It’s funny how as soon as something is either invisible or disconnected by time from something else, it suddenly is a matter of belief for some people.
I’m glad we don’t hear debates about whether it is possible for an internal combustion engine to power a motor vehicle at highway speeds.
You think Hoover dam was built by humans?? No-one can build anything that big. The architects were helped by aliens.
Structure of that size placed so precisely that it happens to form an artificial lake and produce electricity?
Besides Hoover dam is a single structure. No seams or parts. What factory can produce a mold that big let alone move it across from factory to the river. There are no trucks that big.
Which is exactly what i’ve argued a hundred times.
I genuinely would not be surprised if half of these are being made by trolls for the explicit purpose of muddying the waters and confusing things to give cover/plausible deniability to what he actually says, since screenshotted tweets have apparently become a medium of information transmission.
Very true. Mentioned this elsewhere someone suggestion a large watermark:
I went a different route, though I avoided placing the callout somewhere it may be accidentally cropped.
I hope the, uh, non-disinformation can have a simple start here, and if we’re big enough some day that kind of thing is a problem maybe we re-adjust. Of course, nothing stopping someone from recreating something to their less-scrupulous heart’s delight. (in the case someone is re-creating something to intentionally mislead, not re-creating based on their expectations of people’s knowledge and BS meters)
Ahh just can’t wait for the proliferation of high-quality generated videos…
I went a different route, though I avoided placing the callout somewhere it may be accidentally cropped.
I hope the, uh, non-disinformation can have a simple start here, and if we’re big enough some day that kind of thing is a problem maybe we re-adjust. Of course, nothing stopping someone from recreating something to their less-scrupulous heart’s delight. (in the case someone is re-creating something to intentionally mislead, not re-creating based on their expectations of people’s knowledge and BS meters)
Ahh just can’t wait for the proliferation of high-quality generated videos…
I’d like to apologise now for when, in the future, I place a “parody” sticker on a genuine social media post. I know, there’s something wrong with me… but I thought I’d give you a heads-up about it as you seem pretty reasonable.
I was thinking of some (gentle) lazy flaming or trolling but your mention of instigating international conflict has inspired me to better myself and aim higher in life. Thank you.
All of those systems can be maintained and serve for long. Electronics is not the culprit - it can serve for decades easily. Also, most people don’t need their fridge or whatever to be extra fancy.
But the producer really wants for their product to die - this forces you to buy another unit, which increases their revenue.
Not only do they want the product to die, they also make it really hard to repair. Not offering spare parts, except through official repair centers which charge so much you might as well buy a new unit. Not providing any kind of documentation or schematics. Using chips with custom firmware you can’t download anywhere, so even if you were to replace the hardware, without the software it’s useless. Locking off communication/programming ports behind passwords and custom programming software.
This is why right to repair is so important. It isn’t just phones, it’s all consumer electronics. With proper care, maintenance and repair, a lot of devices could easily double their lifespan. This reduces e-waste and saves consumers money, it’s like a win for everyone except for the people trying to sell you new shit.
This is only partially true. Yes we do engineer things to fail at a certain point, but that’s only because back in the day we naively assumed that we could engineer things not to fail at all.
Yes a stator of an electric engine will probably not fail for 100 years, but the seals will - yes the statically stressed metal part will hold until it crumbles to rust, but the dynamically stressed plastic part won’t - yes the silicon in an IC-Chip is protected from corrosion, but the connector pins aren’t.
The point I’m trying to make is that there’s always a part that will fail before another, there’s no way to economicaly engineer around that, today we simply have the data to statistically define a failure point.
A fridge usually has a 10 year warranty. This isn’t even the end of life point. After 10 years it’s most likely that 80-90% of devices will still work. This means that if your device survived 10 years it will most likely work for another 5-10 years.
People say that like the replacement parts are just a mystical thing that spawns out of thin air once they need them.
Most parts that break are injection molded plastic. Injection molding is what differentiates manufacturing and home made garbage. Something home made will never look and function as good as something injection molded by a manufacturer. And the reason for that is cost. To say injection molding is expensive is an understatement. The machines, the tools, the expertise and the material is something that a private individual could never afford and has barely any profit margin for manufacturers. On top of that there’s storage and distribution.
