Leaderboard

The fact that you either have to vote for her or Trump is exactly what is wrong with the two party system in America. Dems and republicans include too many groups that totally make no sense pairing up.

To be fair, that applies to a lot of politicians from both parties. But yes, Newsom is tied for worst governor with several others...can’t decide who’s a bigger POS, but there’s several who keep trying to out-do each other for that coveted title.

Seriously? Is this a Neil trap? Because if so, you totally got me. You just mixed two completely different data points (took the numerator from one and the denominator from the other) to generate a meaningless and irrelevant number. Data point 1: Rate per total population. This is all people, not just those who have/had COVID...so 330M total population is the denominator, not 12.7M cases. 228.7/100K means 0.23% of the population is/will be hospitalized for COVID over the course of the virus (and of course this is subject to change, but that’s what the data from the last 8 months shows). Go ahead and expand it out like you did, but 745,710 out of 330M is still 0.23%. Using the correct denominator for the dataset makes quite a difference. Data point 2: Rate amongst COVID cases 74,573 hospitalizations resulted from 12.7M COVID cases = 0.59% of COVID cases result in hospitalization. If I did what you did, then I could have used 330M for this data point’s denominator and claimed the hospitalization rate for people who had/have COVID is 0.022%...which is clearly incorrect. I’m good with that. But to go one more level for full “genuine-off,” let’s add that under 70 = 90% of the population. Let’s also not leave off that 10% of 70+ isn’t going to die because 100% of them aren’t going to get COVID. I can’t find the positivity rate broken down in age groups for national data, but if the national average is 12%, well I don’t imagine the rate for 70+ is as high as you may think. Data shows the positivity rate is higher among younger age groups, which makes sense based on the difference in lifestyles, social interaction, etc. For example, the latest data from NYC shows 18-24 have a 1.5% higher positive rate than 65-74 and 2% higher than 75+ (source:https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page#perpos). I use NYC as an example because it’s on the higher end of the scale (worst? Haven’t looked at that comparison in a while). So that tells me the older groups have a lower national positivity rate than 12% because they’re not the demographic on the high end pulling the average up. So, let use 12% (generous) of the oldest 10% of the population will get COVID. Of that group, 10% will die (using your mortality rate form this post). Let’s say 30M in the 70+ group...360k deaths. But that’s likely too high due to using a 12% positivity rate. For reference my state (which has done well) has a 0.04% death rate for 70-79 and 0.09% for 80+...so let’s not gloss over the relatively “good news” while solely highlighting the specific dumpster fires. Either way, it still sucks, but it’s certainly not the 2.2M figure you threw out for this age group a page or two back. You’re misunderstanding my point then. I have never said this isn’t a big deal or not important enough to deal with, but we must make data-driven, unemotional decisions when it comes to wide scale public policy. I even concurred with your idea on financially supporting 70+ to enable self-quarantine, etc. Social distance, fine. Masks when meeting close contact definition, fine. Those are reasonable solutions. Destroying people’s livelihoods, putting education on pause, exacerbating/creating more mental health problems, telling people they can’t have grandma to their house for thanksgiving, and a long list of ludicrously illogical edicts are not reasonable solutions, especially when considering the unemotional data. If this was Ebola with a 50% death rate, well maybe this crazy shit would have to happen...but we’re not there, not even in the slightest. So yeah, we should care and do what we can to help others, but it’s pure ignorance, fear/other emotion, and/or thirst for power/gov control that is driving these bigger things I mention. The data alone does not lead a rational person to conclude these things are required/OK. The data does support things like social distancing, improved hygiene, quarantine when you don’t feel well/have been in close contact with someone who’s sick, etc.

This is the crux of the problem in current politics. We’re made to think we have significantly different views, but that’s because we basically have to choose one of two sides: 1) Dems: We aren’t doing enough and we need to lock everything down needlessly without considering one side 2) Repubs: We are doing too much and we need to remove everything we have done without considering one side In reality I think we probably look at the problem very similarly. We need more compromises. Honestly, this is where the president should “make his money,” by setting a national game plan and pushing down a path that hits both. Trump certainly didn’t do that well, and it doesn’t look like Biden’s going to, either. And when Biden encourages needless lock downs in cities with almost no one at risk, the cycle will continue.

Alright homie, let's do the math. (I always used the population value not the number of covid cases) 228.7 per 100k equals 2287 per 1M equals 22870 per 10M equals 228700 per 100M We have 330M population in the US, that's 3.3 times the 228700, or 745710 hospitalizations in the US of A. 745710 hospitalizations divided by 12.7M = 5.9%

@Steve Davies At RAFL we would typically fly with a 5000’ transition altitude to allow for unlimited maneuvers above and 1000’ hard deck to allow for low altitude strikers. Below 5000’ you are limited maneuvering, only able to turn 180 degrees after a merge. We combine that with IMC rules (limited pitch and bank) when transiting cloud layers.

