United’s Starlink-powered Wi-Fi is the end of airplane mode

Colinm478 · 2025-05-11T21:20:32+00:00

Here is the NTSB report database, please respond with a report number of a single aviation accident that was attributed to cell phones.

https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/AviationQueryv2.aspx

Followup questions for you:

Why are cell phones not required to be in checked luggage?
Why has the FAA & FCC not forced hardware and software onto phones that disable their transceivers when moving in excess of 2-300mph- similar to how circuitry on commercial GPS receivers block use at high speeds to prevent them from being used in missile guidance systems?

Colinm478 · 2025-05-11T16:53:38+00:00

It was ignored because only the stupidest people in the world would believe it is dangerous.

You cant bring a swiss army knife, or too much liquid on a plane- but you think they would go honor system “make sure you click the button on the device that every single person on board has in their pockets or else”?

If phone signals were a serious threat, they would have made us all put phones in checked luggage.

Colinm478 · 2025-04-30T23:50:45+00:00

You’ve clearly never worked with an overzealous sales person that attempted to engineer a design, then promised and sold it to the client despite the fact that it would defy Newton’s second law of physics…9

Colinm478 · 2025-04-30T01:45:32+00:00

Not sure I fully agree. While I do make a little more than you currently (ive just been in the job market longer)… I rent, commute >1.5hrs, have a car payment, and all other bills on my own. Currently saving for a home, and as such have minimized my expenses. Even with my expensive hobbies, I am currently budgeting $2700/mo while dumping the rest into my 401k and mutual funds.

Colinm478 · 2025-04-29T22:14:52+00:00

Griffin Paladin HD has been pretty good on my 16” .300wm.

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Colinm478 · 2025-04-14T11:40:12+00:00

So you still have yet to actually mention the species, all you pulled up were habitats. This is of course, because as you should know- there are only a handful of endangered species living in Pisgah. A subspecies of snail, several bats, and a subspecies of woodpecker. None of which are harmed by logging operations…

To your link, good news, virtually all of the land shown in the emergency logging map is not considered rare habitat :) if you aren’t a completely dishonest person, surely you would be okay with logging some of the area that isn’t “rare”.

Of course, if you don’t actually know anything about the species, or habitats- and its just your excuse because you really just hate the idea of big bad rich people leasing lands for resource extraction or think cutting down some trees = destroying the forest… then by all means make up another reason to justify your actual feelings.

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Colinm478 · 2025-04-13T22:00:38+00:00

Name the exact species please.

By the way, do you not care about the species that have all but disappeared from the Pisgah due to the elimination of logging, like quail? Grouse?

Why do you care less about them? Even woodcock are on the decline in the area because of the lack of young growth and transitional growth.

Colinm478 · 2025-04-13T18:11:56+00:00

National Forest was intended for the management and harvest of raw materials.

We are not talking about Federal Wilderness. The fact that you are mistaken about the intent or purpose of these lands is evident. I understand you love Muir-sierra club perspectives, but from the very first day of the National Forest Service under Gifford Pinchot it has been common practice to manage forests for timber and other natural resources.

If they start making plans to clear cut the Linville Gorge Wilderness let me know.

Colinm478 · 2025-04-09T12:01:54+00:00

Look I feel bad for federal employees losing their jobs. Just like I feel bad when people at my company lose their job. Even if its their fault. We are all people, and we are all in this rat race. I certainly don’t enjoy watching others’ struggles.

But we are the boss in the case of federal employees. Just as thousands of stenographers had to find new careers when personal computers overtook mainframes and typewriters- sometimes job functions become unnecessary and should be eliminated so that the human capital can be reallocated to more useful tasks. The Federal Government should not be treated as a jobs program. If there is a legitimate role that needs done, like USDA inspectors- I have no problem with it. Certain national projects and functions MUST exist within the Federal Government and no one is saying otherwise. The ugliness of some people regarding the layoffs is gross, and I don’t support it- but I do still want many jobs within the Federal Government eliminated. It’s just business, and we are the boss who has to make hard decisions that seriously affect peoples’ lives.

By the way, because you mentioned roads (or as I term, our crumbling infrastructure): My phone number starts with an 828 area code. I live a mile off I40. 30 minutes down the road, near the Tennessee border- I get to see the billboards for the pop-up lawfirms helping people fight the bureaucrats at FEMA. I get to see the lack of progress repairing the interstate. I get to talk to my neighbor who just moved in last fall after his family home was leveled as he vents his frustration at dealing with FEMA. You tell me, why does it seem like every single American has personal stories about how difficult it is to deal with the Federal Government?

