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Questions that you always wanted to ask but were afraid to ask (Page 18)
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subego
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Dec 9, 2022, 02:31 PM
 
Originally Posted by Brien View Post
We are back to super angular car design. Sometimes it can look nice like the new Corvette, but yeah Honda went off the rails. The new type R looks a lot better than the outgoing try hard boy racer though.
I like angular shapes as long as they’re not low-poly croc ridge.
     
Brien
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Dec 9, 2022, 08:34 PM
 
So… no Cybertruck for you?
     
subego
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Dec 10, 2022, 01:41 AM
 
Against my better judgement I kinda like those.

Aesthetically at least. I have practicality concerns.
     
reader50
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Dec 10, 2022, 03:40 AM
 
I prefer a steering wheel to be an actual wheel. Last I saw, the cybertruck prototypes all have yokes.

No opinion on the exterior - I want to see a few on the road before judging. Based on the preorders, we'll see a lot of them on the road in the next few years.
     
subego
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Dec 10, 2022, 05:57 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
I prefer a steering wheel to be an actual wheel.
Count me in amongst the 10and2cels.
     
Thorzdad
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Dec 10, 2022, 07:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
No opinion on the exterior - I want to see a few on the road before judging. Based on the preorders, we'll see a lot of them on the road in the next few years.
LOL. You really think they’ll ever go into production? It’s already been delayed three times.

As for looks...fugly is being generous.
     
reader50
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Dec 10, 2022, 08:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by Thorzdad View Post
You really think they’ll ever go into production? It’s already been delayed three times.
The factory to build it has been built itself, believed to have cost over $2B, with more investment planned.
The giga presses for the Cybertruck front/rear frames have been delivered.
The Tesla Semi, announced around the same time, has entered production.
Tesla has something like 1.4M pre-orders for the Cybertruck, worth $70B if you assume an average selling price of $50K.
Other EV pickups have reached the market (Rivian, F150 Lightning, Hummer EV) or are announced for next year (Chevy Silverado EV).

Yes, I think it will be built. Next year sometime.
( Last edited by reader50; Dec 11, 2022 at 04:53 PM. Reason: GM -> Chevy)
     
subego
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Dec 10, 2022, 11:21 PM
 
Originally Posted by Thorzdad View Post
As for looks...fugly is being generous.
I like it more than a Rivian.
     
Thorzdad
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Dec 11, 2022, 10:19 AM
 
Really? I’ve seen two Rivians close up (in parking garages) and found they look quite nice in the flesh, even the dorky vertical headlights. It looks much more like a truck than cybertruck does, anyway. Pulling a Rivian into your driveway would not scare the neighbors a bit, while a cybertruck would look like some 16-year-old trustfund brat just moved in and means to wreck the place.
     
subego
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Dec 12, 2022, 12:15 PM
 
I’ve only seen pictures of the Rivian, and I guess the Cybertruck for that matter.

What I like about the Cybertruck is that it doesn’t look like a normal pickup.
     
ghporter
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Dec 17, 2022, 07:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
Count me in amongst the 10and2cels.
This actually brings in my profession. One of the things occupational therapists do is help people with upper extremity (arm) function and strength. And there is a really substantial reason for the 10 o'clock-2 o'clock steering wheel hand position: leverage.

With your hands almost anywhere else, you have less leverage from your arms, not from the wheel itself, than if you stick close to 10-2.

Lots of people seem to like either "hanging the hand over the top of the wheel," or "death grip with both hands at the top of the wheel." Neither gives you really much power from your arms - plus the "hang the hand" thing means you really don't have ANY control in a "challenging" situation.

So that driver ed instructor wasn't just parroting some "uniformity is the key" thing. It really makes a difference. Even with the most powerful power steering, having an appropriate grasp of the steering wheel gives you much more control of the vehicle.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
subego
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Dec 19, 2022, 02:49 AM
 
I feel maximum leverage involves fully integrating the T-bar.

With my wheel, that puts my hands at 9 and 3. From there, I can anchor my hand by hooking my thumb on the T-bar, or at the most extreme put a whole hand on the T-bar.

Of course, at 10 and 2 my stacked fingers are resting on the T-bar, so I can still exert leverage independently of how tightly I’m holding the wheel.
     
Laminar
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Dec 19, 2022, 10:30 AM
 
Here's a question - what's the draw of the weathered American flag popping up in the last ~five years. Stickers, hats, shirts, windows, banners, everything - what caused this specific aesthetic to become so popular?
     
