you don’t, he’ll call his buddy at the FCC. Fines can be assessed.

https://www.arrl.org/

How do you say she’s in track to lose. All the data I’ve seen makes me optimistic.

Yeah, there are a few of those comedians who I believe will prove timeless. Carlin’s and Pryor’s works in particular will never completely lose relevance because they’re such fundamental takes on humanity.

“Just think how stupid the average person is… then realize that 50% of people are dumber than that!”

Paraphrased from George Carlin.

I’m not sure if “middleeasteye.net” is a reliable source…

Yeah, the hypocrisy is fucking rife.

I had a similar feeling when they had that Field of Dreams game several in 2021 b/w the ChiSox and Yankees. Kevin fucking Costner walks his ass out to the mound and gives a lovely speech, and didn’t say one god damned word about Shoeless Joe Jackson.

He absolutely has. I think that’s part of why we haven’t seen him in a ton of things in the last 15 or so years. I know he went through a phase where he primarily filled his time with painting, and he had a giant warehouse studio where he’d spend gobs of his time pouring himself into stretched canvass. Maybe this is just his next step…

Maybe fun? That passage reads to me that he’s at the point of his career where he can pick and choose his work, and will only agree to it if he can goof off doing whatever the fuck he wants.

I do enjoy every opportunity I get where my brain gets to say the words quod erat demonstrandum.

I wonder how hard they laughed at the vinyl wrap shop…

Holy shit… totally not the response I expected either.

But to my point, I know a handful of career civil servants and they’re pretty passionate about their roles and try to do a good job… unlike fucking lunatics like Canon who are supposed to be apolitical but politics dictate every action they take…

Eh… large swaths of government try to be efficient… it just keeps tripping over its own feet and all the red tape lying around.

Seems to me like the majority of this nonsense is more typical of the portion of the government that employs by appointment.

They have…. That’s why there is a usual trend of bolder actions taken by second term presidents because they’re no longer eligible for candidacy for President.

That’s also why we can’t fuck about with a second Trump term.

I didn’t say he was a great president. I said he was the greatest man elected president.

I shouldn’t have been so cryptic… I was speaking more to his decency as a human.