Lord Ratner

Y'all are gonna ruin the best thing about being a tanker pilot

As a counter point, I commute to reserve in the 737 in NYC covering three airports. I am on a plane commuting to my crash pad as I write this. I've only been with AA since March, so my seniority is low, but I could have transferred to Miami, DC, Los Angeles, or Boston already. NYC is better for me since I live in PA. I sit 18 days of reserve per month, so twelve days off. But if I get a bad month that could require me commuting on the days before and after my reserve blocks, that would cut my days off to 7 nights home. I make less money than I did in the AF, though that will change in a year. In the AF I had it easier than most. Good assignments, much more interesting flying (though less frequent in the tanker), and a lot less time doing the terminal march. I rarely got tasked with inane additional duties, but that was mostly a function of having torpedoed my own career, so nervous DOs were disinclined to trust me with anything the OG/WG CC would see, which is everything in these micromanaged times. I never once wore blues or ABUs unless a specific event required it, and I planned no Christmas parties. The airlines are 100x better than the AF. There is a logic and predictability to the job that changes the way you feel about work. Ever wonder how someone could work on a factory assembly line putting the same bolt into the same part for 8 hours a day, five days a week? I get it now. It's the lack of surprises. There is a strange power to it, and in the airlines you get the variety and adventure of flying with the intensely placating effect of knowing what the immediate and mid-term future hold for you. The exact same effect goes for your spouse/girlfriend/kids. Do not discount it. It's not all lollypops and blow jobs, and commuting is a kick to the coin purse, but it's so much better than the AF that it will baffle you. An active duty retirement is not worth it, especially if you can chase a reserve or guard retirement after securing a seniority number.

As soon as you realize that it's almost never about the issue at hand, but rather the act of opposition itself, it actually becomes quite understandable. Muslims and gays. Taxes and abortions. Illegal immigration and the environment. These issues only go together under one paradigm.

As I said before, these things are way further ahead than people realize, you included. https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/31/16579180/waymo-self-driving-test-facility-castle-google

My LOC and LOR both had them. Hard to keep a straight face reading it

Tesla is not a self driving car, it's only at level 2 automation. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/path-to-autonomy-self-driving-car-levels-0-to-5-explained-feature The vehicles coming out from Google, Uber (if they can stop cutting corners), and now the major manufacturers are level 4 and 5, which, yes, are safer drivers than even you are. Just wait. The stats will come out very quickly showing these cars are safer. You'll see commercials with crying mothers talking about how drunk drivers (or texting, high, distracted, etc) killed their kids. 35,000 people per year, mostly human error. Couple that with mayors of major cities imagining all the things they can do if parking garages are torn down. How much prime real estate is that? Then of course there will be the hold outs, people who think they just love driving so much they would never switch over... Till the first time they can't find parking, or get tired on the road, or want to have a third beer. There's a reason rich people have drivers... I think this revolution will be a quick one. Most people don't like driving much, and the huge number of road deaths each year is compelling. Even with the fairly huge shift in public perception of drunk driving, how many people, even officers in the military, still drive after having one too many? Self driving RVs, no more blue-hairs driving through the front door of sandwich shops, no more rushing home from work to pick up kids from school, no more taking the car to the shop, no more pumping gas, or worrying about your kids playing in the street. It sells itself.

It's already here, bud. Most people are completely unaware that there are fully functional, no-safety-monitor self driving cars operating in the US, and starting in a month or two they are launching as a taxi service. Cadillac plans to have all vehicles with a fully autonomous mode (not the half-baked Tesla version) by 2020 or 2021. And the safety improvements over human drivers are so dramatic, you can make a safe bet there will be a push within the next ten years to make manually driven cars obsolete. You don't have to believe it, just incorporate it into your investment strategy.

That form of respect is from an era where members are drafted, disposable, and only in for a couple-few years. Senior leaders need to work harder for respect, and in an all-volunteer force where subordinates are making the same sacrifice (with far fewer perks) as the boss, parking spots are an easy way to demonstrate servant leadership. I remember a Marine officer in Moron commenting on how the leadership table at AF events gets served food first, while the Marines, who will annihilate an E-3 for so much as looking at an officer the wrong way, always had the leadership eat last. There are definitely structural and procedural mechanisms for reinforcing rank respect, but when those methods are also perks for the leaders receiving them, the effect is greatly diminished.

Just to be clear, Duplex is not operational yet, correct? I love my pixel 2. I'll get the pixel 3 as soon as it's out (October). I upgrade every year, and the resale value on pixels is almost as good as iPhones on Swappa. Apple is falling way, way behind where it counts, AI. Self driving cars become a common reality next year, and Alphabet is the main game in town. Home automation is finally getting it's stride thanks to voice control, and though Amazon is ahead in market penetration, the Google Assistant is miles ahead of Alexa in capability and comprehension. Apple isn't even on the chart. Android lets you tie into it seamlessly, and having the pixel means you get the new stuff first. I'll probably get the Pixel watch as well, but I'm more skeptical of that. And the unlimited original quality photo storage is a huge bonus. The pixel cameras have been the best performers both years, and Google photos has become a very feature rich album service. Yes, I'm a fan boy. I have a Google home (or mini) in every room of the house (including bathrooms), Chromecast on both TVs, Android auto in the car, and I'm planning on grabbing some Nest cameras soon. Some are concerned about privacy, but these companies already have all this data on you for advertising purposes. I might as well get something out of it too. The only place that Apple wins IMO is the iPad. Google has never put out a solid tablet.

141 is still incredible!

On the QoL front: Yes, the airlines can tank. If you're not willing to take that risk, nothing will change you mind. But here is what you are giving up. This is American airlines, saying what my projected seniority number will be every year based only on retirements. I was hired in March. Right now the lowest wide body captains are ~2000-3000 in seniority. So you may get it after retiring from the AF, but it won't be for long, and you won't have the seniority to control your schedule.

