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Seitsemän Kuusi Kaksi Millimeter Täysi Metalli Vaippa
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Mutt
I overemphasize my Scots heritage.
In truth it's but a tiny slice of my ancestry.
The Scots part emigrated south to Jolly Ol' when offers of titles and lands were being made to get Scotland under heel by the English. Family history is a bit vague about when this occurred.
This formerly Scot splinter flat refused to fight for their "homeland", having been bought they stayed bought. Lands and titles in Scotland were forfeited, other lands and titles in England obtained. Not a bad deal. But for a long time they were "that Scottish family" where they'd settled. It took a PR campaign and some royal endorsements to become English and that changed the family's name at the same time.
But this is just my father's side. And that's not even pure English descent either.
I've a Japanese great-grandmother, a German great-grandmother and a mumble mumble don't talk about him great grandfather on Dad's side (rumor has it he was half-breed Souix or some other "we're not going to say inferior, but we're kinda racist about it even if he IS family" mixing).
Even my Italian mother's side isn't near so pure. Both the great-grands on grampa's side were off-the-boat-WoP. But grandma was English/Norwegian.
I am a mutt.
In truth it's but a tiny slice of my ancestry.
The Scots part emigrated south to Jolly Ol' when offers of titles and lands were being made to get Scotland under heel by the English. Family history is a bit vague about when this occurred.
This formerly Scot splinter flat refused to fight for their "homeland", having been bought they stayed bought. Lands and titles in Scotland were forfeited, other lands and titles in England obtained. Not a bad deal. But for a long time they were "that Scottish family" where they'd settled. It took a PR campaign and some royal endorsements to become English and that changed the family's name at the same time.
But this is just my father's side. And that's not even pure English descent either.
I've a Japanese great-grandmother, a German great-grandmother and a mumble mumble don't talk about him great grandfather on Dad's side (rumor has it he was half-breed Souix or some other "we're not going to say inferior, but we're kinda racist about it even if he IS family" mixing).
Even my Italian mother's side isn't near so pure. Both the great-grands on grampa's side were off-the-boat-WoP. But grandma was English/Norwegian.
I am a mutt.
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Wait What
One of those click-bait things in the sidebar at Facebook got me to click...
"13 Times Hollywood Made Totally Racist Casting Decisions"
One of them is casting Tom Cruise for "The Last Samurai".
Yes, casting an American actor to play an American is racist. For reasons.
I guess that casting the entire Japanese portion of the cast with actual Japanese actors was racist as well?
I cannot wait for the tagline, "Samuel L Jackson IS Tokugawa Ieyasu! IN Sengoku!"
"13 Times Hollywood Made Totally Racist Casting Decisions"
One of them is casting Tom Cruise for "The Last Samurai".
Yes, casting an American actor to play an American is racist. For reasons.
I guess that casting the entire Japanese portion of the cast with actual Japanese actors was racist as well?
I cannot wait for the tagline, "Samuel L Jackson IS Tokugawa Ieyasu! IN Sengoku!"
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Fury Road
I've seen it!
Still haven't paid to see it.
Turns out I have friends who manage at theaters and if I wanted to meet at this theater they'd play it at 0200 because they had to send their copy of the movie back soon.
Networking!
I think this is about the best Mad Max made to date.
Made even better by huge screen and just three people in the whole building.
I am happy that the content wasn't the hyper-feminist diatribe some attributed to the film. The motives of the characters made sense and were personal rather than evangelical.
Still haven't paid to see it.
Turns out I have friends who manage at theaters and if I wanted to meet at this theater they'd play it at 0200 because they had to send their copy of the movie back soon.
Networking!
I think this is about the best Mad Max made to date.
Made even better by huge screen and just three people in the whole building.
I am happy that the content wasn't the hyper-feminist diatribe some attributed to the film. The motives of the characters made sense and were personal rather than evangelical.
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Rifle On The Wall
"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there." -- George Orwell
It's kind of ironic that this British rifle can't be on the wall of the labourer's cottage Mr Orwell had in mind when he made that statement.