So if a manufacturer has to produce extra pieces of each part that might break, store and keep track of them for 10+ years for models that are no longer produced, then the customer better be ready to cover those costs with their initial purchase or have the replacement part be ridiculously priced.
We accuse companies to want their cake and eat it too, but the we do the same thing. We want products to be cheap but also reliable or look good but be repairable. We can’t have all.\
There are plenty of devices that are cheap AND repairable - looking at a ~15-year old Brother HL-2140 printer by my right hand that still has all key parts readily available (not that I ever needed to change anything other than drum and toner, but parts are there)
The secret to cheap repairability is actually quite simple - make a good, no-fuss model and sell it for long. This will remove the necessity to print specific parts in small batches for older models, and by the time the model actually gets retired, there’s so much spare parts you barely need to produce anything at all.
Granted, this doesn’t work that well with ever-evolving stuff like computers (although it does to a certain extent), but most other tech is just fine a decade or more in.
“A silvery thing in another cabinet, like a three-pointed star inside a circle, was made of no substance she knew; it was softer than metal, scratched and gouged, yet even older than any of the ancient bones. From ten paces she could sense pride and vanity.”
I’m not sure about lighter than air craft, but in the US you don’t need a license to fly microlight aircraft, as long as it’s less than 250 pounds and has less than a 5 gallon fuel tank, iirc
They don’t command them, but they call them in like you call the police.
Fun fact: From time to time, a pilot forgets to change frequency when entering a new area. This means the plane looks like it is not communicating. This is the most common reason why jets are sent to intercept an airliner. Of course, I would pay to see a recording of the pilots as they see the jet in front of them and realize they messed up.
I think switching to a frequency that a different region uses could be dangerous, since then the airplanes near do border would receive the signal but the airport wouldn’t. This could lead to misscommunications.
PPS: They do try the emergency frequency, routing a message through the previous area controller as well as anything else they can think of first. I left it out for brevity. Of course, fighter jets are not the first choice.
When we had cats, I made sure that they were spayed and neutered. But they’re not good for the bird population. They should be kept indoors, not to mention how easily they catch fleas. It had gotten to the point that none of the over the counter solutions worked, and you need to take out a small loan to afford to properly treat them.
They’re not good for the birds, but perhaps even more importantly, the outdoors isn’t good for them. The life expectancy of an indoor cat versus an outdoor cat can be 10+ years longer.
Backyard on a leash and monitored is very responsible! When people say outdoor cat, they are typically referring to cats that are allowed outdoors with no leash and no supervision.
Growing up, (I’m in my 50s) we had an orange tabby that went indoors and outdoors as much as he wanted. The cat supplemented his kibble by killing and eating (confirmed by observation) birds and rodents in the area. He lived to be 23. Most cats like him that I’ve known all had lifespans into the high teens.
I think you mean feral, as opposed to outdoor. In which case I would agree with your statement.
I should add, that as an adult, I currently own two cats obtained from rescue services and both are exclusively indoor cats.
Then can you quote your source for your statement? My experiential information is counter to your claim, so I would like to see your data so I can improve my understanding.
i could throw in my own anecdotal experience of being raised owning dozens of cats over my life, that the outdoors is very dangerous to tame cats. my dad counted it as a win if a couple kittens from each litter of our tamed barn cats would make it a year. even out in the country we had “traffic” kill a decent amount, and the wild animals did the rest. not to mention eating partially rotted dead animals and getting sick, etc.
but I prefer data, which shouldn’t be that hard to find. :)
Weirdly enough, actual lifespan comparisons seem to be very hard to find. Studies showing slightly higher disease (4%) rates. Higher rates of eating things their owner didn’t give them. Higher dangers from traffic, cars, etc. but I have yet to an actual study with lifespan numbers, let alone the 3-5 yrs vs 10-15 I’ve seen bandied about.
I’m still looking for it as a lower lifespan sounds logical, but I’ve seen enough things defy apparent logic to not just accept the statement without supporting documentation.
Let me clear. I support in principle the statement that indoor cats live longer, I just haven’t found the proof for it yet.
