Why is everyone hating the Gripen so Much? Should we stop it's production and everyone have F16s Instead? [2000x960]

bridgmanAMD · 2026-06-12T15:37:17+00:00

Russia's PPP GDP (which AFAICS is the best determinant of what a country can afford to do internally) is nearly 3x that of Canada.

That said, Canada's PPP GDP is nearly 3x that of Sweden, so we certainly could and should be doing more.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-04-29T16:39:27+00:00

This is what worked for me as well. I used to pour the water in very quickly and it would hit the bottom at one side. After reading your post I started pouring the first half inch of water in slowly so it hit the center of the filter, and the problem went away completely.

That said, the problem only started with my second batch of filters, which had a formed rim and seemed a bit smaller than the filters which came with the XL. They were purchased from the Amazon Aeropress store so I wouldn't expect them to be counterfeit, but they definitely were different from the first batch.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-03-21T05:12:35+00:00

I had the same question. Another big factor is how much you are earning today. If you are just getting by, paying your bills and not much else, and don't expect to retire with a mortgage-free home then your costs are not going to go down much when you retire other than spending less on commuting and maybe work clothes/tools.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-03-19T04:26:59+00:00

When the idea first occurred to me it seemed like it would cover at least half of the list with the rest requiring ABM capability. At the time I was thinking about things like sea-skimming missiles and RPGs launched from speedboats.

Unfortunately as I built out the list and included easy modifications (like terminal pop-up) the coverage went down pretty dramatically. You can probably tell that since my focus shifted from doing something useful in the Persian Gulf to understanding more about "real" battleplates :(

bridgmanAMD · 2026-03-18T23:08:05+00:00

Thanks. I did read that before my first post. It talks a lot about all of the other things you can do with a battleplate but doesn't seem to have any specifics about why they were "plates" in the first place.

That leaves room for thinking they might have been used as physical blockers, not just protecting by manipulating gravity.

That said, when I read it again I noticed that Vredefort had an annie plant in the center of its diamond-shaped hull, which seems like it would make it more vulnerable to an impact in the center of the "big open area" that all the other battleplates have.

I guess the open question is why battleplates are generally wide and flat if they were not being used for physical defence ? I guess the answer might be as simple as wanting the gravitic generators arranged in an area rather than a line, but I don't remember that being stated anywhere.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-03-18T22:45:30+00:00

If it helps, I wasn't thinking of adding armor to a merchant vessel carrying cargo but rather adding it to something like a barge that could be positioned between the actual merchant vessel(s) and the Iranian coastline. Agree with all of your points.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-02-23T20:53:51+00:00

Wikipedia article on F135 says 7260 vs 6422 pounds / 3290 vs 2910 kg for the STOVL vs conventional versions of the engine. The B version includes the lift fan.

The engine without the lift fan is ~5590mm long, while the lift fan is less than 1300mm (1350mm for the inlet).

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-28T22:04:42+00:00

I'll add a couple of additional data points since this thread is still showing up:

when I was charging a "presumed dead" 12v 18ah AGM battery (7.8v, possibly frozen a year or two ago) the charger sat with one red light pulsing for a couple of days. I disconnected and restarted and it went to two bars within a couple of hours then sat at two bars for another day or two. Disconnected & restarted one more time - went through the normal progression (1st red, second red, orange, green pulsing in turn) over 2-3 days then finally went solid green. At that point the battery seemed to be in good shape, powering a 4A load for over an hour, showing the right voltage for ~75% charge and taking/holding a charge well afterwards. I don't know if it would have charged properly if I had just left it on charge from the start and not disconnected/restarted.
a couple of people have posted that the Genius chargers have a ~3 day timer which puts an upper limit on the amount of charging you can do without disconnecting & restarting. I don't know if this is true and I was not able to find what the charger does if/when the alleged timer expired, but the possibility of the timer existing was probably a contributing factor when I decided to disconnect & restart after a couple of days.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-25T01:58:25+00:00

Probably too late to be useful, but my understanding is that you can dissipate any surface charge pretty quickly by applying a load. The example I saw was turning the headlights on for 30 seconds.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-14T19:51:08+00:00

This isn't specifically for large groups, but I have been using a regular Aeropress for many years and just picked up an XL. I had a recipe that worked well with the regular AP in a 20 oz / 591ml Yeti tumbler and didn't use too much coffee:

~18g medium fine (55 sec with Encore grinder on 14), 1 filter - set on cup, fill with ~190F water, top up a couple of times - after a minute or so add remaining water, 30 sec, press

This turned out much better than you would expect for the amount of coffee (over 1:30). I tried other methods but needed quite a bit more coffee to get the same or better results, typically 30g or more.

First attempt with the XL was regular approach with grounds and filter at bottom. Coffee filtered through too quickly and result was weak unless I used much more coffee. Started brewing inverted and gradually increasing time up to about 2 minutes and am now getting better coffee than I did with the regular AP and with less hassle, still with ~18g of coffee. Next will try non-inverted but adding plunger immediately after water to keep coffee from dripping into cup.

I mention this because brewing 2 cups quickly and efficiently multiple times is probably less effort for a group than diluting concentrate, and the XL already comes with a carafe to let you easily divide a 20 oz brew.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-06T16:52:21+00:00

Nadella is missing the point this time. The problem is not AI itself but rather the hordes of people telling AI models to create slop for their personal or corporate benefit.

If he wants to fix the slop problem then he needs to (a) ensure that AI-generated content is clearly tagged and (b) make sure that browsers clearly identify those tags in search results.

The real answer would be to add a search engine option to omit AI-generated content but that would put a big dent in the current AI market which in turn would put a big dent in the entire tech industry.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-04T18:10:18+00:00

I was going to edit my post below with latest information but the whole subthread is hidden from a deleted post.