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Armed
Dingus is armed, and sleeping.
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Mutable
Symbols are mutable.
The Confederate Battle Flag is perhaps the finest textbook example ever made.
It was an Army flag to identify units on the battlefield.
It's been a symbol of resistance to the evils done during Reconstruction.
It's been a symbol of racists from Reconstruction until at least 1992...
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It's been nearly always used by Democrats when used for racism, come to think of it...
It's been a generic symbol of Southern Heritage and Pride (which always glosses over that slavery thing).
Still, symbols are mutable.
Anyone can walk off with your symbol and make it represent hate.
My copy of "Departmental Ditties and Barracks Room Ballads" has a swastika proudly emblazoned on its cover. Since it's a 1913 printing the likelihood of it representing National Socialism is very very VERY small.
Should I burn my copy because an Eastern symbol of eternity, luck and prosperity was suborned? Should we shun Hindus and Buddhists who still use it as part of their rituals and ceremonies?
Your symbol could be next. Any symbol can be next.
And don't think because you're flying a liberal symbol you're immune, because unlike a lot of people condemning the Confederate Flag, I've experienced real hate from people flying the "all inclusive" LGBT rainbow. Yet I still support their rights, because what rights they have are the same rights I have (if only we could get more people on both sides of this debate to become aware of that).
And just to go Godwin... Someone else had a rainbow...
Speaking of mutable, the Pink Pistols has taken the National Socialist badge, made it their own, and run with it! Mutability is not a one-way ratchet.
The Confederate Battle Flag is perhaps the finest textbook example ever made.
It was an Army flag to identify units on the battlefield.
It's been a symbol of resistance to the evils done during Reconstruction.
It's been a symbol of racists from Reconstruction until at least 1992...
It's been nearly always used by Democrats when used for racism, come to think of it...
It's been a generic symbol of Southern Heritage and Pride (which always glosses over that slavery thing).
Still, symbols are mutable.
Anyone can walk off with your symbol and make it represent hate.
My copy of "Departmental Ditties and Barracks Room Ballads" has a swastika proudly emblazoned on its cover. Since it's a 1913 printing the likelihood of it representing National Socialism is very very VERY small.
Should I burn my copy because an Eastern symbol of eternity, luck and prosperity was suborned? Should we shun Hindus and Buddhists who still use it as part of their rituals and ceremonies?
Your symbol could be next. Any symbol can be next.
And don't think because you're flying a liberal symbol you're immune, because unlike a lot of people condemning the Confederate Flag, I've experienced real hate from people flying the "all inclusive" LGBT rainbow. Yet I still support their rights, because what rights they have are the same rights I have (if only we could get more people on both sides of this debate to become aware of that).
And just to go Godwin... Someone else had a rainbow...
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camp_badges |
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Serbian Wonder Nine
Willard has scored a Zastava CZ999 Compact. With shipping and FFL it ran him a mere $370. The Lovely Harvey expresses that it fits her hand well.
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It's compact in the sense that it's 0.4" shorter than the non-compact version.
It's kind of a commander idea, full length grip with a shorter barrel.
My coon-finger review is that it's chunky, but not uncomfortable. Double/Single action. The decocker is also the slide release. Everything is ambidextrously mirrored. Easy take-down. Machining on the inside of the slide is very coarse, on the frame very clean. Bore access seems very high now that I am accustomed to the M&P.
If all goes well, we take it to the range tomorrow and see how it shoots.
There's even Engrish in the Certificate of Authenticity!
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It's compact in the sense that it's 0.4" shorter than the non-compact version.
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| Why, yes, it does accept a lanyard! |
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| Compared to an M1911A1 |
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| Compared to an M&P 9 |
My coon-finger review is that it's chunky, but not uncomfortable. Double/Single action. The decocker is also the slide release. Everything is ambidextrously mirrored. Easy take-down. Machining on the inside of the slide is very coarse, on the frame very clean. Bore access seems very high now that I am accustomed to the M&P.
