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Comment: Sunk cost fallacy (Score 1) 227

by EmagGeek (#47423015) Attached to: The Pentagon's $399 Billion Plane To Nowhere

The whole program is a sunk cost fallacy at this point. Congress needs to look at the cost and return of fixing the F35 program versus scrapping the entire thing, which is probably the best decision it could make.

The F35 is an unmitigated disaster. It is everything a military jet SHOULDN'T be. The entire process was destined to fail from the beginning, and it all boils down to the DoD's decision processes, like those that award contracts based on the race and gender of a company's owner rather than the merit of that company's products, and the ones that say "gee, if there could only be one plane that did everything, that would definitely be the best way to go!"

Jack of all trades, master of nothing, is not what we need in a fighter. The reason we have different branches of the military is because each has starkly unique needs compared to the others. Their needs are so unique that even the most junior engineer can look at the F35 proposal and say "hahaahh fuck no."

The Military

The Pentagon's $399 Billion Plane To Nowhere 227

Posted by Soulskill
from the flights-of-fancy dept.

15-Year-Old Developing a 3D Printer 10x Faster Than Anything On the Market 202

Posted by samzenpus
from the greased-lightning dept.

Study: Global Warming Solvable If Fossil Fuel Subsidies Given To Clean Energy 368

Posted by Unknown Lamer
from the we're-doomed dept.

Are Tethers the Answer To the Safety Issues of Follow-Me Drone Technology? 87

Posted by Unknown Lamer


Posted by Unknown Lamer
from the kill-all-humans dept.

Comment: Re:I wish I could do this! (Score 1) 117

by EmagGeek (#47386053) Attached to: Lessig's Mayday PAC Scrambling To Cross Crowd Funding Finish Line

That's right. We can't forget the invariable dipping that must come later. I get such pleas in emails from various PACs every single day.

"We've accomplished so much, but we must have your continued support to keep going! Send us even MOAR MONEEZ!"

If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and acts like a duck, guess what...

Comment: Re:I wish I could do this! (Score 2) 117

by EmagGeek (#47386019) Attached to: Lessig's Mayday PAC Scrambling To Cross Crowd Funding Finish Line

Are you kidding me? It's called the MAYDAY PAC.

MAYDAY, as in, "OMG this is an emergency! You have to do this or people are going to DIE!"

The very name of the thing is designed to elicit an unnecessary sense of urgency and an irrational emotional state in order to extract money.

It's classic self-serving political behavior.

Comment: I wish I could do this! (Score -1, Redundant) 117

by EmagGeek (#47385967) Attached to: Lessig's Mayday PAC Scrambling To Cross Crowd Funding Finish Line

Man, I'd love to get $12M from a bunch of suckers on the promise of making government better.

This sounds just like any other congressional campaign or something. It's the same tired crap we hear every couple of years.

"Things are BROKEN! If you don't pay me to fix them, children will starve and women will be forced to have babies they don't want!"

Comment: Re:What we need... (Score 1) 233

by EmagGeek (#47382613) Attached to: Radar Changing the Face of Cycling

I've seen that in races before. Cat-5 morons are so amped up on caffeine, 5-hour energy, and race-day adrenaline that they become violent neanderthals.

Bicycling is not what it used to be. I quit racing two decades ago because of the devolution of cycling. Today's hyper-competitive yuppies have ruined the sport.

Back in the 80's, I could race and everyone would talk to each other and we were all friends out on the road having a good time being competitive with character and integrity. I did a lot of racing out in Colorado, and you could be competitive, but also count on the other riders looking out for you. If you saw another rider in distress, you'd at least put a hand out and ask if they were okay. Riders competed, but they also cared about eachothers' wellbeing.

Something happened in the 90s. I'm not sure what it was, but people started getting nasty. Racing was no longer a sport - it was personal. The younger guys HATED you. You were not their friend. They were there to BEAT YOU, and not to have a good time. It was War, but one in which they simply did not understand that a 30 year old rider with 10 or 15 years of racing experience was going to shellac a 20 year old hot head in a race every single time, as had been done to them a decade before. That generation was not taught, or did not learn, that the 30 year old rider was a mentor, teacher, and friend - not a sworn enemy to be defeated.

That was when I said "fuck it" and stopped racing. About 10 years after that, in the 2000's when Mr. Dope-head started winning Tours de France, it got even worse and the "every ride is a race" mentality filtered down to the group rides, charity rides, and basically any time two riders met on the road under any given circumstances. I rode with three or four guys in my age group on a regular basis, and we always did our best to avoid other riders as much as possible.

Maybe it's just because I'm getting older, or maybe it's because the younger generations are not being taught how to be human beings with empathy and compassion for other living things. Indeed it seems like today's young people are a bunch of violent, maladjusted, narcissistic sociopaths to me, whether on a bike or not.

Air pollution is really making us pay through the nose.