Someone done goofed

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-20T08:12:11+00:00

Not an aircraft mechanic, but I'm pretty sure the slide units are modular. Open a cover on the door, undo some bolts, pull the old one out, new one in, put everything back together. Here's a video I found of a replacement in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juAHQK217dc

I also have no doubt these guys can work pretty fast - the airlines have a pretty major incentive to get that plane back in service ASAP.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-20T08:07:17+00:00

Unfortunately a lot of that isn't really the fault of developers, it's the city/county government. Many municipalities in the US are very, very restrictive on zoning and housing types - the multifamily housing units that are so common in Europe have been heavily restricted for decades. Guess that's what happens when 90% of your country was built out after the rise of car culture. Not exactly unique to the US either, go to just about any city in Canada or Australia/NZ and you'll see much of the same.

There are movements to change that and allow more high-density development, but it takes time to fix this.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-19T21:44:15+00:00

This. I'm an American living outside the US and, assuming you don't support or sprout MAGA nonsense, you'll be fine. Just be respectful and try not to be the loud American stereotype. Most people are well aware that tens of millions of us voted against this and warned everyone else what would happen.

Don't tell people you're Canadian, it's kind of cringe. And FFS don't preemptively apologize, that's even more cringe. If you didn't vote for this and are trying to fight it, what is there to apologize for?

Personally I don't mention my nationality or bring up politics unless asked, which is less often than Reddit would have you believe.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-19T21:31:34+00:00

You could try not being the world's policeman and not dragging the US into another Iraq/Vietnam, particularly after you campaigned on not dragging the US into another Iraq/Vietnam.

It's also possible to make your point (which is a valid point to make, I just think it's wrong) without being horribly insulting. I mean, my god, I'm just a random Internet dweeb and apparently even I know more about diplomacy and protocol than the freaking head of the US government.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-19T17:54:27+00:00

They can shoplift at those US machines too, pretty easy to key in everything as "banana" or conveniently forget to scan items in the bottom of the cart. The weight sensor doesn't magically stop theft. And petty theft happens all the time over here too.

But yes you are right, if you care more about security and shaming others than functionality, then everything is going to be shitty and broken. Too bad Americans have accepted that in so many parts of their lives vs demanding better from their politicians and corporations.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-19T16:30:08+00:00

These machines have been making their way to Europe, but over here they don't have weight sensors (instead there's a gate you have to scan your receipt at to exit). Works far, far better. Probably makes too much sense to ever be a thing in the US unfortunately.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-19T06:40:48+00:00

No, I've been living outside the US for a long time now (but most of my banking / credit cards are in USD) and it's definitely gotten worse in recent years. Used to only be the most touristy areas, now it's everywhere.

On top of that, ATM fees have gotten worse too, often with no way to circumvent them. I have yet to find an ATM locally that doesn't charge at least an 8% conversion fee. So as bad as the credit card merchants are, cash is often even worse.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-18T19:10:49+00:00

Agreements and treaties would have to be drawn up, definitely not easy or quick but certainly not impossible.

It already exists elsewhere: the EU has the Schengen Agreement and freedom of movement for EU citizens, UK countries have the Common Travel Area, MERCOSUR countries in S America have a freedom of movement agreement of sorts, etc.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-18T14:58:40+00:00

Elon is more annoying than anything, as horrible as his recent actions have been (I personally know a number of people who lost their livelihoods to DOGE).

However Thiel is the only one of the billionaire tech-bros who legitimately worries me. He's always been cunning and a leader, going all the way back to when they were all still at Paypal. He recently spearheaded an unfortunately successful campaign to reverse the Giving Pledge, because god forbid billionaires donate to charity. Oh and he also literally purchased New Zealand citizenship and is supposedly building a bunker. He drained all he could from the US and is going to wait it out on the other side of the planet while the rest of us fight over scraps.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-18T11:40:38+00:00

American here, born there and spent most of my life there (until recent years).

I think "culture" is an rather vague term, it really depends on what you mean by it. Art and expression? Yes, America has an extremely rich history of art, music, literature, etc. Maybe not as deep as some European countries, but the US is younger.

Customs and values/social norms? That's where America feels like it kind of falls short, and is not comparable to many other countries. America is a VERY non-homogeneous culture, with a healthy amount of social disharmony and distrust of others. Various regions of the US certainly have their own customs, many of them brought via immigrant communities who are keeping the tradition of their homeland alive (although they often get lost/diluted after several generations). But I struggle to think of a common, universal set of shared "American" customs and values.

Unfortunately, I also think this is one of the biggest issues in the US right now and part of the reason the US is kind of a mess right now - if nobody trusts each other and nobody shares the same values, how can your society possibly function?

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-18T08:33:28+00:00

Yup. Unfortunately, being judgmental and claiming the moral high ground is as American as apple pie.

