Leaderboard

The problem these people are facing and the addiction and deaths of literally 100s of thousands are the result of the greed of the billionaire Sacklers and their drug pushing ilk. I said God damn, God damn the pusher man. And to tie two threads together it is another, and very extreme example of white privilege. None of the drug company criminals are in jail.

So far I have seen no evidence of any level of sincerity in your posts.

It's kinda like going to the zoo. It's fun to feed the animals for a bit, but then you get bored and wander off.

Trust Wendy? I don't know, she seems pretty shifty to me. You haven't been here long have you? That Wendy has a bit of a reputation alright.

There's a new troll in town and people who should know better are feeding it.

Wow. I never considered the reduction in asymmetrical thrust. That could be huge.

Shit, I did not look closely enough at who was commenting. I get it now. However pandemics in the past have done weird stuff like that occasionally. But we have more knowledge now and there is greater predictability. The first SARS and MERS were both frightful and related to this virus. And did unexpectedly stop spreading.

I moved on to random non-sequiturs. It made no discernable impact on the conversation quality.

BUMP, the new Squirrel ETMD is out! I'll be flying my Mutation2 on Saturday. "Wingless Wingsuits" are a thing! Try one today. If you ask nicely, the Squirrel team will send you one out to fly.

Hi Bill, I have 'no sympathy' for anyone who loots, assaults and/or does any damage during any type of protest. I am all for being able to demonstrate for that which you do/do not believe in. Just keep it civil. Jerry Baumchen

Is there a limit to how many posters I can block?

I agree. I have no sympathy for the people who looted and assaulted during the BLM riots, and I have no sympathy for the people who attacked the Capitol.

No. That's an accreting planet. The planetary nebula surrounding it is much bigger than the final planet will be. Once the planet has completely accreted it will be too small to see. Again, a few science courses will help you out here.

Now that's how you make deals

I understand the struggle, but somehow there is a line in my mind between people who use the riots as an excuse for violence that would be likely to happen anyway (rioters coming from all parts), vs. people who all come from a speech and then proceed to get caught up in the moment and get violent. Most (though not all) of the property damage in the BLM riots wasn't by BLM-type protesters -- it was by actual criminals who lived in the area (or who didn't), getting into the melee and going after stuff they wanted. The attack on the Capitol wasn't using the excuse of something happening anyway for personal gain. Violent rioters and looters are criminals. People who breach a building violently in order to overthrow a legal process are criminals. People who get caught up in the rush of righting what they think is a great wrong are still criminals. The objection isn't to their feelings of being wronged -- it's to the actions. At least in my mind. Maybe both the government and the police need reform. Wendy P.

One thing that can be done with older gear is also to send it back to the manufacturer for evaluation and/or replacing of components that are worn. A few years ago I sold a 20-year-old container with its 20-year-old reserve to an upcoming student (yeah, for a steal, but someone has to sometimes). She sent it to the manufacturer who replaced a couple of flaps and declared it just fine. If the design hasn't changed that much (and Javelins have been effectively the same since late 1997 other than MARD compatibility), and the gear has been maintained and checked, I wouldn't hesitate to jump it. Of course, I also jumped a 35-year-old round about 10 years ago at an old farts' reunion, so who am I to talk? Wendy P.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/uoo-otd102616.php

I addressed this many years ago by making it crystal clear what sort of behavior and language was unacceptable around students and the public. Then, to make it all easier, we segregated the groups in a linear flow pattern. Spectators and family and friends can all be together in their own comfortable viewing area behind a fenced flight line. They have shade pergola's, picnic tables, groomed grass, access to administration for information, etc. Checked in students can hang with their friends until it's time for their training and jumps at which time they are escorted into the main building and packing area where only staff are working and assembled to greet them and so on. They wait for their jumps there and in their own nice waiting area out front with a shaded porch and access to family and friends separated by a nice fence, checking stuff out and seeing what is going on. Up jumpers have their own clubhouse, camping/RV and parking area where they get to act, speak, joke and yahoo to their hearts undesire like the skydivers we are. No spectators, except adult family, personally supervised kids, or students allowed. When it's time to meet the aircraft the two groups stream to the loading area separately and join there where all of the black death shit ist verboten. A basic form of this is enforced at night and around the fire. It totally works fantastic, students and family are never offended, and we skydivers get to be complete asses on our own turf as God intended. Also, the structure of things is a daily reminder to all that decorum between staff, up jumpers and students is a core policy.

Well this is probably needed too:

Certification costs and MRO. Right now one of the certification requirements for turbofans is UERF - uncontained engine rotor failure, where a blade of the high-pressure turbine flies off. The structure has to be reinforced where the blade could possibly go, making the aircraft heavier. If you move the turbine to the rear of the aircraft - actually, just enlarge the existing APU on a single-aisle aircraft and pipe electrical power to the wings, you can: stop worrying about UERF and make your wing lighter distribute the electric motors along the wings, especially the wingtip to reduce the wingtip vortex (save fuel) you can then use distributed thrust to reduce the stall speed, so you can optimise wing area for cruise - 40% reduction in wing area could mean a huge reduction in weight; redundancy - if you have 2 turbines driving 10 electric motors, if one turbine fails you can still power the 10 motors at 50% this will reduce certification costs for the one engine-out scenario, which dictates the size of the tail fin. Reducing this would save some weight too. This is for a theoretical design which doesn't have any batteries at all - just turbines generating electricity to directly drive motors on the wing. Mission requirements will probably dictate if designers decide to put batteries in or not. But the weight savings could be significant, and airlines will jump at single-digit % fuel savings, which is why Airbus came up with the A320 NEO and Boeing had to follow with the 737 MAX.

9 & 14. Maybe 13 too.

"That anthem was so bad, even Colin Kaepernick got off his knee and left."