psunavy03

So many people in this thread not understanding what a luxury and a privilege "staying put" for decades is in this era of layoffs.

I wouldn't call it a "long time." MAGIC CARPET per se, especially as a default mode of operation, did not become mainstream until the last 10 years, and that's only for the aircraft that have it.

Citation is my professional network as a former Naval Flight Officer who flew off aircraft carriers, and it's not the deckplates, it's the nonskid coating that goes on top of them. It's expected to wear and be replaced every so often, but when you have to do it more often than that, it becomes a pain logistically and operationally.

And the entire point of the system is to counter the dispersion the ocean provides, much like a Naval Aviator is already required to in order to trap successfully. You are literally flying through a very narrow window that is moving in three dimensions.

I'm sure Google Maps has had to put their thumb on the scale in numerous instances. I recall reading articles about it "discovering" more optimal routes between Point A and Point B only to find things like the new "optimal" route being down a neighborhood street, and then the locals started squawking.

It already is.

The DOD is not using "flagrantly using Signal." The Secretary of Defense, whatever his preferred pronouns are, is breaking the law.

IIRC, there was a similar problem on aircraft carrier flight decks, where they had to induce some randomized amount of dispersion to keep the tailhook from hitting the same spot over and over again.

People can't even have a conversation about any kind of societal issues these days without pointing at the other political tribe and casting aspersions about "what they really meant" instead of engaging with what's actually being said.

Forgetting that if you really can hear a dogwhistle, you're also a dog.

As a former Naval Flight Officer, it's somewhat ironic how the private sector is more "sir, yes sir" command and control than the military ever was, and they're the ones who stereotype servicemembers for being drones who can only follow orders.

The other thing I've seen incredibly less of in software than in uniform is a bias for action at all levels. Combined with understanding the mission, a mentality that "in the absence of being told what to do, I will act." Better to ask forgiveness than permission, etc. etc. So many people in the private sector just wait for the boss to push them around like chess pieces, and I can't understand how they're OK living like that.

This is how these kinds of articles always go.

Tell that to the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, the Viet Cong, Mao, and George Washington.

Just because the government has tanks does not mean "we have tanks and nukes, therefore we'll win" has proven true across military history.

Yes. That's what the impeachment clause is for.

The President made a nomination. The Senate refused it. It's the Senate's prerogative to deny confirmation to the nominee.

The Supreme Court has told Trump to pound sand as often as it's upheld his policies. As dangerous as many of the things the Trump administration is doing are, there are other dangerous narratives out there, and the caricaturing of the Supreme Court is one of those.

There's a huge difference between "I disagree with this legal rationale" and "this court is illegitimate." Like it or not, every Justice on the Court is there legitimately. One of them via bare-knuckle hardball politics, to be sure. But according to the rules.

There's a great generalization that conveniently excuses you not having to engage with viewpoints you disagree with.

I frankly can't see how someone can look around at the world in 2026 and come to the conclusion that "military" == "automatically bad." There are bad actors in this world who would be more than happy to kill you and take your stuff because they feel like it, and these days some of them run countries.

"Bothsidesism" is a lie that is used to avoid criticizing one side when the other side is also bad. Just because one side is awful does not grant the other side a free pass to be immune from criticism or to get their way on everything. The idea of "bothsidesism" forces a false dichotomy and then forces you to pick a side, when there are almost always more than two choices. It's what partisans use to beat down people who say "I pick 'None Of The Above,' because you both suck."

"Bothsidesism" is a tired argument. Somehow if you don't think that one side of a debate is utter evil and the other side is as pure as the driven snow, you're engaging in "bothsidesism" if you acknowledge there are any shades of gray in the world. Which is a childish argument for anyone older than a high school sophomore.

IMO the sort of person who wants a vehicle like Elon's dumpster has a strong overlap with Elon's politics. Basically everything about its design and marketing was aimed at the sort of person who is focused on presenting a masculine image, who thinks they're going to be in a war zone on their daily commute, who wishes they could drive through a crowd of protesters, etc.

Elon is an ass, but this is still the most crudely and childishly stereotyped thing I've read on the internet today. Congrats.

Until someone who hates Elon (not saying that's wrong per se) throws a brick through the window (which IS wrong per se) and you're on the hook for paying for it.

They may not have put it there because they were "self-conscious" about their "statement car." They may have put it there in an honest attempt to avoid having their car vandalized for something they had nothing to do with.

I mean, in certain circles online, people were literally calling Cybertrucks "Swasticars." Not the greatest for marketing.

While there's more than enough room to criticize both agencies these days, and if I did work for one of them I'd be retaining personal legal representation, doxxing people is not the answer. Sure, if some bad actors can be sued/prosecuted, that's not a bad thing per se.

But we're already living in a world where US Senators and Supreme Court Justices have had to have security provided because of death threats from both sides of the aisle. We don't need to be encouraging vigilantes. No side is so noble that people can't do evil in its name.

The difference is Orson Scott Card only seemed to have been called out for being a bog-standard Mormon, at least as far as I know.

Didn't The Powers That Be™ say that was not going to happen?

I do agree that local policies are important, but I'm wary of "Nothing happening in the federal governemnt or the middle east or eastern Europe affects me from a local standpoint."

If there's a theme to US politics these days, it's one party or the other trying to get power so they can ram home the same policies across the nation, and the hell with state or local governments that want otherwise.

Since the advent of social media, there's a huge blurring of the lines between national and local issues. The fact that, say, someone got shot 2,000 miles away should be a tragedy, but have no bearing on my own life. But now one party or the other will use it as a cudgel to push policies in my own state and locality.

The original Wing Commander was like that. Playable on 286s/386s, then Pentiums and beyond showed up and it was unplayable. The game started in the "simulator" to show you the controls, and you'd get blown out of space in about 0.5 seconds.

People in the military do insane amounts of cardio because it helps dealing with insane amounts of stress.

This is giving the military way too much credit for organized stress management. If military people give the impression of doing "insane amounts of cardio" it's because that's what the physical fitness tests are biased towards.

And we also won't talk about the fact that getting a psych diagnosis, especially in fields like aviation, can end your career, while managing stress via alcohol gets a wink and a nod as long as you don't have an alcohol-related incident.

On the plus side, it makes it easier to write off someone as a loser when they use any of those terms unironically.

Exhibit A: Reddit.