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What isn't complicated is that a state that consistently rejects federal intervention in its affairs and whose senator opposed federal help for other states after a weather induced disaster comes cap in hand to the feds when it has a problem.

Show me what you got. here are mine

Is it the same ringtone as when you post?

The world is a better place today with one less hate monger.

Bigun, you served in the creme de lá creme; it’s not surprising that there would be more people who strove to be the best, as I’m sure you did and still do. I’d bet your units were more squared away and together in general, because, well, special forces. My cousin’s son is SF now; he honestly believes that women have ruined most of the institutions that were once all-male. I don’t know his personal/private views on race (knowing his parents, I’d bet they’re just as progressive as their views on gender, and that’s pretty progressive). His behavior is professional; his mother respects and trusts him, but they absolutely can’t talk about any sort of social issues. One wonders how he would view professional behavior if he weren’t SF, or had a CO who tolerated a little “discretion.” And that’s a shame. It’s no different from police departments, where the tone is set by the local chain of command. Wendy P.

Yeah not very practical. It just gets complex. (Just like this reply did for me...) In theory if there were a DZ with tons of funding (eg military) you could be lent a reserve canopy set up to use as a main. "You have a Smart 150 in your rig? Well, we have a PD 143 set up here, that would at least be similar." There would be complexities because a reserve doesn't normally have the deployment bag attached. (So you need a specially built reserve, or static lining the jump, or removable deployment system, or someone else chasing the d-bag.) Sometimes there are big boogies where manufacturers bring reserves set up to be tried out as mains, but then you need to be around such a big skydiving event. But if you want to actually cut away from a parachute, then you need a 3rd canopy, a reserve, on the system. You can have the reserve to test in its proper place on your back -- which makes putting a real reserve on your belly more complex, especially to have it fully legal. Or you could have the reserve to test on you belly, which keeps your 'last reserve' in your rig as normal, but then the deployment for the test canopy won't be like a real reserve. Either way, having 3 canopies makes the gear and handles and procedures and crap that your wearing more complex and less suited to a newbie. Maybe more dangerous than a real cutaway after a mal! (There was even a World Champion doing a stunt jump for a commercial about 25 years ago, with 3 canopies, who screwed up the order he pulled stuff and died. An unusual case but 3 canopies does get complex.) And even if you set up everything to cutaway to a reserve to test flying it, there won't be nearly the same stress level as if you were having an actual malfunction. So then ideally you'd at least do something like pop one toggle on the main to get yourself spinning around before cutting away. Reserves do fly a little different than the ZP canopies people are used to today. A small F-111 style canopy will tend to have a shorter, sharper flare motion, not a long gradual flare motion. It used to be that people were used to F-111 style canopies from their student days, but now they don't get that. So I do get a little concerned about newer jumpers these days knowing how to properly flare their reserve. At least people learn that they should do practice flares under their reserve when actually flying it after a malfunction. All in all, it gets complex. So in the sport it is considered reasonable to just spend one's time practicing on the ground. Hanging harnesses are good, handle checks on all jumps are good. And you don't buy a reserve that is way smaller than what you are used to jumping as a main.

No shit Sherlock. Lefties like doing things to help slow the spread of a pandemic. Righties like howling 'freedom!' and giving science the middle finger. What a stellar observation.

you need a third parachute attached to legally do that. not a good idea though, you can lose your freebag and pilot chute.

Folks, we've have a minor problem with the aircraft and will be returning to Denver. Your arrival to Hawaii will be delayed.

It was a bargain even at NASA’s price. But for some that’s not good enough. NASA regularly pulls off amazing stuff, and yet they seem be the government entity most commonly cited as a waste of money. They are the one government run organization that not only does what it sets out to do, they often knock the ball out of the park. Then they have to beg for more operational funding because their spacecraft last so much longer than they were designed to. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big spacex fan too, They have pulled off some impressive feats of engineering, and yes, at reduced cost. They are a for profit corporation and that’s what they should be doing. But even if they are not as efficient, NASA does scientific exploration of space better than anyone else.

Toxic masculinity? Well....one form is social media trolling. You rarely see a female do it. Going onto a forum with the goal of pissing people off is kind of toxic.

I agree with most of what you said, but a note on the above - Texas has gone out of their way (i.e. spent money and time) to ensure there is no redundancy in their grid that would connect to grids outside of Texas, because doing so would have triggered federal requirements under FERC. So this was a conscious decision to remain independent. That has both a monetary cost and a reliability cost. And IMO they absolutely have the right to do that; it's their state. Still, it leads to questions as to how much emergency aid the US should give to Texas for a problem of their own creation. It's somewhat hypocritical to demand independence (and refuse to assist other states with their own power problems) only until such time as that independence causes problems, at which time they ask for $$$ from the Feds.

Billeisle is dead on -- here, like so many situations, are more complicated than they appear. The fortitude comes in accepting that's true in situations that we don't understand (and therefore simplify) just as it's true in ones that we do. What we don't have, and need to include in our plans, is some sort of redundancy/resiliency, for the times when things go belly up. I lived in Houston for over 40 years; I have some knowledge of the area. Texas, in addition to the potential for record cold (I can remember frozen pipes; 1989 was a bad year in the Houston area), has had plenty of hurricanes/tropical storms, as well as drought and fire. Each one highlights failings in the system. What they all highlight is our increased dependency on the technology that we've come to rely on. Houses used to be built to deal with cold by building a fire; Texas was one of the later states to be fully electrified, so there is housing stock that understands that. But the smaller/poorer houses were built in minority neighborhoods -- builders didn't make good homes for renters, they made cheap homes. The freezing of pipes is a periodic/regular thing, it and flooding are probably what hits individual homeowners/renters on a large scale the worst. Water damage. If a hurricane is coming, they used to tell you to fill the bathtub with water to have water for essentials, like flushing the toilet, for a few days -- after a few days, you can find other resources. Maybe part of our social contract needs to be to help people find the 3 days' worth of support that's needed before they can figure out how to keep going. Those 3 (or so) days are information on what people can and should do for themselves, and how the people who can't should prepare or be supported. People in trailers really shouldn't try to ride out tornadoes/windstorms; disabled, etc need to consider evacuating earlier, because if you can't live without support, you need to be somewhere you can keep it. Wendy P.

Is that a problem with wind or a problem with Texas? Seems like wind turbines are able to operate in cold climates in other parts of the world? Same as natural gas works pretty well in cold climates, if properly prepared. Texas decided not to learn any lessons from 2011 and prior incidences of cold weather impacting the power grid, resulting in history repeating itself. Looks like the issue isn't how the power is generated, but to what standard the network is maintained. You want all the cheapness, but then whine when it turns out cheapness has a price.

Just yesterday I comforted one of my friends who was a huge fan of Rush: "No, no, Will; It was the fear monger who died, not the band!" ;-)

Brent, you have a wonderful capability to spin up a lot of shit with a mischaracterized post in the first place. I'm sure you see yourself like Rush seemed to, as dodging and spinning as the attacks come, countering each one. Not realizing you're just playing dodgeball, standing in place, while the world continues to move on. Wendy P.

Didn't think this one was true but sure enough. https://www-truthorfiction-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.truthorfiction.com/did-ulysses-s-grant-say-a-second-civil-war-could-be-waged-over-intelligence-vs-superstition/?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&amp&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#aoh=16104926390833&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.truthorfiction.com%2Fdid-ulysses-s-grant-say-a-second-civil-war-could-be-waged-over-intelligence-vs-superstition%2F

Sing with me...

Nancy's back at her desk again... office cleaned up, 25th amendment papers signed, Impeachment papers prepared and FBI hunting trophy hung.