If all goes well, we take it to the range tomorrow and see how it shoots.
There's even Engrish in the Certificate of Authenticity!
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What Happens
Read This
What happens when white people stop trying to prove the negative?
What happens when they say, "gonna be treated like a racist, might as well be a racist (you can also insert sexist, homophobe, islamaphobe, etc.)"?
What happens when they say fuck it and fuck you?
I really want to know.
I suspect that it won't be pretty.
What happens when white people stop trying to prove the negative?
What happens when they say, "gonna be treated like a racist, might as well be a racist (you can also insert sexist, homophobe, islamaphobe, etc.)"?
What happens when they say fuck it and fuck you?
I really want to know.
I suspect that it won't be pretty.
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So?
It's impugned that I own guns because I have a small dick.
This accusation is also slung at people who own Corvettes, which I do.
Tell you what, haters...
I do have a small dick.
It was small before I bought my first gun. I was small before I bought the Corvette. It remains small.
Even though it's small, I am not compensating for it with possessions. Mostly because having a little dick has not bothered me since High School.
What compensation I do make has had more to do with tongue and fingers than buying shit.
If I was compensating there'd be a list of why I bought what I bought with lots of non-dick related justifications and no admission that I have a below-average size sex organ. Compensation doesn't work the way they think it does.
The "force" of the impugnment is I should feel threatened by people with normal or large sized penises and that my purchases are a sort of display that proclaims to all that, "my cock is the same size as everyone elses!" The corollary is I am correct in feeling bad that I don't have a normal sized prick, like they do, but I am merely choosing the wrong means of feeling better about it.
What they are doing with the comparison is cock-shaming me. Once again, something that would be considered vile and off-limits in another context is allowed because of guns.
If I were to infer that a woman bought something expensive to compensate for her small breasts, how do you think they'd react? But it's OK to shame me over both my small penis and my preferences in cars?
Bravo you inconsistent idiots. Wait, that's not right. You're consistently idiots, it's you inconsistently apply your "logic" because you're idiots.
PS: A free bit of psychology: The people who are most insecure about something are often the fastest and loudest about finding that insecurity in others, whether it exists or not. Compensating for their (often perceived) inadequacies by ridiculing others in the hopes that nobody notices they are as inadequate as they claim the other they are making fun of is.
This accusation is also slung at people who own Corvettes, which I do.
Tell you what, haters...
I do have a small dick.
It was small before I bought my first gun. I was small before I bought the Corvette. It remains small.
Even though it's small, I am not compensating for it with possessions. Mostly because having a little dick has not bothered me since High School.
What compensation I do make has had more to do with tongue and fingers than buying shit.
If I was compensating there'd be a list of why I bought what I bought with lots of non-dick related justifications and no admission that I have a below-average size sex organ. Compensation doesn't work the way they think it does.
The "force" of the impugnment is I should feel threatened by people with normal or large sized penises and that my purchases are a sort of display that proclaims to all that, "my cock is the same size as everyone elses!" The corollary is I am correct in feeling bad that I don't have a normal sized prick, like they do, but I am merely choosing the wrong means of feeling better about it.
What they are doing with the comparison is cock-shaming me. Once again, something that would be considered vile and off-limits in another context is allowed because of guns.
If I were to infer that a woman bought something expensive to compensate for her small breasts, how do you think they'd react? But it's OK to shame me over both my small penis and my preferences in cars?
Bravo you inconsistent idiots. Wait, that's not right. You're consistently idiots, it's you inconsistently apply your "logic" because you're idiots.
PS: A free bit of psychology: The people who are most insecure about something are often the fastest and loudest about finding that insecurity in others, whether it exists or not. Compensating for their (often perceived) inadequacies by ridiculing others in the hopes that nobody notices they are as inadequate as they claim the other they are making fun of is.
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It's Barely Moved
In Traveller Imperial Year 1110 (5628 AD), as the Fifth Frontier War is wrapping up...
