winsor

Without knowing what the wind speed and direction is at the deployment altitude, it is impossible to know what the acceptable exit separation time is. It's not the wind speed at the exit altitude (which translates to ground speed) that's important. It's the difference in the wind speed (and direction) between the two that dictates safe separation. I'm impressed. Somebody who gets it.

During training in how to glean information from prisoners, the first point made was that torture was counterproductive by any measure. In 'Doctor Strangelove,' Group Captain Lionel Mandrake notes that, when tortured by the Japanese, they didn't seem to be interested in information but just rather enjoyed it. Rommel's approach to getting information from captured officers was to invite them to dinner. Careful observation of their behavior often gave clues to key information that could prove useful. Of course, any good game of chess has two sides. On at least one occasion Rommel observed officers who intentionally picked at their food even though they were famished, and was led to believe that a captured Italian officer had spilled the beans about German supply convoys, which were actually being sunk because the Brits were reading the Germans' mail. Nevertheless, waterboarding simply told me that the prosecution of the war to bring Truth, Justice and the American Way to the sandbox was being handled by vicious morons. I have yet to be disabused of that notion. BSBD, Winsor

Historically speaking, this has an element of truth. In the early days of film, the hub of the industry was New York. Rather a few of the people who got in at the ground floor were Jews. When someone noticed that the light was better in Southern California - particularly important for the film at the time - cheap real estate was snapped up for studios and the epicenter of the industry shifted to Hollywood. The key players are not, and have never been, exclusively Jewish, but their presence is disproportionate in the same sense that Negroes populate the NBA. Hey, if you're an Eskimo and can routinely score 80 points a game against the Lakers, you're in... I think the propensity for the entertainment industry is likely a cultural thing, where making bullshit palatable is a longstanding tradition in the Tribe. I'll ask a Rabbi or two. BSBD, Winsor

When he sought to shoot a .460 Weatherby without ear protection, I pointed out that the blast could fuck up a lot more in his ears than the mere ability to hear - semicircular canals and what have you. He wore full ear protection, and seemed to agree that it was a good idea. Even if he was just humoring me, I felt better.

+3.14159... Who says a response has to be rational?

It's not the "basics" that I or most people have a problem with. I agree that all things being equal, more CO2 in the atmosphere means warmer earth temperature. As the observations have shown this last couple of decades, all things are not equal. We have put way more CO2 into the atmosphere. In the last couple of decades. And it isn't way warmer. So something else is (or, millions of things are) going on. Let's get away from the "basics" stuff. That's the low-hanging fruit that's been picked. "Why the hell isn't it as warm as the basics said it should be" is the next step. Indeed, theories abound over the last couple of years, right down to "the oceans are sequestering the heat in the deep water where it is so sequestered it isn't even detectable." That's the deal. The basics are understood. We can isolate the effect in a lab by removing variables and prove the effect. As much as the computer models seek to find the signal through the noise, it looks like the noise may be louder than we thought. It may be. Let's cut the shit and start talking about what we don't know and try to get some answers. "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov

Also from the 17th Century, Massachusetts, like Virginia, made any sexual act other than missionary position between husband and wife a felony (in Virginia it was a hanging offense until quite recently). While I was in college, a couple failed to close their drapes completely and a nosy neighbor peeked in to observe them pointing different directions on the couch. When the police showed up, the reaction was along the lines of 'Yeah, so? We're married.' Since it was still on the books and they admitted to it, he got something like 15 years and she got like 10. There was a big to do about it, and I do not know whether the convictions got overturned, but the last I heard they were still in the slammer. There was a saying in the Soviet Union that 'if it is not mandatory, it is forbidden.' What is mandated in one State or jurisdiction is a Felony in others; in some cases, adhering to one law puts you in violation of another. Most of the time the authorities are either unaware of outdated legislation or prefer to focus on more pressing issues. Occasionally, however, the letter of the law prevails, regardless of how nonsensical it might be. BSBD, Winsor

When I last lived in Massachusetts, it was illegal to attend church without a loaded shotgun. It seems that the people who there here before the Europeans showed up noticed that the one time the Europeans were all in one place and unarmed was at church, and used that knowledge to good effect. In order to thwart Sunday morning attacks on churchgoers, the Legislature mandated that attendees must be armed when attending services. As is no great surprise, it is easier to pass a law than to strike one, so this mandate was still on the books. BSBD, Winsor

Right.