Some Dems think the lock down theory applies to everyone and only applies to them when it’s convenient to do so. Denver’s mayor tweeted yesterday about staying at home for Thanksgiving due to the pandemic, help prevent spreading of the virus, etc. He then tweets that he flew from Denver to Mississippi to visit his daughter and wife for Thanksgiving because it “would’ve been safer for me to travel instead of them traveling.” Then asks for forgiveness as a “father and husband.” Newsom did something similar a few weeks ago at a winery party since the group of 12 violated his own order of no groups to be bigger than three people. “Rules for thee, not rules for me.”

Yep, I think I misunderstood a CDC chart on total hospitalizations. The math process was sound, but an input variable was not. Chart below. I still don’t understand how they’re presenting the data in this chart, but it’s clearly not 74,573 cumulative total. My bad. FWIW, the cumulative figure I could find is 555k total hospitalization, making it 4.4% hospitalization rate amongst cases. So, 95.6% of cases aren’t hospitalized, which is still a very high number (in a good way). That also is for all ages, so rate obviously goes down significantly when you get to the under 70 bracket. Cool, I think we’re mostly on the same page. The hard part about conversations over the internet: easy to misinterpret other’s. The overall point is 90% of the population has a 99+% survival rate (with 88% testing negative). Those numbers should be the bedrock on which we make large scale decisions, yet the media, social media, and govt officials are peddling fear to the masses built up to a point that is completely counter to those numbers. Don’t tell me there’s a CAT 5 hurricane literally hitting my house when it’s a light rain. Don’t tell me I must board up my windows and hoard supplies when all I need to do is shut the windows and wear a raincoat when I go outside. Hopefully that analogy makes sense. There’s a spectrum, and no I don’t side with the “full libertarian” we should do absolutely nothing crowd, but there’s a middle ground, and many governors have gone 90 right off the tracks from the middle ground. The widespread destruction of so many portions of our lives is not rationally supported by the data. Why we can’t find reasonable middle grounds in this country on anything is going to be our downfall if we don’t get our shit together.

Haven’t flown the Eagle for awhile but I’ll take a stab at it. 1. This mission is within his skill set because he was post MQT so he was qualified on this mission. The weather conditions were challenging, but still doable. 2. JHMCS offers good SA, but I think the channelization he experienced would not have been sufficiently overcome just by the JHMCS. Can’t say for sure. 3. Seems a bit low and the floor usually coincides with local restrictions, uncontrolled ejection altitudes, or a operations restrictions (F-15v3). I don’t know this answer but 4,000 isn’t too low but unknown how they arrived at that. 4. I was curious about this one as well. I’ve personally seen HUD video and have a friend alive today because Mac D built that jet tough as hell and held together after an 11.8 G asym pull after a GLOC where he woke up seeing a face full of desert. I know of others that have done similar. Unlike the Viper (as you alluded), the Eagle will give you all you want when you pull. My guess is that he was well trained to recognize tones and heard either double rate beeper or solid tone and froze the stick like he would’ve done in normal execution. I don’t know if he would’ve made it if he just reefed back on the stick and pulled 10+, but it would’ve been close.

Hey, China: Supersonic F-35s droppin' nukes. "ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A mock B61-12’s strike in the dusty Nevada desert successfully completed the first in a series of flight tests with the U.S. Air Force’s newest fighter jet, demonstrating the bomb’s first release from an internal bomb bay at greater than the speed of sound." https://share-ng.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/b61-12_flight/

Talking about the stimulus bill earlier this year. I don't how the .gov figured out who should get it, but I got it. I was, and thankfully still am , working through this whole thing. I didn't need it and I don't think millions of people that were still working needed it. I have several relatives, and I bet there were many more, who didn't get it who were not working because of the lockdowns. P.S. I gave mine to my wife because she said that would be the right thing to do. Edit. When I said I don't how the .gov figured it I know what the qualifications are. Just don't know why they didn't look at employed/unemployed.

Gun Prices through the roof so I can’t really just pick and choose anymore just for fun. Bought iron at the end of Oct for a want not a need, got lucky as the same Metal is now $500 at the minimum more less than a month later. Good thing most of us have always left a store with at least a box of ammo every time and the Czar administration that started in 2008 forced the rest to gather their needs vs wants keeping gun companies in the black. Once again the threat awakens. So many first time buyers on Gunbroker it’s lunacy but with much warranted fear.

First source I found said there were ~90k ventilators. Looked into it a bit more and it should likely be revised to 2-3 ventilators, as there are probably in the ballpark of 250k ventilators in America after the government bought some this year, although the exact number is unknown. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(20)34505-0/pdf

Exactly! It's been several weeks now and this is getting ridiculous. Could you imagine if a large percentage of the news pushed by media outlets was based on election hearsay rather than hard evidence for, say, the next 3 years?

Yeah, what a bummer that real “evidence” is required and not just hearsay.