Voyager 1 will be 13,080 AU fromEarth Terra.
That's 1,215,846,381,789.46 miles. 1,956,715,086,500 km. 75.54 light days.
0.20 light years.
0.063 parsecs.
After 3,651 years, it's still in the same hex with us.
Has anyone mentioned that space is big yet?
Even more fun...
If someone were to mount an expedition from Terra to Voyager 1 in a typical 30t Ship's Boat...
1.6g according to GURPS: Traveller.
It would take about 37 weeks to get there and match speeds.
It'd be a lot more comfortable in a 50t Modular Cutter and it's faster at 3.8g. Just under 24 weeks.
Let's say we're in a hurry.
A 40t Pinnace pulls 5g. Under 21 weeks.
A military ship pulling 6g will span it in about 19 weeks.
If we're really in a hurry we'll make a jump. 1 week.
Voyager 1 will be 13,080 AU from
That's 1,215,846,381,789.46 miles. 1,956,715,086,500 km. 75.54 light days.
0.20 light years.
0.063 parsecs.
After 3,651 years, it's still in the same hex with us.
Has anyone mentioned that space is big yet?
Even more fun...
If someone were to mount an expedition from Terra to Voyager 1 in a typical 30t Ship's Boat...
1.6g according to GURPS: Traveller.
It would take about 37 weeks to get there and match speeds.
It'd be a lot more comfortable in a 50t Modular Cutter and it's faster at 3.8g. Just under 24 weeks.
Let's say we're in a hurry.
A 40t Pinnace pulls 5g. Under 21 weeks.
A military ship pulling 6g will span it in about 19 weeks.
If we're really in a hurry we'll make a jump. 1 week.
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Does Anything Normal Happen Here
Headline: "Cops Arrest Woman, 57, For Battering Female Domestic Partner With Dildo."
Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida!
"A Florida woman is facing a domestic battery charge..."
Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere!
"The confrontation Saturday evening occurred while a St. Petersburg Police Department officer was inside the home of..."
DAMMIT!DAMMIT!DAMMIT!DAMMIT!DAMMIT!DAMMIT!
We watch Cops! every once and a while and episodes in Florida have a certain... um... flavor. I dunno what's in the water, but I think it's excreted by manatees.
Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida! Pleasedon'tbeFlorida!
"A Florida woman is facing a domestic battery charge..."
Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere! Pleasedon'tbenearhere!
"The confrontation Saturday evening occurred while a St. Petersburg Police Department officer was inside the home of..."
DAMMIT!DAMMIT!DAMMIT!DAMMIT!DAMMIT!DAMMIT!
We watch Cops! every once and a while and episodes in Florida have a certain... um... flavor. I dunno what's in the water, but I think it's excreted by manatees.
Sad h/t to WeaponsMan
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Check With The Geeks First
Dear Hollywood,
Whenever you decide to make a comic movie, or a sequel to a beloved sci-fi movie, reboot a franchise etc...
Hire the most rabid of the fan base.
Actually, this can make you money: Auction the jobs to the fan base at Comicon or something!
The fans will literally pay you to fix the movie.
It will keep you from stepping on your dicks again.
I bitched a little in May about it, but casting a black guy as the Human Torch and a blonde white woman as The Invisible Girl makes the geeks froth.
Susan Richards nee Storm is Johnny Storm's sister.
To cast one black and the other white just proclaims you're doing just to have a black character.
Why not cast a man to be Susan too?
That's different? How so?
This is just a specific gripe about a much larger problem in Hollywood.
Films based on print properties where it's evident that the only thing the makers of the film read was the title.
Starship Troopers anyone? The Hobbit for a recent example...
I had so hoped Hollywood was getting over it.
300 is frame for frame Frank Miller's comic.
The Harry Potter movies track well with the books.
The Lord of the Rings didn't do too bad either.