It should seem somewhat obvious after thinking about it for a moment. Outdoor access means more exposure to diseases and parasites, exposure to predators, and exposure to traffic.
Appreciate not getting a snarky comeback. My personal experience has been outdoor/indoor cats lead long, satisfying lives. But my experience could be an outlier which is why I asked for your source.
Will definitely give this a read once I’m done work. Again, much appreciated
Unfettered? No. Feral cats often aren’t cared for and live suffering lives. They have significantly shorter lives. They’re domesticated animals and aren’t suited to life in the wild. We bred that out of them. They fare better than dogs, but they deserve better.
I just buried one that some asshole dropped off near my house. My dog doesn’t do well with cats and I found them scrapping in the yard. I pulled them apart, literally the cat had several claws stuck in my dog’s face. I went out a few times to make sure that it was ok. After about 20 minutes it was gone. Three days later I go out to see my dog barking at the road. It seemed like the cat was back. Either running away from my dog or distracted by her, it lay dead in the road. It has been run over by a car or a truck. Blood everywhere. I put my dog in the house and scooped it up into a bucket and buried it with my shovel.
This wasn’t just some feral cat. It was friendly and had known the love of people. Unfortunately, that love wasn’t enough to do what was right. It deserved better. This happened about a month ago and it still bothers me.
Get your pets spayed and neutered. If you can’t afford to house the results of your irresponsibility, then at least do right by them, and make sure they go to loving homes, instead of dumping them off at someone’s farmhouse in the country.
Yeah being homeless sucks, what does that have to do with cats reproducing?
Even if we assume that all unplanned kittens end up homeless, it’s still some twisted version of financial cat eugenics. “Your life will probably not adhere to my standards of what a good life is, so I will prevent you from existing in the first place for your own good. I will cut off your balls because your kids would be homeless.”
Now apply the same logic to humans. I know we are talking about cats but from a moral standpoint it should make no difference, the degree of “bad” might change, it’s less bad if you do that to an animal and more bad if you do that to a human, but in both cases it’s still bad. I can’t think of anything that this logic doesn’t apply to, even when it comes to something we do all the time like killing, if you do that to a human, that’s murder, which is obviously terrible and if yo do that to an animal, that’s acceptable, because we need it for food to survive but it’s still bad. If we could get meat any other way I don’t think anyone would be opposed to that.
If you don’t want to get castrated by aliens\AI overlords then don’t do that to your pets.
Dude, cats don’t have the ability to make rational decisions. They’re pets. If you want to run a cat breeding house, that’s on you. Just keep them inside.
I thought I read somewhere that your social security card wasn’t initially at all meant for proof of identity and shit that we use it for today, which is why it’s made of fragile paper. But I didn’t actually look that up to verify so idk.
It stems from a conflict of need and want from what I understand.
The need for a national id and the refusal of the citizens for a national id. There was a lot of controversy about the SSN because it could be used as an id and the people didn’t want that being so privacy conscious, so they made the numbering system simple and that card fragile to show and dissuade that it isn’t a good id to get the SS passed.
But of course, there’s still a want/need for some kind of unified id across the nation - so it was used anyway
And thus we have a terrible id system: flimsy, deterministic, and mostly-unchangable
If you know the social security number of someone born in your hospital in the same day, it’s likely your ssn’s are right next to each other and could be guessed
At this point, I don’t think there would be much resistance to a national id, and it would be great for an update that is both securely random, and changeable so that leaking your SSN isn’t such a crazy risk, having it in a laminated card with a chip and electronic signature even better.
Licensed balloon pilot here… The only manned balloon for which you don’t need a license (in the US) is an ultralight, weighing less than 155lbs empty.
They do exist, though. They’re commonly called “cloudhoppers”. They are basically a climbing harness, backpack straps on a propane tank, and an overhead flamethrower, all hanging underneath a pup tent.
Edit: you can increase the weight to 254lbs empty if instead of a “balloon”, you build a “thermal airship”. Balloons are considered unpowered aircraft because they have no source of propulsion, only lift. Throw some source of propulsion on board - a small electric fan, for example - and it becomes a “powered” aircraft with a higher weight limitation.
