kingpin

It seems like the writer was just trying to get people to read her emails before deleting them (something which has never been possible, in my case--thank you, email filters). What's the big deal about someone being motivated about their BS CGOC job? Wouldn't it be nice if aircrew were half as motivated about their sweet-freaking-deal of a job? Gimme a break. -kp

FCP - Front Cockpit or Front Cockpit Pilot RCP - Rear Cockpit IP - Instructor Pilot SP - Student Pilot CS - Callsign TOT - Take-Off Time or Time Over Target Chock Time - when the aircraft has to be shut down (usually misspelled as "Chalk") Z - Zulu time, similar to Greenwich Mean Time CT - continuation training (all instructors / no students) Pattern terminology: Norm - normal pattern NF - No-Flap pattern / landing GA - Go-Around BO - Break Out ELP - Emergency Landing Pattern Formation terminology: XU - crossunder RJ - rejoin BO - breakout ET L3 - extended trail level 3 CT - close trail ECH - echelon turn WW - wingwork PO - pitchout MOA - Military Operations Area STAR - Standard Terminal ARrival FLIP - FLight Information Publication (?) TCN - Terminal Change Notice (update to the FLIP) SR - Slow Route VR - Vis Route IR - Instrument Route ...all very useful in filling out an SUPT lineup card!

According to this website (http://www.youreviewelectronics.com/reviews/lcd-tv-reviews/visio-vx37l-vw37l-review/) you have NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners built-in. Now, reading from wikipedia tells me that ATSC/QAM are part of the new "digital TV" standard, and that ATSC tuners can read PAL signals. However, Europe is now on the AVB standard (their version of digital TV). Check out wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_Standards . Now for the theorizing. I really am not an expert, but I think all these "built-in tuners" refer to signals received by your TV through the coax connection (like you connected your cable or rabbit ears straight to your TV). I haven't hooked my TV up like this for a very long time, usually putting some kind of digital recorder or cable box in between and hooking up to the S-video or HDMI port. This tells me that the BOX is the thing doing the tuning (sts), not your TV. So, if I had to guess, you could take your tv with you but you'd have to get the cable box or TiVo in Germany. Why else would Vizio make the tv dual voltage if there's no way to get it to work overseas? Something else that might complicate things is "region encoding." HDMI is a very smart system, designed first and foremost to fight piracy, so if your tv has been given a US-region designation the HDMI port might refuse any other region's signals. All pure speculation on my part...you might try one of those "Americans living overseas" support-type forums for a good answer to this. -kp

An O5 informed me that if his boss's boss saw folks in the squadron with covers sticking out like that during his annual walkthrough / base tour, he would not be happy. So no, no one got 'pissed' at me exactly. And no, I've never been able to figure that riddle out. At BQZip01: "Shoe laces too dirty"?? Man, that's awesome. That'd be a good one for a UPT check IP: "Grade overall? E1. I woulda given you a zero-downgrade O, but your shoe laces were slightly too dirty."

Man, field training was so surreal. After about a week everything seemed like "The Matrix," or something. EVERYTHING was some sort of team-building exercise (code for teaching shoe clerks the intricacies of rule enforcement). CTA Morpheus: "You think those are pushups you're doing? Huh." -kp EDIT: to post on topic, what difference does getting a "non-compliance ticket" from some enforcement official make, really? Wouldn't it just be up to your sq/cc to issue punishment? Isn't this yet another way we as fliers can make non-fliers jealous as we thumb our collective noses at useless rules? At my last base, my sq would sometimes function almost as a separate entity within the wing when idiocy would strike. All this assumes a sympathetic sq/cc, of course, but if that's not the case, well, you're pretty much screwed anyway.

It's because there's no complicated way to roll them up (like BDUs). Hey! We should write down a needlessly complex procedure for rolling flight suit sleeves (inside out, fold over, THEN roll the outside over), and standardize it, and ..... ...or we could stop trying to jazz up a utility uniform. I don't get why some brass get irritated if I have my cover sticking out of my leg pocket, or a zipper undone past my patch, or whatever. There's only so much you can do to polish up a frickin' flight suit--you can't starch the thing, for God's sakes. Maybe I should just zip the front all the way up and tie an official Air Force blue tie around the collar. Now THAT would be sharp. mess dress flight suit? Bow tie + cummerbund. nice... -kp

I just read "Kitchen Confidential", by Anthony Bourdain on audiobook--great, quick read. Anyone else hooked on the audiobooks? It turns my commute from a waste of time to an enjoyable waste of time. -KP

MacWorld review: http://www.macworld.com/article/137594/200...virtualbox.html Download link: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads -kp

I've used the IBM version a few years ago--don't know why it's not working for ya now. Another option is to get a Windows emulator--VirtualBox is free (uhh, STS I guess). http://www.macworld.com/article/139261/2009/03/vbox21.html The only trick is to find a cheap version of Win XP, but then you can run ANY of the crappy AF-approved software. -kp

"GWOT" always reminded me of the "War on Drugs"--terrible name, sends the exactly wrong message. -kp