Then where was X-Men Last Stand... For fucks sake, Singer set you up to segue into The Dark Phoenix Saga! You could have made three movies to cover that arc and made what Marvel is doing with their "we couldn't sell these and they're all we have left" properties look unambitious and shallow.
If. You. Had. Only. Bothered. To. Read. The. Source. Material.
With 300 lurking successfully in the background you should have realized that Frank Miller kind of knows his genre and you could have made The Wolverine run just like the 4-issue Wolverine comic and had something really epic... Instead you made up your own sub-arc and plot that make the portions of Miller's work you did keep seem out of place and tacked on.
Both Last Stand and Wolverine suffer from an over emotional Logan pinin' for Jean Gray. Again if they'd bothered reading Dark Phoenix, they'd have been handed his response on a plate and it'd been self consistent with the character.
Reading the source material and understanding it also lets you know when you can depart from the pages. Days of Future Past is a very different comic from the movie, but it's OK because the changes mesh with the feel of the original.
It's why we love Heath Ledger's Joker when Cesar Romero's behaved far more like the character from the comics.
Reading the comics also is instructional in how to do a retcon properly and incorporate it into your story going forward.
Checking with the geeks also tells you if your changes are going to be met with disdain or acceptance.
Whenever you decide to make a comic movie, or a sequel to a beloved sci-fi movie, reboot a franchise etc...
Hire the most rabid of the fan base.
Actually, this can make you money: Auction the jobs to the fan base at Comicon or something!
The fans will literally pay you to fix the movie.
It will keep you from stepping on your dicks again.
I bitched a little in May about it, but casting a black guy as the Human Torch and a blonde white woman as The Invisible Girl makes the geeks froth.
Susan Richards nee Storm is Johnny Storm's sister.
To cast one black and the other white just proclaims you're doing just to have a black character.
Why not cast a man to be Susan too?
That's different? How so?
This is just a specific gripe about a much larger problem in Hollywood.
Films based on print properties where it's evident that the only thing the makers of the film read was the title.
Starship Troopers anyone? The Hobbit for a recent example...
I had so hoped Hollywood was getting over it.
300 is frame for frame Frank Miller's comic.
The Harry Potter movies track well with the books.
The Lord of the Rings didn't do too bad either.
Then where was X-Men Last Stand... For fucks sake, Singer set you up to segue into The Dark Phoenix Saga! You could have made three movies to cover that arc and made what Marvel is doing with their "we couldn't sell these and they're all we have left" properties look unambitious and shallow.
If. You. Had. Only. Bothered. To. Read. The. Source. Material.
With 300 lurking successfully in the background you should have realized that Frank Miller kind of knows his genre and you could have made The Wolverine run just like the 4-issue Wolverine comic and had something really epic... Instead you made up your own sub-arc and plot that make the portions of Miller's work you did keep seem out of place and tacked on.
Both Last Stand and Wolverine suffer from an over emotional Logan pinin' for Jean Gray. Again if they'd bothered reading Dark Phoenix, they'd have been handed his response on a plate and it'd been self consistent with the character.
Reading the source material and understanding it also lets you know when you can depart from the pages. Days of Future Past is a very different comic from the movie, but it's OK because the changes mesh with the feel of the original.
It's why we love Heath Ledger's Joker when Cesar Romero's behaved far more like the character from the comics.
Reading the comics also is instructional in how to do a retcon properly and incorporate it into your story going forward.
Checking with the geeks also tells you if your changes are going to be met with disdain or acceptance.
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Tomcat Tweaking
Strike Fighters 2: North Atlantic introduced the F-14A to the game.
Unfortunately, this expansion was kinda hurried.
There were some details that got missed.
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The first thing that the fan base fixed was the anachronistic squadron markings. VF-142 (Ghostriders) here didn't change to the Grim Reaper tail-art until late 1978; but not the AG code until they moved to USS Eisenhower in April 1982. I don't have the AE code markings, sadly. Because the game spans the early '50's until 1982 normally; you need the 1975-78 markings.