Thorzdad
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Dec 19, 2022, 06:05 PM
 
It’s part of the same kind of “Freedom isn’t free” semi-militaristic jingoism those on the MAGA end of the spectrum like to wrap themselves in. The aesthetic is to evoke a battle-worn old glory still flying proudly. ‘Cause there’s a war goin’ on fer the soul of ‘merika, buddy.

See also: Bald eagle shedding a tear. These colors never run, etc. etc.
     
ghporter
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Dec 21, 2022, 07:35 PM
 
The biggest problem with these jingoistic flag-waver patches/stickers/etc. is that there is a kernel of truth in it. Freedom IS NOT free, and we have an incredibly overloaded VA to show for that. Tens of thousands of volunteers have come back broken - those that came home at all. And we need to acknowledge that, however f***ed up the government was in sending them there, they kept their promises: they promised to do their best to defend their country (political feces notwithstanding), even if it meant they died in the process.

But most of the "people" I see sporting these patches, stickers, actual flags flying from their pickup trucks and getting tattered in the process, are absolute garbage. I served over 23 years, went where I was told, did crappy jobs, even had Noriega's goons point automatic rifles at my wife and infant son EVERY DAY. I volunteered for combat assignments three times - and was denied each time (which screwed up both my promotion chances and my self image). These scumbags probably don't even know anyone who's served. Even here in San Antonio, "Military City."

The quote "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel" should really be "pretending to be patriotic, when you're a fan of sedition and treason because you got a free red hat, is the refuge of scumbags.

But that's just my opinion...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
subego
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Dec 22, 2022, 01:12 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
I volunteered for combat assignments three times - and was denied each time (which screwed up both my promotion chances and my self image).
If you feel like discussing it, what was the deal with that?
     
Spheric Harlot
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Dec 22, 2022, 07:55 AM
 
Who's using the "weathered flag" these days?

This tattered flag caused quite a scandal in 1977:


The statement could not have been further from the "MAGA" ethos — look up Robert Mapplethorpe, who took that photograph, for some cultural background. Warning: probably NSFW.
     
Thorzdad
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Dec 22, 2022, 08:37 AM
 
‘77 was a far different time. Practically a different reality. The arrival of CNN, and the invention of the 24-hour news cycle, was still three years away. Conservative talk radio had yet to take off, and the complete remaking of the GOP, and its alignment with evangelical christians, was just gearing-up. Reagan was yet to be president. That said...

The conservative culture war was in its early days, with easy targets, like Mapplethorpe (whose work I love), and contemporary art in general, receiving near-constant “outrage” (usually over tax dollars supporting museums and galleries that happened to stage a Mapplethorpe show). The dark clouds were definitely visible on the horizon.

Great time for music, though.
     
ghporter
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Dec 23, 2022, 10:57 PM
 
Big, long, dense answers here. I have learned, over time, that talking about these sorts of things is therapeutic. Don't skip over the asterisked stuff. Most of this happened 30 years or so ago, but they're still things that bother me now and then.

#1: my family and I had just been returned to the US from Panama, 3 days before Operation Just Cause*. I have to point out that a good leader tends to be protective of his/her subordinates whenever possible. And while some of my guys were assigned to a physically safe location, the others were assigned to a VERY exposed building. And the guy in charge of that building was too chickensh!t to even TRY getting to the site because Noriega's goons were shooting at it.

I went to Personnel and volunteered; they sent me back to my squadron, so I told my First Sergeant I wanted to go take care of my guys. He was sympathetic, but told me there wasn't a mechanism to send me there. So even though I could lead the shop at that building both ethically and effectively, and make sure my folks were as safe as possible, I couldn't go.

#2: I volunteered to go to Saudi during Desert Shield. Which was the operation that became Desert Storm. This was in late November, 1990. I was assigned as an instructor at the primary Air Force electronics training center (then), Keesler AFB, Biloxi, MS, but my section not only had no classes on board, none were scheduled for several months. I honestly wanted to "do my part," and not feel like I was sitting in a nice, cushy teaching job while people I knew were putting up with the conditions in Saudi. I volunteered, in writing, to my squadron's deployment officer. The response was "you are too important to our mission for us to send you."

The actual reason probably had more to do with commanders in Saudi "cheating." They'd call the school and ask for "your expert on X to help my maintainers with a problem." The school unit would put that expert on the phone, and they'd spend maybe an hour talking with a technician there. Then the deployed commander would ask for the expert's name, SSN, etc. "so I can put him in for a commendation" or other formal recognition. Instead they'd use that data to formally request through HQ USAF, to have the guy sent to the deployed unit. Basically they used a trick to shanghai these experts and get their expertise in person.

