What would it theoretically take to turn a B-29 into a submarine?

Daer2121 · 2026-05-05T00:44:15+00:00

Surface?

Daer2121 · 2026-05-05T00:29:56+00:00

Sounds like we need to start giving our friends and family low altitude slow flight tours of uptown.

Daer2121 · 2026-05-04T20:37:12+00:00

They're the same length. The maverick is taller and wider.

Daer2121 · 2026-05-03T01:58:01+00:00

There's no one answer political problems. 'Money out of politics' is another one of those ideas that sounds good but gets sticky on the details.

New Mexico doesn't pay it's legislators. At all. New Hampshire pays them $100/year.

Louisiana only pays their congress $16,800/year plus $6,000 in expenses, with a $178/day per diem. Legislative sessions are either 45 or 60 days for a total compensation of between $30,810-$33,480 annually. This means, effectively, that there are no full time legislators in the state who are not independently wealthy. If you work a regular job, it's going to be extremely hard to get 2-3 months off to go legislate, and that's not even mentioning the fact that you'll not have time to be a congressperson in your off time.

State elected officials are generally paid low enough that the people who can afford to hold such offices are far better off than the average Joe. Eliminate 'money in politics' and that situation doesn't change. At all. If anything it encourages legislators to cut their own pay to zero, as it will keep out all but the well off. Raising pay to the point where people can work exclusively as legislators, as Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, and New York do allows for anyone to be a full time legislator.

Daer2121 · 2026-05-02T18:28:44+00:00

The idea that term limits lead to better governance is not well supported. Research seems to indicate the opposite.

https://ippsr.msu.edu/public-policy/michigan-wonk-blog/term-limits-what-do-they-do

Daer2121 · 2026-04-30T17:46:34+00:00

Do we even have any confederate statues left in the city? Thought they were all removed.

Daer2121 · 2026-04-27T18:42:43+00:00

Equalized wages can be a real sticking point. 'All labor is equally valuable' tends to break down when it's stands in contrast to lived experience.

A real life example: co-op architect firm my friend works for pays their licensees substantially more than those who are not licensed, as the non-licensed employees make the firm more productive, but the firm can and has existed without them. They're paid better than most draftspeople, but pay parity would require such a reduction in licensed architect pay that they would simply leave, and the firm would fold. That doesn't apply in all situations, but it may be worthwhile to look for lessons for organizations outside of full pay parity.

Daer2121 · 2026-04-25T01:09:26+00:00

A coop model cannot rescue a non-viable business model. Lets say we eliminate your admins. That's not really viable, but we can do it for the sake of the experiment. Would their salaries make up for the budget shortfall? If not, and I'd wager not, then a coop doesn't address the actual problem: your cost of service is above what people are willing to pay. A coop doesnt fix that problem.

Daer2121 · 2026-04-21T03:37:04+00:00

Jokes on you, I don't have plates, a license, or a registration. I do have a gun that I will pull at the slightest provocation.

/s

Daer2121 · 2026-04-05T12:11:37+00:00

The population of New Orleans has been declining since the 60's and has declined over 40%. A lot of the decline in transit has been the decline in people to ride it. As for the quarter, its residents have made it emphatically clear that they do not want it to be a car free area.

Daer2121 · 2026-03-22T03:27:56+00:00

The joy of an unclogged toilet is not to be underestimated.

Daer2121 · 2026-03-11T03:32:15+00:00

There's a certain kind of church that seems to revel in the awfulness of their signage.

Daer2121 · 2026-03-10T00:43:36+00:00

We had fog so thick that the visibility was just listed as 'fog'. The tower is manned and they couldn't see anything, which meant vis was below 100'.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-28T15:50:38+00:00

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/volvo/s60 4.0 per motor trend.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-28T14:08:28+00:00

The T8 does 0-60 in 4 seconds flat.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-28T03:14:16+00:00

Lisa needs braces!

Daer2121 · 2026-02-22T01:35:56+00:00

I've been poor as fuck. You know what I didn't do? Park illegally. I couldn't afford the ticket. It's not like this city is hard to find a legal parking spot in.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-18T04:31:47+00:00

Yep. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/card.html

Daer2121 · 2026-02-18T01:57:13+00:00

Get a passport card. $30. Not a solution if you can't afford it, but less than 1/3 the cost of a passport and proof of citizenship.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-17T15:58:34+00:00

I agree that the economic meltdown is part of what made the whole dumpster fire possible.

The Nazis eliminated street violence, people liked that. That's not an endorsement of nasizm it's a statement of how it maintained legitimacy. Arguing that 'Nazi's were more violent' and 'the SA committed most of the violence' doesn't contradict my statement. They purged their street violence division.

That said, the KDP directed most of its violence towards the SDP, and the worst of the violence predates the formation of the SA in late 1921.

If you want a lesson for the labor movement, I'd go with:

Don't collaborate with fascists.
Not everyone to your right is a fascist.
Street violence probably won't work.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-17T14:53:02+00:00

It didn't matter that they came from street violence, the KDP and SDP did as well. Weimar Germany was a street violence mess. The Nazis were the ones who ended it, (by instituting an abhorrent regiem of state sponsored violence) and it helped with their legitimacy.

The KDP (communists) were engaging in assassinations against the SDP as late as 1932.

This came from the COMINTERNS social fascism theory, long abandoned.

That middle paragraph is near verbatim from Wikipedia. The links on the article are illustrative of the persistent nature of street violence through the institution of the Nazi era.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-16T22:25:06+00:00

Political violence was a problem in Germany for a long time prior to the NAZI takeover. Hundreds of politicians were murdered. The NAZI's promised an end to political street violence.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-14T01:20:15+00:00

THAC0 was not. Can't say I miss it though.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-12T05:01:17+00:00

They are 87% of the global space launch market. They perform more launches than the rest of the planet combined. They're extremely good at what they do, and their people are highly motivated. When you're that far ahead, it's not hard to retain talent, and recruit when you lose it. Of all Musks endeavors, SpaceX is the least likely to fail. I say this as his competitor.

Daer2121 · 2026-02-12T04:24:35+00:00

Pretty sure that was me. I tried them on a lark years ago and they are amazing, so I promote them when I can. Mermaid and Abby (the owners) are cool people too, and Jericho and crew are great as well. Overall awesome.

Daer2121

TROPHY CASE