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The next thing was the ejection seats, that was harder for me to fix. If you look in the above picture you'll see a very plain-jane ACES II seat (borrowed from the long-released F-15A.
Thanks to the fine folks at The Mirage Factory, a proper GRU-7(A) ejection seat was made for their pre-North Atlantic release F-14 pack. A seat that I had in my files from adding the A-6E to the game.
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Yes, the difference is subtle, but it really affects the feel of the game for me.
There's some display modifications in the cockpit I'll be doing anon.
Unfortunately, this expansion was kinda hurried.
There were some details that got missed.
The first thing that the fan base fixed was the anachronistic squadron markings. VF-142 (Ghostriders) here didn't change to the Grim Reaper tail-art until late 1978; but not the AG code until they moved to USS Eisenhower in April 1982. I don't have the AE code markings, sadly. Because the game spans the early '50's until 1982 normally; you need the 1975-78 markings.
The next thing was the ejection seats, that was harder for me to fix. If you look in the above picture you'll see a very plain-jane ACES II seat (borrowed from the long-released F-15A.
Thanks to the fine folks at The Mirage Factory, a proper GRU-7(A) ejection seat was made for their pre-North Atlantic release F-14 pack. A seat that I had in my files from adding the A-6E to the game.
Yes, the difference is subtle, but it really affects the feel of the game for me.
There's some display modifications in the cockpit I'll be doing anon.
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All Versions
Seat upgrade applied to all variants of the Tomcat.
F-14A with the 1977 ECM/ECCM upgrades.
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And the Imperial Iranian Air Force version.
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The game shouldn't have loaded AIM-9L on it. I have markings for the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force too, but it's the same plane...
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It turns out that I do have the markings for VF-142 for late '78 thru early '82...
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I don't remember how to activate them...
UPDATE:
I figured it out!
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F-14A with the 1977 ECM/ECCM upgrades.
And the Imperial Iranian Air Force version.
The game shouldn't have loaded AIM-9L on it. I have markings for the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force too, but it's the same plane...
It turns out that I do have the markings for VF-142 for late '78 thru early '82...
I don't remember how to activate them...
UPDATE:
I figured it out!
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Well That Fucking Sucks
The Lovely Harvey's uncle just up and had a heart attack and died.
Remember when I said we were tapped out after vacations and fixing computers?
Here's my hat in hand begging so that she can go up for the funeral.
Just dammit.
Remember when I said we were tapped out after vacations and fixing computers?
Here's my hat in hand begging so that she can go up for the funeral.
Just dammit.
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Not News
On one side of many political arguments there's a group of people who recognize they have a bias and make attempts to correct for that bias while making their case.
On the other side there's a group that insists that no bias exists on their part.
The problem is that both sides are biased.
It might not be insurmountable, but the side that insists that they've no bias knows they are.
On the other side there's a group that insists that no bias exists on their part.
The problem is that both sides are biased.
It might not be insurmountable, but the side that insists that they've no bias knows they are.
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Fuck Me Running
The Civic threw the same code that it did in December/January.
P1361.
We replaced that sensor.
It was fixed!
Gods be damned it.
P1361.
We replaced that sensor.
It was fixed!
Gods be damned it.
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Speed Of Heat
Don't hardly ever see the glove vanes out on a Tomcat.
You've got to be over Mach 1.34 before they start to deploy in automatic sweep mode.
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Just like flying past the pyramids is mandatory when over Egypt; sunset shots of F-14's must be taken!
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You've got to be over Mach 1.34 before they start to deploy in automatic sweep mode.
Just like flying past the pyramids is mandatory when over Egypt; sunset shots of F-14's must be taken!
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Can You Do This?
Night landing an F-4J from VMFA-333 aboard USS America on Yankee Station about 2030 local in the rain.
What I am not showing you in these screen shots is checking the ILS needles or when I'm off speed, because I'm busy as hell fixing the problem.
Strike Fighters 2 is all the more difficult because of a lack of an optical landing system.
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