What's up ya'll. Blessed to have been somewhat recently picked up and wanted to share my experiences in the interviews with hopes that this can benefit others as this site was a huge help to me. I was selected on my 8th interview so for those of you all out there that don't get your first one keep pushing! Below are some of the questions I received in the interviews to the best I can remember. The questions with an exclamation after them I was asked in multiple interviews. These were all fighter squadrons. Tell me about yourself and what got you here today (!) What is your biggest strength and why? Why do you want to live in "fill in unit location" and be apart of "fill in specific squadron" (!) Biggest Weakness and how this has affected you as a leader. A time you have failed, but it turned out to work in your favor. Tell me about a failure you have had and how you handled it. (!) Squadron is chilling at the bar, you have to put on a movie. What are you picking? (!) What is your biggest accomplishment? (!) Biggest role model and impact they have had on where you are today. (!) Why do you want to fly the "fill in squadron aircraft" and what makes you think you will fit into our culture? (!) Convince me you won't flunk out of UPT Would you break a rule to have the back of your friend or squad mate? TMAAT you helped someone else succeed. Why not active duty? Have you considered other routes to UPT? (!) What is your 5/10/20 year plan (!) How do you feel about shooting down an airliner? TMAAT you disagreed with a peer and you ended up being wrong and how you handled that. TMAAT you had to make a tough decision very quickly (!) What do you love about flying and why do you want to fly? There are a lot of other qualified individuals we are interviewing. Give me some things that make you stand out above all the rest. (!) Best of luck to ya'll and happy to answer any questions if anyone has any. Cheers!

If we had enough N95 mask for everybody I would agree with you. Those who are concerned could wear a N95 and protect themselves while everybody else could live their best lives. I purchased KN95 mask (not exactly the same but a step up from a surgical mask) specifically to use when I am forced, due to job requirements, to sit two feet away from another person for two hours at a time. But we don't N95s for everybody. The studies on mask usage varies on how well they work but everything points to masks reducing the number of COVID virus particles that a sick person (even if asymptomatic) pushes in the air and the mask helps those who are not sick. So those few times I do have to go out and interact with others I can only increase my protection by you taking an action. It's the swiss cheese theory, it's another slice that can prevent the virus from spreading. That's because the SD and ND governors are looking at elections for their actions. The ND gov did his mask mandate once his election is done and the SD governor is refusing to because she thinks it will help her in Iowa in 2024.

I just said I take responsibility for mitigating my own risk instead of expecting everyone else to do it for me. Way different philosophy.

I would absolutely be in favor of regulating the amount of sugar in our food and designing our communities to encourage walking or cycling vs driving, but that’s a whole other conversation brotha! 😎

Or we could allow society to continue with minor adjustments for social distancing, and let the elderly participate as much or as little as they want based on how much risk they accept for themselves instead of widespread shutdowns that disproportionately affect the working ability of the younger able people who are at lower risk. Philosophically, restricting the entire society to protect the least productively valuable doesn’t make much sense.

That needs to be more inclusive....strong person....

Sure they have. Many state governments have banned smoking in public spaces because it’s been proven that one person’s second hand smoke can harm a non smoker.

Awesomeness like this does not belong in the "What's wrong with the Air Force?" thread. 🥃

Flying at HRT the Navy pogues from Pcola and Whiting would always trash our pattern, sometimes four or five at a time. After the three times being told to extend my base while doing two engine training in order to accommodate a T-34, I cleaned up my Gunship and departed VFR to the west. A few minutes later I checked in with PCola and reported initial Runway 25...it was a fucking bomb burst of white jets trying to get out of the way. After a low approach I requested closed and the tower was fuming (do they have a SOF?) I then requested to go tower to tower at Whiting. They initially cleared me but the tower controller must have called Whiting and told them what I did so they told me they were "saturated and could not accommodate practice patterns." I got called up to the OG/CC's office the next morning and he asked what happened...apparently the Navy wasn't too happy. I told him it was a continuing theme with them dorking up our pattern and how they ruined three consecutive two engine approaches (two engine work was challenging and you had to be low on fuel to get to the training allowed weight so you didn't get a lot of second chances). He laughed and told me to have a great day. I didn't see another T-34 in our pattern for two months.

That's because the MQ-9 fleet is not big enough to support that accident rate.

Pointy nose Fighter/Attack quit long ago. Real Attack still does them to this day.

Night overheads still alive in some parts of the USAF

It sounds good but in reality I suspect it is more of the same from the globalist swamp- sell out your working and middle class by committing to one sided trade deals, deterrence for allies capable but unwilling to put skin in the game and sign on to agreements that others ignore or will never actually meet to win virtue points with the Davos crowd. No thanks. America First is not America Alone. It is a lot of things but mainly it is non-privileged, screwed over for the last 40 years Americans standing up for their interests in a world of aggressive competitors, fickle allies and remorseless players where the elites of their own country use their future as bargaining chips as they are cajoled and fellated by the conniving elites of other nations, particularly China, to sell them out to the false god of globalism. Angry rant complete. As to troops in Afghanistan and the authors of the article to include Mattis, it is face saving at it’s worst. Does anyone with an IQ above 75 think that Afghanistan will be anything different in 10 or 20 years with the mission as proposed continuing to whenever? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk