Rick Rygel

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@crusade_enjoyer The biggest misunderstanding about these are that they're the same aircraft from the 50s. The modern tails are from the 80s. By comparison, KC-135s are late 50s/early 60s

The U-2 Dragon Lady remains the cleanest symbol of American technological supremacy ever built. Designed in secret by Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works in the mid-1950s, it flew at altitudes nothing else could reach: over 70,000 feet. It turned the sky into an American domain while the Soviets had no answer. It photographed missile sites in Cuba, gave Kennedy the decisive edge in 1962, and kept flying reconnaissance missions no one else could replicate. They managed to shoot down a couple. We responded by making it better, stealthier, and kept it in service for more than seventy years. No other nation has ever fielded anything close to that combination of reach, endurance, and continuous upgrade path. Competitors still chase the capability we demonstrated in the 1950s. We didn't just achieve air superiority. We defined what air supremacy means. That's what American engineering used to mean. And the Dragon Lady is still out there proving it.

@congressdj Just put it in. They already scraped your advertising ID and other identifiers, so you'd be the only one missing out on something.

There are a few things more frustrating than going through an entire process filling in information for a quote, and then the final screen before submission requires your phone number for a “call back”. What a waste of time. I don’t want to have a conversation. I want a quote. 😡

@Sadie_NC Imagine your lungs, filled with flecks of aluminum and plastic that you can never get out. Glitter Lung

How it's made: Glitter. I can't imagine working at this place; you would come out covered in the stuff.🪩🪩

@eurofounder "I just started practicing my BBQ skills... have 11 pigs to practice smoking. Should get me through the year. I'll be sure to tell the new neighbors you knew in advance."

Finally a landlord who cares about more than just profit

Imagine if the Iranians got a hold of some ASATs. Much cheaper and easier to hide than nukes, and could hold the world hostage - especially the space-dependent west. Maybe they could but some Chinese ones in exchange for oil.

@skscartoon There's two guys in there BTW. Imagine one of them farts.

I believe this is the answer to the Drone problem.

I dint think 25% losses out of combat are appropriate, but taking years to even integrate an upgrade is a massive weakness. The PRC is stealing aircraft in the design phase and *fielding them* before they are even in the prototype phase in their home county. While the copies are generally not as good due to domestic engine & electronics availability, they're still a formidable platforms.

@RickRygel @SandyofCthulhu Say “I’m not an engineer” without… Toddle off and check aircraft losses during training / maintenance hours per flying hour. If you can afford 25% loss rates (look at the Gloster Meteor, or F-104, or B-58) or 60 to 80 MH/FH (look at the EE Lightning, or F-14), carry on…

The British made “pusher” planes because they didn’t know the forward-firing synchronous mechanism. About 1915 a German Fokker got lost and landed at a British airstrip. The British soldiers took apart the plane and noted the synchronization gear. A British war reporter happened to be there and was excited that Britain would now have that tech. After months and seeing no word of a new British fighter, he asked around. The report on the Fokker’s gear had been stuffed into a filing cabinet &forgotten. The reporter made a stink. “Why isn’t Britain using this gear?!” At first the Air Corps generals tries to cover their failure by saying they didn’t want to violate Fokker’s patent!! But people higher than the Air Corps morons forced them to take it seriously, and in 1916 the Sopwith 1 1/2 strutter came out with forward-firing synchronous guns. Was that the last time a journalist did something worthwhile? Hard to say.

Here in Hagia Sophia, on May 29th 1453, after 900 years of being a Christian cathedral, in the final hours of the Fall of Constantinople, a large number of Christian men, women, children, nuns, monks, priests, and others sought refuge from the Muslim invaders. The Ottomans surged inside and massacred them. On its holy altars they enacted “perversions with our women, virgins and children” including “the Grand Duke’s daughter who was quite beautiful” and forced to “lie on the great altar of Hagia Sophia with a crucifix under her head and then raped” Those who were not murdered were enslaved. Hagia Sophia resembled a “public brothel” before it was turned into a “stable for their horses”, with toppled altars used as troughs. The Hagia Sophia’s main Crucifix was then paraded “in mocking procession” with “spitting and blasphemies and curses”. “Behold the god of the Christians!” They jeered

You don't need ECCM, you just have to move to a frequency they can't (or more likely won't) jam. Like 4G/5G, airport navigation frequencies, or emergency responders frequencies. Jamming is pointless for real protection, especially when you won't jam the entire spectrum - and they know you won't - and there's no kinetic backup.

