Majestik Møøse

So that’s exactly my point. The X6M and Model X Plaid both cost $120k and the Tesla goes 0-60 in 2.5s. And it’s American. To each their own, but new gasoline cars might as well be powered by steam engines. Old ones are cool, though.

America only classifies technical facts, but the bulk of the information and culture that gives us a strategic advantage is out there for everyone to see. In fact, we can help but to advertise it so everyone can know how cool we are. It’s only a matter of time until they change themselves from a day, VFR, GCI Air Force to the night, all-weather self-determining force we once were...

Yeah, Ferrari used to say, “But Ferraris aren’t about the numbers, it’s about the passion!” when Lamborghini or even Corvette would make a car faster than them. Then, of course, when Ferrari had an objectively faster car they’d sure let everyone know. Now, to be clear, I’m a car guy. Have been my whole life, I guess. With some racing here and there. I’m half-assed in the market for a 1960s Alfa if I run across a good one (especially the big 2.0s, lol). If I had Cleared Hot-level money, it’d be an old Ferrari instead. Today’s cars aren’t like the old ones. Due to customer demand, everyone makes smooth, fast, roomy, efficient, automatic-everythings with enough electronic wizardry to keep everything firmly on the rails. For lack of a better word, they’re all super-tight luxury rides. And heavy as hell. Even the Ferraris - shifting and drifting in a red barchetta has turned into pulling g’s in a laser guided spaceship. And that’s totally cool, I love speed and g’s. While every manufacturer has been electronically tightening up their mechanical watches, the full digital Teslas come out and out-do the entire industry. Every year they improved and now there’s an 1100hp model that can outdrag a $3m hypercar. They’re beating everyone else at their own game and making the newest reciprocating engine cars look totally pointless.

Dude, I think you have scales on your eyes. Not everything is political or about wokeness. How much do you expect a performance car to cost? Dodge gets people to pay $100k for a Challenger. Double that for a 911 Turbo. The Plaid+ has 1100 horsepower and is the quickest production car ever made. Estimated to be an 8 second car that you can put 200k miles on. For 10% of the cost of hypercars - that are slower and require $50k of mx every 10k miles. I don’t know if there’s a cost/horsepower equation, but no gasoline production car will ever catch up. They’re antiques. Which is fine, I like old things also. If you only want the world’s second fastest car just get the regular Plaid and save $35k.

A steam engine sounds much more iconic than a diesel-electric freight train. That’s why I’d like to buy an old Alfa someday - the sound and the feeling. But my next new car will be electric. And American. People spend $2-3m on cars that are slower, soooo

Well the Model S Plaid+ will do <9s quarter mile and >520 mile range. Quickest production car ever built and completely American. Makes supercars look kinda dumb. What’s not to like?

Nah, maybe they just like going faster than gasoline cars

Yeah, I get it, $3m is the new $1m. But there is a surprising divide, even amongst military officers, between those with no investments and those who know how to make money work for them. So I never know which one I’m talking to, although I guess it’s the latter in this thread. Some pilot friends of mine were giving Biden shit for having a $9m net worth - as if it were indicative of corruption - even though he has made the equivalent of six figures since the 1970s.

How could you not? Investing 10% of that salary at 7% ROR yields $1m liquid in 23 years. Not even counting real estate appreciation, which is how most people get there. Inflation not accounted for. https://smartasset.com/investing/investment-calculator#OCfdEpDGFU

Yeah, blue collar workers - aka the world’s most common jobs - are even more brutal. A high school friend’s dad retired from the factory line after 40 years of literally the same job (wrapping a wire around a wire) and died of a heart attack 2 weeks later. An anecdote for sure, but...holy shit I’ve got a pretty good life. Will I die if we get into a no-shitter with China? Maybe, but everyone will be fucked in that case anyway.

I used to have a civilian job before I decided one day to apply for an OTS pilot slot. I don’t know your background, but to those here that have only known the Air Force as a job in their adult lives (or a kush airline pilot gig afterwards that was enabled by your AF job), I would caution that the civilian world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it can be unimaginable doldrums where entire years run together into the same memory, and then you die. Even a non-flying AF job has more excitement than 99% of the jobs out there. It’s like an Air Force staff job, except that the things you’re doing are not important whatsoever. Maybe at staff you’re just a cog in the military machine (“Why am I working on Afghanistan stuff, we shouldn’t even be there. Balancing this stupid $690m budget”) but as an average civilian you’re more like a cog on a worn out typewriter that has already been donated to Goodwill and no one’s told you. You’re certainly not doing stuff that kids would be interested in during career day. Plus the constant financial stress of things like a recession, COVID, and company underperformance that has nothing to do with you. Some kind of Neutron Jack comes in and deletes entire divisions overnight, college grads first. Civilian workers are cast offs and liabilities that take money directly from their bosses wallets. Your Air Force boss might be an asshole, but not like that. All I’m saying is the grass ain’t greener, and I wouldn’t stop any of my kids from joining the military. Well maybe except the Army.

People, tactics, equipment; in that order.

I used to be AMC, now I’m ACC. In AMC we had a complete bullshit “leave lottery” at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years where only 10% of every crew position could be deployed. Fuck those fucks and whoever came up with that. Now I’m ACC and I take leave whenever I want. Although I’m a U-2 guy so YMMV.

The internet is weird. And it’s only going to get weirder as we get older. Imagine responding directly to one of Robin Olds’ forum posts bitching about finance.

Cowardly

Never get advice from people who aren’t in the U-2 program about the U-2 program. Just call up and talk to the recruiting shop.

Guess which language the words Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Espionage come from?

It turns out that, due to the American court system, conspiracy theory propaganda has a limit. Newsmax and Fox News collapsed at the threat of a lawsuit and clarified that the voting machine conspiracy theories postulated on their programs have no basis in fact. Stop supporting those who would lie and mislead, regardless of political affiliation. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/media/smartmatic-lawsuit-fox-news-newsmax-oan.html

Extremely interesting reading. They’ve even got the B-17 -1 in there for reference. Damning testimony from the survivors, especially the one who happens to be an expert in 4-engine propeller TOLD and passenger handling with years of military leadership experience. Limited budgets don’t make for great training environments.

Possibly sort of. https://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=1294

So Hnida was the first and Power 5 is made up. The is the real convo

Don’t worry man, most of your party are still the Silent Majority. They voted for Trump, but they know he lost, and now are appalled watching the Alex Jones crowd act like total fools. It is disappointing to see Republican leadership sit idly by and not throw down on the embarrassing factions.

Here’s a group of bunch of Trump’s personality cult clowns that think the election was stolen. They hate the GOP now. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/protesters-chant-destroy-the-gop-at-pro-trump-rally-1102967/ Don’t be in this group.

And then everyone stood up and cheered

Oh, IDK, think back to a point in your own lives when someone who had no SA on your intent analyzed the hell out of a thing you did once. She doesn’t even have a trend line yet.