wolfriverjoe

Is there any reason you can't convert the feet to meters? Continue to follow the USPA rules for altitudes, but work in meters instead? For example, a D license has a minimum pull altitude of 2500 feet. That converts to 762 meters. So call it 775m. I know there are USPA foreign affiliates in other places (and just about everyone but the US uses metric). Makes me wonder how they do it.

Well, I am. For now anyway. I was going up a fair amount until about a week ago. My schedule allows alternating weekends, and the local 182 DZ was also doing a lot of Friday afternoons. The hangar was open with good airflow. I wasn't getting too close to anyone, but nobody was wearing a mask (including me, and I wear one anytime I'm inside in public). They started wearing them on the plane, at the request of the pilot, a couple weeks ago. But we've seen some huge spikes here in Wisconsin in the past week or so, and I'm in one of the 'hottest' areas (Northeast WI, near Green Bay). Statewide has seen daily new cases up in the 3700 range. Positive tests in the 25% range. So I'm pretty much done hanging out at the DZ. Probably done for the season. The lowest jump count since I started. Oh well.

Something I forgot about until a little bit ago. So many people who criticize Trump are told "well, if you don't like it here, go somewhere else." I just saw the response on FB of "I can't. Trump's wonderful handling of Covid has meant that NO OTHER country will let US citizens in." So, if Trump wanted to leave, where could he go that would allow him in?

How about 84 when Mondale only carried Minnesota? MN - 10 EC MA - 13 EC Although Mondale got about 40% of the popular vote.

PBS story on the Ukraine 'situation': https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/are-trump-allies-peddling-russian-disinformation-about-the-bidens?fbclid=IwAR0x0WP3BmN37PVScC-tV0ZqkwPOefnEv4A9drNzEQzSE7blaz4qbvlJ9IA Bottom line - Russian disinformation peddled by Giuliani. Trump was warned by several top-level US Intel types.

A year's supply of Rice-A-Roni and the home version of our game.

Actually every one alters the way of life for a fair amount of people. That's why those cases make it all the way to the SC. And why a whole lot more never do. One issue with Barret is that, if she rules the way those putting her into place expect, then there will likely be a whole bunch of cases that will have a HYOOOOOGE effect on a lot of people. Stuff like abortion rights, gay marriage (and a host of other LBGT rights), voter rights (especially for minorities), corporate responsibility and liability, rights of the accused, even gun rights (although this court would likely not rule to restrict them more). Keep in mind that the current court was more or less expected to restrict abortion rights with a recent case. Only the fact that Roberts felt that the previous ruling on what was essentially the identical issue was 'precedent' and went with that previous ruling kept those rights in place. I have very little doubt that, with all the new conservative appellate court judges, that those precedents will be ignored, and there will be a lot of cases coming up that will try to overturn long standing case law.

That she's just as culpable as they are. Given her religious leanings, I'm not in the least surprised.

Oh duh. Yes, "wouldn't". And I think you are absolutely right about that 'optimal descent angle (speed)' It won't take too much effort to calculate that. The couple of electric and hybrid cars I've ridden in (never driven one) have all sorts of displays on that stuff. Push the nose over further and further until the 'charge meter' peaks. It will likely be pretty steep. The idea that a couple minutes added to the descent will end up saving both time and money on the ground will appeal to smarter operators. To my point above, descents in passenger carrying planes are usually not steep at all. Shallow enough that some power is required to maintain speed. A 'no power' descent is steep enough to become 'less than ideal' for many passengers. Even a normal landing pattern has some power on all the way down. Airplanes use the same pattern we do, and for a typical light single engine, the power is pulled back on downwind opposite the spot of intended landing, usually to 1500 RPM or so. Pulling the power all the way to idle at that point makes for a much tighter and shorter pattern.

Absolutely hilarious how the narrative keeps changing and getting 'clarified'.

Well, I doubt the Russians would welcome him. He's gonna be broke. He won't be able to launder the mob money. He's pretty useless, and Putin isn't known for his generosity.

Interesting idea. Having the reserve being a part of the battery charge that ordinarily would be used anyway. Hard on the battery if you use it, but it shouldn't ever be needed. Reminds me a bit of the old "emergency military power" thing in some of the old warbirds. There was a 'protected area' of the throttle travel. If the pilot pushed that far, it broke a safety wire. The engine would need a comprehensive inspection (teardown? I don't remember all the details) after use, but it was there if really needed. The 'regen on descent' part is probably not quite as useful. Jump planes come pretty much straight down. Throttles to idle, props to beta (not talking about pistons, which have shock cooling concerns). Normal flight ops have descents far more of a 'cruise descent' with reduced power and a gentle descent. But it could prove somewhat useful in a 'run out of battery at altitude' situation. Do a 'regen descent' and have a bit of power available for use on approach and in the pattern.

I wondered how long it would take for someone to call his bluff. Apparently, there's a cabinet position (not Senate confirmed) that has the job of deciding which of Trump's idiotic statements should be followed & which should be ignored.

There has not been any wide spread fraud, despite Trump's claims. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/09/24/fbi-director-says-no-evidence-of-national-voter-fraud-effort-undercutting-trump/#422f3aa64974 That article covers what has happened. This is new. I honestly don't know if the Rs planting those boxes plan on somehow opening the ballots and discarding ones that they don't like. But I find it hard to believe that they are just doing it 'out of the goodness of their hearts.' And it's illegal. Edit to add: Oh yeah, and the postal worker who was caught throwing away political mail (including political mailers and ballot applications, but no actual ballots) has been found to be a "Qcumber". https://www.newsweek.com/postal-worker-mail-qanon-pittsburgh-conspiracy-1539322

Very true. But, from a different viewpoint, look at the Federal Judge garbage. McConnell essentially stopped Obama from appointing any federal judges. And since Trump took over, he's been appointing them at a rate that is astonishing. He's put more in place than anyone in a long time. They are almost exclusively white and male. And young enough that their impact will be felt for a looong time. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/02/886285772/trump-and-mcconnell-via-swath-of-judges-will-affect-u-s-law-for-decades

Sasse also said something to the effect that the Presidency isn't all that important, that the Senate holds the real power. Not sure I agree entirely with that, but I have to admit that McConnell thwarted Obama on a lot of things and has done a lot to ensure the conservative agenda during the Trump debacle.

And yet they shut the government down trying to spend a shit-ton of money on Trump's "Wall" (that Mexico was going to pay for).

True. And it's too late. But still, don't tell him.

No. Don't tell him.

Wait a minute... What about all of the 'back channel comms' you claimed to have? What about all of those claimed former Spec Ops & CIA types? Wouldn't they have a backup plan in place? Why isn't Q using those?

Do you have any backup on that? Because that's not what I was taught. "To the first intended point of landing" includes what ever flight is planned between takeoff & landing, even if it's at the same point. For example, a sightseeing flight, planning on covering a set distance (in a known amount of time) is required to have the fuel for that intended flight plus reserves. A load carrying jumpers is required to have the fuel for the planned flight (climb to altitude) plus reserves. Just because the flight ends at the point that it originates doesn't change the fact that the flight plan includes time & distance covered.

Apparently, a number of Congress-creatures are so gullible that they have sent an official letter to the FBI asking why they didn't tell the White House about this hard-drive and the info on it. https://biggs.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-biggs-leads-letter-fbi-director-wray-about-hunter-bidens-alleged On a somewhat similar note, Ted Cruz tried to share the story from the Post on Twitter. It was blocked. He was pissed that he couldn't spread Russian lies about Biden. So he's now talking about subpoenaing the CEO of Twitter to explain why he's "interfering in the election" (it seems that blocking Russian interference is 'interfering'). I'd really love to see this happen. And to hear Jack Dorsey answer this with something to the effect of "Well, considering that Fiona Hill testified in this very chamber that the entire Biden/Ukraine story was Russian propaganda, and that US Intelligence warned the White House that Giuliani was being used by Russia to funnel disinformation to them, we decided not to enable that Russian interference. Why is that a problem?" It will never happen, but it would be nice.

Trump's 'negotiating technique' is to throw a temper tantrum and walk away. Then, a day or so later, pretend he never did it, pretend he's proposing something new and try to take credit for it. How do you not see how truly incompetent he is?

If you are expecting the Rs to accept any 'reasonable definition' of ANYTHING that they don't like, you are fooling yourself.

This would have been perfect for Billy's long departed Sick & Twisted thread. Since that thread (along with Billy) are long gone, it gets it's own. A girl bought a pair of Pleather (fake leather - plastic) pants. She found out (the hard way) that bending and squatting in a particular way produces a rather specific sound. And, of course, put it out online in a video. Which, of course, went viral. And, of course (again), now lots of people want to get a pair of those pants. Link to story & video: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/tiktok-teen-zara-pleather-pants-fart-noise Not specifically NSFW, but certainly in 'questionable' taste.