So instead of being honest with me and telling me they'd been fooled once, but wouldn't be fooled twice, they gave me a BS excuse that my sitting idle at home was "important." And the Gulf War actually kicked off on January 17, 1991, so I'd have been there for that.

#3: I formally volunteered to deploy to Saudi/Kuwait over the holidays in 2002 specifically because the shop I was running was full of young guys who had kids, and I wanted to help at least one of them stay home for Christmas, while at that time my own child was 15 and able to understand why I wanted to be away then.

My denial was incredibly insulting: you are too high ranking for any of the positions we're responsible for, and because we aren't being forced to, we're not going to bother to lift a finger to help anybody either take care of their troops, or volunteer to deploy (and get deployment credit, which was later helpful for promotions), so buzz off. Had I been there for Christmas, the deployment would have extended through the invasion in February 2003.

Indeed, I did not get promoted, in part because I had not been deployed. That shows up in the promotion package in the form of what decorations - especially campaign medals - you have or don't have.

I know my reasons won't make sense to a lot of people, but I was honestly trying to help, and was willing to not only be far away from my family, but in a potential (which actually became a) war zone to boot. Because I took both my oath** and my Service's mission very seriously, I wasn't just going to sit back and be an observer.

*Do not let a bunch of armchair pundits tell you that we went into Panama for bad reasons. EVERY DAY, Noriega's goons literally pointed automatic rifles at my wife and infant son as they took the only route between our quarters on Albrook AFS (on the same side of the canal as Panama City) and Howard AFB (on the other side) where my unit/workcenter and all other Air Force facilities were. The psychological warfare Noriega employed against every single US service member and their family members was so intense and chronic that one of my wife's friends realized after the fact that she'd driven between a group of armed Panamanian soldiers and our own Soldiers while they were almost at the point of shooting each other. At one point, the "authorities" determined that the license plates issued to US school busses were invalid, and they needed to take action. So they sent their soldiers to stop those busses. Not the high school busses, but the KINDERGARTEN and FIRST GRADE busses. How cool is it to have a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds terrorized but extremely aggressive soldiers storming their bus? There must be tens of thousands of us stationed there, both GIs and family members, who probably should be treated for PTSD because of things like these.

**USAF Oath of Enlistment and its meaning.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
subego
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Dec 24, 2022, 11:56 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
I know my reasons won't make sense to a lot of people, but I was honestly trying to help
FWIW, all of it makes total sense to me.
     
ghporter
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Dec 25, 2022, 01:42 PM
 
Thanks. That really means a lot.

Lots of people just don’t “get” why some of us volunteer to do crappy jobs for crappy pay in crappy conditions in crappy locations. And they don’t even try to figure it out. Maybe a few of them could possibly understand if they asked…we may never know.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
subego
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Dec 25, 2022, 03:03 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
Thanks. That really means a lot.
You are most welcome!

To me, the willingness to do such things is (or should be) a natural outgrowth of strong relationships, and it’s truly a shame the military didn’t see fit to reward it.
     
ghporter
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Dec 25, 2022, 05:54 PM
 
It was not “the military” that failed me. It was specifically the units I was assigned to, and how people in critical positions were allowed to do the bare minimum of their job. It wasn’t that they broke rules, but that they didn’t see that the bare minimum wasn’t really “doing their job”.
( Last edited by ghporter; Dec 25, 2022 at 06:01 PM. Reason: Pared down for clarity.)

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
subego
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Dec 27, 2022, 04:32 PM
 
Who should be blamed for placing slacks in critical positions?
     
ghporter
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Dec 28, 2022, 10:01 PM
 
I’m not absolutely sure, nor sure “blamed” is the right term. The command structure of a unit should know who does what and what’s going on at every level of the unit. But it really looks like micromanagement when a commander drills down into questions like “why did you turn down these requests?”

Supervisors tend to get a fairly high level of autonomy in what they do, as long as the job gets done, and nothing too big gets noticed in inspections. If someone is a poor manager (which strongly implies “crappy leader”), their office might still get the job done pretty well because of the people in that office, and the supervisor gets the credit.

“The system” expects that people will take their responsibilities seriously, including the “it’s not written down, but the job includes this” tasks. And everyone is encouraged to let their boss know if they need help. But “needing help” looks like weakness…. You see where that’s going, right?

So most of my “no you don’t get to serve the way you want” issues are really tied up in the dichotomy of “ask for help when you need it, but we’re going to judge the heck out of you - negatively - if you do.”

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
 
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