Racism: The belief that a race is, by virtue of its genetics, inferior to another, and a member of that race cannot change the view of the racist. This doesn't mean that the racist is necessarily cruel, but simply cannot see a person of the "other" race as an equal. Prejudice: Literally, pre-judging. Taking the measure of another without complete information. The opinion of the person who has pre-judged can be changed with additional information. Often the pre-judging is based on prior experience or the experiences of others. Bigot: "A person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions." In other words, someone who doesn't like a person because of their thoughts. Now, can we please start using the right words at the right times? Very little of what is, in the popular discussion, called "racist" is actually racist. Be advised that there are all kinds of definitions. These include Lexical, Colloquial, Technical, Legal, Precising, Military, Medical and so forth. To use multiple definitions of the same word in an argument is to engage in equivocation. Darwin observed finches occupying a variety of roles in the Galapagos that are filled by other species elsewhere. I have noted social roles occupied by various ethnic groups in differing locales, and in each case it is difficult to separate criticism of the role from implied criticism of the ethnic group. For example, the lower socioeconomic role that is typified by urban negroes in the USA is filled by Romana in the Balkans. The postjudice is effectively identical in both cases. Either case is also a clear example of Mencken's principle that for every complex problem there exists a solution that is simple, elegant and wrong. BSBD, Winsor

I dunno about this 'holy spirit' stuff, but my relationship with Jesus is as a distant cousin.

What they don't do is kill each other so much. Maybe not recently, but it does not appear to be universally true. From the impressions I got at Ypres, Verdun, Normandy and the Balkans, it seems that Europeans have demonstrated a finely honed talent for killing each other. Admittedly, it's a lot more fun to be there when everyone's getting along.

"Justice is incidental to law and order." J. Edgar Hoover

Blatant racism right there. Gosh, you figure?

SOLSTICE?! Sir, you forget the reason for the Season! The Yule fest is all about the three Dees - Drinking, Dining and Debauchery! To water down a good Pagan feast because it coincides with the Shortest Day is to completely miss the point. Decorate you tree, but do not fail to Eat, Drink and Copulate! BSBD, Winsor No worries on that score. However, it is most likely that both Yule and Saturnalia were deliberately aligned with the solstice, and not the other way around. Then Christmas, the johnny-come-lately winter festival, turned up around 336CE courtesy of the Emperor Constantine. Who was a devout pagan to his dying breath - his co-opting Christians notwithstanding.

Maybe, but This Time It's Different (tm)! America, fuck yeah!

SOLSTICE?! Sir, you forget the reason for the Season! The Yule fest is all about the three Dees - Drinking, Dining and Debauchery! To water down a good Pagan feast because it coincides with the Shortest Day is to completely miss the point. Decorate you tree, but do not fail to Eat, Drink and Copulate! BSBD, Winsor

No, they won't. That's contradiction, not argument. No, it isn't. Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says. No, it isn't.

OK, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Bolivia, Canada... Hey, he's talking about REAL Americans.

No, they won't. That's contradiction, not argument. No, it isn't.

No, they won't.

