Boy, that telephone/electrical wire gives me the heebie jeebies...(the one you can see between the tanker and the field, on the poles, in the early outside of the chopper shots)

My post is not hyperbole, but actual personal observation.



You also have to factor in cost+ funding.

On one hand, it's necessary. Because you don't know how much something truly new will cost - you haven't done it before. You'll discover as you go.
It would be unfair to bind a company to a fixed cost, when nobody knows what the cost will be. It's mathematically unreasonable to entertain a fixed cost on new technologies.

(Granted, everyone gives silly lowballed best-case estimates when bidding. Anyone that injects a sense of reality into their bid is too costly and doesn't get the contract).

On the other hand, cost+ means that you make more money by spending more money. So hiring hordes of nobodies for every little task, making 89347589374 different position titles, is only gonna make you more money. There's no incentive to save.



F35 wise, like I said, it's not designed for any war we fight now.
It's designed for a war we could fight in the future.
Because you don't start designing weapons when you're in a war, you give your best effort to have them already deployed, tested, and iterated into a good sustainable state, before the onset of a conflict that could require them.

F35 variations are not complicated. The VTOL variation is the only one with any complexity. The others are no more complex than historical variations from early to late blocks of any given airframe.

The splitting of manufacturing isn't in itself a complication ridden approach. It's rather normal for different companies to work on unrelated systems. Airframe will go somewhere, avionics elsewhere, engine elsewhere, etc. That's basically a given, because different companies specialize in different things.

Keep in mind that the large prime contracts (Lockheed/GD/etc) don't actually "make" many things. They are systems integrators. They farm out the actual development for most pieces (be it in house contractors or external contractors - because they are easy to let go after the main dev is over), and they themselves specialize in stitching the pieces together. Connecting things is not difficult when they are designed with specified ICDs from the get-go. The black boxes just plug up to each other and go.

The issues that arise are often a matter of playing telephone. With one sub needing to coordinate with another sub, but they have to go through the prime, and the prime is filtering everything through a bunch of non-technical managers. Most problems are solved in a day or two when two subs physically get their engineers together and sort out any miscommunications (granted, contracts and process might not allow them the then fix the problem in a timely and affordable manner).

The F22 and F35 issues are not major insurmountable tasks. The hardest flaws are things that can be fixed in a couple months tops on the engineering side. What takes time is the politics. Engineers can't "just fix it". There's no path forward for that kind of work.

Sure, in a magic wonderland you could tell them "here, grab the credit card, buy what you need, make any changes you need, and let us know when you're done" - and a little while later you'd have a collection of non-approved, non-reviewed, non-traceable, non-contractually-covered changes that "just fix the damn thing"... and you'd also have to incur the wrath of entire departments who were denied the opportunity to validate their existence. The 'high paid welfare' system would be all over your ass.

-scheherazade

BTW, I wanted to add a small comment at the end of this. Something I didn't add back then (but, looking back upon it, I think I should have).

It is regarding the little comment I mad e about feeling a connection to "something" bigger than me, then describing what this "feeling" was like.

I wanted to make it clear that the human mind, our testimony, and our eye-witness accounts are very, very undependable... A sad, but absolute truth.

Most cases that have been thrown out of court later on--once new evidence is brought to light; like DNA evidence--has shown over and over again that in many of these cases, the "victims" or prisoners sent to jail--for doing nothing--were sent there almost entirely on eye-witness testimony and accounts. Then the DNA shows that their entire "story" (because that IS exactly what it should be called), merely served as a way to put an innocent man in jail, and to keep that DA/prosecutor's record as close to "awesome" as possible (because we really DO care FAR too much about a DA's record than whether the person being prosecuted should actually be here, let alone if they are guilty or not). The defense attorney has the same problem; I'm not really sure WE should care about these things (only so much as to whether the state IS actually bringing cases to court that SHOULD be there...).