Our burners consume raw, liquid propane, at 150PSI to the blast valve. Normally, when liquid expands into a gas, the temperature drops precipitously, and with it, the pressure. However, we feed that liquid propane into a heat exchanger: the coils at the top of the burner. This superheats the propane, allowing it to vaporize easily and rapidly after it passes through the nozzles on the burner ring.
The end result is a 30’ flame.
You’d want to fashion some sort of sling and stock to handle that burner without its usual frame but it’s certainly doable.
How cool, more about cloudhoppers if you’re curious like me. It looks like they start around $23,000, which is a lot considering you can get into paragliding for a lot cheaper than that I think. I would rather paraglide.
Those $23,000 balloons will be certificated aircraft, and will need a licensed pilot, even though they might otherwise qualify as ultralights.
Most ultralight cloudhoppers are homebuilt envelopes with commercial burners and fuel systems. Material cost in the neighborhood of $5000.
My used, complete, certificated system (not a cloudhopper; a regular hot air balloon) was $10,000, including envelope, basket, burners, tanks, fan, trailer, instruments, and a bunch of accessories.
In regular balloons, the sides of the basket are about waist-high. You’re well contained. I get pretty nervous on a ladder or apartment balcony, but I’ve never felt any height-related anxiety in a balloon.
You don’t actually have to fly to enjoy the sport. Crewing is fun by itself. Commercial operators pay pretty well. Private pilots will usually buy you dinner after a flight.
what does a crew do exactly? for that matter, what does the work of a pilot look like? i have been reading your comments, and i can see that planning is certainly a part of it.
Well, you can show up with zero knowledge of ballooning, and the pilot will be grateful for your help. Ballooning is hands-on, blue-collar flying; there is a fair bit of manual labor involved.
At the other end of the spectrum, experienced crew might be charged with pretty much the entire operation of the balloon until it leaves the ground, and as soon as it touches down again, as well as driving/navigating the chase vehicle, landowner relations, weather observation. They can also participate (under pilot or repairman supervision) in inspections, maintenance, minor and major repairs, and all sorts of other ancillary tasks.
As for the pilot, there are all sorts of considerations. For example, the wider the difference between ambient temperature and envelope temperature, the more lift we can produce. But, we have a maximum allowable envelope temperature, so if it hot out, we can’t get as wide of a temperature delta, and can’t reach as high of an altitude. We can’t steer except by changing altitude. Do we have enough lift to reach the altitude layer with favorable winds?
On the flip side, the surface winds often differ significantly from the winds aloft, but if we are within 2000 feet of an obstruction, we have to maintain 500 feet above it. We’ve got a good direction toward a favorable landing zone right now, at treetop level but there is a 1000’ tall antenna tower in front of us. When we climb, where are the winds going to take us?
I expected winds from 270, but the actual winds are from 315, taking me much further right than I had originally planned. Can I continue this flight? Do I need to descend below the floor of the outer ring, or can I stay up high? Do I need to land as soon as practical?
There is a beautiful field in front of us, but a quarter mile ahead, there are high tension wires. If I abort a landing into this field, do I have the climb performance to clear those wires?
I want to get low over the lake and trees for some good pictures, but the nearest landing site past the lake is 6 miles, and sunset is in 90 minutes. Do I have the time and fuel to descend and play, or do I have to stay high and fly on?
It gets more interesting when we introduce competition flying, where you’re trying to reach specific points at specific times, or make the sharpest turn the winds will allow, or grab prize money from the top of a pole, or chase a leader with a head start.
If you’re near Akron, Ohio, message me. I can’t promise a flight, but I can get you up close and personal.
Anywhere else, Google “hot air balloon repair station”. Those guys work on every balloon within a hundred miles of them, and can point you in the right direction.
I appreciate the inclusion, but I would probably be considered phobic, if it came up enough to impact my life more. I rejected a window cubicle because the view was stressful and I avoid glass elevators, but that’s really it. Planes are totally fine, though I try not to dwell on actually being very high in the air.
I rejected a window cubicle because the view was stressful and I avoid glass elevators, but that’s really it.
