wolfriverjoe

I kinda doubt that it was the Russians this time.

While California is overall rather 'blue', there are parts of it that are incredibly conservative. To a certain degree, overall health and 'health conscious behaviors' are more common among liberals than conservatives. The understanding that Covid is real and dangerous, that vaccines are safe and effective are clearly more common in 'blue' areas than 'red' ones. Of course, Trump supporters have been clearly shown to be less educated. Pretty clear that they can't spell very well either.

It seems to appear that the helicopter story wasn't entirely fabricated. Heather Cox Richardson: Link:https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson Edit because first attempt at link didn't work. Post from Aug 9 for those reading this in the future.

Can you provide some of those 'initial reports'? Some of those 'accounts from those that were in his unit'? A quick search found this: https://www.npr.org/2024/08/07/nx-s1-5066772/making-sense-of-jd-vances-stolen-valor-accusations-against-tim-walz There was some crap from Fox & Breitbart and the 'usual garbage' places that I didn't read.

You left out 'Marxist' and "Islam is EVIL!!!"

For student gear, with large main & reserve canopies, I've found it closer to 35 lbs. It's never a bad idea to verify with a scale. Every DZ I've ever been to has a scale at manifest.

The repeated record highs over the past 3 years didn't seem to help Biden much. It's going to have to tank pretty hard to reach where it was when Donnie was in office.

Ohhh boy. First off welcome. This is more of a question for "Safety & Training", but it does fit here too. Stalling (aerodynamic stall) isn't really an issue for what you're asking. While it is a function of canopy size, it's not really what you should be worrying about (intentionally stalling a canopy is a normal drill and is something you should have familiarity with by the time you get licensed). Canopy size is more about speed and responsiveness. A larger 'student sized' canopy is analogous to a large family sedan. Slow, not terribly precise in handling, but predictable and easy to control, especially for beginners. Small canopies are similar to sports cars or race cars. Very fast, very responsive, very precise handling. But potentially lethal in the hands of the inexperienced or untrained operator. The typical metric is "wing loading". Weight of the jumper (weight is the total weight of the fully geared up jumper) in comparison to the size of the canopy. Because of the prominence of the US in the sport, weight is in pounds and size is in square feet. The standard recommendation for newly licensed jumpers is less than one pound per square foot. Students generally go lower. That's why, at 180 lbs (probably around 215 fully geared), you are under a canopy much larger. Different DZs have different policies on what kind of wingloading students should have. Most allow higher (smaller canopy) as the student progresses. Some DZs have limited student gear, so your size choice may be limited. Where I started (a small club DZ), all the student gear was 288 Mantas. So, at ~150lbs, I was loading that canopy very lightly. The last DZ I jumped at had a much wider variety of student gear, from 265 down to 170 (the 170 was more for rental to licensed jumpers, but was used for very small students who had nearly reached licensed status). At this point, I wouldn't worry about what size canopy they are giving you. Work on consistent landing patterns, approaches, accuracy and flaring at the right height. Larger canopies are more forgiving, and it's ALWAYS better to err on the side of caution.

The trial for this is progressing. The testimony is rather bizarre & disturbing. The 'weird' is strong with these idiots. https://coloradosun.com/2024/08/03/tina-peters-trial-mesa-county-colorado-election-deniers-ron-watkins/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_source=The+Colorado+Sun+Newsletters&utm_campaign=Missing: Two friendly llamas wearing backpacks_20240805&utm_medium=email

I know Westwind made turbine Twin Beech conversions. I wasn't aware of single tail conversions. Basler completely replaced the tail. It was pretty big (had to be to have the control authority for single engine operations). Doing a bit of digging, I'm finding Westwind did single tails, a Volpar conversion that was a single tail, and a couple others. No sign of the Basler version, which isn't surprising considering they made only one and it was only around for a few months before it crashed.

No. Except for most of the airframe (some gets replaced), it's a 'new' aircraft. I was taking flight training out of Basler in the mid to late 80s when Warren decided this would be a good idea. It was pretty amazing watching them figure out how to do it. They had a couple absolute wizards at DC-3s in the shop. Basler flew piston DC-3s as a cargo hauler for quite a while before going into the conversions. They also did a turbine Twin Beech, including replacing the entire tail section with a single, straight tail. Unfortunately, the prototype crashed down in Florida not long after completion and the project never went any further. My (limited) understanding was that they weren't done with the certification process, and building another one without the certification (and a guaranteed ability to sell it) was going to cost too much.

