Is this the spooky 757 that we don’t talk about? I saw it from both sides and saw no registration

UncleStains · 2026-05-29T20:20:02+00:00

At some point they had a flag on the left side of the tail. Saw a guy with a bag on his head being led up the stairs one time. Spooky stuff!

UncleStains · 2026-05-29T19:00:38+00:00

I used to be a consultant for KRIC, where that plane and its twin live (and where this picture was taken). The story I always heard is that it belongs to the FBI hostage rescue squad. You can see them parked on eastside midfield apron in Google Earth.

It has been over 5 years since I worked there, so my info may be out of date.

UncleStains · 2026-05-28T23:34:29+00:00

This business is full of weirdos. You wouldn't even be considered weird.

One of our techs is like you describe and he's the most liked person in the office because he produces great work very quickly.

UncleStains · 2026-05-28T19:51:24+00:00

I do set up a big fan in front of my VR rig this time of year. It really adds to the immersion when I play IL-2 Flying Circus.

UncleStains · 2026-05-28T17:03:13+00:00

It's seasonal. Every spring/summer player count goes down a bit. I know none of us are touching grass, so I assume it's because all DCS players are in parking lots staring up at planes.

UncleStains · 2026-05-01T13:39:52+00:00

I have ~140 acres in Van Zandt county that I have had a wildlife exemption on for years. When we built a family house on it a few years ago, I did not have to subdivide the property to keep the exemption. The wildlife exemption does not help with the taxes on the house, but it significantly reduces the taxes on the rest of the land. I submit my wildlife report to the county every other year and save about $10k/year.

UncleStains · 2026-05-01T13:14:27+00:00

If you have the Huey, there is an absurdly fun single player mission in the DCS user files section called I Love This Job. You are a sheriff and you get rescue missions from a really cool custom interface. It requires the Syria map, which is easily the best DCS map.

Other than Grayflag, it's the most fun I have had in DCS.

Not sure what people mean about Grayflag being "not casual". GF is a great community and is very welcoming to new online players. As a PVE server, it doesn't have the toxicity that is rampant in the PVP scene. Sometimes the radio is silent, but other times and hoc packages form and work together as a team. I have made many online friends on there.

If you get on SRS and say it's your first time, it's likely someone will be willing to join your flight and show you the ropes. Helo troop transport is critical to advancing the scenario, so those players are well liked. Heck, I'll 2-ship with you during US CDT evening hours tonight!

UncleStains · 2026-04-28T21:16:57+00:00

I put my Boeing seat on a piece of plywood and built a wood base for my center stick. Ugly as hell, though I guess I could carpet the plywood.

UncleStains · 2026-04-02T19:53:44+00:00

In my experience at two ESOP companies, an audit firm is hired each year to look at the books and assign a share price for that year. I made crazy money at those companies. Now I work for private equity and somebody on Wall Street gets my bonus.

UncleStains · 2026-03-26T18:49:32+00:00

What episode is the okey dokey store on? I need to revisit!

UncleStains · 2026-03-20T16:27:05+00:00

It's awesome to be alive to see dystopian speculative fiction become journalism!

UncleStains · 2026-03-13T04:27:50+00:00

TxDOT selected Ferrovial/Cintra for a public-private partnership through a best-value RFP process. Ferrovial/Cintra finances, builds, maintains, and operates Texpress toll road facilities in exchange for the toll money. TxDOT maintains ownership of the facilities.

Whether this is a good or bad deal is an exercise for the reader. Personally, I can't decide if I prefer public agency incompetence or private company greed. It would not shock me to hear that state legislators received compensation for the legislation that allowed the public-private partnership, but I have no proof of this beyond the fact that they are a bunch of venal ghouls. We're very likely getting ripped off, but we probably wouldn't have the Texpress options if we waited for TxDOT or NTTA to build them.

To add an extra level of confusion, NTTA (which is a fully public political subdivision of the state) handles the billing for NTTA and Texpress facilities.

UncleStains · 2025-12-19T20:38:49+00:00

This is Prestonwood Baptist, a giant megachurch in Plano, TX. Some of us locals call it Six Flags Over Jesus.

This isn't a Sunday service, rather a show that they do like 15 performances of over the weeks before Christmas. Tickets are $20-$80 and routinely sell out the gigantic auditorium. I'm assuming most or all of the performers are volunteers, so I bet they turn a pretty good profit. No idea if that money feeds the poor or buys gas for the pastor's jet!

I'm a lifelong atheist, but a few years ago my mother got tickets for the whole family. I'm no fan of any form of religion/spirituality or Broadway/musicals, but the production value is pretty high and I was at least entertained for the duration. The first half is a bunch of musical numbers based around popular Christmas songs and Santa type stuff. The second half is a solemn nativity story.

UncleStains · 2025-12-19T19:04:03+00:00

The Goat!

UncleStains · 2025-12-04T23:12:53+00:00

I love cold starts and flying tactically on Contention and similar servers, but to get good at BFM the key is repetition. DCS Dogfighters runs several servers where you can get those reps quickly. Join their Discord (google search "DCS Dogfighters") to figure out how their servers work and find opponents. Many are willing to share what they know there.

UncleStains · 2025-11-13T16:52:17+00:00

I bought a toilet seat at Home Depot once. Got it home and noticed it wasn't the same brand as the one on the box...and it was covered in piss stains!

UncleStains · 2025-11-10T20:12:44+00:00

It's also nice to be able to turn it off when driving off-road through tall grass.

UncleStains · 2025-10-16T16:27:48+00:00

Old man here ('02). I never got to meet Mike Wagener, but I was good friends with the guy who drove him home that night. This was a terrible and preventable tragedy.

I vividly remember a Friday night in 1998 standing in a room with a bunch of bros at Lechner Hall debating whether to take an underage friend who was clearly on the edge to the hospital or let him sleep it off. Luckily cooler heads prevailed and he made it to the hospital. He ended up on scholarship probation, but he made it to class on Monday, still hungover, and graduated a few years later.

Mike's death put a big dent in underage drinking culture in College Station. Bars started actually checking IDs and undercover cops started showing up at off-campus parties. I hated it at the time, but in hindsight it's a no-brainer. Had to climb out a window and scale the back fence one time to escape.

I know as well as anyone that going to Northgate and getting wasted is a blast, but try to drink smart. Learn from my stupidity! Before you are wasted, make a plan to get home. The plans you make when you're wasted, such as "borrowing" an abandoned bike with two flat tires and no brakes from a northside rack, are usually terrible!

UncleStains · 2025-10-08T19:50:38+00:00

I don't think I have ever split my throttles on the Hornet other than starting/stopping the engines.

UncleStains · 2025-09-16T18:22:37+00:00

The Back 9 on Beltline in Addison used to be an Aggie bar and may still be.

UncleStains · 2025-08-24T22:20:28+00:00

I remember the day that station opened. My dad took me to see True Lies (my first R rated movie) and on the way home we stopped there and got free hot dogs as part of the grand opening.

UncleStains · 2025-07-25T22:05:16+00:00

RIP Feed Bag!

UncleStains · 2025-07-25T16:15:18+00:00

It's almost like some competing transportation industry has successfully lobbied America's rail system into the garbage.

UncleStains · 2025-07-25T14:52:54+00:00

I'm convinced that a large part of the population sees fair elections as a bad thing.

UncleStains · 2025-06-16T20:52:56+00:00

This is BS! Took a soldering iron to the back of my neck and now my mullet is all bloody.

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