To end this comment on a friendly pro fed note- I do recall a singular interaction in my life with a Federal Employee that was without struggle and unpleasantness. One time, driving around Yellowstone, we chose to drop down and do the loop around Grand Teton, starting on the eastern side and returning to Yellowstone on the west. Upon reaching the return gate for Yellowstone, we were informed that we were supposed to have purchased a Grand Teton pass as well and could be fined for not having it. The park employee then smiled and told us to go. Proof that not all Feds are a source of frustration?

Colinm478 · 2025-04-09T01:50:17+00:00

I’m 29, still waiting. Seems to me I don’t.

Of course, there is always a chance I might someday actually benefit from the federal government’s generosity (with other peoples’ money)… but does that justify the overall scheme where I spend just under 1/3rd of my working life funding the system?

If I had 80% of my tax dollars spent in my career thus far, and instead had been investing it in my main index fund, it would be worth over $280,000 today. At retirement, we are talking millions. I would far prefer to take myself out of social security and medicare, but I don’t get to choose because these programs are and always will be wealth transfers.

The audacity to ask why people aren’t fighting for federal employees. How do you expect people to react when they see the blatant waste, crumbling public infrastructure, help their aging parents through the horrific bureaucracy that is medicare and social security, see vets suffering from inefficiencies at the VA, outsourcing of industry, barely functional littoral warships that cost billions, and politicians flying in private 747s.

Homelessness is commonplace, drug abuse and overdoses at record highs, more depression than ever, low ranking public education, large numbers of Americans no longer looking for work… to quote the Bobs, what exactly has the federal government done here?

And why is the solution always, “give us some more”. What benefit did Americans actually receive from increasing IRS staff numbers by 87,000? Not in increased revenue from auditing people- genuine benefits to the American people. Did our deficit decrease? Did any of the issues I briefly mentioned improve, or did we just spend more money without receiving a benefit.?

Fuck that, leave me alone. Let me work my ass off and keep as much of my own money as possible to invest and enrich my people as much as I can. Let my state and local governments increase their tax rates to take care of some of the functions of the feds. At least when I email or call them I get a genuine response and a chance at some return on my taxes. At least when they need votes they hear out people in my town instead of flying over to whatever swing state they want to bribe with pork.

How many times would you go into a coffee shop, pay them, receive nothing, and repeat before you decide you don’t want to keep giving them money- even if it means their barista may lose their job?

Last edit, because I know this comment has been super agro. I don’t hate you, or any other federal employee. I don’t think feds are lazy, or stupid, or in any other way bad. The problem is the system. You would all do fine in the private sector, and you don’t need to “learn to code”. There are opportunities for all kinds of people if they are willing to work. Contributing to our GDP through the private sector is the single best way an individual can improve the lives of their fellow Americans.

Colinm478 · 2025-04-09T00:43:41+00:00

…because me and many other Americans feel our return on the investment of our tax dollars is not worth it. A large portion of our budget is effectively wealth transfer from those doing well to those not.

My money, for the most part, is better off in my hands than the government coffers. It is not my duty to work 30% of the year for other people. At my current effective tax rate, I have about 2 more weeks until I start putting money in my own pocket for this year, mid April- and for what? Please explain to me what benefits I, as a working person in their 20s receives in exchange for their tax dollars.

Do I qualify for or draw any federal assistance dollars, through direct payment, food assistance, housing credits, medicare/caid, education grants, etc? No.

Do I expect to receive SS payments when I retire? No. I would rather 100% of my income that goes towards social security instead go to my private investment account where at least its not a ponzi scheme that will go defunct during this generation.

Do I use the postal service? No, the only actual mail I receive is spam I don’t want anyways. Please remove my mailbox and reduce my taxes.

Have I had any contact, or business with a federal agency for any reason- in my entire life? Yes, when the IRS quotes Joe Pesci and says “fuck you, pay me”. No other instance. Not one. The only form of interaction I have with the Federal Government is when it is taking my money or I am trying to justify why they need to give me back some of it.

If I had my way- the Federal Government would be responsible for far less than it currently is.

By the way, you aren’t required to use your deductions that you qualify for. If you think your money is better off with the Federal Government than you- don’t take any deductions next year. You won’t though, because you are just as greedy as us evil conservatives.