I have severe sleep apnea and also narcolepsy. With this I get sleep paralysis (basically every night) and an extreme amount of hypnagogic hallucinations (more than powerful enough that i fully understand why many believe in both ghosts and aliens--amongst other creatures). The "feeling" and situation I described above can very easily be traced back into this little issue of mine. It creates everything you could imagine--I even had a hypnagogic hallucination powerful enough that it felt as though someone or something was trying to yank me "through" my bed (hello, Nightmare On Elm Street"--I was actually more intrigued by the event than anything else, akin to a researcher). While most people would have run yelling from there house, or at the least gone to get comfort and forgone sleeping in that room AND bed for quite sometime...I went right back to sleep.

This is why KNOWING what you are up against, what it can do to you, and how powerful it really can be (especially on your psyche and even your physical state is very important...). I knew all of this before it ever happened AND I had also noticed the hypnagogic hallucinations doing A LOT of very small auditory based things--all the time--to me, but they sounded realistic (like dogs barking off in the distance, people whispering outside your window...across the street, telephones ringing upstairs, people you know talking or saying things--like your name--sometimes to the point that you have to ask them if they called for you...and YES you do feel like an idiot, but if everyone knows your physical problems, due to the sleep disorders, they understand what it going on, and can laugh with you when it happens--EVEN the scary ones).

Sleep paralysis happens to be when your body tries to wake up, but it doesn't quite get there. hence you end up in a state were you are both awake and asleep at the same time (dreaming to be accurate). These events have a tendency to be a bit like the hypnagogic hallucinations, in that they can seem real, since you are half-awake. History has a great many examples of SP--the ones that don't seem that scary, like visiting angels. To those that can create bone-chilling "ghost stories", like demons and succubi. There is a very famous painting of a "breath-stealing" demon, depicting a SP event (many people did in fact DIE in their sleep from "lack of breathing", this is where SP fiction AND the reality of many of the SP sufferers having severe sleep apnea--something fully unknown in that day and age--were not taken into account, and instead it was a demon! Many people that DO have sleep paralysis events have dreams and dream like events that are close to and resemble each other, so there must be a basic psychological connection in the formation of many of these dreams--even space alien abductions seem to have this same thing in common...

So when a big SP or hypnagogic hallucination comes along, and just by chance it happens to mix with each either (if you suffer both), you can get some truly panic inducing events (go look these up, if you don't understand why they could be so panic inducing--you'll understand pretty quick why they SUCK; luckily, as I've gotten older my mind has created two ways to deal with sleep paralysis events; the first it created, and I don't know how to be honest, is that I realize in these "half-dreams" that if I relax I will gain all of my abilities back...sure enough it works every time, but it can be VERY hard to do this when you have a pure-evil, shadow of fear standing 10 feat from you; then lately...and I think this happened literally due to the shear volume and amount of SP events I've had...I can basically FORCE myself to move again through willpower alone, allowing me to wake up as well--doing this actually feels "odd", it feels uncomfortable, like you are "going against the grain" and then suddenly breaking through a wall that wasn't allowing you to do what you wanted; so I imagine this "ability" forcefully allows me to make my body stop it's "protective" mode that it is in as you sleep and it is ALSO what causes the "paralysis" in all sleep paralysis vents...it is just your body doing what it should)...

Also, from what I've noticed, it seems to me that almost all hallucinations at some level are directly linked with whatever in the mind allows us to dream or create very vivid "imaginations". Both my sleep paralysis events AND especially my hypnagogic hallucinations, accompanied by the fact that I have indeed ran into "run of the mill" hallucinations (caused by adverse effects from medical prescriptions in the past), they ALL seem to be essentially linked together from what I noticed. I'd have to look around and see if there are others that have as many vantage points as I do, and also agree that they seem linked.

Throughout history people have seen these two aspects as something they absolutely are not OR not even close too! Yet FAR too many people don't ask the absolutely obvious question that they ALWAYS should have! Why, do ghost, aliens, demons, angels, you name it, show up at NIGHT (or for those that have odd sleep schedules: when you are TIRED or about to SLEEP--or just have...)?!? The answer should, indeed, be obvious... All of these things have to do WITH our sleep or something with our ability TO sleep (you don't necessarily need to be asleep or need to have just woken up for this stuff to happen to you; my narcolepsy shows this is absolutely true--as I can get hypnagogic hallucinations at ANY time of the day, sometimes without warning). The creatures and gods we have created do indeed exist, but they are located at the border between where our brain can see clearly and when our brain could use some rest--then we all live in our dreams.