You’re describing one of my pilots. Seriously. Guy won’t climb past the third rung on a ladder, but flies a balloon.
I recognize the anxiety you’re describing, and I can’t promise that you won’t experience it on a balloon flight but… I crew on about 100 flights a year, 6 passengers per flight, most first-time flyers. When I say it’s a different experience, I’m not talking about mine. I’m basing that on the more-than-a-few conversations I’ve had with people who have described themselves as afraid of heights.
I guess what I’m saying is, if you’re interested in balloons, the community has room for you.
True. The main airspace restrictions on ultralights that are not on certificated aircraft are a prohibition against flying over congested areas (yellow on a sectional chart), and within the lateral boundaries of Class E airspaces around airports. (You can’t fly an ultralight in the class E airspace around an airport, nor in the Class G airspace underneath that Class E)
Certificated aircraft (including balloons) can be flown over congested areas and within Class E and G airspaces.
The limitations on flight in A, B, C, and D airspaces are similar for both: flight is prohibited without specific authorization arranged beforehand.
Interestingly, if an ultralight somehow received permission to enter Class E(controlled) airspace, they still cannot descend into the Class G (uncontrolled) below it. That Class G is within the lateral boundaries of the Class E, and the controller’s authority does not extend to that airspace.
Incorrect. The vast majority of the airspace over the contiguous United States is controlled, though there is a lot of it where participation in ATC is not necessary for VFR flight. From 1,200 feet AGL up to 18,000 feet MSL you’re in Class E, and from 18,000 to 60,000 you’re in Class A. Above that you’re in Class E again. In some places, usually over some un-towered airports, Class E will extend down to 700’ AGL or down to the surface as marked on sectional charts. Class D airspace, as well as the center columns of C and B airspace, extend to the surface.
Class G airspace pretty much only exists below 1,200’ AGL in most places, I think there are remote areas in the middle of the flyover states and Alaska where the Class E floor is higher because there’s nothing there, but that may be changing with ADS-B and shit.
It is not mandatory to participate in air traffic control to fly in Class E airspace. Laymen tend to use “controlled airspace” to mean “off limits without permission” but that’s not how that works; Restricted areas for example require clearance to enter but exist as a separate concept to the alphabet airspace system.
“Controlled airspace” means some part of the air traffic control system has coverage in that area and can provide traffic separation and sequencing for IFR flights. For VFR it’s a little more complicated; in Class A airspace (high altitude en-route airspace) VFR flight is not allowed. Terminal airspace (Class B, C and D, found around airports) participation in ATC is required for all flights. ATC services in Class E airspace is optional for VFR and is on a “workload permitting” basis.
Yep that makes sense. I am more thinking about VFR flight in the context of ultralights. So let me rephrase- in the context of ultralights (VFR) the vast majority of US airspace does not require talking to ATC or even having a radio onboard.
Descend and land. You’d have done that long before “starting to enter” restricted air space. Otherwise enjoy your fine and potentially losing your license once the FAA finds out.
It’s like not you can accidentally enter restricted air space. You know you’re going to be entering the airspace long before you get there so there is plenty of time to take action.
Small airports aren’t really an issue tho. FAA won’t come after you for that. But you should always know where you are, where the restricted air spaces are, with a plan to avoid them. If not you’re fucking up as a captain.
Restricted airspace’s are there for a reason. It’s for safety and not paying attention to them has consequences.
I’m an unlicensed ultralight pilot and I know where I can and cannot fly. Every ultralight pilot I know also knows where to fly (and how to read a sectional).
There are sectional charts on the ground, available to the general public, not just licensed pilots. If you’re going to fly, you are expected to know the relevant airspace long before you fly in it.
That’s true, but “not knowing” is a far more egregious violation. Licensed or not, a pilot is expected to know where they are allowed to fly, and where they actually are. “I didn’t know it was restricted” is the aviation equivalent of driving the wrong way on the freeway.
Sectional Charts are freely available from the FAA in digital form, and cheaply (<$10) available on paper. They have a legend that shows how controlled airspace, congested areas, and airports are depicted, along with more than enough landmarks for orientation. Every pilot, licensed or not, must know where they can and cannot fly their aircraft.