What?! Every time I hooked a student it was a personal choice to wrong him despite a flawless demonstration of flying ability.

How about this? Can we get rid of cyber so they can focus on the top threat of the future while we play with airplanes?

Right. So after what, a decade of practically no major hurricane activity during the period models predicted would be hardest hit, the first big storm is evidence of GW? This is the type of shit I'm talking about. Absolutely anything that counters the theory is ignored, or scientifically-explained away after the models were wrong, while any otherwise normal or slightly abnormal occurrences are proof. https://www.thegwpf.org/as-polar-bear-numbers-increase-gwpf-calls-for-re-assessment-of-endangered-species-status/ The downside is that diverting resources to projects that fail to deliver the promised gains are keeping us from other projects more likely to deliver results that benefit humanity. It matters because there are many, many real threats to the environment that aren't getting the attention or money they deserve because some dipshits want to control the air. And it's astounding how little climate scientists talk about the biggest threat to global warming, the sun. Much in the same way people complain about military spending or welfare, national wealth is not finite, but neither is it infinite. I'd rather clean the oceans, or protect the rain forests, or the white rhinos, than burn it on a theory with more gaping holes in it than BQZip's family reunion, and a bunch of artists, actors, and politicians as it's biggest proponents.

Lol, I have read the data, and analysis. Using ship data was insane. Look at it this way. Don't you think it's odd that the adjustments to imperfect instruments always seem to work in the direction of the proposed theory? If you look at the adjustments made to weather stations, old temps get revised down and newer readings go up, even for stations that have had no surrounding infrastructure changes or equipment modifications. Similar to how satellite data, by far the most accurate measure of global temps, doesn't paint the nightmare scenario the true believers would have you believe. Where's the flooding? Super storms? Extinct polar bears? Hell, where's the predicted temperature increases? How many forecasts have to fail before you doubt the premise? How many scientists need to get caught bending the established rules of science? You should never trust a theory that demands the end of debate. Ask Judith Curry, she's a much better source than I am. I could be wrong. But the difference is that you trust the experts. I choose to read their literature, and it is lacking.

Funny thing though, if all of the instruments rely on one single sensor to function, a systemic failure is more likely. The thousands of scientists that form the consensus on climate change rely on temperature data from only three sources. Data that has been heavily and repeatedly revised over the years, and always towards supporting the popular theory. For example, using ship bilge temperature data instead of more accurate bouy data. Or how a well documented temperature spike in the middle of the 20th century had been slowly disappearing from the data sets despite no new data from that time. I could go into more examples of illogical temperature station changes that have been exposed, but it's not my job to do the research for you. When a global warming model successfully predicts the future climate, maybe I'll give it a fresh consideration. Until then, I'll file it with the "guaranteed" catastrophes of global cooling and overpopulation that enjoyed "scientific consensus" in their day.

You have to believe the threat, which I do not.

Lighten up, Francis. Here's the problem, and I'm going to lump everyone into the two primary political groups because it's simpler for the conversation. Also realize that many people who support the correct option often do so for the wrong reasons (e.g. "I am more valuable to society"). Liberals are very concerned with now, and when you look at their solutions, they often lack any consideration for long-term or second- and third-order effects. They also like to take for granted the incredible advancing power of the free market. But they care, and they very genuinely want to make the world better. Conservatives on the other hand deal with the future. What's better for tomorrow. Yes, they lose sight of empathy and compassion, which is why niether side can function without the other. But they are also accepting of the reality today for the promise of a better reality tomorrow. If Americans treated healthcare the way you would like it to back in the 50's, we would not have the incredible system we have today. And it is incredible. Any idiot can see how wildly healthy Americans are compared to the past. The free market did that, not government. I want a free market system because I'd rather my kids and grandkids have a cheap cure for cancer than having expensive dialysis provided for me today. And if you think that's a false choice, take a closer look at some of the systems out there run by governments. I heard about the steady decline of the NHS for three years on BBC as I drove to work. And my British neighbors would gasp at the idea of paying for healthcare in one conversation, then brag about their private insurance and how it got them such better treatment, and faster. How's that for the rich getting all the perks?

But in an awkward, PYB way...

If you had been paying attention, you would understand that Bashi would have preferred the installer commit ritual seppuku as a demonstration of gratitude for your service. You would then pay full price, but still use a dial-up modem. This way everyone bleeds for Lady Liberty!

At least that's a logical reason!

It sounds like you're looking for virtuous opportunities where none exist. This isn't a loophole. The state government of Texas has decided that people who have the aforementioned medals do not pay various state taxes and fees. Do you ask the cashier at the grocery store to charge you sales tax on produce? Do you stay out of the carpool lane with three passengers because you have enough time to just sit in traffic? Do you calculate your income taxes using only the top bracket because you make enough and can afford it? There's a huge difference between using a benefit as intended (free registration for military medal recipients) and taking advantage of a program that was not designed with our unique circumstances in mind (getting food stamps because your entire income was tax-free from combat zones). If you're feeling generous, take the money you save on license fees and donate it to a good charity. The money will be used far more efficiently to benefit people on a local level.

Annoyed by being thanked for your service? First class customers upset by young military volunteers boarding first? Having anything military affiliated on your car is unseemly bragging? In a country where a significant portion of the population worships celebrities, you guys are concerned about people and companies doing some surface-level things to appreciate the troops?

I used this to make my Bose A20 headset compatible with the KC-135 (or any other plane that uses the same type of plug). It is non-bluetooth, but does have the aux cable input cord for music. Cya!

I went to sos after my majors board. As long as you go before the earliest pin-on date, you're good.