So, be careful about how much stock you put into anything you believe is true, especially because you "believe" you have witnessed or experienced something magnificent... Believe it or not, seeing is NOT believing! Science always had the right idea, you MUST allow others to confirm what you found, and if they cannot find it--no matter even IF you "found it"--you might need to be able to accept the harsh reality that somehow you didn't see or experience what you thought you did (but, it can still be amazing)...

I guess it's the holier-than-thou, condescending attitude over Lantern's just being wrong...

I agree on one item though, they are both ass beef.

http://videosift.com/video/Behold-the-mesmerising-power-of-UP-s-buxom-charm#comment-1266585

There are more than a couple others, but that's the one which was my "telephone pole that broke the camel's back".

SHE SMILED AT YOU BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY


LET YOUR FEEEEELING LIFT BOY





Drive boy, dog boy, dirty, numb angel boy
In the doorway boy, she was a lipstick boy
She was a beautiful boy and tears boy
And all in your inner space boy
You had chemicals boy and steel boy
You had chemicals boy, I've grown so close to you
Boy and you just groan boy
She said, "Come over, come over", she smiled at you boy [x2]

Let your feelings lift, boy, but never your mask boy
Random blonde boy, high density
Random blonde boy, blonde country
Blonde high density

You are my drug boy, you're real boy
Speak to me and boy, dog dirty numb cracking boy
You get wet boy, big, big time boy, acid bear boy
And babes and babes and babes and babes and babes

And remembering nothing boy, when you like my tin horn boy
And get wet like an angel, derail

You got a velvet mouth, you're so succulent
And beautiful shimmering and dirty wonderful
And hot times on your telephone line
You got to never land on your telephone and in walks an angel

And look at me, your mum squatting pissed in a tube hole
At Tottenham Court Road
I just come out of The Ship
Talking to the most blonde I ever met

Shouting, "Lager, lager, lager, lager"
Shouting, "Lager, lager, lager, lager"
Shouting, "Lager, lager, lager, lager"
Shouting, "Lager, lager, lager"

Shouting "Mega, mega white thing, mega, mega
White thing, mega, mega white thing, mega, mega"
Shouting, "Lager, lager, lager, lager
Mega, mega white thing, mega, mega white thing"

So many things to see and do in the tube hole true blonde
Going back to Romford, mega, mega, mega
Going back to Romford, hi mum, are you having fun?
And now are you on your way to a new tension and headache?

Dawwwww, Mr. Bun Bun has more chins than a Chinese telephone book.

Lol, I remember studying the theoretical maximum bandwidth of a telephone modem at university. I can barely remember the maths/physics of it, but I remember the result which, interestingly, turns out to be less than 56k!

Christ, I feel old now.

If he's not in violation of the deed restrictions in his hood, he's cool. Violations of deed restrictions then the HOA needs to file a suit and get the fuck off the telephone. Cop said his neighbors don't like him, they can fuck themselves if he's not in violation.

More info needed.

Either way, his neighbors or himself are dicks.

All you say is true, but I am not able to complain to individual channels or their overlord conglomerates. Why would they care what I say? The only people I can take my issue to is the cable provider. If the cable provider lost 50% of its subscribers due to annoying bundling, maybe the upstream folks would notice. Then they could articulate the problem, since they would lose money, too. I think it is pretty much the only choice we have.

We have 2 Internet+TV providers in town here. One is the traditional cable service the other is the old telephone company that added TV. I got rid of cable TV about a 3 years ago and increased my internet speed. Every time the cable company called to offer TV, I would always ask if I could select my own channels, they said no, and I asked them to call me back when they can. They always said bundling was upstream and I understood it, but it still doesn't excuse the practice.

I certainly am happy with Netflix right now.