You presume a scenario where you make this realization while you are in the air. In practice, you made this realization hours earlier, and adjusted your flight plan to avoid that problem. You selected a launch site that avoids putting you in that situation.
If I do find myself encroaching on controlled airspace, I could declare an emergency, inform the controller where I am so they can vector traffic away from me, and do what I need to do to get down safely. At the very least, I would expect to do a lot of paperwork, and possibly have my license suspended.
With Class B and C airspace, the boundary is altitude dependent. The outer ring of Class C is 10 miles from the airport. I can fly between 5 and 10 miles of Akron Canton Airport, I just can’t climb above 2500’ MSL while in that area. I generally plan my flights to stay outside 10 miles, with the understanding that I can just stay below their airspace if I happen to get too close.
Small point of grammar: Floating “over” controlled airspace means you are still outside of it. Airspace is 3 dimensional so in addition to having horizontal boundaries, it also has vertical boundaries. Class C airspace for example, which you find around semi-busy airports like Raleigh-Durham International, looks kind of like a quarter stacked on top of a penny, except the stack is 4000 feet tall and 10 miles in diameter. You remain outside of the Class C airspace if you fly directly below the outer “ring.” Or if you fly directly above it. I’ve done both, though I usually make a habit of calling up the approach controller and requesting flight following so that they can talk to me if they need to (“me” being a licensed pilot flying Skyhawks or smaller).
If you are going to fly an ultralight aircraft, you should seek out and receive training about the national airspace system, learn how to read a sectional chart, read things like Part 91, etc. I would advise carrying an aviation COM radio and monitoring local CTAF frequencies.
If flying something like a free balloon, you should know the prevailing conditions before takeoff. If the wind is blowing in the direction of a no no place, just don’t launch. Stay on the ground until conditions for safe and legal flight exist.
Meanwhile, the FAA is arbitrarily regulating 250 gram RC aircraft as if they’re a threat. The industry is simply innovating to increase performance of ultralight RC aircraft to avoid Remote ID requirements.
To be fair, a 250g RC aircraft can cause a lot of destruction to a plane that’s in the process of taking off/landing or to a car on a highway.
Having said that, they really have gone overboard with the regulation. Restrict airspace near airports and over highways, not something as ambiguous as “over people”. They also (still) require a spotter for FPV which is just silly. The point of the spotter is so you can figure out where it went if you lose control (presumably, to take responsibility if it crashes into something important and does some damage). Anyone flying FPV is going to know exactly where the RC aircraft was when they lost control (and modern ones will return themselves home if contact is lost like that).
They need to focus more on regulating features instead of “what and where”. If every RC aircraft has to have a return to home feature that would make more sense than something super ambiguous like, “don’t fly above people.”
Agreed, I have no desire to fly near airports or over 400ft. I’m just flying my FPV quad in my backyard, no other person in sight, and they worry about my 260g drone and not my 240g drone, it’s overlooking much more important things like how you use it and its features, as you said.
The “what and where” requirements are easy to enforce. If a drone goes out of control and strikes a person, it was clearly in violation of a rule against flying over people.
“Return home” is a good start, but it is not enough. The feature set also has to include “see and avoid”. If it can decide to “return home” directly into the side of a manned balloon, it is not safe enough for unrestricted autonomous operation.
I say this as a balloon pilot who has observed drone pilots operating in the vicinity, and even attempting to land on top of a manned balloon.
An RC aircraft is basically a guided missile with a meat grinder at the front. The electric ones are surprisingly more dangerous than the nitro ones. A nitro engine can stall if something gets in the prop. An electric motor just keeps going.
Go talk to some old geezers at your local RC club, they’ll undoubtedly have some nice tall stories about what happens when props get in contact with body parts.
If there any mods reading through here, I might suggest a rule asking folks to use their best judgment to include a similar indicator in similar circumstances.
I’m not much of an “/s” guy, but I think these six letters (parody) can avoid misleading without ruining the fun :)
We don’t need shit like that around here. Conservative / christofascist fucks say enough things that we can malign. Don’t make shit up unless it’s impossible for someone to misperceive as real.
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