Basler Turbine Conversions is still making BT-67s. The basic airframe is approaching NINETY years old. Note: the conversion process is very involved, everything is inspected and a LOT stuff replaced. https://www.baslerturbo.com/

The US wouldn't send tanks and armored vehicles into battle without heavy air support. US doctrine is based on virtually unlimited logistics. Which is why the US works so hard on being good at that. Ukraine doesn't have that luxury. They have to do what they can with what they've got. They've done a masterful job of improvising and innovating. Having F-16s is going to be a big help. Not a 'silver bullet'. Kind of like getting Abrams tanks and Bradley IFVs. They found out pretty fast that tanks aren't the ideal tool on the sort of battlefield they're operating on. They get a lot of attention, and are targeted first. Being big and 'not super fast', there have been a bunch hit (mostly damaged, a couple destroyed). The Bradleys have similar, if a bit lesser vulnerability, but they have a lot more of them. So a damaged or destroyed Bradley isn't as 'big' of a loss. The Ukrainians have developed tactics that take advantage of the Bradley's abilities. And are using them fairly well. On a slightly different note, the survivability of both the Abrams & Bradley have been a HUGE plus. When you see a destroyed Russian designed tank, very often the turret is a distance away. If you see that, the entire crew died in the explosion. The number of deaths among Abrams & Bradley crews has been very low. That is a big plus for crew morale (knowing you are likely to die if you get hit isn't a 'good thing') and for effectiveness (experienced crews are a lot better).

Those don't make him 'smart'. Not really He's really good at telling people what they want to hear, reading a 'mark' and pulling off a con. I don't think he 'turned $40 million into billions'. He lost most of it. He's declared bankruptcy several times. He screws over EVERYONE who is stupid enough to do business with him. He was so bad at repaying loans that he mortgaged his soul to Russia. He couldn't even come up with the $200k bail when he was arrested in Georgia.

In what way do you think he is "quite smart"? Please provide examples of actual intelligence, not just a rich guy doing whatever he wants.

He's still awaiting sentencing in New York. I'm not holding my breath, but I have a tiny amount of hope.

So what did it used to mean? And what does it mean now? And how did either resemble Marxism? Your arguments are starting to resemble how the MAGA morons see 'socialism'. They hate 'socialism'. But if you ask one to define what 'socialism' is, they can't. Or they are totally wrong. And when you point to things that really are 'socialism' (Social Security in the US is the easiest), then they bluff and bluster and say 'that doesn't count'. It's reached the point (actually reached it a while ago) that for those fools, 'socialism' means "Anything I don't like".

Well, there's roughly a gazillion F-16s in service across the world. That's why finding a bunch to give to Ukraine wasn't terribly hard. And while the original design is quite old, there have been continuous upgrades as the years progressed. They're currently making the 'V' version (V as in alphabetical, not Roman numeral). The ones going to Ukraine won't be that new, but they're going to be at least a match for the Soviet/Russian fighters that Russia can put up. Besides, they likely aren't going to go up against the Russian Air Force. They'll be used for SEAD (suppression of enemy air defenses) and ground attack. One of the bigger things the F16 will give the Ukrainians is the ability to use just about any NATO armaments. They've been using NATO arms on their own (Russian/Soviet built) aircraft, but there needs to be significant modification to do so. Being able to use the stuff 'off the shelf' will be a big plus.

Eddie Murphy, Delirious. 1983 (wow, over 40 years ago). Edit to add: Video is NSFW, language.

Well, there have been 'clear signs of a recession appearing' for a while. But no actual recession. I'm guessing you're referring to the unemployment numbers and the Sahm rule (something I just learned about today). However, even Claudia Sahm questions the validity of it in today's economy: Link that includes many of the other 'red flags' that haven't borne out: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2024-08-02/unemployment-rise-spurs-fears-of-slowdown-yet-recession-signals-have-been-wrong-so-far

Because that's what a decent human being does? One of the best ways to judge someone's character is by how they treat people who have no ability to retaliate. Wait staff. Checkout clerks. That sort. Decent people treat them... Decently. 'Woke' is when you speak up against those who treat the vulnerable like shit.

One of the arguments about higher EV registrations is that the batteries are heavy, making the car heavier. However, my Bolt weighs a few hundred pounds more than my 928. And about two thousand pounds less than my old Cayenne. No surcharge on registration for the Cayenne. However, 15 mpg meant I paid a fair amount of fuel tax.

When they're exactly what he wants reality to be.

Wisconsin is $175. With the gas tax at $0.30/gal, it's a bit over 583 gallons of gas worth. That's 14,500 miles at 25 mpg. It was $100 until the Rs jacked it up last summer.

One thing he's REALLY good at: Finding suckers. He's a hell of a good con man.