Each time cable had to be turned off or adjusted, it always involved someone coming out to the alley. I would always have free cable for 5 to 90 days, depending, but that is probably back in the analog cable days and not if we are talking about the new digital cable boxes. Depends what tech you are using.

no no the US just gets corporate take over of journalists, and then intimidate anyone who doesn't tow the line, and anyone who dares to be show what the government is actually responsible for gets thrown into prison, or has their car conveniently wrap around a telephone pole... unless of course, it's the government themselves doing the "whistleblowing", then its fine, and not a hostile act against a nation that values openness and transparency... so much so that more documents have been declared SECRET since Obama came into power than ever before in US history...

let alone straight face lying about spying on their own citizens

let alone a President who decides he doesn't require congress's approval for declaring war/military action, and then decides to show what a humble president that he is, he'll let congress in on what he knows... unlike the NSA programs that most of Congress wouldn't have known about unless for guys like Snowden

and social issues, important as they are, are smokes screens to deflect people's attention from what the two party system's true goal is... serving big business needs and securing personal future wealth/comfort as payment... they really don't care about those issues as anything more as misdirection, unless they are wingnuts like alot of the tea party movement were (they were the reverse, social issues jaded with personal prejudices with no economic sense/ability)... they use social issues to turn people against each other so that they don't see that Democrat and Republican within the last 30yrs have really only accomplished the exact same goals... deregulation of banks/big business, reduction in personal liberties, establishment of a police/surveillance state, the destruction of the middle class, and the fortifying of corporations

I can agree with that. However, the thing that makes this so interesting for me is the idea that the human being is a fundamentally unnatural creature, and the idea that modern technology more and more allows us to be an essentially modular animal, with endless possibilities.

As we innovate, we constantly redefine what it means to be a human being - clothes are so ubiquitous and culturally deep-seated that they can almost be seen as just another layer of skin, and allow us to inhabit vastly different climates, where most other animals really only function in a single setting. The same can be said for telephones and the internet, two inventions that vastly improve our ability to communicate with each other.

And what Beardyman shows us here is an example of this modularity. The "natural" human being can only produce one tone. Through cultural innovation, we can learn to sing with two tones. Through technological innovation, we can even learn to create an entire orchestra by using the input of a single man's voice.

To me, that is pretty extraordinary.

Microsoft put people in quite a pickle when they admitted that all their products, Windows first and foremost, have easier backdoor access than the Kardashians.

Let's say a government agency is employing Windows as their standard OS. Let's say they are legally bound to protect the data they work with, within reasonable limits. Now, if said OS is widely known to be inherently insecure, would that make all of them liable for negligence if they renew any licenses, much less acquire new ones?

Anyways, still looking for an English news source for a specific talk at the Black Hat conference in Vegas. Matthew Cole, a fella working for NBC News, outlined how all the CIA spooks involved in the kidnapping of Abu Omar in Italy were identified by... telephone metadata.

Even the professionals cannot beat the fucking machine, so what does that say about the ordinary citizen. Those blokes were caught because they messed up, but still...

Voting for this poll ended in a tie between Overlap ordinary conversations with terrorist lingo. and Attach telephonic devices to all your pets..

And another one. So now that we have it in print, can we drop the pretence and call it what it is: the world's most sophisticated system of industrial espionage.

I'd complain about being spied upon by supposed friends and allies, but as recently declassified documents showed, the Allied Control Council reserved the right to spy on any and all communications in Germany, even beyond the reunification in 1990. So it's not like we had any privacy to begin with, only the illusion of privacy, lasting a whopping 61 years. And it's all legal. Unconstitutional, but legal.

Snowden's material included surveillance statistics, showing that the NSA is intercepting, on average, 20 million phone calls a day in this beautiful country of mine. Most of it will be plain old industrial espionage, just like the bugs they planted at the EU offices.
So I'm rather surprised at the lack of outrage coming from my government. I know they don't give a rat's ass about the privacy of us plebs, but industrial espionage on a massive scale? I'd assumed they wouldn't like that one bit. Not a peep though, only silent obedience.

Anyway, everything's presented as shocking news in the media, so I thought I'd just link a certain document, aptly named AN APPRAISAL OF THE TECHNOLOGIES OF POLITICAL CONTROL. As you can see, it is a report that was presented to the European Parliament in 1998.

Skip to 7.4.1:

The Interim report said that within Europe, all email, telephone and fax communications are routinely intercepted by the United States National Security Agency, transferring all target information from the European mainland via the strategic hub of London then by Satellite to Fort Meade in Maryland via the crucial hub at Menwith Hill in the North York Moors of the UK.