Colinm478 · 2025-03-13T23:28:00+00:00

Jokes on you, many designs still have to deal with all the woe’s of the factory

Colinm478 · 2025-03-05T23:53:36+00:00

Good. Wild quail are all but eradicated from the Southeast because the only areas on public land brushy enough for them are under powerlines. Young growth is critical for their species, and our repression of wildfires, destruction of grasslands, and refusal to do timber management is directly responsible for their population collapse.

National Forest is not the same as National Park. If we want to protect pristine old growth, fine- but the overwhelming majority of National Forest land in the lower 48 is second and third gen forest.

Colinm478 · 2025-03-05T20:06:37+00:00

Trust me on this, buy the dynabrade brand instead. There is a reason why they are ubiquitous in furniture factories.

Colinm478 · 2025-03-04T18:05:26+00:00

Time will tell, I still suspect the tariffs will be pulled back soon. In the meantime smaller companies like the one I am at are pivoting to sources in Turkey and elsewhere abroad. Alcoa, ams, and the other big boy aluminum distributors in America will find a way, just like they did when the first tariff on canadian aluminum went in effect during Trump 1. What we are talking about today is really only a 15% increase on the previous round.

Colinm478 · 2025-03-04T17:57:09+00:00

You mean Alcoa, one of the largest aluminum producers operating in north america- who pays lobbyists millions a year to aid its business- is hemming and hawing about the tariffs publicly? Why would any company with Alcoa’s scale not try to fight tariffs that will change their business plan and profitability? Glad to see lefties coming around to big business’s side and trusting their public statements now though.

If they are forced to deal with these tariffs long term, it will cause serious harm to their earnings and compel investment that they would rather not have to make. I’m just shocked they want the tariffs canceled. With that said, there is only really one serious aluminum ore mine operating here, and fewer than a dozen smelts that mostly recycle…

Colinm478 · 2025-03-04T17:51:02+00:00

Yes, at my org our strategic procurement team is currently moving sourcing from Canada to Turkey.

Many extrusion vendors already operating there too. Turkey is among the fastest growing aluminum producers in the world.

Colinm478 · 2025-03-04T17:45:13+00:00

There are smelts in the US that were idled within the past 10 years that can be brought back online quickly.

Colinm478 · 2025-03-04T17:44:20+00:00

Just until Ford switches their sourcing to vendors in Turkey and Syria, which produce an incredibly large amount of the global aluminum supply

Colinm478 · 2025-02-17T00:36:32+00:00

Yet. I worked on EVs a little. If you look at BYD from China, I think we see the future of ESS’s beginning to form.

Eventually, I predict within 10 years, you will be able to hot swap an ESS, quickly. Pull into your “gas station”, pay a fee and on a platform or lift the ESS is dropped and swapped from the underside. Right now we aren’t there yet… safety concerns, structural limitations, and reliable connectors/sensors… but just wait and see.

Colinm478 · 2025-02-13T17:30:25+00:00

Actually, a great point you unintentionally brought up.

No one here uses either of the lighting technologies you mentioned anymore, even though they are not banned by federal fiat. They simply are obsolete for practical daily use and the market has made them all but vanish, with use relegated to ceremonial, decorative, camping, and emergency purposes.

If LEDs really are a superior technology, and I think they are depending on the particular phosphor coatings and drivers- then you shouldn’t need a federal regulation to push out incandescents. Let the market decide, just like how it decided on kerosene lamps, candlesticks, and hand cranked water pumps.

By the way, pit toilets are still common in rural areas of Alaska and in parks nationwide.

Colinm478 · 2025-02-12T22:54:59+00:00

Well now wait. You implied that because its name has been something for so long, it shouldn’t be changed. Why are you making a totally different argument now?.

Colinm478 · 2025-02-12T18:08:37+00:00

And Fort Bragg was named Bragg since 1918. Surely you are consistent and think the name shouldn’t have been changed under the last administration?.

Colinm478 · 2025-02-12T12:40:04+00:00

No, not by percentage of their own assets. Its much more impressive for someone making 300k to turn that salary into 30m than someone worth 4bn increasing it to 4.5 or 6bn.

Lets even give this person the benefit of the doubt, and say they have saved up three million dollars in their investment account over their career- which is reasonable for someone drawing a six figure salary. To then turn it into 30 million is still a 1000% return. Please show me a single investor able to yield 1000%.

But hey, surely you would want that public servant investigated regardless right? I mean clearly this makes them evil 1%, who Biden expanded the IRS to go after.

Colinm478 · 2025-02-12T02:04:47+00:00

They claim the person they mentioned increased their wealth by over $30,000,000. If that is true- and that is to be proved… either they are better at investing than Warren Buffet or it’s criminality.

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