@rawsalerts I can't imagine someone creating an anti jamming device that can evade military signal jammers in their garage

🚨#BREAKING: Military officials say that more than 12 to 15 unsanctioned drones have swarmed over Barksdale Air Force Base which is home to the nuclear B-52 bomber fleet They say that the drones resisted jamming attempts, with multiple waves spotted over sensitive areas throughout the week.

@Andy_T_ @BenGrahamUK He's more likely to proclaim himself Khalif

@BenGrahamUK Starmer won't stand up for Christianity, will Charles.

Britain has been a Christian nation for over 1,400 years. Through wars, plagues, and countless kings, Easter has always been celebrated. Yet now, Cadbury won’t even use the word ‘Easter’ on their eggs. When did celebrating British traditions become controversial?

@sirarandor @JulianFried Its a great test for a new guy to see how many regular phillips bits the wreck or how many screws they strip before they realize its just a bit...off

@RickRygel @JulianFried I’ve never seen this before in my life, it screams to me “Philips, Autistic Edition™️”

Name a fastener more loved by engineers and more hated by service techs

@alextredpanda @JulianFried You dusted off my memory of this thing. I remember just about the same situation, and then watching the bit disintegrate when we turned the speed handle...like dirt Someone else mentioned it takes two bits for every screw. That might be too generous for the number of bits 😄 🤣

@RickRygel @JulianFried in the f16 shop we had the "murder bar" for those. a screwdriver on a sliding rail with a thrustbearing, a bolt at one end and a handle at the other. there were times were two people were putting tier full weight on the handle and a third was trying to turn the screw

@liquid2ulu They say this is to much but not the trillions of tons of waste flowing out of south Asia

The "but what about aliens or people 10,000 years in the future who want to dig it up!?" concern about nuclear waste is retarded. Who gives a shit? It is vastly more important to have cheap energy than to worry about some random asshole 10,000 years from now getting radiation poisoning.

You agreed that the company could sell your data when you accepted the EULA. Your ISP, cell provider, Google/apple, then 1000s of other apps sell this data. They get over 400 fields, and can see not only where you are, but in what part of your house (your device) is in and your pattern of life. Apps like Facebook read your screen and access your mic while running, and Google reads every one of your messages and emails, then sells the summary of you and your interests on a bidding exchange. The FBI just choses to buy all of it for persons of interest. Now, if you think the FBI had enough analysts or even AI resources to map out when you drop the kids off at the pool every day, or even do social network analysis on you to see if you are within 2 degrees of a terrorist , you'd be mistaken. Whether or not that's actually legal hasn't been challenged, so they will continue. Its mostly a political issue until then. Did you know your (large) local PD likey also uses this data? Luckily they are too busy to look at it until they need to. Finally, the bad guys throughout the world have cell phones, Google accounts, etc., too, so it's like carrying US surveillance equipment with them wherever they go.

@Pirat_Nation That's still a violation of the fourth amendment, considering they're bound by the Justice Department - who has to observe AND obey the fourth amendment.

The FBI has confirmed it is buying commercially available location data from private companies. This lets the agency track people's movements using smartphone data without needing a warrant.

@DrewPavlou Ahh, those must be the missiles headed for 12 year old girls. Can't touch those if they come in from Asia.

Checking in on Le International Law. The big brains are discussing whether it is legal under intensional law to shoot down Iranian missiles

@josephdelong @JulianFried Hahaha. Yep. Best call for these was "need sheet metal - have 157 stuck fasteners. Top of of tail"

@RickRygel @JulianFried Found the aircraft mechanic

@6EQUJ542 @redditbutfunny

@redditbutfunny Without the notch it wouldn't be possible to close the door, because of the tab that sticks out the top. Without the tab you'd have a big hole in the wall when you closed the door. I hope that helps.