She is reported to be the kind of girl who's into foreplay, but goes all "don't touch me there! I don't touch MYSELF there!!" when push comes to shove. I prefer singers with a slutty streak. Bette Midler ("if God didn't mean for pussy to be eaten, why'd he make it look like a taco?") can belt out a tune as well as coming across as though she LIKES it. I just don't identify with the whole purity thing. I am more on the wavelength of Steven Tyler or Patti Smythe than Pat Boone or Marie Osmond. Wolfgang Amadeus von Mozart was a real animal (he had the odd hit while rather young), Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was quite the lecher - though his tastes and mine bear little resemblance - and their music reflects their passion. I love Hungarian Rhapsody #2, and it turns out that Franz Lizst was a fool for love. Raw numbers do not mean too much; more Big Macs get sold than Beluga caviar and more Budweiser gets consumed than does Chateauneuf du Pape. She is like a Camero; I like Lamborghinis. BSBD, Winsor

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/84369135/ I'm sorry but being born in the hood doesn't give you carte blanche to become a criminal and then blame it on white privilege when it doesn't go your way. I tend to agree with you, but it largely depends on who you ask. This article does a nice job of summing up the case. BTW, a charging Cape Buffalo could be considered 'unarmed,' but dispatching it with whatever means is available is both well advised and entirely justified. A belligerent 300# miscreant could also warrant treatment suitable to 'charismatic megafauna,' as seems to be the case here.

unless you dress and walk like a white person Wendy P. Heh. Let me tell you what happened one time. I was doing a job in Greenwich, CT (I believe that's right) and it was a pretty high security site. Someone had to type in all my passwords, no remote access, etc. I'm working with my contact in a training room that was attached to the IT area. This is not located in an area where there would be patient care, so no visitors wandering around. We had the door to IT propped open with a trashcan (training room was open) because we were going back and forth and I didn't have a badge. Some guy walks through the training room with a nice shirt, tie, slacks. Gives us a quick nod and walks through the door into the IT cubes. About 90 seconds later I'm standing next to the door going out from IT when the screams for 'security' start. Long story short, this guy had tried to snatch some ladies wallet from the purse sitting on the chair inside her cube and got caught. So, after the mini-melee by the door and getting chased through the hospital, he gets nabbed by security. Turns out he had about a dozen felony warrants outstanding. Nobody gave this guy a second look because he looked like he belonged. If he'd been walking around with a hat cocked off to the side and his pants around his ass he'd have been questioned. So, to sum up, I'd say this is working to our advantage. The thugs, gangsters, crooks, etc. haven't figured out the concept of 'blending in' so we have a pretty good idea of who should be where and who should not. And that goes for any skin color. If you're in TN and you look like a homeless meth head, pretty good chance you are one and don't belong in certain places. I had a similar experience. A significant other in days of yore worked at a Sensitive Defense facility, where I would often meet her after work. One day I showed up in a gleaming new black flagship-class Mercedes Benz, wearing Brooks Brothers finest, and got waved through the gate. A couple of days later I showed up on a Harley, wearing black leather from head to toe, and got stopped until someone would vouch for me personally. I pointed out to the guard that the kind of people they REALLY had to worry about could afford a Maybach and Versace, and would use it for camouflage as a matter of course. I assumed at the time that no malefactor of note would be stupid enough to be so obvious. I have since become impressed with the inexorable power of stupidity, so I am not as convinced. At any rate, if one is wearing size 46 shoes, has a big red ball nose and a painted face, it is not a pejorative to refer to them as a 'clown.' Similarly, when people go to great lengths to achieve a stereotype, it is hardly unfair to base one's expectations on that effort. This goes for a Marine in Dress Blues as much as it does an Uptown Thug. BSBD, Winsor

I wonder how long it will be (if it hasn't happened already) before someone paints an orange ring on the end of their fully functional weapon, and a cop gets shot, because he hesitated? Any thing that looks like a functional weapon should be treated like one. I once had a Super Blackhawk with a cork with a string in the barrel, 'popgun' style. A little orange paint or tape would have completed the masquerade, but that was not the norm at the time. Someone says 'FREEZE!" and you may rest assured that doing otherwise is a bad career move. Reach for something the LOOKS like a firearm? Cause of death = suicide. BSBD, Winsor