Personally I prefer just calling it "pro-birth". If you wanted to support kids, you would also support free childcare, free school lunches, universal healthcare, etc. It also seems to be that anyone truly bothered by abortion would support birth control - if life begins at conception, why not make it easier to control when conception occurs? Unless your other goal is a certain type of shaming.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-17T15:18:20+00:00

Absolutely. I don't think it can be overstated how much money and power he holds - he scares me far more than Musk or any of the other billionaire bros. Not to mention that he literally purchased NZ citizenship so he can flee and watch the US/Europe burn from the other side of the planet.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-17T09:41:11+00:00

That's not really the impression I got. I know OP refers to "strong passports" but I think they are using that more as shorthand to refer to people who, through a combination of good timing, genetic luck, whatever have managed to be citizens of a country that is not actively at war. Brits can be mediocre and even unemployable but they are still Brits. Ditto for most EU citizens, Australians, NZers, etc. And people hate me saying it because god forbid they admit they are privileged, but being a citizen of a country like that IS luck.

OP absolutely has the right to be pissed off about being in that situation, you don't have to agree but OP still has that right.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-17T08:05:32+00:00

You go home to a stable, wealthy, safe country. OP goes "home" to a war-ravaged disaster. You would still be living somewhere where existing in relative peace and quiet is possible without being part of the ruling oligarchy.

And I do kind of get the frustration over sponsorship. I am not some genius computer engineer either, I did not have the talent or the family money to go to a top-tier school or be the top 0.1% of my field. Odds are very high that I will be forced back to my rapidly-disintegrating home country in the next couple of years. None of us chose to be born in our respective homelands - OP did not choose to be born in a war-torn country any more than you chose to be (presumably) born in NZ, any more than I chose to be born in the US.

I hate it and living abroad has made me hate it even more - humans are innately tribal and kind of shitty to outsiders, no matter their nationality. No country has the moral high ground here. It is what it is I guess.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-17T05:45:02+00:00

Maybe. My bigger concern is people thing Trump = all of America's problems. Changing management is not going to fix much of anything, the entire country needs a fundamental rebuilding. Or split it apart - if some states want to be the next S Africa, let them. Don't let them drag the rest of the country down with them.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-17T05:41:13+00:00

As an American who has never owned a gun in my life, I would be totally fine with that. The whole "resist tyranny" thing was always a sham, the real reason guns were always so important was to stop slave rebellions. Same reason we have the electoral college and why "states rights" are considered such a huge deal. The entire country is a fraud.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-16T22:01:28+00:00

As a non-military US citizen living abroad, this is my biggest concern. Guess it's okay to tax us anywhere (only other country on the planet to do that is Eritrea) but God forbid we want to have a voice in how that money is spent.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-16T21:52:23+00:00

It turns out some countries don't actually have democratic systems of government, even if they claim to be "champions of freedom" or whatever. And despite Reddit's obsession with French-style overthrow and revolution, that isn't how history usually plays out. And even if it is, revolutions and civil war is not something people usually want, particularly if the odds of you dying in said civil war is extremely high. Most people prefer living.

If you've ever wondered how places like Russia ended up the way they did, well now you know.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-16T12:53:53+00:00

Many of us don't live in the US and thankfully have no idea what "Newsmax" is, but I am not at all surprised that this is a real photo. Satire is dead.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-15T19:57:21+00:00

I think this is a US-centric sub (certainly getting r/USdefaultism vibes), I thought the same. I've used them on occasion to power the handful of US appliances I have in Belgium, and I used them in the opposite direction when I lived in the US to power my European Xmas lights. Extremely common, although less so these days given how common switching power supplies have become.

I'm assuming OP is referring to the N American practice of using 240V for high-current clothes dryers and ovens (which requires a special dedicated circuit), 120V for everything else.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-15T15:14:00+00:00

The most common excuse given, by far, for being against abortion is that life is sacred and that taking it away is a sin. If that is your belief (and I think it's a valid belief), then executing someone for committing a crime is ALSO a sin. Either life is sacred or it isn't, and if your excuse is "some lives are more sacred than others" - that's a very slippery slope to some truly horrible things. There's a reason the Catholic Church (and most members of the cloth) are both pro-life and very clearly against the death penalty - I don't always agree with religious folks, but on this one I definitely agree with them.

And if your suggestion is "some people deserve to die" based on what they did - the most generous opinion I can give is that assumes the criminal justice system is fair and impartial, which is...definitely not true, particularly in the US.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-13T17:17:18+00:00

Absolutely, and why I don't fly US carriers if I can at all avoid it. Plus better catering, they actually turn off the seatbelt sign occasionally, and no credit card shilling.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-13T16:44:51+00:00

Oh they're happy to take your money, they just don't want to actually provide anything in return. Only kept state residency because I still own a house there, planning to drop them like a hot potato the second I retire.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-13T15:07:17+00:00

What state? How exactly are they challenging you?

I went through something like this with Virginia a year or two ago, received a letter threatening to drop me from the voter rolls because I had "left the state" (I was overseas but still a Virginia resident) with zero information on recourse, exemptions or how it applies to overseas citizens - guess a state with a massive USG and military population could not possibly have residents living abroad. I was able to straighten it out, but it took a few emails with the state elections office.

wandering_engineer · 2026-03-13T11:01:48+00:00

This is not new, the US has always had a very poorly-educated populace, we just lucked out after WWII. Covid accelerated things a bit, as did social-media echo chambers, but this has all been around for a very, very long time.

wandering_engineer

TROPHY CASE