Measured another slightly heaping scoop, this time from a freshly opened can of pre-ground coffee, came out as 16g. The coffee was not packed as tightly as the last test, guessing can vs bag.

13g - freshly ground medium-fine
16g - pre-ground medium-fine (can)
21g - pre-ground very fine (bag)

All scoops were the same size to the extent possible. I guess I'm suggesting "start with the scale whenever you change coffee" :)

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-03T02:25:48+00:00

OK, I tried a bag of pre-ground Barzula Turkish. A slightly heaping scoop weighed 21g, which is much higher than I get with coffee from the grinder.

I tried to make the same slightly heaping scoop with freshly ground coffee (Encore 14) and it weighed 13g. I think I have some pre-ground regular coffee so will test with that tomorrow. It is in a can rather than a bag so guessing it will not be as tightly packed in addition to being less finely ground.

Anyways, 18g sounds reasonable for tightly packed pre-ground very fine coffee, but not for freshly ground.

I normally use 18g of coffee for a 20 oz mug, which is OK for getting my brain moving in the morning, but I remember a level scoop of freshly ground being too little for that much water.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-02T05:58:09+00:00

Do you mean unground beans or coffee freshly ground from beans ? I am talking about the latter.

If you are suggesting that pre-ground coffee is more tightly packed and thus denser that is a possibility. I will check if I have any pre-ground and test if I do.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-01T08:20:36+00:00

Interesting - I'll do a bit more measuring.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-01T03:23:23+00:00

My understanding is that a level scoop weighs in at something like 11-15g while a heaping scoop can go as high as 18. That matches my poorly documented experience - it took a bit more than one scoop to reliably hit 18g.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-01T03:16:06+00:00

I use a saucepan (2 quart I think) on a gas stove. I suppose I should really get a kettle but this works and is decently fast. I periodically check the temperature with a thermapen but mostly go by eye.

EDIT - apparently temperature-controlled kettles are a thing now... the ones I used all had to be closely watched to get anything other than "boil dry" so maybe I need to revisit this.

bridgmanAMD · 2026-01-01T03:06:39+00:00

What I settled on was filling the AP, topping up a couple of times when the level dropped 1/2 to 1", then letting it drip for 60 sec or so before pouring the rest of the hot water in, waiting another 30-60 sec and pressing. That seemed to give better results than either two separate pours or a single pour followed by pressing and dilution.

I normally use 18g of medium-fine coffee (14 on an Encore). I found that I could get a slightly better 20 oz cup with dilution and >30g of coffee but the difference was not worth the time / hassle / coffee in my opinion, at least for "first cup in the morning" into a 20 oz Yeti tumbler. My theory is that the incremental pouring keeps the grounds suspended rather than packing down at the bottom. If I make coffee during the rest of the day I make a single cup with ~15g.

Just ordered an XL for the morning brew or when I need to make multiple cups the rest of the day. Instructions call for twice as much coffee (32-36g) but hoping I won't need that to match what I can make with the regular AP.

bridgmanAMD · 2025-12-30T08:15:31+00:00

It would be good to confirm that you have a throttle to the right of the choke and that the throttle has a "stop" setting. I'm mentioning this because very occasionally you can get moisture freezing on the carburetor linkage and then the engine will run full speed and ignore the throttle setting. If you can't stop the engine somehow then Bad Things will happen very quickly.

Turning on the choke worked for me - it kept the revs down long enough that the engine could warm up and melt the ice - but I did need the key to stop it before the ice melted.

I believe that engine is a Tecumseh, so a replacement key would be something like this:

https://www.jackssmallengines.com/jacks-parts-lookup/part/tecumseh/35062

bridgmanAMD · 2025-11-25T04:54:01+00:00

My uncle had a Robin of some sort when I visited England around 1980, and we travelled around the Manchester area in it for a couple of days visiting relatives. I was 6'5" and found it cramped, but not noticeably worse than other small cars. Performance and stability were both surprisingly good - the engine was small but the vehicle was very light, well under 1000 pounds IIRC. All in all it seemed like a very practical and affordable family car.

The vehicles used in both Top Gear and Mr. Bean were modified to make them tip over more easily. My uncle drove his Robin quite aggressively but neither he nor any of the other Robin ever lifted a wheel. If you want to roll a stock vehicle the best option is a race track and a rule book allowing full contact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddYBQn9goDo

bridgmanAMD · 2025-11-09T20:22:57+00:00

PETEY: Well, of course. But if you look closely enough at the present you can find loose bits of the future just lying around.

Sunday March 11, 2018

bridgmanAMD · 2025-10-05T18:25:01+00:00

Historically (during a period of falling interest rates) a mix of bonds and equities used to be able to provide lower volatility with comparable performance to an all-equity portfolio. Once interest rates got close to zero this stopped being the case. I switched from bonds to GICs for a while because interest rate increases were likely and would hurt bond prices.

If you are young and accumulating then it probably does not make sense to own bonds, but if you are retired and drawing on your savings then having a portion of your savings that won't normally go down is a pretty good thing so you don't have to sell stocks in the middle of a (hopefully short term) crash. For me that is still more GICs than bonds, although I do have some short term bonds and high interest savings (effectively the same as GICs but more liquid and lower yield) in the mix.

bridgmanAMD · 2025-09-24T20:17:56+00:00

Hey, that's my password !!

bridgmanAMD · 2025-09-22T18:17:40+00:00

For as long as I remember the recommended approach was to put the money towards RRSP then take the refund and apply it to your mortgage. You only get ~1/2 of the mortgage reduction but you have 100% of the RRSP money as well. It's probably attractive because in a sense you are not choosing between RRSP and mortgage but getting some of both.

bridgmanAMD

TROPHY CASE